Given we've just missed 2 or 3 minutes of what looks to have been quite interesting action because of TNT's advert breaks, the least TNT could do is nudge their commentator to explain to us what the situation is, and what happened. The race has completely changed shape, in case anybody noticed.

Is Pidcock in that group?

At some point, he'll be overtaken by events and facts on the ground. Might not be for a while, but it's going to happen – the Tour was a week or 10 days from facing 43 degrees in Bordeaux this year.

I wrote about the Belfort Gap in yesterday’s stage piece – I couldn’t resist it, what with the Belfort gap that appeared between Tom Pidcock and the other GC contenders. substack.com/home/post/p-...

My stage 13 piece, including the Belfort Gap, a corridor of flat land between the Vosges and Jura where international tensions have played out over the centuries, plus bike racing, in which the Belfort gap was 7:30 between Tom Pidcock and his GC rivals. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

So I think Lidl-Trek probably blew the teams classification today, if they care.

Trying to use AI as a research and information function is getting so frustrating. It lies, it lies, it lies.

Impressive win by Jayco. They had four in the big group, but three of those came across in the Pedersen group, which took a lot of time and effort to bridge the gap. I initially didn't think they'd do it.

Gap's still going up, lads.

These days, Chalon-sur-Saône, where yesterday’s stage finished, is a fairly standard provincial French town. However, it’s been very prominent in years past. It was on the Via Agrippa, a major Roman road system, and it also benefitted from its position on the Saône.

Enjoyed the thoughtful conversation on @thecyclingpodcast.bsky.social about what the Tour victory record is. My opinion: it’s five. If you win the Tour and then get disqualified, you haven’t won the Tour any more.

My stage 12 piece, including the world's oldest photograph, taken in Chalon-sur-Saône, plus, as always, a little bit of bike racing. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

There’s an argument that France only really became France once it had unified its language, and the writer Graham Robb gave the chapter of his book 'The Discovery of France' about this subject the memorable title ‘O Òc Sí Bai Ya Win Oui Oyi Awè Jo Ja Oua’. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Today's stage piece, on la France profonde and the curious linguistic zone of France known as the 'croissant'. Plus a bit of cycling, obvs. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

Over half the stages done now. Who's going to win each classification? Yellow: Pogačar Green: Pedersen, probably KoM: Pogačar, probably White: Don't know Teams: Lidl-Trek Supercombativity: Don't know

I used to ride a lot on the roads between Vichy and Moulins – the road is *incredibly* rolling up to and beyond St Pourçain. Proper French flat in places. Not surprised it's looking like a hard start to the stage today.

For yesterday’s stage piece I wrote about Théodore Rousseau and the Barbizon School of painting, along with Rousseau’s lovely painting of the Puy Mary. Story is on my feed. Please read and subscribe! edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

Number of side road zebras in Exeter: 0 Number of on-street bike hangars in Exeter: 0 Number of metres of new bike path in Exeter in past three years: 30 (three-zero) Because reactionaries have a veto on progressive transport policy.

Today's stage piece, on the Massif Central, one of my favourite landscapes in France, Pogačar's mastery of it, plus a bit on Théodore Rousseau, who painted the Puy Mary in 1830. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

Maybe they were shouting, "Happy Booooastille Day"

I'm currently juggling being a writer with studying for a Masters, and this is absolutely true.

Slow handclap to the Labour, Reform, Reform-adjacent and Tory councillors on Exeter's Highways Committee for voting to put 4,000+ cars a day back onto a filtered strategic bike route, with no provision or protection for cyclists. They just voted to put lorries and kids on bikes in the same space.

Who's having a good Tour, and who is not? For the first rest day I've ranked the teams according to visibility and best results. 1) UAE - 3 stages, 5x yellow (and more) 2) Soudal - 2 stages 3) Visma - 1 stage, 2x yellow 4) Lidl - 1 stage, 6x green 5) Alpecin - 1 stage, 1x combativity

Taking a break today, because I've got an assignment deadline 😩 but please use the rest day to read my daily stage stories, which cover Catalan culture, architecture, the art of Miró, history, the Sublime and more. Plus, of course, a little cycling. Please subscribe! edwardpickering.substack.com

Yesterday's Tour stage took place in Corrèze, a sparsely populated and rural department which has nonetheless produced three Popes and two French Presidents. So it was apt when politics, and not just powermeters, defined the shape of the stage. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Please savor the irony of this coming from a rider on a team sponsored by a petrostate.

What the Tour de France has in common with the Avignon Papacy and the French presidency. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Lidl, despite the group not getting a big gap, are still putting in a great performance today. Two in the group, and four in the YJ group = 6, and UAE are the only other team with 6 between the front two groups.

Liam Slock vs the peloton – just the latest battle in the war between Romanticism and Classicism. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

My Tour de France stage 8 piece, featuring Jack Charlton and the eternal tension between art and science. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

I fear that Slock is toast. Gap coming down too fast.

Finger hovering above 'send' on my piece headlined 'Slock Horror'

This is tremendous. www.domestiquecycling.com/en/news/red-...

Slightly kicking myself for not using the headline "Landes of Hope and Glory" for yesterday's stage piece, but here are my impressions of stage 7, which took the riders through one of France's most quirky corners. substack.com/home/post/p-...

My stage 7 story. After six days in (or just next to) the mountains, the Tour got a change of scenery in a corner of France that often gets overlooked.

Quick repost of my stage piece from yesterday. Reflections on Pogačar and the sublime, with added Edmund Burke, Gustave Doré and Victor Hugo. Please read, enjoy, follow, subscribe and, if you know somebody who would like this, direct them towards me 🙏 substack.com/home/post/p-...

Here's today's stage piece, looking at what Tadej Pogačar and the Cirque de Gavarnie have in common, featuring Victor Hugo, Edmund Burke and Gustave Doré. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

The Evenepoel/Lipowitz/Ayuso etc group is dysfunctional.

Cirque de Gavarnie, one of the most beautiful places in France, at the Tour today. I read a little about it when I commissioned Pierre Carrey to write a feature for Rouleur about the Gave de Pau river, which flows through the Pyrenees, links many of its climbs and has its source above Gavarnie.

Was very happy to join @lionelbirnie.bsky.social in explaining to @grahamwillgoss.bsky.social just how cooler and better things were in the 1980s in @thecyclingpodcast.bsky.social's Kilometre Zero on the 1986 Tour de France.

A brief history of British expats in Pau, and of messy sprints at the Tour. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Here’s Gaston Phoebus, or Gaston III, 12th count of Foix. He made a cameo in my piece on yesterday’s stage. Quite a character, by all accounts. A warrior, hunter, author, polyglot and a shrewd operator in the febrile politics of 14th century France. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

Here are my reflections and analysis of today's Tour stage. I thought Lidl-Trek's break management was on point and I've broken it down into the key phases, decisions and events. And also rolled in the history of a 14th-century Count of Foix. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

Here are my reflections and analysis of today's Tour stage. I thought Lidl-Trek's break management was on point and I've broken it down into the key phases, decisions and events. And also rolled in the history of a 14th-century Count of Foix. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/tour-de-fr...

I cannot envisage a single situation where Lidl-Trek don't win this stage.

Cofidis's helmet design is the shit.

Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour, featuring the Odeillo Solar Furnace, a bit about borders and what they mean, and of course a bit of bike racing. Please read, enjoy, follow, feed back and tell your friends about Cycling, the Universe and Everything. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/2026-tour-...

Toughest climb on today's stage is the Col de Montségur, upon which I once bonked during the Ariègoise sportive while trying to digest two Cœur de Lion mini Camemberts. A bad omen for UAE's rivals: the rocky outcrop upon which the ruined Château de Montségur stands is known locally as a 'pog'.

Stage 3 of the 2026 Tour, featuring the Odeillo Solar Furnace, a bit about borders and what they mean, and of course a bit of bike racing. Please read, enjoy, follow, feed back and tell your friends about Cycling, the Universe and Everything. edwardpickering.substack.com/p/2026-tour-...

Top seven after stage 3 👀