‘In the (Time) Zone' by David Olle, in France, +33 66 16 909 87

For those in Australia, SBS shows a daily report on the Tour de France, along with many stages broadcast live, catch them if you can.  SBS does a fantastic job with their unfailing dedication to cycling.  Send them an email and let them know how much you love it.  It will help, believe me.  Do it now. 

(Not forgetting our own Topbike TV on digital channel 44, check your local guide for details)

Tour de France, July 3 - 25, 2010, Report stage 1
Stage 1    Sunday, July 4    224 km     Rotterdam (NL) → Brussels (BE)
Results
1      Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini      5:09:38       
2     Mark Renshaw (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia            
3     Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team

General classification
1      Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank      5:19:38       
2     Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia     0:00:10      
3     David Millar (GBr) Garmin - Transitions     0:00:20

Cracker of a first stage, well the final 5k were.  Three spectacular crashes marred the final run in to Brussels, where Italy's Alessandro Petacchi took a long awaited stage win.  He's won before in france, but due to doping allegations, injuries, etc. he has had an extended layoff from the TdF and it's podium.  Welcome back Alessandro! 

Alpe d'Huez is my office. 
Well it was yesterday, and the wi-fi there is a bit thin on the ground, like the air, hence no report.  The cyclosportif event ‘La Marmotte' finished up there yesterday afternoon.  Up to 8,000 shattered amateur riders lay prostrate about the finish, after completing 174k with 5000m of ascent, but that's another story.  This is the Tour de France.

Champagne is my office. 
This is where Le Tour will arrive on Wednesday, after it's first fully French run, and as we are not journeying north to the Netherland regions, we'll wait here for ‘it' to come to us.    

Skippy report:  Australia's Mark Renshaw misplaced his team captain (Mark Cavendish) in one of the crashes, and in true ‘lead out man' style, under such circumstances, went for the win himself.  He came very close.  Wish he had have got it.  His team mate Adam Hansen from FNQ (Cairns) fell in an earlier crash and during the race indicated he had a broken collarbone.   

Cuisine report:  Underneath the Alpi, in Bourg d'Oisans yesterday evening, we had a very 70's Australian experience.  Fondu.  Served with boiled potatoes and bacon.  I'm still not convinced about this whole hot cheese idea.  Although the taters (maybe Desirees?) were delicious. 

Tomorrow:  Stage 2    Monday, July 5    192 km     Brussels (BE) → Spa (BE)
The Bike Race:
This year's Tour starts in the Netherlands (making that 3 grand tour prologues in a row, for Holland) belts into Belgium, before taking a clockwise trace around France, finishing, of course, on the Champs Elysee in Paris.  July 3-25, 3,596 kilometres, more than enough for anyone.