[nutmeg]

I saw most of today's Stage... I know who won, etc.

Does anyone know the *details* of why Tejay Van Garderen abandoned the race today? Per NBC SN earlier today, he abandoned at about 70K from the finish line.

Didn't Tejay do the same thing last year? I believe he abandoned the TDF on the day after the second rest day, just like this time...

Please ping me if you learn any details. (Thank you in advance)

I'll check the TDF prime time show tonight if I can...

[PeteB570]

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/07/news/van-garderen-i-want-to-disappear-right-now_379239

[Baynative]

Bike Ping

Every article I have found only says he had headaches. he may have had this symptom before, but he did finish 5th the last two years.

The mountains are separating the field and the hard part is still to come. I had an interesting conversation yesterday and we sort of agreed that although the tour directors do a great job of designing routes, the purpose is to determine the best cyclist in the field.

Out question was;"does it really determine the best climbers?" We talked about how designing a course with a lot of wind impaired coastal roads, a lot of rollers and short steep hills like the classics feature, cobbles and technical narrow country roads might do more to determine the best rider. Or, would it actually determine the best team?