Tour de Bromance.

Stage 12: Cugnaux - Luz-Ardiden:

I love Lil Tom’s childlike delight on the podium.

"Unless he can repeat his heroics of 2004, he’ll be out of it by the end of the day."  Uh, he is a professional Hero, watch how he does this.

I love Klodi. I can’t tell if Gary Imlach is knocking him, but if so, there will be blood.

"Rojas will never get out ahead of the Manx Missile, not when he’s started the dance."

Good jesus, that crash of Gee’s was nearly absolutely awful.

"He was back at BOTH sides of the doctor’s car." Oh Klodi!!

I love that Lil Tom is such an ‘excellent bike handler’ that his way of averting a crash was to drive straight into the side of a car.

"Geraint Thomas is not comfortable AT ALL on this descent.” Well no you wouldn’t be! It’s like plummeting into a foggy precipice!

Really, has TheShack had the worst luck ever??

Oh for the love of Christ Klodi 'just got back in time to be dropped again at the base of this climb.’ This is becoming unbearable.

Nica Roche in 10^th position!! 

Andy Schleck like floats above his bike. He’s just dancin’ around up there, glancing to see who’s around while everyone's crying.

Sammy Sanchez is pretty excellent.

Awww, Nica’s going off the back. And apparently papa Steve ‘will be shouting at him somewhere’ along the route.

“I really wouldn’t worry about Thomas Voeckler, he’s handling himself rather well.” Well we only had to sit through six years of derogatory coverage of Lil Tom to get here.

A 'little dummy move' by Andy, before FRANKIE gets in there.

Frank IS the secret weapon!!!

And AGAIN Frankie!

They’re all just looking at each other loads.

Good god, FRANKIE!!

Don’t look back! Get the gap!!

Look at Frankie riding away!!

I can't BELIEVE how Frankie’s riding! He’s SO GOOD.

Sammy nearly threw himself off the bike with excitement! That was fabulous. That was one of my fave’s ever. Take that, Pistolero!

“Losing seconds on his own playground.”  And I say again, Take That, Pistolero!

Aww Thomas and Pierre Rolland! Cuteness.  Certainly up there for Biggest Bromance Award.

Oh for the love of god, 8 minutes down for Klodi.

Oh Johnny! Lovely man! "The Tour de France has been a dream of mine for like 10 years, so why would I cry? I’m still here.” YES YOU ARE.

“I’d like to win the Tour, but if my brother wins the Tour I’d be as happy as if I won the Tour.”  Hello, podium 1-2.

Thomas is TOO CUTE! Every time they speak to him it's DARLING.

Stage 14: Saint-Gaudens -Plateau de Beille:

"As always when it gets into these climbs, Bernie Eisel is there to nurture him through these difficult times."

Bernie just threw water on Cav. To keep his MIND in this race, apparently.

Paul was telling a cautionary tale about taking water from spectators but conceded "probably Thomas Voeckler knew that guy…” He knows everyone in France. He is their King.

It is crazed about the state of cycling that HTC is still looking for a sponsor. They WIN EVERYTHING.

And then there were three. And one was David Millar.

RE The Schlecks: "The won’t fight each other, but they’ll fight anybody else."

David Millar ALWAYS looks at the camera as it goes by and it’s ALWAYS sad.

"Fabian Cancellara, he’s too big for the mountains, but he’ still up there."

Awww Nica’s being dropped.

Of course Jerome Pineau was in the breakaway with bestie Sylvain. DON'T LEAVE ME SYLVAIN.

Fucking hell, Laurens Ten Dam is bleeding from the face.

"He didn’t look quite so imperial as his brother did on Luz Ardiden, but today may be his day."

Jens is down! Phil and Paul are philosophical: "Thank god that was only a gentle stroll through the bushes and not over the side of a mountain."

Apparently he conveyed "All fine, just need maybe some bike parts."

George is up there with the winners. Cuz he’s the biggest winner of all.

Jens is down AGAIN. Not so jovial this time. This time it’s ‘fuck you’ and ‘casse toi’ to the cameraman.

Phil and Paul are outdoing themselves here with Jens' crash: "He’s made of sterner stuff than that. He’s not gonna let two crashes keep him down", "He cant blame anyone else but his own enthusiasm", and "Once again, Jens Voigt, the biggest head, the biggest heart, the biggest pair of lungs, the biggest man in this race."

There is frenzy with the leaders: "Every man just chasing wheels, going with anything." Someone could jump on the route with a kid's bike and they would chase it down.

The Leopards are so pretty out in their train.

Andy and Frankie just seem to dance around the group. Riding up and down just looking at everyone. Maybe I'm being stupid, but if they've got the ability to do that, why aren't they riding AWAY?

Aaaaaand, SCHLECK ATTACK.

And AGAIN.

Andy went around that corner like he was going on the flat!

"But where is Alberto Contador now…?" HA!

I love it, AGAIN from Andy!

And followed again by Lil Tom!

"There’s a Schleck at the front." Hilarious. Standard.

I think Frank and Andy were talking on the radio and strategizing in Luxembourgish from opposite ends of the bunch.

"He never shows pain, Andy Schleck, and it doesn’t look like he’s going through any!"

Go Jelle Vanendert! Way to make a statement for Omega Pharma that isn't a punctured lung!

A final wee fuck you from Andy there at the end. Awesome. 

Awww PhilGil came in smiling SO happily for little Jelle! Certainly in the running for the Tour de Bromance.

Then they were caught in a little embrace behind the podium. There's some serious competition in this category.

Frankie just had a little dig there. “My brother and Basso and myself were trying to race, but no one was interested.”

The Badger and Lil Tom are havin' quite a laugh on the podium.

Stage 15:  Limoux -Montpellier:

Sometimes when Gary Imlach isn't being annoying, he's rather funny. Talking of starters and non-starters today: "Laurens Ten Dam has started. So has Jens Voigt, but then short of enforced hospitalization, Jens ALWAYS starts."

Hmm, who to root for in the breakaway, Tony of the Square and of the Saur, youngest rider, or Niki Terpstra, who just has a pretty fun name

"Bernie Eisel—the brains of the organization." Brains AND (relative to cycling) Brawn.

Bernie's now taken out a road plan and is attempting to read it over his handlebars in gale force winds.  Intense.

But not so intense that he can't crack a little joke with Tony Martin.

Seriously, why is everyone so childlike about never wanting to do their share at the front?  Phil put it possibly the best ever today: "Well if you guys don’t want to help, forget it, we’ll get on with it, and we’ll STILL beat you at the finish." BURN.

Oh my god, amazing. Apparently riders used to ride off the front, get a few minutes ahead, then, once out of view, hide in the bushes til the pelaton went past.  Then they'd rejoing at the back and watch the group chase nothing! If this is the kind of japery we can be guaranteed without race radios then I'm all for it.

Bernie really does look like a master tactician. He’s making a series of military signals all over the road, listening into his earpiece intensely... Probably planning to send Tejay and Peter Velits off the front to hide in the bushes.

Classic. About Lil Tom: "He’s become an absolute hero yet again."

Bernie’s chatting to a Europcar guy.  ‘Dunno’, he seems to be saying.

The Schlecks look like they’re sulking. Maybe they can hear Phil and Paul’s unnecessarily harsh commentary of them in their earpieces.

We get it Paul, you love FDJ.

I like how HTC refer to everyone as ‘gentleman’. Bob Stapleton was just in commentary saying ‘thank you gentlemen’, and of course you get Rolf Aldag and Brian Holm going ‘good job, gentlemen’, ‘here we go, gentlemen’ all through Chasing Legends.

They are literally, physically shoving each other around in the HTC train.  GET IN LINE.  IF YOU LET ANYONE THAT'S NOT ON HTC INTO YOUR SLIPSTREAM I WILL CUT YOU.

Ballsy move by PhilGil! 

Peter Velits did not appreciate that FDJ guy flying towards him from the breakaway into the front of the train.  He was like SHIT OFF.

AMAZING, it’s like there’s no one else in the race! 19 Stage Wins for the Missile from the Isle of Man.

Cav’s just standing there waiting for each HTC guy to come in.  Cuteness!

Meanwhile, Lil Tom's still in yellow and "he is STILL the toast of France."

Paul takes a moment out of his love for FDJ to spread the love for Lil Tom: "I love a fighter, and there is no finer example of a fighter than Tommy Voeckler."

Cav can't let one interview go by without a little dig, I love it: “The other teams don’t wanna ride, I guess they don’t have confidence in their sprinters.”

Awww Lil Tom just reached for his teammate at the line. I hope it was new boyfriend Pierre Rolland.

That was a bit hilarious, talking about Cav’s aerodynamics in comparison to Daniel Oss behind him. It was like a fucking horse coming up on him.  Plus his hair must get caught in the wind and cause drag.

Into the second rest day, and Lil Tom still gets to wear yellow to sleep.