Judging from all the bunting and decorations around town, Abbeville has been eagerly awaiting the start of stage 6.
Bryan Coquard of Europcar, usually the first team to sign on each morning, signed autographs.
Lieuwe Westra headed straight to the snack table.
Christophe Laporte said the team had been forced to change their priorities after sprinter and team leader Nacer Bouhanni crashed out of the race yesterday. Bouhanni has suffered a spell of bad luck in the last 2 weeks as he crashed in the final 100 meters of the French road race national championships and crashed twice in the opening week of the Tour, ultimately withdrawing to tend to his aggravated injuries.
Cannondale Garmin suffered a blow yesterday when domestique Jack Bauer abandoned after crashing and breaking a bone in his hip. The kiwi has played a pivotal role for the team in the last two Tours, first working with David Millar to blow apart the peloton to set up Dan Martin's stage win in 2013 and then coming within 50 meters of a stage win himself after spending the entire race in a two man break in 2014. Despite this setback, team leader Andrew Talansky was in a jovial mood this morning.
The press spoke to Talansky and Geoffrey Soupe.
Tyler Farrar, a sprinter for MTN Qhubeka, rode a Buffalo Bike to the sign on, instead of his Cervelo racing bike. Qhubeka is a nonprofit that distributes specially designed, durable bicycles called Buffalo Bikes to children in Africa. With these bikes, kids who may have faced a long the journey on foot to school are able now to slash their commute, making them more likely to attend school regularly and able to enjoy the pleasures and freedoms that come with riding a bike. Qhubeka's goal is to parlay Tour de France media exposure into providing 5,000 Buffalo Bikes to African children.
The riders arrived in a steady stream, instead of waiting for the last 15 minutes, making it a busy morning of autograph hunting and chatting with the peloton. Consequently, I wasn't able to take too many photos during the sign on ceremony. The call to start came before I knew it and the street was lined three people deep to watch the riders depart.
Retired from the peloton after the 2013 season concluded and Vacansoleil folded, leaving him without a contract, Juan Antonio Flecha now covers races for EuroSport and spoke with Filippo Pozatto this morning.
Simon Geschke must have just applied sunblock before leaving the bus as his teammates kept telling him you've-got-a-little-on-your-cheek-over-here-still.
Italy's Manual Quinziatio and Colombia's Rigoberto Uran.
This reporter jogged alongside diminutive climber Julian Arredondo in an effort to wrap up his interview.
The peloton has already faced a TT, the Mur de Huy, pavé, inclement weather, predictably unpredictable winds, and a plethora of crashes before the first rest day. The riders will be able to relax a little for tomorrow's stage as the only categorized climb is a cat 4 in the opening 20km. The stage is otherwise a little lumpy, but nothing of consequence, and the weather shouldn't play a role, so watch for the sprinter's teams to take control near the end. Degenkolb is hungry for a win but so is Cavendish. They've both come close to stage wins but haven't pulled it off yet and will have to fight off, at the very least, Kristoff, Sagan, Boasson Hagen, and Greipel with 2 stages to his name already. After stage 7, opportunities are few and far between for the fast men until the Champs Élysées, so expect this one to come down to the line.
Today's 47 autographs came from:
3. Jakob Fuglsang
12. Romain Bardet
15. Ben Gasteur
16. Damien Gaudin
18. Johan Vansummeren
29. Benoît Vaugrenard
33. Leopold König
36. Nicholas Roche
37. Luke Rowe
45. Rafal Majka
53. Jonathan Castroviejo
57. Gorka Izagirre
63. Rohan Dennis
64. Daniel Oss
65. Manuel Quinziato
69. Danilo Wyss
83. Roy Curvers
84. Koen De Kort
103. Luke Durbridge
107. Pieter Weening
109. Simon Yates
113. Michal Golas
117. Matteo Trentin
124. Yohan Gène
127. Romain Sicard
136. Bram Tankink
151. Rui Costa
153. Davide Cimolai
154. Kristian Durasek
161. Andrew Talansky
163. Nathan Haas
165. Kristian Koren
166. Sebastian Langeveld
167. Dan Martin
168. Ramunas Navardauskas
169. Dylan Van Baarle
172. Nicholas Edet
173. Christophe Laporte
175. Daniel Navarro
179. Kenneth Van Bilsen
188. Jarlinson Pantano
194. Emanuel Buchmann
197. Jose Mendes
207. Arnaud Gérard
214. Jacques Janse Van Rensburg
215. Reinhardt Janse Van Rensburg
216. Merhawi Kudus