Yet another hot day in a string of hot days. When it hits 33C/91F by 9am, you've got to feel for the guy in the lion costume.
I've hardly ever spoken with Cyril Gautier other than the basic exchanges my French will allow, but he is one of the friendliest riders in the bunch. As the first rider to sign on, he was happy to delay returning to the comfort of his air conditioned bus to put helmets on a group of young riders…
…give an interview with announcer Nicholas Loth…
…and sign autographs for fans.
With a pair of second place finishes to his name and suffering more than he'd like with the heat, Dan Martin was uncharacteristicly quiet before stage 14.
Belgian Kenneth Van Bilsen.
Slovenia's Kristijan Koren about to go back to his bus while Adam Hansen, his shoulder partially recovered from a crash in the first week, climbed the stairs to the sign on podium.
I can't recall when I last saw the peloton looking so flat. Unsurprisingly, few riders came to sign on in the first half hour, and those who did all seemed to move a little slower than they did a week ago. Riders who normally sign autographs or wave at the crowd signed on and left. This year's route, undeniably a tough one, is all the more difficult with the heat.
Christophe Riblon and Gregory Rast.
Local boy Alexandre Géniez received a huge cheer from the crowd for his work in the break yesterday.
Italians Adriano Malori and Pippo Pozzato.
Jose Herrada.
A pair of Colombians with different things on their minds. Jarlinson Pantano reacted to the heat while Julian Arredondo gave his bike a once over.
Do you remember the 2014 Tour? BMC certainly doesn't. With a trio of stage wins, a day in yellow, and Tejay Van Garderen currently lying in second overall, the American team has put last year's disappointing Tour firmly behind them. When they arrived this morning to claim their prize as the best team on stage13, Greg Van Avermaet received a momento to commemorate his stage win.
Rohan Dennis spoke with Australian media while photographers behind him snapped pics of Vincenzo Nibali.
In honor of Nelson Mandela day, MTN Qhubeka helmets featured a thick orange stripe. Below: Eritrean climber Merhawi Kudus.
An always smiling Tyler Farrar showed off his orange helmet.
A photographer from Manual For Speed grabbed a selfie with Peter Sagan.
The Slovakian sprinter must sign over a dozen autographs every morning for fans alone, in addition to whatever photo and autograph obligations accompany the green jersey.
The last ten or fifteen minutes of sign on were a bit of a madhouse, the podium swarmed with riders and media. Geraint Thomas managed to get out of the scrum to talk with the media.
Jan Barta and Robert Gesink rode to the stage start past hundreds of spectators.
Imanol Erviti.
Jean-Christophe Peraud crashed on his left side before rolling on the side of the road a couple times in yesterday's stage. With both arms bandaged, the popular Frenchman told the crowd he wasn't feeling great but wanted to continue on to Paris.
Since stage 13 didn't work out for the sprinters as they had hoped, expect winless Kristoff, Degenkolb, Matthews and the other fast men in the bunch to make sure their teams chase down the break or they won't have another chance until Paris in a weeks' time. Their concern is that a big break goes clear, making it tougher to chase them down, but with 60km of descending or flat terrain between the summit of Côte de l'Escrinet and the arrival in Valance, watch for the sprint teams to come to the front and take control. The GC riders should finish safely in the bunch.
Today's 11 autographs came from:
1. Vincenzo Nibali
14. Michael Chérel
17. Christophe Riblon
24. Arnaud Demare
38. Ian Stannard
73. Thomas De Gendt
92. Giampaolo Caruso
196. Bartosz Huzarski
202. Frederic Brun
209. Florian Vachon
218. Serge Pauwels
2 Responses to 2015 Tour de France stage 14