Live updates from Bourg d’Oisans to Valence (169.5km)‘Froome is still Sky’s leader,’ says Thomas Email or tweet Simon your thoughts 12.55pm BST There is an early kind-of-almost breakaway, involving Toms Scully and De Gendt, with Sylvain Chavanel somewhere between them and the peloton, trying to catch up. 12.48pm BST Here are some screengrabs of the Nibali crash. Looks like the camera was OK, but the strap snapped. Accidents happen, it’s all part of an event which covers thousands of miles and at which part of the appeal is how close fans can get to the competitors, but this is just so chuffing stupid.Ah non, il semblerait plutôt que (le cintre de) #Nibali ait accroché la sangle d'un appareil photo. #TDF2018 pic.twitter.com/yYxlN2JOSM 12.47pm BST 168km to go: And they’re off! 12.43pm BST So it looks like Vincenzo Nibali was taken out yesterday by a spectator’s camera strap, which dangled in his path and caught on his bike. You can see it happen (very briefly) in a video on Eurosport’s website here. Really, though, whoever set off the flares that blinded the riders immediately before the incident must share the blame. Nibali paid with a fractured veterbra, and is out of the Tour. 12.37pm BST The roll-out has begun, with actual racing set to get under way in 10 minutes or so. 12.29pm BST Hello world!Well, wasn’t yesterday fun! We had hills, spills and thrills aplenty and at the end of it Geraint Thomas secured another stage win and became the first Briton and the first yellow jersey-wearer to win on the Alpe d’Huez. 11.46am BST Here are our reports on yesterday’s 12th stage, and on Geraint Thomas’s continued insistence that Chris Froome remains boss man at Team Sky. Related: Geraint Thomas conquers Alpe d’Huez to extend Tour de France lead Related: ‘Froome is still Sky’s leader,’ says Geraint Thomas despite back-to-back wins Continue readingread full article
