Before the race.
Vello is explaining something to David.
Vello: It was all in the disposition of the leg hairs.
David: I would have to have seen it.
Vello: I saw it. They spelled out his initials, F G.
David: I can understand F being spelt out in leg hairs, but G?
Vello: Some of them were curly.
Belle: Who'll win today then?
Vello: No idea. Terence has the hairs in a lunch box. Now, today, Team Philosophe, focus!
Gaius: Are you talking to me?
Humboldt: Or me?
Vello: All three of you. You did not ride full bore yesterday.
David: Gaius did. He told me everything there is to know about marsupial tree frogs.
Vello: Ha ha, yes very funny, full bore. I suppose at least you kept yourselves out of trouble. Go all out today. Belle has sourced some of those special potatoes.
Belle: Yes I have. They're still good although they were harvested in May. You'll find them in your musettes at the feeding station.
David: Good-o!
The race starts.
It is somewhat like yesterday.
Flat and typical.
Fields at the sides of the roads. Ditches. Yellow umbrellas. Families cheering in shorts.
Chavanel is out the front for ages and ages.
Way behind him, Richie Porte is trying to make up some time.
Pablo Neruda of Team Condor draws up beside him.
I hear you are writing a poem. Want some help?
No thanks, says Richie. Well yeah, on second thoughts, have you ever written a poem about any sort of vegetable?
Strictly speaking, no, says Pablo Neruda. But I did write an Ode to Tomatoes.
Long or short lines? asks Richie.
Short, says Pablo.
Thanks, mate, says Richie.
He speeds up, pedalling to a short line rhythm.
In a sack
Of potatoes
Rare tubers
Harvested in May
Tsgabu Grmay withdraws with abdominal pains.
Luis León Sánchez crashes.
Another crash involves Adam Yates.
Marcel Kittel gets a puncture.
Fernando Gaviria crashes 1.8 k from the finish.
Arnaud Démare gets a flat tyre.
The legs hairs in Terence's lunch box form the letters P S which could be a postscript.
Or Peter Sagan.
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