This time next week Le Tour will have been through Yorkshire and it's fair to say I'm so excited I could let out a little bit of wee.

Sunday is taken care of. I'm heading to Blackley Cricket Club and watching the race on television, enjoying the atmosphere of the beer festival before the caravan and the race passes.

I've got Saturday morning taken care of. Coming down with a friend from Scotland we're off for an early morning cycle covering the Sunday climbs of Oxenhope, Cragg Vale, Barkisland/Greetland and Blackley before heading off in the car to.......and this is what I'm not sure of. Can someone recommend a good place to come and watch the race go by?

I still can't quite believe the Tour is passing through my home town. How are you marking the event?

Thought about Holme Moss, but Mrs D doesn't fancy that, so we'll take advantage of the council putting stuff on in the town centre and see the peloton sweep by at the bottom of Chapel Hill (Cote du Chapel Hill?)

So who do you think is winning this year?

I'd bet the house on Kittel winning stage 1 barring accidents even with Cav being super determined to take the stage. Stage 2 I'm less sure of but thinking of a Valverde/Sagan/Kwiatkoski/Gerrans type rider.

I'll go for Sagan in the green jersey.

Polka I'll go for Rolland.

White Kwiatkowski although I'd love to think Simon Yates could do it.

And as for yellow.......I think it'll be Contador. Sky and Froome are not in good shape this year as a result of injuries and illness. It's like 2010 all over again.

However - what the Dauphine showed is that the other teams are willing to do their own thing and not follow their wheels. I have a sneaky suspicion we may see a good 'young un' get in a break and get enough time to make it interesting.

Sagan for green, fancy Purito for the polka-dots after what he was saying yesterday. White - flip a coin between Kwiatkowski and Pinot.
Overall? Can't call it. Sky have been awful all year, but would it be so much of a surprise to see them pull it off again? I actually think Valverde has a great chance, but hate to admit it to myself. Interesting to see how Rui Costa takes to leading a team.

Stage 1. OPQS look to have the personnel for a good lead-out this time - Martin, Renshaw, Petacchi, Terpstra - which will help Cav. Kittel's just a beast though. Head says Kittel, everything else says Cav.
Stage 2. Wide, wide open. Quite fancy Kristoff for it, but good shout on Gerrans. Too lumpy for Sagan and that haul up the Jenkin Road will break a few. Only short, but 33% ffs! It'd be great to have that stage as a Classic rather than the 2.1 Tour Of Yorkshire 3-dayer they're mooting.

Amazing day today, rode into Harrogate, never seen so many bikes in my life and also coming out as well, it was like taking over the streets.

Loved Voigts madness, thought Spartacus had pulled a genius stroke and then disaster.

Hard to look past Bertie for GC but Nibbles may have a say.

Top Yorkshire day today though and best of all, get to do it all again tomorrow on Holme Moss!

I enjoyed the experience on the A65 although I thought the caravan was a waste of time. Whoever planned the route deserves a pat on the back. Yorkshire looked grand

The old girl looked great didn't she!

Froome on his back again looking at the sky. Nice moment for the sponsors.

Froome out.

Sky have dropped a reet clanger not selecting Bradley Wiggins who could have given them a great option over the cobbles today.

And I've been saying that all along.

Froome and Sky are in bits this year. Too many accidents, too many illnesses and not enough results. This could be their worst year so far in the cycling world.

The fall yesterday was just one of those 'things' that happen in racing. You can't be at the front of the peloton all day every day after all.

Brailford should have had the foresight to select a plan B. Wiggins (top 10 in this years Paris Roubaix) would have provided that plan B. I'm not watching the live coverage so not sure where Porte is right now (the new Plan A) or indeed Thomas (who could have won the stage today given some freedom).

It'll be last man standing at this rate. If Nibbles stays upright, he's got this. Hugely impressive ride up the Plank of the Beautiful Girls. Nobody has an answer to him right now.

I just hope that with what we have left that this race will continue to be a spectacle. When we start getting to some proper alpine climbs I'm hoping that the likes of Costa, Valverde, Pinot, Porte etc can attack and get some time back on Nibali.

This years Vuelta is going to be a cracker. Do we think Team Sky will accomodate Froome and Wiggo for that?

Biggest tragedy of this year's race is we'll never know how good a race it could have been. Nibbles has been hugely impressive & may well have had more than enough to beat Contador/Froome but as it is he's just looked in a different league to everyone else on the road.

I get the feeling that if somebody was able to put pressure on him he's still got more in the tank but once again, sadly, we'll never know.

Gutted for Jack Bauer yesterday, although he spent too much time in the final 500m looking over his shoulder. Shades of Don Fox at the end, the poor lad.

My feelings precisely. The Dauphine set some very interesting questions which I was looking forward to being answered during the Tour.

It would appear that we would have had a pretty good 2 or 3 way ding dong battle for the title this year between Nibbles, Contador and maybe Froome. I only say maybe Froome as I don't believe he was anywhere near his best.

What we're seeing now so far is Nibbles able to add more time to his lead whenever he feels like it. Valverde doesn't look like he has it.

What is interesting now though is whether there can be a Frenchman on the podium. That would be a great result for racing in France.

I was gutted for Jack Bauer yesterday but if he hadn't sat on the wheel the towards the end then I think they'd have made it. I've been a big fan of Garmin but I've gone off them a little this time round for dropping Millar in the belief that Talansky was a serious GC threat (even I could have told them that the only reason he won the Dauphine was because Contador sat looking at Froome for too long).