US 98, the main East-West route along the beaches in the Panhandle is closed at Panama City until some time tomorrow because a QF-4 drone crashed on take-off from Tyndall AFB this morning. The road goes through Tyndall.

The QF-4 is a conversion of the F-4 Phantom, and is used as a target for weapons systems. As a safety measure the aircraft has a detonation charge that can be remotely activated if the ground loses control. They don’t know if that charge went off when the aircraft crashed, so they are closing the road to prevent any risk.

They had to use the charge to destroy another QF-4 last week over the Gulf, because it decided to wander off course.

US-98 over here goes through Hurlburt Field and an Eglin AFB facility on the local barrier island.

Embrun to Chorges

Distance: 32 kilometers.

This is the second individual time trial, but it isn’t anything like the flat speed course of the first one.

Right at the start you begin the category 2 climb to the top of Côte de Puy-Sanières, then you swoop down the other side to find the climb up the category 2 Côte de Réallon. The last ten kilometers are downhill to the finish.

You also need to keep in mind as you pedal that tomorrow will be a really nasty day in the Alps, so you don’t want to tire yourself out.

While rain was thrown in to make the day more exciting, Chris Froome took the stage and extended his leads for both the Yellow and Polka Dot Jerseys. Alberto Contador lost less time than Bauke Mollema, so he is now in second, and his team, Saxo-Tinkoff, moved into the Yellow Numbers.

Gorka Izaguirre didn’t start today. That was a better deal than the one dealt to Jean-Christophe Péraud, who crashed, possibly breaking his collarbone, during a trial run, but started anyway and crashed again ending his Tour.

Red Numbers are not awarded for Time Trials.

Now it’s on to the Alps.

Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 ) [Yellow] 66h 07′ 09″
Peter Sagan ( Svk – CAN – 011 ) [Green] 377 points
Mikel Nieve Iturralde ( Esp – EUS – 116 ) [Polka Dot] 88 points [Froome]
Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) 5 [White]

Team: Saxo-Tinkoff ( TST – 091-099 ) [Yellow numbers]
Stage winner: Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )

Top Ten:

1 Christopher Froome ( GB – SKY – 001 )
2 Alberto Contador ( Esp – TST – 091 ) + 04′ 34″
3 Roman Kreuziger ( Cze – TST – 094 ) + 04′ 51″
4 Bauke Mollema ( Ned – BEL – 164 ) + 06′ 23″
5 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas ( Col – MOV – 128 ) + 06′ 58″
6 Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver ( Esp – KAT – 101 ) + 07′ 21″
7 Laurens Ten Dam ( Ned – BEL – 167 ) + 08′ 23″
8 Jakob Fuglsang ( Den – EUC – 063 ) + 08′ 56″
9 Michal Kwiatkowski ( Pol – OPQ – 153 ) + 11′ 10″
10 Daniel Martin ( Irl – GRS – 175 ) + 12′ 50″

The Rest of the Top 30:
[Read more →]