Well just scrap everything I wrote in the previous blog, except that Remco Evenepoel is still in charge. It should have been an uneventful flat stage to pick the race up after the ITT. But COVID… But CRASH… and what did I say about 3 minileague teams unscathed so far?!

Five riders tested positive for COVID-19 before Stage 11 including Pavel Sivakov and (oh no!) Simon Yates. Then a crash saw World Champion Julian Alaphilippe heading off in an ambulance, poor chap. Dislocated shoulder when he slid on the dust, apparently. Here’s the outcome – now EVERYONE has lost at least one rider, and

Team of the Day

Engranajes para los miedos were the top team with stage winner Kaden Groves and 8th place Fred Wright. Martin’s team were featured in the blog for Stage 5, so double Chapeau for Martin! Gears for Fears [thanks Google translate, cos I can’t find my Collins “Gem” Spanish-English dictionary] are now tied with ThinFatBoys [Los gordos delgados] in 3rd place on the Top 10’s chart, just one behind the tied leaders Cuchara and Pain. Close at the top!

Just a quick look at the other category leaders:

• Dave’s Dream Catcher are now ahead in the tally of jerseys and prizes, courtesy of Burgos-BH‘s Jetse Bol picking up the Combativity Prize for Stage 11 (also for Dales’ Flaming Llamas)
• In the Team Time rankings, there is a tie between Just eat the dam porridge and Velo Espana
• And The Pain in Spain are momentarily at the top of the GWR league, BY ONE POINT ahead of Velo Espana

And that’s all folks…

Sorry, I’ll stop there because I already have a backlog of blogs, in case anyone is reading this far. As I think the great broadcaster Alistair Cooke used to say when signing off his “Letter from America”: “If you have been – thank you for listening!”