Stage Ten: Pau > Hautacam

Les montagnes are getting tres difficile, no?

Today's stage takes us to Pau, a noble city that boasts the Chateau de Pau, birthplace of Henry IV and a summer retreat for Napoleon. In addition to being a favorite city for the Tour, it also held the first Grand Prix race in 1901, and still holds Formula Three (?) races today.

Hautacam is a ski resort, but for us it holds the distinction of predicting who might win the Tour's maillot jaune. Each time a stage ends here, whomever is wearing the yellow jersey goes on to win: Go Cadel!!!! [Ed note: I don't pretend to be impartial. I want Cadel to WIN! He came in second last year].

Remy DiGregorio (Francaise des Jeux) was first over Col du Tourmalet, winning the 5000 Euro Jacques Godet prize. He held his lead for some time on the way to the Hautacam, before he was caught by Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval), Juan Cobo (Saunier Duval) and Frank Schleck (CSC). Then Schleck too was dropped, and Piepoli made it to the finish first, winning Stage 10. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) crossed over the line in eighth place, earning enough time to displace Kim Kirchen (Columbia) and take the yellow jersey.

Standings:

Yellow: Cadel Evans!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Silence-Lotto)
Green: Oscar Freire (Rabobank)
Polka Dot/KOM: Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval)
White: Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval)
Team: Saunier Duval

Lantern Rouge: holding steady at 169th place overall, it's still Wim Vansevenant (Silence-Lotto)

ETA: With all the excitement over CADEL, I forgot to wish all French riders, knitters, and everyone else a Happy Bastille Day! The feu d'artifice will be tres beau ce soir!!

Team Lampre update: Donni took a little sidetrip from her TdK project and finished this gorgeous emerald Alhambra scarf.Natalie has reached the ribbing of her finish-the-WIPs sock and should be done in no time!

It's back to the drawing board for Cindy . She found that the Stargate motif was turning out too wide, but with tweaking we know she'll be back on course. Harki the lab once again provides a sense of scale.Donna finds the challenge of completing a project in a given time frame is inspiring her knitting. She finds the Louet linen perfect for knitting in the summer heat and is looking for another summery project to knit with it. As I am TV-less, she filled our team in on Team Lampre's showing in the actual Tour, as I'd noticed the Team name is conspicuously absent in Meg and Debby's posts! : "Well, yes, the uniforms are eye-popping but that seems to be the main thing they have going on. They do have a guy in 16th (?might have changed?) in the overall general classification. So who knows, we may hear more from them yet. "

Team FDJ News:

Here is an update from Lynn, including the perils of trying to knit, watch the Tour and eat breakfast at the same time:
"Because I am working nights I am only just up in time to see ITV4 7pm show. So between trying to eat my breakfast, squitting at the screen trying to locate our riders ( would be alot easier if they were in a different colour shirts) - I keep mixing them up from the front with CSC riders and knitting. I am making some progress with my shrug - possibley finished tomorrow. Also tomorrow my sock yarn will be wound using nephew power, hope it works better than last time as my nosterpinne almost got used in a manner it was not designed for, however a little bribery and correpution (extra pocket money) should help. So I should be able to make a start on the cuffs while waiting for some needles to arrive. The cuffs are beaded and lace knitting. So from Sunday morning I am on 4 rest days before I have to go back to nights on Thursday."

Janine has made some more progress on the Clapotis, and is up to the 10th repeat of the straight section. That works out to one repeat per stage of the Tour so far!
Jen has made some great progress on her yellow cable socks:

Although she is currently being distracted from knitting by a new iPhone. But she'll be back on the bike in no time I'm sure.
Stacy spent her weekend knitting away on the Mon Cheri baby sweater, as well as baking delicious looking scones.
As for me, I made some progress on the socks, finished the toe and started the lace section along the foot. Photos to come shortly, I promise. I like to see myself as a Riccardo Ricco "Cobra" style knitter, I'll strike in about a week's time and knit like the wind to finish the socks!
Rest day tomorrow! But no rest from knitting!
Happy Bastille Day everyone :)

Team AG2R-Mondiale
Suzy is in need of the team car! She was making do with a needle threader, instead of a proper bead threader, and it broke. Hopefully she was able to find a store that sold a bead threader or wire.
Paisley was also having a bit of trouble when, not only did she use up her main colour, but the next wool finished too and she had to use a third yarn to finish the brim. Now that her beret is finished she is working on her clapotis.
Rather than ripping out twisted stitches, Gemma is trying out lifelines for the first time.
Now that she is back from her holiday Katie was able to cast on for her Nether Garments. As she wants them to be colourful, any scraps you have that you could send her would be appreciated. Scraps should be superwash and preferably have some nylon content.
Jen has finished her capelet and is working on her monkey socks.Team CSC:

CathyAnn is having her own Mountain top challenges with her Gwenda cardigan. The sleeves are posing some problems for her and have been frogged multiple times. The bodice is finished, but now CathyAnn is questioning the size. Wishing you luck Cathy Ann!!!

Lori's knitting has slowed down, but she discusses on her blog her love of cycling (and the effectiveness of it to trim down and shape up!).

Sarah spent her weekend in NYC, relaxing, having fun and doing a little knitting -more to update tomorrow!

Elisa is starting to seam up her cardigan, modeled by the lovely Lily (notice that Lily appears to have a cycling jersey on...).

Rabobank are still panting after today's tough stage, but Sandy is making it look easy - check out her fast progress on the entrelac bag:

Beth has triumphed over her first Baudelaire sock and will try to get a picture for us soon; Maria is still fighting her way through the budding lace section on her Swallowtail, but hopes to have half of the first border chart done by week's end. Enjoy the well-earned rest day tomorrow, everyone!

Team Liquigas progress:

Amy has finished one sock and the cuff of the second - a photo has been promised for the next update :-) and I'm looking forward to it - the Burgundy yarn is SUCH a lovely colour.

Sprite has a toe for her sock - yay Sprite :-)

Liana has been sprinting along with her crochet scarf (fan stitch, lace weight, alpaca) sounds lovely doesn't it?

Linz has had a stern word with Terttu and it is now behaving itself and looking fab don't you think. Eleven pattern repeats completed - well done Linz :-) and I love the colour.

Betseydoodle has been picking up border stitches and doesn't her Ivyleaf stole look beautiful? I do hope you are writing this pattern down as you go along - we're all going to want a copy ;-)


And as for me, ( yes, sadly this unattractive looking lower leg is mine ) well I am ready to do the heel. I've been ready to do it for some 24 hours, but I have adopted avoidance tactics for the moment ;-)

Hopefully next time :-)

Team Columbia Update

A quickie update on the team's progress, hopefully photos soon...

Morgan has conquered short rows for the bust of her sweater, while Roxana has had a battle with the cotton she is using for her socks. The lack of give has made them not fit, even though they LOOK like an adult sized sock, Roxana says that they lie! Mari dealt with some tangles and splices but her Clapotis is looking phenomenal! Martha is going to be changing her route with her project, but isn't quitting. Christine had a mild crash with a nasty dropped stitch, but never fear, the knitting did not stop. She instead picked up a wip that had been languishing in her knitting bag. Jam Mam has been jamming along on both her lace shawl AND spinning a bunch of fiber. Barbara is at the point of her pocket, but, is going to try it on first to ensure that it is the right size before moving onto this next stage!




Team Quick Step Update:
Sorry for the lack of photo's, I'm having trouble with Blogger again! To see these wonderful projects, you'll have to visit the blogs.
Jennifer feels her Monet Bag isn't working as well as she expected and has decided to try something new.
Marge is making a break from the peleton and knitting some fingerless gloves.
Shelley is climbing through the Pyranees with her huge and very beautiful lace blanket.
Whitney has climbed mountains, raced ahead of the peleton and stormed the Bastille! With her wonderful Gansey, on which she has finished the front and back and is about to work on her sleeves, once she's got her needles! C'mon Knitpicks!