Stage Two: Auray > Saint-Brieuc

Stage Two began at Auray, in the area of Bretagne (go Breton Girl sweater project!). It is the first time that a stage of the Tour has taken place here. Auray is a tourist area with medieval flavor. Its architectural features include stone bridges and wood paneled houses.

The day's stage ended at Saint-Brieuc, the "leading scallop fishing zone." SB is a bay also classed as a nature reserve. Sailing is the most popular sport, though the Tour has visited the area before. It is also noted for its Art Rock Festival.

With windy, rainy weather and an uphill finish, the sprinters faced quite a challenge. Sylvain Chavanelle of the Cofidis team was at the head of the race for most of the stage, until he was caught near the end by the peloton. After a huge surge for the line, Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole won the sprint.

Stage Two General Classification Standings:

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) -- Yellow Jersey
Kim Kirchen (Columbia) -- Green Jersey
Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) -- Polka Dot Jersey
Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval-Scott) -- White Jersey

Our Lantern Rouge is Mauricio Soler of Team Barloworld, in 179th place. After crashing and possibly breaking his wrist yesterday, the bandaged rider is giving us all a lesson in sports(wo)manship -- he may have finished last today, but he finished. Knit on!!!

Intermediate Sprint!!!
Occasionally over the course of the Tour we will be posing you with individual challenges. (Completion of each, any, or all of the intermediate sprints is optional but we hope you'll find them a fun way to engage with your fellow Tour knitters!) And yes there will be a yarn-y prize on offer!

Each intermediate sprint will have three options - a knitting option, a cycling option, and a France option. Hopefully one of the three options will appeal to you, no matter what your reason for knitting along with the Tour!

For the first intermediate sprint, we would like to find out more about you, your project, your knitting, your cycling, and your affaire d'amour with France!

• Knitting Option - Exactly how is your Tour de France project related to France or the Tour de France? No matter how tenuous your link, convince us! Tell a tall tale or pull out the wikipedia references. If the link to France or the Tour is plain, give us some extra information or embellish the facts a bit to paint an entertaining image of the 'Frenchiness' of your project!
• Cycling Option - tell us about your introduction to cycling - either as a cyclist or as a spectator. This could be something like a story about learning to ride a bike, your first century, your first race, or some early memories of watching the Tour. Have you met a cycling hero? Been to the Tour yourself? We want to hear all about it!
• France Option - If you're 'just here for the scenery' tell us in your best Franglais what is that je ne sais quoi about France which you love so much? Do you live vicariously through a French movie, or are you perfecting the art of French cuisine? Do you holiday there or have you always wanted to go? If we were aliens from outer space, what would you tell us makes France so magnifique??
  

Entries may be posted on your blog or (if you do not have a blog) on a photo sharing service such as Flickr or Picasa (you can use the caption and comments/notes facilities to explain your entry).

In order to enter, please leave a comment on this post containing a link to your entry. Entries will close at midnight, Paris time, on July 13th (following the completion of Stage Nine).

The Tour co-hostesses will select a shortlist of entries, which will then be opened up to a vote by all TDF participants to decide the final winner! Bonne chance!!

And now for some team updates...

Team CSC:

Things are starting to sort themselves out for some of our team-mates. Even though she is suffering a hand injury, Judy has managed a couple rows of her After-Dark Nightie. CathyAnn is making progress with her Gwenda cardigan. She has the yoke done as well as 2 inches of the bodice.


Jacqueline (with the best named project) is well on her way with her "Gather Robbie Into My Pullover", her homage to her love Robbie McEwan.
Lori, unfortunately, had a flat and had to get a new tire (she ended up frogging her Pi Shawl and starting over). And Sarah has yet to have all her equipment sorted out. She is still waiting for her pattern to arrive via mail.

Team Lampre update: Here is what team members are knitting. Sarah- Bergere de France Getaway Jacket; Greeley- Manon; Jordan - Starfish Shawl; Donni and Stacey - February Lady Sweater; Cindy - Chappa'ai cardi, her own design; Donna- Tempest; Ann - Brea Bag; Kristen - (me) Hand in Hand Vest. Still waiting to hear what Natalie and and Lisa have chosen, and how everyone else fared on the Grand Depart. Norah Gaughan patterns are popular with Team Lampre - Manon, Starfish, and Brea are all her designs. I got an inch or two done on my vest while at Debby's TdeF party. (Shown is the Getaway Jacket.) Team FDJ News:
Jen is off to a flying start with her Cable Socks, having cast on with some lovely jaune yarn (see photo below). Janine has cast on her Clapotis and is feeling confident after an excellent pre-Tour training effort in which she knit up a mini version to make sure it was all going to work out.
Julia is making two at a time toe-up entrelac socks. As she said, perhaps a little folle but sure to be stunning. Leah is knitting a February Lady Sweater in a lovely green colour.
We also have some lace knitting, with Sarah knitting the Juno Regina stole and Lene knitting the Hanami stole.
Lynn is vying for the white jersey, and she will be making Indian Summer socks. Helen is tackling the I Do shrug as a gift for a wedding at the end of July. Ruth is considering finishing her Baudelaire socks which she started during last year's Tour.
Stacy has just returned from a trip to Italy and will be casting on a baby sweater shortly. I(Reecie) failed to start my Baudelaire socks because there was no domestique around last night to help me wind the yarn.
Here's a pic of Jen's sock in progress:


Day Two Update From Team Liquigas

As promised - photos :-)

Betsydoodle has made a good start with her Ivy Leaf Stole - isn't it looking lovely.

Linz has made Team Liquigas a wonderful button - you can grab an html link straight from her blog She is also making great progresswith the Terttu Shawl - it can be seen Here - Rav link

Joy's toe-up socks - not much progress but then they were always going to be a challenge - and I WILL get there! I also have a surprise up my sleeve :-)

I've hope I've looked at everyone's blogs and Ravelry posts. You can always send photos to either Kate or myself by email too if you like.

Team AG2R-Mondiale

As Katie is in Ireland at the moment and wasn't able to take her Tour de France knitting with her, she'll be knitting when she gets back.
Pam is planning to knit a laptop case.
Keeping warm with while cycling in the Alps was Kathy's reason to choose three projects and she is starting with fingerless mitts.
Gemma has chosen a shawl that has stitches that she hasn't even heard of.
Steph's goal is to finish a secret project that she can't mention on her blog. She had already started it but the deadline is coming up. Won't the recipient be surprised when she sees this!
Besides the lace scarf Paisly is planning to knit, she is thinking of adding a few sprinty projects.
Steph has a cardigan picked out that will be a bit of a challenge for her.
Jen is knitting a capelet and has the information on her ravelry page.
Suzy, who is on Ravelry, is crocheting a stole.
As for me, Shirley, I'm knitting some bike ear warmers, but as I'm not suppose to be knitting at all, my progress will be slow.

All is looking good for Team QuickStep/Stitch

From Gretchen "For the TdF KAL- I'm finishing a UFO for a Ravelry swap, and will count that towards my maillot jaune. Next up- a QuickStep/QuickStitch blue hat- maybe a beret even! And the French Market bag- tres bien!"
Shelley is doing fantastic with her Lace Pi.

Whitney's at stage 2 of her Gansey...Garter Welts.

Jessica is still going at it with her lace...keep going! Jennifer is enjoying the view...of the cyclists!

Keep going girls!

Team Columbia Update

Mari is back for another tour with Clapotis, this time with some scrumptious Malabrigo laceweight.

Jam_Mam has dedicated her July to both the Tour de France and the Tour de Fleece. When she isn’t spinning along with the other spinners she is dedicating her knitting on a stole for her upcoming wedding.

Lyn’s Amplitude’s Entrelac Vest is coming along nicely. This new technique for her looks to be a challenge that she is mastering even with the race to distract her.

Jo has had some difficulty pinning down a project to work on. But we think she has it now! She is going to be working on Mystic Meadows by Anna Dalvi (shawl/wrap).

Devorah had to take some time off of her green jersey project to concentrate on the last two kilometres and finish line results but got back on track!

Christine promises to take better pictures to show off the yarn for the Simple Knitted Bodice that she is doing. She hasn’t wanted to stop knitting except to fast forward through the commercials during the race. Maybe on rest day!

Roxana was inspired by the team jersey and has designed the Team Columbia Cycling socks that she may even wear one day for cycling.

Kathy has had a few false starts with her moebius capelet. Working without a pattern Kathy has had to ensure everything was working properly before beginning.

We are not sure where Martha is at with her Polka Purls Dot Sweater but I have a feeling she will surprise us.

Barbara has a black blob (as she refers to it) that is growing steadily. Be on the lookout for the blob (insert screams of horror here – okay, not really, but it does remind me of the old movie!)

Morgan also had a false start, or perhaps just a misread of the directions. After realizing the next morning that slip was actually skip she was finally able to show some progress on her Wicked sweater.