Greig Leach

Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), the TV announcers, Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, the remaining peloton and me were all surprised and confused when Richie Porte (Team Sky) suddenly lost contact with the group. He went to his radio to talk to the team car and Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) dropped back with him. Nieve was there to pace the Sky leader up the climb, hoping he would recover as quickly as he hit the wall. Porte started losing big chunks of time right away and was probably going to be almost as out of contention as Chris Froome or Alberto Contador (both of whom had already gone home). Naturally, the Photo Moto dropped back with Porte trying to get the shot that told the story of yet another deviation from the script of the 101st Tour de France. For the previous two years, we have gotten use to seeing the black kit with the wide blue stripe of Team Sky controlling the peloton with the Yellow Jersey at the back of the line. Will it be the turquoise of Astana instead for this edition of the Tour?