by recently 3 months, rediscovered the bug i had a few years ago.

Thoroughly enjoyed watching the highlights of the stage last night. If this is what the Vuelta has in store for us over the next few weeks my earlier excitement will indeed be justified.

I wondered whether yesterday was Contador working out who were his contenders were. Working everyone over to understand who could be allowed time in breaks and who he needed to stick close to.

By the very nature of the small time gaps between the top 20 or so it also showed just how different a clean peleton performs.

I've not got a tourer but I recently invested in a winter road bike. Its a Scott Speedster S55 with room for mudguards and panniers and came in at just under £700. Seems like a good bike so far.

Might be better to go on the road cc forums for some more specific tourer advice.

Very much so and it looks like a four-way scrap - Valverde, C*ntador, J-Rod and Froome.

if you want a classic touring bike you can spend long hours on banging out the miles, then the dawes galaxy should be on your list - retails about £1100, though you should be able to get one for a grand. this bikes been around for ages, steel frame and very strong. obviously its not a speed maching but for lugging stuff around and being a comfy ride i would have a look at it.

the other major maker of tourers is ridgeback

It's been turned into a duel.

Thoughts on the poodle haired pr*ck yesterday......

So the whole peloton attacked after Valverde hit the deck did they?

Or..........and I'm 99% certain that this is what I saw.

Crosswinds hit at a time when the peloton realised it was now or never to catch the breakaway. Sky went to the front with BMC to drive the peloton along and Valverde found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was a 'racing' accident and not a mechanical failure.

So should the peloton stop when the race leader has an accident down to his own bike handling skills? Sky did not attack after he went down. Valverde fell down because Sky attacked. In this case I don't think Sky should have stopped. I'm damn sure it was Movistar I saw attacking the day Cadel Evans had his punctures. I'm also pretty sure Movistar did something similar in Paris-Nice.

It's OK to occupy the high moral ground Movistar if you occupy it all the time and not just when it suits.

Valverde would not know high moral ground if it came up and smacked him in his dirty unrepentant dopers mouth!

There is no way I can believe that Flecha took a whole group down in the cynical fashion Movistar are suggesting. Also, I think it's indicative of the regard that Valverde is held in that the rest of the peloton decided to carry on as well - not just Sky, but BMC and Katusha too. I particularly liked the way Philippe Gilbert told the Movistar team car to sod off. Should Movistar decide to get some sort of payback or revenge, I doubt they'll find too many willing allies.

Quite glad Rodriguez got back with the Froome/C*ntador group before the end yesterday. Just hope they can drop C*ntador at some point soon - again, someone I don't think will find too many friends in the peloton if things start going wrong for him.

Noddy stage today.

Agreed John - All that Flecha and Stannard did was attack. They didn't take Valverde down - Valverde hit the deck because he couldn't handle his bike. Crosswinds meant it was the northern european style hard men who could drive the peloton, form the echelons that you might see in some of the classics.

All that might happen is that the Spanish fans might be showering Froome with a few spits over the next few weeks.

I'm conflicted when it comes to bad Bertie. I like what he does to bring a race to life. You have to admit that Monday was superb with his 6 attacks? I still think he is a dirty unrepentant doper but I like him a bit more than Valverde.

Today I'm going for a Ben Swift win.

Same as Valverde for me. And for all his attacking, Froome just kept turning those pedals over and never let him get away. And then did him at the finish anyway.

What's troubled me so far is that Froome seems to be alone very early in these climbs. I'm not expecting Flecha and Stannard (northern European-style hard men - a term I'll be using more often in future, thanks) to be with him there, but the two little Colombian mountain goats. Where have Henao and Urán been?