Tour de France Stage 7 - Rouge goes rogue, can't stop Cummings

Today's stage was one of ups and downs, and that was just the inflatables. More on that later.

As @AndrewSteel88 joined the stage at the halfway point, there had already been a significant split, with a few dangerous riders allowed to go clear by the GC favourites.
From that point, the stage began to rise through a category 4 climb before the category 1 Col d'Aspin just before the end of the stage. For all the mountains on the road through, some of Andy's jokes were falling a bit flat.
Maybe not even then, mate. After yesterday's equine followers, and nutters on cliffs, surely today's stage wouldn't feature any eccentric fans or overzealous animals. Right?
The distractions were set aside as it all kicked off in the breakaway group. I'll let Andy cover what happened.



Quite the burst of excitement! Cummings did indeed make it across to the leaders, but he wasn't satisfied with that.
Understandable, and it was a good point for me to take over the Twitter reins.

As they climbed the Col d'Aspin, Cummings kept powering on out front, while in the peloton, one potential GC contender was struggling, while I developed a fascination with one particular four letter word...

It really was an action-packed stage, but out front, it was all serene for Steve Cummings, cresting the mountain and beginning the descent to the finish line. Meanwhile, the rude jokes went into overdrive.
There were more. No flamme rouge tweet today, but you can't keep a Stark down.
And approach it he did, taking his second win in the Tour de France after last year's win in Stage 14 in Mende. The main group was several minutes back, as Impey, Navarro and Nibali trickled in for second, third and fourth. But then...

#PrayForFlammeRouge. The deflation of the flamme rouge arch (later revealed to have been caused by a spectator accidentally unplugging the generator with their belt, only in France) effectively ended the stage, as while everyone did eventually cross the line, the 3km rule was applied.
That only happened after a protest from Orica-Bike Exchange, after Adam Yates was caught underneath the rapidly deflating inflatable and crashed, requiring stitches in a wound on his chin. However, his efforts in getting clear were rewarded with the lead in the young riders' white jersey standings, and second in GC.

That second is behind Greg van Avermaet, who not only held onto his lead in a stage where some wondered if he could, but extended it by getting in the break, taking another 40 seconds out of the chasing group of favourites.
So after Cummings everywhere, a bit of a limp finish in the end.

Stage results:
1. Steve Cummings (DDD) 3:48:09
2. Daryl Impey (OBE) + 1:04
3. Daniel Navarro (COF) + 1:04

General Classification:
1. Greg van Avermaet (BMC) 34:09:44
2. Adam Yates (OBE) + 5:50
3. Julian Alaphillippe (EQS) + 5:51
4. Alejandro Valverde (MOV) + 5:53
5. Joaquin Rodriguez (KAT) + 5:54

Sprint Classification:
1. Mark Cavendish (DDD) 204
2. Marcel Kittel (EQS) 182
3. Peter Sagan (TNK) 175

King of the Mountains:
1. Thomas de Gendt (LTS) 13
2. Greg van Avermaet (BMC) 13
3. Steve Cummings (DDD) 10
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