Stage 5 Le pavé 38km

Cobblestones! The most diabolical surface imaginable for a race on road bikes! Throw in some rain, and you get pure misery.

Though it didn't rain in NW Ohio. The cobbles were still agony!

You might notice that I am not wearing the team colors today. Euskadi only supplied two team jerseys, and French labor law requires me to provide two days of paid vacation to my femme de blanchisserie for every day that she works. Anyway, I survived the cobblestones, which is more than can be said for the defending champion of the Tour, Chris Froome, who dropped out of the race after crashing for the second consecutive day.