Roadside St.3: We were off duty when we walked right into the middle of a domestic. This woman wasn’t necessarily scorned but she had uncovered her guy doing something he shouldn’t have been. And we’d only just stumbled away from a meeting with one of France’s self-proclaimed former greatest darts players and into her invective-fuelled path, loverboy’s very defiant ex.

Roadside St.2: It’s all about seconds today, handfuls of them. For the yellow jersey contenders, it’ll be about ripping that kit off Philippe Gilbert’s shoulders. For the likes of Andy Schleck, it’s about whether they can further distance Alberto Contador. For Pez, it’s a day for zipping around the teams’ compound checking out who’s looking strong, reading the body language.

Roadside St.1: In the old days of battle, the windmills at the summit of the Mont des Alouettes were used to calculate how far away opposing troops were and how quickly they were advancing on the hill just outside Les Herbiers. Today, only one still arcs through the sky yet the lazy swing of its sails could have been easily used to measure the distance between Philippe Gilbert and the rest.

Roadside: Press conferences … don’t you just love them? Maybe. Not everyone does. The riders’ minds are elsewhere, already out on the burning tarmac of north-west France. For some guys, it’s like an inquisition; for others, it’s just a case of concentrate, smile, nod, drink carefully from the bottles of Vittel on the tables and get out with minimum fuss. You want a few snippets of wisdom from the most quizzed riders’ mouths? Well, here you go!

It really is one of the best fields in recent years lining up tomorrow at the Passage du Gois to start this 98th Tour de France. Our own Ed Hood sorts out who’s hot and who’s not…

Roadside: That pitcher of artisanal cider seemed like a good idea a couple of hours ago, but doesn’t feel like such a smart move now. There’s a dull ice cream headache, which only lot of l’ eau might cure. A lot changes in a couple of hours. Late this morning, we were headed back to the Tour to bring you a different perspective on Le Grand Boucle. Two hours later, we sat across the aisle from Stephen Roche, 1987 champion, at the teams’ presentation.

The route was unveiled in Paris on Tuesday, but we here at the PEZ coffee shop needed a few days to mull over the possibilities and gather our thoughts before unleashing them in a storm of caffeine and sugar. The verdict? It's going to be a great one.

The boss wants my thoughts on the Tour; but what do I know? I've got my first six day next week and I'm still in shock over Guy Smet going down 29 to 26 to Mario Willems in the kermesse rankings. I need someone who knows the Tour inside out - how about Rubens Bertogliati? He's the Suisse chrono champion and he won a Tour stage stage and held the yellow jersey. He's moving to Team Type 1 for next year, so we can ask him about that too - perfect!