Summary: No competition for two-time World ITT Champion Stefan Kung in his home tour. A pop-up storm caught out a few cyclists during the middle of day and left a wet road for the last cyclists on the course.

Result: 124th, +2'52" - Of course it started raining right as I came up to the start house and didn't stop until my ride was finished. Not fair. I want a do-over. So, does Simon Yates... 59th, +1'44".

Summary: Standard sprint finish goes to a photo finish with Soraya Paladin beating out Pascal Ackermann and Marc Sarreau.

Result: 68th - Finished in the front group and avoided any trouble. Yates had a bounce back day by sprinting to a sixth-place finish. After the stage, I learned about my boyfriend's injury over the phone.

He challenged me to win my first Pro Tour stage in the mixed gender peloton. He has a lot more confidence in me than I have believing in myself. I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask if I could go for breakaways.

Summary: A morning breakaway of five like the profile of the route today with a challenging hilly finale that could allow one of them to sneak away for a win. Three men and two females make up the group.

Ladies first...

Kirsten Wild: The cobbled specialist has yet to have a breakout result in the mixed gender peloton. The 40-year-old veteran is running out of time to do so with this being her final season in the peloton.

Grace Garner: The younger sister of Lucy van der Haar only has one top 10 to her name in the mixed peloton with a 10th place finish at the Grand Prix de Wallonie last season.

Odd Christian Eiking: The former Norwegian RR champion is arguably the most dangerous cyclist in this group and sits 35th in the World Tour rankings. Surprising the peloton let him get away this early.

Cameron Meyer: Looking for his second stage win of the season after taking a stage win in the Settimana Internaziaonle Coppi e Bartali... That's a mouthful.

Oliver Naesen: Last but not least, the 2018 Paris-Roubaix and 2021 Ronde Van Vlaanderen winner. Naesen will be disappointed today's route won't be taking a detour over to some cobbles.


Garner and Wild can't keep up with the boys as we enter the final 60kms.


Eventually, as expected, Eiking is the only one left with 40kms left.


But, he never stood a chance either. Fernando Gaviria leads home 18-cyclist group to the line for the stage win. Arnaud second and Simon Yates third.

Result: 95th, +3'52" - My phone buzzed again after the stage. This time it was a text, "Saw your cute 'determined' face on TV I'm surprised you took my advice for a change. Although, still waiting for that win..."

Summary: A very strong 11-cyclist morning breakaway starts us off. There are three familiar riders who featured in yesterday's break — Odd Christian Eiking, Cameron Meyer and Grace Garner — plus some new faces in Walter Martinet, Pieter Serry, Chris Herbert, Andrey Amador, Sven Erik Bystrom, Tom Bohli, Christoph Pfingsten and Olav Hjemsaeter.


The break starts attacking each other fairly early with 95kms to go to try and get rid of some dead weight. Pfingsten, Serry and Garner decide it's not worth the hassle and drop back to the peloton, which is only two minutes back.


Looks like they had the right idea. Everyone is eventually pulled back as the remaining peloton gets ready to start the final ascent of the day.


After a few kilometers of the favourites looking at each other, Sam Oomen goes on the attack with 4kms left to the top of the climb. But that move is pulled back by the World RR Champion Bob Jungels. Only 23 cyclists remain up front now.


From one World Champ to another, it's Michal Kwiatkowski outlasting Stefan Kung and Oomen for the stage. Mikkel Berg keeps the GC lead despite finishing 12th.

Result: 44th, +2'17" - Maybe breakaways aren't my thing.

Summary: The strongest legs today belong to Aussie Jai Hindley.

Result: 51st, +7'49" - All hands on deck to help Simon Yates and he didn't exactly deliver — finishing 8th, 51 seconds behind Hindley.

Summary: Good luck to the peloton today. The breakaway is 16 cyclists strong. Most notably, SEG Racing has put four cyclists up the road (Sergio Samuel, Jhonatan Narvaez, Thomas Hyravy and Grace Garner). Simon Yates doesn't have much help back in the peloton. Narvaez is the highest ranked GC rider in this group in 20th place, 7'01" behind Mikkel Bjerg.


The breakaway is getting trimmed down slowly. Halfway up the second climb, Andrey Amador, Christoph Pfingsten and Garner are left behind.


The peloton picks up Odd Christian Eiking and Garner with 13kms to go. It's a job well done for Garner as she helped her team keep three cyclists up in the front group.

There is still eight of them up there with a 5'20" lead over the peloton. So, SEG has a 37.5% chance of winning today's stage. Narvaez with an outside shot to take the GC lead as well if the peloton lets up at all.


It's Gorka Izagirre taking the breakaway victory ahead of Amador, who got dropped earlier in the stage but battled back on the downhill, and Thomas Hyravy. They finish 2'12" ahead of the peloton.

Result: 65th, +6'01" - Surprised the peloton let four SEG cyclists escape in the morning breakaway. I took on the role of protecting everybody, shame it didn't produce a stage win. Three in the Top 7 ain't bad though.

Summary: Even at 38 years old Chris Froome still has the leg power to win a mountain sprint. Also, Mikkel Bjerg misses the front group split and loses just enough time to give Bob Jungels the GC lead by two seconds.

Result: 90th, +9'24" - Helped protect Simon Yates early in the day and then took the final climb off to recover for the final two stages.

Summary: Drop of the flag and Grace Garner is gone. She is followed by Piet Allegaert and Pierfrancesco Piretti. They are later joined by Timo Roosen, Jose Miralles and Tom Bohli. Last chance for these cyclists to steal a stage win with a ITT coming tomorrow to finish the tour.

A massive crash in the peloton with 76kms to go, gives them hope that this move actually might pay off.


With 5kms to go, the peloton is cutting this one close. The breakaway is clinging onto a 45-second lead. If they work together until the end, there is a chance they could pull this off.


Roosen gears up the final sprint. On paper, he might be the odds on favourite to win this sprint. But leading things off is always risky. Garner is on his wheel looking for her first stage win in the mixed peloton.

Speaking of which, the peloton is losing ground... now 55 seconds back with 2kms left. Not looking good for them. Just no organization.


Under the banner! One of these six are taking home a win today!


Roosen hits the wall. Garner out his slipstream and into the lead! Piretti pushing hard down the middle trying to catch her. They can see the finish line dead ahead.


It's Piretti vs. Garner. What a finish this is going to be!


Grace Garner! Oh man, what a well-deserved victory after her numerous attempts of getting into breakaways throughout this tour.

She is absolutely elated with this result. As she should be.


Result: 1st - That's for you Marcus.

Summary: Mikkel Bjerg wins the stage and easily erases his two second deficit to Bob Jungels to claim the GC win as well.

Result: 96th, +4'19" / 63rd overall, +31'56" - Nothing more than a victory lap. I didn't get much sleep last night anyways, Marcus and I talked via video chat for hours. I always remember the look on his face when he picked up the call. "That's my girl! Let's go! I'm so proud of you... Did you save me any champagne?"

"I got you a bottle for you so we can celebrate together. Oh, and you aren't going to believe this. Just found out I made the Tour de France roster! Team manager Michiel Elijzen liked what he saw here and vouched that I earned a spot."

- Each member gets 4.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 55.0.
- Stats are bumped up in PCM when they hit that number, ex. 55.9 = 55 in-game, and 61.4 = 61 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 85. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery.
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Summary: A stalemate, back-and-forth first half turns into a dramatic second half when Alex Iwobi opens the scoring in the 51st minute. The Arsenal winger slipped behind Senegal's backline off a perfectly weighted through ball by John Hazmat.

Time wasting tactics backfired when Senegal found the equalizer in the 81st minute off a corner kick. Pape Cisse cleaned up a rebound and everybody thought extra time was ahead.

Super sub Marcus Diamond had other ideas.

In the final minute of stoppage time, Diamond whipped in a sublime ball over the top from the halfway line to spring free Kelechi Iheanacho.


Rating: 6.8 - Not exactly 100% yet, so I was brought on late to make a difference. I'd say a game-winning assist is a job well done.

Player of Game: Kelechi Iheanacho, Nigeria (8.3)

Summary: Close your eyes Nigeria fans. This one is going to hurt. From the own goal to kick off the game to getting beat on a counter-attack goal, this was a contest the Flying Eagles should have won.

Even Marcus Diamond being at the right place at the right time couldn't save them. His fourth international goal comes in a crushing defeat.


Rating: 6.8 - Low fitness had me starting at striker ahead of Kelechi Iheanacho, who tried to save us late but didn't have enough time. I think I did my part with the lone goal, too bad we needed a few more.

Surprisingly, after the match, we were told head coach Jay-Jay Okocha was fired. We were all shell-shocked at the decision. One bad loss after nearly a whole year of winning and a Round of 16 World Cup appearance... Not good enough apparently. Who knows if the next head coach will give me the same opportunities that Okocha did.

Okocha departs with a 25-6-1 record in two seasons with Nigeria.

On July 25, Nigeria appointed long-time youth coach Manu Garba as Okocha's replacement. Garba recently got the Nigeria youngsters to the Round of 16 in the U20 World Cup before bowing out to Argentina, 2-0.

Player of Game: Geraldo, Angola (7.4)

- Each member gets 6.5 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
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Summary: Very strong start list for today's one-day race. So strong that last year's winner Marcus Diamond doesn't make the pundits cut to be on the favourites list. Or perhaps they don't believe he can fool the peloton a second time with a late attack on the Tienne du Dragon climb to steal the victory again. Or, more realistically, the feisty Brit hasn't raced in two months due to an injury.


Heavy rain throughout the day making this one a miserable one for the riders. As we approach the final climb up the Tienne du Dragon, six late attackers (Ligthart, Korsaeth, De Gendt, Vermote, Schelling and Van Keirsbulck) are going for glory with 18 cyclists left to scramble behind.


The catch is made near the top of the climb.


Marcus Diamond uses the confusion of the catch to launch the same attack he did a year ago. He couldn't afford to wait for a bunch sprint with a handful of sprinters still left in the front group. But surely this move can't work twice. Or can it?


Diamond looks over his shoulder and sits back down with 6kms to go. Everyone knew what was coming and stopped him dead in his tracks.


Sprinters take the spoils this year. Danny Van Poppel over Sam Bennett.

Result: 12th - I'm no longer a newbie flying under the radar. Everyone knows my name and what I want to do. Got to be smarter and find new ways to attack the peloton, which proved to be hard to do on this route.

Summary: Only 84 cyclists in the peloton today with 14 teams limited to six riders apiece. Typical English weather sees rain falling throughout.


Full speed ahead going past the London Eye. Sprint finish coming.


Around the final bend.


Out of nowhere it's the newly crowned Great Britain RR champion Christopher Lawless taking the victory on the line — how fitting?

Result: 12th - I helped position Lucy van der Haar near the front of the sprint and jumped back in line to see how much juice I had left in the tank. Turns out way more than what Lucy had. She slipped back hard to 23rd. And I wasn't even the best finisher for SEG. Patrick Van Der Duin sprinted in for 9th place. We could have handled that better.

- Each member gets 4.0 points to spread however they like over the 13 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 55.0.
- Stats are bumped up in PCM when they hit that number, ex. 55.9 = 55 in-game, and 61.4 = 61 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 85. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery.
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Summary: After 90 minutes of heart-pounding action, this instant classic will need to be decided by a penalty shootout. The pressure mounts as Ajax's striker Ze Gomes steps up to the spot first...


Feyenoord jumps out to a 1-0 lead after the first kicks. Otavio also scored Feyenoord's lone goal in regulation with roughly a half hour to play to force penalty kicks. Here come the second kicks.


Zoet is playing out of his mind, Bony in disbelief, and 18-year-old Thijs Visser is making his case to crack Feyenoord's Starting XI this season. Easily the biggest goal in his young career so far.


Feyenoord could have ended it after the third round, but Justin Pistoor keeps Ajax alive with a brilliant diving save. Ajax can't afford another slip up, or it's game over and Feyenoord lifts the Cup again.


Diamond did everything right in sending Pistoor the wrong way. Now starring down an open net, the powerful strike was pulled wide, smacked the left post and stayed out. Johan Cruijff Arena gasped in agony.


Somehow, someway, Ajax comes back from the brink of elimination to force sudden death. The Feyenoord supporters can't believe what they are watching. Their team had five separate chances to win this.


Not how they drew it up, but Feyenoord defends the Dutch Super Cup!


Rating: 6.5 - I'm going to have nightmares about that penalty. But, hey, at least we still won. That's my second Johan Cruyff Shield victory in consecutive seasons.

Player of Game: Gonzalo Fernandez, Ajax (7.6)

Summary: Early goal from new signee Kristian Bagger had Rotterdam rocking, but FC Porto salvaged a draw with a crucial away goal in the second half. Ivo Rodrigues cleaned up a rebound from a difficult angle.

Rating: 7.1 - I got moved around the pitch and played multiple positions once Rodolfo Pizarro had to come off at halftime due to a bruised ankle. He will be out 2-3 weeks.

Player of Game: Kristian Bagger, Feyenoord (7.7)

Summary: A dull start to the season for both sides. Taking a closer look at the stats suggest Feyenoord should just be happy with a scoreless draw away from home. Surprisingly, 21 total fouls only turned into one yellow card.

Rating: 6.6 - No need to panic, we are building up chemistry.

Player of Game: Alfons Huntink, Feyenoord (7.4)

Summary: Enner Valencia sends Feyenoord packing with a 25-yard wonder strike in the first half that goes bar down. No chance for Jeroen Zoet. FC Porto parks the bus in the second half and keeps Feyenoord out. The defeat breaks Feyenoord's streak of 14 straight games without a loss (dating back to last season, and including friendlies).

Feyenoord still earns a spot in the Europa League competition.

Rating: 6.4 - I'm usually pretty reliable in big games. Not today.

Player of Game: Enner Valencia, FC Porto (8.3)

Summary: Feyenoord unloads some of its pent up frustrations. Nicolas Messiniti breaks through for his first two goals for the club and Rodolfo Pizarro returns from injury with a goal as well. Very strong first half, but not much to be said about the second half.

Rating: 7.1 - Mostly a bystander in the midfield left to daydream about the upcoming 21 days in Spain.

Player of Game: Nicolas Messiniti, Feyenoord (8.8)

- Each member gets 6.5 points to spread however they like over the 36 attributes listed above. One post per member.
- Only stats that aren't locked can be upgraded.
- Stats work on a decimal system starting at 1.0.
- Stats are bumped up in FM when they hit that number, ex. 2.9 = 2 in-game, and 13.4 = 13 stat in-game.
- The decimal numbers will remain hidden.
- There is a threshold for each stat when more points are needed to increase that stat. It's start off on a 1-to-1 scale where 1 point equals 1 stat upgrade. However, the scales get exponentially further and further apart the closer that stat gets to the maximum of 20. The increasing scale will also remain a mystery and is different from the cycling progression scale.
-Comment below to provide stat upgrades.