Tour de France: a "rest day" from analysis, Jens Voigt fills in

Tour rest today: Jens Voigt fills in the gap

It's my rest day today.  A day late, relative to the race, but nevertheless, no analysis today. Possibly tomorrow either (busy period at work), but to get you through these two days, while we await the onslaught of the Pyrenees on Thursday, for entertainment alone, here are some clips of one of the sport's characters, Jens Voigt, who is always guaranteed to give a great interview.

Sport needs more characters who enrich the sport with their outspokenness and entertainment value, and Voigt is one of the best.  It's not for nothing that Voigt, convinced by team-mates to start a Twitter account, found himself with 30,000 followers within his first day!  Whether his tweets match his interviews, time will tell!  Speaking of Twitter, don't forget to follow us, for links, short thoughts and opinions as they happen in the course of our day!

I'm sure you'll be seeing much more of Voigt in the coming days as he rides in support of the Schleck brothers, but for now, enjoy some of the unique perspectives from the peloton.

And again, if you are reading this as an email, please click here to be taken to the site where you can watch the clips.

Jens Voigt following a big crash - "didn't crash on my head, didn't crash on my face"



Always optimistic about his team leader's chances



Best of all...Shut up legs - winning the battle of the mind



Johnny Hoogerland update

And lastly, speaking of characters in the sport, Johnny Hoogerland unwillingly became one of cycling's new colorful characters when he was launched into a barbed-wire fence during Sunday's stage, and then showed exceptional courage to keep riding.

Since then, his legend has grown (33 stitches later) and he's enriched the sport even more with quotes like "I did what felt like a few somersaults...I landed on the fence and I looked at my legs and thought, ‘Is this what cycling is about?"  And this one: "I know that I'll be in a lot of pain during the rest day. I hope I can recover. It's a pity but I'm a Zeelander. We're not easy to tear apart."

Hoogerland has continued, and today finished the 10th stage 5:59 down on the front group, no doubt continuing to recover and hopefully get strong enough for the big challenges that lie in wait on Thursday.

Enjoy Wednesday, and we will hopefully return with some analysis ahead of the mountain showdown!

Ross