The Tour de France resumed after its rest day with a loop into the stunning countryside around Nîmes. With so many aggressive days of racing behind them, and with the Alps to come, it was hardly surprising that the day felt like a transitional stage – even if the race didn’t actually transition anywhere.

Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and François Thomazeau reflect on the stage as Nîmes celebrates summer and the Tour, before looking ahead to the final stages in the Alps.

We hear from Marc Sergeant, the Lotto-Soudal boss who signed Ewan at the start of the season, and his former sports director Matt White, who let him go from Mitchelton-Scott. There’s also news of Jakob Fuglsang’s withdrawal from the race following a crash and reaction from his Astana team.

François explains when and why you should walk out of a bar in the south of France, Richard talks to AP journalist John Leicester about why today’s stage had special significance for him and his family and there’s another exciting episode of Outside the Team Bus.

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