Trial by cobbles could further unsettle Tour de France contenders who are already battered and bruised So, after two quiet, uneventful days of the 2010 Tour de France, the riders head for the cobbles. With almost all the major contenders nursing bumps and scrapes, some more serious than others, the last thing any of them wants to do today is ride across nine miles of bone-jarring pavé .
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Riders prepare for bump and grind
• Citizens who knowingly take chances face liability • Fear proposed law may hit reporters and aid workers French tourists who run into trouble after taking unnecessary risks overseas could have to pay for their rescue and repatriation under legislation debated today by MPs in Paris. The proposed law, put forward by a government tired of having to foot the bill, would enable the state to demand reimbursement for “all or part of the costs … of foreign rescue operations” if it deems that travellers had ventured knowingly and without “legitimate motive” into risky territory.
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France ponders law on risky trips
• Frenchman takes yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara • Andy Schleck among those who crashed during 201km stage Wet weather contributed to another tumultuous day as the Tour de France visited Spring Classics country in Belgium today. The 201 kilometres stage from Brussels to Spa saw the 97th Tour’s first climbs and further crashes, following an incident-packed first road stage from Holland yesterday.
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Chavanel seizes yellow jersey
• Britain’s Mark Cavendish crashes out in final kilometres • Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland retains yellow jersey A crash-strewn final three kilometres of the first road stage of the Tour de France between Rotterdam and Brussels was won by Alessandro Petacchi. Mark Cavendish and Oscar Freire went wide on a right-hand bend with 3,000 metres of the 223.5-kilometre first stage to go, before a second – and this time more serious – crash one kilometre later wiped out Tyler Farrar’s hopes of an American success on Independence Day. Italy’s Petacchi was the major benefactor, winning the sprint for the line with the 20 or so riders to emerge unscathed from the second collision.
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Petacchi wins first sprint after pile-up
A record number of British cyclists are participating in the Tour de France and hopes for success are high After a sojourn in South Africa and a couple of weeks in south-west London, the great British summer of sport will next circumnavigate France, by way, briefly, of Holland and Belgium.
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Brits saddle up for Tour de France
Decision provokes anger in country where monthly minimum wage in cities is just £50 Kenyan politicians were accused today of plundering state coffers after awarding themselves a monthly pay rise of nearly 25%, making them some of the best-paid legislators in the world. After resisting calls to pay income tax for years, MPs finally agreed yesterday night to pay the tax, but only after giving themselves a sweetener of 240,000 shillings (£1,960) taking their monthly pay to 1,091,000 shillings (£8,920). The news was greeted with anger in Kenya, where the minimum wage was last month raised to £50 a month for employees in cities and £25 for farm workers.
Barristers swap theatrical insults as artist François-Marie Banier faces charge of swindling Liliane Bettencourt out of millions The trial of a society photographer accused of tricking the L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt out of €1bn (£823m) erupted into shouting, insults and threats between two of France’s leading lawyers as the hearing opened today.
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L’Oreal trial grips France
John Suchet on buying a French ruin, travelling with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, and avoiding gecko ‘do-do’.
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John Suchet’s holiday heaven and hell
Fabio Capello and his Italian cabal has the FA considering the insanity of blocking the road to English coaches Whoever comes in next as England’s general manager (aka fixer) is unlikely to have a stake in a theatre company in Florence, sport heavyweight literature on trips or express strong left-wing views. A free spirit and all-round dude, Franco Baldini would be the ideal No2 if the game’s so-called mother country were to erase her identity and enter all tournaments from now on as Englatalia. As Fabio Capello dangles on indecision’s rope the feeling spreads that England’s experiment with the mass importation of foreign expertise has run its course
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Paul Hayward
Hit the auto-update button for the latest posts and email barry.glendenning@guardian.co.uk with your Iberian banter 83 min: Spain get the ball out to Villa on the left wing again. Ricardo Costa is a study in concentration, staring at the Jabulani as his nemesis jinks this way and that. He eventually sticks his foot in and wins the ball, prompting Villa to fall over and appeal for a free.
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Spain v Portugal – live!