Dauphine and Drooling.....

Finally! The Dauphine has been watched, phew, now only the rest of the Tour de Suisse to go, plus the backlog of Giro.

I'm afraid I can't get too excited about watching the Giro, but it might come in handy later, when there is no new cycling to watch.

So, the Dauphine: Stage 6. Yellow shoes? What is it with the yellow shoes?

Several of the riders were wearing bright yellow shoes: I've noticed this in almost all the races, generally there are a few riders - never more than one in a team, I think - wearing yellow shoes for no apparent reason.

It's not the sprinter, it's not the team leader, although both of those would make sense, as it's really easy to spot them back there in the peloton.

They don't seem to have anything at all to do with the TdF, and I don't remember seeing anyone in Team Leopard wearing them this year. They don't seem to have anything written on them, so it's not like a sponsor deal: anyone have any ideas? Do tell....

And today we had the famous "Cows on the Road" incident.

Look!

There's one poor guy in the ditch!

If you don't have much to do with cows, it's hard to explain how very BIG they are. And how opposite-of-cuddly they are. Quite a shock, to suddenly encounter two of the things trotting merrily into the peloton.

The other question raised by this raise was the meaning of the strange wording on the road: as well as the usual "We [heart] Andy" and "Shut up Legs" in chalk, I saw a pictogram of what looked like a dog's head, crossed through: the the word LOUP (which translates to wolf) and then the word NON.

This appeared at least three times going up the hill, in yellow: and so regular and well-painted that it didn't look like fan graffiti, it looked like official road markings.

Does that mean No Wolves Allowed (even on leads)? Or perhaps it could mean There Are No Wolves Here, You May Picnic?

Enlightenment, please!