The second rest day certainly comes with a touch more optimism. We are further south, the sun is shining, and Paris seems close, but yet so far.

There is far more of a buzz around the hotel but that may have something to do with sharing our accommodation with two other teams, and possibly the humming of cars from the motorway which is less than 1km away.

Week two of this years tour has been thankfully less dramatic than the first one, it couldn’t not have been really. Knock on wood nobody really touched down this week so it’s been a case of keeping things steady and on top of even the smallest of issues, discomforts or hints of injury.

As we approach week two and three of the tour small problems can become big problems quickly, as the fatigue sets in and the immune system typically starts to wane.

The great news is that pretty much across the board everyone seems to have hit the slot this week, the reason being I believe as their bodies begin to get used to the rigours of the race and the body adapts.

What we end up with is athletes bio-mechanically stronger this week than last and hopefully next week stronger still. So on the contrary to what may be expected I have had slightly less to do this week but then again not crashing definitely helps.

The high of the week was definitely Thors win into Lourdes, clinical, calculating, efficient and executed to perfection. Earlier in the stage while waiting at the finish, John the physio and I headed to Le Grotto in Lourdes an interesting if very sad place as I have never seen so many sick, unwell or disabled people in one place.