On The Road at the Tour de France: A race that makes up its own set of rules

Martin Ayres now hands over to his colleague Neil Thompson at Jaguar for Tour de France 2013. Neil has worked at Jaguar for a similar time as Martin, but feels less inclined to name a number! He also was the first embedded performance mechanic with the team in 2011, and here picks up the ‘On The Road’ Blog. Like Martin, he is a big pro cycling fan now after spending time with the team.

Consistency, they say, is a fine thing. In sport it certainly is, and many heads more qualified than mine have proved it. But the Tour de France dictates to hell with all that, and makes up its own set of rules – all of which revolve around wonderful, fascinating inconsistency.Little Black Dress

Everything Team Sky do, every day, has to be done in a different way – and almost always in a different place – to the day before. Sure, the tasks remain similar, but the execution of them has to change each time. I think that is the beauty of bike racing. The fundamental fact that the sport revolves around pedalling, not e.g. running, means that everything constantly changes – the scenery, the fans, and most importantly the racing.view more

Suad Abu-Dayyeh is a Middle East/North Africa Consultant for Equality Now

On 15 June 2013, two Saudi women’s rights activists, Wajeha Al-Huwaider and Fawzia Al-Oyouni, were sentenced by the District Court in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia to 10 months in prison and banned from travelling outside of the country for two years following completion of their prison terms.

In 2011, Wajeha and Fawzia responded to a plea for help from Nathalie Morin, a Canadian woman. They received a text message saying that Nathalie and her children were locked in her house and in need of food. Upon arriving close to Nathalie’s home, they were confronted by police and arrested. The charge they were ultimately convicted of was “supporting a wife without her husband’s knowledge, thereby undermining the marriage.”view more

What happened when Simon O’Hagan tackled the fearsome “Giant of Provence” in the 2009 Etape du Tour

He was lying flat out on his back, his bike by his side, about halfway up Mont Ventoux. I was put in mind of a medieval knight, fallen in battle, memorialised in stone alongside his trusty steed. His eyes were closed and he actually looked quite content.Long Prom Dresses uk

Nearly 48 hours after completing the 2009 Etape du Tour – 170kms from Montelimar to the top of Mont Ventoux in Provence – this is the image that keeps coming back to me. It seemed to sum up that final climb, the climb that all of us Etapers had been thinking about – imagining what it would be like, getting our heads round it, reading about it, stressing about it, over-stressing about it, burying ourselves in the legend of it - for months on end. And now finally I was on it, and here was this poor middle-aged man, too exhausted to even drag himself off the road, and I was weaving my way round him, determined not to suffer the same fate but by no means certain that I would. So THIS was what the Ventoux was like.view more

Silhouette: A-line 

Neckline: Sweetheart 

Waist: Empire 

Hemline/Train: Long Length 

Sleeve Length: Sleeveless 

Embellishments: Beading 

Fabric: Chiffon 

Built-In Bra: Yes 

Fully Lined: Yes 

Shown Color: Pink 

Body Shape: Hourglass, Inverted Triangle, Misses 

Occasion: Prom, Evening 

Season: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter

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