Sunday’s World Cup final will mark the end of Mike Ingham’s distinguished career as BBC radio’s chief football correspondent.

It is fitting that Mike is calling time after a World Cup full of incident, shocks and stories; and I know his commentary on the final will once again live up to the occasion.

Mike joined the BBC more than 40 years ago, starting at BBC Radio Derby, and he took over as football correspondent from Bryon Butler in 1991.

Since then, he has set the standard in authoritative and intelligent football analysis, while his commentary partnership with Alan Green has become legendary. However, it is Mike’s integrity as a broadcaster and trusted colleague which most sets him apart. He cares passionately about the output and the traditions of BBC Sport – and it infuses everything he does.

There are few voices in the modern media which illicit such respect and attention. Put simply - when Mike speaks about football, you stop and listen. For me, it is his meticulous attention to detail, deep understanding of the game of football and whimsical sense of humour which define his broadcasting – and that’s why I am delighted he will continue to be a regular voice on 5 live, presenting a series of special football programmes.

John Murray will be taking over as football correspondent and I know he is extremely honoured to be following in the footsteps of Mike, Bryon Butler and Brian Moore. I also know he will do a wonderful job.

Friday 11 July at 9pm on 5 live, we will be broadcasting Mike Ingham: The World Cup Years when he will look back at the eight World Cup tournaments he has worked on from Mexico 86 through to Brazil 2014. It promises to be a great listen.

Over the course of three days in Ireland the 97th Giro d’Italia rolled past many things dyed or painted pink; sheep, horses, pylons, water skiers, windmills and the hairdo of the mayor of Belfast to name a few.

Now if you are unfamiliar with the Giro, then it’s the first Grand Tour on the racing calendar and this is only the 11th time it has started outside its natural habitat of Italy. First raced in 1909 as a way to boost the sales of the Gazzetta Della Sport, the obsession with pink comes from the colour of the aforementioned paper and has stuck ever since. Thus the person with the quickest aggregate time after three weeks of toil pulls on the Maglia Rosa, or “Pink Jersey”.

The Giro isn’t as well known as the Tour de France but does have the reputation of being the more brutal of the two. Long stages coupled with perverse climbs and frequently terrible weather - just last year they had to rearrange a stage due to the road being closed by snow - mean that the ability to win a Giro goes beyond talent and into the realms of bloody-mindedness. Bradley Wiggins' attempt last year to follow up on his Tour win ended up in a demoralising withdrawal in the second week. British cycling has come a long way, but not this far as yet.

With that in mind it’s been unfortunate that the Tour de France’s well-publicised upcoming long weekend in Yorkshire has meant that the second biggest cycling stage race in the world, starting so close in Northern Ireland, has gone largely under the radar. Not that anyone remembered to tell Belfast this; it was heartening to see how the city had taken to the generally unfamiliar sport, lining every route with London 2012-esque crowds. From the slightly drizzly conditions of Friday night’s Team Time Trial to the grim conditions of the race getting out onto the roads proper on stage two there was a raucously pink, if slightly damp, mob getting into the spirit at all turns.

UK interest in the race was also not helped by a number of high profile names deciding to skip it in favour of a French romance. Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Alberto Contador, Mark Cavendish and even last year’s Giro winner - Italian Vincenzo Nibali - were all absent. Add on late withdrawals such as Peter Kennaugh and it meant that the sole Brit in the race was the lonely figure of Team Sky rider Ben Swift. A man who is in fine form and more than capable of taking a couple of stage wins before the finale in Trieste, but still not a name that would register on most non-cycling fans radar.

However, there were Irish riders present. Riders who were given rock star receptions where ever they went. From every second person who had a story of how Sky’s Phillip Deignan had taught them all they knew about cycling, to the generational pressure on the shoulders of Nicolas Roache, son of the 1987 Giro-winning Stephen, it’s obvious that the Irish had bought into the myth of this fine race.

Then there is the third home rider, surrounded whenever he stopped moving, even for a quick sip of water, the unfortunate Dan Martin. I say “unfortunate Dan Martin” because fresh from falling on the last corner of Liege Baston Liege while leading, here his bike slipped from under him on a wet manhole cover during the Team Time Trial. This resulted in a broken collar bone and an early trip back home via a Dublin operating theatre. His Giro lasted less than 20 minutes.

After the two successful days in an Italio-Belfast melting pot, where Svein Tuft took the Maglia rosa on his 37th birthday on Stage 1 and the German pin up-cum-cyclist Marcel Kittle won the bunch sprint on Stage 2, the caravan then moved down to Dublin. Anything the north could do, the south was going to try and go one better. Once again the centre was a riot of pink, and the big crowds along all routes into Dublin hint at the possibility of a lasting united legacy for cycling across the country. Stage 3 again came down to a bunch sprint - and coming from so far back he was almost in a different city, Kittel accelerated past everyone to win it on the line. I do hope Mark Cavendish wasn’t watching that while he warms his cockles on the Tour of California.

A memory the slightly bewildered Italian race organisers and leather-faced journalists will surely take away will be the idiosyncratic Irish weather. Venturing outside in full waterproofs you’d step into a bright warm May afternoon. By the time you’d swapped cagoule for sunglasses the rain would be coming in sideways. A fact that was proved by the sheer amount of kit the riders had on them at all times. Neoprene scuba gloves nestled alongside short sleeved team jerseys.

So now that the Giro d’Italia takes itself back to the more familiar, and warmer, setting of Bari in Southern Italy, what’s going to happen to all that pink? Of all the things that were rustled up by the local tourist board to fit the colour scheme, possibly the most thankful will be our woolly friends. According to a taxi driver I spoke to, and who would discount the wisdom of a cabbie, the pink hair dye used was not fit for human consumption, thus meaning the sheep have been inadvertently saved from becoming a reluctant guest to a Sunday lunch booking.

So, if only for those grateful ovines, the Giro’s Irish adventure can be seen as a rousing success.

BBC Radio 5 live will bring you the latest from the Giro d'Italia until its conclusion on 1 June. You'll also be able to hear commentary on the 2014 Tour de France from it's start in Yorkshire on July 5. You can read more about both Grand Tours on the BBC Sport cycling pages.

Download the latest BeSpoke podcast here

On November 10th and 11th Victoria Derbyshire will broadcast from Rocinha, one of the largest favelas (slums) in Rio de Janeiro. It’s not far from where the England squad’s main base is due to be when they arrive for the World Cup next June. Ahead of the tournament Victoria will be finding out what supporters making the journey to South America can expect.

Brazil has a population of 196.6 million (UN 2011), in 2011 around 16 million people (8.5% of the population) were living in extreme poverty, defined as having 70 reais (£27) or less a month. The country though is one of the rising economic powers - otherwise known as BRIC nations - together with Russia, India, China and South Africa. It’s estimated there are one million crack cocaine users in Brazil and the latest crime figures show that 406 people were murdered in Rio and the surrounding state in just one month (August 2013). Rio itself is home to more than 600 favelas.

At the moment Brazil is getting the kind of attention it could do without before a World Cup. Protests across the country have become increasingly violent. Beginning in June, as a response to rising public transport costs, the protests have developed into a movement against poor public services, the cost of staging next year's World Cup and better working conditions for teachers. We’ll be speaking to some of those involved who have vowed to continue demonstrating right up to the World Cup finals.

Since 2008 armed police units (Pacifying Police Units or UPP), backed by soldiers and marines, have been going into Rio's favelas to drive out criminal gangs, and establish the first permanent police presences. It’s part of a strategy to take control of Rio's poor districts from drug-traffickers before next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. The figure for how many favelas have been pacified so far is only just over 30. Leaving hundreds still in the control of criminal gangs.

Rocinha was pacified in November 2011. Hundreds of special forces police and navy commandos backed by armoured military vehicles and helicopters moved into the slum before dawn.

We’ll also report from a favela under the control of drugs lords - a no-go zone for police - where shootings are common and drugs are sold openly in markets on the street. Traffickers are known as the ‘parallel power’, running favelas as their own kingdoms. They build the roads and schools, and mete out their own kind of justice: beatings for thieves, heads shaved for fighting.

Around 400 local people are killed by police in Rio every year. We'll meet the sister of a man alleged to have been tortured and murdered by police in his hometown. Ten officers have been arrested, and she is campaigning to find his body.

We’ll hear from prostitutes learning English to try and attract World Cup fans next summer. They reckon they will be sleeping with 40 men a day during the competition.

Two years ago Brazil announced it was spending £1.4 billion to tackle what has been described as a "crack cocaine epidemic". It is estimated the country has one million crack-cocaine users, we’ll be visiting a clinic where crack addicts are treated to hear from patients and staff.

We’ll also report from inside football's Mecca - the Maracana stadium – where the World Cup final is due to be held on 13 July, 2014. We'll sit with fans of the Brazil’s biggest team Flamengo and see for ourselves the passion Brazilians have for the game.

Victoria Derbyshire will be broadcasting from Brazil on Sunday 10 November at 8.30pm and Monday 11 November at 10am.

See more photos from Rocinha here.

Russell Fuller looks forward to the US Open, his first Grand Slam as BBC tennis correspondent.

We're in the city that never sleeps - where jet lag is simply not an option - and Andy Murray just can't escape the attention of the US TV networks.

He's had a hit in front of the cameras with children affected by Hurricane Sandy, and filled a prime breakfast spot on CBS, but has now turned his mind very decisively to the task of defending a Grand Slam title for the first time in his career.

It's a great time to be starting as tennis correspondent, and a great city in which to begin. Take a look at the view from our commentary box, which is perched behind 22 500 people at the very back of the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court.

There are no calls of "Quiet please ladies and gentlemen" from the chair umpire here: there's constant chatter, music and entertainment at change of ends, and all as the jets from La Guardia airport rumble overhead.

You get plenty of bang for your buck here. Play starts at 11am, and one match last year didn't finish until 2.26am the following morning. So we are braced for long days, and cheese with everything - it's not a great place in which to start a diet.

We will have commentary on 5 live sports extra on virtually every day session. Coverage gets underway at 4pm, and some of the best night matches will be on Up All Night from 1am.

We will also bring you at least one of the men's semi-finals, plus both the men's and women's final live on 5 live in a couple of weekends time. Martina Navratilova, John Lloyd and Jeff Tarango will all be part of our commentary team.

David Law, Vassos Alexander and Philip Studd will be flying in soon to join the team, and as long as we don't upset the First Lady during her weekend visit, we will be ready to go from 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon.

Hear commentary and coverage of the US Open on 5 live and 5 live sports extra from Monday 26 August.

The start of the Premier League season is always an exciting time for everyone at 5 live.

We're extremely proud to bring you a total of 128 live matches from the Premier League, with our commentary team led by Mike Ingham, Alan Green, John Murray and Ian Dennis. On top of that, we'll also have coverage of the Champions League, Scottish Premiership, Football League, FA Cup, Capital One Cup, the Europa League and next summer, the World Cup in Brazil. Plus, this year, we'll also be enhancing our coverage of women's football with commentaries from the Super League and some of the key World Cup qualifiers.

However, as we embark on the new season, there is also a sense of sadness in our ranks. For the first time in nearly 40 years, 5pm on Saturdays will not be graced by the familiar, melodious tones of James Alexander Gordon reading the classified football results.

James - or JAG as he is known to friends and colleagues - has been forced to retire as his voice is no longer strong enough to broadcast following surgery to treat throat cancer.

It is a cruel way to end a legendary career. He had made reading the results into an art form - every inflection of his voice indicating which way a match had turned. We will miss him terribly.

It was never going to be easy to replace James, but I am delighted that the former Radio 4 newsreader, Charlotte Green, has agreed to take on the role. She will start on Saturday September 28th and says it is a dream come true.

Only myself and producer, Audrey Adams, have been fortunate enough to hear Charlotte reading the results. We met up earlier this month to have a run through - and it left us in no doubt that Charlotte is the perfect choice to take over one of the most high-profile roles in radio. She can't wait to get started.

Our football line-up includes more new voices this season as well, with Chris Waddle and John Hartson joining our team of pundits, Ian Wright and Kelly Cates presenting Sunday 606 while Dan Walker takes over as Friday 5 live Sport presenter.

So there's lots that is new, but Dan will also be bringing back something old and much loved - the theme music  which used to herald the start of Sport On Two many years ago will now play out at the opening of Dan's show every Friday night. It's a wonderfully evocative piece of music and we hope it will get everyone in the mood for our big weekend preview show. You can listen to it by pressing play below:

Then, after all the action, the Monday Night Club returns with Mark Chapman, Motty and Steve Claridge debating the big issues from the weekend.

But it's not just about big clubs on 5 live - listen out for Caroline Barker's excellent Non League Football Show at 5.30am every Sunday or, if that's too early, it's available as a podcast.

It promises to be another great season and we hope our blend of old and new will be a winning combination for all our listeners.

Dan Walker’s first Friday night 5 live Sport begins at 7pm on August 16^th. You can get in touch with the programme on by calling 0500 909 693, by texting 85058 or by tweeting @bbc5live.

Subscribe to our Football Daily podcast for all our best football analysis. You can also read our full commentaries list here.

Wembley used to be a place of pilgrimage for Scotland fans, who greatly relished their trips to London every two years. A legendary victory there would inspire another generation of supporters to make the journey, like the 5-1 thrashing handed out in 1928 by the team that was instantly dubbed the Wembley Wizards.

Of course, there was 1967 when Scotland humbled Sir Alf Ramsey’s side on the same turf on which they had won the World Cup a year previously. Sure, the score was only 3-2 but the Scottish performance was personified by Jim Baxter, playing keepie-uppie with the ball as he sauntered down the left wing.

There are also one or two occasions they don’t talk about much in Scottish pubs. The 7-2 defeat in 1955, the 9-3 battering in 1961 or the 1975 episode, when Rangers’ Stewart Kennedy picked the ball from his net five times. “They shot the wrong Kennedy,” said the graffiti on Glasgow walls.

By the time I started going to Wembley the fixture’s days were numbered because of hooliganism. In 1977 the Scottish support had celebrated a 2-1 win by leaving with the pitch and goalposts. England casuals began to appear in Glasgow in the 1980s and the annual meeting of the sides was abandoned at the end of that decade.

Scotland did return to Wembley for Euro 96, only for Gary McAllister to miss a crucial penalty kick, which was followed by a glorious strike by Paul Gascoigne who, to rub a barrel of salt into gaping Scottish wounds, was Scotland’s player of the year due to his Rangers form. In 1999 Don Hutchinson netted the winner in a Euro 2000 playoff at Wembley, but sadly for the Scots, Paul Scholes had scored twice in the first leg at Hampden Park four days previously.

That was that – until this week’s episode. Mind you, whatever happens at Wembley between Roy’s boys and Gordon’s Grenadiers, it won’t change the answer to one favourite pub quiz question:

Q: Who was the last native Scot to score against England in a men’s senior competitive fixture? (answer below the picture of Don Hutchison's 1999 winner)

A: Ray Houghton, born in Glasgow in 1962, for the Republic of Ireland at Euro 88.

The Auld Enemy is at 9.30pm on Tuesday 13 August on BBC Radio 5 live. You can listen again for seven days by clicking here. 5 live has full commentary on England v Scotland from 8pm on Wednesday 14 August.

Yesterday Mark Cavendish won his 24^th Tour Stage, and he did it with ease. He’s arguably the best sprinter that the cycling world has ever seen.

Sprinters are a special breed, but what makes a good one and what makes Mark Cavendish stand out from the rest?

You obviously need speed, but how does the Manx Missile manage to create more than Peter Sagan, who has come second twice so far in this year's Tour, and third yesterday?

The answer is strength, power, and aggression. But you also need cunning bike-handling ability, a cool head, and most of all you need to be fearless. These guys do not give way.

The build of a sprinter is more muscular, often stockier than the leaner all-rounders or climbers.  

But it’s the burst of power that Cav generates in such a short space of time that separates him from the best of the rest. In one or two revolutions of the wheel he can get a wheel, or bike lengths clearance – this is astonishing.

However, it’s no good being superfast if you don’t have the bravery to see a gap or the craft to pick the right wheel, or the calmness to wait; not to sprint too early.

I have watched him for a good few years now and it still amazes me how he never panics in such an intense environment. He always seems to be in complete control.

He is a phenomenon and we are privileged to see him

Simon Brotherton - 5 live cycling commentator:

Mark Cavendish’s win in Marseille showed again how he’s the master when it comes to sprinting and further cemented my opinion that he’s the greatest sprinter in the history of the Tour de France.

His Omega Pharma Quick Step team mates filled their part of the equation admirably by putting him in the right place as the race headed for the finish, but it could all have gone wrong had he made the wrong choice at any moment in the final few hundred metres.

There are so many split second decisions to take in the melee of a mass gallop, but Cavendish reads a race like no one else. He doesn’t panic and has an acceleration when he makes his move that makes him almost impossible to live with. He’s got a very aerodynamic, small frontal area when down on the drops of the handlebars, and takes hardly any time to accelerate, unlike some of his bigger, more muscular rivals.

The Manxman also has what can only be described as a second acceleration, which I guess is rather like a turbo boost in a computer game. Twenty-four stage wins leaves him just one short of joint 3^rd place on the all time in the Tour alongside Andre Leducq, with only Bernard Hinault on 28 and Eddy Merckx with 34 stage wins ahead of him.

His success rate in the most competitive and ruthless cycling environment in the world is remarkable and we’re watching a truly special talent. Today’s stage takes the riders to Montpellier and will be on Cavendish’s list. He’s won here at this very spot outside the rugby ground before.

Coverage of the Tour de France continues from 3.30pm on Thursday 4 July on 5 live Sports Extra. Download the BeSpoke podcast for daily analysis from commentator Simon Brotherton and the team.

 

Thirty-two years ago a young Phil Anderson became the first Aussie to don the coveted Maillot Jaune. It’s a day I remember very well; I was Phil’s team and roommate at the time in that year’s Tour in 1981. Back then cyclists from outside Europe were a novelty. The odd American, Australian, South African or South American was something new for what was basically a European sport.

The French were quick to give this Aussie a nickname: Skippy or ‘Le Kangaroo’. Very original of course, but I’m not sure even he, and of course Allan Peiper - another pioneer of Australian cycling at that time - could ever imagine what they’d started.

From then, via the Sydney Olympics, Australian cycling is now reaping the rewards. It is a system that Great Britain has followed, and their success is now well-documented.

The two nation’s similarities don’t end there. Australia beat Great Britain to the first Tour de France win with Cadel Evans a year earlier than Bradley Wiggins did for Britain, but Evans was riding for a European team. Wiggins did it with the British-backed Team Sky.

Australia’s first real top level pro team – Orica-GreenEdge - was to follow a couple of years after Team Sky, due largely to the drive and determination of Shayne Bannan who followed Team Sky’s model.

Yesterday’s Stage 4 Team Time Trial win by Orica-GreenEdge was their second consecutive stage win of this year’s Tour, and in so doing put Simon Gerrans in Yellow. Thirty-two years after Phil Anderson - one of his idols and his first coach.

2012 was a difficult first year for the team. They, like Team Sky, made mistakes but they learnt and through clever management and hard work are starting to reap the rewards.

Developing a team takes patience. Young riders who might develop into winners have to be given time – Chris Froome’s future at Team Sky was in doubt a while ago. Now here he is leading Team Sky for what he hopes could be six years or more. But they couldn’t do it without their work horses - or ‘domestiques’, as they’re called. Getting on well with your teammates is essential. A team with good morale and a good atmosphere has a much better chance of winning.

But the riders are just one piece of the jigsaw. There are so many things that have to be done to put a team together from scratch. Infrastructure, cars, buses, and logistics apart; the backroom staff must to be top-notch too. Here again a blend of youth and experience is vital. These guys spend a lot of time together. The first year is all about the learning curve and maybe at times managers have to be brutal and change or replace personnel until they get it right.

Orica-GreenEdge are now getting it right. They already have had a dream Tour just four stages in. Simon Gerrons has the leader’s jersey and he will probably have it for three more days. They may lose the jersey at the Pyrenees, but it probably won’t be the last we see of them in this year’s Tour.

Coverage of the Tour de France continues from 3.30pm on Wednesday 3 July on 5 live Sports Extra. Download the BeSpoke podcast for daily analysis from commentator Simon Brotherton and the team.

5 live's new tennis correspondent Russell Fuller looks ahead to the tennis circuit post-Wimbledon.

Whenever people have stopped to wish me well as tennis correspondent, they have commented on what big shoes I have to fill. And of course they are right: both literally and metaphorically. Jonathan Overend has done an exceptional job covering the last few years of the Henman/Rusedski era, and then chartering Andy Murray's rise to the very top in New York last September.

It has been an extraordinary time to cover men's tennis, and even if Roger Federer can no longer bend matches to his will with such regularity, the years ahead promise much more excitement.

With a little bit of luck, Murray and Novak Djokovic will be at the peak of their powers for another 5 years, and even if his knees don't allow him to produce the same level of consistency all year round, Rafael Nadal could still end up with a Grand Slam tally very close to Federer's.

There will always be plenty to talk about when Laura Robson is in action. She has bags of potential, and don't forget that until her recent bout of glandular fever, Heather Watson's ranking was virtually identical. There is now a much bigger bunch of British teenagers making some promising noises, and there will also be a new chief executive of the LTA to follow.

I have some very talented colleagues who will help me keep you up to date all year round. We will pop up at some very strange times of the day, and no doubt end up contributing once more to Dotun Adebayo's World Football phone-in while watching the Australian Open on the Rod Laver Arena.

I feel hugely privileged to be starting such a fabulous job, and am really excited about getting started at next month's US Open. Which is a good thing, because if you are not deliriously excitable at Flushing Meadows, they may not let you in.

Listen live to 5 live's Wimbledon coverage throughout the championships.

The last time the Tour de France had a Team Time Trial (TTT) in Nice was in 1981 - and I was riding in it. Today’s test is a far cry from those days. Back then TTT’s  were still a fairly new addition to the Tour, having been re-introduced in 1978 with a huge stage of 153kms. Today’s Stage 4 is a much faster, shorter distance – just 25 kilometres.

That said, most riders would prefer to ride 200 kilometres rather than put their legs and lungs through half an hour of intense, high-gear speed cycling.

Today is primarily about nerves and technique. No one wants to be the one that lets the team down, and this is one of the toughest days in the Tour.

The winning team will the one that gets the optimum performance from every rider, and the key to this is timing. Deciding when to switch your lead rider (the one at the front creating the slipstream for the rest of the team) is critical.

The whole team of nine will start, and the Team’s time is taken when five of them cross the line - but all riders must finish, and finish inside the time limit. In this instance the limit is 25% of the winner’s time, around 7 minutes.

All riders, particularly in the top teams, will have at some time had wind tunnel tests on their time trial bikes. This will help in finding the optimum position, where your head low. However, in a TTT it can’t be as low as low during an individual time trial, as concentration and an eye on the wheel in front is vital. Your back must be straight, keeping those elbows tucked in, but the guy behind needs some shelter as well. Ideally the smallest rider would not be in front of the biggest, but on the road these things change.

We already know that Team SKY will be weakened by the injuries to Geraint Thomas. He would have been one of the team’s strongest riders, but now they have to be careful how they manage him. It also needs a quick mind and calmness within the team to manage punctures or mechanical problems; whether to wait or not will depend on who has the problem and where into the stage the incident occurs. It’s vital the team is coordinated.

Technology is another way to optimise “marginal gains”, to quote Sky’s Sir Dave Brailsford. Special low-profile bikes have thinner frames and are more aerodynamic – but they would not use these for the long stages are they are simply too uncomfortable to ride.

Another noticeable difference you would see is that the back wheel will be a disc. This covers where you would normally have spokes on a normal road bike.  Again, this helps with the overall aerodynamics.  These would not be used if in windy conditions, as they would destabalise the rider.

Aerodynamic suits and helmets are all tested in wind tunnels, and some teams even discard drinking bottles, preferring a camelback system. All these items are now scrutinised and have to be approved by the UCI, the world governing body for cycling. Even the spare bikes have to be weighed and measured.

Whilst it’s short race, it will feel like one of the longest for the riders.

Coverage of the Tour de France continues from 3pm on Tuesday 2 July on 5 live Sports Extra. Download the BeSpoke podcast for daily analysis from commentator Simon Brotherton and the team.

By 5 live cycling summariser Graham Jones:

For me the 3^rd day in any stage race has always been one to throw up a few surprises, and there’s no other race in the world more likely to hold up that tradition than le Tour.

I think today’s stage – 145kms from Ajaccio to Calvi – could prove even trickier than other recent editions of this great spectacle.

It’s a particularly technical stage, and everyone in the commentary booths, from all nations, has been looking forward to this stage the most out of all of three on Corsica.

There isn’t an inch of flat road on the whole route. It twists and turns constantly; there is not a moment’s respite. Everybody will want to be at the front to keep out of danger, or to at least reduce the risk of a crash.

It is not just the technicality that is difficult. Many riders will be feeling the first two days of racing in their legs, and many have deep cuts and bruises after a horrendous crash on the first day that took out many in the Peleton. It’s thought that Geraint Thomas from Sky is riding with a fractured pelvis! Getting out of bed would be hard enough.

For Geraint getting through today will be a real test. Just sitting on the saddle is going to put pressure on his pelvis, on a day when there is going to be enough pain in his legs to deal with. A flat stage would have helped, but on these roads he will constantly be up and down out of the saddle, putting more pressure on his injuries. He will do well to hang on.

Looking forward to tomorrow, if riders think they might be able to hide in the peloton then they’d better think again. Stage 4, the first day on mainland France - Nice to be precise – involves The Team Time Trial: a full-on sprint of a stage where each team sets off as a group trying to post the fastest time.

Nobody will win the Tour today, but it might be put out of reach of many by the end of Stage 3. 

Coverage of the Tour de France continues from 2.30pm on Monday 1 July on 5 live Sports Extra. Download the BeSpoke podcast for daily analysis from commentator Simon Brotherton and the team.

As we enter the second week of Wimbledon with two British players, at the time of writing, still involved in the singles draws, excitement moves up a notch or two in the 5 Live underground office at SW19.  And in the commentary boxes, beautifully positioned by the side of the show courts, those of us with the privilege of the describing the action know that some massive matches lie ahead in the next few days. 

Just like the players it's "one match at a time" but should Andy Murray - or Laura Robson for that matter - make the final, it will be the perfect end to my time as Tennis Correspondent for 5 Live, the station I've worked for since 1998.

I'm really sad to be giving up the job, which I've done for family reasons, and will leave with a very heavy heart.

I've made so many friends within the sport, people who are so passionate about the sport and what they do, and I've been so lucky to have been paid to go to amazing places to watch amazing athletes play amazing matches.

I didn't really want to talk about it much this Wimbledon but colleagues - well, mainly Nicky Campbell - keep mentioning it on-air and everywhere I go around the grounds someone somewhere has something to say, which is really touching.

I'm sure it's going to be quite an emotional week but for 5 live tennis coverage will continue in incredibly safe hands as I hand over to Mr Russell Fuller...

Jonathan Overend and the 5 live team broadcast full coverage of the second week of Wimbledon on 5 live and 5 live Sports Extra.

5 live will be at every stage of this year's Tour de France - the 100th in its history. Here our team talk about their expectations for the race - a second consecutive British winner? - plus how they'll bring it to you:

Simon Brotherton - Commentator: 

This will be 19th time I've covered the Tour. At first it was quite a battle to get 30 seconds on to the sports desks and now here we are with a team of four, providing full commentary on 5 live Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website every day, along with a round-up for the 5 live Bespoke podcast after every stage.

It's an illustration of how far British Cycling has come. From the days when we were relieved just to have a British rider in the race, to finally seeing a British winner of the event last summer in Bradley Wiggins.

It'll be someone else's turn this year in this special 100th edition and I'm really looking forward to seeing what the race brings and painting the pictures from the commentary box on the finish line every day.

Listen an extract from 5 live's Tour de France preview where Britain's Mark Cavendish - with 23 Tour de France stages to his name - talks about the art of sprinting:

Olie D'Albertanson - Producer:

I’m lucky enough to have produced at some of the biggest sporting events in the world: the World Cup in South Africa, Euro 2012, Ryder Cups, plus the Olympics and Paralympics last summer. However, this is my very first Tour de France. I can't wait for it all to get started.

More than any other event I've attended, this one already feels like a travelling circus - and the race hasn't even begun.

This is the 100th Tour de France, and it all gets underway in Corsica tomorrow (Saturday 29th June). It’ll be on the island for three days before it takes a 12-hour overnight ferry back to the mainland to continue the journey.

The cyclists themselves will be riding nearly 2500 miles. However, the actual distance covered by everyone involved is probably more than double that; there can be as much as 350 miles between the end of one stage and the start of another.

My "office" for this trip is the back of a small people carrier which will carry all our broadcast equipment, our clothes for a month, some emergency brioche, as well as transporting your commentary team around France and (hopefully) up and down some it's most impressive mountain ranges. Due to the cramped conditions I can't help but think I've been chosen to cover this event as I’m not much bigger than a hobbit.

There are three people who will be bringing this event to life for you over the next few weeks, from the race itself to all the behind the scenes chaos: as well as commentator Simon Brotherton we have expert summarisers Rob Hayles and Graham Jones. As well as what you’ll hear on air they’ll be posting behind-the-scenes photos, blogs and videos here on the 5 live website.

If you have questions for the team you can leave your messages here, and for those of you on Twitter follow @bbc5live and use the hashtag #bbctdf. We will try to answers as many questions as we can during commentary.

Rob Hayles - Summariser:

I'm a triple Olympic medallist, double world champion and British national road race champion in 2008.

This will be the fourth Tour I have covered, although the previous three have been from the comfort of a studio back in London. So this year I am looking forward to witnessing the 100th edition first-hand. Having warmed up this year already alongside Simon Brotherton at the Giro, I feel (almost) ready for what awaits us in France. 

The enormity of working on the biggest annual sporting event is something that can’t be taken lightly. I hope we’ll be able to convey the atmosphere of the Tour to everyone back home with the justice it fully deserves.

Last year the Yellow Jersey for the winner of the Tour came to Britain for the first ever time – Sir Bradley Wiggins. This year he’s not in a position to defend that title, but his team is. The burden of that possibility rests squarely with another Brit: Chris Froome. Can he do it? Well we will have 21 days of coverage to bring to you before we may know for sure.

Graham Jones - Summariser:

I am a veteran of the Tour; in fact this will be my 29th. I have ridden it five times, covered it four times as a press consultant for the Guardian, Herald Tribune and the Observer, and since 1995 I’ve been a summariser for BBC Radio 5 live.

I was described by the late sportswriter Geoffrey Nicholson in his preface to one of his books as 'The Great Navigator'. It's a title I consider to be totally justified, as I believe I know France and all its roads better than 99% of French people!

I will be bringing you my tactical insight into the race, as well as brining to life what goes on once the microphones and cameras are packed up and moved on to the next stage.

5 live's coverage of the 100th Tour de France begins on Saturday 29 June at 3.30pm on 5 live sports extra. There will be a summary of each day's action on 5 live's Bespoke podcast, available here.

During free practice 3 at the recent Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal I had the chance do something I have never done before in 23 years in F1: to go on a team’s pitwall stand. I’ve listened in on team radio and observed in plenty of garages, but never sat plugged into the famous ‘prat perch’ and got a detailed insight into operations.

It gave me a chance to get closer to the sport; to really understand how a team like Marussia operates. It was an eye-opener.

With Marussia technical director Pat Symonds staying in the UK that weekend, there was a spare seat on the pitwall. Marussia’s sporting director Graeme Lowdon offered it to me for the Saturday morning session. I was given Symonds’ radio and plugged into the main desk, meaning I could hear all the radio traffic for both Jules Bianchi’s and Max Chilton’s cars, along with any intercom messages on the pitwall.

It provided a unique window in on the operations of the team. It is all about clear communication and fast, clear, decision making.

That Saturday morning FP3 session was wet and the start was delayed by barrier repairs, but when it started it was all about deciding when to go onto slick tyres. It provided a fascinating case study in how a team makes a crucial decision like this.

The level of discussions and real time analysis was as impressive as you would expect. They knew exactly what everyone else was doing, how the crossover point from intermediate to slicks had been hit by Gutierrez on a sector by sector basis. At one point the engineer in charge Dave Greenwood observed, “if we were racing we’d have gone to slicks by now.”

With just two hours to prepare the cars between FP3 and qualifying, the highly experienced team principal John Booth knew that he didn’t want to put excessive pressure on his rookie drivers to try to set times on slicks on a cold, damp track and face possible crash damage. But at the same time, they are here to learn and those last few laps on slicks were an invaluable learning exercise.

Some experienced drivers like Webber and Alonso went out on slicks first. The track was cold and the tyres were taking their time to come up to temperature. The Williams pair went out and then suddenly the decision was made to send Marussia’s drivers out. It was well judged; despite final analysis showing they waited about 90 seconds longer than was ideal they still got enough timed laps to get a sense of the conditions, should qualifying turn out the same way. In the end it was wet and they never got to slick tyres.

To help them make the vital decision on timing, the management figures on the pitwall have screens in front of them that are an Aladdin’s cave of software and real time analysis tools. At the click of a mouse it was possible to view the runs of each driver to make quick and easy comparisons. There was also a tyre degradation chart, showing the drop off in performance of each car. In all there were dozens of ways to look at and analyse what was going on.

All F1 teams have their own driver tracker graphic, which shows where its cars are on the circuit. Marussia’s is a circle with clear delineation points. It shows the gaps in the traffic and the cut off points for decision making, such as for when a car should come in to the pit lane. It also has a countback facility, which recalibrates timings based on the car’s progress around the track.

With seven minutes to go in the session, on a damp but drying track, Greenwood knew at a glance that it was possible to complete four-and-a-half timed laps. It meant that Chilton’s engineer was able to inform his driver exactly what time he had left, and so by pushing a bit harder on the out lap Chilton duly got all his timed laps in.Interestingly, while Bianchi struggled to get the slicks up to temperature in those conditions, Chilton managed it and set a good time. Greenwood is an experienced engineer; he worked with Fernando Alonso at Renault in the mid 2000s.

Marussia has a deal with McLaren for this kind of support and they have modified McLaren’s system for their own purposes.

What struck me the most about the experience is the high level at which the team operates. The difference between the backmarkers and pace-setters in F1 is now the smallest it has ever been.

James Allen is BBC Radio 5 live's Formula 1 commentator. You can read more from James on his website (external link). The Chequred Flag podcast, featuring a review of the Canadian Grand Prix (recorded before the annoucement of the death of a race marshal) is available here.