With the second week of the 2018 Tour de France completed, the riders are enjoying their second day off from racing in Carcassonne.

Rest days are invariably far from that for riders, as well as teams and staff. As well as physically recuperating via massages and trips to the team physio, the day will invariably include a light recovery ride, possibly a press conference, lots of eating and other essential duties before racing recommences the following morning.

>>> Who’s out of the Tour de France after stage 15?

And, of course it’s a chance for riders to catch up on social media. Here we collect together some of the Tour rest day tweets that have caught our eye.

After a tough first two weeks of the race, all of the teams and riders were out for short rides on Monday morning maybe throwing in a few intervals to keep the legs ticking over.

From the looks of some of the tweets, the countryside around the city of Carcassonne looks amazing for riding.

Of course the rest day is also a chance to take things a bit easy and recharge the batteries for a tough final week, so most of the teams included a cafe stop along the way.

There was also the chance to do a bit of sightseeing and pose for a few photos outside Carcassonne’s spectacular city walls.

Unfortunately some of the big-name riders also had to speak to the media (sorry lads) with seasoned pro Alejandro Valverde taking the day in his stride.

Meanwhile, things were pretty relaxed chez Direct Energie

Over at Quick-Step Floors, the riders and guest certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves (although they’ll probably be looking forward to some non-0% beer in Paris in a week’s time

However the rest days aren’t rest days for all, with mechanics and soigneurs still working hard to get things ready for the final few stages.

And finally spare a thought for the Team Sunweb soigneurs – and those of other teams who do the same – that have to haul eight mattresses to and from hotel rooms every night for three weeks.

The racing resumes on Tuesday with stage 16, a mountainous stage from Carcassonne to Bagnères-de-Luchon over 218km that should see the race for the yellow jersey resume in earnest after a few transition stages.