  We analyze the evolution of the mechanical response of a colloidal suspension
to an external tensile stress, from fracture to flow, as a function of the
distance from the sol-gel transition. We cease to observe cracks at a finite
distance from the transition. In an intermediate region where the phenomenon is
clearly hysteretic, we observe the coexistence of both flow and fracture. Even
when cracks are observed, the material in fact flows over a distance that
increases in the vicinity of the transition.
