no surprise for you to read that we are loving the tour de france in our household glued to the tv for the hour highlights each week night and catching the live stages over the weekend on ITV2 (good old freeview!). today's was a huge stage over 200km through the pyrenees with 6 mountain climbs ending on a huge climb to the finish. it is an astonishing event - i seriously think it is the single most impressive and difficult sporting event.
anyway if you don't follow it, lance armstrong has won the tour 6 times and is going for an unbelievable 7th win after which he will retire. yesterday and today were crucial days if his rivals were to seriously threaten his chances. but they simply couldn't shake him off however hard they tried so he looks set to win a record 7th tour next weekend. but today's stage was a wonderful surprise - there was a breakaway group of several riders, which included lance's team mate george hincapie. now he had not gone with the group to win the stage, but simply to be there for lance when the following group caught up to help him up the last climb. but as the stage progressed it became clear that the breakaway group were not going to be caught. so hincapie and pereiro were left to battle it out on the final climb and i was absolutely delighted when hincapie won. he couldn't believe it. (lance was fine as he kept ahead or up with is main rivals).
what you may not realise if you don't follow the tour is that there are several teams and each team has a lead rider. the other riders in the team all ride (or should) to protect and lead out their rider. george hincapie has riden the tour for 10 years and been part of lance armstrong's team for every one of lance's victories. what it means is that though he is a brilliant rider he will work for lance and the team rather than himself so he had never ever won a stage of the tour or really been in a position to before today. it only dawned on him in the later stages of the race that lance and co were not going to catch them late in the race and he then got the go ahead to win it for the team. this was the most difficult stage of the tour so we loved it when george who has riden and served the team and lance so faithfully for 10 years got the stage. brilliant!
Most amazing sport competition in the world. Great to see an amzing team work together.
Tim
Posted by: Timothy Wright | July 18, 2005 at 03:30 PM
I agree there's little doubt that the Tour de France eclipses all other sporting events for individual physical endeavour, mental toughness, strategy and initiative, and selfless team-work. I find every televised stage so engrossing, seeing these tremendous athletes battling their pain and the sheer desire they must have just to stop the agony, watching the fascinating tactical moves, willing them on.
The other great aspect of the Tour is that it's a spectacle - the routes it takes through gorgeous countryside and lovely towns, finishing on the Champs Elysses, and the rolling circus which surrounds it. When the Tour came to England a few years ago we watched it on the Portsmouth - Brighton stage, near Hassocks. The racers went through in a flash but there had been an hour of on-road activity preceding that, we had a great picnic and it was a wonderful day out!
Posted by: John Davies | July 18, 2005 at 08:15 PM