tour de force
Like many of you I’ve been captivated by the ups and downs, highs and lows and triumphs and tragedies experienced by the cyclists of the Tour de France over the last three weeks. So much so, that now it’s over I’m actually at a bit of a loss when the ITV4 7.00pm highlights slot comes around. The One Show just doesn’t do it for me anymore I’m afraid. Mind, even I have to admit that I’ve got a bit sick of hearing Boring Boardman’s Halford’s ads about how he knew he’d given his all when his team mates had to lift him off the bike or about his musings concerning the 2nd & 3rd places on the podium. The older he gets the better he seems to have been.
This year’s tour seemed to exhibit the extreme nature of the sport even more than usual and to such an extent I even forgive them their extensive use of doping products. If I had to cover almost 3500 kilometres in just three weeks, taking in the Pyrenees, the Alps and Massif Central then I reckon I’d be finding solace in a bit of Human Growth Hormone here and a shot of EPO there. Ah, a blood tranfusion for me my good man, and make it a large one!
I honestly don’t think there’s been a tour quite like it with so many crashes taking place in all stages and so many true contenders being left at the roadside to be collected by the lantern rouge. Perhaps the greatest loser was our very own mod father, Bradley Wiggins. Reputedly in the form of his life, a podium was surely his for the taking? We’ll never know as he crashed out on stage seven with a broken collar bone.
Undoubtedly, the most shocking crash of the event took place when a French TV car took remedial action to avoid a tree and veered into Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha and catapulted a somersaulting Jonny Hoogerland into a barbed wire fence. His horrific injuries, requiring 39 stitches, had to be seen to be believed and surely shows the characteristic nature of these athletic beasts. Considering he lost the very-real chance of a career-defining stage win, Hoogerland was surprisingly forgiving of the errant driver. The fact that he recovered to accept the polka dot jersey at the end of the day and actually finish the tour two weeks later is testament to the nature of these beasts. And let’s not forget the sight of Astana’s Vinokourov who only 20 minutes earlier was literally pulled out of a tree on the edge of a ravine (I kid you not) by his team mates, carried back to the top and popped back on his bike…all with a broken leg and suspected snapped pelvis. It’s gotta hurt.
However, arguably the most bizarre tumble involved RadioShack’s Danish champion Nicki Sorenson. After doing the decent domestique thing in pacing captain clenbuterol safely back to the peleton following his own spill, Sorenson found his bike entangled with the handlebars of a passing camera motorbike. 200m later and stunned and speechless Sorenson could be found sprawled on a grass verge, mercifully unhurt. Carry on up the tour!
