‘Le Tour’ 2010 is done.
If you have to ask, ‘Which Tour?’, then you haven’t spent every fore-noon for three weeks each July parked in front of your TV, watching the world’s greatest cycling spectacle: ‘Le Tour de France.’
And what an event it is! Sure, cycling racing is, at the same time both grueling and beautiful, but the pictures are nothing short of spectacular.
From the paving stones outside of Rotterdam and Brussels (they DO roll in other countries!), through the Alps, across Provence, and then through the Pyrenees, we are shown the rich beauty of France.
Cameras on motorbikes and helicopters show the peleton (the large group of 170 riders) wending its way through narrow streets in small towns, country roads with fields of corn or sunflowers, always accompanied by the cheers of appreciative fans.
The TV commentary by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, delivered each day from the ‘finishing line’, is superb.
During the less-exciting portions of the racing, the TV helicopters roam the countryside, in search of châteaux and cathedrals, mountains and rock formations.
Oh yes, there was a race this year: Alberto Contador of Spain reclaimed first place over Andy Schleck of Luxembourg. Lance Armstrong ran his final ‘Tour’, placing 23rd, but Radio Shack won the team competition.
We Canadians had a lot to brag about: Ryder Hesjedal, of Victoria, B.C., placed SEVENTH! Check out The Top Ten Definitive Moments of the 2010 Tour de France on Versus.
Guess what we need to do now is enter a Canadian team.
Ah Colin, I remember in 1994 when the leading cyclist Cabello took a wrong turn into a tunnel at Calais and we were all quite surprised to find that he had 'Pied Pipered' the caravan all the way to Brighton.
ReplyDeleteColin,
ReplyDeleteYour post on the Tour brings back memories of my brother and I watching races in the '80's and '90's with the great Canadian rider "The Fenwick Flyer" Steve Bauer.
I do have another very, very interesting story which has a Nova Scotian (or more precisely a Cape Breton) connection. When I first heard it almost 25 years ago I thought it may have been an urban myth. I later did some research and as far as I can tell it is true.
I was working one summer with a guy who lived between Sydney and Glace Bay. One day we were discussing cycling - the Tour de France in fact - and my co-worker then sits me down and tells me a story which had me in a state of initial disbelief. He went on to tell me that his grandfather competed in several Tour de France's and one year was the top rider as an "isole" - someone who rode with no team. He recounted how he went to Belgium a few years earlier to visit relatives and they showed him pictures of his grandfather meeting famous dignitaries, and also of his grandfather on his bike in competition with tires slung over his shoulders in case of a flat as he had no support team. He also told me of how the great Belgian rider Eddy Merckx visited his relatives to get information on his grandfather (I was told that Merckx liked to compare himself to earlier generation riders). Also, when his grandfather moved to Cape Breton he gave up competitive racing but used to go and race in the "Big" races in Cape Breton. My co-worker's mother told of a story where despite his age, he entered a race, won the race, and then went home to work in the yard and while working in the yard the second place finisher was just crossing the finish line. My co-worker's grandfather died in Reserve Mines in 1972. I also later found out that he fisished tied for second in the 1913 Belgium National Cycling Championships.
His name...Camille Botte.
Bryden