After three weeks of getting used to a routine, come tomorrow morning my “usual” reason for turning on my television will no longer exist.  The 2011 Tour de France is now an illustrious chapter in history.

The Final Podium in The 2011 Tour de France

Wikipedia works at lightening speeds, summing up the basic details of “the most epic race ever” quite succinctly:  Australian Cadel Evans won the race, having gained the lead in a time-trial on the penultimate day. He became the first Australian to win the race, and at 34, the oldest post-war winner. Andy Schleck of Luxembourg was second for the third successive year, and his brother Frank Schleck third. Mark Cavendish was the first British winner of the points classification, and Samuel Sánchez of Spain won the mountains category. (Wikipedia)

The overall final standings are right here on letour.fr.

I’m happy to be able to say that from July 2 to 24, I “spun my legs” for the same number of days as the Tour riders, a symbolic move on my part in the spirit of the great sport of cycling.  While I did not cycle this weekend, they had two rest days on which I remained in the saddle.  As such our total days match, even if my own mileage comes up about 1750 miles short.

I raise a virtual glass of champagne to toast an amazing and most memorable Tour.  With this, it’s back to morning news tomorrow morning, or better yet, no TV at all.  I think I’ll go with the latter and get out on the bike!

Congrats to the 2011 TDF winner, Australian Cadel Evans!