Stage 4’s team time trial burned up the streets through one famous French southern coastal city, on this day covering the shortest distance in the entire Tour de France– a mere 25 kilometers to be exact, flat and fast! And for Team Orica-GreenEdge, Nice proved all the nicer!
July 2, 2013: Orica-GreenEdge wins the team time trial in Nice, France.
Almost, Peter, almost!
Another one of those infamous photo finishes ends stage 3 of Le Tour. Now it’s onto the mainland!
Click to watch video of this incident
Why on earth does this continue to happen? It’s happened before, causing disaster. Fortunately THIS time disaster was averted, narrowly enough, as stage 2 of the 100th Tour de France rolled to an exciting and non-injurious finish on the Island of Corsica today. Still, this unforgivable moment had to be suffered, one that makes me more angry than anything else at those responsible for easily preventing such an occurrence.
Meanwhile, here on this last day of the first half of 2013– in my own modest fraction of road cycling– I’ve hit my easy mark. With the help of Strava, I’m right on course to hit 5,000 miles this year, narrowly enough.
My first half of 2013 in the saddle
The stage one finish line, just minutes before riders crossed it.
So THIS is how the 100th Tour de France gets underway? Really? Well, yes. Really. I mean, a big crash of riders less than two miles from the finish– as happened today involving Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish– is one thing, unfortunate yet par for the course. However, a team bus stuck under the finish line’s timing banner, with leading riders just minutes away, is quite something else. As this downright ridiculous situation unfolded on live television early this morning, I couldn’t help but brace for imminent disaster.
Fortunately the unlucky coach was dislodged and removed in just the nick of time, rendering the intended finish line open for business. All the last-minute chaos and temporary moving of stage one’s ending spot surely caused confusion among at least some of the riders however. And this seems to have led to that crash that ultimately produced a different stage 1 winner than presumably would have been.
As usual, I suppose we must again say, “C’est Le Tour.” However, today’s crazy circumstances proved most UN-usual. So begins Le Tour de France for 2013. Let’s hope tomorrow ends a little more smoothly.
Congratulations to my personal favorite Peter Sagan on a fantastic final stage win, alongside of course American Tejay van Garderen on his overall victory. With this the 2013 Amgen Tour of California rides into cycling history. Meanwhile, in Italy…
While more than two hundred make their way through Italy, a smaller number of the big boys are back in the Golden State for our own annual week of pro cycling competition– of course the Amgen Tour of California. From Santa Clarita through Ojai into Santa Barbara yesterday, it’s onward north today in this year’s first-time reverse of course direction. For as much as I love watching these guys hammer through Europe, it’s all the more exciting to see them in my own backyard, on the very roads my own bike knows all too well!
Peter Sagan takes Stage 3 in Santa Clarita.
Tyler Farrar wins Stage 4 in Santa Barbara.
On the same day as the Kentucky Derby triggers the finest in large and colorful headwear while filling drinking establishments throughout the country, a second race in another country gets out the gate– one that lasts a little longer than two minutes. It’s May once again, meaning the Giro d’Italia is off and running! And with a Cavendish win to kick off stage one, it looks like the gears are well in place for a good show over the next three weeks. So begins the latest round of exciting competition in professional cycling!
It sure is nice to be back in the saddle on Pacific Coast Highway, especially on such a fine Saturday as this.
It’s all in the name, and I’m counting on this allegedly longer-lasting make. Let’s just say that in 600 miles of cycling so far in 2013, this has not been my year.
First came a broken shifter cable, annoying yet simple and inexpensive enough to fix. Then a week later came not one– but two!– sidewall punctures on a brand-new set of tires, from which these aptly named replacements came about. Apparently two “occasions” were insufficient vexation for a one-month riding period, because this past week produced a slip and a recovery, ending in– crack! The result: A broken carbon seat post.
Now I’m back in the saddle once again. This series of rare setbacks to “endure” had me momentarily down, but certainly far from out. With 45 miles today, it appears I’m off to a solid restart. We’ll just have to wait and see if these tires keep pace with my psyche. After all, in both name and practice, it’s about: Endurance.
Burning nearly a thousand calories before 8am is certainly a fine way to start the day. It’s even finer when pedaling across the Golden Gate and up Hawk Hill to the top of the Marin Headlands, all before sunrise.
Looking East Across The Bay, Just After 7am.
From the Golden Gate Bridge south into Daly City, it was a great start before my having to cut it short for time.
He made mistakes– big, grave mistakes. Many people were hurt severely, and plenty of legal business remains. Now after part two of his Oprah interview, I do believe Lance Armstrong is sorry. I also continue to believe this cocky, arrogant survivor deserves to earn gradual forgiveness over time, based on his actions from here forward to repair some of the damage within his capabilities. His first steps have begun.
It’s certainly no surprise that far more bad than good has been said about the now-banned professional cyclist in the past 24 hours. Various talking heads– myself excluded– seem to be taking the easy road by belittling his interview, writing off his explanations as somehow not good enough. But then, how could they ever be?
Lance has an ego no doubt, and he’s holding onto it wherever he can. This is to be expected. Then when it comes to his children, the ego falls and emotion takes charge. Once again, Lance is human. Nevertheless, his interview is neither surreal nor jaw-dropping, and unlike Oprah, I was not mesmerized. He’s doing what he can today, forced into it as he might be, mindful of the deep hole he dug for himself– and I am listening. Still, it appears nothing he says– no way of phrasing it or spelling it out– will ever be good enough for his critics and his enemies. He remains in a no-win situation of his own making.
Lance knows this is a tough time, though understandably not the most difficult he’s lived through next to his advanced cancer diagnosis. He knows many if not most people will never believe him now– that it’s too late– that he’s made his own bed. Would he like to compete again? Of course he would! I could have answered that before he did. Will he? It’s unlikely at this point, though we’ll see what transpires.
Remorse will prove itself and forgiveness will be earned– so at least I can hope. Mistakes were made, lies were perpetuated, lives were greatly affected– and today, the past is just that. Like it or not, the doped-up, lying, seven-time Tour de France champion-turned-disgrace has now– at last– taken his first steps on his new road to some form of redemption. From here, we– like he– must only look ahead.
He did not invent the culture, but he also did not try to stop the culture. This among many truths speaks volumes in part one of Oprah’s much-anticipated– if not overly pre-discussed– interview of Lance Armstrong.
There’s much to say about the disgraced cyclist, and no doubt much is already being said in the wake of tonight’s airing– all which I’ve yet to read upon this writing. For now, I take away this: Lance is a man, a human being, and as he readily admits, deeply flawed. At this late point there are no surprises, no shocking revelations, and no reasons for continued outrage. What happened– in terms of his doping, the series of lies that followed, and those affected throughout– is known to all. Is the whole story now not growing old?
Lance speaks to Oprah quite humbly and with apparent honesty. The most polished speaker he is not, nor expected to be. Nevertheless, for the “jerk” and the “bully” he owns up to having been, here he seems as real as he may allow himself to be. No matter the potentially unsavory details of what brought him to this interview chair, he maintains relative clarity, free of defensiveness and– to his credit– admitting his mistakes while repeatedly refraining from any finger-pointing.
“Winning at all costs” served him well at the time, a common though detrimental human mindset which holds at least some degree of understanding apart from the disapproval placed on it. What’s more important today is Lance’s lucid hindsight, as he now recognizes the wrongs that did not appear to him then. Defiant? Check. Arrogant? Check. And, still an able leader and an admirable humanitarian? Check.
As with most if not all public figures, from actors to politicians to elite athletes, one does not view himself from the same perspective as does the public. Lance reminds us now of this reality. As we best carefully consider the judgment we place upon him, he seems to be doing a decent job of judging himself. At the same time he’s prepared for the rest of his life to be apologizing and earning back what trust he can, Lance has declared he is happier today than he was while taking his yellow jerseys. He appears to grasp the reality of where he’s come, despite yesterday, and regardless of all that might await. This seems most important.
He once saw a level playing field, and now the playing field has been leveled. Lance’s past actions are clearly disappointing, but I do not dislike him– a double negative that indicates my cautious regard for him. I say this now, mindful of all that I– and you– still do not know, and might never know. But then, do we really need to? Lance is finally coming clean in his way, the sport of cycling is evolving as it deems necessary, and the past is just that. Again, he is human, complete with the same disappointing behavior set that has defined so many throughout history. The rest simply needs to be, shall we say– laid to rest.
I hope and predict that Lance Armstrong will rise again in some unusual and perhaps unforeseen capacity. For this simultaneously unique yet not-so-unique figure, there must surely be life “after Oprah.” But first, part two!
The repair ended up taking only about ten minutes. This allowed enough time afterward to tack on an additional 12 miles to the initial 15, in order to piece together some semblance of a workout. In the end, the ride cut short was not a total waste. If this annoying detour should ever fall upon you, simply remember it’s a rather quick fix– especially if you time it around 9:30am just before the bicycle shops open!
At 108 miles in the first week of this year, the odometer sits ever so slightly ahead of last year’s 103 at this time. If only I could not just maintain this rate in the coming weeks and months, but better yet exceed it, my 2013 cycling mileage will far surpass that of 2012. Then again, while a new year always seems to start strong, demands on my time– such as making a living of course– won’t always keep the miles rolling in. If only I were getting paid to ride, the numbers would be off the charts. In any case, it’s always good to have goals– and dreams– along with a nice view on a crisp and cloudy morning. Strava can keep track of the rest!
From the top of the Marin Headlands on a post-rain January morning.
After a night of rain, the crisp and relatively dry morning made for an excellent ride, however solitary.
Sail trumps pedal in this regard. “The other Tour” takes place at the same time, this one at sea!
One hundred miles per week ain’t too shabby, I suppose. Or an easily calculable average of four hundred per month is what it comes out to be, given that here at the end of ten months of the year I’ve now cycled just over four thousand miles. I pause for the moment but by no means stop. With two more months to go in 2012, I could just… well, quite unlikely. I was going to suggest surpassing my all-time annual record, but this would require another 22-hundred miles in the saddle before year’s end. And who in the world has time for that?
Beginning on the island of Corsica, ending at nighttime, and remaining– for the first time in a decade– entirely within the country for which the event is named, are just a few distinguishing new features of next year’s exciting journey. The route for the 100th Tour de France has hereby been unveiled!
While Lance Armstrong has now been stripped of his Tour de France victories, there will be no replacement winners for those seven years. The matter has been summed up clearly via the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency:
“USADA also thinks the Tour titles should not be given to other riders who finished on the podium, such was the level of doping during Armstrong’s era. The agency said 20 of the 21 riders on the podium in the Tour from 1999 through 2005 have been ‘directly tied to likely doping through admissions, sanctions, public investigations’ or other means. It added that of the 45 riders on the podium between 1996 and 2010, 36 were by cyclists ‘similarly tainted by doping.'” (AP/FoxNews.com)
An article out of Australia continues to voice my own thought process on this matter:
“Drug use… has been a significant part of the sport from its earliest days. A long list of some of the biggest stars and heroes of cycling have tested positive or admitted to drug use over the years. Drugs are as much a part of the Tour de France history as the bicycles themselves.” (BrisbaneTimes.com.au)
Not that I’m in any way condoning the use of performance-enhancing substances and methods in cycling, or in any sport for that matter. However, I’m reminded of a non-unique item of cycling history I recently read, of the very first Tour de France competitors in 1903 washing down snorts of cocaine with wine before hitting the road. This of course was just the beginning of such related actions for decades to come.
Lance is clearly not unusual in terms of doping. The only difference between him and so many of his brethren is that he managed to win the race a more-than-unusual seven times. Had he finished second, third or even further down the list in those years, I ask: Would this be happening now, after all this time?
There is no winner now for those tours, because to find one free of doping would be a daunting if not impossible endeavor. I’m not exactly thrilled to be part of a sport with such a blemished reputation, and cycling should continue all present policies to rid itself of such actions while ushering in a cleaner and fairer era of competition. The fact of the matter is, however, that cycling was far from rid of doping during Lance’s reign. Shall we comb through the past 100 years and strip some more titles, or could we let history be exactly that?
The only difference is: He’s cycling’s biggest name, or was. He’s the man, or was. He’s Lance, and still is. While I’m disappointed in that of which he stands accused, I’m sorry for what’s now happened to him, in the harsh and sweeping manner it has. Lance Armstrong might no longer hold his place in cycling, but much to the disagreement of the International Cycling Union, he certainly does not deserve to be forgotten.
History cannot be rewritten. The only difference is: That was then, and this is now.
As for that busier-than-usual weekend in San Francisco, it’s certainly here, while my car is certainly staying put until Monday. In a change from my usual Saturday cycling routine, I didn’t dare cross the Golden Gate Bridge amidst the horrific thought of one million tourists in town. Instead, my Strava app recorded a shortened yet decent 35 miles in the saddle without leaving the city. Leaving, however, may be your best choice of them all!
Paris came and went, again, as 2162 miles of hard hammering are now “fini.” After three weeks of enjoying my routine, on this morning the routine is over. No new day of competition is waking me up at 5:30.
While last year marked Australia’s moment, this year the highest honor goes for the first time to Great Britain. And yes, “The Missile” did indeed take the final stage one more time. Altogether, broadcast withdrawals notwithstanding, here’s to the exciting and successful completion of the 99th Tour de France.
The final stage winner hammers just behind 2012’s overall Tour winner.
Bob Roll commented yesterday that every year more and more spectators decorate the roadsides of France. As the planning for next year’s Tour progresses, I have to wonder about crowd control, or in some cases lack thereof. After all, given such alarming incidents as loose dogs, burning flares and scattered tacks, not to mention increasingly chaotic and ever-diminishing road space for cyclists to reach their marks, I would imagine in many cases a bit more order would be most appreciated. Yes, “C’est Le Tour,” but still– to a point.
How fitting that Great Britain dominated the 2012 Tour, just in time for the Olympic Games to kick off in London! After an intense three weeks in France, now it’s on to the next riveting chapters of athletic competition. All the while, I’m pleased to have gotten in my own ride on every single day of the Tour, logging just over 500 miles in my own saddle during this period. It’s not 2162 unfortunately, given the limitations of time and local roads, but at least almost a fourth that number for this amateur. C’est mon Tour, though thankfully– I’m “pas fini.”
Twenty days of racing complete, 153 competitors still in the game, and but one stage remaining– this of course tomorrow’s grand finale. The third week of Le Tour de France has magnificently come and gone, leaving behind yet one more batch of remarkable accomplishments and impressive finishes.
And now it’s on to Paris, for the Tour’s big finish on the Champs Elysees. Considering the men in first and second place overall are both riding for Great Britain– Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome respectively– it’s a “British One-Two” as Tour commentators put it. Then, if “The Missile” Mark Cavendish from The Isle of Man wins tomorrow’s final stage once again, perhaps it will be called a British One-Two-Plus. We’ll see!
An astounding 43 riders are now out– more than one-fifth the starting roster– while the remaining peloton has shown itself to be just plain tired, apart from having to deal with such disgraces as Sunday’s tack incident. Not a moment too soon has come the second rest day of the Tour de France, as now 155 battle-scarred professional cyclists move ever closer to Paris. Just how many will make it remains to be seen at this point.
Meanwhile on this rest day, one of my new favorite photos of this year’s Tour deserves a smile. So classically French as it is, in the spirit of The New Yorker I’d love to know what this spirited Frenchman might be saying. Caption anyone?
(The winning caption goes here.)
On this Bastille Day, with 13 stages of Le Tour now behind us, the epic cycling event is now two-thirds of the way to its annual grand finish in Paris. From the raw energy of today’s photo finish, to the unfortunate greater-than-usual loss of 35 riders at this point, the ongoing excitement of such remarkable sportsmanship carries the 99th Tour de France into its third and final week, with plenty more fantastic stage finishes like these to come!
With the climbs of the Pyrenees next up, closer and closer these 163 remaining professionals come to their grand and well-deserved finale. Before long we’ll once again be enjoying the Champs-Elysees!
In addition to the consistent yet unpredictable excitement of professional cycling, a secondary attraction always lies beneath the surface of Tour de France broadcast coverage. This is, the ability of television viewers here at home– or from anywhere beyond the event itself– to take in what might seem like all of the country of France.
From farmland to mountain terrain, villages to mid-sized cities, modest cottages to grand chateaus, French topography and landmarks prove captivating as yet another interesting sight always seems to catch the eye. Even during a surprise sprint attack, an exhausting climb or a bullet-like descent, it’s hard to be unaware of the athletes’ beautiful surroundings. The genuine outpouring of enthusiasm from numerous roadside spectators simply enhances the joy. Plus, the roads, towns and many varied locations we see are never all the same from one year to the next, because no two Tour routes are exactly alike.
Now on this first of two days of “rest” in the Tour de France, the opportunity is here for any fan so inclined to enjoy as much French scenery as possible, free from the obvious priority of the next Tour stage. (If you missed it, the second rest day is next Tuesday, July 17.) All the while I dream of my own days– hopefully not too far in my future– when I will enjoy these beautiful places firsthand, by car, motorcycle, or best of all– bicycle! With each passing Tour, I realize all the more it’s been far too long since my last visit to France.
Ryan R. Sanderson 