Joop Zoetemelk was a hard man, a tough nut to crack. He specialized in getting second place, a talent he developed under the doctrine of Eddy Merckx and mastered via the harsh tutelage of Bernard Hinault. It’s very seductive to lean back in our armchairs and draw the conclusion that our sport’s Eternal Seconds, as they’re called, are the weaker men than their rivals. The sport is filled with this familiar story; a rider comes up and is hailed as perhaps the next great rider, only to have synchronized their career with a more dominant rider.
Poulidor, who started with Anquetil and finished with Merckx. Zoetemelk, who started with Merckx and finished with Hinault. Then EPO entered the peloton and the balances were set off for a bit as riders who shouldn’t have been at the top were popping in for table scraps before Ullrich took the helm by getting on the podium in the Tour more often than any champion before him had won the Tour. Like Chimera and Bellerophon, every great hero needs a villain and it seems these riders are always there to stand up and fight year after year, against all odds.
In keeping with the Chimera and Bellerophon metaphor, I’m not so sure it is the victor who is the hero and the loser the villain. In my ski racing days, I was at the top of my game – I even had one season where I was undefeated throughout. That season was, without hesitation, my least rewarding season; winning became a question of margin – I even won one time trial where I started last and caught up to each of my teammates in serial and paced them to the next teammate such that we all finished in a big line of eight skiers.
The most rewarding season was the year where I struggled to fight back after losing motivation (due to the previous season’s excess) and still managed to win the key events. But the real fun wasn’t so much in the winning or losing, but in the bond it built between me and my principal rival; we both fought to the point of blacking out and neither of us ever – even for a minute – relented.
Extrapolating from that small-world experience to what it takes to become a Pro Cyclist capable of wining the Tour de France, it gives some insight into the mentality of the athletes who play out these battles that figure so prominently in our interpretation of our sport. To that end, I wonder if the champions don’t have the psychologically easier side of the coin. After all, they suffer almost the same amount, endure almost the same pressures and endure almost the same amount of discipline and sacrifice in pursuit of their goals. But one has the reward of victory and one the indignity of loss.
To come back year after year as victor seems almost like a picnic in comparison to the brutality of coming back year after year only to lose once again – then to resolve to return undeterred. In this sense, the loser who refused to quit endurs the suffering and sacrifice without the glory that comes with winning. Without them and their unrelenting optimism, the story would be less bright, less colorful. Which is the hero in our story?
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Great post, Frank - thanks! Joop has always been a hero of mine - partly because of his strangely moving ability often to "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory", as @ChrisO so aptly put it - but certainly even more so because of his dogged determination. He would just keep coming back - admirable, to say the least.
A lot has been written about Zoetemelk's near-fatal crash in the Midi Libre in 1974, when he smacked into a car which was parked illegally on the race-course. Joop suffered a bad head injury and contracted meningitis - and his '74 racing season disappeared down the U-bend... many have stated that if it hadn't been for that bad crash, his palmares might have been even more impressive than it is today. But that's just water under the bridge, surely...
And yet... when a man like Bernhard Hinault expresses his views, we tend to sit up and take notice. In the link below, scrub to almost the very end, around 1.26.50, to hear what Le Blaireau lui-même has to say on the matter, to Dutch journalist Mart Smeets:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFCouGgBjxs
1.26.52 - 1.27.26 - Here's a transcript of what's being said:
Mart Smeets: "So, we had Joop as the winner, for the first time. "The eternal second...", one could say..."
Bernhard Hinault: "Don't say that; you shouldn't say that: People should realize that in the same year that Joop had his accident - it was in the Midi Libre - he had been winning just about every race he entered - ahead of Merckx; ahead of everybody. He was flying!
After that crash, he had lost, in my opinion, 25% of his potential. For me, Joop is a great champion. How can he not be? Like no-one else, he has done battle with Merckx, with me, Bernhard Hinault, and with so many others..."
Unquote. Couldn't agree more with the words of the Badger: "Pour moi, Joop, c'est un grand champion...".
Nice post Frank - I think looking at the yin yang of it all, I would say that they are both hero and villain, winner and loser, champion and chump.
@gaswepass Please please please don't open old woulds, least of all on the night we have to face A** M*****'s (may he rest in torment) goon squad on their home turf.
Nonetheless we remain hopeful, vigilant, returning every season to work, to suffer, perchance to win, just this once....
Great post Frank - spot on not only in the cycling world, but transcendent. Every sport, every competition has these men/women/teams, and while they are easy for many of us to overlook, their work is no less profound or beautiful.
ChrisO - Strong work there, pal. Very nice and that's thoughtful analysis of it.
ErikR - That's incredible to read those words from Hinault. Respect for Zoop, respect for the Badger!
Hey, does anyone have a good interview/article/video clip where a talented PRO is discussing the level of commitment, effort, energy and focus it takes, year after year, to do what they do? Yeah, this is touched upon in a lot of pieces, but I'd love to read/see something where a rider addresses just how much will power it takes to get to that level and stay there.
@moondance
As a lifelong Cardinals fan, you have my profoundest sympathies.
@ChrisO
Andy Schleck comes to mind as the current version. Aside from LBL, a consistent run of seconds on the road; someone else in the race always believed in winning more than he did.
I used to watch motorsports - probably still would if I didn't spend my free time on cycling, and might return to it come winter-time for the long trainer sessions. I always had a soft spot for the less-successful. Guys full of talent who came at the wrong time - like the Armstrong period, motorsports has a list of all-time greats who dominated like never before. Michael Schumacher, Valentino Rossi and Sebastien Loeb won as they pleased, riding the best equipment with the best-managed teams. With the exception of Loeb, who I liked from his 2002 debut in the red Xsara WRC, I always found myself rooting for those less fortunate. Mika Hakkinen, later Fernando Alonso. Yes, he's a whiny cunt at times, but that's what I love about him. His two magic seasons at Renault, the ups and downs ever since - always an amazing driver, but not quite as precise and machine-perfect as the newest generation of Vettel and Hamilton.
Same with Casey Stoner - when he got things right, he was unbeatable, but watching him wrestle that monster of a Ducati was unbelievable. When one thinks how many teammates he had, and all of them were seconds off his pace - that just makes you realize what a monster of a bike he managed to tame. A bike that even Rossi can't handle, it seems.
good guys coming second ? ......... no one really remembers their names i guess ........... id rather have complete anonymity than world wide derision .......... just sayin ..........
oh ............ and i canny make the scottish cogal coz im working !!!! ......... ive cycled most of the route and it is pretty amazing.....just watch the busy sections....they can be ...well.... scary !!! ............. njoy the amber reward ... u will have earned it ..............
...och...aye...the...noo...!...
yet another good work Frank
As I read, and thought, initially the gut response is to say that we indeed only remember the winners, the triumphant, the victors; therefore to answer the question...they are the heros. But I thought...
And have to say, that there are some of the most memorable rides for second and even without podiums, that speak to me, like Johnny Hoogerlands ride last July, it was a phenomenal performance...and respectable.
Then I bounce back, and have to remind myself, that there is a reason we keep time, keep score, because someone wins, some lose..and that is our sport.
So, I thought some more, which is dangerouse my wife tells me. And I suppose there are more than just categories we would recognize as simply 'winners' and 'losers', there are real winners that we respect, recognize and ride like it..ala Eddy, and winners that are total douches, perhaps they don't even deserve a win, and are mocked and boooooed all the way to the line...ala cuntoder.
Losers I suppose would split much the same, there are some eternal seconds that I totally stinkin respect, in fact, love, some in fact would place my beloved Pantani here had he not won the Giro and Tour, as his career was often playing second or less, but he had style, he rode his own way and did so unapologetically...sorry for those who hate him..this is why. But also I loved the underdog Julio Perez, who rode for Panaria and did well in the Giro in the late 90's, and early 2000's, but never won the prom. He flew, and had many more bad days than good, like me, maybe that why I liked him so much. And there are losers I hate, who give up, who make excuses, who simply can do better..ala Schlecks IMHO.
so, whose heros and villians, I suppose...yes, they all are
I love and hate them all, winners, losers, hero's, villians