You’d think that with such an historical event taking place in France overnight that the Australian newspapers would be a sea of yellow and ‘we are the champions’ headlines this morning. Yet what I saw staring back at me when I visited one of the most respected newspaper websites (ie not a Murdoch tome) was a dead, tattooed junkie. Now that’s news!
Australians are known for our love of the ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’, where we like to take a famous public figure, be it a politician, entertainer or sportsperson, and build them up to a level of adulation sometimes deserved, oftentimes not, and when that figure reaches the pinnacle of their field we criticise or ridicule them to bring them back down to ‘our’ level. We don’t want to be seen as lesser than them, or more likely want our heroes to be just ‘ordinary blokes’ like us. Aussies love to be the common man, but also want to be better than all those high-and-mighty Poms, Yanks, or in this case, ‘Frogs’.
Now that ‘we’ have won the world’s biggest bike race, we will embrace the victory and milk it for all it’s worth. Even if the majority or the Holden-drivin’, VB-drinkin’, steak-eatin’, footy-watchin’ public thinks that cyclists are lycra-wearin’ fags, and would gladly swerve their ute to run us into the gutter for a bit of a laugh.
So enjoy your time in the sun Cadel, make the most of the plaudits from the press, the politicians and the cycling fans, because cycling will still be seen as not a real man’s sport by most. Kind of like yachting, but hey, we loved it for a brief moment when we won the Americas Cup.
You little bloody ripper!
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Timing is one thing, Cadel crossed the line about 0130 hrs Melbourne time, the Sunday papers would have been set.
Australia is in the middle of its winter football season, most states are watching Aussie Rules football and most Aussies watching that. The rest are watching their rugby league and union.
New bicycles outsold new cars by volume last year and cycling is on a massive growth here, especially amongst the middle aged corporate types..ahem "the new golf" and all those lazy headlines/comments.
There is still an animosity towards cyclists in the roads outside of the inner city, you take your life in your hands on some outer suburban roads for sure. Add to the general lack of driving skills in Australia and you have a way too high number of cyclists killed here.
Professional cycling is not watched much at all here, but rest assured every Aussie loves their sport and every Aussie would answer "Cadel Evans" if asked to name a Pro cyclist. Aussies also love a winner, so they will jump on the bandwagon here make no mistake.
Cadel will spur a real boom in interest in the sport here, undoubtedly.
But make no
@Abdu Whereareyou
I was talking about the SMH/The Age websites, as stated. They are not set.
I think most Aussies would answer 'Lance Armstrong' before Cadel... hopefully that will now change.
On the morning national radio news here we had results form the Aust - SA rugby test last night, the NPC rugby championship and then the NRL results before Cadel was mentioned. One large factor for this is journalists won't understand that Cadel just won the race, because there is a stage to go, he isn't standing on the Champs Elysee (sp) in yellow yet. Don't overestimate the intelligence of sports journalists.
@Abdu Whereareyou
Well said, and a very interesting viewpoint, for someone following this sport from the oposite side of the planet.
@Brett
As a Velominatus, Cadel's imminent win is tomorrow's biggest news, but truth be told, I was listening to Amy Winehouse yesterday thinking what a fucking great singer she is and wondering if she's managed to get hold of her life, sway it back towards productive, and put out another record; in other words, wondering if redemption was in the air. Today, I read she was found dead in her flat (which I think is what you were referring to). Lets remember that the fight of life over death is always more important than that of any sporting battle.
But that said, I have to assume that Cadel is doing what LeMond did for us here in the US in 1986: change the sport irrevocably for the better, and that is something to celebrate. That's a contribution at least as big as Amy made to music, and that's not to be overlooked, though the tragedy of Amy's life mirrors that of Marco Pantani's, from my viewpoint.
@all
Our humble site has a huge following in Oz and NewZ; to each and every one of you: Congratufuckinglations. Your man has had a rough ride. He's been a whimpering, whiney monkey for the better part of his career, blaming everyone but himself for everything that's gone wrong in all the races he "should" have won. He's turned it all around, become a hardman, taken some great victories, and taken the biggest win in his and his country's career in a very very very well deserved way. Maybe that's the story of redemption I thought I heard when listening to Amy.
Good on the lot of you. Congratulations.
What a day, I hope that the reports of a Public Holiday are true!!
Cadel has fought long an hard for this win.
All the previous set-backs fade away.
Many say "slow and steady wins the race" but I don't think you could point that finger at him. Outstanding tactics won this Tour!
It's clear that he never gives up, especially when he is on his own. The final lap of last years Worlds being a good example.
To win the race you have to finish.
Chapeau Cadel!
@brett
Yep, you're right. Not making any excuses for them, just putting some context around it. I reckon you'll find the bandwagon will be loaded up tonight and front pages Monday on all the Aussie paper will have "our Cadel".
Even the shock jocks in Melbourne and Sydney might give cyclists 32 seconds of respect (they love to fuel an anti-cyclists mentality amongst the taxi drivers, truckies and commodore driving bogans of our wide brown land).
Don't think it matters though, cycling fans are pumped here about it. Heck, some random has even promised a set of Campag Boras to me and 9 others on another Melbourne website for Cadel's win. I'm thinking I might get a picture of one like that tosser with the drawing of the spider..
I am soooooo happy for Cadel. He made the rainbow jersey important again and showed real panache for the year he wore it. For the Tour, he rode a well calculated, team driven, methodical race. He was The Man, and he stepped up when he needed to. His ITT was Merckxian. I had no idea he could motor like that.
Chapeau, Cadel. One for the ages.
1pm here. At my dads place cooking 4 eye fillets on the barbie for 4 of my brothers and about 15 nephews and nieces. All just talking shit about cycling whilst knocking off pre-lunch beers.
Bliss.
And where's Leroy?
This year's tour has made it easy to evangelise the sport to new fans - my personal highlight of the tour was this: my daughter's primary school teacher turning up to our house and jumping up and down on the end of our bed cheering Cadel to victory in the time trial last night. Congrats Cadel, and chapeau to all the other riders who put in heroic performances (Andy, Jeremy Roy and Thor in particular).
@frank: GoodOnYa for sticking up for Amy Winehouse. I wasn't a fan, but let's have some respect for a fellow human being who, whatever privileges her success brought her, obviously had some serious pain in her life.
As for media perspective, both stories eclipse the famine in the Horn of Africa. Don't look to the mainstream media for perspective and it won't disappoint you.
The way I see it Cadel could be a Clyde if his ice cream intake was on par with mine. That being said I was inspired to lay down some V today, and break my personal distance record. Maybe one day I'll resemble an actual cyclist.