Those who complete the Tour de France are referred to as The Giants of the Road, and a look back at the first week of the Tour doesn’t leave much room for wondering why. With barely ten stages behind us, we’ve seen some amazing battles. We’ve seen Pharmstrong take a small psychological win over Contodor in the opening Prologue. We’ve seen Cavendouche start his Green Jersey quest by missing a turn in the closing kilometers of Stage 1 and crashing. We’ve seen nearly the whole bunch crash on oil-slicked roads into Brussels on Stage 2. Stage 3 saw several riders with broken bones – Tyler Farrar and Robert Gesink among them – suffer over the cobblestones of Northern France. Stage 4 saw Petacchi further beat the Cavencanhestilldoitdish’s ego into the tarmac before Stage 5 saw a triumphant Cavenyeshecandish prove that he still can win a gallop, even under pressure.
Stage 6 was much of the same story as Stage 5, except one important difference: first loser of the stage went to a man with a broken wrist. A pro sprinter once told me, “Sprinting is easy. You just try to break your handlebars.” Seems like that might be a trifle dodgey with a busted wrist. Stage 7 saw the GC contenders watch each other as Sylvan Chavenel snuck off with a Maillot Juane that he would have normally have held throughout the first week, had he not been touched by the Seven Eyed Spider Monkey Devil on Stage 3.
Stage 8 had Grimpeur the Younger take a small psychological win over Bertie as he dropped him and put a small time gap into him, which is the first time this has happened in recent memory (although, if we wipe away the mind-cobwebs set in by all the ale we drink, we recall that Contador won the Giro by only a small margin and the Vuelta only by aggregate time bonuses awarded at stage finishes; perhaps he’s not the dominant figure we portray and curse him to be.) Stage 8 also saw two GC contenders felled by the same crash demonstrate decidedly different reactions to their falls: Cadel Evans took his second Yellow Jersey and Lance Armstrong took his first massive beating in the Tour de France.
And here we jump headlong into armchair quarterbacking. We give Armstrong a rough ride here at the Velominati. In fact, we generally refer to him as “Pharmstrong”. But, in truth, he has our respect even if we don’t appreciate him. There’s no denying that the man can suffer like none other. He survived cancer to win the Tour de France seven times. Regardless of any drugs he may or may not have taken to do so, he won against what was presumably a level playing field through planning, preparation, and training (and, allegedly, a bribe or two). In light of that, his most famous quote serves as an inspiration to fans and non-fans alike: “Pain is temporary, quitting is forever.”
A lot was made of Armstrong’s crashes and the effect they had on his performance that day. Continuing on after a crash is tough, and catching back onto the bunch takes a big effort, but for a man who lives by the above quote, it’s what would expect of him. He hadn’t suffered any injuries other than some road rash, but the fight had gone out of him, and he dropped away from the leaders. As the day wore on, the Man with the Hammer paid him a visit and bopped him on the head, and he fell even farther back. For me, it was deeply disappointing to see him give up; you could sense it in his body language as he gave up and phoned it into the finish, falling thoroughly out of contention.
Much less was made of the fact that Evans had also gone down in one of the crashes with Armstrong. Despite this, he managed to not only stay with the leaders; he took the Maillot Jaune while nursing a broken elbow. Stage 10 over the Col du Madeliene proved too much and he lost his Golden Fleece, but the man never gave up and he fought into the finish only 8 minutes behind two guys who are definitely not Too Fat to Climb and blew the race apart.
Another Legend performance came from Garmin’s David Millar, who has rib and chest injuries in addition to suffering from a fever. He rode the entire stage alone during what he called one of his worst days ever on a bike.
It was a long ride, nothing to do with a time trial. It was very draining physically and emotionally. I saw myself out of the Tour de France. But I could not face going back to the hotel and facing my team mates being out of the Tour. I decided to go to the finish, even if it meant finishing hors delais (outside the time limit).
In contrast to Armstrong’s performance, to struggle along alone from start to finish over the mountains and in the heat with only injuries and illness along for company requires grinta; I can only imagine how tempting it must have been to climb into the team sag wagon.
But fighting on despite setbacks like Farrar, Gesink, Evans, and Millar demonstrated earns these guys permanent places in our hearts much more than winning races. These are Giants of the Road indeed.
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@frank
I hear you Frank - and to be honest, like everyone else, I like the fighters far more than the others. But how the fuck are we going to get exchanges going if everybody agrees with everyone else.
And BTW, regardless of his heroically shit riding off the back, Millar is still a fucking tool of the highest order and always will be. His interview after that stage might possibly be the first one in 5 years where he hasn't sounded off about doping or some other rider.
@Marcus
Don't you believe in redemption? Yeah, the soapbox thing gets a bit tiresome, but I think he has come back from the dark side. He might be something of cycling's Darth Vader. "Back from the dead, bitches!" That might not be a Darth Vader quote. I get confused.
I don't know how clean you can be and still ride the Tour, but I think he's probably as close as you can get to that mark.
But there's definitely a line somewhere between breaking the omerta and going on about it all the time.
Oh, and I didn't miss the two classics sprinkled in there: "Brakesabit" and "Heroically Shit Riding Off the Back." Love it.
@frank
My problem with Millar is that the only reason he is on the soapbox is because he was caught - and I guess it will be impossible for me to ever get past that. Regardless of that, his rentaquote tendencies means he is heard too often. Although on the subject of rentaquotes, A Grimpeur is showing some excellent promise as an interviewee - no bland bullshit from him. He sounds off!
Someone like Kimmage is far more bearable compared to Millar (even if Paul appears pretty sour on life) because he is voluntarily involved in the doping debate.
@Marcus
That's a good point, and I suppose I just like his attitude now, and it doesn't bother me too much exactly why he's doing what he's doing. I think part of it is probably the road he went down on his way to redemption. But to forgive that or not, that's up to everyone individually.
Kimmage, I feel, would have such a stronger position if he wasn't so pissy all the time. But there is no arguing that coming clean without having been caught first is definitely more honorable. Not as honorable as not cheating in the first place, though.
As for Grimpeur the Younger, shit, that dude is showing promise on all sides! The kid is like 25!! What the hell? Where did he learn to be such a little studlette?
I love that quote from yesterday, "If I had attacked one more time, I'd have dropped myself." That's how you do it, my son!
Well, regarding Armstrong, Versus missed his big crash entirely... I don't think many people really understand how fucked he was (and it could have been a whole lot worse - he was lucky). Check out this spectator's video of LA's undoing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHBftK8okyA
Ouch!
Replay the first few seconds of the video a few times...
@Marcus
No worries there. I like Millar because he is a great cyclist, great writer and curses as much as I do. I also like him because he does get on the soap box and rants about doping and takes a fucking stand. Veino, Basso, Hamilton, etc., they get caught and don't take a stand. They didn't inhale, they mumble something about serving their time but that's it. That's somehow better?
I really don't want to fire up this doping discussion again but I think Millar is great. boom. Where are the pints to discuss this properly? Typing sucks.
@KitCarson
Ouch...no wonder his jersey was shredded on his back. Good clip.
@john
This has everything and nothing to do with doping. Millar was a cockhead before he got caught - remember how he was the young man about town, being best buddies with Lance, Next Anglo GC Hope (just made this up - a bit like next great white hope in boxing), blah blah blah? I say Cav's cocky character is not too far away from the pre-ban Millar (except Millar is/was slightly more urbane).
And Millar is a cockhead now because of his loudmouthed sanctimonious ways. He is not just an anti-doping man, he actually makes an effort to rip into those who get caught, "How can they be so stupid? How can they wreck our sport like this?". Don't you find this zealotry hypocritical at best and completely false at worst?
How can he be so self-righteous?
And he hasn't been afraid to give the impression that he only took EPO before a few races just before he was caught - maybe only the Worlds in that year (can't quite recall)? Anyway, I reckon that is bullshit. If that was the case, then why is he a pale imitation of the rider he was pre-ban?
Maybe the blokes who go positive, do their time, re-enter the peloton and get back to racing (say Basso) are more "honest" in that they don't make themselves out to be something they are not? Can I say boom too?
And yes, this discussion would be better off with beer (preferably not in pint glasses) - but no one can interrupt you when you type.
@Marcus "Maybe the blokes who go positive, do their time, re-enter the peloton and get back to racing (say Basso) are more "honest" in that they don't make themselves out to be something they are not? Can I say boom too?"
Say ... Vino? "More honest"? Dunno 'bout that. (Not that I'd say boom to him. Wouldn't even want to say boo. He's a scary man.)
Maybe not Vino. Although he still is one of my favorites. I think of Vino as less of a scary man and more like a mischievious badger. Shake and bake!