Wednesday, July 25, 2012
#72 The Tour de France
WRAPPING UP THE TOUR DE FRANCE: It's been fun teaching classes loosely based on the events of the Tour de France. The first weeks class included three good climbs and three fast flats as well as two sprints. The second week simulated one of the best mountain stages I have seen in years. And the final weeks class puts you in the mind of the winner during his final time trial. I've tried to make these classes different and fun for you. And I hope that maybe you will appreciate and understand the tour a little bit more in the future.
I've been following the Tour since about 1984. The 2012 edition was actually one of the most interesting for me because it was less predictable than most. Ultimately, the tour is not about bike racing as much as it is about human drama. Here are some of the dramas that I followed.
THE TWO CONTENDERS: Going into the race, two persons were considered favorites: Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans. They were considered the two riders who best fit this year's course. The Tour always requires that a winner combine the disparate talents of mountain climbing and time trial racing. Often that balance slightly favors the climber but this year's route gave the slight edge to the time trialist. Wiggins and Evans were considered the best time trialists among the mountain climbers and thus the favorites.
Evans was last year's tour winner. Wiggins has been in ascendency for some time. Neither rider had yet demonstrated, to me at least, the qualities of toughness, courage and judgement that would make him a real champion in the sense of being something bigger than a winner.
Evans stayed closed throughout the race but never really looked like a tour winner this year. Wiggins was clearly riding like the favorite, and riding on the best team. From early on, he rode smart at the right times and used his team intelligently. But still, it was not clear he was the deserving winner as demanded by the French in particular. That is to say someone that can show singular dominance, character and panache.
Wiggins hit a snag when, immediately after a hard stage, he was confronted by media wanting to know about allegations on Twitter that he, and his team, were using performance-enhancing drugs. The question was probably ill-timed and also inelegantly asked, but it is also a reasonable question given the recent history of the sport. His response was astounding. That he denied using drugs was no surprise, he has long thought to be a clean rider. But his language, anger and demeanor were totally out of bounds by any standard. Certainly not very British. As I told a friend, he was now "on probation" in my book.
Several days later, Wiggins issued an apology that won me back. He sounded sincere in his contrition. He cited the embarrassment that would accrue to himself, his country and his wife and children if he cheated. He said, convincingly to me, that he would rather be stocking shelves in a discount store than win the Tour de France by cheating. He had shown both humility and honor in my opinion. In so doing he was starting to demonstrate the character I want to see in the yellow jersey. A sincere apology goes a long way for me.
A few days later, another chapter unfolds. In one of the most crucial mountain staged, Evans plans an attack on Wiggins but is unable to execute it. In fact, he is unable to keep up with his own teammate, American Tejay van Garderen on the mountain face. But further back, Wiggins is having the same problem staying with his teammate, Chris Froome. Any rider is expected to have at least one "bad" day on the tour. Surviving them when they come is part of the formula for winning. Still, people started talking again. Who was the worthy winner? Were the favorites even the strongest riders on their own teams?
Then, on a mountain stage in the Alps, comes the test of moral leadership. A real test of Yellow Jersey worthiness. Fan control in the Tour de France is a vague concept at best. And in a crowd of fifteen million fans, there are bound to be some cretins. Someone, for whatever reason, threw carpet tacks onto the road at the top of a dangerous mountain descent. As many as 40 riders flatted. Some had double flats.
Riding at the front of the peleton, Wiggins raised his arms and commanded the entire race to slow and wait for those who had flatted. His moral authority - doing the right thing when it was not necessary - made him look like a champion. His stance was accepted by all the riders regardless of team. He assumed an ethical and moral leadership not just of his team but of the race. He became the "patron" of the peleton.
Then, finally, on the day of the last time trial, Wiggins lead by over a minute over Evans and had to be considered a favorite to win the Tour. The race was a time trial and Wiggins - riding last - put in a commanding performance to beat Evans, Froome and all the time trial specialists. He won the stage and finally put a commanding stamp on the race as "his" tour.
England could not be more proud. All this time, Wiggins was riding with the weight of the sports-crazy British people. Great Britain has never had a rider win the tour in all of it's 99 years. Imagine. And, in the same year as the Olympics, Britain was hungry for its time.
During the three-week ordeal, Wiggins became a worthy owner of the "Maillot Jaune". He, his family, and his country can be proud.
THE TWO OLD GUYS: This tour was also interesting because it was perhaps the swan song for two riders I have admired over the years. Jens Voigt is 41 years this old and, I think, the oldest rider in this year's tour. He is a German racing for Team RadioShack and is one of the most loved members of the Peloton by fans and riders alike.
He is famous for his ability to absorb pain. I sometimes quote him. When your legs are hurting and begin "talking to you," his answer is to say "Shut up legs!". He is known as an aggressive racer willing to sacrifice himself for his team. But in addition to his strength and skill, he has not been afraid to talk about what a difficult sport bike racing is. That makes him more interesting that some of his contemporaries who prefer the illusion of invincibility over the honesty of humility.
Jens has twice worn the Yellow Jersey. Each time, just for one day. He was never intended to be a Tour winner but rather a rouleur - a domestique who could do it all. Both times he wore yellow, his team elected not to help him keep it because doing so was not in their overall team strategy. His role has always been to be the supporter and not the star. But he has played the role of the supporter so well, he has developed his own star-like following.
He is the best cyclist most have never heard of. He is the best at what makes the Tour so special - a willingness by someone to sacrifice for someone else's benefit.
Jen’s fans watched him ride this years tour thinking it would be his last. At 41 he can be forgiven wishing to spend more time with his wife and six kids. And it may be so. But then he made some statements after the tour that - after consultation with his family - he may be back again. He's so good, he'd be worth saying good bye to twice.
The other good-bye in this tour is to an American, George Hincapie. Hincapie's story is like Voigt's. George is 39 and he has just finished his 16th and last tour. In the tour just finished he raced as a domestique for Cadel Evans on the BMC Team. He is best known as the only domestique to ride for Lance Armstrong during all seven of his Tour de France wins.
Hincapie also helped Alberto Contador win the Tour in 2007 and Cadel Evans win it in 2011. He is one of only two riders in Tour de France history to have raced on nine Tour-winning teams.
In addition to his outstanding record in the Tour, George has made the Spring classic races his speciality. These hard one-day races, often on cobblestones or other poor road surfaces, are the epitome of European bike racing.
To me, he is the most European of the American riders to race in Europe. And in my mind, that is an honor onto itself. He is the one who has best adapted to the ethic of suffering and sacrifice that makes the tour so special without being driven by desire for fame and fortune.
THE TWO YOUNG BUCKS: In discussing the two main contenders for yellow in this year's tour, I mentioned that both were outridden by teammates at different times during the Tour. Every contender is expected to have "bad days" on the tour and his team is expected to help in those situations. But in this case, I couldn't stop thinking that this might be watching the old and the new. A torch passing on the mountain.
Tejay van Garderen is likely to be the next bright face of American cycling. Despite the Dutch-sounding name, he is an American rider who finished fifth in this year's Tour and won the White Jersey competition for best rider under the age of 26. It was the best finish by an American in the Tour since Lance Armstrong was third in 2009.
van Garderen captured the white jersey in the race's opening prologue and surrendered it only for two stages en route to wearing it in Paris. In so doing, he demonstrated the combination of mountain climbing and time trialing that marks a Tour champion.
As a climber, he looked stronger at times than his team captain, former tour winner Cadel Evans. Last year at his first tour, van Garderen, became the only US rider ever to win the polka-dot jersey given to the race's best mountain climber. This year he added an impresssive performance in the time trials.
The other young rider to watch is Chris Froome. Froome is a British citizen born in Kenya and raised in South Africa. He rode this year for Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky. Froome made his breakthrough by placing second in the 2011 Vuelta (or Tour of Spain). In this year's Tour de France he won stage 7 on a steep uphill finish, finishing ahead of defending champion Cadel Evans and eventual winner teammate Bradley Wiggins. Froome went on to finish second overall behind Wiggins in Le Tour, as they became the first British riders to reach the podium in the history of the Tour de France.
Watch out world.
A postscript about young riders is to watch a still-younger American rider, Tyler Phinney. Tyler is the son of America's first family of bike racing Davis Phinney and Connie Carpenter. Both were world-class riders in their days. One as a Tour de France rider and the other as an Olympic champion. Tylor is young yet, too young to be in the Tour. He is also big-of -build to be a Yellow Jersey contender. He may become a dominant Spring classics rider and time trial expert. Or, he may reshape his physique over the next few years to adapt it to winning the tour. You may have heard of the last rider to do that, his name is Bradley Wiggins.
EDITORIAL COMMENT: I had promised to do two more articles this issue, one on rest and one on the difference between "indoor cycling" and Spinning. But I went on too long about the tour and don't want to wear you out. Or me. So stay tuned and I will postpone those articles until next time.
In the meantime, I have been playing around with several alternatives for a new format. I am trying to find something that will be more attractive and more readable. I am finding that these are two very different things, by the way. So if you have any reaction to this format - good or bad - drop me a note. Thank you for caring. Thank you for reading.
QUOTE:
"If it hurts me, it must hurt the other ones twice as much." Jens Voigt.
Thank you.
Bill Roach, NASM-CPT, CES.
Star 3 Lifetime Certified Spinning Instructor
Certified Personal Trainer, National Academy of Sports Medicine
Corrective Exercise Specialist, National Academy of Sports Medicine
bill.roach@mchsi.com
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