...there was a rivalry between him and Ullrich, aka, the "Bad Guy"
...the leaders looked behind them with dirty looks then hit the gas
...doping was rampant (hahahahahahhahahahahahaha!!!!)
...nobody wore helmets
...there was OLN!!!!
...Cavendish wasn't such a fucking princess
...I looked up to Tyler Hamilton cuz he seemed like such a good guy
...Mario Cippolini was racing. He truly was a styling man!
...there was a pirate racing. RIP Pantani!!!
...Richard Virenque owned the mountains year after year
...they did prologues through strange futuristic theme parks
...the still fastest prologue ever was ridden on a Cervelo P3
...there was a guy nicknamed "The Cannibal" who raced like one
...his name was Eddy Merxx, and he raced to put food on the table
...a guy named "The Badger"! (he won it 5 times as well)
...a guy died climbing Mont Ventoux (I have seen his monument) (he was stoned and drinking liquor that day)
...a young American beat a cocky Frenchman by 8 seconds on the last day!!!
...another American got busted with an 11:1 ratio of testosterone in his system!
...some unknown dude put 30+ mins into the field on a breakaway, and wound up winning the tour! (after that american was DQ-ed)
...stages were so long, that the riders would finish before the race officials
...riders had to fill up their own water bottles
Sadly this year, I have NOT been following the tour. I just don't have that fire anymore. We don't have anymore "came back from cancer to win it 7 times in a row" stories or "good vs evil" (Ullrich vs Lance) stories.
Its most likey a change in interests. I saw 3 stages of the tour in 2003, including L'Alpe D'Huez and the Champs Elysees. Now that triathlon has taken over my life, I get more jazzed about the Ironman World Championships than the tour.
Maybe the Tour should be shortened, or, just turned into one gigantic continuous stage where the riders ride all 21 stages in succession with fricking chainsaws on the the handlebars.
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| Thanks Kevin for sharing! |
Happy Friday!!!
Lost the fire? Blesphemy!!!
ReplyDeleteTHis tour has sooooo boring, Once Wiggins got the jersey, no one has been brave enough to challenge him, Cadel looks old, he isnt even the best rider on his team. Sagan and Votlure in my books are the new villians, Sagan wheel sucks and Votlure facial expressions are just freaking annoying, I am diappointed there was no team time trial this year, talk about a magical race. TJ should be the lead rider on BMC. I am sick and tired of reading "Millar" followed directly with "ex doper" after his stage win. I learned that Farrar is WAY overrated, Cavendish is a putz, I cant stand him, stop your whining and crying and ride. The Schleck brothers are both out, one due to injury, the other got caught doping, yet he didnt do anything in this tour that made me think he could win. This year is more like a "tour" then a race.
Dont forget that Cheatador will be back next tour, that little weasel.
haha great post!
ReplyDeletePantani was indeed a monster, even if he was doping back in the day, he destroyed those mountain stages.
I have a system for watching the tour each year - I just DVR each stage, and then watch it back on fast forward, stopping occasionally for big moments or crashes, etc. So I can cover each stage in about an hour or so. Just enough bike racing each day.
BDD is right, it has been kind of boring tour. Wiggins and Froome have simply dominated the field from the start. Maybe this is what happens when the race tries to cut out as much doping as possible? Superhuman performances don't seem to happen anymore. The racing seems to be more steady efforts.
I will say I like Froome a lot - he could have won yesterdays stage. If he wasn't protecting Wiggins this tour, I think he had a good shot to win this years tour. I'm going to predict that he will finish 1st or 2nd next year. Great guy.
I'm with ya, man! I haven't followed it at all this year. I miss Lance! Oh, and I totally agree that IWC is what I look forward to every year. I can't wait for October!
ReplyDelete"The Cannonball"?!?!? (shakes head in disbelief) ..... Eddy was known as "The Cannibal". They even had fun with the nickname in American Flyers where the villian was "The Cannibal" Muzzin and Eddy had a cameo.
ReplyDeleteDang, I'm just impressed with your TDF knowledge. Sounds like you've been a loyal watcher for years!
ReplyDeleteAgree that there needs to be a bigger "story" to make the tour truly exciting. I just read the updates :)
ReplyDeleteNot super exciting but I was never into cycling much and now with triathlon I have watched it more and find it interesting. The story lines don't exist b/c there is no evil (Macca) versus good (Crowie) but maybe next year.
ReplyDeleteThat dude Sagan may end up crushing Cavendish in a sprint. Cadel Evans bonking was crazy to see considing I thought these guys were super-human.
All in all I can't wait to see Macca at Kona in a few months and the story lines there will be tremendous. Maybe Potts will do more than swim to the lead this year especially with what he did at IMLP.
I say let everyone go no helmets, dope and smack the juice, and let em' have at it!
ReplyDelete