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| Jonas Vingegaard |
It's not the Presidential race or the looming battles for Congressional seats. Rather, the race that matters most to me at this time is one receiving scant coverage in American press. It's the Tour de France, a cycling race that extends 2,174 miles over 21 days. It goes through hills, cobblestones, gravel and mountain stages. Today, for example, riders will go through the Alps from Italy into France, in reverse direction from the way Hannibal descended into Italy over 2,000 years ago.
The person in the overall lead (General Classification) wears a yellow jersey, known as the maillet jaune, unless someone can beat his overall time. The fastest sprinter (there are sprints in nearly every stage) wears the green jersey. The fastest mountain climber, known as the King of the Mountains, wears a polka dot jersey.
Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogacar won the race in 2020 and 2021. Jonas Vingegaard won in 2022 and 2023. They are both in it to win it this year.
These guys are very classy. In the 2022 race, which was a duel between Jonas and Tadej, both were descending a mountain at high speed. Tadej was slightly behind but made a slight mistake and went off the road. Get this. Instead of taking advantage of the situation, Jonas actually slowed down and waited for Tadej to catch up. The two shook hands and continued. That's true sportsmanship.
Though Tadej is predicted to win, Jonas is my favorite. Just a few short years ago, he was working in a fish factory. Now he is the leader of Visma, one of the top cycling teams in the world.
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| Tadej Pogacar |
Tadej just won the Giro d'Italia and basically blew everyone away. He is in top form, so I expect to see their friendly rivalry continue in the mountains and time trials.
There are lots of storylines. Englishman Marc Cavendish, despite graying hair, is racing just to get one stage win, which will give him 35 stage wins overall and make him the first rider to have accomplished that feat.
The first three stages have been won by underdogs from small teams. Frenchmen Romain Bardet and Kevin Vauquelin won stages 1 and 2, respectively. Believe it or not, few Frenchman actually win any stages. Stage 3 went to Biniam Girmay, the first black African to ever win a stage.
In the main battle for overall lead, four cyclists - Jonas Vingegaard, Tadej Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Richard Carapaz - have the exact same time. Carapaz is in yellow because his wheel was first over the line yesterday. Expect that to change.
What kills me is that all of these guys speak perfect English. Tadej always seems to be having fun. Jonas calls his wife and daughter after every stage.
Though there is little American coverage, NBC sports does daily recaps on Youtube.
Thanx Bernie Joe and the hoe and orange bad man stories gotta go. Now this is a story article that really matters free and on two wheels that most people that on your blog only pontificate about.
ReplyDelete“Believe it or not, few Frenchman actually win any stages.”
ReplyDeleteIs that because the French are prone to quick surrenders?
Without France, the U.S. would not have succeeded in its revolution.
DeleteI deleted about five comments from people who simply are unable to talk about anything but their hatred of Democrats. Quite sad.
ReplyDeleteMy husband watches the race highlights every day. The crashes are scary. That Vingegaard is racing at all is amazing and a testament to his conditioning. Pogacar may have left too much on the course in his last race. We will see over the next two and a half weeks. They are not finishing in Paris this year for the first time ever, because of the Olympics. The final stage will feel very different.
ReplyDeleteAs I struggle to ride 10-15 miles on the flat D&L at 9-10 mph.
ReplyDeleteI've never watched the race but I've seen highlight clips. Amazing athletes, for sure.
Eddy Merckx
ReplyDeletePeacock app has all the coverage
No finish and Paris this year
ReplyDeleteBernie I know you a true ally and warrior for Gaea, I've passed you a few times cycling around Easton and admire your seasonal commitment to commuting. The Tour De France is a crime against nature its carbon footprint far exceeds any single NASCAR race , cycling is a way for mankind to atone for his sins against the beloved mother and to bastardize such a noble activity through a frivolous pursuit of vane glorious whimsy is not something I'd ever want to associate with as a hard-core eco warrior.
ReplyDeleteif the tour wants to stay relevant they need to make it a solo unsupported race like the tour divide and eliminate petro chemical derived kits and go back to Natural fibers like wool, cotton, and silk.
if we continue to defile Gaea the rising seas will leave us with very little dry land upon which to cycle.
BLUE BADGER
also they should consider going back to padded leather helmets as the modern petro based ones have to be discarded after a single impact , in order to avoid the worst of climate change perhaps we should give up sport all together this is a crisis we should all be sequestered carbon with regenerative ag and sacrifice not veneration of sports personal.
ReplyDeleteBLUE BADGER
Maybe we should go back to living in caves and foraging for food.
ReplyDelete