Tour de France - image by Hada
It’s that time of the year, when I try to summon up my will power and avoid spending 3 hours in the afternoon listening to what the Eurosport commentators had for dinner last night, and the history of the local Chateaux. It is of course, the 2009 Tour de France and what cyclist can remain unmoved by the great race across France and neighbouring countries?
Last year, I was pretty fed up with the whole procycling scene and I generally avoided watching all the tour on TV. However, despite, the innumerable reasons to despair at the procycling scene, you can’t help but be fascinated by the Tour and become involved in the gripping daily racing.
Also, you feel that this year, procycling is ‘cleaner’ that it has ever been for a very long time. After decades of brushing the dope under the carpet, efforts to stop doping at least seem sincere. It’s not to say there aren’t riders getting away with taking dope. But, we’ve come along way from the era of the 80s, 90s and early 00s, when the default seemed to be to take drugs.
It wouldn’t be the tour without some kind of scandal, so with low expectations I’m going to sit back and say chapeau to all the riders. (especially the Brits like Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish – both riders I admire and both doing very well already.)
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