The Tour de France is always a unique spectacle – whether it’s the bizarre scenes of a bus getting stuck under the finish line or seeing a dog playing Russian roulette with a peleton approaching at 30mph. You never now what is going to happen.
The Tour de France is many things, but a gentle amble around the country lanes it is not.
But, whatever happens, the Tour will always remain the pinnacle for any rider. Riders sacrifice so much to race, they desperately want to be at their best and finish. The crazy determination and willingness to suffer, leads to some epic moments of pain transcendence. Off the top of my head, I can remember at least a couple of guys riding with broken collarbones (one used an inner tube in his mouth to get grip on the handlebars) I can’t even bear to watch the Youtube clips of the unfortunate Johnny Hoogerland who crashed into barbed wire (in 2011), but still continued – stitched up like a teddy bear knitted together by a 10 year old
This year, there are already the unfortunately predictable crashes, and riders somehow making it to the start line the next day. Tony Martin suffering double concussion, still made it to the start line and even more impressively finished the stage. Despite a broken pelvis, Gerraint Thomas is still forging ahead.
“I’m going to continue, to give it a good go even if my mum doesn’t want me to,” Thomas added in good spirits.
“Like I said, it’s the Tour; it’s not your average race. I’m definitely going to keep fighting. It felt a lot better today than yesterday and it felt a lot better [at the finish] than at the start today, but I got a crack at on my bone so it’s always going to hurt.” (Thomas at Cycling Weekly)
Sometimes, when you’re racing up a long hill, you can imagine it would be fun to be in the Tour de France, riding the hills of the mountains. But, when you see the more painful reality of professional cycling, you kind of become glad you didn’t give up the day job.
Tyler Hamilton had to have 11 teeth capped after grinding them down due to the pain resulting from his broken upper arm in the 2002 Giro.
Regarding Tony Martin’s concussion, there’s a case for saying he posed a danger to other riders in that condition.