It’s here, it’s finally here! The Tour de France! All of the fevered speculation and discussion of who is in and out of form, which teams are dysfunctional, and who should be picked for each squad can make way for fevered speculation and discussion of actual racing! The circus is finally in town!
And what a circus it is. If you’ve never been to the Tour de France, it’s difficult to grasp just how enormous the race and its associated caravan of fans, sponsors, media and of course cyclists is.
Particularly on the big mountain stages, where people camp for a week in advance to get the best viewing positions; and of course on the Champs Elysees, where the crowd stands 30-40 deep all the way along the famous avenue to watch the race finish.
Before the bikes arrive, waiting fans are distracted by a parade of decorated sponsors’ vehicles throwing promotional tat into the crowd for an hour or so before the rumours of the approaching peloton start to circulate.
It’s an excellent chance to get to know European snack-food and beverage companies and supermarket chains through their choices of marketing collateral, pneumatic promotional staff and cheesy dance-pop.
The now-traditional prologue victory to Fabian Cancellara, a man so talented the UCI was once forced to investigate outlandish claims he had an electric motor attached to his bike, was an ideal start to this year’s Tour.
Cancellara is extremely well-liked for his supreme ability and sportsmanship, and the sight of the yellow jersey launching himself off the front of a speeding peloton in the closing stages of stage one would have brought me to my feet if I wasn’t tucked up in bed at the time.
That he was shadowed by two of cycling’s boy wonders, Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky), just added to the excitement, even though it was clear from the first pedal stroke of the attack that Sagan intended to sit on Cancellara’s wheel and save his energy for a brutal finishing kick.
Cancellara has repeatedly been the victim of this tactic, and he knows to expect it. A man of his ability can scarcely expect his rivals to help him, he is far too dangerous for these sorts of indulgences.
As for Sagan, enough has been said elsewhere about his potential to dominate sprints and classics over the next few years. His battle with Mark Cavendish over the next few stages will be fascinating. Cavendish probably has the edge in speed and tactics for now, but with his Sky team seemingly focused on Bradley Wiggins’ GC hopes, he will be more vulnerable than normal.
The likes of Matt Goss (Orica-GreenEDGE), Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol), Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) and Mark Renshaw (Rabobank) will of course try to take advantage if Cavendish pays too much attention to Sagan. We should see some spectacular bunch sprinting over the next few days.
Lastly, before I sign off, what do we all think about the decision to make whichever squad is leading the teams’ classification (currently Sky) wear bright yellow helmets? The race organisers apparently felt that people weren’t paying enough attention to this particular category, and decided to do something about it.
Personally, I think there’s a reason people weren’t paying attention: because it’s irrelevant.
Nobody cares which team has the overall lowest time. The teams themselves don’t care. They want their domestiques burning themselves out in pursuit of stage wins, team leaders’ ambitions and welfare, or other team objectives, before coasting to the finish to save energy for the next day. Time only matters for the top 20 or so on the GC.
If the teams aren’t interested, why should fans care who is leading this category? Seems like an unnecessary distraction to me.
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