Stop calling the 2012 Tour de France 'The Ashes'

There's been some quite disturbing news from the tour as both Richie Porte and Michael Rogers (Team Sky's two Australian riders) have reported being abused by Australian spectators during mountain stages. Although neither have elaborated about what has been said to them, the gist of it is that the abuse has come because they're riding in support of Wiggins, and against Cadel. The fact that they are employed by Team Sky, and that their job is to support their team leader seems to have passed these culprits by.

No apologies required, I am in total agreement with you and was merely offering some more reasons for why the whole 'Ashes' concept does not apply in this case. While I'm always pleased to see cycling attract new fans, I got the impression that Stefenovic was more interested in lauding an Australian victory rather than having any vested interest in the sport or Cadel. But I'm willing to be corrected on that. I wasn't aware of Mia Freedman's fortuitous change to her website just prior to her proclamations last year. If it is the case that she had hoped to capitalise by irking cycling fans, and the 'oi oi oi' brigade, then she did pick a pretty inflammatory way of going about it. Even so, I'm sure that she probably didn't expect such a reaction.

Rachel, this article was a fantastic read and I could not agree with you more. Another classic example is when footballer's who are utilised for their superb foot skills are referred to as "quarterbacks" - cringeworthy in my books. Keep up the great work, cycling will thank you for it.

This is why I love cycling! All the comments pretty much agree with each other. We love our sport and we love the great riders. We all prefer our favourites to win,but more importantly we love the whole thing; the competition, the skill, the bravery, the courage. Greipel beat Goss today for his first TdF win and it was great. Led out by Henderson and Hansen. I don't think we need to call them Anzacs supporting the Hun! If/when Goss wins it will be even better, because he will know and we will know that at last they got it right and the best man got it on the day. What's not to love about that? And who doesn't want that 150km breakaway to survive, even if your favourite man wins the sprint behind? We don't give a damn about stupid international rivalries which just don't exist in this sport. We just love the sport! Thanks Rachel for a fantastic story. I echo your last words: My name’s Buster, and I too am an Australian cycle-holic. To whoever crosses the line in Paris wearing the yellow jersey in a few weeks, I too will yell chapeau. I may not cry, but I will certainly get emotional.

Cricket actually provided me with a good example of why you shouldn't try and sell one sport in terms of another. The BBC used a generic 'sports' broadcaster on their cricket coverage for the first Twenty20 World Cup and he was forever saying "so, in terms of football, that would be X" or "it's a bit like Y in football" to try and describe things to the listeners. I guess the idea was that football fans would be listening, needing to understand, but half the time his explanations didn't really stand up to scrutiny and everyone who did understand cricket found this talk annoying and alienating. Every sport has its UNIQUE strengths. You need to see those to see the unique appeal.

As a TDF fan, I see it as. The race has many characters and teams of multi nationalities, nearly all of it from Europe. There are characters you love, ones you like, those you hate (arrogant ones/drug cheats) and then there are those that you absolutely cheer and wish more than anything for them to win or ride well because they are from your nation. IE Cadel Evans, Rogers, Porta in GC, Goss, Renshaw in the sprints. It's full of drama and you never know what's going to happen next, the steep climbs on the crucial stages are always action packed, as are the sprint finishes.

Fantastic article and hit the nail on the head re Ashes on Wheels. It is nothing more than a broad-appeal term to generate interest in cycling among non-cycling fans by the worst of the worst bandwagon media outlets so they can sell more newspapers (Daily Telegraph I'm looking straight at you). Remember, the Daily Telegraph was the same newspaper that lauded Cadel for coming 2nd in 2007 but derided him with backpage headlines of CHOKER when he placed 2nd in 2008.

Great article Rachel, It's refreshing to see so many others agree with your opinion regarding the overuse of the term 'Ashes' too. It seems to be a peculiarly Australian thing to do; the English certainly don't apply the term to anything other than Cricket (obviously), and the occasional Rugby League encounter, of which fervent interest is only generated in some regional pockets of the UK so they'll use any excuse to promote the sport to the rest of the country. As far as I can tell, referring to a sporting event as the 'Ashes on Wheels', or the 'Ashes of Snooker' seems to be a media invention designed to whip up some antagonism between the 2 countries, and a bit of nationalistic fervour, prior to a sporting event. It probably isn't something that even the participants adhere to. Maybe Victoria Pendleton and Anna Meares at one stage, but they seem to have dropped their animosity to one another and now afford each other a grudging respect. It should also be noted that Team Sky are a British-based team, not English. As you rightly say, they're a multinational squad too, as are pretty well every team at this year's tour (bar only the Basques of Euskatel-Euskadi and the French team Saur-Sojasun). Of their highest profile cyclists, Bradley Wiggins has Australian heritage, something that seems to have been forgotten in the Wiggo v Cadel hyperbole, and anyone who has ever referred to Cav as an Englishman in the man's presence can certainly testify to the fact that he is not English, but a very proud Manxman. And while he's not racing at this year's tour, Geraint Thomas, one of Sky's other high profile riders is Welsh. Cadel, meanwhile, is BMC's only Australian riding this year's tour. It hardly makes for an Australia-England match up in the vein of a rugby international or a test match does it? Going back to your comment about support for the tour coming from media outlets other than SBS. Was anyone else wound up to see the likes of Karl Stefanovic - who, as far as I'm aware, had previously never shown any interest in the sport - suddenly becoming Cadel's biggest fan once he got onto the podium in Paris last year? I also found the backlash against journalist Mia Freedman, for having the audacity to retain her disinterest in cycling after Cadel's victory, quite astounding too. The fact that she was bullied and abused for being "un-Australian" by probably the very same people who hurl abuse at cyclists on the road, but who became very vocal Cadel supporters, left a really nasty taste in my mouth.

I wish I saw more of the "lauding" for the guys who do the dirty work. To me, as has always seemed to be the case, the mass media focus primarily on the winner. Us 'true fans' can look at a race and see precisely what is going on, the rest don't. Otherwise you're spot on. As is Rach. Fantastic piece mate!

Great article. As an Aussie cycle-holic like yourself, I had tears in my eyes when Wouter Weylandt crashed and passed away. Same tears when last year, Hoogerland ploughed through the barbed-wire fence, and yet more tears when Cadel paraded down the Champs Elysee. (Get me my Kleenex...yeah I'm a big sook). I like others, also have a massive grin when Cav pumps his fist when crossing the line. Nationality plays no part in cycling; Olympics and Worlds excluded ;)

You are absolutely correct about the term "The Ashes" - those using it with reference to this Tour not only understand nothing about cycling, they understand nothing about cricket either! As for "The Ashes on Wheels" - I hadn't heard that and I never want to again! (Cricket Fan here)

Bloody oath. Damn right. I'm kind of anti sky in revolt of the bandwagon and potential ashes related things. But really, it comes down to more individuals I think. I want Cav to win, but Cadel also, not wiggo. Last year was great for the wins, but i didn't want wiggo to crash of course... "National" teams are ok for me when they are from france, Belgium or Italy, but not England or Australia. I'm aware of my hypocrisy based on tradition... I don't care where people are from, put the flags away, if they ride well, are characters, brilliant. Great article...well done Rachel. Ian (Yorkshire, Manx lived in Australia for ten years now freelance photographer in Barcelona...so nationalistic tendencies are kind of neutralised...)

I thought it was just me who hated that term! Even the world track cycling championships in Melbourne earlier this year were promoted as 'The Ashes on Wheels!' Arghhh!

Very good job! As Spanish, I especially remember the tour when Carlos Sastre got the yellow jersey and won the tour that was not scheduled for him. We had a good run of great cyclists and now we have a drought of good riders. 'Purito' Rodríguez is the exception as we saw in the Giro, and Valverde and Samuel Sanchez are not good enough in order to win Le Tour... Who cheer as Spanish? Well, it's very complicated. Both Bradley/Cadel as postulated as favorites. In 2008 I remember Carlos Sastre was not favourite. His compatriot Cadel - who I admire- and Denis Menchov were one of the few candidates. Also Frank Schleck, Carlos' mate. No clear favorites always win, that's for sure, but without a clear cyclist to be supported, I think the fight for the yellow jersey this year is open and that's what fans like. Aside from where we are, what matters is that you respect and enjoy the show. Kind regards! PS: Sorry for my English...If you don't understand it correctly, please, forgive me.

What a wonderful piece, Rachel. I agree with you 100% and will celebrate the win no matter who crosses the finish line in Yellow. We are all cyclists and we are all champions. Well done.

Wise words. I'm a cricket writer by trade, so Anglo-Australian antipathy is by definition part of my job. I've previously joked that it's hard to forget such habits when following the Tour, but it isn't. You can support who you like, but it seems to me that cycling's more about lauding whoever crosses the line first, no matter what their nationality. In fact, quite often it's about lauding the guys who do the dirty work and exhaust themselves, finishing nowhere near the front. And yes, you're right, it's also about eating moules frites washed down with a tripel karmeliet.