It’s that time of year again. I can hear the wind whistling through the spokes, the people cheering from the sidelines and the regular honk of the motorcycle camera making its way through the peloton.
Yes folks, the Tour de France is nearly upon us. For me, it means three weeks of staying up engrossed in the battle for the Yellow Jersey and hoping, hoping, that Cadel has the team and the legs to win it one more time.
For my wife, it is three weeks of tossing and turning beside me as I ruin her sleeping patterns for love of a sport she can’t quite understand my enthusiasm for.
I’m not a cyclist, I don’t own a road bike or a lycra suit, but I find the sport, and “le Tour” in particular, fascinating.
So much drama, so much history in one race. You have to respect the ability of the riders (drug-cheats notwithstanding) just to finish, let alone be anywhere near the podium in Paris.
I had always assumed cycling to be a lonely sport (one person on a bike, isn’t it, what’s the point of a team?) until I started paying attention to it. It is, of course, perhaps the most team-oriented sport there is.
Riders sacrifice themselves for the team leader, push themselves to chase or drive the pace of the peloton, until they have nothing left and fall way off the pace.
It is not uncommon for a rider to do his job for the team in the first couple of weeks and then pull out, never to finish the great race.
Everyone has their role to play and the best teams have an even spread to help get their man home.
Sprinters, climbers, all-round workhorses. It is amazing to watch the by-play and tactics once you know what you are looking at.
None of this would be possible, of course, without the fantastic free-to-air coverage provided by SBS. When I first became interested in the race, all we had were the nightly half-hour highlights packages.
I got so into it I’d stay away from all news outlets so as not to spoil the stage results.
The coverage has now expanded to include every stage live, with the highlights still packaged up for those unable to sit through the entire stage the next day.
I make the sacrifice and come to work bleary-eyed so I can keep up with the action and get my cycling fix.
It is testament to the explosion of interest in cycling in this country that the coverage is as complete as it is.
Every cafe I venture past on a Saturday or Sunday morning has bikes pulled up out the front and groups of riders in their lycra sipping lattes.
More and more I’m having to keep an eye out for cyclists on the road, and not the odd one or two as it used to be – they hunt in packs.
More Australians are involved in the Tour de France now than ever – we even have an Australian team in Orica Green Edge. Ten years ago, this was a dream. Now we expect it.
And we can hope that, once more, Cadel Evans might step atop the podium in Paris.
His form leading in has been good, but the competition is tough. Bradley Wiggins is out of the race, but Chris Froome is a huge chance and was likely to lead the team even if Wiggins hadn’t pulled out.
And Alberto Contador is back and as dangerous as ever, more so now with a point to prove after his suspension.
So I will stay up and watch and cheer on Cadel while my wife tries to sleep beside me.
She doesn’t understand it, but she accepts it, bless her, because she loves me and she accepts my love of the Great Race and everything that comes with it.
Time to warm up the coffee machine…
The Roar’s expert Glenn Mitchell offers his thoughts on the 2013 Tour de France:
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