Yesterday I suggested that the sheer size of and focus on the Tour de France was becoming so big, it had fundamentally changed cycling.
Aussie veteran Michael Rogers believes the Tour is 98 per cent of cycling now and the rest of the races are only 2 per cent.
He told me “something has changed in the bunch” and it’s not for the best.
Essentially, he feels the Tour is too big.
Today we saw confirmation of that but it had nothing to do with winning.
It was all about surviving.
This morning Andrew Talansky woke with a sore back, just another thing to add to the list of crash-related injuries the young American has had to deal with since the Tour started.
Less than two hours into the race it was clear that the winner of last month’s Dauphine was struggling. Talansky was off the back and the peloton hadn’t even hit the first climb of the day.
He spent time at the team car. With around 115 kilometres raced, he was already five minutes down on the day’s breakaway.
As the race clock ticked past three hours, Talansky was sitting on the road next his team car, a doctor and Garmin staff at his side.
Twitter erupted with news of Tour de France “abandonment.” This brutal race had claimed victim number 20, in less than 11 stages. This was well above the average of 17 in 10 stages for the past five Tours.
I was just writing my tribute tweet to Talansky when TV pictures showed him back on his bike and riding.
Shortly afterwards, he was seen having an emotional conversation with his team car shouting words to the effect, “I just want to finish.”
Andrew Talansky came into the Tour de France with hopes of riding into a high place on the General Classification.
Historically the winner of The Criterium du Dauphine does well in July, but that’s not the case in 2014.
Talansky went into Stage 11 in 26th position, 14:44 behind race leader Vincenzo Nibali.
Two thirds of the way through Stage 11 and he was another six or seven minutes behind and losing more time, fast. And while it was an even-money-bet whether Talansky would finish the stage, you couldn’t be sure at all that he would do it inside the time limit.
Adding to the intrigue, Talansky’s team had not sent anyone back to help pace him into the race. Instead, they were at the front chasing the break.
It was clear that Team Garmin wasn’t prepared to risk more riders missing the time cut, to help someone who may not even start the next stage.
If Talansky was going to survive, he was going to have to do it alone and in pain.
But if the time cut was looking like being a bridge too far for Talansky, then no one told him.
He was certainly getting encouragement from sport directors Charly Wegelius and Robbie Hunter, and despite riding with tears in his eyes, Talansky pressed on.
The educated guess was the cut-off time would be around 33 minutes after the winner crossed the line, but some in the pressroom believed it could be as much as 37 minutes. ‘Hors delai’ is calculated as a percentage of the winner’s time and will vary depending on the terrain and the race speed.
Coming into the final three kilometres, Talansky had five minutes to make the cut-off.
When he did cross the line Talansky was 32:05 down on Tony Gallopin’s time, and was safe for another day.
It was an act of pure bravery from someone who respects just how big the Tour de France is. Talansky saw honour in risking elimination by the clock instead of unpinning his race number and climbing into the back of a team car.
Talansky didn’t want to let down his team or himself, such is his pride in competing in the world’s biggest bike race.
It’s too big to let go without a real big fight and Talansky lived right up to his ‘pit- bull’ nickname in beating the odds.
It’s a shame that Orica-GreenEDGE’s Matthew Hayman couldn’t find the same willpower.
He had to abandon on Monday’s epic stage to La Planche des Belles Filles when all hope of finishing inside the time limit had vanished.
A race that Hayman had worked towards for his entire career was over because he picked the wrong day to have a bad day.
Hayman still had two big climbs to go as Vincenzo Nibali claimed victory and the Orica-GreenEDGE veteran just couldn’t go on. He climbed off his bike and the dream was over.
Adding to the pain, there’s no guarantee Hayman will be given another chance next year. He’s contracted to OGE in 2015 but if the team make an assessment that Hayman wasn’t sick or injured, but just couldn’t cope, they may not want to risk him again.
Sad but true. The Tour is too big to take risks with riders.
Nick
Guest
The reality is that in sport, even if events are meant to be of equal value, in truth some are valued more than others be it for their history and influence or some other factor. In golf would you rather win the US PGA Championship or say the Open Championship or Masters and yet they are all "majors". Would you rather win Wimbledon or, with the greatest respect, the Australian Open and yet they are both "grand slam" events. So it is with the TDF in comparison with the Giro or the Vuelta or any other cycle race.
Nick
Guest
Added to which the start of the race was much tougher than usual with all the teams recognising stage 2 as the trickiest early stage of recent years. No easy prologues for the riders to ease their way into Le Tour in 2014!
Tony Meadows
Roar Rookie
"Le Tour de France" .Its so much more than a cycle race; Its has to be experience at the roadside to be understood. When the Tour comes to town for a Depart or a Arrivage or is passing through your village, or anywhere through the Departement, it signals an event which must be honoured. Preparations will begin weeks in advance with road repairs and local press promotion.People will book the day off work.Farms, schools ,offices ,works whole communities on route will prepare a welcome and a celebration. You get some idea from the TV coverage, but not the scale or the enthusiasm for the day. The enthusiasm is for the event not just for a bunch of crazy lycra clad cyclists,(in France you see them in large numbers almost every day),no its for the celebration of" Le Tour". The quality of the racing is cycling ,the event is theatre and tradition.Interpret that into publicity value and you see why its so important in cycling terms as well.
Jono
Guest
Hayman was involved in a crash on stage...6, I think and White has said that he was a bit on struggle street after that.
SVB
Guest
I got into cycling through the Tour de France during the Armstrong comeback period in the early 2000's. I have been cycling for many years now. Global events like the Tour de France, FIFA World Cup and Olympics (in the case of swimming/athletics) are more than just events. They are parties. But they also get curious observers into the sports. You could also argue in Australia that the Melbourne Cup single handedly gives horse racing a big profile in this country. I would say don't ever change Le Tour. We don't just watch it for the cycling but also to see every year what a beautiful country France is.
Albo
Guest
Spot on Colin ! Cycling would only be the domain of kids riding to school & the odd Olympic velodrome event every 4 years, if not for LE TOUR ! LE TOUR indeed, is bigger than cycling itself, with the marketing of the sport within the travelogue coverage of France & surrounds, is a massive converter of previously non interested sports fans (and even non-sports types) to the sport of cycling. I was never interested in the cycling sport, until I got stuck watching a full mountain stage of Le Tour on SBS about 8 years ago. From there I was immediately hooked, and have never missed a stage since ! I now watch the Giro & the Vuelta and any other cycling classic I can find that is televised. And that is why Le Tour has to be the total priority for the sport ! It is the real World Cup of its sport with the added marketing benefit of being held every year !
Stevo@Lennox
Guest
Totally agree. TDF is like the World Cup final in soccer or rugby, it gets the occasional spectator (tv or live) and often they then become cycling fans. The TDF has only increased cycling's appeal across the globe. From an athlete's perspective, if you asked any cyclist what he would rather win - a Tour de France, a monument race, or a World Title - I know what they would say.
Steve Kerr
Roar Rookie
In other news, the Olympics is bad for Athletics, and the World Cup hurts Football.............. :-)
Ferdinand Buttercup
Guest
I agree, if you wanted to write about Talansky write about Talansky.
Colin Kennedy
Roar Guru
Stupid question. Of course not, unless you want the sport to wallow in obscurity forever. Actually the Tour de France is bigger than cycling - it made cycling – it's an unparalleled endurance event that is in fact bigger than cycling. As far as I'm concerned, you can lose the rest, but keep the tour. Ask other participants and fans of so called fringe sports (which cycling no longer is), they would give their eye teeth for an event of this scale.
Blue
Guest
No. Quite the contrary. I have just returned from France and the UK and the impact of the tour is immense. All of the Criteriums and the Giro were heavily supported as well. The Tour has made global cycling,
Barry
Guest
I'm sorry but the figures about the number of riders withdrawing is ridiculous the way it is used here to support some argument about the tour being too big - average of 17 withdrawing over first 10 stages for last 5 years and we have had what is it? 20 withdraw in 11 stages?? How can you consider that a massive difference with the conditions and the sheer number of crashes
Gurudoright
Guest
It is amazing to see how the TDF has exploded in recent years, not just in the cycling world but also into Aussie mainstream. These days most people know something about Le Tour and every year more and more people are becoming familiar with tactics being employed. The Tour is becoming the be all and end all of cycling but after this years Giro, it won't be long before some of Le Tour hype with transfer to the Giro. As more people get into the TDF and understand road cycling I think they will eventually will start watching the other Grand Tours. Yes TDF will always be number 1 but I see a time in the future when the others tours will have a little bit more time in the sun