I would consider Tour De France as one of the greatest athletic feats that a human body can accomplish. A lot of people would disagree with me, but that does not bother me. It is a cycling race for 21 days where they average almost 200km a day.
The tour starts with a prologue and ends in Paris at Champs de Elysse. It has basically three kinds of stages time trial, flat stages and the mountains. The secret to winning the tour is "if you are good in the time trial and the mountains you have a chance of winning". There are normally 3 time trial stages and about 6 or 7 mountain stages and those decide the race. It is fascinating to watch these stages as they are so competitive and the cyclists employ teamwork, tactics and their last ounce of energy.
It is a very tactical race and the team is very important. Each team has a leader and the goal of the team members is to support the team leader unambiguously with team interests always above personal goals. The discovery team (formerly the US Postal Team) was the best example with Lance Armstrong being their leader and everyone else supporting him 100%. The T-Mobile is the example of a team which had the best individual riders, but could not win the tour since they had no team leader.
This year's tour was the most open and exciting tour after a long time since the Armstrong era was over and every rider thought they had a chance. It also helped since the top two riders Jan Ulrich and Ivan Basso were disqualified. Floyd Landis of US won the tour this year after a big comeback in one of the mountain stages and scoring over his nearest rivals in the final time trial. He was formerly in the US Postal team and later on went to Phonak to become a team lead.
Somehow cyclists are always caught up in performance enhancing drugs nightmares. There is a major scandal every year and this tarnishes the sport quite badly and loses a lot of spectators as well. Although, it has one of the most comprehensive testing policy, some of the cyclists are still following the wrong path. Hopefully, in the future the sport becomes more clean and attracts a wider audience. It is a big religion in Europe and catching up in US. It will be a great deal for cycling if it can penetrate Asia.
The tour starts with a prologue and ends in Paris at Champs de Elysse. It has basically three kinds of stages time trial, flat stages and the mountains. The secret to winning the tour is "if you are good in the time trial and the mountains you have a chance of winning". There are normally 3 time trial stages and about 6 or 7 mountain stages and those decide the race. It is fascinating to watch these stages as they are so competitive and the cyclists employ teamwork, tactics and their last ounce of energy.
It is a very tactical race and the team is very important. Each team has a leader and the goal of the team members is to support the team leader unambiguously with team interests always above personal goals. The discovery team (formerly the US Postal Team) was the best example with Lance Armstrong being their leader and everyone else supporting him 100%. The T-Mobile is the example of a team which had the best individual riders, but could not win the tour since they had no team leader.
This year's tour was the most open and exciting tour after a long time since the Armstrong era was over and every rider thought they had a chance. It also helped since the top two riders Jan Ulrich and Ivan Basso were disqualified. Floyd Landis of US won the tour this year after a big comeback in one of the mountain stages and scoring over his nearest rivals in the final time trial. He was formerly in the US Postal team and later on went to Phonak to become a team lead.
Somehow cyclists are always caught up in performance enhancing drugs nightmares. There is a major scandal every year and this tarnishes the sport quite badly and loses a lot of spectators as well. Although, it has one of the most comprehensive testing policy, some of the cyclists are still following the wrong path. Hopefully, in the future the sport becomes more clean and attracts a wider audience. It is a big religion in Europe and catching up in US. It will be a great deal for cycling if it can penetrate Asia.
3 comments:
Sesh - you said the secret to winning the tour is "if you are good in the time trial and the mountains you have a chance of winning".
I disagree.
If you're pumped full of testosterone, then you have a chance of winning. Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich were pretty much favourites before they were eliminated before day 1. Today, Floyd Landis suffered the same fate. Good riddance!
Good one!
http://arvindschumi.blogspot.com
Good one!
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