You’d think that with such an historical event taking place in France overnight that the Australian newspapers would be a sea of yellow and ‘we are the champions’ headlines this morning. Yet what I saw staring back at me when I visited one of the most respected newspaper websites (ie not a Murdoch tome) was a dead, tattooed junkie. Now that’s news!
Australians are known for our love of the ‘Tall Poppy Syndrome’, where we like to take a famous public figure, be it a politician, entertainer or sportsperson, and build them up to a level of adulation sometimes deserved, oftentimes not, and when that figure reaches the pinnacle of their field we criticise or ridicule them to bring them back down to ‘our’ level. We don’t want to be seen as lesser than them, or more likely want our heroes to be just ‘ordinary blokes’ like us. Aussies love to be the common man, but also want to be better than all those high-and-mighty Poms, Yanks, or in this case, ‘Frogs’.
Now that ‘we’ have won the world’s biggest bike race, we will embrace the victory and milk it for all it’s worth. Even if the majority or the Holden-drivin’, VB-drinkin’, steak-eatin’, footy-watchin’ public thinks that cyclists are lycra-wearin’ fags, and would gladly swerve their ute to run us into the gutter for a bit of a laugh.
So enjoy your time in the sun Cadel, make the most of the plaudits from the press, the politicians and the cycling fans, because cycling will still be seen as not a real man’s sport by most. Kind of like yachting, but hey, we loved it for a brief moment when we won the Americas Cup.
You little bloody ripper!
I know as well as any of you that I've been checked out lately, kind…
Peter Sagan has undergone quite the transformation over the years; starting as a brash and…
The Women's road race has to be my favorite one-day road race after Paris-Roubaix and…
Holy fuckballs. I've never been this late ever on a VSP. I mean, I've missed…
This week we are currently in is the most boring week of the year. After…
I have memories of my life before Cycling, but as the years wear slowly on…
View Comments
Gotta say that rendition of the Australian National Anthem has me all goose bumpy. Found it on YouTube, but can anyone tell me who that was doing the singing of Advance Australia Fair? After hearing the US anthem slaughtered in so many horrible ways, this was a treat.
Good on ya Cuddles. Almost makes me wanna forget what a bunch of stinkin' cheaters the Aussies were back in '83 when they thieved the America's Cup. Almost. But iocane comes from Australia, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals....
@eightzero
Her name is Tina Arena - an Aussie singer who has been around since she was a little kid singing on a show called "Young Talent Time"(!). She now lives in Paris. Ripper voice - not sure about the Aussie flag top she was wearing.
Tina Arena! I thought she was dead...
@brett
@Bianchi Denti
Hey! Why am I getting all defensive about that comment! Cycling fandom is like that phrase about bikes being light aero or cheap - pick 2. I feel that with my bias, xenophobia (seriously I am scared of Marcus) and stupidity I'm outperforming on those measures.
@Omar
Beauty queens would look that rough if they were turning themselves inside out like Cadel's been doing for, well, forever.
I know Cadel has an incredibly low position on the TT bike but there's an amazing shot here on the Cycling Tips site which shows just how far down he is.
http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/07/le-tour-diary-stage-20-its-only-0057/
His hands are only a few inches above the front wheel. Compare it to the other positions where riders have the bar extensions on mounts which give them more height above the bars.
Must take a lot of getting used to.
P.S. Scroll down to the shot after Voeckler.
@ChrisO
Here's a pic of his bike - bars about even with the top tube. My back hurts just looking at it.
Gianni - Awesome! That's right, Lance should go to jail for the whole Ultra bullshit. Nothing like guys drinking light beer or bullshit beer like that. I drink beer that tastes good and gives me a bit of a buzz. Why bother drinking fucking Coor Light or Miller Lite? Total nonsense.
Wow, ten days of catch-up viewing? Enjoy!
Oh, and those Izod commercials with Weezer? Those suck too. When did all commercials become music videos?
Cadel must be very flexible and very malleable in all ways. When I saw that he rides a 140mm stem I knew something was up. I just went from a 100 to a 110 and the bike handling was noticeably different for a few rides. I cannot imagine being slammed down with a 140! Crazy. And his TT positioning is as well.
In 2002 I watched the 2nd to last stage in the Giro and Cadel was in pink for the first time. I saw Cadel suffer as much as anyone I've ever seen climbing, while losing the jersey and the Giro. 9 years later I saw the same loser of the Giro win one of the smartest tactical races of the TDF ever. Two things stood out to me about Cadel. Nobody rode in the drops as much as Cadel. He was racing every second of the Tour. Finally, when he had his mechanical on stage 19 (I thought he would lose the tour right there) he was as cool as a cat, waiting for his replacement bike. He aint no whiner, just a humble deserving winner.