First and foremost, as a cyclist and a devoted fan of this sport – a Velominatus, no less, – I express my deepest sympathies to the riders who crashed in Stage 2 of the Tour de France. Blame was cast around, but as pointed out by Ben, there were many months of opportunity for the riders to express their concern about the route – yet no one did. That is because it was a good route; one raced by Eddy Merckx so many times the very climb whose descent caused the carnage in today’s stage bears a statue of his likeness.
In the end, the organizers cannot be held responsible for bad weather, and the riders cannot be held accountable for reacting in collective self-preservation when sticken en masse. Perhaps the stage finish should have been contested, and perhaps some will rue today’s lost opportunities, but the strongest riders in each competition will prevail, I’m sure of that. The lines between sportsmanship and Rule #5 were murky, and it really got everyone talking. We’re all eternally biased by our views and our passion; that’s one of the things that distinguishes us from “science” and makes this a “sport”. And goddammit, I love it and if there is one thing we do here at the Velominati, I hope it’s that we have a chance to say what we want to say and have a conversation. No matter how wrong everyone else is.
The point I’d like to make is that what makes each of us a professional in our own little discpline is our ability to separate what we want to do from what we are paid to do. Tomorrow’s stage three is a case in point. Let today be what is was; Stage Three will feature a rough ride over some of the worst roads in Europe. But, the men bouncing over those roads will not be amateurs out for a Tuesday group ride. These will be professionals – many of whom are paid very handsomely – and their job is to race their bicycles across the route that the race organizers have laid out.
They are paid handsomely for a reason: their job is difficult and not many can accomplish what they are asked to do. To be a professional cyclist means being able to do things and endure pain that I am humbled to imagine (quite frankly, I’m afraid of needles). But the reason there is a paycheck waiting at the end of the day is because the professionals are providing a service that is worth paying for.
That “service” happens to be entertainment. If you’d like to protest the route, you have several months before the race to do so. Once the race starts, protests have no place in this sport. A professional should get on with their job, no matter how difficult it is.
I feel horrible for any rider denied their chance to a “fair” race – including Banged and Felled, Gesink, and Farrar – who may or may not be broken – but the fact remains: this is a bike race and shit happens. You are paid to race a bike because you’re better at it than we are, and because competition is unpredictable, despite the fact that it may break our hearts. In that light, to neutralize tomorrow’s race would be as bad as if we’d found a motor in Spartacus’ Shiv at the Prologue; it would be devastating beyond what any of us can justify in our passion of this sport.
Let me conclude this article with Five Ghosts from Tours Past, in case you still think today’s racers have it too hard:
A couple of rough roads don’t seem so bad when you look at that list.
I ask the Pro Peleton: Please don’t neutralize the race tomorrow. For better or for worse, this is what you’re paid to do. And next year, when the roads look this sketchy, take it up with the organizers in a professional way so everyone – the fans, the riders, and the organizers, all know what to expect.
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@Canarypunk
well summarized between 1 and 2. I can't quite figure out two either other than to wonder if there was so much chaos and misunderstanding that the peloton didn't know who was where and how badly they were injured, let alone if they had a bike to ride. sounds like radios were turned off at one point so they couldn't get info.
as far as descending on sketchy roads, clearly the Stockeu was more than sketchy, it sounds like it was unridable. sketchy is guys like Banged and Felled and Menchov crashing. Unridable is virtually everyone crashing on a straight stretch, getting up, and crashing again 200m later, and perhaps even for a third time. That shit just aint right.
@Marko
How bad could it be? Menchov managed to stay up. Jokes aside, you're right. And that was how Cancellara summed it up this morning. Crashes happen all the time, but when almost half the peloton goes down, that's not normal. As a result, the only just thing to do was to finish en masse as a sign of solidarity. Cancellara also commented on the relative surprise with the crash. Cobblestones are tough; we all know that. So it should be on today. Looks good so far.
I guess that means you have no future in the Pro Peloton Frank.
But anyway, after reading Horner's comments yesterday - "There's no place in the Tour de France for a stage like this." - All I could think was "grow some, biyotch". The TdF is becoming "Frencher" by the moment. Has anybody noticed that the Tour of California was moved because of all the crying about the weather? So now you have a choice, ride with all the cry baby pussies in the ToC or HTFU and ride the Giro. But now the cry babies can't complain about the ToC so the crying has been shifted to the TdF.
@Cyclops
Absolutely right. I was disappointed as well that Andy, in a pre-race interview, said this isn't Paris-Roubaix, it's the Tour de France. That's right, Andy. It's the Tour. It means you have to ride your bike along the entire route, not just up mountains and smooth roads.
Stud ride from both those skinny little climbers today, though. Couldn't have been easy with the crashes from yesterday.
Yesterday (mini-LBL) blew. Today (mini-PR) was wicked. Good Cadel was a sensation flying under the radar there! Would Fabian have tried to stop the show again today if A Grimp crashed again? Lame. Surely A Grimp should have waited for Lance and Contador when they crashed? They waited for him!
Farrar is broken, but riding on. Millar also has a broken rib and finished today in the third(?) grupetto with quite a few unbroken hitters. Hard as nails Rule 5 legend.
"Within only 200 meters of cresting I could see Lance fall about 10 places in front of me on a straight road. When I saw that happen I knew something wasn't right - and that was immediately followed by my wheels disappearing from under me and my sliding across the ground" David Millar, Stage 2.
Since I haven't weighed in on the Stage 2 troubles, I'm putting in my ten lines here. These guys knew this was a narrow cobbled section so everyone had to go fast to be in front. I heard there was oil on the road hence carnage. Oil=Carnage. They are not pussies, they can handle their bikes better than we ever will but no one can if it's slick as ice. Probably only part of it was slick so some guys rode right past wondering what the problem was. I say good on Faboooo for what he did. He is the Patron in the yellow jersey. Someone should stick up for the racers.
OK, I'm done, move on. No need to fire this up again.
@Hawkeye
Millar and Farrar are fucking rocks. What Giants of the Road!
I can't wait to see Farrar roll across the line ahead of Cavendouche with his arms up, displaying all that bandaged up Rule 5 on his arms!!
@john
++1. Well said, my son.
Cancellara is a Cunt of the Highest Order for pulling that stunt yesterday and throwing his weight around. He now sits just above Armstrong in my PRO cycling CoTHO list.
Him neutralising the race had fuck all to do with safety, the only reason the cunt-bucket did it was to ensure that the Grimpeurs got back into the race. Fuck-monkey, I hope his engine runs out of fuel in next years Paris-Roubaix.
@frank Farrar is third on my list of CoTHO after his stage 1 racist outburst.
Talking of which, why wasn't Petacchi DQ'ed? Seemed to me he moved way off-line and caused a crash...
@Jarvis What's this "racist outburst" business? What did Farrar say?