The Friday Thing #762

Well, I survived 210 miles in the saddle last week…thanks for all the notes of support.

The Friday Thing #762 is my once-a-year homage to the Tour De France (or simply Le Tour or The Tour). I’ve been following it for the last two weeks and this has to be the best tour in at least a decade. Sure, I enjoyed the dominance of the British Sky/Ineos team over the last ten years as first Sir Bradley Wiggins, then Froomey and then Geraint Thomas all rode into Paris in the maillot jaune and claimed the biggest victory there is in cycling. This year has been a real bike race though, played out between two phenomenal riders in Tadej Poga?ar and Jonas Vingegaard. Like many, I was convinced the Poga?ar was going to cruise to his third title in a row. Vingegaard and his Jumbo Visma team had different ideas and Jonas is now all but guaranteed to ride into Paris on Sunday and claim his first Tour victory. He has most certainly earned it, not least with his assault on Hautacam yesterday.

But I am not here to bore you with details of hills and cyclists of which many of you have no interest. What mesmerizes me about Le Tour is the stories. It’s three weeks of extraordinary human endeavor. Behind the 25-year-old Vingegaard and the 23 year old Poga?ar is Geraint Thomas from Wales. “G” is my favorite cyclist because of the way he approaches life and cycling. These last 2+ weeks has shown a master at work – taking all of his experience and applying a heavy dose of patience. He likely started the Tour knowing he had no real chance of winning against Jonas and Tadej and so he played his own race – sitting, watching, grinding out results and waiting for any moment to take advantage. He'll likely finish 3rd on the podium on Sunday and that will be a hell of an achievement for the 36-year-old – which is of course not very old at all – but it’s 13 years older than Tadej and in cycling, that’s a lifetime. As they say in cycling, chapeau, G. My hat is tipped to this wiley Welshman as I have learned a lot watching him this week.

The main thing I wanted to write about today though is the nobleness of this sport. At a time when nobility (and humility) are in short supply in our world I watched yesterday’s stage and saw something remarkable. This final mountain stage of the Tour was a 143km route from Lourdes to Hautacam that included two “hors category ascents” with the Col d'Aubisque ahead of the final climb to the iconic finish at Hautacam. Tadej and Jonas went head-to-head on these climbs and as they descended from Col d'Aubisque, the road got pretty slippery. 40+ mph on a bicycle is routine for these riders but add some loose gravel and you have a recipe for disaster. First, Jonas had a wobble and almost ended in a ditch. Then Tadej had a wobble and did end up in a ditch. At this point, Jonas could have hit the gas and rode off, taking advantage of Tadej’s misfortune. Not in cycling though – that’s not how it works. Jonas slowed up, waited for Tadej to catch back up and they set off again for the final 27km of combat. Tadej reached out to shake Jonas’s hand and then they set off full pelt once more. It seems such a simple gesture, but this made my day. I wish there was more of this in the world. More grace, more generosity, more nobility, more humility. People called it sportsmanship and yes, it is that. It’s also just decency and humanity. I will confess it almost brought me to tears to see it.?

There are so many other tales from 2+ weeks of The Tour but this one is my favorite. It turns out that you can learn a lot from riding your bike….

?‘til next week, cheers!

?-Steve