The First Shall be Last: Reflections on the 2006 Tour de France
By Paul Rogen
Sep 29, 2006, 12:10
The French kept saying
during the Tour that it was fou,
crazy.They hit it right on this
time.And the craziness
continues.Not surprisingly, the
sample B test of the Landis blood sample came back positive. This helps dissipate a bit of the limbo
for many Tour de France fans.But,
if the Landis matter moves inexorably forward, always getting more and more
grim, where does that leave cycling and good hearted cyclists all over the
world?Probably just where we were
before all this craziness started in July when the 93rd Tour de
France rolled out of Strasbourg.It leaves them back on their bikes
relying on their own heads, hearts and legs to get them down the road and over
the next hill. It also leaves me
with a bewildering bad taste in my mouth, but still I am motivated in getting
out on my bike for quiet early morning rides. It is kind of like Ferdinand the Bull who
just wanted to retreat from all the noise and color of the bull fight ring and
go back to his field in the mountains and smell the flowers under the cork
tree.I have ridden by bike a lot
in Spain and I love the ground under the
cork trees. I love the flowers, the
smell of the sun baked fields and the olive groves.It is enough to stay with me all
winter.
Ferdinand the Bull's family grazing in the wild flowers. Picture by Thomson Bike Tours.
Now with the victor’s
glory grabbed from Floyd Landis and the dark cloud hanging over and around him,
it is truly biblical.The first is
now last.No cup, no yellow jersey,
no record.Now he just heads out
into deep limbo and tries to prove his innocence.Not very likely to happen.It is likely a career ending blow to
Floyd, a final blow to the Phonak team, which is now dropping their cycling
sponsorship, a historic blow to the Tour de France(this is the first time a
yellow jersey winner has been disqualified in 93 years) and a blow to all
cycling.It appears that the
emphasis on super-human cycling feats has pushed all cycling into a dark corner
from which it will not emerge in any manner resembling what we have witnessed
these last two decades.We will not
have heroes that achieve cycling efforts beyond all reason.Maybe we never did have them, but we did
often believe whole-heartedly in a Greg, Lemond, a Miguel Indurain, or a Lance
Armstrong.
Now, who knows what to
believe or who to follow?It seems
that cycling has gone the way of big league baseball.We no longer have 180 lb right fielders like
Tony Oliva or Ernie Banks with whippet quick wrists who hit for great percentage
and some power. Now we have, well, you know better than I do.We have new beomoths every year who hit
over 50 HR’s and then fade away.But, I cannot be so hard on the cyclists.I have ridden too many of the great cols
and watched too many of the great climbers to dismiss the sport out of
hand.I do know what great efforts
the riders make and the truly amazing conditioning they achieve.There is not a baseball or football
player in the bigs who could even touch the conditioning of the lantern rouge in the Tour de
France.Yes, the last place guys
are really quite the athletes and amazing riders.
This year Jimmy Casper
of France missed the lantern rouge palmares by one spot.He lost the dubious honor to Igor
Flores. But has won it twice before: in 2001 and 2004. To win the rider must
finish the Tour- all 3657 kilometers of the bloody
thing in 2006.He also must not be
disqualified for being outside the time limit to be sent off the course and not
start the next stage, and not be ahead of and any other rider’s cumulative time.
But Jimmy is more than a joke by far.He is a bona fide quality rider who wins
races.He won the first stage this
year in Strasbourg.He beat them all over a
185
kilometer race.Not bad.Needless to say, he
is a great sprinter.He beat out
Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole and Robbie McEwen of Davitamon-Lotto to take the
victory that day.He also made it
over all the mountains, the Pyrenees and the Alps and all the way into Paris.Did I tell you that it was over
3650
kilometers?Quite a ride for a last place habitué.
This is the day that both Jimmy Casper and Floyd Landis suffered in the Alps. Photo by Thomson Bike Tours.
Now it is in getting
over all the mountains that Jimmy Casper suffered and really earned a spot on my
cycling heart.He was clearly
struggling.He is a sprinter and
does not have the lithe, lean body of many of the best climbers.But he did offer up some tidbits of
wisdom after he climbed for a couple of days.He was dropping back down through the
ranks of the GC standings searching for the shiny red caboose. After a particular tough day where he
lost lots of time, Casper said, “I love seeing
the Pyrenees; I just don’t want to see them
over the handlebars of a bicycle.”He then proceeded on over the Alps,
suffered some more, and dropped back near his accustomed last place spot.But he did finish.He said he really wanted to win the last
stage into Paris also which would have given him the first stage win, and the
last stage win, but he would forgo his attempt at a third lantern rouge.To even flirt with such a notion, the
rider must be both good and something of the poet.That is why we probably better look to
Jimmy Casper to anticipate what he might do in next year’s Tour de France.In the late summer of 2006 after this
crazy Tour it is better to listen to the ramblings of the tail end of things
than to listen to the wails coming from the front of the peloton.
Paul Rogen with friends. Photo by Thomson Bike Tours.
My thoughts finally come
to rest on the 2006 Tour de France somewhere between the Bible and Ferdinand the
Bull.The last shall be first and the first,
last.We better look carefully at
our hero worshipping.Landis will
have his hip operation.The doping
investigations revelations will continue.Maybe the Tour de France will be shortened.A lot of maybes.We are left to ride and look around
ourselves.Something has gone
horribly wrong with cycling and maybe all big time sports.I do not have the answer but I will be
looking for Jimmy Casper and thinking about Ferdinand the Bull.I will ride on and keep an eye and nose
out for all the colorful wildflowers.Already we are into a grand New England
riding season replete with reds and gold’s. It seems much more promising than looking
at the crazy, mixed up state of current pro cycling.
