Turdy France notes
July 7, 2015 § 12 Comments
As much as I try to ignore the annual pro-wrestling championships for skinny people, the Tour invariably impinges on my serenity. Here are the impingements so far:
- Cav is a d-bag. Sitting up in the sprint because he couldn’t win, letting Cancellara get third, and thereby depriving TEIMMATE Tony Martin of yellow? There is apparently a very large “I” in Teim, or rather a very large “Cavendish” in “douchebag.”
- Since the Tour no longer has 300-mile stages and it’s “short” enough for most riders to complete, and complete pretty tightly bunched, the challenging, cobbled, wind-swept, hardass opening stages are fantastic. Nice work, whoever continues to push for such stages.
- Tony Martin no longer has to drag his dick to the microphone and answer the German journalists’ questions about why he didn’t win stage one, why he didn’t win stage two, why he didn’t win stage three, why he didn’t win stage four and why in the world is he NOT in yellow?
- Enough with Astana and Boom’s doping. They all cheat, it’s pro wrestling for skinny people. Can we sweep all that under the rug for another few years until someone important dies? Thank you.
- Froome hasn’t fallen off his bicycle yet. Amaze-balls.
- In addition to boycotting the Tour, we’d appreciate it if Oleg Dickov would just boycott cycling and go back to making usurious payday loans to poor people. Oh, wait, he never stopped …
- There are three Americans in the Tour: Van Garderen, Talansky, and Farrar. Way to build the grass roots, USA Cycling! Perhaps they could work with Alto Velo to sue some more small pro teams and encourage promising riders and sponsors to quit the sport?
- Pro bike racing is more dangerous in terms of injuries per race than any motor sport. It’s no fun watching the yellow jersey swap shoulders because of crashes (Cancellara), or watching the whole event turned on its head because contenders crash out (Froome, Contador in 2014). It’s also no fun watching people get hurt.
- Trying to reach a cyclist on the West Coast on July late mornings is like trying to get a SoCal handyman when there is a good swell.
- It will be interesting to see how much, if any, Tour Fever has spread to Germany. It’s taken years for the cycling public to recover from Ullrich/Zabel Telekom.
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Cycling in the South Bay 
As a data point for #10, my German neighbors (from when I lived there) are already sending me the electronic version of newspaper clippings about le Tour. So maybe Tony is bringing back a few fans.
And Greipel!
All well that ends well. See the hugging between CAV and Martin today?
I’d hug him too if I was wearing yellow!
I think that the way Tony TOOK the yellow jersey was far more impressive than it would have been had it been awarded to him after stage 2. And Tony doesn’t have to give any credit to Cav. I bet Cav planned it that way, in fact – because he’s generous and thinks long-term strategery-like.
Seriously though, that was a fun race today.
Pro wrestling for skinny guys is the best!!
Cancellara crashing out was no fun to read. It is going to be tough to fully return.
The total field needs to be smaller, peloton dynamics I think would calm down tremendously, it would still be entertaining, and he capable would be less likely to crash out.
In recent review of the Tours of the late 60’s and 70’s, there were more days with two significant stages. Tough.
It’s all about the number of riders. Fewer riders, fewer crashes. And of course there are no more “patrons” who control the pace … Very sorry when anyone gets hurt. That takes the fun and the sport out of it.
I love you used amaze-balls !! Happy day today for Martin !!
Happy Returned Inner Tube Day!!!!!
No. 5 Incredible! He even threw an elbow I am surprised the guy that was on the receiving end did not need stitches.
Like being stuck with the tine of a pitchfork.