As the Tour de France heads into the mighty Alps, and I watch the riders valiantly climb higher and higher mountains, I am reminded of the lyrics to “The Impossible Dream,” from the musical Man of La Mancha. Man of La Mancha is the story of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes and his tale of a romantic knight-errant, Don Quijote de la Mancha.
In particular, these words seem to capture the essence of what it means to be a rider in the TdF:
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
…
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause
Substitute the word "arms" for legs, the word “star” for mountain and the word “Hell” for suffering and you have a very apt description of what these riders go through every day as they face the seemingly interminable climbs of the French and Italian Alps.
There is a stanza, in an old poem titled IF , by the famous English writer Rudyard Kipling that also reminds me of the final struggles of a sprinter as he (or she) powers his bike towards the finish line.
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
In today’s stage 16 of the TdF, French rider Thomas Voeckler continues to impress his fans across the world by again defending the maillot jaune against numerous attacks by the likes of Cadel Evans, the Schleck brothers and, of course, three-time TdF winner Alberto Contador. No one expected Voeckler, least of all himself, to be in the yellow this far into the final week of the TdF. In fact, in a press conference in yesterday’s rest day, Voeckler said that his chances of winning the maillot jaune in Paris are “zero.” Then, in a very Quijote-like manner, Voeckler added, “but I will keep fighting until the end!”
Let’s hope that Voeckler can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty-seconds worth of hard pedaling so that when the Tour ends in Paris, the maillot jaune, and the love of his appreciative fans and adoring nation, will be his.
Allez Monsieur Voeckler.
Thomas Voeckler as he is being paced by his teammates from Europcar
Here are the results from Stage 16 of the Tour:
Stage 16 results:
1. Thor Hushovd, Team Garmin – Cervelo, in 3h 31′ 38″
2. Boasson Hagen Edvald, Team Sky Procycling, at s.t.
3. Ryder Hesjedal, Team Garmin – Cervelo, at 00:02
4. Tony Martin, Team HTC – Highroad, at 00:38
5. Mikhail Ignatyev, Katusha Team, at 00:52
General classification (GC) after 16 stages:
1. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, in 69h 00′ 56″
2. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing Team, at 01:45
3. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 01:49
4. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 03:03
5. Samuel Sanchez, Team Euskaltel – Euskadi, at 03:26
Green jersey competition (sprinter points) after 16 stages:
1. Mark Cavendish, Team HTC – Highroad, with 319 points
2. Joaquin Rojas Jose, Movistar Team, with 285 points
3. Philippe Gilbert, Team Omega Pharma – Lotto, with 250 points
4. Thor Hushovd, Team Garmin – Cervelo, with 235 points
5. André Greipel, Team Omega Pharma – Lotto, with 170 points
King of the Mountain (KOM) competition after 16 stages:
1. Jelle Vanendert, Team Omega Pharma – Lotto, with 74 points
2. Samuel Sanchez, Team Euskaltel – Euskadi, with 72 points
3. Jérémy Roy, Team FdJ, with 45 points
4. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, with 28 points
5. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing Team, with 26 points
Report from Arcabulle (Arc) Odriscoll and L’Etape du Tour.
Last night I had an opportunity to chat with Arc about his ride in L’Etape. As I previously reported, the riders in L’Etape had to contend with rain, wind and cold temperatures (7C at the starting line and 4C at the top of the highest climbs); this, in addition to three Category 2 climbs and three Category 3 climbs.
According to Arc, this ride was of “apocalyptic” proportions. Now, you may think that Arc is engaging in a bit of typical Franco-hyperbole . If you are inclined to think of Arc’s description of the ride as pure hyperbole, then please consider the following.
Almost 8000 riders had originally signed up to ride this year's L'Etape. In the morning of the ride, weather conditions along the course were so bad, that only about 4000 riders actually showed up. Think about this, by the time the ride started, the field of riders had already been reduced by 50%. The cyclists who every year ride L'Etape du Tour come from all over the world, they train hard for the ride and pay a high entrance fee to participate in L’Etape. These riders are very committed to their sport, they are not very likely to abandon the race, before it even starts, unless ride conditions were, as Arc said, “apocalyptic.”
Things only got worse after the start; drenching rain, driving winds and numbing cold made the ride extremely difficult. Arc reported seeing riders simply turning around and heading back to the starting line in Issoire. More telling, however, Arc reported seeing riders abandoning their bikes by the side of the road, just for a chance to get out of thecold, wind and rain and on the bus back to Issoire.
In Arc’s own words:
“…on the Plateau de Beille , there was lot of rain and also lot of wind coming in front of us! And on this place, this plateau, we saw lots and lots of riders coming back , they abandoned we were climbing and they were going down they abandoned ! you can't imagine, it was apocalyptic hundred and hundreds of riders were so cold stopped as we say in French, they were "transis de froid" and many girls were very cold too ! it was so incredible ! to give you an example, you know they plan and organize bus and trucks to carry riders and bikes when they abandon ! you know what, they used 30 buses (to carry all the riders who abandoned)…”
I cannot even begin to imagine a situation where I am so tired, so cold and so wet that I would just toss my bike on the side of the road and leave it there.
Arc’s finishing time of just less than 10 hours and 30 minutes may not seem to be very fast compared to the winning time of Spanish rider Luis-Leon Sanchez, from the Dutch Rabobank Cycling Team (5 hours and 27 minutes). Consider, however, that Arc is a regular “Joe” with real life obligations, like the rest of us, that keep him from training like the professionals do. Seen in that light, his overall time in this very challenging ride, is nothing short of amazing. How many of us can pedal a bike for 10 hours plus, while battling mountains, cold, wind and rain. I am a regular rider, but I know that even I cannot accomplish what Arc accomplished: a truly epic performance in a very apocalyptic day.
Congratulations to you Arc and to your family for their love and support while you ride!
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