LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 7/17
Have you been watching the Tour?
"de France" is not needed. You know what Tour it is.
This year's race is different. Actually much more interesting with Lance and Jan and those old dramas gone. More interesting because of the new dramas---no racer's little helpers this year. Drugs are the boogeyman, no one would dare. Or would they? That's one part of the new drama. The other---crashes.
Australia's Michael Rogers was in the lead. Yellow jersey glowing like the sun, just ahead. And then, during a fast downhill, he hit a guardrail. Face twisted in pain, he got back on the bike, kept riding, but it was obvious he was injured. Finally, he pulled over, bent over his handlebars and just began crying. It was the end for him.
Rogers had a dislocated shoulder. I've dislocated my shoulder several times. Doctors say it's one of the most painful injuries possible. When it happened to me, I always lay where I fell, trying not to scream. Rogers got back on his bike, tried to keep riding.
Two other Aussies are also out. Robbie McEwen, who won the first stage despite being downed in an early mass crash of many racers. It left him trying to ride with injuries that would put most people in bed for a week. Stuart O'Grady crashed on the same downhill that took out Rogers. O'Grady went to a nearby emergency room with eight broken ribs, a broken collar bone and a punctured lung.
Utah rider Levi Leipheimer lost his place after chain problems made a new bike necessary. His face was gaunt with effort as he tried to make up time. The faces in this race tell stories.
And that is why the Tour de France is the most compelling athletic event in the world.
You watch these men compete, skin shiny with sweat, mouths foamed from dehydration, ready to attack and take superhuman risks---take superhuman pain. You get to know them, not just as athletes, but as men.
This isn't an hour or two of a team game where someone runs or jumps and someone scores and then it's over. This is three weeks of the most competitive race in the world. No one knows what will happen. There are two sayings in bike racing: "He who takes the most risks will win," and "He who can take the most pain will win."
These are tough athletes who suffer. Their bodies are so overworked that they spend their few rest days on their bikes so they don't stiffen up. It's an unscripted reality show.
Total reality. Leipheimer had to get back into the peleton after his bike change. A racer who is too far behind when the stage winner crosses the finish is disqualified. So, out of sight of the refs, his team car gave him a push, a big push. Only spectators saw it. Was it cheating? Or was it just part of the drama, something any rider and team manager would do if they could.
There's a Utah cable TV station that carries the day's stage and repeats it several times. I urge you to watch it. No matter how you feel about bike racing, the Tour this year is worth your time.
Wina Sturgeon