Poor Chris Froome. Nobody likes him. A four time champ and the chief guy on the strongest team, he was the overdog to begin with. He was brushed by scandal, and I do mean brushed. He tested high for an asthma medication which he has been prescribed (he does have asthma), so it's not like he was mainlining EPO. But still, in an age when riders target the TdF by skipping the major races earlier in the season so as not to wear themselves out, with his eligibility uncertain he took on the big early-season race, the Giro d'Italia (the Italian tour), and won it, wearing himself out in the process. Only then he was cleared of the charges and lined up with his team for the TdF, amidst the sancitmonious boos of the crowd. His fatigue showed. Although he was in the hunt most of the way, and finished third, a couple of deadly mountain stages made it clear he was not where he needed to be. Much speculation was that he was mentally exhausted from his fight against the ban, but in reality it was more likely physical. I have once in my life ridden 100 miles at half the pace these guys do, and it took me a few days to recover. These guys do it at twice my pace day after day. Granted they are about half my weight and less than half my age but, with all due respect to ultra-marathoners, channel swimmers, ironman triathletes, and such, the 21-days-with-only-two-rest-days aspect of this race makes these guys the most amazing endurance athletes on the planet.
Of course, in what is a clear commentary on one of the problems with the Tour, with Froome not able to win, his team, Team Sky, simply trotted out the next guy in line and won handily with him instead -- that would be Geraint Thomas. Team Sky has all the money. Their stable of riders is so deep that -- in one of the worst cases of bad timing -- last year's second banana Mikel Landa left rather than be second banana again so Team Sky just went to the next guy in line and never lost a step leaving Landa and his new team in the dust. In fact, the Team Sky's second banana from two years ago, Richie Porte, also left to be a first banana on a new team and was a favorite until he crashed out.
Predictability in sports is a problem. If you can predict the outcome with high probability it lessens the fan experience and discourages viewing. Sponsors don't like that. It's unclear how to resolve this problem other than to hope one year, one of these second bananas that strikes out on his own, comes through.
Another thing is the PED scandals still loom large over this sport. Froome got booed despite being cleared. Then, there is the highest of the high profile culprits, Lance Armstrong, still floating around the periphery. He's now doing a podcast where he often discusses cycling. He is working really had to rehabilitate his persona. To his credit, he doesn't dodge blame anymore. He seems to have accepted his guilt and that it will follow him forever. I don't know if it's good or bad that he's still around the sport, whether he is helping put the scandals in context or he is just reminding everyone of sad situation. I do know that watching Geraint Thomas win handily, with enough juice at the end to handily crush any challenge from other riders, the first thought that went through my head was, "Are there Vegas odds on him getting busted for EPO?"
The TV coverage needs a lot of work. The announcers are OK -- a couple of them get confused about things or say silly stuff, but they have enough personality to keep things lively. But you often get haphazard camera work, since it's all done from vehicles trying to maneuver through the crowd of cyclists without interfering with the race. An enlightened coverage package would plant forward and rear facing cameras on all the bikes with live streaming -- this is not remotely beyond the technical expertise of a production crew. If they were really smart, they'd have drone coverage too.
Still, the Tour is beautiful. The French countryside is amazing. And even if the big prize is foreordained, there are the other competitions, the sprints, the mountains, the stage victories, to keep things interesting. Also, for me, the attraction is that I can relate to everything that happens. I can see who making what choice as to heavy or light gear. I know how much easier it is to draft. I know what it's like to climb past the point of pain. And I know what it's like to crack. In my own small way, of course. I suppose that's part of the attraction for me -- I can go out and do a 40 mile ride on a Saturday, them catch up with the prime time replay in the evening, feeling a distant kinship.
A distant kinship to a 23-year-old, 135-lb Belgian in spandex. Very distant.
