It’s underway again. And, while the big stories are those of the big names like Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, and others, already we are seeing that this is really the story of epic, titanic battles between teams…Team RadioShack, Team Astana, and Team SaxoBank…and others.

Tuesday 6 July 2010

Today, witnessed Stage 3 of the tour, passing from Belgium into France, crossing some legendary cobblestone roads, a course that everyone knew would put a beating on the field of some 190+ riders. Some of the biggest names are already out of the Tour with injuries sustained in crashes, both yesterday and today. Today’s bone-crushing course shattered the best efforts of team coordination with crashes and mechanical failures…especially blown tires. But, amidst the carnage on the cobblestones, we witnessed titans of the sport give everything they had to pull their teammates…their team captains, big contenders overall…back into the Tour de France.

One of my favorites is Swiss time-trial beast, Fabian Cancellara, nicknamed “Spartacus” by the other professional racers, who used all his power to propel his captain, Andy Schleck, back into contention, after Schleck had lost time in the tour’s rainy and slick prologue time trial, and yesterday’s rainy mayhem. It was an incredible performance and, in doing so, Cancellara also happened to ride himself back into the Yellow Jersey, meaning that he is, for now, the overall leader in the Tour de France. Yesterday, when most all the Tour contenders were caught up in crashes, it was Cancellara’s leadership up front which slowed the peloton (group) to allow those contenders to rejoin. And, oh by the way, in doing so, he sacrificed his own overall lead of the Tour de France and the famed Yellow Jersey. Why would he do this? Because it was the thing to do.

Spartacus indeed.

And today, against Cancellara’s huge effort for his teammate from Team Saxobank there was, in a chasing group less than a minute behind, Team Astana’s Vinokourov clenching his teeth in pain to pull his teammate Alberto Contador back up as well, lest he lose too much time to Andy Schleck.  And then, further behind, there was the machine, Yaroslav “Popo” Popovych, waiting for Lance, then giving every ounce of energy within himself to pull him back up and close the gap, after he had flatted on the cobblestones and fallen far behind.

It’s these giants of selflessness, like “Spartacus” Cancellara, “Popo,” the great Jens Voight, and American hero Georgia Hincapie, who endure sacrifice and suffering such as this, and get the champions we all know through all the hardship a course can deal out and onto the podium. And it’s these truly great men that make the Tour de France exciting. More than exciting. Inspiring.

And then there’s tomorrow.