My Orchids. Vanda "Maillot Jaune". Photo ET
Vincenzo Nibali
wins Le Tour de France 2014
Le Tour 2014 certainly produced a great winner. Vincenzo
Nibali fought his way to Paris with style, force and panache. He did not shy
away from attacking despite the fact that he had already a comfortable lead on
his next competitor.
On the podium this year we find two French riders
for the first time in years, Jean-Christophe Péraud and Thibaut Pinot. Which is
a good thing to keep French fervor for the Tour alive after its 101st
version this year!
One of the more perplexing aspects of this year’s
Tour is the number of champions eliminated by a fall. Among those were candidates
for the final win such as Contador and Froome. The podium might have looked
differently with those two remaining in the competition. I actually thought of
Contador as the most likely final winner. However Nibali seemed to be
untouchable. Accidents are of course a daily danger for any rider in a peloton,
and it takes some disciplined tactics to avoid those places in that peloton
that are the most prone to accidents. On the other hand, are there ways for the
organizers to eliminate known dangers? Is it the number of riders, is it roads
such as the pavés du Nord? It is certainly also stupid spectators, some drunk,
engaging in stupid behaviors.
We saw way less Luxembourg fans of the Schleck
brothers waving the Red Lion version of the Luxembourg flag on the slopes. Of
course Andy Schleck was out of the competition after a fall where he injured
his knee (again). This is a calamity for him and his career, as he had to come
out of this Tour with a good performance to rearrange and redecorate his
windows. Now is time to heal the injury, the morale and self-confidence, and
get hungry again. The Luxembourg Leopard experience probably took that hunger
away: too easy, too rich, too much celebrity vs. hard work.
Luckily there is some good fallout from Brother
Frank’s relatively successful Tour, who at age 36 ended the Tour in 12th
position. A fine performance with several moments of convincing fighting. This
will still shed some good spells on the name Schleck. For both men, keep in
mind that the biological clock is ticking. Andy is 29.
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