First things first: Bob Roll is an idiot. His mispronunciation of the French language is offensive -- I don't know whether he's doing it on purpose but I'm hard-pressed to believe it's an honest mistake. The dude raced over there for a number of years; he has to have some idea. Weezy read that Roll had once been rudely corrected by a Francophile and has deliberately mispronounced French words ever since. If so, Roll needs to grow up and stop saying tour-DEE-france. It makes him sound dumber than he looks.
The tour was not what I would have hoped. It wasn't bad, mind you, just not as interesting as last year's. I commented on Smithers' blog to this effect last week.
Nice work, CSC. They played their hand impeccably. Initially, I didn't believe Sastre had it in him to pull off a win at the Tour; I thought him an always-the-bridesmaid rider. However, after his performance on l'Alpe D'Huez my money was on Sastre over Evans. Sastre is getting old and I think it was now or never for him having been disappointed so many times in the past. It will be interesting to see whether he returns in 2009 to defend the maillot jaune. I found Sastre's humbleness in taking victory as well as the words he had for Evans noteworthy: "For [Evans] to finish second again in the Tour de France... well, I feel for him. I have finished third and fourth and I know what it is to get close. But I believe he has every right to be happy because he did his best." (from cyclingnews.com)
Sastre's tone sits in stark contrast to the deceptions and controversies swirling around the yellow jersey in 07 and represented a civil and sportsman-like atmosphere at this year's Tour. Whereas in '07 everyone from spectators to racers to organizers felt the presence of the 800lb doping gorilla at almost every stage, the topic seemed to be nothing more than a minor snag in 2008. In hindsight, I am glad this was the case and grateful to Prudhomme and Co. for maintaining an environment that focused attention on the race. Well done.
More to come...
28 July 2008
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