NO LOVE HANDLES ALLOWED!

'It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.' Theodore Roosevelt 23 April 1910

Sunday 25 July 2010

Le Tour

How good is Mark Cavendish? I've thoroughly enjoyed Le Tour de France 2010 and to see Cav win so brilliantly on the Champs Elysees today was fantastic. The camera angle was brilliant, running alongside Hushovd as he started to sprint, only for Petacchi to ease by and then, on the far side, went Cav going like a rocket out of a cannon (as the commentator described it). He left them all for dead and on the overhead shot at the finish line there wasn't another cyclist in the picture. It was a brilliant display of sprinting at its absolute best, it's just a shame he took a week to get into his stride but 5 stage wins at Le Tour is not to be sniffed at. Just brilliant.

Oh yes, the rest of the tour was equally good and exciting - Schleck pushed Contador harder than anyone has before and if he can continue his progress, particularly in the individual time trial, then the 2011 tour should be on a knife edge. Wiggins and Sky were the biggest disappointments but I fully expect them to come back stronger next year. Something to look forwad to.

3 comments:

Mark "Frank" Whittle said...

Superb tour, one of the best I've seen and Cav was electric!!!

Sags said...

It was a great camera shot wasn't it! I was looking at Schleck's bike when I was in Chambery (the custom yellow one) and I am sure he had a 42 inner chain ring on - and it was a mountain stage too!

Cavegirl said...

I didn't see the finish as I was around the corner on the Place de la Concorde but it was awesome anyway (thanks for the text update Turbo at the crucial points!).

About to upload a video of the guys racing ...

Superb Tour, thoroughly enjoyed it and Schleck made Contador work like he'd never worked before on that TT - amazing.

What am I going to do with all those free afternoons now!