When I was a youngster, many moons ago..I remember chatting with school mates, who all seemed to be football obsessed and stating out loud that I reckoned one day a British rider would win the Tour de France.
Well needless to say I got shouted down...rubbish I was told...it will never happen. They all told me that we were a Soccer nation and that I was wasting my time being interested in cycling and I should be like everyone else and go buy a pair of football boots....
Since that time apart from the World Cup win in 1966 and all the money that is paid to the modern day professional soccer player, we don't appear to be very good at it, despite what my school mates believed. Even just a few weeks ago we had to suffer most of our regular TV programmes being set aside so that the nation could watch a lot of highly paid footballers lose yet again...
Mind you it has taken a huge chunk of my lifetime for me to see my schoolboy statement come to pass, but to day it happened....BRADLEY WIGGINS, A BRITISH RIDER , HAS DONE IT..!!......WON THE TOUR DE FRANCE...
It is being hailed as probably the greatest British sporting achievement of all time.....and as a lifelong cyclist and being aware of what a truly tough endurance event the TDF really is I have to agree, even if I do have a biased opinion...
I have to keep pinching myself to make sure that I haven't just dream't this...
After waiting so long for this to happen it has been done in true British style..not satisfied with just winning, the second place on the podium was also taken by a British rider... Chris Froome proved himself to be a superb right hand man for Wiggo..... very strong in the mountains and showing himself to be a possible future TDF winner himself....Then we have Mark Cavendish..the Manx Missile...Wow!
Three stage wins and that last one in Paris was timed to perfection....
I have watched every live minute of this event on TV, including all the evening highlights and I have enjoyed it all...
I will finish with my favorite image (apart from the riders crossing the line and the podium shots) and my favourite quote from the TV coverage.
Above is my favourite clip....three donkeys in their TDF cycling jerseys, one green, one polka dot and of course one in the yellow jersey...
and my favourite quote comes from the man himself Bradley Wiggins during a recent interview...
When asked how he felt about being in the spotlight, he said "It's nice to be recognised for achieving something in life - because so much of British culture is about being famous for not achieving anything".
That is something that I really have to agree with.....
There is so much more that I could say about this TDF, but for now I am just going to let it all soak in.
13 comments:
Eventually someone will have to peel me off this ceiling! Elated doesn't come close :)))))
Wiggins and Sky were fabulous! My husband is still smiling about seeing the yellow jersey leading out in the final sprint in Paris!
Congrats to Wiggo, Froome, and the Manx Missile for their achievements! It was a spectacular team tour. And I also loved the yellow jersey leading out the sprint in Paris.
thats great. good narrative :) +enjoy the donkeys from the video
xxom
I imagine Ernie Clements is smiling from the Great Beyond...
It was a great tour, and a great victory. Congratulations!
Mr. Wiggins and his entire Sky Team were nothing short of magnificent!
Oh boy, you must have the biggest grin ever. Congrats to all the British riders.
I've never been much of a sport watcher but the later stages of the TDF have been riveting. I love the video of the donkeys , thanks for posting..
I love how he tore everyone up in the ITT!Nicely done Mr. Wiggins.
Trevor; some really great photo's from the tour here
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/07/the-2012-tour-de-france-part-1-of-2/100337/
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/07/the-2012-tour-de-france-part-2-of-2/100341/
Thanks everyone for the comments...It was a a real milestone for British Cycling...
*Steve A*
Ernie Clements wouldn't recognize the British cycling scene these days ...but your right he would be smiling.
*londonbackpacker*
A really great series of fantastic TDF images...thanks for sending me the link....
I was glad to see Wiggins win. The way he rode the time trial shows he deserved to win. It has to be a great thing for cycling there. On a side note, I was also glad to see Ernie Els win The Open.
Thanks for the post!
RL
I agree, an amazing achievement on a "level" playing field (pardon the pun, haha) ....
Sport ceases to be that when certain football owners go out of their way to buy a trophy because they can't stand another team winning all the time. As a result, my interest in that sport is a little more muted to 4:30 onwards a saturday due to the passionate area I come from. With an owner who likes a level playing field but sometimes annoys the fans, I believe everything in football is relative ... including of course the other two national disappointments, one of which being the penalty rule ... level playing field and all that !!. Inversely, It's a bit like my interest in Test cricket too with the weather, where the draw is unfair at times.
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