The Tour and my thoughts on it.

Ahhhh, the Tour de France. What can you say about it?

It's a beautiful spectacle. The colors. The sounds. The scenery of France.

And then there's the race itself. The intrigue. An international cast of characters. The new equipment.

The teams and riders arrive in France a week or more early for the most part. Some have come from altitude camp. Some have come from home. A few have even gotten the last minute call up if another rider fell ill, was injured, or got caught up in a passport or visa snafu.

They rest. They train. They go through the medical tests.

And they attend to the press conferences.

Most of the riders consider the press stuff to be a necessary evil. It's the same questions and usually the same answers you were taught at press camp at the beginning of the season, and that management told you to have for this race too.

You can hear it in the riders answers:

"Well, we'll see how the legs are but I've had good sensations."

"We've brought a good team and I'm optimistic."

"If I have good luck and the same legs I had last year, etc..."

In the days before the race starts the equipment sponsors are often on hand. And it can be like Christmas in July.

The Oakley rep is walking around to all the Oakley sponsored teams just handing out their newest wares.

The team has special jerseys just for the Tour (witness Team Sky's whale themed jerseys this year).

You get a new bike and the mechanics are setting it up like you're old one down to the millimeter. Pro riders have a "training bike" they use at home and a "race bike" that travels in the team semi that meets them at the race. The riders don't have to fly with a bike and because the race bike is only ever raced on, it's often nicer and in better condition than your home bike.

Between that fact and the new parts and bits for the Tour, the riders really enjoy getting on a super special bike.



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The race.

This year's race was an interesting one. The first week saw the sprinters duking it out as usual, and the smaller division 2 teams (Wanty Group and Direct Energy in particular) trying to prove to ASO that they earned their invite. The Roubaix style stage caused carnage including Richie Porte falling and breaking his collar bone.

Richie is known to have exceptionally bad luck, and to be exceptionally talented. I often wonder to myself if he'll ever really deliver on his promise.

Froome has seemed invincible over the past few years at the Tour and I, for one, thought there was a serious possibility he was going to pull off the Giro/Tour double. But, I think we saw that he and Tom Dumoulin were maybe a bit tired and they just weren't firing on all cylinders. This allowed Geraint Thomas, who everyone knows and likes (including Froome - they're really close friends) to get the win.

Much was made of their rivalry but, you have to remember these guys have been racing with and against each other since they were juniors. They've been friends and team-mates for years so Froome really was happy for Geraint.

(Geraint Thomas as a junior racer.)

The Tour winner usually makes about $500,000. But, they don't actually take that money home and sock it away in the bank. Instead, it's tradition that the Tour winner divvies that money up among the team. So, the other riders, mechanics, soigneurs, cooks, etc... all get a check from the winner. And the amount is usually at his discretion.

He'll pull you aside at the team party that night and hand you a check.

The Tour winner makes his real money in endorsements, and his contract value for the following year.

It was good to see Alexander Kristoff win the final stage. The burly Norwegian had to race round the whole of France to get it but, against a very depleted sprinting field he got his win on the hallowed Champs Elysees. He was quoted as saying it saved his season.

Winning a stage at the Tour is a funny thing. You can be stuck to the road all year long, not getting any results at all. Then, if you win a stage at the Tour, even if you don't win another thing for the rest of the season everyone says "He had a good season!" And usually your job is secure for another year.

Now the riders will all go home. Most will have a rest period but some, mainly the big hitters, will ride the Post-Tour-Criteriums around Europe. These are glitzy events where the stars are paid handsomely to race. The outcome of the race is usually "arranged" to let the crowd see their heroes do well but, it's all in good fun and the riders make a good show of it. These races are a bit odd, however as you'll occasionally see a climbing star from the Tour beat a sprinter in what is a fast, flat event.

Now, we all have to turn the television off and twiddle our thumbs until the Vuelta.