A Welshman, a Dutchman, and a Kenyan climbed on their bikes

[Guinevere]

today, and the Welshman finished third -- but still won Le Tour by a comfortable margin.

Congrats to Geraint Thomas, the first man of Wales to win what is still the greatest cycling race of all time. He was the strongest rider in a strong field. And no, I don't know whether the Sky team is just the Disco boys of the 21st century (i.e., cheating their heads off, while riding their legs off), but it's still a wonderful event to watch. What struck me in this year of the World Cup and way too much "flopping" and moaning about minor injuries, was how tough these riders are. Fall after fall, broken bone after broken bone, they still get back up and ride. In sometimes brutal, suffering conditions.

Vive Le Tour! Vive le France! Cymru am byth!

[Long Run]

Definitely a lot of grit on display in the Tour this year.

[Burning Petard]

During a climb yesterday, a 'color commentary' casually said some one was capable of peddling at 420 Watts for 20 minutes. I can't do that for 20 seconds. 125 watts for 60 seconds and I am stumbling as I get off the bike. Incredible toughness. Yes, a great event.

Sorry to see BMC/Phonak getting out of the TdF business. But we will still have the memories of the 'French' La Shariff team.
'
snailgate

[Guinevere]

The best story out of this year’s Tour:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bicycl ... rne-rouge/

When Lawson Craddock rolls across the finish line of the 2018 Tour de France on Sunday, he’ll join an exclusive club of pro cyclists who have earned one of the sport’s most endearing distinctions: finishing last.

Craddock, a Texan on the EF Education First team, currently sits 145th overall in the General Classification, 4.5 hours down to presumptive winner Geraint Thomas. For 21 stages, he’s held the informal title of lanterne rouge, the race’s last-placed rider on overall time. He’ll be the first American to finish last overall.

It’s not an achievement he wanted when the race started on July 7. Craddock’s job was to support team leader Rigoberto Uran, second overall last year, particularly in the crucial team time trial early in the first week. But those plans quickly came apart in the Stage 1 feed zone, when an errant water bottle took out Craddock’s front wheel and sent him crashing down hard with a broken shoulder. He finished dead last on the day, grimacing through sweat, blood dripping from a gash on his left eyebrow. But he finished.

And every day since then, at first heavily bandaged and unable to even stand up on the bike, he finished. On Stage 3, the team time trial, he even put in a few pulls and did the work he had been brought to do. He survived the crucible of Stage 9’s jarring cobblestones, which saw Uran crash and eventually drop out three days later from lingering injuries. But Craddock kept fighting, and finishing.

“After the first week, once we hit the mountains, doing those 20K climbs where you have to climb out of the saddle took a lot out of me,” he told Bicycling after Stage 20. “It was a challenge each and every day to make it to the finish.”

That’s the spirit of the lanterne rouge. Craddock may be 145th, but 176 riders started the Tour. Just by finishing, he’s outlasted 31 who crashed out, dropped out, or were time cut.

Lanterne rouge is named for the red lantern that train conductors once hung from the last car. It has never been an official classification—there’s no jersey or a special-color number, no podium ceremony—and the Tour’s organization has largely ignored it and twice even tried to stamp it out. But among fans, and some riders, it’s an honor.

The first last-place rider was Arsène Milocheau, who finished 21st in the inaugural Tour in 1903. Max Leonard, a British writer and author of Lanterne Rouge: The Last Man in the Tour de France, said the earliest mention he can find of the term in newspaper archives is 1919. But he suspects it began earlier, before World War I forced the race’s temporary suspension.

“It was a challenge each and every day to make it to the finish.”
It took hold, Leonard thinks, because of how it represents fighting spirit. “People always like an underdog,” he said. “It’s the idea that this guy has been forgotten and that we should reward his persistence and determination and courage.”

While it’s easy to deride a last-place rider as an also-ran, that’s often inaccurate. “Lanterne rouges have been Paris-Roubaix winners and Olympic and national champions,” Leonard said. For example, Classics star and two-time Tour of Flanders winner Edwig van Hooydonck was lanterne rouge in 1993.

Sometimes, it’s a rider who does massive pacemaking work for his team early in the race, before TV coverage begins, and is saving his strength to do the same the next day. Or it’s an injured rider or sprinter, fighting to simply get over the mountains, like Sam Bennett in 2016 or Jimmy Casper (twice).

Repeat “winners” are rare. The record is three straight, by Wim Vansevenant (2006-2008). And riders don’t typically seek out the honor, but for some it has prestige. For decades, pro cyclists were badly paid, but if they were popular, they could make money through appearance fees at post-Tour criteriums, pure entertainment events where the results were fixed. “If you were lanterne rouge, you’d get the criterium invites because you were such a favorite with the fans,” Leonard said. Riders could make three times their annual salary from just a few events.

“In 1979, Gerhard Schonbacher, a sprinter, was lanterne rouge and realized that it was this amazing publicity thing,” Leonard said. Schonbacher had a rival: Philippe Tesnière, 1978’s lanterne rouge. In the final time trial, both slow-pedaled intentionally to lose time. But Tesnière took it too far and missed the time cut.

The following year, Tour organizers, upset that the classification was gaining notoriety, reinstated an old elimination rule from the 1940s where, from Stage 14 on, the last-placed rider in the GC each day would get cut. Schonbacher ably managed to stay just out of last place until the final stage.

Craddock didn’t face any such rules, but he was still concerned on several days about time: in the mountain stages after the rest days, and the short, 65K Stage 17 in the Pyrenees where, he said, he actually had one of his better days this Tour.

Since its heyday in the ’70s, lanterne rouge has slowly retreated from public consciousness. Leonard suspects that economics and television play roles. Today, the sport’s top level has a minimum salary, and TV coverage has reduced the post-Tour criterium circuit as a means of marketing and showcasing the sport.

“Honestly, [lanterne rouge] doesn’t mean that much to me,” Craddock said. “It never became a goal. My goal was to do whatever I could to help the team and make it to the finish. It didn’t matter if I was 50th or 150th.”

But its meaning still resonates with some. In 2008, Vansevenant’s last year as lanterne rouge, he was so intent on beating Bernhard Eisel for the honor that he stopped mid-lap on the Champs-Elysées to ensure Eisel wouldn’t finish behind him.

Craddock, however, will break ground in two ways. First, Leonard said, it might be the first time that a single rider has been lanterne rouge for the entire Tour. Second, like those riders who hoped to capitalize on their fame, Craddock is making a pile of money off his daily finishes.

Only it’s not for him: After his Stage 1 crash, Craddock decided to donate $100 for each stage he finished to Alkek Velodrome in Houston. It’s where he first started racing, at 10 years old, and it was damaged in the flooding from Hurricane Harvey. Craddock invited fans to match him, and his dad set up a GoFundMe with a $1,000 target. It quickly gained notice and donations, blowing through that goal within a day.

The campaign got coverage in ESPN, Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, and other media outlets. As of the finish of Stage 20, it had raised more than $150,000.

“Without that fundraiser, I probably would’ve gone home a couple of weeks ago,” Craddock said. “Especially in the days immediately after the crash and in that recovery process, I drew a lot of motivation from the campaign. It’s going to change the future of the track.”

But tomorrow, crossing the finish line on the Champs-Elysées, Craddock will reflect on his own journey and achievement. “Just the fact that I was able to make it is a pretty great thing,” he said. “I’ll definitely be pretty emotional crossing the finish line.”

[Burning Petard]

Thanks again Guin. SG

[Long Run]

Nice read. He may be in the bottom .00 of the race, it still places him in the top 99.9999999 of bicyclists worldwide.

[Big RR]

[rubato]

I'm amazed that he made the time cut for so many stages with a broken shoulder.


yrs,
rubato

[Lord Jim]

I hate to be the skunk at the picnic, (well, okay, I don't really hate it that much) but rather than post applauding Mr. Craddock's grit, I'm going to question his judgement...

But those plans quickly came apart in the Stage 1 feed zone, when an errant water bottle took out Craddock’s front wheel and sent him crashing down hard with a broken shoulder. He finished dead last on the day, grimacing through sweat, blood dripping from a gash on his left eyebrow. But he finished.

And every day since then, at first heavily bandaged and unable to even stand up on the bike, he finished. On Stage 3, the team time trial, he even put in a few pulls and did the work he had been brought to do. He survived the crucible of Stage 9’s jarring cobblestones, which saw Uran crash and eventually drop out three days later from lingering injuries. But Craddock kept fighting, and finishing.

“After the first week, once we hit the mountains, doing those 20K climbs where you have to climb out of the saddle took a lot out of me,”

I have to wonder, if by putting that kind of enormous and prolonged stress on a broken shoulder, (right after he broke it) he hasn't jeopardized his prospects for proper healing and regaining full mobility for his arm for the rest of his life, in exchange for finishing one race...

[Big RR]

Jim--you may be right, but he's a grown man and should be permitted to make his own decisions since he is he one who will have to suffer through the consequences. since he finished dead last, just finishing apparently meant a lot to him.

[Burning Petard]

Hard to judge the injury. This kind of riding is familiar at the top of bike racing. What was the real extent of his injury? Hard to know. 'Shoulder' can cover lots of stuff. Broken clavicle is sort of common--judicious taping and get back on the bike.

But the 'he is an adult; let him decide for himself' was the argument in favor of performance enhancing drugs for generations of pro bike racing.
The sport association overseers for bike racing abandoned that philosophy on a financial basis--not good publicity for the sport to see a popular name rider dropping dead before they finished the race.

snailgate

[Bicycle Bill]

But the 'he is an adult; let him decide for himself' was the argument in favor of performance enhancing drugs for generations of pro bike racing.
The sport association overseers for bike racing abandoned that philosophy on a financial basis--not good publicity for the sport to see a popular name rider dropping dead before they finished the race.

snailgate

Yet if you do, they will erect a monument to you, and the rest of the peloton and the tifosi will turn it into hallowed ground.

-"BB"-

[Big RR]

But the 'he is an adult; let him decide for himself' was the argument in favor of performance enhancing drugs for generations of pro bike racing.

True, but those drugs affected the competition directly by giving some an advantage over those who chose not to use them; here, riding while injured gives the adult who chooses to do so a disadvantage.

The sport can do what it wants, but the problem with throwing someone out of the race for an injury he says does not affect him is that it can be used to affect the outcome, as anyone who has ever seen a boxing referee call a fight to be sure the opponent won can attest to.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Yet if you do, they will erect a monument to you, and the rest of the peloton and the tifosi will turn it into hallowed ground.

That’s the memorial to Tom Simpson, British cyclist who died going up Mt Ventoux in 1967. I remember that day well: I was a casual TdF fan, and of course in those days we did not have the wall-to-wall coverage we have nowadays. I was a prefect (= monitor, I suppose in US lingo) at my boarding school and I was in charge of ‘prep’ (homework) that evening. I had a little contraband transistor radio, so I heard on the news that Simpson had died. One of my young charges was a fierce cycling and Simpson fan, and I took it upon myself to break the news to him. I hope to this day that I did it with all sympathy; but I won’t ever forget the look on anguish on his face.

[Bicycle Bill]

Yet if you do, they will erect a monument to you, and the rest of the peloton and the tifosi will turn it into hallowed ground.

That’s the memorial to Tom Simpson, British cyclist who died going up Mt Ventoux in 1967. I remember that day well: I was a casual TdF fan, and of course in those days we did not have the wall-to-wall coverage we have nowadays. I was a prefect (= monitor, I suppose in US lingo) at my boarding school and I was in charge of ‘prep’ (homework) that evening. I had a little contraband transistor radio, so I heard on the news that Simpson had died. One of my young charges was a fierce cycling and Simpson fan, and I took it upon myself to break the news to him. I hope to this day that I did it with all sympathy; but I won’t ever forget the look on anguish on his face.

I know exactly what the monument is and who it commemorates.  The point I was trying to make was this:

Tom Simpson (30 November 1937 – 13 July 1967) was a British professional cyclist, one of Britain's most successful of all-time.  At the time of the 1967 Tour de France, he was the undisputed leader of the British team. In the 13th stage of that race, he collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont Ventoux.
Simpson fell ill with diarrhoea during the Tour's tenth stage.  He was under pressure from his personal manager to continue in the race, though members of his team encouraged him to quit.  Near the summit of Mont Ventoux, Simpson fell off of his bike but was able to get back on it.  After riding a short distance further, he collapsed.  He was pronounced dead after being airlifted to a hospital.  The post-mortem examination found that Simpson had taken amphetamine and alcohol, a diuretic combination which proved fatal when combined with the heat, the hard climb of the Ventoux and the stomach complaint.

In other words, he was doping.

-"BB"-

[Jarlaxle]

But the 'he is an adult; let him decide for himself' was the argument in favor of performance enhancing drugs for generations of pro bike racing.

True, but those drugs affected the competition directly by giving some an advantage over those who chose not to use them; here, riding while injured gives the adult who chooses to do so a disadvantage.

The sport can do what it wants, but the problem with throwing someone out of the race for an injury he says does not affect him is that it can be used to affect the outcome, as anyone who has ever seen a boxing referee call a fight to be sure the opponent won can attest to.

So what? Cycling is more crooked than boxing ever dreamed of being.

[BoSoxGal]

Sporting competition is highly regulated in many ways, so I see no reason why the decision to remain at play after serious injury shouldn’t also be regulated, and removed from the circle of individuals who profit from the athlete’s continued participation while seriously injured.

A game is not worth losing a life over, whether in the immediate moment, or decades after from the effects of repeated concussive injury.

[Crackpot]

What is and what isn’t a game? What is and what isn’t worth losing your life over? How much risk is too much?

IMO as long as the choice is the individuals and is in some way informed of the consequences one can make thier own choice as to what risk of mortality or injury is worth it.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I know exactly what the monument is and who it commemorates.  The point I was trying to make was this:

I know that you know what the monument is and who it commemorates. (There's a clue in your name.) There are others on this board who may not have been around during Tom Simpson's career or have been aware of the reasons for his death. In those more innocent days we thought that poor brave Tommy had died of heat exhaustion and we - at least those of us who were merely casual followers of the TdF - knew nothing of the drugs those guys were taking. Then, the science of PEDs was much less advanced. The memorial was erected the year following his death and even though we knew by then that he had been taking amphetamines and alcohol and they at least contributed to his death, the context was much more a celebration of Simpson's determination to win and a willingness to sacrifice his own health to do so: it was only those wicked commies in USSR and East Germany who used chemical means to achieve Olympic success.

[Long Run]

IMO as long as the choice is the individuals and is in some way informed of the consequences one can make thier own choice as to what risk of mortality or injury is worth it.

The key to that being the ability to make a rational choice: