Saving French pride

Four consecutive mountain stages packed in the last four days. Since I’ve started following the Tour de France back in 1989, I’ve never seen anything like this. But the Tour changes every year, sometimes, its time-trial laden, like in 2012 when Bradley Wiggins won or an even division of TT, sprints and climbs.

Yes, the like all of the Grand Tours, the winner most likely is pure climber who can limit his losses in the TT’s, or vice versa. In the modern era, no sprinter has ever won the Tour nor has a Tour route been designed that favors a sprinter.

In the 1984 Giro d’Italia, the organisers were accused of designing a route that favored its favorite son, Francesco Moser. Moser was the rider who broke the hour record held by Eddy Merckx in 1972 using the latest tricked bicycle. Moser couldn’t climb but he could ride against the clock. Laurent Fignon was expected to win and take the pink jersey but the organizers decided to cancel a stage that would see the riders go over the 2,770m high Stelvio Pass. Reason was that snow had rendered the roads impassable. However, people who were waiting along the roads swear that roads were all clear. Even the helicopters stayed too close to Fignon slowing down his progress in the TT. When you have the a nation and the organisers behind you, how can you lose?

The Tour never had a chance to design a route that favoured a local rider. The French have no rider, not since 1985, that could win the Tour. Yes, they got second place last year but Chris Froome and Alberto Contador were out due to crashes and Nairo Quintana wasn’t even on the starting line.

In yesterday’s stage 18 tough,  Romain Bardet salvage whatever pride was left for France by taking the win. But behind him yellow jersey Froome was as “cool as the other side of the pillow”, to borrow the words of the late Stuart Scott, controlling his rivals like he was on a Sunday “talking ride” to Willy’s. Contador attacked. Nibali attacked. Quintana attacked. Yes, many have tried and all had failed, so far.

There are two more mountains left, with the mystical Alpe d’Huez as the final chance for the rivals to grabbed the jersey.

As we all know, anything can still happen and you can never put aside the “what ifs”, but the reality is clearer than the “what ifs”. Unless Froome has an accident or a really bad day, this is going to a boring Tour for the Froome haters.