Tour de France starts
July 7, 2018 7:21 PM   Subscribe

 
Spoilers!
posted by ovenmitt at 7:34 PM on July 7, 2018


Lbh the peloton should force the defending champ off road every year. Put those discs to good use!
posted by supercres at 7:56 PM on July 7, 2018 [1 favorite]


Before I ever heard of the Tour de France (growing up in the '60s in California we pretty much ignored France and bicycle racing), I was familiar with the term 'Tour de Force' as something artsy and foreign, and the the Smothers Brothers came out with a comedy album titled "Tour de Farce". Sometimes your perceptions get warped.

Still, 2 out of the last 5 years, the route of one of the stages of the copycat Tour of California ran right in front of my front door. I had no idea who those cyclists were, but I still cheered, especially for the van that followed the racers and gave all the spectators hats with the logo of one of the race sponsors. Woo! Swag!
posted by oneswellfoop at 8:32 PM on July 7, 2018 [2 favorites]


Thanks for the spoiler now I can delete stage one from my dvr :-(
posted by ecorrocio at 8:59 PM on July 7, 2018 [1 favorite]


This is all to say that cyclists are shockingly resilient despite the lack of protection around their bird-like frames.

As a non-soccerfootball fan, I do enjoy the contrast between cyclist and soccer players. That Brazilian dude flops for no apparent reason, meanwhile Contador re-mounts with a broken leg and rides until it's clear he can't continue. Johnny Hoogerland gets hit by a car and ripped to shreds by barbed wire and continues to the finish. Lauren Dolan does the same (warning, gruesome). Often it's the winner who crosses the line, falls on the ground and bursts into tears as happened in this year's men's US championships. Cycling is just so demanding that even finishing pushes people to their mental and physical limits.

Cyclists, man. They're insane.
posted by klanawa at 9:02 PM on July 7, 2018 [8 favorites]


Mod note: Hm, okay, there was no graceful way of handling it, but I've tucked the update under the fold. TMOTAT, let us know if you'd like different text on the front page!
posted by taz (staff) at 1:52 AM on July 8, 2018


Poor Froomey? He's riding for a team with a budget 4 or 5 times greater than the other squads. Half his team should be leading other squads but sky has the money. Their team trailer is a freakin' two story popup building. I don't pity them, Real Madrid, or the Yankees.
posted by cmfletcher at 4:40 AM on July 8, 2018 [4 favorites]


The soundtrack [CW: incredible 1980s synthesizer]
posted by chavenet at 5:02 AM on July 8, 2018


The Giro Rosa is also happening right now. I feel it consistently has much better competition, much better history of not supporting doping, much better commentary, and much better rider interviews. Give it a look if you haven't yet! :)
posted by introp at 6:55 AM on July 8, 2018


Cyclists, man. They're insane.

Paul Sherwen was just talking about the injuries of a rider who took a spill (no spoilers!), and said that the worst thing about road rash was sticking to the sheets at night, and waking up when you roll over because the pain. Good times!
posted by god hates math at 7:02 AM on July 8, 2018


(If you ever suffer from a road rash / abrasion incident, bicycling or otherwise, get some Tegaderm dressings for it -- the original hydrocolloid clear-ish sheets, not the foam or adhesive pads or other things sold under that trade name. Protective coverage while still being breathable and flexible! No adhesive tape typically needed and they don't hurt like heck when you remove them. We've come a long way since the '80s!)
posted by introp at 7:36 AM on July 8, 2018 [1 favorite]


[CW: incredible 1980s synthesizer]

I was going to say something about the original song being 1983, but the Tour de France Soundtracks album was released in 2003 and was totally redone (and greatly extended) using digital synths.

But you linked the 1983 version, so... okay :)

(This ends basically everything I know about the Tour de France.)
posted by Foosnark at 8:14 AM on July 8, 2018


The other Tour soundtrack [CW: even cheesier incredible 1980's synthesizers / John Tesh]

I don't remember how long the American broadcasters kept using fragments of that album for fill music in sporting events.
posted by Kyol at 8:22 AM on July 8, 2018


That said, I've fallen out of watching the TdF in recent years since I can't fast forward through 95% of the flatlands stages scanning for crashes and unexpected drops just to watch the last 10km sprint buildup. Every DVR I've had in recent years sort of feels like the DVR capability was tacked on at the last minute compared to how the TiVo worked back in the good old days.

And that was flatlands - I could get through a stage in 30-40 minutes with care. Mountain stages were usually just a grin and bear it couple of hours of watching attacks and responses. Interesting in a way but 2-3 hours I don't normally have at night. And if I paid close attention, I could usually even watch a lot of the mountain stages under the slowest fast forward speed and still retain a sense of the race. Can't do that any more. Feh.
posted by Kyol at 8:30 AM on July 8, 2018


(and, I know, "just watch the summary coverage, then!" But then it wasn't Phil & Paul, and I'm actually technically allergic to Bobbo and whatever other ex-racer they had providing commentary, sooooo.)
posted by Kyol at 8:35 AM on July 8, 2018


Kyol, I completely feel your pain about watching cycling without TiVo. NBC Sports Gold is good stuff, don't get me wrong, but the AppleTV remote is *way* too sensitive for scrubbing. I miss my TiVo dearly. Cycling coverage on 'one bah-doop' was just about right.
posted by Wild_Eep at 5:31 PM on July 8, 2018




The Tour de France is a parade of dreams - "Every moment of the Tour de France is the greatest of someone’s life."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:19 AM on July 9, 2018


For me, TdF coverage is all about the high resolution views of France and the legions of fans, artwork displays, dudes in yellow mankinis chasing after riders, cameras cutting away suddenly when riders stop on the side of the road and whip it out to pee, tractors arranged in the shape of bikes, etc etc.

I've drifted away from watching in recent years (and a US West Coast time difference doesn't help either), but should I wend my way back, it'll be for Didi far more than Froome et al.
posted by kalimac at 10:21 AM on July 9, 2018


Chris Froome ‘happy’ to sacrifice fifth Tour de France title for Geraint Thomas - "Chris Froome has insisted he would be willing to sacrifice his chances of a record-equalling fifth Tour de France title to help teammate Geraint Thomas achieve victory.

Thomas and Froome are first and second in the general classification heading into the final week of the Tour, with Thomas one minute and 39 seconds ahead of his teammate."
posted by the man of twists and turns at 7:57 AM on July 23, 2018


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