I went down to the Stadium Pub down the street to watch two of the final stages of this year’s Tour de France. I don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier, but I didn’t. I don’t have OLN, so instead I’ve been following the Tour on the web.
I’ve always been amazed at how close the crowds come to the riders. In many places, fans are right on top of the riders, moving out of the way only at the last minute. I keep thinking, what’s stopping a crazed fan (or a terrorists) from striking a rider or the peloton. Nothing, really. It’s happened before.
In 1975, a drunk fan punched Belgian rider Eddie Merckx during his attempt to win his 6th tour. He was leading and set to win when a Danish fan named Ole Ritter, tired of Merckx's domination, jumped in front of him and punched him in the liver. Merckx, weakened by a blood-thinning medication to ease the pain and a crash later that Tour, stumbled home in second and never was the same.
Watching the cyclists plow through seas of fans as they prgress through the mountain stages makes me wonder how this doesn’t happen year in and year out.
That aside, Lance is simply unbelievable. It was a amazing to watch him dominate a field of the most highly tuned athletes in the world. I hope the stories that are ciculating about his use of performance enhancing drugs turn out to be unfoudned. It would be devastating to all the people have supported him so vigorously all these years.
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