deflated

This is how I felt at the end of the first stage of the Tour de France. I imagine Mark Cavendish, on the floor and in pain, just meters from the finish, felt a lot worse. A sad ending to a wonderful day.

Someone said the other day that football is a game of 90’ spent pretending to be hurt, while rugby is a game of 80’ spent pretending not to be hurt. At 3 weeks, the TdF is just too long to fake it either way.

While some riders in the past have tried to ride with a damaged shoulder, it’s just not possible for a sprinter like Cavendish. The upper body has too much work to do to get the bike up to 60-70kph for the final dash to the line.

With 25 TdF stage wins to his credit he is Number 3 on the all time list. He still has time to add a few more. But not this Tour.

Fred Astaire often used to say when he came off his bike, “I’m going to pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again…” And that’s just what professional cyclists do. So - next year, Mark.