I Change My Mind
Two weeks ago, I was all hyped up for the Tour de France. It was being billed as the biggest race of the year with an exciting route and a wide open field of contestants. The first week was awesome. It wasn’t just the normal bunch sprints every day. It wasn’t a time trial specialist in yellow for the entire first week. To be sure, the route changes were refreshing. The race up Hautacam was one of the best races up a mountain that I have seen in a long time. Then, out of nowhere, the race turned to crap. I mean, it is definitely exciting that nobody can beat Cavendish in a sprint, and there are some team tactics going on, but what a horribly boring race this has become. I can only get excited watching a team time-trial so many times. Imagine how boring this Tour would have been if there were actually a team time-trial stage mixed in. Then we would have gotten a full week of CSC time-trial action. Don’t get me wrong, some of my favorite riders are on Team CSC. Stuart O’Grady, Fabian Cancellara, and Jens Voigt are true “Hardmen,” and I love watching them ride miles past their limit…..but 2 1/5 weeks into this thing, I am crying uncle.
Make it stop!!!! No more CSC. No more wheel sucking up a mountain. No more waiting for something to happen. I don’t wake up at 4:30 in the morning to see people looking around at each other. I want to see someone actually ride to win this thing. It is for that reason that I change my mind. I don’t want Cadel Evans to win anymore. I want Sastre to blow him out of the water in the time trial on Saturday. Anyone with the guts to take off on their own up the Alpe D’huez and make it alone to the top deserves the win. I also change my mind on Astana. I now wish that they had been allowed to race. Contador would have won this thing by 10 minutes or more.
This is not the most exciting Tour de France in a long time. This is boring junk racing. Just because a race is close, doesn’t make it exciting. I can’t wait for Sunday, because by then I can start forgetting this year and start looking forward to something better next year.
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