TdF Stage 2: Alive and Kicking

I'm waiting as breathlessly as anyone for the Floyd Landis verdict, but whichever way it goes, it will be a shame when it overshadows the Tour for a news cycle or three. The Tour has had a fantastic start, with unprecedented crowds and brilliant racing. If an ounce of that could be conveyed to the general public, they would see that cycling and the Tour are very much alive and kicking.

The camera work was excellent today, stunning vistas in this wide-open area of Belgium and exquisite close-ups of a hard-working and good-natured CSC team at the front. For whatever reason, I don't generally crave a trip to Europe like so many people do. But today, when the peloton were streaming alongside the canal and Phil and Paul were extolling the many bike paths in the area, I was ready to pack my bags!

And the crowds were equally inspiring, out in force even when the weather turned cold and wet. Didn't seem to slow them down a bit, still lining the roads in costume or hanging off sculptures and scaffolds. The rain didn't keep the race from being thrilling either, as the breakaway went through some crazy maneuvers and attacks before being swallowed up.

The crash was as ugly as they come. Sliding and flying through the air have their disadvantages to be sure, but the one today was like hitting a brick wall, no room to save any part of your body. I can't imagine what that feels like, and I hope to never know. I've never seen so many similar excruciating poses crossing the line, one arm cradled uncomfortably across the body. Tomas Vaitkus got a steadying hand from teammate Alberto Contador as he finished, always a sad but moving sight. Fabian Cancellara didn't have a teammate nearby, but was talking with the group he was in. I'm sure any one of them would've lent a hand to the yellow jersey if needed. And the saddest sight was Freddy Rodriguez, dead last, already having lost his helmet and glove, and holding his arm the most gingerly of all.

Robbie McEwen gave us a fine preview yesterday, but today was an even greater example of the true grit of professional cyclists. They'll whip through the rain and cold, and when they fall hard, and must not want to move a muscle, they get themselves up, haul themselves back on their bicycle, and make it across the line. It reminds me of Dave Zabriskie on that fateful TTT a couple of years ago. You could practically see the smoke coming off his burned flesh, and yet he somehow made it through the long, lonely trek to the line.

It's when I see moments like these, and moments like Alexandre Vinokourov winning a race just days after his best friend is killed in that same contest, that I say no one but a fellow member of the peloton has a right to say a thing against cyclists and cycling. We fans appreciate it on some level, but you realize that we have no idea what they really go through, the pain and suffering and anguish, day in and day out. Who am I to tell them what they can and cannot do? It's a moment of blind sentimentality, yes, but there is something to it.

And so I was humbled and happy to see everyone alive and kicking at the end today. It looks doubtful for some, but I hope they are all back again tomorrow.


Random observations: as Robbie McEwen told Versus, Levi Leipheimer came up with Robbie's "Dumb and Dumber" salute (where he's pumping his arms, like he's running). The meticulous and proper Levi, a closet comedian, who knew? Favorite penalty of the day, as noted at VeloNews: Moreau (Ag2r), 100SF - compertemont incorrect for "stopping between the depart fictive and the depart reel to satisfy his call for nature"