Posted on 07/04/2009 8:09:14 AM PDT by Mom MD
Today is day one! Armstrong riding. Astana is back! Predictions? Other comments? Does someone have the ping list from last year?
10% unemployment and 30 hour work weeks leave a lot of free time...
But also, July & August are the months when everybody takes their vacations in France. (As opposed to the US where we take off at all times of the year, the whole country vacations at the same time in France.)Most of the people we saw on the route around the lake today looked like vacationers to me- lots of tents & caravans along the road. Not surprisingly, Annecy & environs is a very popular travel destination for French families this time of year. Great hiking, boating, cycling etc in a beautiful setting.
Basically, half of France takes a vacation in July, and the other half in August.
Add to that the vacationers from other countries.
Other factors may be that in some places shops take a break in the early afternoon, to open later. On race day, the roadways are affected by the bike route and traffic is so disrupted that you couldn't work anyway.
Being at the tour live is a drawn out experience. There is a long carnival-like calvalcade of sponsor's vehicles in the hours before the racers show up. They whiz by with sirens and horns blaring and throw out candy and prizes as they go by. Being in a village on the route is like a local holiday because of that.
It's just a fun time for all, so people take the time to enjoy it.
And I forgot to add that for most people in France, vacation is mandatory! 30 days guaranteed, IIRC. And since most kids get out of school at the beginning of July & go back in the beginning of Sept, these two months are when everybody takes off.
Judging from the flags we've been seeing along the stages, lots of Spanish, Brits & Americans chose TdF Route destinations for their summer vacations.
As others have said here, pretty much all of Europe takes their l-o-n-g (6 weeks or so) vacations in July and/or August. I've spent several Julys in France in the past, and there are also a LOT of American, Canadian, Australian, Japanese and tourists from other non-European countries there as well (not as many in the winter, early spring, fall, etc.).
It's kind of nice to visit European countries in the "off" seasons if you can... not as festive in some respects (and you obviously won't see the Tour de France!), but you won't be among the hordes of foreign tourists...
I have always wondered this... if everyone is on vacation, who is running the restaurants, and all of the other functions, :-).
On the route it's like a carnival. There's 2 or 3 hours of the tour calvalcade, then maybe a half-hour wait, then the riders are there and gone in less than a minute.
The carnival like atmosphere is the reason why you see so many little kids on the flat stages.
That's also why the mountain stages are so crowded with adults. They can actually see the riders for a longer time on the mountain climbs, and even recognize them personally.
If you're on a flat route, the peloton goes by so fast you can't even pick out the riders unless you are specifically looking for one of them.
Well, it can be a problem. If you’ve ever been to Paris in August, a lot of the good restaurants are closed! But the mandatory vacation applies more to full-time, salaried workers. Part-timers staff much of the hospitality industry & are still slaves to their employers’ schedules. So you can still get your hotel room cleaned if you’re staying there in Aug. This may account why so many Americans think Parisians are so cranky - tourists go over there in Summer when the only Parisians they see are the disgruntled ones who got stuck behind while their friends & families have all escaped to Annecy!;-) I exaggerate, but there’s some truth to that.
SO then comes the next question. Do you see more part time employment (thereby reducing costs to to the employer overall).
Erases any question about who owns this year’s tour, doesn’t it. I almost feel sorry for Contador. Aced out of the tour by poltics last year. This year when he should have enjoyed favorite status and been able to ride the race he wanted, all of the Lance controversy came into play. I know he has made some questionable tactical moves, but I can see his point as well. If he had a chance to put some time into Wiggins (and yes, Lance as well) I don’t blame him for taking it. Kloden by rights should have been able to keep up, and when he couldn’t Contador didn’t push as hard as he could have.
You have to admire the talent this guy has.
I admire Lance’s guts in coming back and doing well, but he took all the oxygen away from great performances by some of the other riders. I think in a couple years when the Schleck brothers gain some maturity, there will be great racing between themselves and Contador, with maybe Martin thrown in.
I don't know what the solution is. I like Fabian, but I think he's "digging deep into the suitcase of excuses" for this one, as Phil L. might put it.
Today, for example, we saw some riders had the advantage of clear skies, others had drizzle. That's life, that's road cycling. The playing field is ALWAYS going to be a little unlevel & there's nothing that can be done to equalize it.
If Fabian wants complete equality across the board on every riding condition for every rider, I suggest he take up track racing.
And you didn’t mention the Astana funding problems earlier in the year.
You’re right, Mom MD, AC has had a lot of distractions off the bike. Probably wondering what happened.
He also put a lot of oxygen into the race too, though - there's no doubt his presence & the leadership "controversies" have generated a lot of excitement & ensuing public interest in all the teams & riders which wouldn't have been there had he stayed home this year, even among the French public.
But I sure hear what you're saying. At the end of the day, it was frustrating to see the whole brouhaha about Contador bolting from Kloden take away from Thor's extraordinary performance yesterday. I mean he's a sprinting specialist & he won - what was it? the first three mountain stages?LOL! For a while there when he was chugging up the sides of those cols, you could imagine him winning the green AND the polka dot jersey for the stage. And yet after Alberto dropped Kloden, that's all everybody (including me) wanted to talk about. So Kloden not only got the short end of the stick - in a way, so did Thor.
Lemond has been bitter ever since Lance came on the scene and upstaged him as THE face of US cycling. All he can do now is tear everyone down.
Does anyone think Lemond didn't dope? He rode in the Golden Age of doping.
(actually the Golden Age of doping was probably the 1920s, when riders would show off their vials of cocaine to reporters)
No no, it's a French motorcycle; the exhaust smells like truffles.
Not exactly high-tech, but definitely a Texas connection. I wonder if the Bass bros are involved?
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