FRANCE: Le Tour de France

Jody Brennan writes: "I must comment here since I have also lived and worked in France and happen to know many of Le Tour de France athletes personally (present and past). Christopher Jones explains how some French visitors have embraced Lance Armstrong&dispelling the media views. Here are some French views about Le Tour:I have just had a French friend in town (extremely connected with Le Tour) who was explaining that even the _French_ athletes find the current race too ultimate, so many are choosing not to compete; they are amateurs doing without the yellow jersey. Le Tour de France is so littered with hyper-drugs (ones that help you perform and others that cover up those drugs) and such extreme training that now the best competitors, Lance for example, only do that one race a year. This is really hurting the relationship France has with cycling since smaller cycling competitions around the country are being ignored even by the French. If you read French magazines like Le Cycle, you will see. In order to compete on the level of those in Le Tour, like Lance, one might be taking a very extreme road to a short death. For those who have competed in Le Tour in the past they can sit around and count all their friends who have died trying to compete on that level. Some bodies can take the abuse, others can't.

It is interesting that a recent conversation with a Le Tour historian about his upcoming book about past Le Tour races had nothing to do with the athletes like Lance. He is taking the machines, the bikes, from all past Tours and explaining the races from that viewpoint. It is a coffee table book that expresses France's nostalgia with the machine of the sport instead of how an American might make a historic win in their beloved sport next year. Look for it on your Paris bookshelf in October (published by EMAP). Another French friend (in the past connected with Le Tour) will be starting a bed and breakfast in Southern France to take rich Americans (mostly) along parts of Le Tour s current path. This way they can cycle part of Le Tour and enjoy the best of French culture. A happier mix".

RH: This sounds like my proposal for a slow tour de France, visiting churches and other monuments. George Sassoon applauds the idea, adding stops at good French restaurants. For homesick American WAISers, alternate stops for Big Macs will be arranged. Seriously, the tour has become a parody of a sport. What more demonstration is needed that cooperation is more important than competition? This being Sunday, let me remind you of Luke 13:30: " There are last that shall be first and there are first that shall be last". This means that a lot of people have their values backwards. Festina lente, the slogan of the WAIS tour.

Ronald Hilton - 7/27/03