Monday, July 11, 2011

Hoogerland the hero

Cycling

I won't be forgetting the name Johnny Hoogerland in a while, nor stage nine of the 2011 edition of the Tour de France.

The 28 year old Dutch rider from lowly-ranked outfit Vacansoleil-DCM has put on a display of great strength to make his way onto the podium to receive his King of the Mountains jersey on Sunday's stage.

It was a shame that such unnecessary actions brought him this pain.

Hoogerland, in a very strong and experienced breakaway of riders, managed to claim all hill climb points on offer to take the polka-dot jersey before the end of the stage.

With team leader Romain Feillu unable to make any great inroads in the sprint stages early in the tour, Hoogerland was drawing the attention his way. His repeated attacks stage after stage were showing not only his desire to win the King of the Mountains, but to support his more experienced teammates back in the peloton.

Then the incident happened that we will still be talking about at the end of this tour.

With less than 30km to go, a French media car swerved right into the path of fellow breakaway member Juan Antonio Flecha, in turn sending our young Dutchman into the path of a barbed wire fence.

Despite the pain, he somehow managed to finish the stage within the time limit, well behind the main pack.

Bandaged on both legs, he hobbled onto the podium to receive his jersey in clear discomfort. Then he broke down in tears as the zip was done up.

It's a profound moment that will stick with me as a great Tour memory.

Yet it seems so sad that years of training can be brought undone by a terrible split decision by those who, ironically, are supposed to be spreading the wonderful images around the globe of this annual event.

Like any other controversial moment in sport, people will be quick to throw together a bunch of reasons for instant changes to be made to the system. But there's no need.

The Tour de France is a monument. To make any changes to either the roads or the current traffic system is an insult to its grand history. This was a simple case of a break in concentration, nothing more.

If riders of the past can deal with these random incidents caused by traffic then so can those of the present. The unpredictable nature of the event is what makes this race, watched my millions across the globe, just that more intense.

Through the great maze of fast winds, heavy rain and unpredictable traffic awaits Paris.

Don't ever change, my Tour.

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