2008: The Year of the French
Feb 10 2008
Het Volk isn’t until March 1st this year, but it’s never too soon to start dredging the murky channels of cycling to see what fetid gunk comes up. First sloppy bucketload – some guy whose name I can’t pronounce won a race I can’t pronounce. This sort of thing would normally make me feel like an unlearned American, but since no one can agree on how Monsiour Trofimov spells his name, I’m giving myself a pass.
The Bouygues Telecom rider’s win is yet another rhinestone in the neckless of knock-off wins strung together by French teams this pre-season. Jeremy Hunt added another at the TdL to go with Matthieu Sprick’s win on Stage 1, and the only win of significance thus far, Phillipe Gilbert’s win at the non-stage race stage race in Mallorca.
As a result, I now officially declare that the 2008 TdF, for the first time in 23 years, will be won by a Frenchman – and not just because no one else will be invited. Drug scandals aside, the ’07 Tour was one of the worst in history for the host nation; their highest finisher was 27th, over an hour back. And when the obviously hesitant heads of state betrayed the effectiveness of the doping ejections, there was no more excuse of a peloton at two speeds. Someone will finally take Fignon’s adivce to heart this season, and put on a show come July.
Hopping back over to the US of A, Velonews finally launched their new website, and I must say I agree whole-heartedly with their design team: those jiggly Wrench Science ads weren’t nearly annoying enough in the right sidebar. Smack dab in the middle of text is the perfect spot. On a related note, I’ve revised the blogroll over to your left, and added a feed ripper from the blog I get paid for. I get a traffic bonus if I draw enough hits; more money for me is more content for you, so spread the word and check back frequently.
Possibly related content:
- Pro Cycling News – T-Mobile Presentation, Fun with French Teams Today was the big day for Team T-Mobile, their first presentation in 13 years without Erik Zabel. The squad made up for it by simultaneously presenting their women’s team, perhaps...
- “Irony” is a French word afterall, CAS finds for Astana, Great Scott! That’s not a Wilier! I find it ironic that French hate Bush so much. And no, that’s not some bawdy dig inspired by the stereotypical French inattention to hygiene. Take a look at the...
- Roubaix ’06 – The Year of the Loser Look at this: at first, in response to his DQ at Paris-Roubaix, Davitamon’s Peter VanPetegem said “The decision was fair, and I won’t contest it”. And now? “Davitamon Protests Disqualification”....
The dismal state of French cycling gets harder and harder to figure out the longer it goes on. The visible drop-off in French results after Festina shows that drugs do have something to do with it; but clearly there are more important forces at work, since French cycling in the 90s had clearly already declined from where it had been in the ’80s, and meanwhile the likes of Hushovd and Gilbert continue to win races on squeaky-clean French squads. I don’t think that the fact that the sport is marginally more international than it was thirty years ago can really explain anything, since Italy, Spain and Belgium are still eating most of the pie. It must have something to do with mentality and management, or possibly a talent drain down at the junior level.
It would be interesting to compare the French predicament with that of the Dutch, who experienced a similar slump after their high period in the 80s, but who (with the likes of Thomas Dekker, Robert Gesing and Lars Boom) seem to be on the way back.
Well well, well. You don’t hear the words “Chavanel” and “rampage” together a lot, but it seems to be happening . . . although I suppose that a stage of the Tour Med, a stage of Paris-Nice, the Dwars door Vlaanderen, and De Brabantse Pijl do not quite a rampage make. We’ll see what he can do in the real classics.