Nearly two days after his death, and almost half a century since his epic Tour victory, the tributes to Charly Gaul keep popping up. It would be cynical to the point of inaccuracy for me to say that the longevity of this story is due merely to a lack of other breaking news. “Monsieur Charly” was deeply loved by all manner of cycling fan, especially after his return from decades of obscurity during the Indurain era; perhaps Lance Armstrong could finally win over the hearts of the French by taking a similar extended vaction. But The Texan’s commitment to fighting cancer, and, despite his absence from a recent team paintball match, his continued involvement with the Discovery Channel Team look to prevent him from doing this.
By most calculations, you’ve got less than a week to mail order anything you hope to have delivered by Christmas. If you’re still looking for stuff to buy for the cyclists in your life, there’s certainly no shortage of suggestions out there (though hand-made gifts are nice, too). Speaking of suggestions, Cyclingnews would love a few nominations for the past year’s top riders. Their voting process is changing slightly this year, mostly because they’re sick of hand counting write-ins. Not that the write-ins have any chance of defeating Trek (best pro bike since 2002), the Tour de France (only winner of best Grand Tour, even after the outstanding ’03 Vuelta) and Paris-Roubaix (only winner of best one-day), which invariably win because, well, because the voters are idiots.
As the enlightened despot of this 5’x8′ corner of the Internet, I promise my subjects that I will never burden the populace with such a monumental and easily mishandled responsibility. Yes, you can most definately expect a “Worst of 2005” in the coming week or two, and you can also expect to not have anything to say about it. I mean, c’mon, you already know what you think; will it really make your day if 300 other Cyclingnews readers agree with you? If you didn’t have an insatiable desire for cycling’s neglected truths (such as the fate of Threshold Sports itself rides on the success or failure of this newfangled Philly Triple Crown), would you really have bothered to read down this far? I think not.