Ahh, welcome to the Tour de France. A Barcelona start, not far from Girona, where most of us live. Not far from Andorra either, where the richer riders who don’t want to pay taxes – wait, no, sorry – where the riders who want to live at altitude live. This is basically a home start to the Tour for the majority of us. Some guys even drove their own cars, with families in tow.
I have been at this a little while, but the butterflies are still there. The Tour is the biggest, hardest, and fastest race. It’s the best. I wouldn’t miss it, and in the years where I have to, I can hardly bring myself to watch because I’m so annoyed I’m not there. We got paraded in front of the Sagrada Familia for the presentation this year and that was something special.
There are parts that suck, for sure. Shit hotels, the media asking the same stupid questions [We would never - ed.]. This year I’m a bit annoyed about the TTT start. Why? Because ever since I was about eight years old I dreamed of putting on the yellow jersey. When the opening stages are sprints and breakaways, there’s always that little voice in the back of your head going ‘what if?’ What if I get in the move, and I have diamonds in the legs as the Belgies like to say, and I slip off the front and take a few seconds and wear yellow? That little what if is what keeps half this peloton going, particularly in the Age of Pogi. And when you open with a TTT or a TT, it snuffs it out. Wait another year, I guess.
I'm going to make a couple predictions now. None will be right, but all are based on stuff I've heard.
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