And so it begins.

[ysobelle]

There is something inexplicably yet terribly exciting about watching each man break out of the start-house, with his chase cars pulling out smoothly, blank-faced behind him. I'd wanted to watch the peloton move down the street, but this year begins with a time trial.



Ahh. George Hincapie of the Team Discovery has started. I hadn't realised that those chase cars have a plaquard on their hoods with the name of the man they're following. That's just funny-- there are more cars in this race right now than bikes. I also hadn't expected to see yellow bands on anyone but Team Discovery. They wear a band somewhere on their right sleeve, but I've seen at least one actual silicone band on another team's rider. Of course, everyone's stripped off everything even slightly extraneous in the interests of streamlining. I can't help but wonder if, for some of these gentlemen in spandex body suits, that's included their underwear. It does seem to. And in white, no less. Tsk. Who designs these things?



That amazing finish on the Champs Elysee with Greg LeMond beating Laurent Fignon was in 1986. I don't know how many years I'd been watching at that point, but that astonishing finale cemented my love for the race.


It's a good day.

Comments

[mirroreyes.livejournal.com]

;) Geek.
hahaha. here, i only ever watched them to see if people wiped out, guess I might have to see what the real races are like? huh?
:)

[ysobelle.livejournal.com]

You come over this evening, snooks, and I'll show you EXACTLY what a real race is like.

Okay, the time trial, at least. They're rerunning it later, and it was AMAZING.

[caitriona27.livejournal.com]

Usually, they aren't wearing underwear. Most shorts have it built in. Wackys dad used to race..