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| Tadej -- fifth time in a row. Maybe the greatest? |
Okay the Tour de France ended on Sunday. Tadej Pogacar's dominance was such that much of the race was not very close, but apparently the shortened circuit around Paris on Sunday was pretty dramatic. I missed it.
But it says "and the Tour de France in July" on the masthead of this blog. Dedicated readers (well, maybe one or two) must be wondering where their grand tour news is.
Sorry, fellow Tour-ists. I did not really watch much of the tour this year. And went I went to catch up, I discovered my credit card info had expired and I was locked out. Okay it was only a credit card update away, but I took it as a sign. So far I have not renewed.
The thing about the Tour is it really takes a lot of time commitment. If you don't watch multiple hours of coverage nearly every day for 21 days, you get hopeless out of touch with all the small dramas, the emerging personalities, the hidden rivalries -- and of course all the landscape scenery passing by.
Somehow I used to be able to make time to do that -- for years -- and I always felt well rewarded. But lately, there is not really a dominant Canadian to focus on. I watched through the heydays of Ryder Hesjedal and Michael Woods, which covered quite a span. But Derek Gee, currently the closest thing to a potential contender, has not been quite so present. And all the teams and personalities I used to know have vanished. I just don't seem to make the time investment to know what's going on with the Tour anymore.
So maybe Tour coverage next year -- or even the Vuelta this fall? Come back to find out. But I think it is fading.
Canadian history? A little politics? Those should continue.
