With Wimbledon, England, tennis completed and FIFA world cup soccer in South Africa coming to an end, avid sports enthusiasts can settle in with ease to eagerly watch what is considered the largest bicycling event on the planet: Tour de France 2010.

This annual mentally demanding and physically grueling bicycling race that takes place on the roads and mountain tops of France, brings riders from around the globe together as they compete for the trophy and the prestigious title of “winner of the Tour de France”.

First held back in 1903, the tour is twenty-four days long with few days rest in between.  It is the premier world renowned bicycling race that tests riders unlike any other cycling race they participate in.

Subjected to severe weather conditions ranges from very hot to soaking wet to frost and snow and everything in between, the riders put their lives on the line as they compete in daily riding events that include timed speed racing, distant racing, extreme mountain climbing and dangerous steep descents.

The yellow jersey, only given to the leading rider (the cyclist who leads the entire bicycle group in overall time), is the lure cyclists chase because wearing that jersey, if only for a day, gives that rider pride, joy and a recognition that warns other riders be on their toes (literally).

Despite the supreme, almost god-like status a cyclist gets from winning the Tour de France, few have been as successful at it as these two:

The now retired Belgian rider Eddy Merckx, called the greatest and most successful cyclist of all time by Velonews, who won all the classics except Paris-Tours, won the Giro d’Italia five times and the Vuelta a España, won the world championship as an amateur and a professional, and broke the world hour record, claimed the Tour de France title six times, and would have added the title to his name a seventh time if it wasn’t for a jealous bystander who punched him in the stomach so severely, it caused Merckx to drop out of the race that he was then leading by more than one full hour.

What makes Eddy Merckx Tour de France winnings even more spectacular is the fact that he rode during an age when highly sophisticated riding gadgets were not available, rather, Merckx, as did other riders back then, depended on their riding skills for victory.

In 1990, Eddy Merckx became good friends with American rider Lance Armstrong.  Never before had an American made a real impression at any cycling race, less of all the Tour de France.  Lance Armstrong changed that.

As the only seven times Tour de France winner thus far, Lance not only stands alone on the victory podium, but by his accomplishments, he single-handedly created an inspiring following of professional bike riders (male and female) back in his homeland United States of America and around the world.

Now 11 years after his first Tour de France win in 1999, Armstrong riding under the Radio Shack logo is trying to conquer this prestigious title for an unprecedented eighth time.

The Tour de France 2010 has just begun.  There will be many trials and tribulations for many riders.  Though many are called few are chosen and only one will be victorious.

Who the winner will be of this year’s Tour de France is yet too early to tell.  One thing is certain, as an avid Tour de France enthusiast, I can’t wait to be part of each race as each rider fights his inner demons, digs deep for strength and courage and displays an almost superhuman ability to take their bikes over terrain and through conditions that would make most ordinary men run for cover or give up and quit.

But quitting the Tour de France is not an option, unless forced by an unforeseen injury or mechanical failure that is irreparable and every rider who participates in France’s greatest sporting event will tell you that, even if they aren’t the cream of the crop with little or no chance to take the title home.

Looking back at past years, the Tour de France is once again a spectacle to be enjoyed by millions world wide as over 200 cyclists battle it out to see who’s the best.  I am ready for it … are you?

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   January 1st, 2012 at 12:57 pm

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