What The Tour de France And NASCAR Have In Common – Both Are More Entertainment Than A Race.

Is this what fans come to see? 

Well, the French have finally jumped Le Shark.  Much as it had been plainly obvious to fans for years now, after beholding the ridiculous finish to the First Stage of the 2013 Tour, all doubt has been removed that the French are running a twenty-one day cabaret.  Harsh words?  Heck no, this was pure comedy on parade.  And, if the rest of the pain & suffering will be like today, this is going to be one loooonnnggg Tour.

First off, who were the brains which thought placing advertising banners right at the edge of the course, diabolically poised to snare pedals (and they did), believed this was a good idea?  Then, not to be outdone by the advertising geniuses, who felt setting up the finish of Stage 1 as the “Mother of all field sprints” believed that was a safe thing to do?  A NASCAR-Style pack formed (as usual), placing disaster only inches away, and guess what happened?  A NASCAR type massive wreck, of course, taking a lot of the top-ranked riders with it.  Who could have seen that coming (sarcasm alert)?  If the Tour organizers think this is what the fans want, they have their heads up their collective butts.

 

Upper photo - NASCAR style packs & NASCAR style wrecks. Lower photo - When advertising banners attack.  Photos by Graham Watson

And finally, about that Orica-Greenedge bus stuck under the finish line banner.  They should have queued the theme from the Benny Hill Show while that whole fiasco played out.  Those folks made the Keystone Cops look alike a bunch of Nobel Prize winners.

And not to be outdone by the Organizers, in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde, Lance Armstrong told the dirty truth about how the Tour is won.  Funny things humans can be – All of those people angry at him for lying are suddenly mad at him for telling the truth.

You can’t make this stuff up, folks. 

Viva La Tour!