Well, another Amgen Tour of California (ATOC) is in the
books. And, truth be told, I tried to
like it, I really, really did. Yes,
there were the big stars of cycling, the awesome scenery, break-away mayhem, rabid
fans, and the thrill-in-the-air of competition, but the race for the overall was
as boring as studying the mating habits of a Clam. Unless that kind of thing puts steam in your
boiler, of course.
After what was one of the most amazing, and certainly
mysterious, individual time trial (ITT) efforts in modern cycling history, the
Amgen Tour of California
was nothing but a gentlemen’s procession.
I mean, how else can you describe Team Sky’s creepy Bradley Wiggins
nabbing a huge GC lead in the ITT, only to have all of the competition basically
stare at him for seven-days, not even trying to make a race of it? There really was just no race at all this
year.
In addition to a lack of an actual race, toss in the bloody
Poms doing the announcing and it was even more of a bore-fest. If you took the announcers’ word for it,
Wiggins could teach Jesus Christ how to ride a bicycle, while simultaneously
healing the planet and curing cancer. Yeah, that’s how bad the on-air, verbal
blowing of Wiggins became. I was actually
wondering when all of them were going to get a room. But, then again, as General George S. Patton once
pointed out, the British will take credit for anything & everything.
Finally, a giant “Thumbs-Down” to the organizers for the abandonment
of the Glendora Mountain Road
and Mount Baldy stage. I mean, c’mon! That was one of the most grueling, most popular
stages they have ever run, and now it is off the schedule. Epic fail on that one, ATOC.
So, here’s to next year actually being something worth
watching, and I leave off with an interesting quote from Sir Bradley himself (which
probably had eyes rolling all over the world, except in Britain):
“It’s always an honor to wear a yellow jersey. At 34 … it’s nice to
still be winning at this age.”
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