How Cav Won the Green Jersey by Ned Boulting

Author:Ned Boulting
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781448129386
Publisher: Random House

Five days, six, seven.

The Tour spanned the Camargue and then reached the Alps, dropping in on Gap for the millionth time. For Voeckler, who had survived the first two summit finishes with all of his unlikely lead intact, it was not without incident, of course. The race was too lively for that. Alberto Contador, who had fallen uncomfortably far out of the reckoning, kept trying to animate things. So too did Evans, who was attempting at every opportunity to put the Schleck brothers into difficulty (which mostly involved asking them to race their bicycles downhill in the rain). So the yellow jersey had taken some defending.

Weariness appeared to be taking hold of our plucky French hero. On the run in to Pinerolo, after two difficult and increasingly mountainous stages, Voeckler lost time with comic panache. It was one of those racing incidents that happen so unexpectedly that no camera captures them. All we get to see is the aftermath. And so it was when the helicopter suddenly cut to Voeckler riding around in circles on what appeared to be a disused petrol forecourt. He looked giddy. He looked knackered. Afterwards, he let us know that tomorrow he was finished. We nodded sagely. Tomorrow was the ascent of the Galibier. He was toast. Bernard Hinault, the last French winner of the Tour de France agreed when I spoke to him. ‘Il est toast…un croque monsieur.’ Something along those lines.

This is what we believed. I walked three miles on my own up the Galibier to see his toasting with my own eyes. As if the mountain itself wasn’t intimidating enough, the crest of the famous ridge where the finish line stood was wrapped in frozen cloud. Periodically, the gloom would lift, vertiginously. Either side of the Galibier pass, dizzying descents would burst rudely into sight, only to disappear a moment later. It was bloody cold. Clutches of tourists huddled together with Tour staff for comfort; unlikely allies against the chill.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.