No Good Deed
This is a reason to like Lance.
Yesterday Dave Zabriskie crashed while leading the Tour de France, and Lance Armstrong became the new leader, holder of the maillot jaune, or yellow jersey. (Lance's nickname is Mellow Johnny, a phonetic texasese pronunciation).
After watching the tapes of the stage last night, Lance determined that if Zabriskie wouldn't have crashed, he would still be wearing the jersey. Tradition says that the jersey should not pass due to a crash, so Lance decided to wear his team kit instead of the yellow jersey in today's stage.
Well, the Tour organizers had other ideas, and stopped the race to make Lance put it on. Sponsors and what not. Actually, they didn't make him put it on, they gave him the option of not doing it and not starting tomorrow's stage.
Ah well, it was a neat thing to try to do, and I'm sure Zabriskie, a rookie rider, appreciates the respect that the patron of the tour is showing him. It is also the kind of thing that keeps other riders from trying to "flick," or "screw with" Lance.
Yesterday Dave Zabriskie crashed while leading the Tour de France, and Lance Armstrong became the new leader, holder of the maillot jaune, or yellow jersey. (Lance's nickname is Mellow Johnny, a phonetic texasese pronunciation).
After watching the tapes of the stage last night, Lance determined that if Zabriskie wouldn't have crashed, he would still be wearing the jersey. Tradition says that the jersey should not pass due to a crash, so Lance decided to wear his team kit instead of the yellow jersey in today's stage.
Well, the Tour organizers had other ideas, and stopped the race to make Lance put it on. Sponsors and what not. Actually, they didn't make him put it on, they gave him the option of not doing it and not starting tomorrow's stage.
Ah well, it was a neat thing to try to do, and I'm sure Zabriskie, a rookie rider, appreciates the respect that the patron of the tour is showing him. It is also the kind of thing that keeps other riders from trying to "flick," or "screw with" Lance.
posted by Tom at 9:30 PM
4 Comments:
Good call, too bad they wouldn't let him wait - he knew that he didn't have anything to prove by putting it on as soon as it's dropped - classy of him to make the gesture, anyway ;)
Yeah, it would have been a great sign of respect to the race itself as well.
I always like it when and athlete goes out of his or her way to honor the people who have gone before them, especially in an era where self promotion is king.
I think there is also a little bit of a European sensibility there that I can't quite sum up in words. But it is hysterical to me to see the Texan trying to observe it, and the Tour itself denying the gesture.
Well said - ironic. Almost like they don't want to give him anything else for people to admire and respect about him, eh?
Seems like when he tries to do things like this, they always turn it around on him.
I heard Phil and Paul mention that the reason that Lance stopped trying to use French is that the French press refused to give him the benifit of the doubt on his sentence construction. The kept trying to twist what he would try to say.
It seems like he puts up with an awful lot (http://churchofbrad.com/brad/plog/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=261&blogId=2) that other riders don't have to, and he still tries to fulfil his role as a proper patron.
Post a Comment
<< Home