Die Toer in sy moer?

[Nettie R]

Porky' date=' France is the most visited country in the world in both 2006 and 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism#cite_note-10.

[/quote']

 

The tennis at Roland Garros brings a better class of tourist (who isnt camping in a field, bathing in a stream, or urinating on and stealing the farmers maize) -

  

  

 

How many of those tennis spectators are so passionate about their sport that they would queue in front of the stadium for days, to buy a ticket for the match? Sure, there are some hooligans on those climbs that need a slap in the face, but being spectator to TdF is FREE.

[Canaris]

and all this shows is that the anglo-saxon english speaking (And for BigH Afrikaans speaking world) world still does not actually understand the sport of cycling.

[Sean Badenhorst]

 

 

shebeen, I was going to just leave this where it is, but here are some facts which I just need to share.

 

This was not written a week ago. Went onto iafrica.com now and found this column with this dateline:

Death of Le Tour?

Article By:

Dan Nicholl

 

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:46

The Tour a damp squib a week ago? Evans coasting into Paris in Yellow?

Last Thursday, this was how the GC looked at the top:

General classification after stage 11

 

1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 46.42.13

2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 0.01

3 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 0.38

4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 0.46

5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0.57

6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.28

7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia 1.56

8 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.10

9 Riccardo Ricc? (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott 2.29

10 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 2.32

Agree with you on the drug thing and the Barloworld expectations.

 

I think Dan writes well, but he needs to research his facts better, even in opinionated humour pieces which he's so prolific at. I also think that someone who says...

 

I?ve watched all of 20 minutes of this year?s race, along with collected snatches from news bulletins and highlights packages.

 

...isn't qualified to offer condemnation on the world's biggest annual sports event. It's like me writing about the death of The British Open cos I watched the highlights of Round 1 and noticed Tiger wasn't playing...

 

Oh, and that sbs.com.au forum piece, not Dan's writing, too much cycling knowledge evident.

 

Hope this doesn't diminish your love of Dan's writing or interest in Le Tour. I'm really just pointing out the facts.

 

 

Sean Badenhorst2008-07-24 06:06:06

[Velouria]

 

Lets remember the tour spectating value is free and people are naturally curious' date='so if a big event like the tour went within a hundred kilometres of your home and it cost you nothing to watch, I am fairly sure you would go along as well, I would, even if I had no interest in cycling, its just a free interesting day out.

 [/quote']

I know more people who have travelled to France to watch the TDF, than have made the 20 minute trip from Stellenbosch to go and watch a stage of the Giro del Capo. Where are these freeloading curious people now?

 

Dan, like Gareth Cliff gets paid to be controversial. Dan is, after all the MC for the Epic, and seems to have a great time when he is doing that.

 

[Shebeen]

Sean, I have to agree with you. Devils advocate is a tough role indeed, especially when you're supporting a hack.

 

But how does one do fully research topics when you have to juggle tee-off times, boozy lunches and fashion launches?

 

I'm kidding, case closed. lets go watch some live feed.

[linnega]

Lets remember the tour spectating value is free and people are naturally curious' date='so if a big event like the tour went within a hundred kilometres of your home and it cost you nothing to watch, I am fairly sure you would go along as well, I would, even if I had no interest in cycling, its just a free interesting day out.

 [/quote']

I know more people who have travelled to France to watch the TDF, than have made the 20 minute trip from Stellenbosch to go and watch a stage of the Giro del Capo. Where are these freeloading curious people now?

Dan, like Gareth Cliff gets paid to be controversial. Dan is, after all the MC for the Epic, and seems to have a great time when he is doing that.

Porky- Have you been to the Tour.  The vast majority of fans are not actually dedicated cycling fans, but dedicated Tour fans.  The Giro is for conoisseurs, true Tifosi, but the Tour is for everyone. 

 

To watch the Tour on a normal mountain stage you need to be at your chosen mountain by 10am latest.  Since everywhere is booked nearby, you probably need to stay 50-200km away from the mountains.  To get to the top, you need to bring a bike or be willing to hike a fair distance, and the roads are closed about 2 hours before the peloton arrives.  Somewhere like Peyresourde or the Aubisque takes an hour to get up, so you need to be on your bike three hours before the race comes through.  Despite this, many non-cyclists can be seen riding their bikes to the top or camping on the mountains for days.  The hillsides are packed with fans, and this seem to be increasing.

 

I do however, agree about the P's.  I tuned into Eurosport on my PC and watched the pictures on the TV yesterday.  Kelly is definitely more insightful.

[Sean Badenhorst]

 

Originally posted by linnega

I do however, agree about the P's.  I tuned into Eurosport on my PC and

watched the pictures on the TV yesterday.  Kelly is definitely more

insightful.

 

If you can understand what he's saying! I spent a day with him at his house in 1998 and eventually just nodded and smiled instead of saying 'pardon'. Solid chap. Tough as nails!

 

[Delgado]

shebeen, an allround knowledge in whose opinion? Yours? First rule of journalism: get the facts right, otherwise stick to fictional humour.

 

And have you actually watched this year's Tour? Seven different wearers of the Yellow Jersey and less than three minutes separating the top 5 with four stages to go. How can you say that's not captivating?

 

 

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story!!

[widget]

Its an interesting debate.

 

Pros and cons on both sides. I was in Budapest in 2005 for the Hungarian grand prix, which coincided with the last week of the tour.

 

There was a huge hula-baloo in all the European newspapers about the tour and if my memory serves I posted on of the articles either here or in the old S/C website chat room. 

 

The issue is that, "Yes", the tour is expensive and infrastructure is largely funded from the French Tax payer, now rightly or not (depending on how you see it) spending huge sums of tax payers money to resurface,rebuild or  build small roads seldom used or Alpine roads that are only otherwise used for three months of the year, or spruce up towns and small infrastructure is a contentious issue, a lot of folk believe the money could be better spent elsewhere.

 

Its a personal opinion.

 

The other issue is hooliganism, many towns, villages and farmers on route suffer from the tour due to vandalism, drunkeness, hooliganism, squatting, illegal occupation and people just generally taking over and sleeping in the town square - a lot, a very lot, of tour spectators see the tour as an event where the sole aim is to get drunk and be seen on TV, Scantily clad, fat, drunk males vomiting in the flower pots dos little to endear the conservative town public to the tour.

 

The other issue of people just going along to see what the fuss is about can be easily justified. I was in London for the tour last year, it was a joke, I would guess 99% of the people on the streets had no idea what a bike race was about, less than 1 in 5 could even name one rider and those that could only knew Bradley Wiggins. Most of them just came along to see the event, show support for london and some national pride - theres nothing wrong with that, but if 1% made the trip to Paris this year due to their exposure to the race in London I will be very surprised.

 

Of course its not all like that, but that is the factual grim underbelly of the tour, sure there are a lot of people who go and watch because they enjoy it and put up with a lot of hardship along the way, but there is no doubt, LA had a great effect on the tour, people did want to see him and publicity wise the tour is worse off without him.

 

That said I agree with Linnega, the tour is in no danger of dying out, it has issues like everything else, but the majority of the French Public will still support it simply due to National pride, however as we all know, France is now 40% Algerian, Moroccan, Indian, Muslim and Arabic, they have no interest in the tour and are a very voiceferous part of French public opinion.