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it's been 10 years

4 July 2011. It is a swelteringly hot day, my 13-year-old self hates the sun and spends her summer holiday mostly indoors where the unforgiving heat of central Europe sometimes does not make it. It’s about half past one and there is absolutely nothing on TV. These are the days when even people my age have facebook and twitter but there is not much I know what to use them for so TV it is. One channel, after all, catches my attention. They are showing aerial shots of French countryside, the hills, the valleys, the chateaux and the sunflower fields and picturesque small towns. My precocious teen mind feels a lightbulb go off – I love history and geography, this is perfect. And oh, they are also showing funny-looking spandex-clad cyclists, almost two hundred of them, cycling through the landscape as well.

Honestly I didn’t care that much. I hated any kind of physical activity (if that isn’t obvious by how I was spending my summer), and I didn’t care much to watch sports either, unless it was the one sport Slovakia was good at – one of my first memories ever is from early 2001 when I cried during an interview with our then star goalkeeper after our ice hockey team lost with who-knows-who.

I watched the entire stage. I still remember who won that day – Tyler Farrar, as well as what his victory celebration looked like – he made a W with his hands, which at the time didn’t mean much to me. I was captivated, though, because of a wobble he had as he tried to put the W together.

The day after, I wanted to know whether he’d win again. So I turned the TV on again. And the day after. And for that entire July, I lived and breathed Tour de France. It was the Tour when Mark Cavendish had his HTC train and won 5 stages, including at Champs-Elysees, in maillot verte. It was the Tour before Sky started going for the dominant wins. It was the Tour Andy Schleck came to show he is the best and did so in one of the most beautiful stages in a long solo break to winning on top of Galibier. It was the Tour when he and his brother were so strong and so fun to watch. And it was the Tour that got me hooked on a sport I’d never truly cared or knew about and which ended up getting me through my teens.

I am so thankful to that bored 13-year-old girl whose only interest in the sport was the landscape. I still enjoy looking at the sights, but cycling has been front stage for quite a while now.

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long story short:

DAVESPLAINING I love that it became a verb

also:

'We revere Marco Pantani and we abhor Lance Armstrong. We long for Alberto Contador and we airbrush Michael Rasmussen. We’re inconsistent in our attitudes toward dopers because doping doesn’t color those attitudes.'

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pros offer advice on how to make cycling less boring

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jojo harper for team katusha

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legends

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a very cheeky beer for John Degenkolb

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The first four things he says are:

“Oh, man.

How’d Sep do?

Ahh, fuck me.

What a spectacle.”

In true Phinney fashion: Wonder, care, self-reflection, and truth, in that order.

- about Taylor’s top 10 by Caley Fretz

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Niki Terpstra checking the tire pressure on Sagan’s bike after Paris Roubaix aka the cheekiest thing to do after a race

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“...on the Carrefour de l'Arbre secteur of pavé with 17km remaining, he had a puncture.

Rather than give in, he headed to the vehicle behind the broom wagon - a flat-bed tow truck which just so happened to be carrying his team car, which had broken down. He replaced his wheel and, much to the delight of the fans still lining the course, he kept riding.

The driver says, "He's crazy, he says he wants to keep going", then later, "I had the race directeur [Thierry] Gouvenou on the line, he told me to leave him - that he's keeping the roads closed and he's already outside the time limit." The driver confirms to the Lithuanian that he is going to be left behind, is this OK - do you know the route? "Yes, I am going to finish," the rider says, and keeps going even after the broom wagon has left.

Siskevicius finally arrived at the velodrome only to find that he was so late that security was already locking up the gates heading onto the track. But they took pity on the blue-clad rider, who showed up as the sun went down.”

The story of Evaldas Siskevicius, the last rider to finish Paris-Roubaix 2018 (outside of the time limit, too) - via cyclingnews

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PINK ARGYLE!

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all said

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“Peter Sagan wins @Paris_Roubaix. He attacked 54 kms to go. A gift for cycling this performance by the World Champion attacking 54 kms to go “ - Laura Meseguer

“Sagan has never looked more happy for a victory. Most likely, this is also his biggest win ever, which sounds off for triple world champion but the way he did this was simply outstanding. And speaking of outstanding.... Wow @silvandillier!! “ - Mikkel Condé

must agree

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the Turgis brothers finished as the 42nd and the 43rd riders of the day Paris Roubaix 2018

the 19-year-old Tanguy is the youngest finisher of the Hell of the North for over 50 years

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the champions

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top 10 for Taylor Phinney! 

we knew it’d come eventually, but I certainly didn’t expect him to make it this time around after all the work he’d done for Sep in those final 50k

onwards!

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RIP Michael Goolaerts

+ 08/04/18

source: Michael’s Instagram