#Tour de France 2018

[pennyplainknits]

CAV! Oh MY GOD i'm CRYING.

Sometimes a 39 year old Manxman winning a stage can be so personal

[havithreatendub4]

2018, August 16 - 📷 @gregwilliamsphoto-blog Plan de la Tour #France Johnny with British #GQ writer #Jonathan Haif November issue #color

[rogloptimist]

I KNOW NOT; AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER? - SIMON AND ADAM YATES

what do you mean i have a problem i only make one of these every other day ,, (credits under cut)

inscriptions cain read in abel's eyes - silvina ocampo // adam yates and simon yates - stage 1, tour de france 2023 (michael steele/getty images) // adam yates and simon yates - stage 1, tour de france 2023 // adam and simon yates become the first twins to top a tour de france stage - the week staff // adam yates and simon yates - vuelta a espana 2018 // adam yates and simon yates - stage 5, tour de l'avenir 2013 // adam yates and simon yates - il lombardia 2014 (watson) // first encounter of the twin kind - chris sidwells // adam yates and simon yates - chris sidwells // simon yates - vuelta a espana 2018 (tim de waele/getty images) // brother of mine - j. suh // adam yates - stage 14, vuelta a espana 2018 (alamy) // his brother's keeper: adam yates held back to guide simon to vuelta victory - patrick fletcher // adam yates and simon yates - vuelta a espana 2018 // simon yates bursts out of twin adam's tour de france shadow with stage win - mike walters // adam yates and simon yates - stage 1, tour de france 2023 (letour.com) // 'the wink that said let's go' - yates brothers race in sync at tour de france - sophie smith // after forever ends - melodie ramone // adam yates and simon yates - stage 1, tour de france 2023 (papon bernard/reuters) // the long way to a small, angry planet - becky chambers // simon yates instagram // the solitude of prime numbers - paolo giordano // simon yates and adam yates (mitchelton-scott) // simon yates and adam yates - stage 2, tour de france 2023 // killing flies - michael dickman // a brother named gethsemane- natalie diaz // adam yates and simon yates (sprint cycling agency x bici.pro) 

[oneminutefiftysixseconds]

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost + Geraint Thomas at the 2018 Tour de France, 2023 Giro d'Italia, 2007 Tour de France, 2023 Vuelta a España.

trying out a different style of the second picture under the cut

was potentially planning on doing the whole thing like this but it just wasn't Working

[thoughtportal]

Official measurements have found that Paris is rapidly becoming a city of transportation cyclists. The survey of how people now move in Paris was conducted with GPS trackers by academics from L’Institut Paris Région, the largest urban planning and environmental agency in Europe.

The institute’s transportation report was published on April 4. It found that the way Parisians are now traveling from the suburbs to the city center, especially during peak periods, has undergone a revolution thanks in part to the building of many miles of cycleways.

Those cyclists now on the streets and roads of central Paris are not Spandex-clad professionals as seen on the Tour de France but everyday transportation cyclists.

L’Institut Paris Région carried out the survey for a consortium of fourteen public and private partners, including local government and rail companies.

Reporting on the institute’s survey, French TV channel 20 Minutes told viewers that the “capital’s cycle paths are always full.”

Between October 2022 and April 2023, 3,337 Parisians aged 16 to 80 years old were equipped with GPS trackers to record their journeys for seven consecutive days. In the suburbs, where public transit is less dense, transport by car was found to be the main form of mobility. But for journeys from the outskirts of Paris to the center, the number of cyclists now far exceeds the number of motorists, a huge change from just five years ago. Most of the journeys recorded were commuter trips.

The city’s socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo has pushed through a great many anti-motoring measures during her two administrations—such as reducing the number of parking places, restricting access by SUVs, and closing some major roads to motorists—and the latest survey will be validation for her policies, none of which have caused the kind of protests that the French capital has long been famous for.

In short, culling cars has been far more popular than her petrolhead critics predicted, with Paris becoming cleaner and healthier to boot.

Notably, and without the spread of conspiracy theories common outside of France, Paris is also putting into practice the home-grown concept of the “15-minute city,” creating urban areas where access to amenities is close and hence there’s less need to drive. {read}

Carlton Reid

I was Press Gazette’s Transport Journalist of the Year, 2018. I’m also an historian – my most recent books include “Roads Were Not Built for Cars” and “Bike Boom”, both published by Island Press, Washington, D.C.

[judeonfilm]

Visuals in The Battle at Garden's Gate by Greta Van Fleet

Hello dear music lovers! For this week's post, I am going to introduce you to one of my favourite albums. After a debut EP in 2017, and a studio album in 2018, the American band Greta Van Fleet, made up of 3 brothers and their long-time friend, released The Battle at Garden's Gate in 2021. This album was a renaissance for the band. They found their true sound, straying from the recurring comparisons to other rock bands, while keeping that 70s rock spirit with a touch of classical inspiration.

The Battle at Garden's Gate deals with the human experience affected by war and religion. "We do not fight for war. But to save the lives of those who do so," lyrics in 'Heat Above'

The idea is that the album is set in parallel universes, at the time of ancient civilisations - there are biblical references (e.g. 'The Barbarians'). It's very visual, both in the lyrics and in the art surrounding the conception of the album.

Each song has its own symbol (that could be found on their tour outfits), and several editions of vinyl have been created, with the gatefold illustration varying from one edition to the next - depicting a snowy landscape, or one on fire (the parallel universes I just referred to)…

For the "Dreams In Gold" tour, Greta Van Fleet carefully chose their concert venues in accordance with the aesthetics of the album. In France, they played at the Théâtre Antique de Vienne, and we were transported to another era for a few hours.

Finally, to accompany the studio release of their albums, they recorded "Candlelight" live sessions, in a baroque-inspired setting and outfits. Here is my favourite performance, as well as the music video of 'Heat Above,' which perfectly encapsulates the aesthetic of the album:

Have a great weekend, Jude x

[celuloideycarbono]

top ten remarkable moments in cycling history (i would like to updated it)

I like history, I like lists, and, of course, I like cycling.

In 2019, I proposed creating a collaborative list on Twitter to select the 10 most remarkable moments the history of cycling (yes, ambitious, I know). People chose their 10 moments, and in the end, after counting all the lists (about 40), these were the results:

Merano - Aprica, Giro d'Italia 1994. Battle between Pantani, Berzin and Indurain in Passo dello Stelvio, Valico di Santa Cristina, Mortirolo and Aprica.

Saint-Gervais - Sestrières, Tour de France 1992. Epic ride by Claudio Chiappucci in the Alps, through Iseran, Mont Cenis and Sestrières, in a brutal stage of 254 km.

San Lorenzo de El Escorial - Ávila, Vuelta a España 1999. Frank Vandenbroucke's mad attack on the Ávila walls, after destroy the concurrence in Navalmoral.

Venaria Reale - Bardonecchia/Jafferau, Giro d'Italia 2018. Chris Froome took the maglia rosa after a 80 km solo ride, with a powerful attack on Colle delle Finestre.

Versailles - Paris / Champs Elysées, Tour de France 1989. Dramatic time trial with Greg LeMond tacking the maillot jaune to Laurent Fignon by only 8 seconds.

Grenoble - Les Deux Alpes, Tour de France 1998. In the Tour of doping scandals, Marco Pantani took the maillot jaune to Jan Ullrich after an attack on Col de Galibier.

Charleroi - Liège, Tour de France 1995. Miguel Indurain attacks in the Ardennes with Johan Bruyneel on his wheel.

Saint-Jeanne-de-Maurienne - Morzine, Tour de France 2006. Floyd Landis did a Landis through the Alps. Saisies, Aravis, Colombière and Joux Plane were in the menu. In a few days after the Tour, Landis tested positive in testosterone.

Luxembourg, ITT, Tour de France 1992. Maybe the most brutal ITT performance in Tour history, done by Miguel Indurain (perhaps now is Combloux 2022...).

Road World Championships in Duitama, Colombia, 1995. Abraham Olano wins the rainbow jersey in the most hilly world championship ever. He arrives at the finish line with a flat tyre.

As you can see, the list was dominated by events from the 1990s, as many people who participate had lived those times in their childhood or adolescence. It was also a list in which Spanish or Spanish-speaking moments predominated, since most of the people who participated were from those backgrounds.

Now, I would like to update that list and give it a more 'international' view, with your colaboration. I believe many things have happened since 2020, don't you think? La Planche 2020, Granon 2022, Combloux 2023, some Lièges by Remco or Strades by Pogi, the duel between van der Poel and van Aert in Ronde 2020, the Pogi's Ronde...

So, here is my proposal: feel free to choose the 10 moments in the history of cycling that you consider to be the best—10 epic battles, 10 close sprints, 10 cute moments, 10 controversial moments, whatever. Whether it's women's or men's cycling, road, cross, or track, it doesn't matter. Moments you have experienced firsthand, or not, perhaps you have watched it on tv or even you read about it because they happened before you were born.

You can share this post by adding your list, or even include it in the tags. In a month, I will compile the results and I will also publish them here and on my blog (in Spanish). Thank you for your collaboration.

[yoannlossel]

[ENGLISH]

I am pleased to announce a collaboration with L'Atelier d'Offard, a world-renowned manufacturer from France (Tours). They have honored me by adapting one of my designs into wallpaper (and it is now officially available). As an admirer of William Morris' work, I couldn't have dreamed of anything better.

Atelier d’Offard perpetuates the know-how required for creation of hand blocked wallpapers as produced by the great factories of the 18th and 19th centuries. Specialized in the reproduction of old wallpapers but also in the contemporary creation, the manufacture works for a great number of prestigious places. We had the pleasure of discovering their work in 2018, in Florence, Italy, when we visited the magnificent Officina profumo-farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella.

[FRANCAIS]

J'ai le plaisir d'annoncer une collaboration avec L'Atelier d'Offard, une manufacture tourangelle au savoir-faire mondialement reconnu. Celle-ci me fait l'honneur d'adapter un de mes motifs en papier peint (et il est désormais officiellement disponible). En admirateur de l'œuvre de William Morris, je ne pouvais rêver mieux.

Atelier d’Offard perpetuates the know-how required for creation of hand blocked wallpapers as produced by the great factories of the 18th and 19th centuries. Specialized in the reproduction of old wallpapers but also in the contemporary creation, the manufacture works for a great number of prestigious places. We had the pleasure of discovering their work in 2018, in Florence, Italy, when we visited the magnificent Officina profumo-farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella.

[ENGLISH]

I created the "Thistles & Stars" pattern in 2021, for the endpapers of my book Forgotten Gods. It is a motif that evokes the theme of my book and links the vegetal interlacing with celestial symbols. "Thistles & Stars" is a contemplation of the sky from the forest, a pattern that brings earth and sky together to accompany reverie.

[FRANCAIS]

J'ai créé le motif "Thistles & Stars" en 2021, pour les pages de garde de mon livre Forgotten Gods. Ce motif évoque le thème de mon livre et associe les entrelacs végétaux aux symboles célestes. "Thistleles & Stars" est une contemplation du ciel depuis la forêt, un motif qui réunit la terre et le ciel pour accompagner la rêverie.

[ENGLISH]

To create this wallpaper, Atelier D'Offard uses the beautiful traditional technique of hand block printing: The paper is made especially for the Atelier d'Offard. It is first painted - background coating - using large silk brushes (respecting this ancestral gesture guarantees the pictorial qualities of their wallpapers). The paints used are made from natural pigments and binder (rabbit skin glue), the colors respect the principles of conservation and give the wallpapers brightness and mattness. Then, printed repeat after repeat, and possibly color after color, the "Thistles & Stars" pattern is painted by applying the board with a manual press. The pictorial layers are thus deposited, giving the finished product the material, the impasto and the chromatic richness that allow it to bear the true name of wallpaper.

[FRANCAIS]

Pour créer ce papier peint, l'Atelier D'Offard utilise la très belle technique traditionnelle de l'impression à la planche : Le papier est fabriqué spécialement pour l’Atelier d’Offard. Il est d'abord peint – couchage de fond – à l’aide de grandes brosses de soie (respecter ce geste ancestral garantit les qualités picturales de leurs papiers peints). Les peintures utilisées sont fabriquées à partir de pigments naturels et de liant (la colle de peau de lapin), les couleurs respectent les principes de conservation et confèrent aux papiers peints éclat et matité. Puis, Imprimé raccord après raccord, et éventuellement couleur après couleur, le motif "Thistles & Stars" est peint par application de la planche sur presse manuelle. Les couches picturales sont ainsi déposées en donnant au produit fini la matière, les empâtements et les richesses chromatiques qui lui permettent de porter le véritable nom de papier-peint.

[ENGLISH]

It is now possible to order the wallpaper "Thistles & Stars" by contacting the manufacture (Please read the details below):

contact@atelierdoffard.com

In order to harmonize this wallpaper with your interior, you have the possibility to select the background color as well as the color of the pattern (or several colors). The wallpaper is delivered in rolls of 50cm/10m, at a price of 294€/roll (one background colour plus one pattern colour). It is necessary to order a minimum of 3 rolls when ordering, that is to say 15m² (the technique used requires great care, calibration phases and tool changes. Therefore, during the production phase, it is preferable to make a large yardage). Here is a sample of what the company sent me. My first love is the burgundy and gold version, as I originally conceived this design, but I really like the blue / gold, red / gold and the plum / gold / purple version that I discovered.

[FRANCAIS]

Il est désormais possible de commander le papier peint "Thistles & Stars" en contactant la manufacture (Veuillez, s'il vous plaît, lire les détails ci-dessous):

contact@atelierdoffard.com

Afin d'harmoniser ce papier peint avec votre intérieur, vous avez la possibilité de sélectionner la couleur du fond ainsi que la couleur du motif (ou plusieurs couleurs). Le papier peint est livré en rouleaux de 50cm/10m, au prix de 294€/rouleau (une couleur de fond et une couleur de motif). Il est nécessaire de commander un minimum de 3 rouleaux lors de la commande, soit 15m² (la technique utilisée nécessite une grande minutie, des phases de calibrage et des changements d'outils. C'est pourquoi, lors de la phase de production, il est préférable de produire un grand métrage). Voici un échantillon de ce que l'atelier m'a envoyé. Mon premier coup de cœur est la version bordeaux et dorée, tel que j'avais originellement conçu ce design, mais j'aime beaucoup la version bleu / doré, rouge / doré ainsi que le prune /doré / violet que j'ai pu découvrir.

[ENGLISH]

Thank you to L'Atelier d'Offard for this collaboration, I am delighted to work with a manufacturer of this quality.

[FRANCAIS]

Merci à L'Atelier d'Offard pour cette collaboration, je suis enchanté de travailler avec une manufacture de cette qualité.

[1337wtfomgbbq]

The Lore behind Ullrichstrong

I have been asked to explain the lore behind Ullrichstrong by @lalalabro and, after some drafts and back and forth, I have decided to go in as much of a chronological order of events as I can.

Lance puts it very well when he said in 2018: "He was the most important person in my life. Nobody scared me, motivated me. The other guys… no disrespect to them, didn’t get me up early. He got me up early. He put the fear of god in me."

Lance and Jan met first during the UCI roads in Oslo in 1993. Where Lance raced as a pro and Jan as an amateur.

Lance stuck out because he beat Miguel Fucking Indurain, Jan's literal idol, in the pouring rain. Meanwhile Jan beat the other amateurs in the final sprint.

Both of them still remember this to this day, and Jan even revealed that from that day on he followed Lance's career. And the only other two he was following religiously before that were Miguel Indurain and Marco Pantani.

They would meet again only in 1996 during the Tour de France. But only for about six days as Lance abandoned the Tour after stage 6, only to be diagnosed with cancer.

This pic was taken there.

And this says more than 1000 words actually. Because Jan's English was abysmal back then and he relied heavily on his teammates for translations. But he seemed to have had no problem communicating with Lance here.

Lance would be at the road side during the second solo time trial of the Tour de France in 1997. The year Jan won the Tour de France. And he remembers thinking how nobody would be able to beat Jan for ten years.

And you gotta understand, based on Jan's performance at the Tour de France in 1996 and 1997 everyone thought Jan was the next Indurain. That he would go on and win ten Tours in a row, with nobody able to beat him. You had people like Poulidor at the roadside being baffled and saying, "it's Merckx!"

Instead Jan would end up like Poulidor, the eternal second to Lance Armstrong.

They would only meet again during the UCI Roads at the end of 1999, where Jan beat Lance in the the time trial, after Jan lost the Tour in 1998 to Marco Pantani and couldn't compete in the Tour in 1999 due to injury.

Jan did manage to win the Vuelta in 1999, which was held after the Tour, and which he only rode to, "get back into it".

It's also worth mentioning that back in 1999 Lance winning the Tour was kinda smiled at because his greatest competition, aka Jan and Marco, weren't there.

2000 Jan was unable to beat Lance during the Tour de France but something interesting did happen during stage 15.

Lance's great rivalry that year was with Marco Pantani, who he had the greatest bitch fight ever with.

During stage 15 Marco started an attack on the first of five passes that evoked the move he made in 1998, which destroyed Jan and gifted him the yellow jerseys. Lance, completely riled up, was telling his team to allow Marco to go, thinking he would blow up after riding hard the whole day and they could just blow past him.

Well, Marco did blow up, but so did Lance. Allowing for Richard Virenque and Jan to ride away and finish the stage as first and second.

This picture, taken during that stage, is pretty funny given what would happen a year later.

At the end of the season Jan was also able to remind Lance that he was still a force to be reckoned with as he beat Lance during the Olympics and took home a gold and silver medal.

The 2001 Tour de France is where it really kicks off.

There were some... situations.

"The Look". A bush detour. And a handshake.

• "The Look": during stage 10 Lance faked being in bad shape only to roar back and leave everyone, including Jan, in the dust. He looked back before powering away, at his teammate Chechu Rubiera, but the angle makes it look like he looked straight at Jan.

• When Jan misjudged a corner during the descend on stage 13 Lance waited for him.

• At their arrival at Luz Ardiden, after a hard day of fighting they crossed the finish line almost side by side. Lance actually easing up and allowing Jan to cross first, and Jan reached back and shook his hand.

In 2002 Jan wasn't at the the Tour de France because he got busted for doping and subsequently kicked off his team, Telekom.

And Lance actually went on record advising Jan to race for his former team captain Bjarne Riis.

The 2003 Tour de France is Ullrichstrong big bang.

It was the heat wave of 2003 and as Jan operates amazingly in the heat he absolutely smoked Lance, who doesn't handle heat at all.

The race was so close that year that Lance was considering getting off his bike and abandoning during the first time trial (which Jan won, putting 1 and a half minutes into him). Their time difference was so close before the last, and deciding, time trial that Jan went with the sprinters on stage 18 for ONE bonus second.

But what really cements them as sporting rivalry of epic proportions is what happened during stage 15.

Lance's handle bars caught on a fans bag and he and Ivan Mayo went down, Jan barely avoiding hitting them. And despite Jan's directeur sportif, Rudy Pevenage, telling him to go ahead Jan waited for Lance. Later saying if he had won the stage, or the Tour, because of taking advantage of Lance's bad luck, the stage and the Tour was not worth winning.

And you gotta understand, this is not AT ALL like what Lance did in 2001. Back then the jersey was not in play, in 2003 it ABSOLUTELY WAS. Jan literally passed up his chance to win a second Tour, to be fair toward Lance.

Jan even revealed how he was relieved when Lance was back with them after his fall. While Lance said he would have been annoyed. But, as Lance says, "Jan is just a sweetheart."

And, what you also gotta understand, Jan was the only one Lance was afraid of. Pantani, Mayo, Basso, Vinokurov? They may have been annoyances, but only Jan made him get up earlier and put the fear of god in him.

(And that is despite Pantani working him over so hard in 2000 Lance admittedly considered abandoning the Tour).

Lance apparently trolled the internet and mined contacts to get info on Jan, to the point Tyler Hamilton thought Lance had an intern doing it for him before realizing Lance was doing it HIMSELF.

He would force Postal's team doctor Michele Ferrari to dawn disguises and spy on Jan.

Johan Bruyneel, Lance's directeur sportif, would also mine contacts.

They were watching Jan like fucking hawks.

(Granted Jan's side was pretty much doing the same, although not as obsessively).

In 2004 Jan was back in the flock with Telekom but his Tour de France didn't go all too well as he was severely sick.

He actually noticed early on that he was too sick to compete correctly and encouraged his young teammate Alexander Klöden to attack instead. He would help him as much as he could along the way.

One instance to note though was during the last time trial. Bruyneel said: "You know, Lance and Jan never really spoke that much. They basically didn't speak, but I'll always remember being with Lance at the doping control after he'd won the final time trial in 2004, and Ullrich coming over and giving Lance a hug. He said, "Ach, come on, it's only a bike race.""

This was the only Tour de France Jan raced where he missed the podium.

In 2005 Jan was doing better and managed to come in third. But what's really amazing is what happend after.

Not only the final podium where Lance kept saying, "I'm gonna get to Basso," only to circle right back and gush about Jan.

You see, Jan actually showed up at Lance's victory party, took the mike and gave a speech in Lance's honor in English.

Lance himself says he wouldn't have been man enough to do the same for Jan, and he still tears up to this day while telling this story.

Lance retired in 2005 and Jan was forced to retire after the Fuentes scandal in 2006.

Before Jan could try and win a second Tour in Lance's absence. Even while saying a win in Lance's absence is worth less.

And even after Lance came clean about his doping in 2013, and everything came out about what a dick he was (forcing teammates to dope as well, intimidating whistle blowers, to name just two) Jan maintained, "He never did anything to me, but was always fair and respectful."

Lance apparently decided to hand the 'get out of jail free'-card to the one guy who was the biggest threat to him.

And you gotta understand, Lance literally destroyed people back then. He was not just a grade A asshole, he was insane, and he could have EASILY went and did the same fucking thing to Jan.

But he never did.

They didn't really seem to have had much contact after their retirements.

Jan struggling immensely with depression and burnout after being forced to retire and deciding to not confess to his doping, opting instead to stay silent and shoulder the burden on his own.

He wouldn't even be able to touch a bicycle until 2010.

There were sporadic mentions of Lance from Jan.

How he tried to connect in 2010 but was unable to.

How it isn't good for the Tour de France as a whole that Lance's wins were taken away in 2013.

In 2017 Lance attacked ASO on twitter for not inviting Jan to the start of the Tour de France in Düsseldorf.

Jan, at this point, had already been in a downward spiral, that Lance, admittedly, knew about.

Lemme make it short, Jan was having a life crisis after his wife left him and took the kids in 2018 and was in the midst of destroying himself with alcohol and coke.

His family and friends, old teammates, even his old trainers, the German movie star Til Schweiger, all tried to help and didn't manage to.

So in a last ditch effort Mike Baldinger, Jan's best friend, called Lance to come in and talk to Jan.

Saying Lance is the only man Jan respects and fears too much not to listen to.

So Lance flew in to visit Jan in rehab. And mind you, Lance was willing to fly in lawyers and doctors to help Jan. He organized rehab in the US in fact.

That's not exactly the route Jan took, but his route also led him to 2021, where he had pretty well recovered from his 2018 fall.

It was the first time Jan went on his (now) yearly Mallorca Tour with Lance, George Hincapie and Johan Bruyneel.

During the podcast they recorded Lance revealed how his wife asked him if Jan was still okay and he said, "Anna asked me that the other day. She asked, Jan's still good right? And I said, I'm pretty sure I would be one of the first calls. And I would be on the next flight."

And at the end of 2021, as Jan now revealed in his new amazon documentary, he had a relapse while on vacation in Cuba.

On the flight back to Mexiko he apparently went berserk and had to be taken off the plane and to the hospital. And when Mike learned what happened he called Lance and asked him to go to Mexico and take care of Jan, which Lance did IMMEDIATELY.

Lance explained how he watched Jan come to in his hospital bed and how Jan looked at him so confused and shocked and how he just nodded and went, "Yeah. I'm here."

So Mike and Lance get Jan into another rehad and I find out in the news that Lance APPARENTLY gifted Jan a black ring with stones on the inside for GOOD LUCK?!?!

(Yeah sure "good luck", you two are married)

Add to that, ALWAYS when asked why Lance is helping Jan, why he is going so hard for him, he says, "because I love him."

2022 marked the 25th anniversary of Jan winning the Tour and Lance actually agreed to be interviewed for the documentary series "Being Jan Ullrich" and for the book "Jan Ullrich - the best there never was" by Daniel Friebe that was also released that year.

Even going so far as to telling Friebe that if he was out to write a hatchet piece about Jan, to not even bother coming to Aspen because he would not utter one bad word about Jan.

At the end of 2022 Jan went to California with Paul Ripke (who he did a podcast with an became fast friends with. He is the photographer behind the BottAss calendar btw) and they met up with Lance, and the two of them went to a basketball game together. And who knows what else they got up to😏

Jan saying in a post on instagram: "Lance and I had a lot of mutual respect even as opponents. After our careers, we both went through a lot and were able to understand how the other is doing. And then when I needed help, Lance was there the next day. That's when you realize: I'm really important to him, it's not just a blah blah, there's something behind it. It's a great friendship.”

This year (2023) Lance also agreed to be interviewed for the documentary series Jan did with amazon.

And of course they also met again on Mallorca.

During that podcast Lance was surprised to hear Jan wanted to be at George's Fondo in 2024, and planned to do something similar himself (with George visiting). He stopped the two dead in their tracks and declared, "if Jan is gonna be there I am gonna be there." And that after George was ribbing him for not having been at his Fondo for some years now. But if Jan's gonna be there Lance is gonna be there.

Or when Lance explained that he was fitter this year because apparently George called him fat in April, only to turn to Jan and assure him, "I would never say that to you."

Because, as Lance openly admits, back in the day he was obsessively studying Jan's body, just to know his level of fitness before the Tour; adding to Jan's body image issues.

Then the amazon documentary dropped in November and so did the GAYEST FUCKING MAGAZINE COVER I HAVE EVER SEEN.

Seriously, whos idea was that and who okayed it??

There are probably things I skipped but their history is literally way too fucking rich.

Their story is like Senna v Prost, or Anquetil v Poulidor, you cannot tell one of their stories without also telling the other's. They are way too interwoven and way too emotionally attached to each other.

This is more than just ship tropes, and at the same time they are a walking talking ship trope and literally ship themselves.

Height difference? Check.

Age difference? Check.

Virgo x Sagittarius relationship.

East vs west trope.

Shared daddy issues.

Hot vs Cold.

They are so entirely and fundamentally different.

Lance was a natural leader and had great mental fortitude, while Jan enjoyed way more to follow a leader like Riis and struggled a lot mentally.

Where Jan had immense pressure from the German media, Lance never had any from the US.

Lance was such a dickhead during his pro years. He had a literal 'no friends' rule enforced on US Postal, forbidding his teammates from fraternizing with other teams, meanwhile Jan was such a genuinely nice guy to everyone that you are hard pressed to find someone saying or recalling something bad about him.

On one had it's fun to compare their rivalry and subsequent later friendship to other sports rivalries like Poulidor and Anquetil, or Senna and Prost, while on the other hand what Jan and Lance have is on a fundamentally different level.

Like Bruyneel said, they didn't talk a lot during the races. George even recalls how Jan would scarcely speak during races, but apparently despite this those two had the biggest level of respect and fear and admiration and even love for each other.

To the point where Lance was the literally only person able to get through to Jan at his lowest. Even his fucking mother and brothers couldn't get through to him, but Lance could.

[favouritecyclistpoll]

Quarter-Finals, Match Three: Matej Mohorič v. Mattias Skjelmose

Matej Mohorič Propaganda

Mattias Skjelmose Propaganda (submitted by poll-runner)

Personal: He’s a super lovely guy with an adorable smile, looks like an elf, likes a cheeky bit of gossip and has no filter, great friendship with Mads Pedersen.

One time he crashed and fell 15m down a ravine, climbed back up himself and yelled “I’m fine, just give me a new bike” which is just. Insane to me

Professional: He’s had a really interesting journey as a rider. He was on top of the world as a junior, rivalling Remco Evenepoel, but was a total dick. Then he got banned for doping because he took some contaminated dietary supplements. Came back a year later and then signed to Trek-Segafredo (much to the irritation of Mads Pedersen, who knocked on Mattias’ hotel room door and asked him why he should believe he had changed, but found himself pleasantly surprised by the type of guy Mattias now was) and now he’s thirteenth on the individual UCI ranking. Rouleur did a great article on him:

[luxe-pauvre]

One story among many stands out as evidence of what that will to win, combined with his mastery of strategy and detail, can accomplish. Stage 19 of Giro d'Italia, Friday 25th May 2018. Cycling history was at stake. Team Sky had won the Tour de France several times. The previous September they had also won the Vuelta a España. If they could now win the Giro, then they'd hold all three Grand Tour titles at the same time, a rare accomplishment. For someone as competitive as Brailsford - and Chris Froome, Team Sky's leading cyclist, matches Brailsford in that characteristic - it seemed like a golden opportunity to make history. Froome would become a cycling legend, one of the true greats alongside Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Induráin. The only problem for Brailsford and Froome was that, with just three days of the three-week race left, they were way off the pace. The Giro so far had not gone well for them. In spite of Team Sky's fabled attention to detail, lots had gone wrong - Froome had even had saddle sores. Worse, he'd crashed at the start of the race. 'It wasn't just any old crash, Brailsford said, ‘it was a big crash, so that knocked him for six really.’ And eighteen stages later, he was in fourth place, more than three minutes behind Simon Yates, the talented young British rider in the leader's maglia rosa (pink jersey). In second place, not far behind Yates, was Tom Dumoulin, the consistently excellent flying Dutchman. To make up three minutes on these two riders in the remainder of the race seemed a tall order. So, I asked, had Brailsford thought at any point, even just in his own head, this is gone now? Never, he replied, because Froome is such an extraordinary competitor. To prove it, Froome decided he wanted to win a stage partway through the Giro, and chose the one that included the Zoncolan climb, an unforgiving ascent, exactly the kind Froome likes. The experts, Brailsford included, looked at his power and other numbers for the first part of the race and thought, no chance. But win it he did. 'We were thinking "How the hell did he do that?"’ What was that, I asked, sheer willpower? 'Yes', came the reply. 'Bloody-mindedness.’

Michael Barber, Accomplishment: How to Achieve Ambitious and Challenging Things

[importantwomensbirthdays]

Yvette Horner

Accordion player Yvette Horner was born in 1922 in Tarbes, France. In 1948, Horner won first place in the accordion Word Cup. During the 1950s and 60s, she performed with the grand caravan that accompanied the Tour de France, and this is what she would be best remembered for. Over the course of a 64-year musical career, Horner gave 2,000 concerts and released 150 albums.

Yvette Horner died in 2018 at the age of 95.

Image: Dutch National Archives

[littlejumpydogheart]

2024 archive of books/films seen

★ = loved ⭑ = liked ⋆ = didn’t care for

Books

★ Independent People (Haldór Laxness) 1934

★ The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien) 1954

★ The Two Towers (J.R.R. Tolkien) 1954

★ The Return of the King (J.R.R. Tolkien) 1955

⭑ The Housekeeper and the Professor (Yoko Ogawa) 2003

★ The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) 1985

★ Stag’s Leap (Sharon Olds) 2012

⭑ How to Find Love in a Bookshop (Veronica Henry) 2016

★ The Brothers Karamazov (Fyodor Dostoevsky) 1880

⭑ And Then There Were None (Agatha Christie) 1939

★ Holes (Louis Sachar) 1998

Films

★ Come and See (d. Elim Klimov) 1985

⭑ Late Spring (d. Yasujiro Ozu) 1949

⋆ All the Vermeers in New York (d. John Jost) 1990

⋆ Porco Rosso (d. Hayao Miyizaki) 1992

⋆ The Passion of the Christ (d. Mel Gibson) 2004

★ It Happened One Night (d. Frank Capra) 1934

⋆ Jesus Revolution (d. Jon Erwin) 2023

★ LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring (d. Peter Jackson) 2001

★ LOTR: The Two Towers (d. Peter Jackson) 2002

★ LOTR: The Return of the King (d. Peter Jackson) 2003

⋆ Oppenheimer (d. Christopher Nolan) 2023

⭑ Angel's Egg (d. Mamoru Oshii) 1985

⭑ Mulholland Drive (d. David Lynch) 2001

Shows

★ The Chosen (d. Dallas Jenkins) 2018-

⭑ Tour de France: Unchained (d. Jamie Battento) 2024

★ The Bear (d. Christopher Storer) 2022-

[film-classics]

Marlene Dietrich - The Queer Icon

Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich (born in Berlin, Germany on 27 December 1901) was a German-born actress who often blurred the feminine and masculine, making her "The Queer Icon."

Dietrich's earliest appearances were as a chorus girl in 1922. Making film history, she was cast in Germany’s first talkie The Blue Angel (1930) by director Josef von Sternberg. With the success of the movie, von Sternberg took her to Hollywood under contract to Paramount Pictures. She soon had hits like Morocco (1930) and Shanghai Express (1932).

When war broke, she set up a fund to help Jews and dissidents and toured extensively for the allied effort. After the war, she limited her cinematic life.

In 1953, Dietrich appeared live at Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas. This was so successful that she also appeared at Café de Paris in London and Broadway.

She continued to tour as a marquee performer until 1975, when she fell onstage. She spent her final years mostly bedridden, passing away at 90 in her Paris flat from kidney failure.

Legacy:

Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for Morocco (1930) and a Golden Globe Best Actress for Witness for the Prosecution (1958)

Received a Special David at the David di Donatello Awards for Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Given a Special Tony Award in 1968

Received German Film Awards Honorary Award in 1980

Is the namesake for asteroid 1010 Marlene in 1923

Inspired the Marlene pants in 1932

Has a Mercedes-Benz model, the 500K Marlene, named after her in 1936

Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1947, the Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1950 and Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1983 from France, the Order of Leopold in 1965 from Belgium, and Medal of Valor of the State of Israel in 1965

Published an autobiography Nehmt nur mein Leben in 1979

Granted the Council of Fashion Designers of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986

Honored with a plaque at her birth site in 1992 and became an honorary Berlin citizen in 2002

Has a permanent exhibit at Deutsche Kinemathek, the Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin, since 1993

Ranked #60 in Empire's 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History in 1995

Honored with street names: the Marlene-Dietrich-Straße in Munich, Dusseldorf, Weimar, Ingolstadt, and Neu-Ulm, the Marlene-Dietrich-Allee in Potsdam, the Marlene-Dietrich-Platz in Berlin in 1997, and Place Marlène-Dietrich in Paris in 2002

Commemorated by Deutsche Post with a stamp in 1997

Listed 43rd in Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in 1998

Depicted in a musical, Marlene on the West End in 1997 and Broadway in 1999, and a biopic, Marlene (2000)

Named 9th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema in 1999 by the American Film Institute

Inducted in the Online Film and Television Association Hall of Fame in 2003

Honored by Montblanc with a fountain pen in 2007 and by Swarovski with a dress in 2017

Awarded a star in Berlin's Boulevard der Stars in 2010

Honored with a Google Doodle on her 116th birthday in 2017

Honored as Turner Classic Movies Star of the Month for May 2018

Featured in songs, including Suzanne Vega's "Marlene on the Wall" (1985), Peter Murphy's "Marlene Dietrich's Favourite Poem" (1989), Black Midi's "Marlene Dietrich" (2021)

Depicted onstage in Marlène Dietrich, The Blue Angel's White Nights in 2017 at Théâtre Trévise and Marlene in Hollywood in 2023 at Theater Lindenhof

Featured in exhibits, such as "Marlene Dietrich, Creation of a Myth" at Palais Galliera in 2003, "Marlene Dietrich: Dressed for the Image" at National Portrait Gallery in 2017, "Play the Part: Marlene Dietrich" at International Center of Photography in 2023

Is a muse for designers, including Vivienne Westwood, Thierry Mugler, Jason Wu, Max Mara, David Koma, and Dior

Has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6400 Hollywood Boulevard for motion picture

[oneminutefiftysixseconds]

omg the ask game is so cute 🥺 how aboutttttt 🙏 and 🌍 ?!!!

🙏 something i'd like to see happen that's relatively unlikely:

so as a brit i'm always believing in geraint thomas 🫡🇬🇧 and Pidders but G's 2018 Tour took me right back to Wiggo 2012 and the Olympic-induced all-over sports hype, british cycling being not a joke (tour de yorkshire i miss you so much, tour of britain, london classic, grand departs in the UK we used to be a proper country etc)

he was SO SO close at the giro, if he brings that form this year all it could take is one well placed haybale/spectator with a cardboard sign wishing their grandparents well...... for legal reasons this is a joke!! i don't wish crashes or accidents upon any rider!!

beyond that, i'd be interested to to see a winner of the men's tour who's not one of the big four -- Carapaz, Mas, Simon Yates, perhaps -- and a winner of the women's without the surname Vollering

also Valverde unretiring would be hilarious. movistar announce their new signing Valejandro Alverde and he rides the vuelta

🌍 only watching races from one country

🇮🇹🇮🇹🚴VIVAA ITALIAAA 🇮🇹🍕🍝🚴

as much as i love the brutality of the belgian classics and of course the endless storied traditions of france, nothing hits the spot quite like the romance of a great italian road race.

Lombardia and Tirreno (how could i not adore the trident 🔱), the majesty of Milano-Sanremo (aka La Classicissima) having the best half-hour of racing all season (after the 250ish km it takes to get to the Poggio), the brutal climbs and drama of the Giro balanced by the STUNNING landscapes, and of course the fast-approaching dusty white roads of Strade.

so if i had to choose only one nation's cycling races you'd find me relaxing with a glass of finest pinot grigio (or some gelato) while the peloton speed along some beautiful Almalfi coastline or up some hellish Apennine slope

early season ask game