Meet me in Champs-Élysées

Saturday afternoon in London, 189 men departed on a 22-day journey to Paris’ Champs-Élysées, testing their abilities, their bodies, and above all, their will.

That journey is the one and only Tour de France. The pinnacle of individual athletic achievement.

Certainly, the riders will take a round-about way from London to Paris. Stage two takes the riders into Belgium before heading south to Compiègne, France. From there, they’ll head southeast into the mountains along the France-Switzerland border. These first two mountain stages cover more than 360 km. I’m exhausted after driving a car though the hilly terrain over Northern Ontario. From the mountains, they’ll again head south toward Marseille. The riders will then spend five days making their way through more mountains along France’s southern coast, before heading north again in stage 17.

The final four stages are along flatlands, and bring the riders to the end of their 3,550 km journey-- a journey Google Maps tells me is actually only 460 km.

While most of the cycling world would rather the last decade of Tours not exist, having been rocked by doping scandals and dominated by American riders (they’ve won eight in a row now) representing a nation that largely ignores the Tour, the 2007 Tour is a time for renewal of faith, and for optimism for a brighter future.

All 189 riders signed the Union Cycliste Internationale’s anti-doping charter. Riders that did not sign the charter are not permitted to ride in the 2007 Tour, and like any athletic event, it’s a little more fun to watch without worrying about doping (unlike a particular event happening in San Francisco later Monday night).

So a hearty good luck to all of this year’s riders. Though only one man will wear the yellow jersey July 29th, all of the Tour’s riders are champions of the athletic spirit.

Elsewhere, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are still terrible. After dropping their home opener Saturday night, by a 30-5 score, against the hated Toronto Argos, the Tabbies have now been outscored 67-14 in their two games, and are yet to score a touchdown of any kind. They host the Montreal Alouettes Saturday night, in a true clash of the titans. At 0-2, the Als and Cats have combined to score just one touchdown and just 44 points in the young season. In case you’re not scoring along at home, each of the six other teams have scored 45 or more of their own points so far this season. Avoid the rush, get your tickets early.

TOUR TRACKER

Saturday’s Prologue stage was won by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland, who also retained the yellow jersey after Sunday’s first stage.

Australian Robbie McEwen claimed Sunday’s first stage, despite falling off his bike in a crash with 20 km remaining in the stage. His time of four hours, 39 minutes, one second is more time than I’ve spent on a bike in the last year.

Monday’s stage two started around 5:30 a.m. (EDT), and is expected to take five hours for riders to complete. Riders will travel southeast from Dunkerque, crossing into Belgian territory near Oost-Cappel traveling to Poperinge. Riders will then head east to Ypres before heading north toward Oostende. They will head southeast again, toward Lichtervelde, where they’ll head almost exclusively East through Tielt to Deinze and northeast into Gent.