Unconfirmed reports from France suggest that a group of friends intrested in the ‘Beautiful Sport of Professional Bicycle Racing’ have managed to obtain a state of mind once considered impossible.
Despite the long European winter where the only cycling served up is either cyclo-cross on mud adapted gravel bikes or 6-day track racing – the last bastions of proper cigarette smoke – European cycling fans have thus far steadfastly refused to CARE about the Tour Down Under making do with muted curiosity in the new season’s jerseys.
However, French local newspaper the ‘Marseille héraut’ reports that a group of 3 friends were so starved of ‘proper’ cycling that via the consumption of virtually every web page, magazine story etc devoted to it – that they managed to become tangibly interested in the race’s 5 stages. None however reportedly gave a s*** about the races prologue.
Reasons for the sudden enlightenment are still unclear but the group feel the retirement of perennial race-bore Cadel Porte and the binning faux-iconic Willunga Hill are significant factors. One of the group were quoted as saying that the race is now more than a Koala photo-op and that they’d even be up for giving 2023 Singapore Criterium a try.