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.
![](https://secretsofthepeloton.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TDU_interest1-768x1024.jpg)
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.
![](https://secretsofthepeloton.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TDU_interest.jpg)
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.