Loving the losers

To be a cyclist is a student of pain. It’s hard to explain it to those who haven’t tried the sport. When you have experienced the searing pain in the legs, a burning butt and a stiff back, then it’s easy to relate to the mundane aspects of the sport and to life itself.

It’s probably these experiences that those cyclists who stumble, those who fail- not just once but a lot of times,are more endeared in the heart of the tifosi’s than those who make it look so easy. I guess we’re all huge Sisyphus’s fans.

Take Raymond Poulidor for instance, also know as the “Eternal Second”. At some other time, this Frenchman would have been as dominant as a Lance Armstrong or a Miguel Indurain. But the cycling gods not only didn’t smile at him, they also put his career in the timeline between two giants of the sport- Jacques Anquetil and Eddy Merckx. He was like the Karl Malone, not the Hakeem Olajuwon, in the Michael Jordan era.

In the 14 times he rode the Tour de France, Poulidor was 2nd thrice and 3rdfive times. And not once did he get to wear the Yellow Jersey- not one freaking day! Yet, if a popularity poll were to be taken today, Pou-pou would be the hands down winner. Even Anquetil, who hungered for the love of the fans but couldn’t get any, couldn’t understand why the fans loved their loser more than their champion.

Then there’s Lance Armstrong. When first into the burst into the pro scene, he was considered as arrogant and abrasive. He won a lot of races but not a lot of friends. But when he survived cancer and won the 1999 Tour de France, he was considered as cycling’s savior from the Festina doping affair a year before and everybody loved him. But when he started winning the Tour again and again and again, the tide turned against him and cycling’s sympathies went to the Poulidor of his era, Jan Ullrich. The German won the Tour in 1997 but was runner-up 5 times.

LA retired with 7 Tour wins but when came out of retirement, the fans saw an older and gentler champion. And when he didn’t dominate the way he did in the past, the fans felt for him, but unfortunately, a US Federal doping investigation (that was recently dropped) and a second retirement,got in the way.

Roger Walkowiak won the Tour in 1956 not because he was good but because he was lucky. The French were not impressed and they turned on him leaving him to lead an anonymous life until recently some people convinced him that what he did had merit. On the other hand is Poulidor, the only non-Tour winner I know gets invited in official Tour events

The nearest thing to cycling maybe is tennis since love is zero. Lose in cycling spectacularly and you get the love and be a hero. Dominate and you get nothing but a grudging respect.

When you have experienced suffering, you identify with the sufferers. The poor always commiserate with the poor but the rich don’t celebrate with the rich- they celebrate alone. Here’s hoping that you can relate.

Finally, my deepest sympathies to Margie See, Rachel and the family and relatives of Raymond See of team Mossimo, who passed away last Saturday. There’s not a friendlier person in the peloton than Ray. THE FREEMAN