The Grand Départ

My favorite sporting event of the year started yesterday in Bruxelles with the Stage 1 Grand Départ – great departure – of the Tour de France (AKA The Tour).

For the next 21 days, I’ll be glued to the coverage of each stage of The Tour as it proceeds from the north of France, through the center of the country and across the Pyrenees and the Alps with the big finish in Paris on the Champs-Élysées.

I plan to follow the riders and stages on my own bike…never leaving the comfort of my house. Have to log those miles (or kms as the Euro’s would say) somehow, since the Docs and my wife won’t let me out on my road bike!

EF Education First is my squad this year and I hope that Tejay van Garderen and team represents the United States well…he has struggled in the past and I hope this is his year. Tejay is a long-shot, but this Tour is wide open for the overall maillot jaune in Paris on July 28th. Who know? Should make for an exciting race!

Regardless, I will be cheering also for Peter Sagan as he battles for his record-setting seventh Green Jersey.

Alé! Alé! Alé!