Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/20/2025

The Tour de France remains one of the most visually appealing sports events of the summer and a favorite of this Blog.  The scenes of 150+ cyclists going through the French countryside by small town churches and museums along with 4 hours of action and strategy every day.  However, it's usually settled in the big mountains of the Pyrenees or Alps and 2025 was no different.  And a familiar face dominated.  Tadej Pogačar is making a case for best ever in the sport and on his way to his third General Classification victory in Le Tour well before the age of 27.  Pogačar's biggest threat has been 2022-23 winner Jonas Vingegaard but it's been no match.  Stage 12 is where he made it happen, going one on one with Vingegaard and just crushing him to take over the Maillot Jaune probably for good.  It should be noted, Vingegaard beat the rest of the field, but Pogačar put his stamp on it. Stage 13 to leave no doubt, he won the Time Trial as well.  Maybe the Slovenian will crack in the Alps but not likely.  Tadej Pogačar is poised for his third Tour de France win on the Champs Elysees on Sunday and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/21/2024

Le Tour de France concluded this week with a dominant victory by a two-time, now three-time General Classification (e.g. Yellow Jersey) Champion.  But our Blog noted another amazing performance in the Points Classification (e.g. Green Jersey).  Biniam Girmay made his initial statement that he was the Sprinter to beat in the Third Stage of the 2024 Tour de France and never looked back.  With bursts of speed that clearly eclipsed major rival Jasper Philipsen in many an intermediate and stage win, Girmay surprised by winning his first Points Championship.  The Eritrean shocked the world with that Stage 3 win, then went on to win two more stages, all are the first and only for an African Cyclist in Le Tour.  In addition to flat our speed, strategy frequently helped hold off his Belgian rival by a mere 33 points, very close for the Points.  Staying in breakaways or at least close enough to Philipsen to nullify any intermediate point awards.  Then staying safe down the stretch (he did crash once) to either win or come close to winning.  Girmay at age 24 is likely to be a story for years, but for this week, is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/7/2024

The first week of the Tour de France produced early fireworks from General Classification (e.g. G.C.) contenders on the first few rough, long, hot stages as well as thrilling springs as those going for the Points (Green) Jersey had chances to stack up points and win stages going into the week.  One of the major storylines entering the 2024 Tour de France was whether or not Mark Cavendish would win a record breaking 35th Stage to become the all-time leader.  In short.  He did it.  The 39-year-old riding in his 15th Tour surged ahead of other top sprinters to win the fifth stage of the 2024 Tour in Saint-Vulbas, France. In his prime, many of the flattest stages were practically a foregone conclusion, as Cavendish had a lead out train designed the throw him to the front with ease.  But in later years, as father time caught up with him, it's become more on him and more by chance.  After preliminarily announcing his retirement after the 2023 tour, he decided to give it one more chance and the Team Astana Qazaqstan gave him the shot.  They'll never be disappointed as history will show Cavendish getting the tie-breaking win from Eddy Merckx in their colours.  An amazing career and feat, for the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week! 

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/24/2022

Another week, another major European sporting event leads to our weekly honors.  This time, on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.  After three weeks of grueling mountain climbs, sprints, and time trials, the Tour de France wrapped up with a surprise first time Champion.  Jonas Vingegaard of Denmark defeated the two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar in several thrilling climbing duels over the Tour.  Stage 11 proved to be the decisive blow in the Alps, as Vingegaard and his Jumbo Visma teammates outnumbered Pogacar and gapped him by nearly 3 minutes which was more than enough to take the Maillot Jaune for good.  Pogacar attacked as he could the remainder of the tour, but Vingegaard was too much.  Pogacar settles for the white jersey for best young rider, and Vingegaard thrusts himself into Tour de France immortality and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/18/2021

What a three weeks on the roads and mountains of France, as cycling's greatest event unfolded over an amazing backdrop.  A year after being postponed until fall, the Tour de France went back to its original schedule and put some normalcy back to cycling.  But the more things change, the more they stay the same.  2020 surprise winner (and prior Sportsman of the Week) left a lot less drama in this years tour, dominating from the first week through the parade on the Champs-Elysees in Paris to win back-to-back tours.  Slovenian Tadej Pogacar was a man among boys despite only being 22 years old.  A rare talent of unmatched climbing skills with ability to time trial and burst on a sprint stage with steel nerves makes it seem as if he may not lose for several years.  Several.  He won Stage 5 (time trial), took the Maillot Jaune on Stage 8, then won Stages 17 and 18 in the Pyrenees to make it easy.  There was no other rival.  He was a champion this year and will be a champion in years to come.  Our Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 9/20/2020

 

Once again, defying COVID odds, another sport had an amazing competition with an unexpected outcome.  The Tour de France, a tradition of over 100 years, slipped about 6 weeks and despite having little crowd control, managed to execute safely.  With a result nobody expected.  With favorite Primoz Roglic winning by a near one minute margin coming out of the crucial Alps stages, it was thought the final few days would be a coronation.  Oh but for the Time Trial.  Most of the Tour de France is run in packs where moves can be countered and precious seconds over rivals are hard to generate.  But the Time Trial is an event in which each cyclist is on his own for, in this case, about an hour.  And it's easy to lose time.  And lost time Roglic did.  To his fellow Slovenian countryman Tadej Pogacar (Tah-dey Po-GAH'-cha).  Pogacar reeled in his 57 second deficit and tacked on a minute advantage in winning the Time Trial on Stage 20, the penultimate stage.  He demolished the field by 2 minutes, even Roglic finished 5th out of 100+ cyclists and looked like he got whooped.  Pogacar had seemed the strongest rider the last week, but couldn't make up the time he had lost early on a mechanical failure combined with cross winds that cost him nearly 2 minutes early.  But the best cyclist won.  Oh, and Pogacar is only 21 years old (22 today, actually).  He may be the future of cycling and many more Sportsman of the Week honors to come!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/28/2019

The summer sports season is never complete without the three-week bicycle ride through the French country-side.  Better known as the Tour de France.  The 106 year tradition is renewed every year throughout the flat lands of the country, the coast, the hills, the Alps, the Pyrenees, and ending in Paris.  But the more things are the same, the more they change.  Once again, a rider from Team Ineos (formerly Team Sky) won.  But the who wasn't expected.  Egan Bernal of Colombia exceeded his high expectation to (relatively) easily take the Maillot Jaune on the 19th stage and hold it through Paris.  Whispers around the team buses had him as having better form than team leader and 2018 Tour winner Geraint Thomas.  But who would the team protect?  It never was an issue.  Bernal stormed through the decisive stages when he needed to and took a 1:00 gap into the final Alps stage and could not be challenged.  At 22 years old, Bernal was the youngest rider out of ~200 in Le Tour.  And he is the winner.  It's was never a matter of if he would win a Tour.  But how many.  The count is on.  Bernal is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/29/2018

The Tour de France wrapped up an exciting three weeks of grueling mountain top finishes and harrowing crashes.  And there was a new winner for the first time in 4 years.  Geraint Thomas from Wales beat his own teammate favorite and a stacked field of up and comers to win the 2018 Tour de France.  Thomas along-side Froome protected the presumed Team Sky leader but consistently shaved time off in chasing down the other contenders.  Then in the decisive stages of the Pyrenees, Thomas accelerated to attack and Froome was cracked.  Thomas becomes the third winner from Great Britain in the last 7 years along side Froome and Bradley Wiggins (who combined have won 6 of the last 7).  But Thomas defied the odds, kept the title with Team Sky, and is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/24/2016

The Tour De France remains one of the mainstay summer sporting events not only in Europe, but across the World.  Cyclists from the six continents unite for three weeks of daily racing contests with an overall (General Classification) winner crowned, along with points winners in catergories like sprints, mountain climbs, and young rider.  But it's the GC that gets the most attention.  And for the second year in a row, and three out of four, British cyclist (by way of Kenya) Chris Froome of Team Sky was the clear winner by over 4 minutes.  After gaining minutes and seconds in all the critical stages in the first two weeks, the decisive blow was a dominant mountain time trial stage victory on Stage 18 (his second stage victory of the Tour).  It's his third nod, a worthy Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/26/2015

A second dominant performance in the marquee circuit of the sport earns out Sportsman of the Week another nod.  Chris Froome of Kenya (GBR) dominated the 200 cyclist field over three weeks to win his second Tour de France in three years.  Seizing control of the race on the first mountain stage, he gave up nary a second the remainder of the stages.  Repeated attacks by opponents were no match for Froome of Team Sky.  His time of 84 hours, 46 minutes, 14 seconds in the "saddle" bested the field by 1 minute 12 seconds but it was never that close.  Another great Tour de France and another great Sportsman of the Week!

Apology not accepted?

Every single person except maybe Jesus Christ, Buddha, Vishnu, or Mohammed has done something wrong and needed to apologize (more on Jesus in a minute).  From the time we can speak as toddlers, we are taught by our parent, guardian or teacher that if you do something wrong, you are supposed to say "I'm Sorry."  And you are supposed to mean it.  And in general at that stage of life, it's for something like spilling a drink or punching your sibling.  And usually, the apology is accepted.  Meaning that both parties move on and it is no longer held against the offender.  Until the next time your parents are looking and the sibling smacks you back.

Jesus took his ministry so far as to forgive the sins of all, for in the end all that believe in him will have everlasting life.  But I digress.

How does this relate to sports?  Newsflash.  Athletes (and in some cases, the media that covers them) are not perfect.  Far from it.  In fact, their stature, fame, and lifestyle lend itself to doing things wrong.  In a phrase: "Mo' Money, Mo' problems."  Be it people taking advantage of you, marriages that are far from traditional, or a feeling of entitlement (thou can do no wrong and if you do, someone will cover it up).  The cover up part is not happening as well in these days of social media and the hypersonic speed of the news cycle.

Over the past several years, we have had extremely egregious transgressions by athletes or sports media (the charge is my opinion of accusation, not an indication of legal guilt).  Here is a sampling that span the range of all sports, transgressions, genders, and fame.  The link for each offers a video or article on the apology.

Lance Armstrong (PEDs)
Steve Bartman (interference with catch)
Todd Bertuzzi (assault during a game)
Ryan Braun (PEDs)
Kobe Bryant (rape and infidelity)
Riley Cooper (racist comments)
Josh Hamilton (substance abuse)
Marion Jones (PEDs)
Jim Joyce (bad umpire call)
Mark McGwire (PEDs)
Britt McHenry (verbal assault)
Joe Namath (intoxication)
Adrian Peterson (child abuse)
Ray Rice (domestic violence)
Alex Rodriguez (PEDs)
Tony Stewart (wrongful death)
Rick Sutcliffe (intoxication)
Tim Tebow (losing football game) 
Mike Tyson (cannibalism during bout)
Michael Vick (dogfighting)
Tiger Woods (infidelity)
Don Zimmer (fighting)

Just read through those names.  These athletes and sports figures have literally all been at the top of their game or profession at some point.  But one action or statement and it all came crashing down.  It can happen to anyone; we all make mistakes.  So an apology is offered.  In some cases, seemingly showing legitimate remorse (Jim Joyce, Tim Tebow, Don Zimmer).  In others, more forced (Ray Rice, Mike Tyson, Ryan Braun) or disingenuous (Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, Britt McHenry).  There's been tears, there's been significant others next to them, there's been their organization supporting, sometimes not.  But not all apologies are created equal.

As a courtesy to athletes and frankly anyone in life who messes up (that's you unless you are a diety), here are a few criteria to consider if apologizing

1) Do it soon.  The longer you wait, the more it will seem forced and disingenuous.
Examples good: Tim Tebow, Jim Joyce, Don Zimmer
Examples bad: Mark McGwire, Ryan Braun, Lance Armstrong
Examples never: Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa

Tim Tebow apologizes to Gator Nation right after losing to Ole Miss

2)  Say it like you mean it.  People can see fake.  Reading a statement doesn't come across as sincere.  It comes across as doing it to meet a requirement.  Look into the camera and speak from the heart.
Examples good: Marion Jones, Tim Tebow, Mark McGwire
Examples bad: Tiger Woods, Britt McHenry, Mike Tyson, Michael Vick

Mark McGwire is genuine in this apology for use of PEDs (albeit late)

3)  Let your actions do the talking.  Whatever you did wrong, try and fix it, preferably without fanfare.  If you are truly sorry, you will act to reconcile.  A phone call (not a tweet) to someone who was affected goes a long way.  Volunteering to help a cause that does good in the area you committed a transgression (battered women's shelter, animal causes, etc.)

Examples good:  Tim Tebow (won title), Don Zimmer (quit brawling), Michael Vick (Humane Society)
Examples bad: Ray Rice, Tiger Woods, Britt McHenry

Detractors thought Michael Vick's campaign for the Humane Society was less than genuine

4) Do something extra.  Find a new way to interact and win back your fans.  Volunteer your time, be visible in a positive way, but be genuine about it.

Examples good: Ryan Braun (answered ticket phone), Josh Hamilton (personable with fans)
Examples bad: Todd Bertuzzi, Alex Rodriguez, Tony Stewart.

Josh Hamilton "photobombs" Rangers fans

Ultimately it is up to the fans to accept an apology.  I find myself in each case having trouble forgiving some (Britt McHenry, Lance Armstrong) but easily accepting others (Steve Bartman, Jim Joyce).  Human emotion is a tough thing to reconcile with.  But one thing is for certain.  Athletes will keep messing up and keep apologizing.  But will we accept it?

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/27/2014

In what was supposed to be a wide-open Tour de France General Classification competition, this week's Sportsman made it look easy.  Vincenzo Nibali (ITA) was the first to make his mark on the Alps mountain stages, then punctuated an easy (7+ minute) victory by dominating the remaining competition in the Pyrenees.  One by one, main competitors either crashed out (Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Andrew Talansky) or couldn't keep up (Tejay Van Garderen, Alejandro Valverde, Richie Porte).  Not only that, he also finished fourth in the Time Trial, not his normal discipline.  Never looking stressed, he managed to win four stages throughout the tour (2, 10, 13, and 18), coasting ahead of French riders Jean-Christophe Péraud  and Thibaut Pinot who finished second and third respectively.  Taming 2,200 miles over two mountain ranges and nearly lapping the competition, Vincenzo Nibali is the Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

The sad plights of Alex Rodriguez and Lance Armstrong. Greed, Denial, and Tainted Legacies

As a big fan of competitive cycling (particularly the Tour De France) and baseball (particularly Major League Baseball), my sports innocence has taken a huge, sobering hit the past couple of years, with the undeniable guilt of former heroes Lance Armstrong and Alex Rodriguez.  It's insightful to evaluate how parallel their plights have been.  Each did things that no other human in their sport have done.  Each didn't want to just be one of the best, they wanted to be THE best.  Each denied well beyond the time period in which their guilt was obvious.  Both suffered humiliating suspensions and their legacy is forever shattered.

Greatness:
Armstrong - Seven Tour De France Titles.  By huge margins.  On dominating teams.  With flair.  
Rodriguez - Tallied 518 home runs before his 33rd Birthday.  Was the highest paid player in baseball, won a batting title, five home run titles, and three league MVPs.

At 18, Alex Rodriguez had the potential to be known as the best ever

Greed
Armstrong - In a sport in which everyone was bending rules one way or another, Armstrong's ego got the best of him.  He wanted to do it for his (still honorable) Live Strong cancer campaign.  He wanted to do it for the United States.  He wanted to thumb his nose at Tour de France organizers that he knew would never be able to catch him.
Rodriguez - He watched other users (Bonds, Sosa, McGwire) juice up and shatter what had been hallowed home run records. He was probably the best clean player, but the others were getting all the attention and spotlight. It wasn't fair.

Lance gives Jan Ullrich "The Look" as he easily pulls away from the champion

Denial
Armstrong - For a decade, he kept saying "no positive test, all speculation, I didn't cheat."  What he meant to say was "they can't prove it."  Finally, with the French authorities stripping his titles away with what they considered enough evidence (including eye witness accounts from former teammates), he ran out of friends and everyone knew the inevitable.
Rodriguez - Despite being suspended 50 games for prior use in 2009, then having his name all over the infamous Biogenesis clinic documents with another 162 game suspension, plus eye witness testimony of his patterned use, to this day, Rodriguez is trying to paint baseball as being on a witch hunt, implying that it's personal vendetta between MLB commissioner Bud Selig and him, and that the truth will come out.  Once again, only his own lawyers are believing him at this point, and they stand large financial gain from keeping the fight going.

Rodriguez admits to past mistakes, but says he's clean (to Katie Couric)

Humiliation
Armstrong - Now banned for life, Lance Armstrong can't even compete in sanctioned triathlons or be in any way associated with Professional Cycling.  A pariah of the sport, he can only do what he can to raise money and awareness for cancer, and mostly stay out of the spotlight.  Still a popular figure it seems, his legend is forever tainted.
Rodriguez - He may never play in the major leagues again. He will fall short of all the home run records that seemed so easily within his grasp at age 31.  Even when playing, now clean, his power is gone and he breaks down physically.

Armstrong confesses his sins at the church of Oprah

Reconciliation
Armstrong - He seems to paint himself as the victim, one of many, and as if he was unfairly made an example.  Well, yes, you are the one who won seven straight TDF title.  You were the one who insisted you were clean.  To our faces.  No sympathy.  Perhaps he can negotiate some way to pay back the sport.  In the meantime, that decade of the Tour never happened.
Rodriguez - Has accepted full season ban (quietly), has not publicly apologized or shown any remorse.
 
Both of these guys fought to be the best.  They cut corners, bent rules, and ruined what could have been an incredible legacy on merit, hard work, and talent.  Great American heroes became great American shames.

- David Whitlock Follow @lhd_on_sports

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/21/2013

Big week across the pond, but this week's Sportsman really dominated the field in his sports ultimate event.  Great Britain's Chris Froome capped off a dominant 3 weeks in France with an easy 5 minute victory on the 100th edition of the Tour de France.  For the week, he won the critical time trial on Wednesday and showed no signs of stress on the final Alps mountain stages as the field too shots at him.  He owned the Maillot Jaune for the last 2 weeks and other than one odd day of cross winds, never showed signs of stress.  Chris Froome is at the top of his craft, and worthy Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

The Lance Armstrong Elephant

Those following my blog know I'm a big fan of competitive cycling. You can see previous posts of Longhorndave Sportsmen of the Week, tweets on @lhd_on_sports (on twitter), etc.  I more or less came around to the sport toward the tail end of Lance's domination.  I've definitely watched 10x more coverage since he's retired.  But I always had some pride that an American could do so well.  There are so many cyclists representing their country, you just needed to watch last year to see how important it was to England when Bradley Wiggins won (right).  I was extraordinarily proud of Tejay Van Garderen and the way he represented the Stars and Stripes.  But what Lance did was beyond that.  It was Babe Ruth, it was Johnny Unitas, and it was Michael Jordan sport domination in an arena that Americans were usually also rans.

But to paraphrase many who have been caught in the PED age, "the proponderance of evidence can no longer be ignored".

Specifically, he won his titles in an era in which dozens, if not hundreds of cyclists have been caught up in scandal, positive tests, and general consensus that testing was years behind practice.  This is like looking at McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds shattering records, then deciding that Sosa was probably clean but the other two were definitely guilty.  Uh, you're fooling yourself.

The famous "look" in 2001 (click for video)

He didn't just win, he dominated.  Most of his wins were more or less landslides by the last few stages.  Again, not in and of itself damning, but when nobody breaks Roger Maris record for decades, then guys plus it by more than 15% in several years in a row, then you might be onto something.

There's a 1000 page report of testimony, evidence, accounts of practices.  There can't be that many people conspiring against him if he's innocent.  I admit that there are agencies and organizations that have biased reasons to bring him down.  But when teammates, former associates, etc. are involved, we have to listen. It's beyond "he said, she said"

Stepping back, I think the Tour De France (and other organization) authorities need to make a sweeping adjustment to results in these years.  Not just pick and choose who's titles to vacate.  But start with the first time it was obvious someone did it, and wipe them out through a point in which reasonable testing can account for a clean winner.  Which is probably within the past couple of years.  Most of that era had cyclists implicated or associated with scandals, just because resources weren't available to develop aforementioned 1000 page reports doesn't mean their title shouldn't be vacated, too.

And if there is a winner that never tested positive ever in his life, maybe he, and only he, should keep the title.  Wait, that's Lance.  Then wipe it.

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/22/2012

A fair bit of foreshadowing took place last week, but there is no question in this blogger's mind who the Sportsman of the Week is.  Bradley Wiggins made history in the Tour De France, becoming the first British rider to win the General Classification (i.e. Yellow Jersey) in 99 years of the race and doing it with style.  He dominated the final Time Trial, led his teammate Mark Cavendish out for a win on two stages, had another third place finish, and gave up no time to any main rival all week.  He clearly was the class of the 2012 field and looked like he was in an armchair all week in doing it. A deserved Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Sportsman of the Week Ending 7/15/2012

Tough call this week, with MLB taking an All Star break, I had to lean toward Tour De France for best athlete, but don't want to name an athlete that is likely to be next week's athlete.  With that as a backdrop, this week's Sportsman is American, and making a huge impact on Le Tour both individually and for the team.  Tejay Van Garderen has absolutely shocked analysts with his performance thus far, particularly in the time trials (4th in both the Prologue and Stage 9, only yellow jersey possessor Bradley Wiggins of current tour participants has finished higher) and in an awkward scenario, Tejay tried to lead Cadel Evans on an attack in Stage 11 but Evans couldn't keep up. And he is the current holder of the White jersey for best young rider.  Tejay is grinding, he struggled a bit in the first week late in climbs, but his form has kept him with the leaders every stage since, he's a deserving Longhorndave Sportsman of the Week!

Why the Tour De France is the best sport in, well, sports

This blog loves the wider world of sports, and the Tour De France (and competitive cycling in general) certainly tickles that fancy.  Seriously, it's amazing to watch on so many levels, I'll try to break it down in a Top 10 reasons that you should be watching the Tour De France:

10. Fan Access - Where else can fans literally participate in sports?  No, seriously, fans will pass out newspapers to cyclists at the summit of climbs (which are stuffed under the jerseys as wind protection), and if your lucky enough (or really unlucky) to be near a cyclist that falls, it's perfectly acceptable to help him up, give him a push to start, etc.  Unfortunately, fans are also so close, they've been known to cause crashes.

9. Scenery - I dare you to watch 3 hours of the Tour De France and not want to travel there.  The TV coverage (more on that in a minute) spoils us with helicopter views of chateaus, coastline, beautiful hills/mountains/valleys.

8. Peloton party - What happens in the peleton stays in the peleton.  Okay, maybe not that much of a party, but there's a camaraderie there that is matched by few situations in sports.  Teams/individuals work together, there's banter, perhaps political discussions, it's just the place to be.

7. Drinking during the contest - Yes, on the final stage, tradition dictates that the yellow jersey sips champagne as the peloton reaches Paris.  What other sport can you literally drink while you compete and win a three week event!

6., Variety of athlete - Like American football, these guys are stocky, slim, tall, short, lanky.  They all do something a little different than the other guy.  Andre Greipel's legs are tree trunks.  So are Mark Cavendish.  The brothers Schleck have twigs for legs.  Cadel Evans is 5'8".  Chris Froome is 6'1".  These guys are #4 and #2 in the GC at this point.

5. International representation - No country dominates, Europe has the most representatives, but North America, Russia/East Europe/Asia, and increasingly South America are represented.  And no one country dominates, teams are from countries, riders on those teams are not necessarily born in those countries, and on any stage, you have someone to cheer for.

4. Team Strategy - It took me a while to appreciate this, but team composition and strategy define the winners of stages, jerseys, and overall races.  To watch the subtle teamwork of who is driving the peloton, who is best protecting their GC riders, and who is dominating the lead out train makes each day worth watching.

3. TV Coverage - Talk about a challenge, each course being 150 miles give or take, how do you bring the images to the fans?  France has it figured out, motorcycles, helicopters, etc., you never feel like you're missing anything.  Sure enough, there are crashes or events that don't have a camera on it (there are 200 riders, not always together, spread out over miles).  But when you watch, you see the race.  There are a lot of commercials early, not as many late, great interviews, etc.  They set the benchmark for sports coverage in my opinion.

2. Athlete toughness - These guys, with little protective gear, fly at up to 60 MPH, sometimes within inches of other cyclists, with turns, rain, road obstructions, etc.  And 20% of them will break a bone by the end of the race.  Not to mention the scrapes and scratches.  And those guys continue to carry themselves over thousands of kilometers and still finish.  I can't imagine a professional cyclist not suffering a broken collarbone at some point in their career, it just goes without saying. The ultimate being Johnny Hoogerland's car bump into barbed wire. Here's a laundry list of crashes, the riders just get up and ride: http://deadspin.com/5586138/top-15-cringeworthy-tour-de-france-crashes.  See the following images, not the for the squeamish (Hoogerland's the third photo).

1. Pure athleticism.  Le Tour is 23 days (21 racing), these guys go 5 hours a day, over mountains, through the plains, into the wind, sometimes rain, by the end, over 2000 miles and as I said, many won't finish.  5 hours is essentially the time of two marathons for elite times, per day, every day, etc.  Over two major mountain ranges.  These guys are athletes in every sense of the word, I can't imagine any discipline requiring more work.

I can actually imagine myself playing football and holding my own, same with basketball.  This is one sport, I literally could not come close to competing.  Wouldn't finish the first day!