Even thought the Tour is officially over, I started this thread for the simple reason of posting a story about a native Houstonian who, though he finished last, persevered and stay in it until the end. The racer's name is Lawson Craddock. If you watched the Tour, you may have heard about his horrible crash on the first stage that left him with a broken scapula and a nasty cut above his left eye which required stitches. Still he went on to finish the race and gained a lot of respect and admiration from the racing world and fans all over. Read the story in the link. It's inspiring and full of the never-say-die attitude that is part of the Houston DNA. https://www.npr.org/2018/07/30/6339...azing-last-place-finish-in-the-tour-de-france
I'm a big cycling fan, growing up in Belgium you get exposed to it a lot. Craddock story was inspiring and unbelievable, i really like the fact that he used his story to raise funds for a good cause. I don't know about the level of interest in cycling in the states but i hope he will help bring some more fan to cycling. It was nice seeing Thomas finally wining a grand tour. I won't lie, i expected him to lose his yellow jersey during the third week and it was unbelievable to watch him winning. Another crazy injury story was Phillip Gilbert crush, he broke his knee cap and still managed to finish the stage(he had to retire from race at the hospital after the stage finish) *the following link contains some pictures of his broken knee cap https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-s...roken-knee-cap-to-finish-tour-de-france-stage
Ouch! looks like the legs of two different people. That was pretty amazing stuff, especially the drama on the last mountain stage and the time trials. I'm amazed that Froome held on to take 3rd, especially after that decent by Roglic to take the mountain stage and Froome's crash. I'll admit, I'm always hoping to see an American rider get back to the podium, but we haven't had a rider that capable in quite some time.
Phillip actually was lucky there. It could have been much worse, considering he fell in the same descent as Fabio Casartelli who died from his injuries in 1995 I had some hopes that Tejay van Garderen would be the next big American grand tour rider but obviously i was wrong. I think that Froome place on the podium is a testament to team Sky strength, especially Egan bernal. I have my hopes that it won't be like that but logically it sounds right. There are some rumors about Thomas leaving to be a team leader, Froome might be human after all? And i still believe in Roglic and Doumolin.
