July 22nd, 1987. A day I will never forget. It was the 21st stage of the Tour de France, and I sat on our living room in suburban England watching an event unfold on the television that forever changed my life.<\/p>\n
Changed my life.<\/p>\n
What words those are, and how often they are bandied about without substance, without the full realisation of the weight inherent in their letters.<\/p>\n
But this did. It was seismic. To my 15 year old self, sports obsessed and wanting, forever it seemed, to be a professional athlete at anything, this was massive.<\/p>\n
In my bones I knew \u2013 this was it. This was the single greatest thing I had ever seen. An Irishman and a Spaniard and bicycles on a mountain in France.<\/p>\n
A whole history of pedals being pushed, mammoth killometers, a man dying on a volcano called Ventoux, a Cannibal, a Badger, another Frenchman who carried a comb in his pocket so that his hair was perfect for the finish line salutes and the impossible cool of an Italian superhero. And now this.<\/p>\n
I was mesmerized…<\/p>\n
read more here<\/em><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" July 22nd, 1987. A day I will never forget. It was the 21st stage of the Tour de France, and I sat on our living room in suburban England watching an event unfold on the television that forever changed my life. Changed my life. What words those are, and how often they are bandied about without substance, without the full realisation of the weight inherent in their letters. But this did. It was seismic. To my 15 year old self, sports obsessed and wanting, forever it seemed, to be a professional athlete at anything, this was massive. In my bones I knew \u2013 this was it. This was the single […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40955418,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":[],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2OfoS-Ce","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2525,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2013\/07\/24\/doping-in-cycling-speak-now-or-forever-shut-the-fck-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":2370,"position":0},"title":"doping in cycling – speak now, or forever shut the f*ck up","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"7\u6708 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"during the 2013 Tour de France i was contributing to two websites, PEZ Cycling News and The Roar, and amongst my observations was included the fact that Chris Froome was riding very strongly and that, as a result of the previous 20 years of the history of doping in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"dopepunk","block_context":{"text":"dopepunk","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/dopepunk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2502,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2013\/07\/16\/analysis-of-the-2nd-week-of-the-2013-tour-de-france\/","url_meta":{"origin":2370,"position":1},"title":"analysis of the 2nd week of the 2013 Tour de France","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"7\u6708 16, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"yup, right here on PEZ.","rel":"","context":"chris froome","block_context":{"text":"chris froome","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/tag\/chris-froome\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/skinnyfroome620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/skinnyfroome620.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/skinnyfroome620.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15380,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2023\/06\/21\/charly-gaul-the-angel-who-fell-to-earth\/","url_meta":{"origin":2370,"position":2},"title":"CHARLY GAUL \/ THE ANGEL WHO FELL TO EARTH","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"6\u6708 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"He was The Angel of the Mountains, high on amphetamines and driven by a darkness that eventually consumed him. This is Charly Gaul.","rel":"","context":"2022","block_context":{"text":"2022","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/tag\/2022\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/bed6d-screenshot-2023-06-21-at-10.53.01-am.png?fit=696%2C1126&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/bed6d-screenshot-2023-06-21-at-10.53.01-am.png?fit=696%2C1126&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/bed6d-screenshot-2023-06-21-at-10.53.01-am.png?fit=696%2C1126&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15349,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2023\/06\/19\/tour-de-france-2023-how-and-where-to-watch-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":2370,"position":3},"title":"TOUR DE FRANCE 2023: HOW AND WHERE TO WATCH IT","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"6\u6708 19, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"How and where to watch the Tour de France and the Tour de France Femmes!","rel":"","context":"2023","block_context":{"text":"2023","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/tag\/2023\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2b316-screenshot-2023-06-19-at-12.41.45-pm.png?fit=1080%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2b316-screenshot-2023-06-19-at-12.41.45-pm.png?fit=1080%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2b316-screenshot-2023-06-19-at-12.41.45-pm.png?fit=1080%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2b316-screenshot-2023-06-19-at-12.41.45-pm.png?fit=1080%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/2b316-screenshot-2023-06-19-at-12.41.45-pm.png?fit=1080%2C1106&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7528,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2020\/07\/10\/the-remarkable-tale-of-eugene-christophe\/","url_meta":{"origin":2370,"position":4},"title":"The Remarkable Tale of Eugene Christophe","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"7\u6708 10, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cHe said, not for the first time during my visit, that he was not a rich man in the monetary sense but had a wealth of happy memories and good health to show from his racing exertions. He still rides a lot, is at most of the touring rallies in\u2026","rel":"","context":"history of cycling","block_context":{"text":"history of cycling","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/history-of-cycling\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/screenshot-2020-07-10-at-12.28.19.png?fit=393%2C575&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24677,"url":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/2026\/03\/10\/marc-madiot-says-paul-seixas-will-win-the-tour-de-france\/","url_meta":{"origin":2370,"position":5},"title":"Marc Madiot Says Paul Seixas Will Win The Tour de France","author":"Lee Rodgers","date":"3\u6708 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Seixas has something that others don't have, or that few have, like Poga\\u010dar. Messi also already had something that others didn't have when he started kicking a ball. For now, we don't see any weaknesses in Seixas.\"","rel":"","context":"punkopinion","block_context":{"text":"punkopinion","link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/category\/punkopinion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-10-at-3.47.36-PM.png?fit=852%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-10-at-3.47.36-PM.png?fit=852%2C576&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-10-at-3.47.36-PM.png?fit=852%2C576&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/crankpunk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-10-at-3.47.36-PM.png?fit=852%2C576&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":null,"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Lee Rodgers","author_link":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/author\/crankpunk\/"},"rttpg_comment":3,"rttpg_category":"Uncategorized<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"July 22nd, 1987. A day I will never forget. It was the 21st stage of the Tour de France, and I sat on our living room in suburban England watching an event unfold on the television that forever changed my life. Changed my life. What words those are, and how often they are bandied about…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40955418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2370"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16852,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370\/revisions\/16852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankpunk.com\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}