Controversy in cycling too!

Cycling was the last sport in which I expected any illegal tactics to be used. Hitting other riders during the race I thought was possible only in movies such as Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, but today the same was seen in the Tour de France as well! Today was basically a normal flat ride in which the sprinters fight for points and bragging rights of a stage win, but the result of the overall race could only have been affected by one of the major contenders getting injured. Robbie Mcewan from Australia, who won the green jersey (for the best sprinter) in 2002 and 2004, was relegated to the last position at the end of today's stage even though he finished third. This was because right at the finish line, he tried to nudge out one of the other contenders by head-butting him. And even worse, he later claimed that he had to resort to doing this because the other rider had elbowed him! All in all, a sorry sight. Here's the snapshot of the miserable event.



Anyway, I hope the Tour de France turns out to be more exciting this year than the last two years (that's when I began following it). In the previous two years, the race was pretty much like a standard F1 race with the expected winner emerging champion (in the TDF, Lance Armstrong in both years, and in F1, Schumacher last year and Alonso this year) and the challengers just not living up to the hype surrounding them. Hopefully one of Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Iban Mayo will come good this year and give Lance a tough fight. Else, the Tour is going to have one less follower! :)

Cheers,
Harsha