I managed to catch some of the Tour de France on sunday and apparently I dropped in on an eventful day. The main talking point was of course the TV car incident. A TV car actually swerved right in to Juan Antonio Flecha which caused him to hit Johnny Hoogerland. Flecha hit the ground and Hoogerland flew into a barbed wire fence. It looked as painful as it sounds. Both riders were in an absolute state but somehow managed to remount and finish the stage which frankly is nothing short of heroic. Apparently Hoogerland's leg wound needed 33 stitches afterwaards and he still raced today. Surely the definition of hardcore. Luis Leon Sanchez won the stage with a neat bit of tactics sprinting off the second Thomas Voeckler approached behind him. Our Andy Schleck watch total was one sighting. Today we indulged another of our traditional Tour de France pass times was looking out for sculptures of bikes in local fields made from agricultural stuff like tractors and hay bales. Unfortunatley there was onlly one sighting on this front too although it was a cool one with two people made of hay.
Yesterday morning I was rudely awoken at an outrageous hour as the neighbours are doing some kind of loud kitchen remodelling however this did allow me to catch an interview with Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko on BBC breakfast. I'd seen part of Wladimir's fight against David Haye the day before and I was really impressed with him as I'd never seen him box before. I always thought that he seemed like a really decent guy and both he and his brother more than proved me right duing the interview. They both came across really really well with the particular highlights being anytime their family relationship was brought up. Wladimir's story about his elder brother teaching him how to box when they were young was adorable, revealing that he "saw stars" the first time Vitali hit him, equally charming was his slightly lost in translation reaction that it "didn't taste well." Also the fact that his brother calls him 'Wladi' is just too sweet for words. The brotherly love was evident the whole way through with their answer to the question of who was the better fighter being to simultaneously point to the other one. Similarly when asked if they'd ever fight each other, they said no on the basis that it would upset their mother. Now there is a pairof well brought up boys.
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