French boos for Contador. Le Tour ain’t the Giro.

//French boos for Contador. Le Tour ain’t the Giro.

French boos for Contador. Le Tour ain’t the Giro.

Contador. Time to play deaf in France.

Ze French are, how you say, not as nice as ze Italians.

In this year’s Giro d’Italia, Alberto Contador, the man who ate the famous steak in sports, le cow au clenbuterol, was cheered by fans.

He received a warm welcome, was hearted by the reaction of the tifosi and had himself a hard but successful grand tour, winning by a significant margin. Except for a fan running along side him carrying a large fake syringe, it was smooth pedaling.

Pas en France, mes amis.

While it’s only the Tour’s team presentation event, Contador was booed loudly when he stepped on stage at the fake Roman arena at the Puy du Fou theme park. Perfect, right? Alberto thrown to Roman lions, “fou” being the French word for crazy.

That is perhaps no indicator of what kind of reception Contador will receive on the roads of France. Still, it doesn’t bode well for El Pistolero and those first boos give roadside fans who dislike Contador the green light to let loose.

If Lance Armstrong didn’t still need his full contingent of body guards, Contador might be borrowing a few for the next three weeks. Maybe they can share in Paris.

The man has proven skilled and confident in handling any and all pressures, physical and mental. Armstrong found out that Alberto doesn’t crack no matter what kind of games you play.

That said, it’s just another boost for the chances of rival Andy Schleck, who was just a dropped chain and crummy prologue from beating the Spaniard in the 2010 Tour de France.

He has the fresher legs, the more rested team and none of the headaches and media challenges of riding under a cloud of suspicion with journalists grilling you in press conferences and fans heckling you from the road.

If Alberto Contador wins this tour, then he’s proved once again he’s the toughest stage racer in the world in more ways than one.

Really can’t boo that.

By |2019-02-03T16:16:27-08:00June 30th, 2011|Uncategorized|4 Comments

About the Author:

4 Comments

  1. drewm June 30, 2011 at 8:40 pm - Reply

    And if Contador does win then he's likely clean as a whistle and his last steak was tainted meat! He will likely be the most tested rider out there at the Tour. Will Alberto be vindicated? We will see.

    • TwistedSpoke July 4, 2011 at 12:19 pm - Reply

      It's a coin flip for me. Almost impossible to tell which way this case is going to go. But I believe Contador is building moment for a win in CAS, the more he wins, the harder it is to take things away — it's just to embarrassing for everyone associated with the sport. Matt

  2. Ricola July 4, 2011 at 12:55 am - Reply

    All in all, someone has to contribute this, the French eat baguettes or weird snails (escargots), while the Italian eat nice pasta. So who's boos or cheers are to be take more seriously? 😀

    • TwistedSpoke July 4, 2011 at 12:13 pm - Reply

      No idea, you got me. Just noting the difference in welcome. Matt

Leave A Comment