Today is the 18th of 23 stages of the world-famous Tour de France. Cyclists will race 106.565 miles (171.5 km) on the mountain stage from Vif to Courchevel Col de la Loze.
The race organizers anticipate that the stage will take just about five hours to complete.
For the cycling community, this is THE race of the year. Aside from gaps due to the two World Wars, the race has taken place annually since its inception in 1903.
In recent years, the professional cycling community has been dominated by a battle between two riders: Slovenian Tadej Pogačar and Dane Jonas Vingegaard.
Currently, Pogačar is the reigning UCI Road World Champion. What that means is he is the top male road cyclist in the world. With that honor comes the right to wear a special jersey whenever he competes in a road race.
But with cycling being a sport steeped in tradition, there are unspoken rules associated with the honor.
On a training ride earlier this year, Pogačar was spotted wearing the champion’s rainbow jersey on the mountains of Spain. This made news in the cycling media, as evidenced by an article on CyclingNews.
As explained in “A touch of sportsmanship—Why Tadej Pogačar covered his rainbow jersey before a training ride,” the champion covered the rainbow jersey as his training regimen transitioned from road race preparations to time trial preparations.
Why?
Because his world championship jersey was awarded for road racing, not time trialling, that honor currently belongs to Belgian Remco Evenepoel.
So in a show of respect for the rainbow strips Evenepoel earned in time trialing, Pogačar covered his road champion jersey as he trained for time trialing.
That small gesture would probably have gone unnoticed by passersby. They wouldn’t have thought twice about seeing Pogačar in the rainbow jersey.
But it mattered to him.
Respecting the tradition.
Respecting a competitor.
Respecting the accomplishment.
A small gesture. But one that speaks volumes.
I can’t help but wonder how different the world would be if more people acted in similar fashions in their day-to-day life.
Just something to think about…
PHOTO CREDIT: Tadej Pogačar in the descent of Tourmalet pass during stage 14 of the 2024 Tour de France. (by Hugo LUC via Wikimedia)
