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Last Updated: 19 Jul 2021 - 7:26:24 PM |
The Tour De France: Positive thinking and self-belief
By Paddy Doran
23 Jul 2010,
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We are all looking at one of the greatest Tour De France for many years. Schleck and Contador head to head in the mountains Cavendish and the sprinters head to head in the sprints, not to mention the lead out men really going head to head.
So much competition so much excitement and in there doing a fantastic performance mostly unseen is Robbie Mc Ewan suffering most days especially on the hilly stages to even stay with the bus comprised of the dropped riders, Here's a man who has won multiple stages in the Big Tours throughout his career now struggling alone at the back of the race for many stages of this years race because of crashes and sickness in the early stages.
Imagine how difficult it must be riding alone behind the race and battling to get in before the time limit all those days, especially for a rider who knows what its like to be up there winning the stages and the glory.
Then on the toughest stage of the race he gets to the top of the Tourmalet alone again and does a wheelie to celebrate making it to the top' and heres a tweet from his website. 'Made it. Visibility in the mist @ 50m up here on the Tourmalet but I can see Paris.... ;-) Straight away he's thinking of winning the few flat stages that are left in the race.
This seems to be one of the things that kept him going during the last week or more when he was alone behind the race, he believes he can still win a stage.
On Eurosport yesterday Sean Kelly spoke about the Professional riders genetics and the fact that most riders who make it to the level where they are capable of racing the Tour De France are very strong genetically and can survive the changes in weather and especially the cold when descending mountains and stay healthy rather than pick up colds etc.
Is this positivity that Mc Ewan has demonstrated during the hardship he has had to endure in this Tour another part of the genetic makeup or is it developed through family, sporting life experiences? Is it part of the same makeup that made him one of the great sprinters who battles for every place in the sprints?
A lot of the very top riders show these traits and its certainly something worth considering when assessing or training riders.
Here's a joke to finish.. Two brothers came downstairs on Christmas morning. The first brother seen a new racing bike with Christmas wrapping at the Christmas tree, he starts moaning, that must be for me, its cold outside, it might rain I might get a puncture, I'll have to pump the wheels etc etc ....
The other brother comes bouncing down the stairs and slipped on a lump of horse manure at the end of the stairs and ended up in a heap winded on the floor' he got his breath back, opened up his eyes and sees the horse manure, his eyes lit up and his face breaks into a great big smile and he says'.. Magic, there's a pony around here somewhere!
Guess which of them was Robbie
Good luck Robbie for the sprints!
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