Sun 19 May 2013 | 
Mike Tomalaris
Mike Tomalaris is SBS's cycling presenter, who has covered the Tour de France for 15 years. Mike is a keen cyclist himself, and covers a few hundred kilometres a week in a social weekend bunch ride. For cycling fans around Australia, Mike Tomalaris is cycling.
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Enlarge textHow different things might have been for Team Quickstep in the Tour de France if they had picked an in form Allan Davis rather than an uninterested Tom Boonen, writes Mike Tomalaris.
Tom Boonen has just been going through the motions at the Tour de France (Getty)
- 38 Comments | Join the discussion
Is Tom Boonen the most disappointing sprinter at the Tour de France so far?
Would Alan Davis have made a difference had he been given the opportunity to race instead of making way for the big Belgian?
The
facts of the matter are Boonen hasn't come close to winning a stage and and doesn't
figure in the points classification - a competition he won in 2005.
Davis,
reluctantly, returned to his Queensland home playing golf with family
and watching his beloved St George Illawarra Dragons in the NRL.
Boonen's lack of form and results must be of major concern to fans of Belgiian cycling - many of whom idolize his every move.
But they have had nothing to cheer about, which raises the question why is he at the Tour in the first place?
In fact Quickstep's Tour has been uneventful to say the least.
Team
director Patrick Lefevre said at the time of Boonen's arrival that his
push for selection after the appeal of his cocaine suspension was
upheld, had nothing to do with his Belgian nationality in a
Belgian-registered team.
What a load of rubbish!
By being at the Tour, Boonen, as national champion, adds "value" to Belgium's TV coverage in terms of ratings.
That might be the case, but why dismiss the Aussie altogether?
Davis is not in the Tour because he is not Belgian - simple.
Despite
his extraordinary results this year having won the Tour Down Under and
on the podium at the Milan-San Remo, Lefevre still opted to exclude him
- no questions asked.
I feel Davis was in such hot form, he may
have been in a better position to challenge the likes of Mark Cavendish
and Thor Hushovd in the green jersey competition.
Lefevre's record for upsetting Australians dates all the way back to 2001.
Back
then, Robbie McEwen was a shock non-selection for the Davitamon-Lotto
team at a time when Lefevre was in charge and McEwen was ranked one of
the world's fastest sprinters.
I feel it's time to ask Lefevre
the hard question again, just as we did in 2001 following McEwen's
omission and the team's failure.
The question is this, given his
star pupil's disappointing Tour de France to date, does Lefevre have
any regrets in not selecting Davis?
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Comments (38)
Previous 10 |
24 Aug 2010 8:39 AEST
From: Sydney
You can preserve
You can preserve without a special preserver. Excellent article on preserving these miracles from ones garden!
27 Jul 2009 16:26 AEST
From: Perth,w.a.
Cadel Evans
After the 2007 Tour Cadel said,"the team let me down",after the 2008 Tour Cadel said "the team let me down".Yes we know Cadel,the team let you down again. Cadel has a lot of talent but lets be honest folks,he is a pain in the neck.
20 Jul 2009 17:23 AEST
From: Cairns
@ Robyn
There have never been any female riders in the Tour de France for exactly the same reason why other sports seperate male and female competitors. Different physiology makes for different abilities. There is however a female pro circuit so I suggest checking that out, though apart from the world champs it gets no tv coverage unfortunately.
20 Jul 2009 13:45 AEST
From: N.T
Big Tom
Well ,well ,well poor Big Tom had to pull outta da race. Hmmmmmm, tummy upset was it???? Not the egg on his face??????? It might be another year before the next tdf but Alan should give his team the 2 fingered salute and move to another team. You deserve more respect then that mate
20 Jul 2009 1:02 AEST
From: Sydney
TV Ad times
Mike can I just say that the timing of the ads for the SBS coverage is atrocious. I'd rather watch the coverage streaming online than endure what happened on the verbier stage. Bottom of climb. race explodes. evans still with the group. *lets have a 4 minute ad break*. Evans gone, 5 riders at front. Thanks again SBS.
19 Jul 2009 21:31 AEST
From: Perth Western Australia
Girls on tour
Dear Mike My 10 year old daughter keeps asking me why aren't there any girls riding in the tour and have they ever? We are curious to know. Thanks
19 Jul 2009 19:23 AEST
From: Hobart
Aussie Team
So when are we going to get over the 'Europeans being the best at everything' myth! Boonen on coke - Ben Cousins might have a comment on the appropriateness of suspension, Simon Gerrans - what were they thinking?, Mike Rogers - He is a genuine talent running out of time, Cadel - do they even bother to spend some money on some decent riders? High time then that we try and get our own team. SO...Start the wave of anticipation now folks!
19 Jul 2009 16:26 AEST
From: Nth Freo
its a bust
Sorry to disagree with a couple of otherwise sensible comments about the legality or otherwise of cocaine use in or out of season by a professional sportsman, but get a grip everyone...Tom has been busted TWICE. The technicalities of whether it was a sanctioned drug test or a couple of blind or stupid gendarmes not recognizing their catch doesn't really matter, he is as guilty as hell and the law is an ass. How any sensible person could suggest the sport of CYCLING and the TOUR of all events, both at buckling point with drug related credibility, can actually allow a coke addict to compete without becoming a laughingstock is beyond comprehension. Ludicrous doesn't even come close. Tom, a world champion and winner of Paris-Rouxbais has shown complete contempt and disregard for the sport that gave him fortune and fame. He should be gone for good.
19 Jul 2009 14:48 AEST
From: New South Wales
SLOW LEARNER
Boonen brings in the dollars but doesn't always bring home the results and need to balance both things to have a successful tour. Apparently Lefevre has proven he is a slow learner think the team should be worried he is making the calls because he might get decision right eventually but looks too late to Quickstep this year
19 Jul 2009 11:23 AEST
From: Sydney Australia
Hincapie missing out on a stage win
If Hincapie misses out on wearing Yellow because someone actually dares to race him then it must good for what is proving to be a predictable and somewhat boring Tour. No one made too much fuss when Messrs Hincapie and Cancellara wanted to spoil Cadel Evan's attempt at a breakaway, but now the shoe is on the other foot it's a different matter. If Manchester United decided to let someone else win a game it would be called match fixing, what's different here? Hincapie's boss was wingeing that how good it would have been for the USA to have a someone in Yellow, must have had amnesia for seven years to have forgotten about Armstrong.
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Mike Tomalaris is SBS's cycling presenter, who has covered the Tour de France for 15 years. Mike is a keen cyclist himself, and covers a few hundred kilometres a week in a social weekend bunch ride. For cycling fans around Australia, Mike Tomalaris is cycling.
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