Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Great Opening Weekend for Le Tour

The standard height of a Prevost motorcoach is 12 feet 5 inches (3.8 meters).  With that being said it may be a good idea to make the standard height of a Grand Tour finish line arch 15 feet.  We would add a couple of feet just to accommodate the extra air conditioning unit.  


Prevost is the preeminent builder of motorcoaches in the world.  The company has been in existence since 1924.  Prevost is named for its founder Eugene Prevost (pronounced pre-VOH), a cabinet maker by trade who was asked to build truck bodies for a booming Canadian agricultural economy.   Prevost got pretty good at outfitting old REO Speedwagons into luxury caravans and the business took off.  The company is still headquartered in Sainte-Claire, Quebec, Canada.  Today it is a subsidiary of Volvo.  


We mention all of this because had someone bothered to read their owner’s manual they might have realized that a 12 foot bus would not fit under a 10 foot arch and thus not gotten stuck at the finish line with 198 bike riders streaking towards the line.  The organizers could have spoke to someone at Prevost, French is their native tongue as well.  But the stunning exercise in futility did provide some tense moments in day one of the 2013 Tour de France.   


It looks like Corsica did itself proud during the opening weekend.  The rest of the world was able to see in full glory the very cool “Corsican Moors” Head flag.  The tour shifts this week to mainland France but the next few days will definitely take on the flair of Down Under.  


The Aussies have done some good work: Simon Gerrans in the maillot juane and Orica GreenEdge in the lead as a team (en francais: “equipe”).  It is interesting to note it was the Orica bus that made the decision to drive under the too short arch on day one.  All of this Karma may mean good things for the boys from Down Under.  It is fast progress for a team only formed in June of last year.   And it looks like Aussie Cadel Evans has returned to form and so far is riding well.  


Stay tuned to this blog for continuing Tour de France postings.    

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