Tour/French geekery, just because

[moominmolly]

fishfoo sent me this link, and it spurred me to check out two big French newspapers to see what was going on in their heads.

Someone at Libération is pleased with Tyler Hamilton. He goes on about the miracle factory for a while, and then the purple prose goes over the top:

Tyler a dit que sa fracture «se solidifiait» et qu'il avait «quand même un peu mal» quand il appuyait dessus. Si bien que Tyler dort sur le dos. Et ronfle ? Mais ce que ne sait pas Godefroot, c'est que l'Homo americanus cyclistus est réellement un Sapiens amélioré. Pas un Sapiens en faïence. La porcelaine n'entre pas dans la composition de ce Sapiens-là, mais bel et bien un mélange bronze-laiton dont on fait les statues. Le Tour forge la nuit des clavicules et le matin au village-départ, y a plus qu'à visser. En fait, le Tour forge à la demande. C'est mieux que le catalogue Manufrance. La nuit, il enfile son tablier en cuir, chausse ses lunettes de soudeur et réduit les cassures, abrase, polit. Tyler est passé dans cet atelier. Les niveaux sont bons et le moteur ronronnait comme le chat près du feu.

Tyler said his fracture "was healing" and that he had "a little pain, still" when he pressed on it. Enough to make him sleep on his back. (And snore?) But what Godefroot doesn't know is that Homo americanus cyclistus is really an improved Sapiens. Not a delicate faience Sapiens. There's no porcelain in that Sapiens, just the tough bronze alloy you make statues with. Every night, the Tour makes fresh collarbones, and in the morning at the starting line, you've just got to bolt them on. Essentially, the Tour will make your miracle to order. It's better than Manufrance. Every night, it slips on the leather apron, dons the welding goggles, and fixes the cracks, buffing and polishing. Tyler just went to this workshop; the levels were good and the motor purred like a cat next to a fire.

...and on and on. MAN. The whole article is like that, wandery and weird. There's also a little article mulling about what sort of role the printed press could possibly play in Tour coverage. I like Libé, but it is sometimes a bit like reading free-association journalism.

---

Unsurprisingly, Le Monde is more stoic about it all. They mention in the first paragraph that Tyler Hamilton won the stage, but only in order to say that he cheated the Basque fans out of an Iban Mayo stage win, which the Basque team (Euskaltel-Euskadi) had promised to bring home. He's not mentioned again; most of the article's about the Basque fan base.

The Belgians also talk about the Basques, but in a wee bit more of an even-handed way.

Comments

[fishfoo.livejournal.com]

Wow. I was expecting one long sneer. Perhaps not.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Yeah! It probably doesn't hurt that there's no real hometown-boy who's a serious contender. Christophe Moreau is good, but he's in 8th, and Virenque is in 15th. Who are they going to root for? Ullrich, who's German?

[srl.livejournal.com]

I just like the onomatopoeia of ronronnait.

I keep meaning to read more French journalism to keep my skills up, I just forget to bother. Also, the vocabulary is hard to hold onto without daily usage.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Ronronner is a great word. I've always thought "la ronronneuse" would be a good little moniker.

[betweenstations.livejournal.com]

Other than the few ex-riders who worry that riding injured is extremely dangerous and perhaps not what the sport should be encouraging in any form, the international press has adored Tyler.

The only person being a jerk in the whole thing is the Telekom manager.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah? I'm not following all of this as closely as I should. What did the Telekom manager do?

[betweenstations.livejournal.com]

Claimed Tyler was 'faking' his injury.

[network.livejournal.com]

I think that the french press is a nifty way to make tea.

[corpus-juris.livejournal.com]

I think you just made alot more sense than that article ever did.

:)