I have never been a fan of Chris Froome, who has won four Tours de France, the world's greatest bicycle road race. He is not likely to win this year, which pleases me, but I am surprised by the way French fans have been treating the champion.
Fans line the French roads to watch the riders go by, and near the tops of steep hills, the riders are exhausted and moving quite slowly. (Downhill they reach speeds like 55 mph.) Anyway, as the riders slowly pump up the mountains, French fans have been running alongside Froome, spitting on him and punching him in the back.
Froome hasn't had a good Tour. One day he had three flat tires. He's fallen several times. The French police teargassed all the leaders in a stupid mistake. Yesterday a cop mistook him for an interloper and blocked his bicycle, and Froome fell yet again as a result.
Many decades ago, the Tour banned national teams. They wanted the race to be about the best men. They did not want to foster the sort of nationalism that kept Europe boiling. Today the teams represent corporations (for the most part), and the teams are mixtures of men from many countries. Froome, a lanky White fellow, is from Rhodesia. But French fans want a French man to win, so, as he pumps slowly by, they throw cups of urine in the rider's defenseless face.
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