like last year, the austin-american statesman tour de france 2002 coverage is a must in my online routine for the coming three weeks.

bill lyon: hope and hint of the impossible

"All those cancer patients out there, tethered to their chemotherapy drip poles, they watch him defeating mountains and storms, sprinting and climbing, riding holes through the wind, and he inspires in them a ferocity of will, rekindles and replenishes their spirit.

And, in turn, he feels them, he says. And they motivate him.

And vice versa."

sounds cheesy and pretentious, but isn't too far off. when watching the time trial in my hometown two years ago, a group of cancer patients was standing near us, being still excited and cheering for lance because they had a chance to meet lance the previous night, like their t-shirts showed. he really is an inspiration to many, just check out his guestbook, which is full with testimonies on how his book "it's not about the bike" inspired other cancer victims.
i know it influenced me, a healthy person, very much, too, and i remember buying it at melbourne airport, reading it on the imulse flight to sydney, reading it on alex's floor before falling asleep, and finishing it sitting on a rock in watson's bay, in the sun.

lance rode exceptionally well on saturday, wearing yo-yo at the end of the prologue, which he and the team -understandibly- didn't defend yesterday. he'll wear it again, soon enough. just wait until the first mountains stage.
my take is that he'll be wearing it continously from la mongie or plateau-de-beille to paris. :)