Friday's Rouge Report

Anyone seriously calculating the Laterne Rouge race had to take note of today's Stage 12, hidden in the lumpy hills of the southern Massif Central - where more than one rider has succumbed to the heat and torturous terrain.

And today a toll was taken - my ace in the hole is out, gone, headed for a little R&R, DNF'd - Tyler Farrar.

It was a case of climbing, as it usually is for Lanterne Rouge contenders, this time Tyler added a fractured wrist from Stage 2 to his challenge. Tyler slipped off the back and couldn't even hang on fellow drifter Lars Boom (of Rabobank), according to Garmin director Matt White. So, I'll admit to being a bit depressed about my day with the Tour - Tyler out and Andy Schleck missing Contador's wheel on the attack up the wicked "petit" Montée Laurent Jalabert.

Tyler told reporters after the race, "I am devastated to leave the Tour and my teammates. You never want to leave any race, but especially the Tour. It's the event we work for all year. I've been suffering since my crash on stage two and today the pain was just too much." Also going on early summer holiday with Farrar was Samuel Dumoulin, one of the bright French hopes for Rouge - dang! Sadly with the Pyrenees looming more devastation awaits.

So - with two great Lanterne Rouge contenders out below is what the race looks like heading to Revel and into the weekend, where the Tour de Soufffrance for our back-of-the-bus boys begins in full dread come Sunday as they face an HC and Cat 1 shaped tail-end of a mountainous demon. Don't look up - Monday it gets worse and Tuesday may the best man survive to enjoy the rest day in Pau. Good luck guys and may the grand sufferer finish last.

167	Stéphane Auge (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne	1:59:32
168	Jesus Hernandez Blazquez (Spa) Astana	2:02:03
169	Dimitri Champion (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale	2:02:49
170	Marcus Burghardt (Ger) BMC Racing Team	2:04:02
171	Francesco Reda (Ita) Quick Step	2:04:20
172	Andreas Klier (Ger) Cervelo Test Team	2:06:35
173	Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack	2:07:51
174	Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini	2:16:59
175	Bert Grabsch (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia	2:19:00
176	Anthony Roux (Fra) Française des Jeux	2:19:49

Happy Birthday Wim - Blow out the lantern and make a wish

What? Never hear of Wim Vansevenant, maybe the greatest you and me of Tour de France history?

In the 96 runnings of the Tour de France there have been 511 team and 4,566 riders compete in what most of the sporting world considers the greatest and most difficult outdoor sporting event on the face of the Earth. Cast on the world’s largest playing field, the country of France.

Each year we celebrate the winner, the maillot jaune, the rider clad in yellow. And each year someone must be last, most pedal home unknown, but they by no means suffer the least. In the Tour, from the very beginning, there has been recognition for the last of these great sufferers, a rider who against all odds suffered and survived, for him, is awarded the Lanterne Rouge.

Lanterne Rouge is the French phrase, which translates to "red lantern," is used to describe the racer who finishes dead last in the overall standings when the peloton reaches Paris. (The terminology is borrowed from railway jargon for the archaic practice of hanging a red light on the caboose of trains, which assured station operators that no cars had come uncoupled.) The "winner" of the Lanterne Rouge are most like us – neither hero nor villain – simply the ones who tried, who struggled, and who, as the great French journalist Albert Londres wrote, rode with conviction and perseverance the “Tour de Souffrance”.

Today is the birthday of the greatest of these Lanterne Rouges, Belgian pro cyclist Wim Vansevenant. Wim accomplished a feat even more remarkable in many ways than the seven wins of Lance Armstrong or the seven King of the Mountains by Richard Veronique, he is the only Tour rider to ever have ridden into Paris with the Lanterne Rouge "hung" from his saddle three times - three consecutive times!

Call it what you like fate, luck, stubbornness, providence, maybe even stupidity, all have played a role, but Wim survived. He outlasted those who abandoned the Tour through illness, injury or simple exhaustion; those who were eliminated for failing to finish within each day's time cut-off and were unceremoniously forced to withdraw; and those who were banned or withdrew in disgrace for cheating (doping). Over the years about 20% of the riders plummet from the peloton. In other words, our Birthday Boy didn't simply coast to last place; Wim worked for it, he fought for it! And for that he is a cycling hero!

I doubt I shall ever enter another race, struggle in the peloton, cling on for dear life, even, god forbid, get dropped, without thinking of you. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Wim!