Watching Le
Tour on TV has been my happy refuge this past month. A place offering respite from
the world outside.
Inspirational
stories from Le Tour captured by the media on their sports pages contrasted
vividly with front page headlines of unprecedented climate change disasters including devastating flooding and loss of life in Europe, unbearable heat
and raging fires in North America and the threat of Covid.
The saying: 'keep calm and carry on' is beginning to wear thin.
Here’s
a random selection of the good, the bad and the ugly, in no particular order.
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| Le Tour organisers say they intend to reduce their carbon footprint. |
Cavendish
equals Merckx record stage wins in Tour…Mark Cavendish sprinted to his 4th
stage this year – for a total 34 stage victories at the Tour de France to equal
Belgian legend Eddy Merckx's all-time record.
Deforestation and climate change are
altering the Amazon rainforest's ability to soak up carbon, according to a new
study.
Significant parts of the world's largest tropical forest have
started to emit more CO2 than they absorb.
Pogacar
dealt a demoralizing blow on the first day of the Tour in the Alps on Saturday,
when cycling’s precocious star claimed the yellow jersey with seeming ease in
stark contrast to his rivals who found this 8th stage a gruelling test.
Former
race leader since day two, Mathieu van
der Poel finished more than 20 minutes off the pace when he faded fast
midway through the brutal stage.
The following week a double stage
victory in the Pyrenees gave Pogacar an unassailable lead.
Boris Johnson’s plan to lift all of England’s Covid-19
restrictions on July 19 is “unscientific and unethical” and could result in
vaccine-evasive variants, international experts have warned.
Van Aert wins monster Ventoux stage,
proving not only is he a feared sprinter but he can climb too, and time trial.
Evidence his victory in the penultimate
TT stage followed the next day with a sprint victory in the final stage on the
Champs Elysees.
Climate scientists have warned
the world is already experiencing extreme heat events that were only predicted
to occur on a much warmer planet. The extraordinary heat that engulfed the
north west of Canada and the US last week broke temperature records by several
degrees, with temperatures settling above 40C for days and
reaching 49.6C in the village of Lytton, Canada.
Former Tour winner Geraint Thomas
dislocated his shoulder in a mass pile up on stage three. The doctor popped his
shoulder back and the hard man carried on.
At least 160 people
died in Germany and 31 in Belgium, and hundreds more are missing in the “historic”
flooding.
Emergency workers are still hunting for survivors,
while others begin the enormous task of clearing debris, in the hope of
preventing further damage.
But people have been warned that danger remains
imminent, with dykes along one river from Belgium to the Netherlands at risk of
collapse, and officials in Germany telling people: "No all-clear!"
Large parts of a dam near Cologne in the North
Rhine-Westphalia region have broken away and there is "enormous
pressure" on the structure because of the high water level, posing
"an acute risk" the dam could rupture. More people are being
evacuated from the area today.
Dutch cyclist Mathieu van der Poel
pulled out of the Tour de France on Sunday after his spectacular star turn in
the overall lead came to a shuddering halt in the Alps.
Van der Poel's withdrawal came on the
same day 2020 runner-up Primoz Roglic decided he'd suffered after last Monday's
crash and an embarrassing meltdown on Saturday, when he finished 35min off the
pace.
Van der Poel, a Tour rookie, spent
six days in the yellow jersey, but now heads to Tokyo and Mount Fuji, where he will go for Olympic gold in his
preferred mountain biking discipline.
Southern water pumps raw sewage.
Harmful water
pollution that can affect human health and wildlife shows "no signs"
of slowing, campaigners say.
Environment Agency (EA) figures
suggest the number of incidents rose by almost a quarter in the year to March
2021 compared with the previous year.
River Action UK said reductions in
enforcement meant polluters continued to put "filth" into waterways.
An EA spokesman said it took strong
action against those who break environmental regulations.
However, agency resources to monitor
the agriculture sector have been in decline for a number of years.
Final stage winner Wout Van Aert, who
also won the giant Ventoux stage and the penultimate stage tt, has been called
the next Eddy Merckx.
“Merckx won the Tour five times,” said
Van Aert. I am just a really little cyclist compared to Eddy.”
NASA says the Moon will be going into a wobble phase 12 years
from now, resulting in higher tides and flooding here on planet earth.
