When I was in college, the professor I had for European History had written a book about the French Revolution, so he put a fair amount on emphasis on it. It confused the heck out of me, frankly, and after the final I gave up on trying to make sense of it. The one thing that always struck me was the renaming of the months and making the 10-day weeks, because that was just so...nuts.
Anyway, today is Bastille Day, Fête Nationale. Apparently it is a big deal to win the stage on Fête Nationale in you are a Frenchman, and today's winner, David Moncoutie, is.
From VeloNews, a list of French bastille Day winners since World War II:
2004 Richard Virenque (St. Flour)
2001 Laurent Jalabert (Colmar)
1997 Laurent Brochard (Val Louron)
1995 Laurent Jalabert (Mende)
1989 Vincent Barteau (Marseille)
1980 Mariano Martinez (Morzine)
1975 Bernard Thévenet (Serre Chevalier)
1971 Barnard Labourdette (Gourrette)
1970 Bernard Thévenet (La Mongie)
1969 Raymond Delisle (Luchon)
1968 Roger Pingeon (Albi)
1964 Jacques Anquetil (Paris)
1961 Jacques Anquetil (Perigueux)
1957 Jean Bourlés (Ax-les-Thermes)
1953 Jean Robic (Luchon)
1949 Emile Idée (Nîmes)
Speaking of Laurent Brochard (1997's Bastille Day winner), I think he is the oldest guy (age 37) on the Tour this year. You know me, I love old guys (which I used to define as "older than I am," but I'm afraid I'll be needing to tweek that definition real soon). But did you happen to catch him Tuesday, in the lead group most of the day? Gotta love the way his mullet blows out from beneath his helmet. Allez, Laurent!
That was an aside...we old people get distracted. What I was going to say was, I know in some circles bashing France is de rigueur, but I think it is cool that a French rider won today. It is their race, after all, it is only fitting they get a reason to cheer extra loud today.