As Lance Armstrong heads towards his sixth yellow jersey with an astonishing display of cycling prowess, Jeremy Whittle in the Times comes up with an interesting explanation for the poor behaviour of some fans, especially in the time trial up the Alpe d’Huez where Armstrong was booed and spat at by German fans of Ullrich:
The culture of the Tour has indeed changed in recent years. Much of that change has been accelerated by the arrival of large numbers of highly partisan American fans who have chosen to support American riders, rather than individuals from different teams, as has been the tradition.
Yep, it’s all the fault of the Americans: they just don’t understand these sophisticated European sports. The French, of course, would never support cyclists just because they were French. The very idea! Or the Spaniards. Or indeed the Germans, whose fans only started spitting at Armstrong because – um – well, because that bastard American turned out to be a better cyclist than Ullrich.
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