After this exchange, I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that Cycling is the ultimate egalitarian professional sport. I just wish I could articulate my thoughts about it better........
I guess it's genuinely part of a "don't know when they are beaten" mindset.
A few years ago I was sitting on an exercise bike at the Gym watching the highlights of the previous day's tour, feeling smug and thinking I could identify with them, then noticed the distance they were cycling on that...
Not as knowledgeable as most on here about cycling - in fact not knowledgeable at all - but in awe of the level of fitness they have, which surely must outweigh that in any other sport.
I went with a friend a few years ago, because we were on holiday nearby, to see the Tour in the Pyrenees at...