Tour de France – Tour de life
At a time when daily news is saturated with protests, violence, anger and hatred, the TOUR DE FRANCE sporting event offers some ‘life lessons’ that can be extended to the spiritual ‘race set before us’ (Hebrews 12:1).
ABOUT THE TOUR
Few sporting events are more spectacular or mesmerising than LE TOUR. Once you start understanding the terminology, the strategies, the team dynamics and the different categories, the race unfolds like a chess match. The TOUR DE FRANCE offers 21 days of spectacular team battles, the necessity of loyalty and teamwork, and the utter dedication and athleticism of the cyclists – add to this the stunning scenery forming the backdrop of the broadcast and the event becomes unparalleled on the sporting calendar.
The complexity and layers of this event reach far beyond the sporting arena – they flow over into everyday life and offer key lessons for those seeking to persevere on the journey of faith.
- 1 Corinthians 9:25-27 “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”
For three weeks, the riders cover a rough circuit of 3,484km, with each of the 21 racing days’ stages lasting for up to 5.5 hours and covering up to 225km. Some stages are relatively flat, while others are torturously mountainous. Each stage has its own winner, and the first 15 riders across both the halfway line and the finish line receive points. The competition is actually comprised of five sub-categories: general classification, points classification, mountains classification, best young rider, and team classification.
The general classification is won by the rider who completes all the 21 stages in the lowest overall time, the points and mountains classifications are won on points, and young rider and team classifications are time-focused. A total of 176 riders start the Tour in 22 teams of eight. Each team is followed by a support car, from which a sporting director can give radio instructions, water and supplies can be refreshed and mechanical help or replacement bikes can be given during the race.
Riders can also get mechanical help (for punctures etc.) from a neutral service car, as well as treatment from a medical car. Here are five lessons of endurance observed in the Tour but applied to those who seek to run the race of faith well:
- WINNING BY SERVING
As the Tour unfolds, it becomes clear that every rider in the race serves a different role within their team and approaches the race with a different goal. Not all participants are hoping to win the Tour. Some train for years, pushing their bodies to the limits through severe pain, simply for the honour of riding as ‘domestiques’ (literally ‘servant’ riders) who are responsible for supporting the team leader as he aims for stage wins, points accumulation or overall victory. Their job includes protecting the team contender, setting the pace for him, and chasing down ‘attacks’ by other contenders.
Domestique riders often cycle to the point of exhaustion in order to provide a slipstream that enables the leader to excel in the last stretch. This is done with the knowledge that their effort will probably lead to early fatigue, causing them to fall behind – possibly right to the back – after the leader moves forward. Seeing their leader win the stage is the ‘joy set before them’.
In Christian circles, we are often encouraged to be “winners” and “more than conquerors” and to “claim the victory”. We seldom understand the concept – so gloriously illustrated by the Tour – that the victory belongs to Christ alone. Our role in this race is to simply and faithfully persevere with activities that will create a ‘slipstream’ for the Gospel to prosper and for Jesus to be crowned Lord of all. If we are forgotten but Christ is remembered, any pain will be worth it. Remember how the Lord told His disciples that anyone who wants to be ‘a winner’ (who wants to be great in the ‘Tour of Life’) needs to be a servant of all (Mark 9:35 “Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.’”)
- WINNING BY PERSEVERING
On Tuesday 1 September 2020, stage 4 of the race comprised the 157kms from Sisteron to Orcières-Merlette. The challenging road zigzagged through mountains and valleys. Tiesj Benoot (Team Sunweb) was part of a six-man breakaway and looking for a stage win. As the battle for positions heated up 26 km before the finish line, disaster struck when Benoot misjudged a sweeping corner on a descent. Benoot’s bike latched onto the road barrier before he was launched onto a grass verge. His injuries included severe road rash, heavy bruising and a finger bent backwards. But there was no time for a ‘pity party’, for anger or for feelings of victimisation. Within minutes, Benoot was back on a bike and receiving medical attention while he cycled.
For the journey of faith, this lesson is supreme. There will be crashes and there will be injuries – every day will not be a ‘Friday’ and victory celebrations are not always guaranteed. The challenge is not to have ‘crash-free journeys’ but to get up and re-join the race as quick as possible. When following Christ, there is little room for self-pity or the luxury of taking ‘time out’, but we have the blessed assurance that the ‘medical team’ is at hand, ready to comfort and to provide all that is needed to finish the race.
- Romans 8:35-37 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
- WINNING BY WAITING
Very seldom will a rider who breaks away from the group too early – with the goal of establishing a lead – go on to win the stage. It is also not the fastest or the strongest who win the stages, although these two qualities play a major role in victory. Ultimately, victors are those who wait patiently for the key moment in the race at which to accelerate, and then give it everything they have.
On Saturday 18 July 2015, Stephen Cummings of MTN Qhubeka – the first ever African team to take part in the Tour – achieved a historic victory on the 178.5km 14th stage from Rodez to Mende. It also so happened to be on the international day of honouring the late Nelson Mandela. The stage victory came after a battle between two Frenchmen who started playing cat-and-mouse in the final kilometre. Cummings patiently watched the duel unfolding before him, before suddenly blasted past them towards the finish line to secure victory. The Frenchmen hesitated a second too long before chasing, and Cummings won by two seconds. “I knew the climb was really hard and that I wasn’t the best climber. I wasn’t thinking of victory, just my effort and arriving at the top on the limit rather than blowing halfway up,” Cummings said after the race. Cummings stayed in reach of the leaders but waited for the right moment to act.
On the journey of faith, there is value in waiting patiently for God’s timing and prompting, while trusting faithfully in His timeframe.
- Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”
- Psalm 33:20 “We wait in hope for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.”
- Psalm 37:7 “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
- WINNING BY NURTURING
For the most part, the Tour is a gentlemanly affair with riders often slowing down to allow others to catch up after a crash or puncture. ‘Attacking’ in the wake of such incidents is frowned upon. The ‘yellow jersey’ – the overall leader – is often looked to lead the peloton (the main group of riders) when such incidents occur.
It is critically important for leaders to both inspire followers to new heights and to wait for those struggling to catch up. Leaders should always be ahead, but never too far ahead. A team should also recognise when someone has stumbled, crashed, or obtained a proverbial ‘puncture’. For Jesus to be crowned Lord of all, the Body of Christ needs to stop, wait, nurture, and assist those who are struggling to continue the race.
Too often in Christian circles, it is easier to judge and to ostracise. The last prayers of Jesus before the Cross focused on this need for unity: “… that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.” (John 17:21)
“If you want to go fast go alone, if you want to go far, go together.” – African proverb
- WINNING IS ACCEPTING LIFE IS NOT FAIR.
Accept this truth. Probably one of the most important lessons to learn from the Tour is that the ‘unfair’ happens during the race and a safe journey is not guaranteed. Being a good racer who has faithfully followed a rigorous training schedule with great intentions will not necessarily be assured of victory.
Top riders are frequently involved in accidents through the fault of another rider, and in seconds, plans can go horribly wrong.
During the fifth stage of the 2020 race, tour leader and wearer of the prized yellow jersey, Julien Alaphilippe, must have had visions of securing a Tour victory. But the drama was to come after the riders got off their bikes with Alaphilippe, who finished safe in the bunch, being penalised for snatching a water bottle about 17km from the line, breaking Tour rules which state that feeding is illegal within 20km of the finish. Deceuninck–Quick-Step sports director Tom Steels explained later that the team assistant had been unable to position himself just before the 20km mark because it was too dangerous. This unfortunate ‘mistake’ and unfair judgement cost Alaphilippe the yellow jersey and ultimately the race.
On the journey of faith, ‘life’ often happens while we make other plans. It is important to understand that God is not FAIR, He is JUST. In Acts 12, James is beheaded, and Peter released – there is nothing fair in that. Some have more challenges, others have fewer. Some are healed, others are not. God is not ‘fair’ in terms of how He uses our lives for His glory, but He is JUST and will never leave us nor forsake us.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:6 “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.” There are many more lessons to learn from the Tour: strategy, endurance, climbing, participation, etc. But why not discover them yourselves, learning from the sheer commitment and dedication of athletes seeking the ultimate prize and glory, remembering the Biblical athletic analogy that illustrates to the Kingdom commitments to which God calls us.
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