In its 100^th year, the Tour de France has much to celebrate. A storied history. Literal ups and downs. Even reinventing itself after years away due to World War II. It wouldn’t do to have Hitler using Messerschmitts to strafe cyclists on the Alpe du Huez, now would it?

Yet for all its transcendence and glory, the Tour de France is still capable of massive flaws and blunt ignorance in its planning and execution.

We saw that in the first stage when one of the team buses from Orica-Greenedge got jammed under the finish line structure, puncturing its air conditioning and stopping the bus in its tracks. Around the world viewers must have been thinking of that childhood riddle in which a truck gets stuck under a bridge. Well, the way to get it out is by letting air out of the tires, right?

Who knows how the bus was finally backed out. No one really explained that to the public during the Tour broadcast. But in the time that organizers spent trying to extricate the mess they had created by creating a finish line structure that was too low for a tour bus to get through, they proceeded to announce that the finish line would be staged at the 3 kilometer mark, a spot in the stage run-in where there were video cameras to record the finish.

There was just one problem with the 3K site. It emptied into a roundabout where the road split.

Fortunately the Tour organizers got the bus backed out and removed from the course. The poor bus driver looked exasperated, sad and fearful all at once. One moment he’d been doing his job and the next minute he was the laughingstock of the ESPN Sportscenter Top 10.

It wasn’t his fault. The bus accident had nothing to do with any of the culpability of the Orica-Greenedge organization. It was the fault of the Tour that the bus got stuck. Thus it was the fault of the Tour that the race finish line got moved back, then moved forward to the finish again. Meanwhile the peloton raced home from 10K out, which is minutes from the finish at the speed of professional bike racing.

And then, a crash. Many riders went down, but one in particular took a hard fall. American Ted King got busted up badly. He rode home in pain and then rode the next few days in pain. This is how the Velo web site described the situation.

American Ted King has been time cut from his Tour de France debut. King struggled in Tuesday’s stage 4 team time trial in Nice, three days after separating his left shoulder in a crash on the opening day of the race.

He fell behind his teammates in the first kilometer of the 25-kilometer ride through Nice and rode bravely on his own through excruciating pain. According to official time, King missed the 25-percent time limit by just seven seconds.

The race jury took no pity on King.

Race officials confirmed King’s time at 32:32.60, and Cannondale officials said they were informed he missed the time cut by just seven seconds.

The results sheet said it all: “HD, hors delai.”

Cannondale officials said they could not believe that the jury would disqualify the injured American. They challenged the decision in person and later by telephone, but were stonewalled.

“They didn’t want to listen to our explanation. Ted was racing with a shoulder injury, and he raced with a road bike. He was very brave. He did not stop fighting. Those are the qualities of cycling, yet they did not want to change their minds,” said Cannondale spokesman Paolo Barbieri. “It is Ted’s dream to race the Tour. We cannot believe it.”

No mea culpa

In other words, the Tour accepted no culpability for their botched behavior and lack of planning on the first day of the Tour. Race announcers Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin flatly but empathetically stated that “this is the toughest bike race in the world…and it’s not fair…but this is the Tour de France.”

They also noted that other riders injured in the first stage crash had ridden with their teams and qualified.

Here’s the really ugly part of this story. The Tour apparently fined the Orica-Greenedge organization for hitting the finish stanchion in the first place.

That’s idiotic. Was there some sort of memo sent out stating that your bus could not exceed a certain height? If Orica-Greenedge had ignored such instructions they might deserve a fine. But that’s not the story. Here’s how it happened according to the UK Telegraph website:

Garikoitz “Gary” Atxa found himself back behind the wheel yesterday, while ruefully contemplating his tragi-comic role as the bus driver who wrought havoc on his first day at work at the Tour de France.

“I’m feeling terrible,” shrugged the Basque. “This was my first day driving the bus so it wasn’t a good start. What else can I say but ‘I’m sorry’? I just hope my team have faith in me.”

They do. Atxa’s Orica Greenedge employers quickly rallied around their man, even paying a 2,000 Swiss francs fine to the International Cycling Union because Atxa’s bus missed the deadline for getting to the finish.

“I was a bit late but I followed the instructions that were given to me,” he explained. “I saw the gantry was a bit low but they said ‘Avance! Avance!’ Others had passed through so I did the same, it was just bad luck that the finish had been lowered.”

It was not just “bad luck.” It was the fault of the Tour de France that they did not check the height of all the team buses, or issue a warning during the race that the finish stanchions had indeed been lowered. In other words, the Tour organizers fucked up. Not Orica-Greenedge or its driver.

Tour crashes

One could argue that bicycle crashes happen all the time in the Tour, and that the bus accident and the crash, along with the ensuing injury to Ted King, were not really related.

Which supports the decision of the Tour officials to eliminate Ted King over his failure to stick with the team during the Team Time Trial.

Decisions like this occur all the time in the business world, of course. As the case brought to trial by the work of Erin Brockovich proved, it’s pretty damned hard to pin a rash of cancer cases on the actions of a particular company dumping pollutants into the groundwater. Even when the facts all point to one cause of action, there are a thousand ways to wiggle out of responsibility thanks to the legal system and how it works. All you have to raise is the probability of doubt and it’s enough to sway a jury, or a judge.

It’s not the law

But let’s get real. The event that led to the crashout of Ted King are related in one crucial fashion. While the bus was stuck under the stanchion, the Tour organizers dispensed conflicting directions to the participants. Sure it was by necessity, but who’s at fault? The riders? Hardly.

The riders essentially forgave the Tour their blundering ways while riding their way into an apparently chaotic finish on the first stage. They could have talked among themselves and pulled the whole peloton to a halt, right then and there. Riders have done it before, when stage conditions proved too insane, or course logistics are deemed too dangerous to safely compete by the riders.

Carry on

But the riders show class despite the high risks of the situation. They completed the race despite the flawed premise presented by finishing under such strange circumstances. Sure, the Tour is not much more than controlled chaos every day. But when buses get stuck and the entire enterprise is compromised, then some sort of consideration should be given to those who might have been victimized by the mistakes at the finish line.

As it stands, Ted King was eliminated from the race for missing the 25% “less than the best” rule on the Team Time Trial.

King was interviewed and for 30 full seconds was speechless at the prospect of being eliminated. He had no words. All the work he’d put in leading up to this, his first Tour, was to no avail.

Later Jens Voigt recalled being eliminated one year under different circumstances, and he’s gone on to great Tour glory and respect, even finished 3^rd one year.

As a result, for this viewer the Tour is rolling on with a false premise: that the Tour is far greater than the individuals who pursue it. I personally don’t buy that argument in one key respect. The Tour is human too. It proved that on the finish of Stage One when that bus wedged under the finish line.

But the Tour organizers were unforgiving toward Ted King. They may have the legal right to do as they please, but morally, they fell short of an important standard. They were giving forgiveness, and had none to offer when they were placed in a similar situation.

A certain Bible passage comes to mind, Matthew 18.

The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 As he began settling his accounts, a man who owed ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Because he was not able to repay it, the lord ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made. 26 Then the slave threw himself to the ground before him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 The lord had compassion on that slave and released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ 29Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. 31When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. 32 Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! 33 Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’