The Agony of Defeat - Tour de France Update

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Just three days ago, I wrote about sports being the ultimate reality show. Because you just never really know what’s going to happen. As the late, great Jim McKay used to say on Wide World of Sports, sports are “the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.” Case in point: two days ago I wrote about Norwegian cyclist (and testicular cancer survivor) Torstein Træen finding himself in the lead of the 2026 edition of the Tour de France after Stage 4. He’s just the 3rd Norwegian ever to wear the coveted Yellow Jersey. That’s victory. Træen was riding well on Stage 6, and while he was losing time to favorite Tadej Pogacar on the climb of the Col du Tourmalet, it was thought that he could still find himself in yellow at the end of the day. Unfortunately for Træen, he took a bad line, inside of a teammate, during the descent of the Tourmalet, touched wheels with his teammate on a left-hand curve, and suffered a high-speed crash. He had no chance of catching the leaders up the road. He did finish the race, with help from a teammate, and finished with a smile on his face. That’s defeat. Træen suffered multiple broken ribs and a concussion, and withdrew from the Tour shortly after the race. His Tour is over after just 6 days. Still, as I said, he finished the race, and finished smiling. It’s now recover and get on to the next race for him, but for the rest of his life, he will always be “Former Yellow Jersey Wearer Torstein Træen.” Good ride, Torstein! Link is to the famous “agony of defeat” Wide World of Sports opener: