Bruce Cameron

Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published in July, 2010.

The Tour de France is on this month ... and on, and on, and on. It started July 4 in Belgium and will end in Paris on July 25 — about twice as long as it took the German army to cover the same distance, and they were walking.

You’d think a bicycle race would be fairly straightforward — people get on their bikes and ride, well, straight forward. But this is France, so it’s more complicated than that.

For one thing, the clothing the teams wear is extremely important (just like in that other hard-hitting sport, figure ska...