these, it may be the latter portrait that is most arresting. It embodies all that we admire in our athletes and what we imagine for them. The sculpted cheeks, the casual mop of hair, a look in the eyes of interest and anticipation but also utter confidence. He stands reviewing the finishing times in the individual time trial for stage 20 of the 1962 Tour. Until this day, he has not led the Tour. Instead, he has waited for this day of the time trial to make his move. He has finished his race, and now he stands to the side, carefully calculating the other riders’ intervals. His claim on the yellow jersey, and the Tour title, depends on no one bettering his time, and so there is some anxiety. And yet he knows, with an athletic certainty that few others may ever have, that no one can match him.
