It’s almost impossible to watch a bike race without caring about the result. Try it sometime. I challenge you to sit through the last 20 kilometres of any race without experiencing an emotional response to how well or badly at least one or two of the bike-monkeys do.
You can try to tell yourself that the most important thing is that it’s a good race, that the fortunes of the individual riders are no concern of yours, and that what matters is that cycling is the winner. But ultimately, you care. There is a deep-seated need to pick a side.
