When it comes to fan support at this year’s Tour Down Under (TDU) there’s Lance Armstrong and then there’s ... Arthur Vichot?
Name doesn’t ring a bell? Well, a group of cycling fanatics have set out to change that. Using the power of social networking, they have turned Vichot from a virtual unknown into a viral celebrity.
They hatched their scheme on Internet forums: “Here’s the plan,” a Jan. 9 posting read.
“We pick an obscure European pro rider who is doing the Tour Down Under. Someone who no-one has hard of before, will probably not get a Tour de France spot and is making minimum wage fetching bottles for his team leader. Preferably non-English speaking,” it said.
“We all make an effort to cheer him like crazy, every time we can see him during the TDU. We can even work out how to cheer him on in his native language,” the posting said.
“Result: Obscure pro wonders where the heck this mysterious fanbase has come from, and is confused but delighted,” it said.
And so they picked Vichot, forming a fan club that within days had a reputed membership of more than 800.
Vichot was surprised to arrive in Australia and find he was a star. After Sunday’s criterium, in which he finished 94th of 133 riders, he was mobbed by fans wearing “Allez Vichot” T-shirts.
For yesterday’s fourth stage, a supporter had painted a French flag on the road at Fox Hill Creek, near the stage’s main hill climb. The words “Allez Arthur” stretched over the full width of the road.
Vichot was 90th in yesterday’s stage and lies 66th among the 129 riders remaining in the race.
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