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January 23, 2010

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Anyone know of Arthur Vichot?

Source: Agencies | January 23, 2010, Saturday | Print Edition

WHEN it comes to fan support at this year's Tour Down Under there's Lance Armstrong and then there's..... Arthur Vichot?

Okay, Armstrong you've heard of. The seven-time Tour de France champion is the headline act in the six-day race, drawing more than 500,000 people to watch the criterium or the first four of its six stages in South Australia state.

But Vichot? Name doesn't ring a bell?

Well, a group of local 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 get-famous-quick scheme on Internet cycling forums earlier this month, and the Vichot phenomenon has since spread with the speed of internet wildfire.

"Here's the plan," a January 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.

"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.

"Result: Obscure pro wonders where the heck this mysterious fanbase has come from, and is confused but delighted."

And so "after some consultation" they picked Vichot. He ticked all the boxes: he's barely known in this part of the world, he's riding his first ProTour event for his team Francais des Jeux, and he speaks little English.

It was a bonus that he already had his own Facebook page, which has since been inundated by messages of support from a growing legion of fans.

An Arthur Vichot fan club was quickly formed and within days had a reputed membership of more than 800.

Vichot was more than a little surprised to arrive in Australia for the first time and find he was already 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 an enterprising supporter had painted a French flag on the road at Fox Hill Creek, near the stage's main 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, yet his popularity is only growing.

Germany's Andre Greipel strengthened his hold on the Tour when he stormed to a third stage victory yesterday.

Aided by his teammates, Greipel edged out Robbie McEwen and his fellow Australian Graeme Brown in a tight finish to the 149.5 kilometer trek from Adelaide to Goolwa.

The 2008 champion has now won three of the four stages and holds an overall lead of 20 seconds with two days remaining. McEwen is second overall with New Zealand's Greg Henderson third.
Cycling



 

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