Tag Archives: Chavanel

Sylvain Chavanel

I drew a cyclist! This one turned out much better than Ryder’s… maybe I’d better do another one of Ryder. Can’t have too much cyclist fanart, neh? Anyway, this is Sylvain Chavanel, French cyclist and cutie. Last year, he apparently cracked his head open early in the season, and recovered in time to solo to a great victory on Stage 3 (hilly, rainy, crashy) of the TdF; took yellow, and then Stage 4 lost it because the poor guy had THREE flat tires on the cobble stage. Not as bad as Franch Schleck, but still unlucky. Then less than a week later, did another terrific solo ride up a huge mountain, and took yellow again. And then lost it the next day on an even bigger mountain because he’d spent so much energy the day before. C’est la vie, I guess. But that stage – Stage 9, if I recall correctly – had Cadel taking yellow, Andy winning the stage and being in second, and Ryder in THIRD so that was probably my favourite stage, despite Chavanel losing yellow. Continue reading