Act 2
The Tempest.
Scene 1
Daytime. More rain. HUGH and BRIAN are commentating on the action unfolding.
HUGH. There be some sports are pain, yet their undertaking
Delight in them sets off; and here see we
This illustrated so this very day.
BRIAN. What’s past is prologue; now matters just today,
And yet, alas, the storm has come again
The wind doth howl a curse across the land,
And, from the sky, the unrelenting rain
Upon the road doest leave a film of grease
Unwary rider to unseat its aim;
Descents are very treachery itself.
A septet ridest clear, the sprints to claim,
And revel for a while in their lead
Upon home roads, ambition to be freed.
HUGH. Two Gentlemen on Honister Pass set off,
Fair climbers both, to catch the seven in front.
Martin and Quintana, upon the rain-slicked roads
Of Cumbria, put frozen limbs to the test
As streams of icy water hasten past,
And lift the pace upon the brutal ramps,
Legs scream; all the while the peloton groans
“Hell is empty, and all the devils here!”
BRIAN. Garmin and Movistar hither work together?
Misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows!
HUGH. Indeed, yet soon enough all men are caught
And brought back to the fold, their efforts spent,
The group doth snake across the drenched roads.
But Lo! The Thane of Cavendish doest early stir!
To raise the flag of his attack some 10k out!
Good Lofkvist, sensing that the other riders have,
Their attentions turned to the charge of Cav,
Makes good the opportunity there given –
And slides his wheel away to force a gap.
The team of Sky, remorseless in their chase
Set upon the attacking man the beast of Stannard!
BRIAN. Brave Lofkvist, determined to avoid the snare
Doth bow his head and grimace with the pain
But slowly does the bunch reduce his breach,
Concealed in the drumming of the rain.
HUGH. A dual effort from An Post ranks
Does condemn heroic Lofkvist to a loss,
Caught cruelly within metres of the line!
BRIAN. Yet despite the greatest efforts of Bennett,
An Post will not have victory this day,
The mighty Ciolek will not be denied
A second time, and enters he the fray.
On the line MTN Qhubeka steal the Gold
And so our Tempestuous stage 2 tale is told.
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