A Chicago Tribune story about the bike race starts off with a gloriously bad lede:<p>****FIGEAC, France -- There was more skirmishing off the bike than on the roads of the Tour de France on Thursday.<p>That being said, check this out from later in the story:<p>****The most electrifying sight of the day was provided by a half-dozen head of cattle who charged onto the course ahead of the peloton about 75 miles into the 102-mile stage, galloping in a tight formation that would have made any cycling team director proud before they veered off into an adjacent field.<p>...That graf should be on an editing test for several reasons. And what's this "half-dozen head" business? This is Figeac, not Abilene. There were six or a half-dozen of them, Tex. And then there is:<p>****No one was gored, but that same afternoon, Lance Armstrong found himself responding to some verbal jabs.<p>....How's that again?<p>(For the record, a friend insisted I watch some of the race with him, and I did find it kind of interesting. This in no way changes my firm belief that it belongs on the front pages of U.S. papers only if Armstrong sprouts wings and flies through the mountains.)<p>[ July 16, 2004: Message edited by: Bumfketeer ]</p>
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