For Jack Bauer of Takaka, New Zealand, that was the minimum goal for this year's Tour de France after his maiden race last year ended with the lanky former bass guitarist with scratches across his face after a nasty crash a day before the ride into Paris.
Indeed, Bauer's second Tour de France was almost a carbon copy of last year's race with Jack involved in a crash that nearly ended his race having helped teammate Ramunas Navardauskas to stage victory earlier in the day. Fortunately, we can say "nearly" and Bauer finally got a chance to ride on the Avenue des Champs-Elysses with overall winner, Vincenzo Nibali.
It was probably the finish Jack deserved after a tour which saw his leader, American rider, Andrew Talansky join a huge list of high profile casualties on this tour, i.e. Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish and Alberto Contador - indeed Bauer can look back on this year's Tour de France and say that he survived the carnage festival while Froome, Cavendish, Contador and compatriot, Greg Henderson, did not.
Moreover, Bauer came close to taking over where Julian Dean left off and become New Zealand's man at the Tour de France but for the last couple of yards going into Nimes, having led the day for a wapping 227 km. The heartbreak and disappointment on Bauer's face was circulated on social and news media the following day as the man whose name gave rise to his TV hero namesake also became an instant favourite with the local and international cycling public.
After years of toiling on Belgium's cobbles and battling Bluff's icy winds, Jack Bauer has never been closer to reaching the pinnacle of his career and this year's performance should see him in many editions of the Tour de France for years to come, barring injury of course - good for Kiwi cycling fans wanting an excuse to fly to warm France during those cold winter months.
Bauer's busy year will continue with the Commonwealth Games road race in Glasgow later this week.
As for the race itself, it lacked the spice of previous editions especially once Contador crashed out leaving Vincenzo Nibali unchallenged to take the yellow jersey. Peter Sagan also won the green jersey virtually unchallenged after Mark Cavendish's bow on day 1, weathering a stunning summer for the Germans - Tony Martin, Marcel Kittel and Andre Greipel sharing the spoils of stage wins with the Manxman gone. It was also a great summer for the French - two of their compatriots, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot finished on the podium, the first Frenchmen to do so since Richard Virenque in 1997.
Well done Jack!
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