Tour de France 2010

The 2010 Tour will be launched from the south side of Rotterdam, for a prologue time-trial. The launching pad will actually be set up in Zuidplein, from where the riders will move north.

The choice of Rotterdam, a vast urban centre with one million two hundred thousand inhabitants, is directly in keeping with the special start of the Tour in London in 2007. The proposed project – “Rotterdam and the Tour, a new energy” – seduced us. It fits into an overall policy that aims to an even bigger place for the bicycle in the city’s heart, while leaning on the popularity of the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France. From the banks of the Thames to the biggest port in Europe: the same desire, the same will.

Imagine you’re flying in a commercial jet and the pilot tells you he’ll be putting the aircraft on autopilot. That probably wouldn’t be a concern. But imagine you’re at your doctor’s office and he tells you that he’s just put his judgement on autopilot.

Two questions: Where’s the parachute, and where is the exit?

Unfortunately, doctors often simply go with basic procedures they’ve always used. But things change, and when doctors don’t stay on top of changes, patients sometimes suffer.

One perfect example of an autopilot medical mindset concerns the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test used to determine prostate cancer risk.  I’ve shared this warning several times before, but the mainstream still hasn’t picked up on it so it can’t be repeated enough: Men, if your doctor suggests a biopsy based on a high PSA level, he may be flying on autopilot.