This is what true grit looks like

The NFL season is quickly approaching, and you’re going to hear a lot about this player being tough, or that player being gritty. I’m sure that there are plenty of tough and gritty players in the League. But I doubt that many of them are tougher and grittier than an elite athlete you’ve probably never heard of. His name is Peter Sagan and he just won the Green Jersey in the Tour de France on Sunday.

It was one of the most remarkable athletic feats I’ve ever seen. But because nobody follows professional cycling, give me a second to explain.

After the rise and fall of Lance Armstrong, almost everyone knows that the winner of the Tour wears the yellow jersey. That means he got the best cumulative time over the 21 days and several thousand miles of bike racing. But the tour has several other jerseys that are very sought after. The polka dot jersey goes to the best rider in the mountain stages, the white jersey is for the best new rider, and the green jersey goes to the overall point leader.

After 16 days of riding a bicycle around France, Peter Sagan dominated the points category. He had the green jersey wrapped up. All he had to do was finish the race in Paris a few days later. But on day 17, Sagan had a horrific crash. His back was shredded, there was bloody road rash from his shin all the way up his leg to his buttock. His hands were mangled, and there was deep bruising all over the place. If he stopped riding, he’d be disqualified. There are no injury time-outs in the Tour de France. So, he climbed back on a bike and finished stage 17. It was nothing short of pure courage on display.

The look on his face when he crossed the finish line of day 17 was of a broken man in shell shock.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. Sagan was miles ahead of the nearest competition to win the Green Jersey. Only one problem, he would have to finish the race. That meant four more days of riding. He had to finish each stage within 25 percent of the leaders time or he would be disqualified. No finish, no win, no bonus money, nothing.

If you want to see what athletic toughness looks like, watch Peter Sagan less than 48 hours after his crash ride over 124 miles with a fresh Green Jersey on his back through a brutal mountain stage in the Pyrenees. There was a major battle for time and points happening at the front of the race, and Sagan could barely sit on a bike seat. The leaders were climbing the 12 percent grades up the mountain at a withering pace. Sagan would be disqualified if he was 25 percent slower than the healthy riders. With the help of some teammates, and support from his crew, he managed to barely finish in the allotted time constraints. It was painful just watching him walk, let alone ride a bike.

The next day he had to finish an individual time trial with still open wounds on his legs and back, again within 25 percent of the winner’s time. He did that too.

Finally, on Sunday, he had a relatively easy ride through the streets of Paris, and he even made a gallant attempt to win the stage with a sprint at the end, but the healthier riders overtook him. But he finished and took to the podium as the winner of the Green Jersey.

There is nothing even close in major US sports that compares to the suffering of the Tour de France. If you enjoy the spectacle of competition, and an athlete’s will stripped of all ego and artifice, do me a favor and look up some videos of Peter Sagan.

That’s what toughness and grittiness looks like.