Greig Leach

When I first got interested in bike racing back in the early 1970's, this is an image I could never have imagined, nor do I think it could have happened. To see an Israeli woman racing a bike professionally in an Arabic country, and for her to be leading the peloton by nearly 20 seconds, would have been inconceivable (say in your head the way the word is delivered in the movie, Princess Bride). Paz Bash (Israel) is zipping through the feed zone. She has just finished stuffing the ice bag from one soigneur down the back of her jersey as she is reaching for a water bottle and energy gel from another. With both hands off of the handlebars, it is fortunate that she is on her own and not in the scrum of the peloton through the Feed Zone.