A spectacular finish to the Tour de France, a lifeline for Greece, a macabre discovery in a suburban garden, an infected hospital and kids deteriorating over the summer months: it’s all in today’s Dutch dailies.

Tour de France 2011: the heat is on
Cycling is a Dutch obsession, so it’s no surprise that the papers are relishing the prospect of a nail-biting finish to this year’s Tour de France. Trouw’s front page features a close-up of the current leader Thomas Voeckler, grimacing as he crossed the finishing line of yesterday’s punishing stage in the Alps. “Seldom have the last days of the Tour been so exciting,” enthuses the paper.

While Voeckler only just managed to hang on to the yellow jersey, the man of the day was Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck, who won the stage in convincing fashion with a courageous solo effort. De Telegraaf reckons that Schleck’s “heroic attack” has “blown the Tour wide open”. As nrc.next puts it: “This is how cycling should be. [...] Andy Schleck’s attack [...] has set the Tour de France alight.”

De Volkskrant goes one step further and says simply: “Andy Schleck becomes a legend.” It goes on to list four other serious contenders for the title, among them Andy’s elder brother Fränk, Australia’s Cadel Evans and reigning champion Alberto Contador. And with today’s stage culminating in a finish at the top of the legendary Alpe d’Huez, the excitement isn’t over yet.

Europe throws Greece and the euro a lifeline
All today’s papers focus on the new European deal to pull the Greek economy – and the future of the euro – back from the brink. According to de Volkskrant, the mood is one of relief as “the deal goes further than anyone dared to hope”, despite only offering Greece and the eurozone “a temporary respite”.

Surprisingly, after weeks of portraying the Greeks as a bunch of undeserving ne’er-do-wells sponging off Europe, it’s De Telegraaf that seems the most positive about the deal, proclaiming: “Crisis averted [...] euro on the rise [...] escalation halted [...] jubilation at the stock exchanges.”

NRC Handelsblad’s cartoon double-act Fokke & Sukke are a bit more cynical in their own telephone negotiations with the Greeks: “We’re prepared to pay 85 billion in ransom […] but how do we know the euro is still alive?”

De Volkskrant sees the deal as a victory for the Dutch government, who insisted that banks, insurers and pension funds play a substantial part in this latest bail-out package. This hard-line stance enables PM Mark Rutte to portray the deal as “the result of Dutch commitment”. But the paper points that, ironically, “it gives the European emergency fund far-reaching powers [...] something Dutch politicians [...] were dead against not so long ago.”

CSI comes to Unicorn Street
Under the intriguing headline “Mystery on Unicorn Street”, AD reports on a grisly find in a Dutch suburban garden: the body of a murdered elderly woman. She has been identified as a woman of German descent named Friedel who lived a “quiet and unassuming life” in the street until she disappeared without trace in the late 1990s.

No one raised the alarm. A neighbour recalls: “We just assumed that she had returned to Germany to be with her family.” That was that, until the house’s current occupants uncovered human remains when digging in their garden. DNA testing revealed that the bones belonged to the old lady who used to live there.

The police remain tight-lipped about the investigation, but speculation among the neighbours is rife. They suspect the involvement of a father and son – both now deceased – who used to live a few doors down. “The son was quite a striking figure, always walking around in a cowboy hat,” says one local knowingly.

Infected Maasstad Hospital comes clean
Today’s papers feature further reports on Rotterdam’s Maasstad Hospital and the spread of resistant bacteria that infected dozens of patients. At a press conference yesterday, the hospital’s director insisted that “the situation is under control”.

It’s the director himself who comes in for attack in de Volkskrant. “It’s ironic to say the least that the very hospital were 25 patients have succumbed to the multiresistant klebsiella bacteria is run by the highest paid healthcare executive in the country.”

The paper calls on the director and his kind “to entertain the humbling notion that everyone is replaceable” and argues that “people who lay claim to disproportionate rewards on the basis of feeble arguments have lost the sense of responsibility that their distant predecessors used to have.”

NRC.next takes a similar tone, describing the situation at Maasstad as “disgraceful”. It reports that government health inspectors are recommending that an external supervisor should be appointed to ensure that appropriate measures are thoroughly implemented. The paper’s editorial observes: “The hospital board, under the leadership of director Paul Smits, should feel free to interpret this as a motion of no confidence.”

Summer holidays: no time to relax!
Summer holidays are bad for your children. At least that’s the case made by education experts in today’s AD. “While children are hanging out at the swimming pool or lying around on the couch in the coming weeks, their reading and numeracy skills are going downhill rapidly,” warns the paper. The cure for this “summer dip” is “to read, read, read!”

“Shouldn’t the holidays be a time for play and relaxation?” asks the paper sensibly enough. “Yes,” says one language expert “but it’s such a shame when kids start the school year with lower grades than they had a few months before.” The same expert wants to shout from the rooftops that “you just can’t read enough”, while a teacher notes that “parents ask for extra spelling and arithmetic exercises” to help their kids through the summer.

It’s all with the very best of intentions no doubt, but I can’t help thinking of that old Pink Floyd song. How did it go again? Oh yes ... “Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!”