Podium Cafe: FanPosts

Announcing "Il Giro della Regione Medi-Atlantica" Saturday October 16th, 2010

2010-03-22T02:00:23Z

Announcing "Il Giro della Regione Medi-Atlantica" Saturday October 16th, 2010

"The Alleycat of the Falling Leaves" is actually a mash-up of alleycat and road race. An EPIC race from Baltimore to Washington DC that will include a 40-mile Road Race and a 10-mile Team Time Trial.

Starting in Downtown B.more, teams will send their racers out in pelotons 15-minutes apart for the Road Race along the back roads of Baltimore and Montgomery Co. and then regroup in Kensington, MD for the two-person Team Time Trial to the finish line in Rock Creek Park in Washington DC.

Cash prizes! $200.00 1st Place. $150.00 2nd Place. $100.00 3rd Place.

Sponsors to be announced!!!

More info at DemonCatsRacing.blogspot.com

Post-MSR quotes from Freire, Bennati

2010-03-22T00:59:49Z

Cyclismag.com has had a number of quotes from post-MSR interviews with Bennati and Freire. Here are my translations (from the French on cyclismag.com, which is in turn translated from other languages):

Beaten by Oscar Freire at Milan-San Remo, Daniele Bennati regretted that Vincenzo Nibali was absent from the leadout train that was supposed to bring him to the finish line: "Nibali was supposed to be in the leadout train, although it might not have been enough to beat Freire, who was overpowering. But the instructions at the start were a bit different from how things turned out: Vincenzo was free to play his own card on the ascent or the descent of the Poggio, but not on the flat during the finale". But Nibali kept trying after the descent and Oss was the only man available to lead out the sprinter on the Via Aurelia: “Oss worked amazingly hard, pedaling like three men, but I wish Nibali had been with us. I’m disappointed because I had to go into the wind too early during the sprint” the Liquigas rider said.

A three-time winner at San Remo, Oscar Freire thinks that he hasn’t always been able to count on the support of his team for the northern classics: “During my entire career, I’ve fought to try to win different classic races. I’m speaking of Amstel, Fleche Wallonne, Liège … I’ve been near the winners but always behind them and never with the chance to fight for a win in the last part of the race. There were one or two times when the fact that I was a foreigner within the team kept me from going for the win at Liège.” The Spanish cyclist had to face up to a preference for racers from the team’s home country: “At Rabobank there was Boogerd, and the team raced for him. That’s how it was. I understand it, and I have no quarrel with it. I owe a lot to Rabobank, because it’s the team that had the most confidence in me. But if they had bet a bit more on my chances in certain races …” Boogerd has retired, Flecha is gone, but this year, Freire may have to share leadership with Lars Boom and Nick Nuyens at Liège, Huy, and Valkenburg – all races on his program.

A professional cyclist for 13 seasons, Oscar Freire has seen the time pass by without losing much physically. “I looked at the poster of Vitalicio that was done my first year (1998) and I can see that I’m the only one left … This reminds me how many years have passed. But physically I feel better than during my first few professional seasons.” Freire has solved the back problems which often hampered him. Now he pedals without pain: “I have no health problems and it’s easier for me to race. In addition, I have nothing to prove, even though I still put pressure on myself. I’ve had victories over a long time span and I know I can still get more. Being 34 years old doesn’t bother me.” Beyond the northern classics, Freire has other things in mind: “I still have a few goals to achieve – for example, I have never won a stage of the Giro, and this year could be the one”.

Save the local bike shop!

2010-03-22T00:32:23Z

I love going into a bike shop for no reason other than to drool over the best bikes, wheels and groupsets. In Melbourne where I live there is a bike shop called Cecil Walker. Cecil Walker must be one of the best bike shops in the world. My dad reccently bought a new Centaur groupset. Dad went to bike shops and asked if it was worth replacing the frame. A large majority of the bike shops said that he should when it was a five year old Giant frame that weighed 980g for a size 56cm. They said that the Giants now where so much better because of the aero seatpost and the bigger bottom bracket area. When dad went to Cecil Walker they said that there was no major difference in the Frames at that level from 2005-2010.

However the local bike shop is under siege from a new enemy. The online bike shop. Shops like PBK / Wiggle / Chain Reaction cycles are now offering amazingly low prices for equipment. You see especially in Melbourne bike shops getting attacked almost buy these shops with prices being half price. It is a question of ethics. How much would you pay for the bike shops to vanish. Now why would you buy tyre from a bike shop when a $100 tyre costs $50 from PBK.

We need to save the Local bike shop because if we don't I won't be able to drool.

The Shack: A team designed not to win

2010-03-21T21:31:23Z

Today came the news that the Shack will not be given a wild card into the Giro even though they apparently asked for one. They were rejected because Lance and Levi would be in Cali at the time, this got me thinking. As much slack as Astana has gotten they seem to be a team that will actually finish the year with numerous more wins then the Shack. It shows that it's not how many big names you have on a team but what type of racers.

While Astana has guys that can win smaller to medium sized one day races and stages and stage races and of course the best stage racer in the world the Shack has a bunch of guys who will win NOTHING. I know Lance and JB will call the year successful if they do well in July but what if they don't even get a podium? Then what does the Shack have to offer? They have guys who could contend for GT podiums but are too timid to race for themselves, of course this being Levi and Kloden. They will help Lance(or maybe it will be Lance helping Levi) but they themselves will not win much if anything outside of Cali. Then the Shack has a bunch of guys who will be helpful domestique's but will also have little chance to shine elsewhere. Their classics team is almost non-existent, Horner is probably the best rider on the team in the hilly races and Gert for the cobbles, but Gert is out and both those guys are B class riders in the classics. They have no big name sprinters, again Gert is likely the best one on the team and again he is in the B class of sprinters.

I'm sure the Shack will win a few smaller races but big races? I can't see any of their stage racers winning many of the big stage races and the Giro is already a no go, the Vuelta may be a chance for Levi but will the Shack even care to bring a good support squad? They will get top 10 finishes and win the ToC but that's about it. So on conclusion it seems they better do very well at the Tour or else this super team will look very mediocre. Building a cycling team is more then having a good squad for one race, Team Sky may have only one GT contender but they will finish the year with better results then the Shack, much better. The balance is far superior.

So what will the Shack's program look like in the next years? Of course it is far too early to know what type of transfers they will make but when lance is gone and Levi and Andreas are close to retiring then what? I can see they are trying to develop some younger riders on the team like Machado but I don't see a ton of young potential there or on the youth squad outside of Phinney and will a JB and LA led team really start focusing on a balanced squad or will they try to make these guys into Tour contenders? The Shack is a good idea but I believe the direction they are going in for this year and beyond is all wrong. Yes an American team that does well in the Tour will be seen as a massive success to the American media but is that all the Shack really wants to be? Thoughts?

Whitmore Square crits.

2010-03-21T12:13:12Z

I haven't been feeling too well since the TDU. Life was going good so i decided to ween off the happy pills that I'd been swallowin for a year or so. It went OK for a while but then the bastard crept up on me, disguised first as physical ailments, then an increasing need for rest and an intrinsic fear of all things that might hurt a wee bit....just like it did the first time! So...the Trek's been adorning the bike-rack in the hall rather than eating up the glorious Autumn roads just over the horizon. Tut tut....HTFU man!!

I haven't raced for ages and last week when i went out on a fast group ride I was ridiculed by my peers for having the noisiest bike known to mankind...when i don't wear my cochlear implant I can't hear a fuckin thing and when i do, i have it on a setting that drowns out constant noise so, the sound of a loose chain, headset, bottom bracket
,et al was news to me. I took it in for a service and it felt like a new bike when I got it back on Friday so I did an awesome 100km with a big Cheshire cat face as soon as i picked her up. Saturday morning was supposed to be a slow spin but when an Ironman Tri mate of mine flew past on his black low profile Stealth Machine I just had to tuck in behind for a while.

So...not an ideal preperation for a Sunday race but we thought we'd give it a whirl. I'm entered in a graded Criterium with first seven in each Grade through to a handicapped three lap wheelrace over three laps (about 2700 metres) with $1000 first prize..

Last night, I fell asleep in a pool of dribble and Jim Beam way before the Poggio and dreamed that Dodger Rogers had won. I checked his Twitter and found that it was indeed a dream but subliminally I wasn't too far off the mark. He wrote that he could've written a book about today's Milan/SanRemo race, something about a crash in a tunnel. Hmmmm!! I feel that is the same for every race. Every ride has a story, every race is an epic, cycling is beautiful even if you're a 50 year old C grade rider lining up for a Twenty minute plus two lap crit in Whitmore Square on a sunny Sunday morning. Last time I put the Zipps with the very expensive Continental Comp Tubulars on I got a flat on the ride down to the race so i had to decide between putting the Trek in the back of the PdC Volvo or riding down and racing on some Ultremo trod Dura Ace wheels. I chose the latter as riding to races is what i do...I can't be arsed with all of the poncing about on rollers or having spare wheels perfectly balanced at the opposite side of the track to where you blowout....not my style.

Yay!! Saturday night and the locals felt a need to throw bottles at Bus Shelters again leaving bike lanes strewn with diamonds...I have a theory that Bus Shelter repairers and Bike-Shop owners are in collusion on this one. So...five minutes from home and I'm riding back on a shredded Ultremo and plan B becomes Plan A but I decide to ride down on the Zipps and throw fate the challenge...god-dammit, these pills are working!!

Whitmore Square is one of the five park-land Squares the Colonel William Light pencilled in for Adelaide when he surveyed and planned it 175 years ago. Being the closest square to the market place it has had quite a Bohemian existence and in recent rather than older history has probably been more famous for being where the drunks hang out. Old buildings became hostels and sobering up units, pubs became a little seedy and the strippers from the pubs also opened up business establishments nearby. Recently it's had another metamorphis, with modern appartment blocks springing up and the pubs employing baristas rather than brasistas...the sobering up unit's still there though so sometimes racing there can be a tad tricky, especially when the sun is high and the Bottle Shops open up.

I don't know how many of you guys have ever seen a local C Grade race so I'll try and set the scene. C grade in Adelaide consists of gnarly old dudes like myself, some of the best young Chickie babes in the State, some fit kiddies that can be relied on to hot up the pace from lap 1, the Korean Junior Women's track cycling team, a lot of guys that look like they know how to sprint a lot better than me and a couple of guys with hairy legs. The circuit is 900 metres clockwise round a two lane wide city square with kerbing cutting each corner down to one lane surrounded by lumpy yellow mounds of concrete. Must be 45 starters in C...I have my Implant on so I'll hear the bell but I ask if there's a two lap to go signal too just in case and am told it will be signalled...cool.

We're doing 45 friggin kilometres an hour half way into the first lap...strung out more than most of the guys sleeping things off under the trees in the square. Each corner the concentration needs to be so intense to keep your line and several near misses occur in the first few laps and the pace is relentless. A group of four kiddies make a break off the front and I decide to stay with the pack...about four wheels back but on one corner I'm shunted back to about 10th...it was like that every corner for anyone who slackened off or lost concentration. I looked at the Polar and realised the wheel magnet must've slipped after 29.2 seconds and my heart was doing 162 ...not much in reserve so i decide to ease off and drop back a little when the pace slows as the break is caught. Then...whammo....my implant stops working and I'm in a cone of silence among 44 angry bicycles and i have to quickly re-aquint my brain with some sort of equilibrium. There were several other escapes attempted but I stayed with the train until I felt confident to start getting a little assertive. I thought I'd missed the preme sprint as it normally comes about half way and we'd ridden at least 15 minutes by my estimate so i started position myself for both being able to see the Two laps to go indicator as now hearing the bell was nothing more than a Quasimodo dream. A big green fuckin flag is what I see as i go past the Commissaires on the very next lap....my brain convinces me that this is in fact, the two laps to go indicator so i surge to about fifth wheel to mark any moves. The four guys in front of me gun it and I'm thinking that this is in fact the finish so I make sure i finish fifth, curse my deafness and head to the outside to pull off then realise that nobody else is....it was the preme sprint you cloth-eared numbat!!

Composure regained but a lot of wheels to claw back I settle back into the business of picking a good wheel to follow and making sure not to get caught behind any of the chickie babes...they tend to be not quite as quick on the acceleration and cause gaps..not good when the pace is 48km/hr. Strike me pink, next lap I see a marker board with a big number 2 on it, so I flicked her down into the 14 and settled in the drops for the run to the line. I'm fifth wheel at the bell and the front four's arses look awfully familiar but a glance over the shoulder reveals another twenty or so still in with a shot of the top seven. Two bends before the finish and a second echelon challenges down the outside...mainly the kiddies. Two lines became one as we zipped together seamlessly at 50km/hr but unfortunately a touch of wheels and two were down...two became four and I was bunny hopping bodies and just managed to avoid the carnage. Being a Paramedic I always glance back and have to mentally stop myself from stopping the bike so I crossed the line fifth...a long way off fourth and a long way in front of sixth. At least I qualified for the Wheelrace. As soon as I finished I backtracked.....all of the guys were OK...lots of road rash and sad looking bikes but no serious injuries thankfully. We averaged 43 km/hr. B grade averaged 43 too but A Grade was motor paced for 10 laps and a lot quicker.

So...I was off 150 metres in the wheelrace. The guys that beat me were 10 and 20 metres in front of me as the handicaps were worked out from the whole season and I'd raced mainly in B's...and the scratch guys didn't need binoculars to read what was written on my arse either. Still being in the cone of silence I didn't have a clue what was going on so when everyone else got on their bikes so did I...well, at least I tried but my cleats were clodded up with dirt...this is perhaps the main difference between professional and Ameteur n'est ce pas! I had time...we had to ride to the start and be led to our marks by our sponsors anyway....well la di dah!!! Three laps minus 150 metres...I had to catch the guys in front of me to have a chance so I started in the same gear I finished the previous race in...a 53/14. The gun went off and I imagined i was Shane Kelly, (minus the infamous Olympic Games foot pull of course), head down, arse up and making a face only my mother would love. I looked up and there was a thirty metre gap in front of me....I spent the next two bloody laps chasing that gap, nobody went past. Half way round the third lap, the scratch guys ate me up and i sat up...I was doubly spent and only passed a couple of guys with their hands off the bars. The four guys who beat me in C grade made the first four places, I just couldn't make their train!!

The Winter road racing season starts in two weeks....not that that means leg and arm warmers just yet here in sunny Adelaide....25-32 degrees and sunny tends to be the Autumn norm....glad my brain's working better again.

Ronde van het Groene Hart Live Thread

2010-03-21T09:20:42Z

Last year I wrote:

Today will see the third edition of the Eneco Ronde van het Groene Hart (Round of the Green Heart). This race wants to show the world how beautiful Holland's so-called green heart is. This is the more or less rural/agricultural area right in between the ring of cities that form the Randstad. Since this race passes right through my home town I think it deserves some PdC love, even though it’s not a VDS race.

Guess what. This year it is a VDS race. Cat 6 but it will only go up from now on of course.

Start will be 11.40 AM local time with a ticker starting right away. Live feed will be available on the website from 15.00 to 17.00 hours. Hopefully not geo-restricted. More about the race on the flip. Start list.

Describing the profile is easy. It's 207 km with a parcours that is as flat as zombie Garin's heart rate. Still the wind and length usually make it a war of attrition anyway. Last year more than half the peloton stepped out in the feed zone. The riders came over the finish in small groups with big time differences. A group of 7 (including 2 Milrami and 3 Vacansolista) battled for victory in the end. Geert Omloop surprised Graeme Brown (who had worked hard countering attacks in the final part of the race) and won the race. Third was Aart Vierhouten.

If it comes to a sprint the win will probably go to Omloop, Brown, Traksel, Wagner or van Hummel. Especially Skil will want to take revanche for the disaster at Nokere Koerse where they dominated a large part of the race only to see both sprinters go down in a crash 7 km from the line. But there are quite a few names on the list who could go for a win in another way. Mollema, Eeckhout, Roulston, Guldhammer or Westra would be suspects in this category. But maybe Footon-Servetto or Xacobeo Galicia can surprise us.

Best part for me is that I can go watch the riders pass a few hundred meters from my house. Last year I went with my 3 year old son and it was a great experience. First impression of live racing for him. We saw the riders only shortly, of course, but the police clearing the road was also great in his perspective. This year I plan to go with my two sons (2 years old and (now) 4 years old). The finish is not far from here too but that probably will have to wait a few years considering the family's energy balance.

MSR: Who Ya Got? Poll Time!

2010-03-20T03:59:03Z

Only about 12 hours until the stampede to the finish. Last year Cav thrilled, pipping Barbie Barbie at the line. This year, as usual, the sandbaggers are out in full force; everyone's been named a favorite except perhaps Haussler, Lance and Sean Kelley. PdC is sure to fill up at least 5 live threads. So who are your favorites?

Me, I'm thinking it will be a B movie. Boonen, Boss Hogg, Benna. But I will secretly be pulling for those annual heroes, the 3-4 poor souls sentenced by their DS to ride 200k in the wind before La Mànie in search of TV time for the sponsor.

Poll

MSR: Who will it be?

Tom Boonen

17 votes

Edvald Boasson Hagen

3 votes

Daniele Bennati

2 votes

Tyler Farrar

1 votes

Alessandro Petacchi

1 votes

Mark Cavendish

4 votes

Fabian Cancellara

3 votes

Filippo Pozzato

2 votes

Thor Hushovd

1 votes

Oscar Freire

4 votes

Alessandro Ballan

0 votes

Maxim Iglinsky

0 votes

Phillipe Gilbert

0 votes

Other

1 votes

39 votes | Poll has closed

SB Nation Survey + Chance to donate $500 to a charity of this community's choice

2010-03-20T00:48:00Z

>> Take SB Nation Survey

Hello sports fans! We're always striving to provide you with the best experience possible and it's been quite some time since we checked in with you.

So we're rolling out this survey to learn more about you and your sports world. It should only take about 10 minutes to complete.

We really appreciate your time and this is also going to help make a donation to a good cause.

By next Thursday (3/25) at 11:59pm PST the site that has the highest percentage of their community filling out the attached survey about their sports interests and consumption will win $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. We will leave it up to the discretion of the community manager(s) of the winning blog to decide how to choose the particular charity.

You can take the survey HERE

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WYR2WQT

Thanks for your support!

Yeehoo’s Book Report, or Laurent Fignon goes to Milan-San Remo

2010-03-19T23:59:28Z

Not so long ago I read Laurent Fignon’s autobiography (“Nous Etions Jeunes et Insouciants” - we were young and carefree), and i really enjoyed his story of his first victory at MSR, so i thought i’d make an attempt at sharing that with you (75 words yet?, yes - yay!). So just to give credit where credit's due, all the info here came from the book.

Fignon had an incredible start to his professional career, winning the ’83 Tour de France just a couple of years after turning pro. And to hear him describe it, it was easy and almost without effort! But i thought you were supposed to suffer in cycling and it was always incredibly difficult and and and ... No, it was easy. Easy i tell you. And mind you, this before the days of EPO. He won the Tdf again in ’84 along with a 2nd place and mountains jersey in the Giro. And second place only because the organizers cut the Stelvio out of the race at the last minute - ostensibly due to avalanche hazard, but this handed the win to the Italian Moser. Ha, take that, friggin foreigners!

more, much more, below the jump thingy (and if ya get bored and wanna get straight to msr, it's down there somewhere)

So what’s your point yeehoo?? What’s this got to do with MSR? The point is, dude, that Fignon got his career off to this incredible start and then suffered an ankle injury - i mean really just a stupid ankle injury! Well but then he had to have surgery and then he was off the bike for a long time and well, he just had a hell of a time ever getting his mojo back. He couldn’t get in form, it wasn’t fun anymore, he couldn’t get that whole jeune et insouciant thing going again, and then one season he was even brought down for months when he finally discovered he had big ol’ stinking like 60 cm long tapeworm in his stomach. L’ouch! Etc, etc. beaucoup du problèms.

Then one bright and sunny day along about the end of 1987, his trainer, Alain Gallopin, said to him, “Laurent, dude, you could win this Milan San Remo thing.” Laurent thought he was nuts of course, he was all like, “Dude, from the start of my career, i’ve always thought i had a shot at winning La Fleche (which, ahem, by this time, i already have, thank you very much), Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but never ever never ever have i thought i could win down there on the Riviera.” (wow, that sorta rhymes! ya listenin seahorse? - i’m writin poultry here - who’d a thunk it?)

But Gallopin, who’d come to know Laurent’s strengths and faults perfectly, foresaw everything and just wouldn’t give up on the idea. He saw that Fignon needed lots of kilometers before his “physique” could really express itself (“pour que mon physique puisse s’exprimer vraiment”). MSR with its almost 300 kms, plus the need for an extra punch at the end on the Poggio - well Gallopin kept repeating “C’est pour toi, crois moi.” (It’s for you, believe me. - see, french is easy - and fun)

So anyhow, Fignon had just had about enough of this not being able to come back and find his old form and stuff, so, just after Paris-Nice he and Gallopin decided to try out a radical new training plan. Overcompensation. Simply put, it consisted of exhausting yourself 72 hours before a big race. The idea is that the body burns all it’s reserves during the over-hard training session, then it’ll overreact to produce what it needs again - you know all those physioligical chemical things that your body needs to win races.

So he had only 6 days between Paris-Nice and Milan San Remo. So he did some easy rolling for a couple of days and then on Wednesday, he rode 120 kms over to Gallopin’s place. Had some orange juice and a piece of flan. Then went back out for another 100km. Gallopin in the Derny, Fignon behind. Faster and faster, drooling speed, then the last 35 km, absolutely at his limits and finished with a fabulous sprint - didn’t even feel his legs.

“Le plaisir était là. Revenu. Quelque chose se passait dans ma tête...” - The pleasure was there. Returned. Something happened in my head...

So, everyone wake up, we’re almost to MSR!! So Fignon goes to Milan and by chance is the first one to sign in - “Because i’m going to win” he tosses out to the organizers. Ah, he was starting to feel loose and relaxed again - like in the good old days.

So the key to winning is patience and punch. You can only attack once, on the Poggio. “Un seul coup: le bon ou le mauvais, telle est la règle de Milan-San Remo.” - One shot, good or bad, that’s the way of the Milan-San Remo.

So, as planned, he stayed at the back of the peloton. He hated it, it was totally against his nature. He couldn’t stand not knowing what was going on at the front. About two-thirds of the way through the race though, he thought to himself, “Mince, je me balade...” - Man, i’m just cruising. “It was fabulous and I’m obliged to say that, except on the Poggio, my legs never hurt once all day. That hadn’t happened to me in a really long time...” “Dans le Turchino, je fumais le pipe. (ha!) Dans le Capo Berta, là ou l’on peut tout perdre aussi, je montais comme dans un rêve. Tellement que, à un moment, j’ai pensé très fort: ‘Je vais gagner.’ ” - translation: “On the Turchino, i smoked the pipe. On the Capo Berta, there where you can also lose everything, i climbed like a dream. Such that, at one moment, i thought very strongly: ‘I’m going to win.’ “

The dutch team PDM, had what it took to put fear into opponents.: Van der Poel, Alcala, Rooks, Theunisse. The four of them were there at the front of the peloton, at their posts. At the foot of the Poggio, (now in his words for a good while) “i was placed pretty-well, although not great. During the race, i had said to my friend, Sean Kelly: ‘I’m planning on taking off strong on the Poggio. If i fail, i’ll take you to the sprint.’ Since ’83 or ’84, i had formed an old relationship of trust and understanding with the irishman, a loyal man who never counted his efforts for debts of honor. We liked each other a lot and we stifled all-comers with our common efforts. So, on the first few hundred meters of the Poggio, Kelly came up to where i was and said to me:

‘You have to go, Laurent!’ I hadn’t asked anything of him, but this irishman decidedly showed his honor at all times... I didn’t reflect on it, i just immediately followed him. And fortunately. I had hardly come back to the front of the peloton when PDM engaged. Full force. With bad intent. Kelly had saved the day for me.

"For about 3 kms everyone suffered beaucoup. I waited patiently. Not knowing too well if an opportunity would present itself. Suddenly, i didn’t feel any more pain in my legs: as if i’d had just mounted the bike minutes before. In those kinds of moments, i never lost my nerve. I waited, calmly. The pace was very fast, so much so that, when we came to the place where the profile showed some higher percentage gradients and where i had planned to make my final blow, i started to doubt whether i’d be able to place my attack. The window was very limited, not much more than 150 meters. But when it came to the most delicate part of the Poggio, Theunisse, who was leading the grand train, started to weaken a little, very slightly. It was undoubtedly imperceptible on the television, but it was plenty sufficient for me.

"Again i didn’t reflect on it. I took the gap that was offered me between a stone wall and the dutchman, i stood on the pedals, and put all my weight of all my years of rage and sacrifice. I waited impatiently for this moment and i felt that it had to be a massive attack. Kelly, there on my wheel, made the play and caused the break... I was in the 53x15. I was thus under the persuasion that i was alone but to my surprise there i saw the young Maurizio Fondriest. I asked myself how he managed to get there, this guy. But i had no fear of him, not for a second. ...”

Fignon goes on to say they had the race won when they came to the last kilometer. And that we found that Fondriest would be faster than Fignon later in his career, but at this point he was still young. At 300 meters, Fignon knew himself perfectly and felt almost unbeatable head to head. He launched his sprint from very far and at about 100 meters from the line Fondriest cracked.

One last direct quote translation to finish up:

“My god. It was done... I don’t remember anything. But witnesses have told me that i cried out with joy. A cry that came from down through the ages. A cry almost savage, according to some. Gallopin was right. First of all to convince me. Then to believe. When we know a racer like Moreno Argentin never won this race ... it’s incredible.”

Well i should probably sum up and all, but damn i’m tired. I will say though, that this did seem to get him back on track. His near Giro-Tour double with the 8 second loss to Lemond and his damned aerobars followed the next year. Imagine missing one Giro-Tour double due to race organizers castrating the main climb, and another to a technical innovation. Anyway all the best to Laurent Fignon in his battle with cancer.

VeloNews Reports David Clinger Positive, 2009 Road Nationals

2010-03-19T20:16:10Z

VeloNews is reporting that David Clinger tested positive during 2009 National Championship. He finished second in the race, and has lost the result. This was the elite national championship in Bend, not the US Pro in Greenville. The substance was synthetic T and Mondafinil. He apparently had prescriptions for both, but did not file the TUE properly.

Read the full story at VeloNews.

Cycling at The Greenbriar in WV

2010-03-19T17:40:04Z

Anyone know of some nice road routes to ride near the Resort? I know they have a ton of mountain bike trails but I want to bring my road bike too and get on some hills in this nice weather. I know this is kind of a random blast but I figured someone on here may have some privy info, even if it is in the middle of nowhere. Thanks so much for any suggestions !

The Kornheiser Debate

2010-03-19T17:28:01Z

I heard the replay of Lance Armstrong on the Tony Kornheiser show this morning, and I am ready to be done. Listen to the chat here.

As a former DC'er Tony Kornheiser isn't unfamiliar to me, and I never thought he was an out-and-out asshole. So when he went all "run em over" on us yesterday, while I was happy to go nuclear on him, I did so knowing that Kornheiser is probably not as stupid as he sometimes sounds.

After listening this morning to the interview with Lance, my opinion -- all it is -- is that he fucked up. He's not evil and doesn't need to be fired. He got carried away and said things that were far stupider and more dangerous than he probably realized. His apology sounded sincere enough, combined with my impression from before of who he is, for me to let it go. He and Armstrong spent most of the time talking about the safety issue; Kornheiser didn't exploit his access to Lance and asked permission to talk about Lance's racing in a way that made it seem like he understood that Lance wasn't there to buff his show. Even at the end, as they were talking about burying the hatchet, Lance held his feet to the fire and Kornheiser accepted it.

The guy who gets the most credit here is of course Lance. He stepped up, used his star power to rally support and to call Kornheiser (successfully) out on the carpet. He IMHO was firm with Kornheiser during the show and made it clear that he wasn't brushing this off, even as they made nice. Lance took responsibility for the cycling community. Think about that. Whatever his petty grievances may be within the racing world, it's clear to me that the guy has a side to him that's rock solid. Well done, LA.

[/boycott]

The Flying Milkman: Frans Verbeeck

2010-03-17T07:23:33Z

The monument season is upon us in less than a week, so I thought it would be good time to take a stroll down cycling's Memory Lane, cobbled of course, and take a look at the interesting career of a rider who many of you probably haven't heard of but his story is one of interest as well as heartbreak. Even with Milano-San Remo bearing down on us and the talk about who is going to win is heating up, it is still a good time to look at the story of a rider who never could taste sweet victory at a monument.

Many of you probably know Frans Verbeeck for his business ventures before you know about Frans Verbeeck the rider. Upon his retirement in 1977, he started up VERMARC (the VER from his last name and MARC is his son's name) cycling clothes, the producers of the Quick Step uniforms along with a multitude of other current teams and also TVM and ADR when they were around.

This business entity though was not what Frans Verbeeck was famous for first though. In the early to mid 1970's, most people think of Merckx, De Vlaeminck, Godefroot, Leman, Maertens, etc. as the powerhouses but Verbeeck was a force that few people could challenge when he was on form. With over 160 wins in his career, he was one of the best racers of his time but his real claim to fame was his toughness. People today look at a rider like Jens! Voigt and see him as the epitome of the hardman but he still ranks under Mr. Verbeeck in my book.

But even with all of this success, he still had a thorn in his side that plagued him throughout his career: Eddy Merckx.

THE HARDEST FLANDRIAN

At the conclusion of the 6th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, Frans Verbeeck had had enough with the life of a professional cyclist. He was fed up of the "If your not first, your last" mentality of the 1960's cycling world and was tired of making a non-livable wage . His famous almost last words to his team manager were 'See you around, but never again at a bike race' and with that he returned to his town of Wilsele to put his bike into the back yard to collect rust. He had had a modestly successful career up until then with top 10's in races like Het Volk and Paris-Brussels and a small smattering of wins including the Tour of Flanders B Race (for a while, De Ronde had 3 classes of races:The A's were the established pro's, the B's were to new pros and the C's were track riders) but it wasn't enough to live off of. He returned to Wilsele and to the family milk delivery business and began a normal life driving his milk truck around but it didn't last for too long. By the end of '67 he was back spectating races and then managing the small Goldor team. By the time the summer of '68 rolled around, he was back in the saddle and going around to smaller races...The bug had returned and this time he knew he wouldn't have any second chances.

The winter between '68 and '69 was where the legend of Frans Verbeeck's training started. He was monk-like with his training, never missing a single day, no matter how much it was raining or snowing. He even accomplished this by going and borrowing the postman's fat tired bike to use for training when there was too much snow on the ground. He stayed in and around Wilsele for his winters, as if he thrived in the Belgian winter sleet and only venturing down to the Cote d'Azur come February to win races. An account by a British rider, Billy Bilsland, talked about after one of the races down by the sea, his team had packed it into the hotel during a huge rainstorm and they noticed a rider chugging along and they commented about how much of an idiot he was until they saw that it was Verbeeck and that alone shut them up. He racked up huge numbers of kilometers and was a pioneer of riding on the road all year around.

This new found devotion to training pushed his riding to a new level and it showed during the coming years with his move to the Watney's team and racking up an impressive 75 wins in 3 season from '70-'72 and taking out 2 Omloops, An Amstel Gold, 2 more GP Jef Scherens along with countless other wins. But the major defeats started to add up as well. Second to De Vlaeminck in the '70 L-B-L and just pipping Merckx in the sprint, 3rd to Merckx at the '71 L-B-L at almost 5 minuted back, 3rd again to Merckx but this time at Lombardia at 3:30 minutes back, 3rd to Leman in a sprint at the '72 Ronde...Can you see a trend here?

He had become obsessed with beating Merckx in a monument and it pushed him to the point where his obsession might have hindered his progress.

BY THE HAIR OF HIS CHINNY, CHIN CHIN

The spring of '73 came around Verbeeck was training and riding like he had never done before. He was now considered to be one of the few riders who could beat Merckx in the big classics and it came to a head during that spring. In the lead up to Liege-Bastogne-Liege, he was beaten by Merckx 3 times in the span of a week. 2nd at Gent-Wevelgem in a head up sprint, 2nd at Amstel Gold at over 3:30 back and beaten out by Merckx in the sprint for 2nd at Fleche Wallone behind Andre Dierickx.

Frustration was boiling when Verbeeck started Liege but the conditions, windy and heavy rain, favored the hardman. He marked Merckx thorughout the 236km day and by the time they entered the track at Rocourt in Liege, the front group was down too 12 with riders like Godefroot, Poulidor, Ocana, Thevenet, Zoetemelk along with two on super form. Swining around the final corner, it was just Merckx and Verbeeck barreling towards the line and when they got to it, it was so close that neither knew who had won.

When the photo finish came, it showed Merckx had beaten Frans yet again...by two centimeters. He was so crushed that Merckx even came up and apologized for beating him because he could see how much it meant to Frans just to beat Merckx once in one of cycling's biggest races. To go to the absolute peak of fitness and to still be shut out again left certain scars within Verbeeck. He did have his revenge at the Belgian championships 2 months later when he beat Merckx in a 2 up sprint after 275km of riding but it wasn't the same.

THE SHOWDOWN

Verbeeck did not give up after his tragic defeat in Liege and continued with fine results but could still not break through for the "big one". In '74 he had come 2nd, yet again, this time to Cees Baal in De Ronde mostly because he had a habit of basing he races around Merckx. Think of Pozzato and Boonen at De Ronde last year but doing that year after year except Merckx was just a half a head above the rest and almost always had an extra gear. He won at Fleche Wallone but still couldn't crack a monument.

If any year would be it, it was going to be '75. Merckx was in the rainbow stripes and Verbeeck had followed his massive training plan to a T and was ready to fight. He started out strong in the spring with good results and snagging the win at E3 over the great sprinter Maertens. He was prepped, finishing 3rd overall at the Tour of Belgium which was in the spring back then, for his final grand showdown with Merckx.

Merckx was in arguably his finest classics form ever having won MSR prior to De Ronde and was showing the one day racing Cannibal was not dead yet. His pre race quote about how good he was going went something along the lines on "I won't win by 10 minutes, but I know that it will be by a lot". When Merckx attacked with 104 kilometers to go, Verbeeck was the only one that could follow and the race was down to 2. This was Verbeeck's chance to beat Merckx head to head and to show everybody that he could beat the world's best. The two worked with precision, with Merckx leading up the steep cobbles and Verbeeck taking his pulls on the flats and their gap stretched out to almost 6 minutes ahead of the peloton. Verbeeck began to see just how good Merckx was on that day and that he had picked the wrong day to fight but he did not give in until 6km to go.

On a slight rise, Eddy just had the extra gear and simply road away from Verbeeck and soloed away for yet another classics win and leaving Verbeeck empty handed yet again. They were the 2 strongest riders by far, with Verbeeck trailing in 30 seconds after but still up 4'30 on the next rider, and it made one of the greatest Flanders that had been ridden. Yet Verbeeck had faced a defeat that hurt him more than any other; he knew that no matter what, Merckx was always going to have that extra gear and if it wasn't for him he would have been one of the greatest classics racers that had ever lived. All he could say afterwards was "He was too fast, what can I say?". He was so obsessed with beating him that he always made the race about Merckx and trying to beat him head to head and not about the race itself. The rest of his classics season was no better...2nd in Gent Wevelgem, 2nd in Fleche Wallone, 4th in Liege and 2nd at Henninger Turm. It is almost hard to look at how close he was so many times and yet he never gave up on trying to get the big one.

His final years were met with similar results. He podiumed at G-W, Fleche, Liege, Brabantsje Pijl, Henninger Turm, and the Scheldeprijs and only winning the latter. He had one last hurrah at Liege in '77 but by that time Hinault was on the scene and he could not handle the new rider and had to settle for 7th place in his final monument. Through his whole racing career, he stood up on 24 podiums in the 12* major classics and he won a total of 4 (2x Het Volk, Amstel and Fleche) and none of them were monuments. His training and commitment to the sport even after such consistent heartbreak is something that can be admired even today. His downfall was that he could not pull himself away from wanting to beat Merckx, even when he wasn't as strong as him, and if he could have done this then he would have broked through for at least one monument win. But he couldn't get past it and now today he is one of only a few riders who people say "How in the world did he not win at least monument?"

*12 classics for that era are the 5 monuments, Het volk, Amstel, G-W, Fleche, Zuri Metzgete, Paris Brussels and Paris-Tours.

Photos from VERMARC Sports

Predict the Rabobank team lineup

2010-03-19T12:06:42Z

Rabobank have put up their own Virtual Directeur Sportif game with some nice prizes to win. The object of the game is to accurately predict the Giro and Tour lineup of the Rabobank cycling team. There is some kind of point system whereby early accuracy gets rewarded but you may change your lineup at any time. First prize is a day in the Rabobank team car during a race, with the real DS ... Take the jump:

Other final prizes include jerseys and tickets to events. There are also monthly winners (who had the best team that month) for every month until the Giro and Tour deadlines of May 7 and June 30. Every week there is one prize for a random competitor who updated his team that week.

To play the game, go to the sign-up form and enter your first name, last name, email and choose a username, password. Wait for the confirmation mail. After signing in, go to 'Mijn Rabo wielerploeg' and pick riders for your teams. All info on the website in Dutch, sorry!

The Boss vs El Pisterolo

2010-03-19T12:04:00Z

For me personally the Tour de France last year wasn’t very exciting. I mean after Mark Cavendish won his second stage after 3 days of racing it was clear he wasn’t going to be beaten. Alberto did the same thing, when the Alps came around he was only a few seconds off the pace of Brice Felliu who wasn’t a GC contender anyway. After his attack on Verbier he had a large buffer on everyone else in the race.

The Tour de France’s most interesting aspect was the war between Lance and Contandor. The build up was vicious. When Contador had the bonk in the Paris Nice Lance tweeted that Bertie still had a lot to learn. It was obvious the whole time that Johann Bryuneel was favouring Lance . When Lance was suffering in the mountains he took the time to announce his new team Radioshack as if to relieve pressure off his racing.

The worst spat of the whole tour was still to come though with Contador claiming the the hotel was harder than the race as well as claiming that he had to pay for his own wheels. I known Lance is supposed to be quite a nasty guy but surely that took it to the extremes.

Reccently Contador changed his race plans for the year saying that after Paris Nice which he won convincingly he can back of the amount of races before the tour. He is changing his plan to ride in the Criterium International which Lance is riding as well. Judging from last year this should be like a nuclear war has erupted.

BOYCOTT ESPN... Until They Fire Tony Kornheiser

2010-03-18T17:57:25Z

I'm fucking serious:

TK: And they all wear...my God...with the little water bottle in the back and their stupid hats and their shiny shorts, they are the same disgusting poseurs that come out in the middle of a snow storm with cross country skiing on your block. Run them down. I mean, let them use the right I'm OK with that....

My objection to them is when the ride in the middle of the road. They give you the finger. They do all the time. They think they own it. Because they think that you think that you own it. I don't think I own it. I own it. I have a car. I have a large powerful car compared to your stupid little bicycle.

Run them down. Pretty funny stuff. Here are some more stories to make you laugh:

Here is a story about Tyler Farrar's dad.
Here is the story of "doctor" Chris Thompson intentionally running over cyclists in California.
Here are some numbers that will really bust a gut: 716 bicyclists killed each year by cars, 52,000 injured. Fucking hilarious.

The Twittersphere is all over the story right now, and I don't plan to miss out. Lance Armstrong is actually leading the charge to some degree... or at least his voice has been heard by more than mine ever will. Here's my opinion on what should happen.

1. Tony Kornheiser should be suspended from the radio gig in DC where the transcript originates. He should go on air and apologize, then disappear without pay for a while.

2. Tony Kornheiser should be fired by ESPN. He can have his little hometown radio show when he's felt enough shame; AM radio is polluted by assholes like Kornheiser and that won't change. But ESPN is "the worldwide leader in sports" by its claim. They have a larger responsibility. They don't need him.

3. Lance Armstrong should boycott ESPN until they act. ESPN has been exploiting Lance for over a decade, treating cycling mostly like shit until Lance hauls in more yellow. There are an infinite number of media outlets with more respect for the sport than ESPN where you can get your information. They want Lance and his star power. Deny them, Lance, unless they're willing to take an affirmative stand.

4. But it's not all on Lance. I am boycotting ESPN and welcome anyone else's company in this endeavor. I am deleting my ESPN Radio iPhone app. I am deleting my espn.com link (not that I used it much anyway). I already disconnected the cable, for a variety of reasons. I don't need them.

It's important to recognize what I mean by ESPN -- the organization, not the individuals that work for them. People like Bonnie Ford, one of the best sportswriters to venture into cycling, or Jim Caple, a columnist with some soul (whose column I linked above). The organization makes money off of a product that straddles the fine line between appreciation of sports and the moronic behavior that all too often comes with it. It's not easy, but they chose their field and chose to mine sports for dollars, so I have no sympathy. Take a stand, ESPN, fire Kornheiser from Pardon the Interruption and any other errands he runs for you. Now.

Contact the radio show here. You can send a form letter to ESPN here. Best thing might be to twit-bomb them: @ESPNRadio980 or @PTIshow. Please, act.

Update: The audio in question:

Kornheiser supports running over cyclists (via craigrutledge)

Big UPDATE! Lance Armstrong is going on Kornheiser's show tomorrow to discuss things. Kornheiser is trying to make amends, obviously. Voices are being heard!!

Teams for Flanders

2010-03-18T00:49:38Z

Tour of Flanders teams for 2010:
ProTour Teams:

Quick Step (BEL)
Omega Pharma-Lotto (BEL)
Caisse d'Epargne (ESP)
Euskaltel-Euskadi (ESP)
AG2R-La Mondiale (FRA)
Francaise des Jeux (FRA)
Liquigas Doimo (ITA)
Astana (KAZ)
HTC-Columbia (USA)
RadioShack (USA)
Footon Servetto (ESP)
Lampre-Farnese Vini (ITA)
Rabobank (NED)
Team Sky (GBR)
Garmin-Transitions (USA)
Katusha (RUS)
Milram (GER)
Saxo Bank (DAN)

Pro Continental Teams:

BBox Bouygues Telecom (FRA)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Cervélo TestTeam (SUI)\
Landbouwkrediet (BEL)
Skil-Shimano (NED)
Topsport Vlaanderen - Mercator (BEL)
Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team (NED)

Velonation has the story along with a list of the 15 climbs in this years race. (Astana seems to have found it's cobble riders for this race.)

Milan-San Remo Broadcast

2010-03-17T19:42:57Z

Watch the Milan-San Remo broadcast this Saturday (March 20) on Universal Sports. The broadcast will be LIVE on-line at 10:00am (ET) and on US TV at 3:00pm (ET). There will also be on-demand coverage available on-line and re-airs on TV at 5pm and 8pm (ET). See sprint specialist Cavendish along with top riders Armstrong, Bennati, Boonen, Cancellara, and the Schleck Brothers go head to head.

Cycling Channel: www.universalsports.com/cycling

MSR: VDS Smackdown! Can You Klopt This?

2010-03-17T16:32:59Z

I'm still chuckling over the very idea of Chris klopting me at Milan Sanremo. I don't know who he has exactly but I am supremely confident that my front line of the Wenatchee Wonder, Oscarito!, Hooter, and Ginanni with my backups of Boomer, Roelandts, Van Summeren, Maaskant, and Uran will carry the day for me.

What? You say you got a better team? Yeah, right. Okay let's see your team and see if you can do better!

[Chris here] I just wanted to add one more VDS note: there are four teams with Jens Keukeleire. Bow down to them.

Freaking NOKERE koers live

2010-03-17T14:14:32Z

Watch out.. The preparation for... Some kermiskoers is now LIVE! You herad it here.. LIVE!

11 times NOKEREberg.. Not that hard.. Brown won last year.. Swift has his breakthrough.. Or had he? Where is he this year.. Is going to be a sprint.. or Echolons.. Whatever you like..

Favorites:

Traksel, Keukeleire, Eeckhout, van Staeyen, Brown, van Hummel, Wyss and.. AMORISON!

Oh and Boeckmans and Keisse

Live here http://bvls2.yolasite.com/ch-12.php

Have fun.. I have to work.. But of course will be there