The Cycliste Moderne - June 27, 2005

Geoff is in Anaheim, CA this weekend with a laptop but without free internet access. As luck would have it, Kristin, the single-mom-for-a-weekend, gets to guest blog again. Let’s see how Geoff did on his national championship predictions (see 6/24/05) – hint, he didn’t do so well.
- Kristin Wardle

National Championships

France: Despite winning the French Time Trial last week, Sylvain Chavanel was a non-player in Sunday’s road race. Cofidis lost out to Bouygues Telecom again this year, with Pierrick Fedrigo taking the win from his teammate Laurent Brochard, who bonked in the last 10k. Chavanel finished 10th overall at 7 minutes back. So much for good form. We’ll see if Fedrigo can repeat the miracle of last year’s French Champion, Thomas Voeckler, and spend some time in yellow at this year’s Tour. Actually, I can’t find where Bouygues Telecom has announced their Tour team, so maybe he’s not even going. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

Italy: Geoff had the right team (Liquigas-Bianchi), but the wrong rider. 23-year-old Enrico Gasparotto won his first national championship and added it to his win at the Tour de Catalunya in May to make a career total of two pro wins. With 200 meters to go, the sprinter pulled away from the other 40 sprinters and pulled off the upset. Pretty good year, wouldn’t you say? Geoff's pick Dario Cioni didn't even figure into the results posted on cyclingnews.

Germany: Erik Zabel is having a bad year. First no Tour, now no national championship. The only one having a worse year is his team. After a 12-year streak in the German championships, T-Mobile lost out to an 18-year-old named Gerald Ciolek with team Akud-Arnolds Sicherheit. Yes, I said EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD. Not only did Ciolek outsprint Robert Forster of Gerolsteiner and Zabel of T-Mobile, he did it by three bike lengths. Earlier this year, he was still competing in Juniors. You know, Zabel is almost old enough to be his dad. Ouch. T-Mobile did manage to get wins in Russia (Ivanov) and Kazakhstan (Vinokourov), so their weekend wasn’t a total loss.

Spain: Geoff’s favorite, Alejandro Valverde, did no better than 8th. His Illes Baleras teammate Francisco Mancebo did a bit better, but fell second to Juan Manuel Garate (Saunier Duval) who outsprinted the defending champion at the line.

Norway: Mrs. Hushovd is off the hook – sort of. Her son Thor (Credit Agricole) did not win the National Championship, so she will not need to iron his jersey during the Tour. However, he did pull out a victory in Wednesday’s Time Trial. Morten Christiansen (Team Sparebanken Vest) claimed the National Champions Jersey on Saturday with a disappointed Hushovd finishing fifth.

Netherlands: Rabobank missed out. They failed to keep enough riders in front to effectively lead-out Steven de Jongh for the win, which was taken by Leon van Bon of Davitamon-Lotto. De Jongh took second and Max van Heeswijk of Discovery Channel took third. Geoff’s pick Thomas Dekker finished 67th. Not even close.

Belgium: The buzz was that this race would be wide open; without Tom Boonen or Axl Merckx, it was just that. 35-year-old Serge Baguet of Davitamon-Lotto won the Belgian National Championship in a photo-finish over his training partner Kevin Van Impe (Chocolade Jacques). Stijn Devolder of Discovery Channel was fourth. Note: Baguet is also old enough to be the German champion’s dad.

Estonia: I can’t find any report of the Estonian championship on-line, so we’ll just assume that Jaan Kirsipuu won. I know that I can’t name any other Baltic cyclist. Since Geoff picked every other winner wrong, we’ll give him this one. However, most of the aforementioned winners were out of the blue, so I guess there’s a chance that Geoff is wrong on this one, too.

The Rest of Them

In case you care, here are the rest of the National Champions crowned this weekend:

Austria: Gerrit Glomser (Lampre-Caffita)

Czech Republic & Slovakia: Jan Svorada (eD'system) & Martin Prazdnovsky (ZP Podbrezova)

Denmark: Lars Ytting Bak (Team CSC)

Great Britain: Russell Downing (Recycling.co.uk)

Hungary: László Garamszegi (P-NIVO Betonexpressz SE)

Iceland: Fjerd Magliusen

Ireland: David O’Loughlin (Navigators Insurance) – defending champion

Kazakhstan: Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile)

Luxembourg: Frank Schleck (CSC
Note: Benoît Joachim (Discovery Channel) placed fourth

Poland: Adam Wadecki (Intel - Action)

Portugal: Joaquim Andrade (Riberalves)

Russia: Sergey Ivanov (T-Mobile)

Switzerland: Martin Elmiger (Phonak Hearing Systems)

Ukraine: Mikhailo Khalilov (LPR)


Other items of interest to Kristin

Item #1: Last week in Park City, Utah, Kristin Armstrong (T-Mobile) added the Elite Women’s Time Trial to her palmares. In 2004, she was the National Road Race Champion and placed 8th in the Olympic Women's Road Race. Kristin is a native of Idaho and calls Boise home. At the Tour of Eagle (Idaho) earlier this month, Kristin surprised the field by entering the criterium and competing in the weekend’s events with the pro men. Kristin was very gracious, granted an interview to the race announcer, signed an autograph for my daughter, and posed for a picture with my son. Her website at www.karmstrong.com features her story. Very, very nice and gracious lady. Based on interviews that I’ve read, she appears to be the anti-Simoni.

Item #2: The AP is reporting that The Lance crashed his time trial bike last week while training in Nice, France, cracked his helmet in two, and is now sporting a black eye, scraped knees and elbows, and a cut over his right eyebrow. That sounds a lot like my five year old (except for the helmet part). He said he is feeling better than ever and that he is excited to have his kids at the Tour this year. Hopefully he can figure out how to handle his time trial bike within the next week.

Item #3: In other news, apparently Jan Ullrich has a new girlfriend. In my opinion, this is just what he doesn't need before the biggest race of the year. Apparently she’s the sister of his teammate Tobias Steinhauser and although they’ve known each other for a long time, things didn’t connect until after he split with his ex-girlfriend, Gaby Weis. Hmmmm.

One more week to Le Tour . . .

The Cycliste Moderne, June 24, 2005

National Championships

This is the weekend when all the European nations hold their national championships and award the national champions’ jerseys. Unlike the USPro Championship in Philadelphia earlier this month, there will be no foreign riders contesting any national championship. The exception is the Baltic Championship which is contested by riders from all three Baltic states. The first Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian across the line wins their nation’s jersey.

The Tour de France generally is the first race for many of the freshly minted national champions. However, due to the increased importance of the Tour de France, many riders with Tour aspirations have typically foregone their national championship. Moreover, national championships have started to be more competitive and, much like the World Championship, there have been some major surprises.

Due to Fred Rodriguez’s inability to win this year’s USPro Championship, the “Captain America” Jersey of the US champion will not be in the Tour this year. I personally prefer to see the USPro Champion jersey racing in Europe, but Chris Wherry was a deserving champion at Philly earlier this month.

National Champion Predictions

In an attempt to fill the blog for this week, I will now offer my predictions for the national champions of some of the major countries in Europe:

France: Sylvain Chavanel, the young French hope won the French Time Trial championship on Thursday. He is in about the best form of any other French rider, and his team, Cofidis, would certainly love to have one of their riders in the Tricolors at the Tour de France.

Italy: Dario Cioni had a strong Giro D’Italia for Liquigas-Bianchi. He is the strongest rider that Liquigas is sending to the national championships. He could add the Italian national jersey to Liquigas’ collection this season.

Germany: Somebody from T-Mobile always wins this. Erik Zabel, if he races, will have extra motivation due to his exclusion from T-Mobile’s Tour de France team.

Spain: Alejandro Valverde is the emerging young star in Spain. He has all the tools. He can sprint, he can climb. He may be the next consistent Spanish GC rider. He has moved over to Illes Balears this season and should have good support.

Norway: Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole announced he is taking his mom to the Tour de France, not to watch but rather to fix him meals and take care of him. You would think he is Italian. He will probably add ironing the Norwegian National Jersey to her nightly list of activities.

Netherlands: Rabobank always seems to win the Dutch championship. This year it will be the young emerging Dekker, Thomas, not Erik, who pulls on the only national champion’s jersey that coordinates with a team’s actual kit.

Belgium: It is not clear if Tom Boonen is going to race in the Belgian championship this weekend. He has expressed interest in peaking at the Tour de France and with Alessandro Petacchi deciding to forego the Tour, Boonen could win multiple stages. However, if he does, he will look good in the Black, Yellow and Red of Belgium’s champion.

Estonia: Jaan Kirsipuu always wins so we will pencil him in here. Can you name any other Baltic cyclist?

The Cycliste Moderne, June 20, 2005

Orange Surprise in Switzerland

Euskaltel-Euskadi’s Aitor Gonzalez shocked everyone with a strong ride during the final stage of the Tour de Suisse on Sunday to ride into the leader’s jersey. He catapulted himself into contention on Saturday with a strong attack to pick up more than a minute on race leader Michael Rogers of Quick Step and T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich.

Sunday, Gonzalez went on the attack again and rode away from Rogers, who had found himself isolated from his teammates during the final stage of the Tour de Suisse. Gonzalez is a strong time trialist and a strong climber. He is a past winner of the Vuelta a Espana. However, he has not shown anything since his victory in the Vuelta in 2002. He moved from the Italian team Fassa Bortolo to Euskaltel this season. He is certainly a good fit for Euskaltel and may give the orange Basque team the stage race presence that the team has lacked.

However, his victory and that of his teammate Inigo Landaluze during last week’s Dauphine Libere evidence the problem that Euskaltel faces with the ProTour. The team has strong climbers who have won some important races. However, it is not a team that is built to win events that require a strong team and thus it will not likely ever win a Grand Tour. Euskaltel has had success when no one expects them to have any results. It has failed when it comes to races as the favorite.

ProTour Team Time Trial

The first ProTour Team Time Trial was contested Sunday in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The results were pretty much as expected. Gerolsteiner won the six-man team race with Phonak, CSC, Rabobank and Discovery Channel finishing second through fifth all within a minute of the German winners. Euskaltel-Euskadi, not unexpectedly, finished last, more than five minutes behind Gerolsteiner.

Due to the fact that most of the teams did not come with their leaders for the Tour de France, all this race shows is who has a good core for the team time trial at the Tour. Discovery has got to be the favorite for the Tour de France team time trial, showing it continues to be a well managed and focused team. Similarly Phonak, CSC and Gerolsteiner will come to the Tour with a real possibility to win the team time trial. T-Mobile was a little disappointing in its mid-pack finish; however, it will be strong at the Tour.

Importance of the Team Time Trial

Many teams fail to take the team time trial discipline seriously. Instead of practicing at a discipline which could cost your team leader a shot at a top ten performance with a poor showing, many of the teams seem to spend their time whining about it. It is always riders from teams that are not cohesive and not focused on a single goal that seem to whine about the team time trial the most, i.e. Gilberto Simoni. The reason the Tour de France has reached such important status in cycling is that, unlike the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana, the stages are longer and faster. In the Giro and the Vuelta we have seen riders win opportunistically despite their weak teams.

Going back to the late seventies, with the exception of Greg LeMond in 1989 for ADR and Marco Pantani in 1998 for Mercatone Uno, no rider has won the Tour without a reasonably strong team, i.e. Renault 1978-79, 1981-84; Ti-Raleigh 1980; La Vie Claire 1985-86; Reynolds/Banesto 1988, 1991-1995; Deutsch Telekom 1996-97; US Postal Service 1999-2004. Both LeMond and Pantani were, however, the sole focus of their team’s efforts, so that may have compensated for their teams’ weakness on paper. They won in years where their opportunistic riding put them in the position to win the race.

It is not surprising, however, to see disappointing performances from the French teams. This is an event where you do not have to have the best and strongest athletes to win. The team time trial is all about technique and teamwork. With the exception of Credit Agricole, the descendant of Greg LeMond’s teams Z and Gan, no French team has come remotely close to winning the team time trial.

It is an event that a team like Bouygues Telecom (formerly Brioche Le Boulanger/Bonjour squad) ought to be competent at. The Bouygues Telecom team arises from an amateur program that moved up to the professional level about 6 years ago. The team was well known for developing skilled and tactically competent cyclists. Even though the team has not had the best talent as a professional team, it has still been recognized as a competent and aggressive team. Because of its history, Bouygues Telecom really ought to be a team that performs well in the team time trial. They have never gone to the Tour de France with real GC aspirations although they have been able to put riders into breaks that have resulted in the team having the yellow leader’s jersey several times over the last few years.

Horner to the Tour

Saunier Duval-Prodir has announced that Chris Horner will ride the Tour de France for the team in July. Horner’s hip fracture threw his early season into doubt and turmoil. He showed, however, with three strong performances during Wachovia Week that he was getting his form back. He then followed it up at the Tour de Suisse with a stage win and a top five finish. Horner certainly animates things and will likely seek to make an impact on the race.

Even though I have expressed my personal dislike for Horner and his style of racing, it will be great to see another American in this year’s Tour de France. What is most impressive is the number of Americans who will likely contest the Tour for teams other than Discovery Channel.

The Cycliste Moderne, June 17, 2005

Horner Finally Wins in Europe

Chris Horner of Saunier Duval-Prodir won his first ever race in Europe on Thursday, winning a stage of the Tour de Suisse. Horner moved to Saunier Duval from American domestic team Webcor Builders last fall and competed in a few races after the world championships for the Spanish-Swiss team.

I have never been a big fan of Chris Horner. I have always thought that he talks too much and whines too much. When he failed to win races in the US, it has invariably been someone else’s fault. Horner did not accomplish much in his first foray in Europe with Francaise de Jeux in the late 1990’s. His next attempt at racing in Europe was with Mercury’s aborted attempt to get into the Tour de France with the ill-fated affiliation with Viatel. Horner has been the dominant domestic pro for about five years, however.

On Thursday, he managed to ride away from the group over the last climb and showed strong tactical awareness by recognizing that most of the team leaders were isolated on the last climb. He trailed the GC lead by more than three minutes; a late attack could probably lead to a win. Sure enough, when he attacked, he got a gap and was not chased down. He, of course, was critical of the riders he attacked with, but with Chris Horner if you cannot whine in victory, when can you whine?

Ullrich Part Un

Jan Ullrich lost his leadership of the Tour de Suisse today when he could not respond to the attack of Michael Rogers of Quick.Step and lost more than thirty seconds to the Australian. Rogers is emerging as a strong GC rider and may be the best ever out of Australia. However, he has not historically instilled fear on climbs but rather has been a rider who can remain close on the climbs and have excellent time trials. While Ullrich may merely be testing his form and not trying to overextend himself, his loss of the race leader’s jersey should concern T-Mobile.

Ullrich Part Deux

T-Mobile has announced that Erik Zabel is not on the team’s short list for the Tour de France. It is clear that the team will be coming to the Tour with all eyes set on beating Lance Armstrong. Zabel has not won a stage of the Tour since 2002 (though he won 12 before that) and over the last several years has had little support from the team in trying to recapture the green jersey, which he has won six times. T-Mobile will be bringing a strong team with three riders that have been on the podium in Paris (Ullrich, Vinokourov, Kloden). Clearly the team is betting everything on winning the Tour, however, given the team’s past track record and poor performances this Spring (except for Vinokourov who seems to perform well even under the poor management of the team), I would not be betting on T-Mobile to be the team to win the Tour.

T-Mobile Alumni

Based upon current indications, it appears that multiple T-Mobile alumni will line up at the Tour de France with excellent chances to exceed the performances of current T-Mobile leaders based upon spring performances. With the exception of Vinokourov, the following T-Mobile alumni have had far and away better GC results this year than anyone on the current team: Santiago Botero, Phonak; Bobby Julich, CSC; Paolo Savoldelli, Discovery Channel; and Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto. Even Jan Ullrich’s best performance in the last few years at the Tour de France came while he was riding for Bianchi and not T-Mobile. T-Mobile is no longer the German superteam of 1995 and 1996 built around a core of young riders from the former East Germany that dominate all types of races under all types of conditions.

ProTour Team Time Trial

As part of the ProTour this year, the UCI has added a competitive team time trial as a one day event. This new event will be contested on Sunday in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The 20 ProTour teams will line up with a few other continental professional teams and will contest the 49km course in six man teams. There has been a lot of criticism of the return of the team time trial to the Tour de France. Clearly a bad team time trial can cost a rider his shot at the overall title.

The team time trial is an event which shows how well the team works together. Teams like CSC, Discovery, Banesto/Illes Balears, Once/Liberty Seguros and Credit Agricole have historically been well managed and well disciplined and have had success in the event. The rest of the French teams and most of the Italian teams have shown difficulty in the event. The inclusion of a team time trial as a separate event and not just as part of a stage race gives the ProTour teams an opportunity to work on this discipline. It should result in a better team time trial at the Tour de France.

The Cycliste Moderne, June 13, 2005

Dauphine Surprise.

In a complete and utter surprise, Basque team Euskaltel-Euskadi rode to victory at the Criterium du Dauphine Libere. Unlike last year, when Euskaltel-Euskadi came to the Dauphine to win and did with Iban Mayo, Iñigo Landaluze and the team fell into the victory almost by accident.

In the first victory of any significance for the orange clad Basque team, Landaluze had taken the lead in the race from American Levi Leipheimer when he finished second in Friday’s mountainous Stage 5, more than seven minutes ahead of the group of the leaders including Phonak’s Santiago Botero and Floyd Landis, Discovery’s Lance Armstrong and T-Mobile’s Alexander Vinokourov.

It has been a frustrating season for the Basque-only squad which had shown major promise over the last couple of years due to the team’s climbing ability. However, this year’s poor performance had its seeds in last year’s poor performance at the Tour de France after placing two men in the top five the year before and winning the 2004 Dauphine. The team showed signs of weakness over the flat stages and team time trial during the first part of last year’s Tour. Moreover, this year’s ProTour requirement that each ProTour team compete in every ProTour race magnified the team’s lack of depth. Team policy is to sign only riders of Basque descent. The team has never contested the Spring Classics in any serious manner and thus lacked riders capable of racing in the cold, wet and rough conditions of the Northern races. Moreover, the requirement that they field teams for each race has shown the lack of experience that the team has for such races as the Giro d’Italia. Most of the ProTour teams, including the French teams, went out and signed Italians to lead their squads in the Giro. Euskaltel obviously did not and was a complete non-factor.

Landaluze happened to be in the right place at the right time and due to inertia among the leaders, was able to hold on and win the last major French race leading up to the Tour de France.

Notwithstanding Landaluze’s surprise victory, all the major teams have to be happy with their performance at this point. Phonak clearly has two riders who could finish in the top ten at the Tour with Landis and Botero. Leipheimer showed strength and could find himself top 5 at the Tour if he can overcome the poor tactics that cost him the overall victory after spending a couple of days in the leader’s jersey. Gerolsteiner is probably not strong enough to win the Tour, however, so he will have to do it himself. Vinokourov was once again solid and clearly ready for the Tour. It is not clear if his ambitions will have to be sacrificed for Jan Ullrich, although “Vino” clearly has good climbing legs as evidenced by his win on Mont Ventoux. Surprisingly, Davide Moncoutie of Cofidis had the best finish of any French rider during the Dauphine and could conceivably have an excellent Tour, something the team has been hoping for over the last few years.

Discovery Preparation.

Discovery Channel came to the Dauphine not to win but rather to test the team’s Tour preparation. Discovery has to be happy with the performance that its team put in. George Hincapie won the prologue and Sunday’s final stage in a sprint over his teammate (and Armstrong heir apparent) Yaroslav Popovych after the two broke away after 35km and managed to stay away until the end of the race.

Lance Armstrong showed good form in the time trials and in the mountains. Teammates Benjamin Noval, Hincapie, and Popovych all showed form that should make the team confident of its preparation for the Tour. The team should be the odds on favorite to win the first ever ProTour team time trial in Eindhoven, Netherlands next week.

Early Transfer Talk

There are already discussions regarding the end of season moves that will happen when riders’ contracts expire. The biggest rumor has Alexander Vinokourov joining Discovery Channel next year. The Kazakh rider is one of the few non-Germans to flourish on T-Mobile since the departure of Bjarne Riis. Most of Vinokourov’s career victories have come as a result of his own abilities and not really any support from his team. He had previously been sought by US Postal Service and with Armstrong’s retirement looming would be an excellent fit for the team.

The Cycliste Moderne, June 10, 2005

Americans Continue Outstanding Time Trialing

Wednesday was the time trial stage during the Dauphine Libere. Following up on Sunday’s strong Prologue performance, Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner finished second in the 47km time trial by one second to Colombian Santiago Botero of Phonak. However, with his strong performance, Leipheimer moved into the lead.

Lance Armstrong had a strong performance on his new Trek time trial bike, finishing just twenty-six seconds behind Botero. Floyd Landis of Phonak finished fourth on the stage, thirty-nine seconds behind his teammate Botero. George Hincapie finished just over one minute behind Botero. As a result of their strong performance in the time trial, the four Americans moved back into the top 5 of the Dauphine GC.

Clearly Leipheimer is in excellent time trialing form, finishing second in both the prologue and Wednesday’s time trial. Armstrong answered critics who were concerned by his poor performance during the Tour of Georgia’s time trial stage. It is clear that Armstrong did not go all out in Georgia on the rain slicked course in his first long time trial of the year.

Landis has certainly improved as a time trialist as well. In light of the projected Tour de France line up for Team CSC, with David Zabriske probably making CSC’s Tour team together with Bobby Julich, it would not be surprising to see half a dozen Americans in the top ten during the Tour’s time trial stages.

Mont Ventoux for Vino

Thursday’s stage of the Dauphine took the riders to the summit of the famed Giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux. Although Armstrong had expressed his desire for a win on the slopes of the famed climb, it was unlikely that he would sacrifice his Tour preparation just to get the win on Ventoux that has eluded him. The stage was not particularly difficult with an essentially flat run up to the final climb to the summit.

T-Mobile’s Kazakh rider Alexander Vinokourov rode to victory today showing the form he exhibited in the spring. Vinokourov will certainly be a concern for Armstrong and Discovery Channel in July. It is questionable, however, whether Vinokourov will be able to ride for himself or be stuck supporting Jan Ullrich, a rider who has yet to really indicate how his Tour preparation is coming. Ullrich will be riding in the Tour de Suisse that commences this weekend which will indicate how ready Ullrich will be for his final showdown with Armstrong.

Although Armstrong did not win the stage, his form is obviously where it should be leading up to the Tour. Armstrong finished fourth on the stage, just thirty-seven seconds behind Vinokourov. Landis and Leipheimer finished just behind Armstrong showing that the American team leaders are all in good form headed to the Tour in three weeks.

The most surprising finisher of the day was Belgian Wim Van Huffel of Davitamon Lotto who finished third on the stage. Van Huffel had a strong performance in the Giro and is one of the emerging Belgian riders that may mark a new golden age for the country. Davitamon has shown itself committed this season to developing stage racers and climbers, something that the team had not done in the past with the exception of Rik Verbrugghe.

Simoni On His Way Out?

Internet reports have Gilberto Simoni not being offered a new contract by Lampre Caffita while his teammate and rival Damiano Cunego has been offered a contract extension. Cunego is clearly the young future of the team even though his Giro performance was not what last year’s Giro champion had expected.

It appears that team management may have grown tired of Simoni’s incessant whining about the emerging talent of his teammate and Simoni’s own lack of production. Simoni is a great climber but he certainly does not inspire his teammates and grates upon his opponents. Simoni should not have any difficulty finding a ride for next season but it will likely not be for a team as strong as his teams have been over the last few years.

The Cycliste Moderne, June 6, 2005

USPRO Championship Recap

Health Net concluded a dominant week by winning the third Wachovia race, and by far the most important, the USPRO Championship Sunday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Health Net’s performance was most impressive: not only did they win three races with three different riders but American Chris Wherry became the USPRO Champion by winning Sunday’s finale.

This year’s USPRO Championship did not follow the script from the past few years. Either a small European lead breakaway goes off with a few Americans in tow and rides to the finish or the big teams pull the race back together for a field sprint where Fred Rodriguez manages to hold off the domestic American sprinters.

In an unusual turn of events, a large break went away early and stayed away for most of the race. The break had about 35 riders in it and all of the European teams were well represented with multiple strong riders in the break. Unfortunately, Bobby Julich and Fred Rodriguez missed that break were left in the unenviable position of sitting back and waiting, knowing they had teammates ahead. By the time they actually started to attack, the race was pretty much over. Danny Pate of Jelly Belly attacked and got a gap over the leading group just as it was caught by the chase group. Only Chris Wherry and Chris Horner of Saunier Duval-Prodir managed to get across to Pate. The three worked hard to stay away and then aggressively attacked each other all the way to the finish. In the end, Wherry took a very deserved victory that clearly was not unexpected by Health Net, which had come to the race with its own national champion jersey printed in hopes that one of its American riders would be able to use it.


Chris Horner Returns.

Chris Horner of Saunier Duval-Prodir had a great week. He finished third on Sunday after coming back from a pelvic fracture that has kept him out of action for several months. He was strong in all three Wachovia races and should be able to get some European results this season. His hope is to ride the Tour de France for his team, however, it is unclear if he will have sufficient form for a three week race starting just a month from now.


Americans Dominate America’s National Championship.

Unlike the national championships for virtually every other country in the world, the USPRO Championship is open to professional cyclists from all over the world. The first American finisher during the USPRO Championship is given the stars and stripes national champion's jersey. Some years the US National Champion has been the fifth or sixth finisher. The most impressive thing about today’s race was not that Health Net’s Chris Wherry won, or that Chris Horner had a good day, but rather the fact that the first five riders across the line were Americans. That has not happened for some time as European pros have had significant success over the years at the USPRO Championship. It is much more meaningful when the winner of the USPRO Stars and Stripes National Champion Jersey has won the race outright and is not just the first American across the line. In fact, of the first nine riders, six were Americans and three more rode for teams sponsored by American companies.

Dauphine Libere Recap.

Sunday was a good day for Americans in Europe as well. George Hincapie did not contest the USPRO Championship as he typically does on Sunday. Instead, he won the the prologue of the Dauphine Libere. It is clear that he will likely take on significant responsibility for Discovery Channel in the wake of the injury to Slava Ekimov which will leave Ekimov out of Discovery’s Tour line up. Americans Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner, Floyd Landis of Phonak and Lance Armstrong of Discovery Channel finished second, fourth and fifth respectively, all within six seconds of Hincapie’s winning time.

The Dauphine is an excellent test of fitness prior to the Tour de France due to its mixture of stages and disciplines over seven stages and a prologue in and around the Alps. The Dauphine runs through the week with a difficult time trial on Wednesday, a finish on Mont Ventoux on Thursday and four climbs on the way to Friday’s finish in Morzine that are either Category 1 or Hors Category. Armstrong is not likely to show all of his cards during this week’s race. However, if he fails to finish in the top ten it may portend bad things come July as there is not much time left to get the type of form he will need to win a seventh Tour de France.

The Cycliste Moderne, June 3, 2005

Wachovia Week is Here

The greatest week in American cycling, Wachovia Week, ends on Sunday with the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia. The race started on Tuesday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with one of the hardest US races of the year. Thursday, the riders competed in Trenton, New Jersey on one of the fastest courses in the United States.

Unique to all other national championships, the USPRO Championship crowns the US national champion in a race that is not limited to US professionals. As a result, the race attracts all domestic professional teams and some of the top European teams as well. Because the winner gets $40,000 and the first American across the line gets the Stars and Stripes Jersey of the US champion, it is a race that is probably the most heatedly contested race in the US during the year.

Sunday’s national championship will be a difficult race that is one of the longest in the US. The riders race up the Manayunk Wall ten times and the smaller Lemon Hill 13 times on a course that is 250km long. The Manayunk Wall is comparable to anything they have in Belgium. It is cobbled and the climb maxes out at 17%. Although the Manayunk Wall is difficult and the winning move typically goes away on this stretch, the last climb of the Wall is too far away from the end of the race to be decisive. It does serve the purpose, however of reducing the peleton significantly during the race.

Because the race attracts strong European teams who come to the US for the big pay day, it is only occasionally that an American wins both the race and the jersey. Over the last few years the winner of the USPRO jersey has been the third, fourth or even fifth rider across the line.

This year, some of the biggest European teams have come to race for American team leaders. Denmark’s CSC is riding in support of Bobby Julich who has expressed his desire to add the stars and stripes jersey of the USPRO champion to his career credits. Belgium’s Davitamon-Lotto has brought a strong team to support current USPRO champion Fred Rodriguez. Saunier Duval-Prodir of Spain has American Chris Horner as its leader. Each of those teams have foreign riders who could win the race with CSC bringing Lars Michaelson, Davitamon-Lotto bringing past race winner, Henk Vogels, and Saunier Duval bringing last year’s race winner, Francisco Jose Ventoso.

Surprisingly, Discovery Channel has sent a really strong team without an American who could potentially win the race. Instead, if Discovery manages to win it will most likely be by Roger Hammond of Great Britain or Max VanHeesswijk of the Netherlands.

Of the US domestic teams, Health Net is most likely to win the race having already won in Lancaster and Trenton this week. Canadian Gord Fraser is clearly on form but the whole team is riding really well and really smart at the moment. The team invariably gets multiple riders into key breaks and manages to have multiple sprinters ready to finish races. If Fraser does not win, Health Net could win with emerging spring phenom Tyler Farrar, Cuban speedster Ivan Dominguez or Kiwi fast man Greg Henderson.

As I already mentioned, the winner of the USPRO stars and stripes champion’s jersey will likely not win the race. However, Fred Rodriguez is riding into better form having finished second at both Trenton and Lancaster this week without much help from his jet lagged team. If his team rides strong and smart, Rodriguez could repeat as USPRO champion and also win the race. The sentimental favorite, however, has to be Bobby Julich who has been very aggressive in races leading up to Sunday’s final in Philadelphia.

Things You Don’t See in Europe

In 1999, I was fortunate to spend the week after Memorial Day at my aunt’s house in suburban Philadelphia. Kristin, Andrew and I got to see the race in Trenton. Friday night they had a street festival and hill climb in Manayunk. All of the domestic teams were present and had riders race up the climb. After the pros were done, citizens were able to test themselves. All the local racers competed and tried it. What was most surprising was the large middle aged woman on what appeared to be a three speed with a sheep skin saddle who lined up and who took her turn racing against the clock. She was not decked out in lycra and obviously did not care how long it took her. That is something you don’t see in Europe.

Unconscionable Commercial Plug

Former pro and documentary filmmaker Jamie Paolinetti captured the essence of the Wachovia Week races in his film “Pro” which was shot over all three races last year. His first film “The Hard Road” captured the difficulty that small domestic teams faces when they take on the larger and stronger European teams and top level American teams during the Wachovia Week races. They are compelling films in that they show just how serious even the Europeans take the Wachovia Week races. And of course you can purchase both at www.cyclista.com.

The Cycliste Moderne, June 1, 2005

Savoldelli Is Impressive.

Discovery Channel’s Paolo Savoldelli was most impressive in winning the Giro d’Italia. He did not whine or complain about his team’s lack of mountain support, recognizing the misfortune that had befallen his designated lieutenant, Tom Danielson. He raced his race and did not panic when attacked.

Certainly Savoldelli benefited from the tactical acumen of Discovery Channel’s directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel who now has an impressive eight victories in Grand Tours. Having directed US Postal Service to 6 wins in the Tour de France, Bruyneel merits recognition as one of the best tactical minds in pro cycling. The fact that Bruyneel has now directed a team to victory in both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana is even more impressive due to the varied nature of the three Grand Tours.

Bruyneel knows how to inspire and get the most out of his teams. There has been much criticism of the focus and methods of Bruyneel and Armstrong. However, you cannot dispute the results. Savoldelli’s career was on the rocks after he was injured for the last two years and jettisoned by Germany’s T-Mobile. Savoldelli showed strength and smarts and will now line up to support Armstrong’s bid for Tour number seven.

Final Grades

Now that the Giro is over we can give final grades.

A+ Selle Italia-Colombia. This team showed up for the mountains and got three stage wins, the mountain points title and a man on the podium. Venezuelan Jose Rujano finshed third and could have won but for his poor showings in the time trials. The team will be hard pressed to keep Rujano and Ivan Parra after their strong showings in the mountains.

A Discovery Channel-Pro Cycling Team. Paolo Savoldelli rode the smartest race of any rider in the peleton and won. The criticism of the team was unwarranted as Savoldelli has acknowledged that this is the first time he has raced the Giro with full team support even if they were not there to protect him in the mountains. Most teams would have collapsed when all of its climbing support is forced out by injury except for its leader.

A Liquigas-Bianchi. Great Giro. Danilo Di Luca rode the race of his life to finish fourth and potentially put the ProTour individual points race out of reach.

A- Team CSC. Ivan Basso came to win and would have but for a nasty intestinal bug. The team’s performance was to be commended and Basso’s two stage wins, after most other GC riders would have quit, merit praise. The grade reflects the disappointment of Basso’s performance.

B+ Ceramica Panaria-Navigare. The small Italian team did not show much during the second half of the race. It did finish with a rider in the top 10, however, and gets credit for its strong first week.

B+ Credit Agricole. Pietro Caucchioli finished 8th. Exactly what Credit Agricole expcected when it signed him. Best individual finish by a rider from a French team. Christophe Le Mevel also won stage 16. The team gets more credit than its other French brethren due to fact that this team always shows up at races and rides like a team. Best tactical team in France.

B+ Gerolsteiner. Gerolsteiner’s Markus Fothen finished 12th in the Giro and Sven Krauss, although he did not win the InterGiro competition, did win the Trofeo Fuga Piaggio and the scooter that goes to its victor. Good showing.

B- Quick.Step-Innergetic. Bettini has stage wins and Steffano Zanini won the InterGiro competition. However, Bettini’s conduct is still being discussed after the race has ended. Thus the team’s final mark is down significantly from its midterm grade of A-.

B Domina Vacanze. Serihy Honchar finished in the top 10 as he was hired to do.

B Illes Balears-Caisse D'epargne. Vladimir Karpets finished 7th overall. That still only gets you a B.B- Phonak Hearing System. Phonak had some activity in breakaways and some decent stage showings. Only good enough to improve the team’s grade slightly from the midway.

B- Lampre-Caffita. Gilberto Simoni rode hard to second place, yet his incessant promises of victory and complaints when he failed to deliver get a down grade from the A- at the mid point. Team finished last in the “Fair Play” Competition. Don’t know how that is awarded but it was obviously earned. Gibo, just shut up and ride!!!

C+ Saunier Duval-Prodir. The team has a rider climb to 5th on GC but I still cannot over look the long socks.

C Liberty Seguros-Wurth Team. Koldo Gil’s stage win is overshadowed by the team’s failure to do anything else thereafter.

C Rabobank. A gentleman’s C for the Dutch team.C T-Mobile Team. Erik Zabel is still one of the five fastest men in the world. Unfortunately, he has been racing in events that have the four faster men in the pack, thus his continuing lack of success. C for effort.C- Fassa Bortolo. Alessandro Petacchi went on to win three more stages after his victory in Stage 9, however, they all happened after the rest of the sprinters went home to avoid the mountains. High expectations doomed Fassa’s grade from the outset.

D+ Euskaltel-Euskadi. I forgot they were still in the race but the Basque team did have a rider in the top 20 on GC.

F Française Des Jeux. The next three grades all have something in common. Can you figure it out? Française Des Jeux did nothing after Cooke’s bust up with Bettini. Team finished last in the Team GC, six and a half hours behind Liquigas. Plus, the French voted down the EU Constitution because it was “too Anglo-Saxon”.

F Bouygues Telecom. Laurent Lefevre finished as the team’s top GC rider, in 35th place. Not acceptable, even if you are French.

F Cofidis-Le Credit Par Telephone. Cofidis had a rider in the top 20 on GC. However, it failed to do anything else and I bet you cannot name the team’s top GC rider. Thus the corresponding grade.

Incomplete. Davitamon-Lotto. Robbie McEwen won two stages and went home before the mountains while in the points leader’s Ciclomina Jersey. You get no credit for not finishing the course.


Blog Stuff.

Now that the Giro is over and things quiet down until the Tour de France, there will be some important races coming up and I will stay on top of those with previews and recaps. However, I am going to scale back in June to just publishing on Mondays and Fridays. I do not like to provide commentary on races that do not have a depth of coverage to distill because you all are reading those accounts anyway. Who knows, maybe in July I will publish daily.

Blog Stuff II.

I appreciate all of the input and comments I receive from those that read "The Cycliste Moderne." Last week I received an e-mail from Corri, a reader in Canada, who asked me to mention the bike blog http://www.bicycletrek.org/ . Corri's mother is riding across Canada to raise support for the BC Lung Association and is providing updates on the site. Check it out as it is a worth cause.