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?