The Cycliste Moderne, July 20, 2005

Geoff has been writing a brief for three days straight so Kristin gets to help out again.

Tuesday Recap

Tuesday night, I was asked how Lance had done in the stage. I had to think really hard to remember that Lance didn’t really figure into today’s race. “Status Quo” isn’t want people want to hear. They want to hear that Lance attacked and finished 10 minutes ahead of everyone. That scenario just isn’t being played out this year, anywhere. Armstrong is marking his closest rivals, keeping an eye on those a little less close, and seems to be happy with “Status Quo,” as long as that means staying Yellow by a bunch.

Now, had someone asked me how Oscar Pereiro or Cadel Evans did today, I’d have a better answer. Evans made the break that moved him from 11th overall to 7th, a move that I’m sure didn’t scare Armstrong much but certainly pleased the Davitamon-Lotto rider. A stage win would have been better, but Oscar Pereiro took a page out of the George Hincapie book, sat on Evans in the closing kilometers and took out the sprint at the line. Somehow I don’t think that Cadel Evans will be whining about his loss as much as Pereiro did after losing to Hincapie on Sunday. It’s strategy, pure and simple. As in any sprint, one rider gets lucky, one doesn’t. Sunday it was Hincapie, Tuesday it was Pereiro. And in cycling it is almost always the guy coming to the line in second place conserving his energy. To complain when you came a bit short is unsportsmanlike.

Wednesday’s stage from Pau to Revel is this year’s longest at 239.5 km. The stage profile features several Cat 3 and 4 climbs, but we can probably expect a bunch sprint at the end without any change to the GC. It is questionable whether Andreas Kloden of T-Mobile will begin the stage after x-rays showed a broken hand which Klodi sustained in an early crash. Not being able to grip a handlebar could be troublesome on the longest stage.

Sad Day in Germany

Not to end with a downer, but in the cycling world there are bound to be a few. While training in Germany on Monday, six riders of the Australian Institute of Sports team were plowed down by an 18-year-old driver. They were prepping for the Thueringen Rundfahrt, a women’s stage race that was to begin Tuesday. The driver entered the street from a side road, overcorrected and took down the six women. 29-year-old Amy Gillett died instantly, and the other five riders were rushed to the hospital with serious injuries. Each of these five riders face potentially career ending injuries. On Tuesday, a memorial service was held in lieu of the prologue of the Theuringen Rundfahrt and the Australian contingent of the Tour wore black armbands in memory of the fallen riders.

As Baden Cooke (Française Des Jeux) told Cyclingnews.com, “It's every cyclist's nightmare to be involved in an accident like that. You do everything you can to avoid crashes, but it doesn't matter how good a bike rider you are or how careful you are, a car ploughing into you is something you can't do anything about.” This is a valuable lesson to learn, and I used it on Tuesday when my 9-year-old son asked if he could ride a mile to the dollar store with his 8-year-old buddy and his 12-year-old sister on one of Boise, Idaho’s most dangerous streets. I’m sure Amy Gillett’s bike handling skills are far superior to my son’s, but there are certain variables that I cannot control. Many Australian families are mourning today because someone’s momentary lack of control, and I told my son NO.

More of Geoff’s Fashion Reviews

Liberty Seguros

Liberty Seguros is sponsored by the Spanish branch of the American financial services and insurance company Liberty Mutual. Thus the team that used to be ONCE has a Statue of Liberty motif and blue instead of yellow jerseys. Secondary sponsor Wurth takes a prominent position on the team’s kit with its big red W. Wurth is a German conglomerate that makes screws, bolts and other fasteners. This is really a team that you do not join for free sponsor product.

Although Liberty Seguros won the Vuelta a Espana last year, they have had little success at the Tour de France. Jorg Jaksche has had a strong performance but the rest of the team has not. The mixture of navy blue and royal blue and robin’s egg blue just does not do it for me and neither does the team. That gets you a C.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is one of the best, if not the best, financed team in the world. They have the backing of Deutsche Telekom. Their clothes come from Adidas. They have been one of the strongest teams in the world for ten years. And this year they take Pepto Bismol Pink to a new level.

T-Mobile and Team Telekom before that has always had pink in their color scheme. Deutsche Telekom uses pink in its marketing throughout the world. Pay phones in Germany are pink.

That said, a classic and simple design like T-Mobile’s current kit cannot withstand fashion evaluation when it comes with a solid pink jersey. Fortunately, they have shorts that normal guys would buy. Classic design cannot overcome the inherent weakness of pink as your primary color. T-Mobile gets a D+ just because.