The Cycliste Moderne, July 8, 2005

Vino Shows His Strength

T-Mobile’s Alexander Vinokourov showed his form during Thursday’s Stage 6 into Nancy. Attacking about 2km to the finish, after difficult conditions and a difficult climb, Vinokourov was powering to a possible win. However, with 1km to go, the riders took a hard right on the rain-soaked road and many of the top sprinters crashed into the barriers.

Vinokourov managed to stay upright and finished second behind Lorenzo Bernucci of Fassa Bortolo. Lance Armstrong and many of the other GC contenders were caught up behind the crash. Since the crash happened in the last 3km of the race, all those delayed by the crash were given the same time. Race officials awarded Vinokourov the same time as Bernucci and the rest of the main peleton was given the time of the third place finisher seven seconds behind.

Vinokourov came out of the stage picking up seven seconds on Armstrong and a twelve second time bonus for second place on the stage. I still believe that Vinokourov is the best rider on T-Mobile this year. He has an opportunistic eye for stage wins and is willing to attack much more than some of his teammates. He has shown himself to be stronger in the mountains this year during the run up to the Tour de France than he has in past years. Discovery Channel would be wise to keep a closer eye on Vinokourov and not let him get away under any circumstances.


Heading into Germany

Stage 7 takes the riders over rolling hills into Germany on Friday. It is certainly not an easy stage; however, Friday will likely be a day for the sprinters, especially since the next few stages do not lend themselves to field sprints.

Saturday’s Stage 8 will start in Germany and head back into France. It starts with 4 third category climbs in the first 50km and finishes with a second category climb in the last 50km. It is not a true mountain stage and has a downhill finish but Saturday’s stage will further mix up the general classification. Stage 8 is the type of stage that Vinokourov can win. It’s finish is very similar to Stage 9 of the 2003 Tour de France when Vinokourov attacked over the last 1000m climb and raced in over the last 20km of the stage. That was the stage when Armstrong, Ullrich and Beloki were chasing Vinokourov down and Beloki had his disastrous crash.

Sunday is a difficult day for the peleton even though there is a relatively flat ride in over the last 60km into Mulhouse. The day starts with a ride through the Vosges, the mountains located in northeastern France. The ride includes 4 third category climbs, a second category climb and a first category climb. The climbs are not as long or as difficult as those later in the Tour and the finish is relatively flat, so it is possible that the peleton will regroup before Mulhouse. That said, Sunday’s stage will be a day for an opportunist who can get away and stay away. Discovery Channel will have to watch Vinokourov on this stage as it, too, is a stage tailored to his talents.


Tour Fashion Review #4

Bjarne Riis has done an excellent job with a modest budget at CSC. The red and black of the team's kit are distinctive. As the primary sponsor, CSC’s logo is prominent and memorable. However, the secondary sponsor’s logos have become quite busy on the front of the jersey over the last couple of years. The logo on the team’s shorts for “ALM Brand” looks like a short logo you would find on a US club team’s shorts for “Bob’s Plumbing Supply.” A couple of years ago, the team added black and white highlights on the jersey that kind of remind me of feathers. Feathers are never good, even if the team has expertly used black, red and white. CSC gets a B-.

Illes Balears from Spain has one of the worst color schemes in professional cycling. The team emerged from Banesto which had the classic red, white, blue and yellow that Miguel Indurain wore while winning five Tours de France. When Banesto dropped its sponsorship, the government tourism division of the Baleric Islands (Majorca, Menorca and a couple of other islands) came to the rescue. They integrated the color and logo schemes for Illes Balears into the team’s kit. Fortunately for us all, the Baleric Islands have decided to sponsor a basketball team next year and the team will be sponsored by some French financial entity called Caisse D’somethingorother. Their jerseys have to be an improvement next year. Illes Balears gets a D.