The Cycliste Moderne, September 19, 2005

Vuelta Recap

The Vuelta a Espana ended with Roberto Heras of Liberty Seguros taking his third consecutive golden jersey and his fourth overall. Those four wins give Heras the all-time record for number of Vuelta wins. Heras looked shaky at times during the first two weeks, including a very bad crash which resulted in stitches after the stage. However, after being unable to break free of Denis Menchov of Rabobank for the better part of two weeks, Heras put in an incredible attack on the last day in the mountains to take control of the Vuelta.

Amazingly, Heras finished second on Saturday’s final time trial stage to solidify his lead. Heras has never been particularly strong as a time trialist. On Saturday, with the golden jersey on his shoulders and a tailwind, Heras came within one second of taking the all-time speed record for a time trial in a Grand Tour. Ruben Plaza of Communidade Valenicana won the penultimate stage to set the record. Plaza averaged 56.218 km/h over the 38.9 km course.

Going into the stage, it certainly did not look like a stage for Heras. Although his time trialing skills have improved, he has had some really poor time trial results over the years. In amazing performances for the top three riders at this year’s Vuelta, second placed Denis Menchov of Rabobank and third placed Carlos Sastre of CSC all finished within six seconds of Heras.

American Tom Danielson finished eighth to become just the third American to finish in the top ten at the Vuelta a Espana. Only Lance Armstrong, who finished fourth in 1998 and Levi Leipheimer who finished third in 2001, have had better results in Spain. Danielson endured a stomach bug that almost took him out of the race but fought for his position.

Tour of Poland Finale

The Tour of Poland also ended on Sunday. The result does not really matter, however. The only item of importance from Poland was the fact that Danilo Di Luca, who is leading the ProTour, finished fifth overall to increase his lead in the ProTour. With the season winding down, it is likely that Di Luca’s run in the white of the ProTour leader will continue. It is disconcerting though that Alexander Vinokourov, who was the one rider who could potentially have caught Di Luca, was not permitted to start in Poland due to bureaucratic problems. Poland failed to issue the Kazak rider a visa to permit him to start the race. You have to wonder if the Tour of Poland should have been included as a ProTour event when it lacks the political infrastructure necessary to timely process and approve rider visas.

US Domestic Rumors

As the US domestic season winds down, the next big event is Interbike, the cycling industry trade show later this month. For the top domestic teams, Interbike is frequently the time and place where new teams are announced, new sponsors revealed, and rosters solidify. It appears that the US development team TIAA-CREF, which is managed by former pro Jonathan Vaughters, will be adding a major sponsor and increasing its presence in Europe. It sounds like the team will move beyond the Under-23 development role which it initially occupied. Additionally, there are rumors of a new domestic team that will sign some of the strongest riders off the Health Net roster. Regardless of the outcome, Health Net will not likely be as strong next year with Tyler Farrar’s departure for French power Cofidis. 2006 sponsorship and rosters will become clearer once the Interbike announcements are made.