The Cycliste Moderne, September 26, 2005

World Championship Recap

Tom Boonen proved a worthy World Champion in Madrid on Sunday. Boonen had been tabbed as a favorite, however due to the configuration of the course, the disharmony among the Belgian team, and his lack of results at the Vuelta a Espana, Boonen did not come to the race as the expected victor.

On a day when most of the favored riders managed to stay together and out of trouble, it was a late move by Boonen which enabled him to earn the right to ride next year in the rainbow jersey of the world champion. He is the first Belgian World Champion in 9 years and this, together with his spring victories at the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, clearly marks him as the strongest one day rider in the peleton. What is amazing is his ability to perform so well in the long one day races as well as to contest sprint finishes in the Grand Tours which tend to be flat out displays of pure speed. He has speed, he has strength. And at age 24 has further cemented his place as the “Young Lion of Flanders.”

In the days leading up to the race, organizers succumbed to the complaints of riders and team directors about the danger of the last hairpin turn before the finish. The 180 degree change of direction in the last 600 meters of the race had been viewed as favoring Robbie McEwen. However, the turn was eliminated after the course was reconfigured using adjacent streets to make the turn much less severe. In the end it did not matter as on the last lap of the day, a break with such aggressive riders as Alexander Vinokourov and Paolo Bettini were unable to hold off the hard charging Belgians who overcame their sponsors’ animosity to work perfectly together as a team. As the race hit the final turn, the chase caught on to what was left of the day long break and Boonen powered to victory.

The sprint favorites of Petacchi, McEwen, Zabel and others unfortunately lost ground during the last lap and came in about thirty seconds later. Not surprising was the performance of Spaniard Alejandro Valverde who finished second. Another emerging talent, Valverde possesses the all around ability to both climb and sprint. Remember, he won a mountain stage over Armstrong at the Tour de France before being forced out with injury. Valverde was questionable for the World Championships as he did not ride the Vuelta a Espana. It was probably something of a disappointment to finish second at home, but Valverde certainly will be a world champion in the future.

The biggest surprise was not the poor showing by the sprinters, the strong team tactics shown by the Belgians or the come back of Valverde, no, it was the third place performance of French rider Anthony Geslin. Geslin rides for the French Bouygues Telecom team and was certainly not on anyone’s list for the top three.

Why Team Tactics Matter #1

Roger Hammond of Discovery Channel and Great Britain finished in the second group and could have factored in a sprint finish if that had happened. However, Hammond was left wondering why the small British team spent much of the day chasing down breaks that would have been better left to the larger and more powerful Belgian, Italian, Spanish and German teams. Great Britain came to the race with just six riders where as the bigger teams all started with nine. Had they really been smart, they would have made sure that Hammond had just stayed on the wheel of McEwen or Petacchi and stayed out of trouble until the end.

Why Team Tactics Matter #2

Dmitry Muravyev of Kazakhstan and Saul Raisin of the United States worked together to chase down an early break and once they got into the break worked together to keep it away. Clearly neither rider was a favorite coming into the race but they were credited as being some of the strongest riders on the day as they helped animate the early race and put some order to it. Why would two young riders work so well together? Could it have something to do with the fact that they both rider for French team Credit Agricole? Probably. Saul Raisin has shown that he is an emerging talent in Europe with his strong performance at the Tour de l’Avenir last month and his other recent performances.

Why Team Tactics Matter #3

The Belgians clearly were the strongest team on the day. They showed much more cohesion than many thought possible. The team was almost entirely made up of riders from the Quick.Step team and the Lotto-Davitamon team. Last year, Quick.Step and Davitamon were co-sponsors of Tom Boonen’s team. There was a business dispute which caused team management to sue Davitamon for failure to pay the amounts it had promised as part of the sponsorship agreement. Davitamon was ultimately ordered to pay but took its sponsorship to Quick.Step’s Belgian rivals at Lotto. The national director was criticized by Quick.Step’s management for not providing Boonen with enough support as a majority of the team was comprised of Lotto-Davitamon. There was concern among the Quick.Step camp that the Lotto-Davitamon riders would not ride for Belgian leader Boonen but rather for Robbie McEwen, their Lotto-Davitamon teammate. That did not prove to be the case and the Belgians begrudgingly worked together to capture the rainbow jersey.

Friends Don’t Let Friends Eat Dodgy Seafood

Both the United States and Canada lined up without riders who have had good seasons. Neither American Christian Vande Velde of Team CSC nor Canadian Michael Barry of Discovery Channel made the start on Sunday. Both were teammates at US Postal Service and both recently completed the Vuelta a Espana. To celebrate their success and the upcoming world championships they took their wives out to a nice restaurant for dinner on Wednesday.

Apparently both riders were victims of that dish which has caused many a cyclist to withdraw from races: the bad seafood cocktail. The Canadians were able to make a last minute change and get a replacement for Barry into the race, but the Americans went ahead and scratched Vande Velde and started with just seven of the American’s nine available slots filled. At least once a year a rider of some renown is unable to perform as a result of intestinal distress brought on by bad shrimp, clams, mussels, etc.

I like clams and other shellfish, however, I will not eat them when I travel to Europe. Regardless of whether it is a fine restaurant like the one Barry and Vande Velde are reported to have dined at (a Michelin rated establishment) or Jonk’s Discount Huis of Clams, you just do not know where your shellfish have been living. While living in Portimao, Portugal, I used to observe the clam diggers out on the tidal flats digging clams and mussels. The problem was that the tidal flats where they dug were down stream from the shipyards and the sewage plant. If the e. coli did not get you then certainly the high levels of toxic waste would.

As Kirsten Dunst’s character in the Minnesota beauty pageant mockumentary “Drop Dead Gorgeous” noted, “I don't eat shellfish. Mom always says, ‘Don't ever eat nothin' that can carry its house around with it. Who knows the last time it's been cleaned.’” Never has better advice been given to anyone looking for dinner in a European restaurant.