Monday, August 29, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 29, 2005

The Vuelta

The last of the Grand Tours started this week, with the Vuelta a Espana commencing in Grenada, Spain. This year it is a little tough for me to get excited about the Vuelta. Maybe it is the complete absence of any US domestic television coverage. Maybe it is the burn out over a long season. Maybe it is the fact that with the ProTour bringing a relatively high level of racing to races throughout the year, the presence of arguably the weakest field of the three Grand Tours is a little tough to get excited about. Clearly the significant amount of racing required by the teams this season before the Vuelta has taken its toll on the peleton. The start list for the Vuelta is a veritable list of nobodies. In particular, the Italian and French teams have sent B teams at best.

I am not going to provide the level of coverage that I did during the Giro and Tour. The Vuelta should be exciting but it is not like my morning is going to be spent waiting for the stage results to stream through like I did for the Giro and Tour. Plus, since all the ProTour teams are contesting the Vuelta and I have already reviewed them for fashion sense, there is not a lot of Vuelta filler to throw out there.

Here are the big stories for the Vuelta. Can Liberty Seguros’ Roberto Heras repeat as champion after having had a really poor Tour? Heras had a strong opening time trial and has a lot to prove this year. Can Euskaltel-Euskadi finally have some results on home soil? The Basque team has had a largely unproductive season. Their only victories have largely been flukes and they bring former Vuelta champion Aitor Gonzalez to the race as their leader. Will Gilberto Simoni do anything and prove his worth to a team for next year? Simoni has had nothing but poor results since finishing second at the Giro earlier this year. For a guy that is out of contract and on the market, he needs to prove that he can still be competitive.

We will see what happens.

Hincapie Wins Again

George Hincapie of Discovery Channel continued his excellent season winning Sunday’s GP Ouest France-Plouay. The GP Ouest France-Plouay is second only to Paris-Roubaix in importance on the French calendar during the cycling season. Held in Bretagne, the race has always been important for the French. Hincapie’s victory in a photofinish over Alexandre Usov of Ag2r-Prevoyance was overshadowed by the jeers Hincapie received on the podium from the French fans. Now that they do not have Armstrong to kick around, they take it out on his friends and teammates.

Hincapie has won five races this season, finished second at Paris-Roubaix, had a strong showing at the Dauphine Libere and has maintained his form throughout the season. He has now moved up to 7th in the ProTour standings. He will contest the San Francisco Grand Prix in a couple of weeks which he won in 2001 and then will likely call it a season.

US Presence in ProTour Standings


Hincapie’s win at Plouay and Levi Leipheimer’s stage win and overall win at the Tour of Germany has put four Americans in the top seven of the ProTour standings. Armstrong is 3rd, Leipheimer is 5th, Bobby Julich is 6th and Hincapie is 7th.

Although all four of them are done for the season as far as ProTour points are concerned, with the exception of the World Championships in Madrid which Julich may contest, they are all likely to finish in the top 15 on the season.

Poor French Showing in the ProTour

Amazingly there are no French riders or riders from French teams in the top 20 at this point in the season in the ProTour standings.

The French are going to have to realize that their poor performance over the last twenty years has not been caused by drugs in the peleton but rather incredibly poor tactical racing and even poorer preparation. The great French champions Hinault, Fignon, and Jalabert are running races or providing commentary, not running teams. The French media have given French riders an easy excuse not to perform. If everyone is drugged except the French riders then they cannot win. Amazingly the French riders do not seem to care about their poor performances.

French teams have also become very insular in their racing. The Coupe de France series is very important to the French cycling teams. Historically only French riders or riders on French teams could acquire points in the series. As a result, it gave the French a skewed view of the level of quality of their riders and teams. Occasionally top riders like Armstrong or Ullrich would contest Coupe de France races for training.

However, the level of competition was not high enough to give the French teams a real measuring stick. While French stars such as Virenque, Brochard and Moreau would win occasional races, they have been at best only top 30 riders in the world. The lesser French riders and the lesser French teams have done little to develop domestic talent. When a potential star emerges in France, the hope for the next coming of Hinault has resulted, caused emerging riders such as Sylvain Chavanel to wilt.

As long as French teams whine that they cannot win because the peleton races at “two speeds” and insinuate that everyone else dopes, they will continue without champions. The French lose because they are not as talented as Ullrich, they do not work as hard as Armstrong, they do not have the killer instinct of Vinokourov, they lack the perseverance of Julich, and they are completely lacking in the joy of racing and winning exhibited by Cippollini.

It will be truly ironic if Cofidis signs Gilberto Simoni to be their GC leader for next year as the Italian rider is more French than most of his future teammates will be. He whines a lot, has ready excuses for his poor performance, and has gotten everyone to forget he was thrown out of the Giro for testing positive for cocaine, which he claimed first claimed came from an emergency dental procedure he had forgotten to disclose and then later that it came from a lozenge his grandmother gave him.

It has got to be the shoes.

Sometimes it is all about the shoes.

Friday, August 26, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 26, 2005

Le Dopage

There could only be one topic for this Friday’s Cycliste Moderne. The latest allegations that Lance Armstrong used performance enhancing drugs were made this week by French sports daily “L’Equipe.” The paper has long had an adversarial relationship with Armstrong. What is most troubling is Armstrong’s complete inability to rebut the latest allegations.

L’Equipe has reported that urine samples from the 1999 Tour de France have been subjected to the urine test for EPO developed prior to the 2000 Olympics and indicate that twelve tests were positive for EPO. Of those twelve, L’Equipe purports to possess the documentation necessary to identify six as being from Armstrong. L’Equipe has so far not reported who the other six positive tests belonged to nor has L’Equipe identified how it obtained the information linking the tests to specific riders, information that was to be confidential. Additional L’Equipe reports on Thursday indicated that French Police staked out Armstrong’s hotel on two occasions during the last Tour waiting for a man that was believed to be delivering performance enhancing drugs to the team.

The scrutiny that Armstrong has been placed under has been intense. Much more intense than the scrutiny endured by Alex Zulle and Richard Virenque, who were at the center of the 1998 Festina Scandal. What the Festina Scandal proved is that teammates will roll on teammates given enough motivation.

If any rider in the peleton had teammates that would likely not preserve the secrecy of the peleton, it would be Armstrong and his many former teammates. Armstrong’s alienation of his teammates is well documented. Many teammates have left his employ because they tired of his “all for one demands.” Many personal and team employees have left his service as well. He has endured a divorce. With the trail of relationship damage that has followed Armstrong throughout his career, if he were using drugs, there certainly would be those that would have tried to harm him by publicizing their accounts.

A prime example is Cedric Vasseur. Vasseur captured the hearts of the French in 1998 when he got the yellow jersey after a long breakaway and defended it valiantly while racing for the GAN team. Vasseur joined US Postal Service in 2000 on a two year contract. He raced that year’s Tour but was subsequently relegated to the status of a pariah on the team and was left off the 2001 Tour team. Upon leaving US Postal Service, Vasseur joined Cofidis where he has had some modest results. After he left, it became known that Armstrong had paid Vasseur a smaller bonus than the other riders on the team after his 2000 victory. Vasseur was clearly bitter about that and has expressed his resentment over never being able to race for his own results while at US Postal.

Vasseur found himself at the center of the Cofidis doping scandal where he was implicated by a teammate and spent considerable time in police custody before being exonerated. Certainly if there was a rider who knew the inner workings of the team, who had an ax to grind and who would suffer no negative publicity for coming forward with an account of Armstrong’s drug use, then it would be Vasseur. However, for all of Vasseur’s criticism of Armstrong, he has never implicated Armstrong in doping.

Similarly, Jonathon Vaughters has left the sport and is running his own domestic Under 23 development squad in Colorado, TIAA-CREF. Vaughters has been highly critical of doping in the sport and was on that 1999 Tour team when Armstrong won his first Tour. Vaughters had the misfortune of crashing on the Passage du Gois early in the Tour which resulted in a broken jaw and his withdrawal from the race. However, Vaughters has rejected claims of doping at US Postal in 1999.

What is most interesting is the response of those that would be expected to be the most crticial of Armstrong but who have expressed concern over the truthfulness of the L’Equipe story and the sensational nature of it. French sporting officials, WADA testing officials and others have raised their concerns over the validity of the tests and the legality of utilizing a sample that cannot be retested or verified to claim a rider doped. They have also criticized L’Equipe for only naming Armstrong and not the others who purportedly had EPO in their systems.

The problem for Armstrong is proving a negative. To most Americans it does not matter. These latest allegations will have no effect on the perception that Americans have of Armstrong. The average American’s interest with the Tour de France ended when Armstrong rode up the Champs-Elysees for the last time in July. To most Americans, Armstrong is that guy that beat the French up at their sport, dates a rock star and sold them their yellow Livestrong band.

For me it has been incredible watching Armstrong over the last seven Tours de France. To a certain extent his teams have been a lot like the New England Patriots. Armstrong’s teams certainly have not had the best individual talent, but they have been far and away the best team and had the best tactical direction. Each year Armstrong’s preparation has been the same and his strategy has been the same. His team has been much more cohesive than the others. Most years he has been significantly better than his opponents. No one has been able to challenge him. Most importantly he won five consecutive Tours after regular urine tests for EPO were introduced in 2000.

The allegations of doping have haunted him since he won his first Tour de France in 1999. He has been hounded by the media, investigated by French magistrates, and accused by fans. At the end of the day, however, the European media cannot deny that Armstrong won seven Tours by working harder and working smarter than his opponents. Drugs alone could not produce the consistent dominating performances that he has demonstrated.

Lance Armstrong has been an example of courage and hard work. However, that does not mean I want my kids to grow up and be like him, even if he never took drugs.

Tuesday, August 23, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 23, 2005

Leipheimer Holds On

Levi Leipheimer will likely have won the Tour of Germany by the time you read this. Leipheimer finished fourth on Sunday’s final stage in the mountains but managed to put another 30 seconds into Jan Ullrich. That set everything up for Monday’s 31km time trial.

Leipheimer and his Gerolsteiner team had expressed concern about whether the almost minute and a half gap that he had on Ullrich would be enough for Leipheimer to maintain the overall lead. Tuesday’s flat sprint into Bonn was unlikely to provide any opportunity for Ullrich to make up time. As such, Monday’s time trial would be decisive.

As expected, Ullrich won the stage. CSC’s Bobby Julich, who had lost significant time to Leipheimer in the first mountain stage, finished second. Leipheimer rode strongly to finish third on the stage, losing just under a minute to Ullrich. Had the stage been longer, Leipheimer very likely would have lost the overall to Ullrich who was the best time trialist in the race.

More suprising, however, was the gritty performance of Leipheimer’s teammate Georg Totschnig who managed to hold off Jorg Jaksche of Liberty Seguros and stay in third place by just six seconds. Gerolsteiner is certainly going to be pleased by the efforts of the team with riders in first and third and a significant mountain stage win.

Leipheimer has had a very strong performance this year and certainly can be happy with his performance on the bike. However, his performance in the Specialized ad campaign left something to be desired.

Young American Saul Raisin of Credit Agricole also had a strong time trial rider to solidify his top ten finish in the race.

Farrar to Cofidis

Emerging American speedster Tyler Farrar finally announced his signing with Cofidis this week. After winning the USPRO Criterium title in Downer’s Grove, Illinois on Sunday, Farrar confirmed the most poorly guarded secret in cycling. There had been much speculation as to whether he would sign with Cofidis which had started to pursue him after his success in last year’s Tour de l’Avenir. Moreover, Farrar had to address rumors early this year that he had signed with the French telephone credit team and denied that a deal was done at that time. Farrar can sprint and he can time trial. He will have the opportunity to learn from one of the best hard men in the professional peleton, Stuart O’Grady.

Domina Vacanze a new Superteam?

Lightly regarded Domina Vacanze is having an excellent transfer season which may get better still. The team which had Mario Cippolini’s former sponsor joining with the small Italian DiNardi team scored a major coup signing Italian rocket Alessandro Petacchi and several of the members of his silver lead-out train to a multiyear deal. The demise of Fassa Bortolo made the Italian speedster available.

Now European cycling outlets are linking T-Mobile’s Erik Zabel and possibly most of the German Continental Wiesenhof team with Domina Vacanze. Zabel’s arrival is supposedly tied to a new German sponsor and with Wiesenhof ending its sponsorship there has been much speculation about an Italian-German merger. On its face you wonder how two of the most dominant sprinters in the world can be on the same team.

However, the formation of the ProTour means that teams have to show up for all of the ProTour races. In the past, Italian teams were not necessarily interested in the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour de France frequently overlooked their Italian neighbors. Joining with Petacchi would give Zabel a team committed to sprinting that would get him back into the Tour de France, a race that Petacchi does not really seem to enjoy. There are more than enough races for both of them to ride and win without challenging the other. However, Milan-San Remo is a race both have won and a race they both want to win.

Friday, August 19, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 19, 2005

Levi Flies

Levi Leipheimer won Thursday’s high mountain finish in the fourth stage of the Tour of Germany. The finish was on the Austrian climb up the Rettenbachferner, which is more than 2670 meters above sea level. That is the highest climb and finish of any race in Europe this year and Levi Leipheimer put the hurt on the peleton.

His Austrian teammate Georg Totschnig came in second, just fifteen seconds behind, but was disappointed by his inability to finish with Leipheimer. Leipheimer rode away from his teammate in the last two kilometers after the Gerolsteiner teammates had isolated T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich and ridden him off their wheels. Leipheimer rode to put distance on Ullrich and recognized his teammate’s disappointment. However, Gerolsteiner as a team has to be very happy with the top two places on the stage and Leipheimer’s taking the lead in the general classification as well as the mountains classification.

Ullrich lost less than a minute to Leipheimer today and should be in good position for the 30km time trial later in the race to take the lead. However, it was a dominant day for the top three riders as they put distance on everyone else. The Tour of Germany will be won by either Leipheimer or Ullrich. None of the rest of the top ten can match their time trialing abilities.

Raisin Risin’

Young American Saul Raisin has had a relatively quite season for the French team Credit Agricole. Today he showed his potential by finishing two minutes and forty-six seconds back of Levi Leipheimer. That was good enough to move Raisin into the top ten in the Tour of Germany. Of the French teams, Credit Agricole has been one of the few to truly develop individual riders in a system that is helpful to English speakers.

Guidi Positive

In more bad news for Swiss team Phonak, Fabrizio Guidi had a positive doping test at the HEW Cyclassics earlier this month. Guidi’s positive is the latest in a string of doping cases for the Swiss team. With former world champion Oskar Camenzind, Tyler Hamilton and Santiago Perez all failing drug tests in the last year, Phonak’s ProTour status may again be in doubt. When the UCI denied Phonak its ProTour license last year as a result of the three positives during the season, Phonak was only able to compete after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ordered its inclusion subject to a shorter license period and a clear indication that the UCI could strip the team of its license in the event of additional positive tests.

Monday, August 15, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 15, 2005

Saunier Duval Wins Clasica San Sebastian Again

Saturday was the Clasica San Sebastian the most important one day race in all of Spain. Spaniard Constantino Zaballa of Saunier Duval-Prodir won the race soloing away from a late break. It was the second year in a row that Saunier Duval had won the Txapela (the flouncy black Basque beret that the winner gets at the finish). Saunier Duval’s Joaquin Rodriguez finished second in the race and Saunier Duval’s American Chris Horner finished 11th overall. It was an excellent day for the modest Spanish side. A rolling course with a couple of significant climbs, the course favors an all around rider who can climb.

Many have forgotten that Lance Armstrong won this race back in 1995. He is the first and only American to win the race. Most forget that in 1992, Armstrong competed in the race as his first ever as a professional, racing for Motorola, turning pro after the 1992 Olympics. He finished alone in 111th, the last man across the line more than 26 minutes behind the winner. The second to last group finished more than ten minutes ahead of Armstrong.

Chris Horner Transfer News

I have never been a really big fan of Chris Horner. Although he has dominated the American racing scene for years, his attitude really turns me off at times. The good news this weekend is that Horner will be joining Davitamon-Lotto next season on a two year deal. This is a good move for Horner, whose first stint in Europe in the late 1990’s with Francaise de Jeux was an unmitigated disaster, he was not prepared emotionally for the difficulty of racing in France for a French team. He has had an excellent season, however, for Saunier Duval-Prodir. Coming off an early season injury which limited his racing, he had a strong week leading up to the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia, where he finished third. Then he won a mountain stage at the Tour de Suisse and competed at his first Tour de France where he showed some real aggression.

At 33 he is a little old to finally be making something for himself this season in Europe. A two year deal with Davitamon-Lotto, a team which is not particularly deep when it comes to riders who can climb, will likely give Horner some excellent opportunities over the next couple of years. Racing domestically has probably prolonged his career and I would not be surprised if he came back to the US and was able to dominate until he was 40.

Simoni Watch

With one stage left to go in the Volta a Portugal, Monday’s 36km time trial in Viseu, Simoni has strengthened his grip on 109th place. He is over two hours behind the leader and with his time trialing abilities being what they are it is unlikely that Simoni will be able to overcome that deficit and catch the current leader Barloworld-Valsir’s Vladimir Efimkin. I think Gilberto came to Portugal solely for the queijadas (little cheese cakes that are to die for) and Sumol d’Ananas (an oddly refreshing pineapple soft drink), which are Mrs. Cycliste Moderne’s favorites as well.

Manhattan Beach Grand Prix Results

Sunday was the 44th Manhattan Beach Grand Prix one of the most prestigious criteriums in the United States. Health Net, unsurprisingly, swept the Pro Men’s race with Greg Henderson finishing just ahead of his teammates Tyler Farrar and Ivan Dominguez. Those are three incredibly fast guys and reaffirm Health Net’s domestic dominance in 2005. With the speed that Health Net has as a team and its team discipline, they really have to mess up a finish not to win every sprint race in the United States. On the women’s side, T-Mobile guided their German rocket to the finish. Ina Teutenberg finished strong just as she always does.

Deutschland Tour

Monday is the start of the Deutschland Tour. Historically held prior to the Tour de France, the German national tour’s inclusion in the ProTour has seen its status rise as it not only attracts the top German riders but all of the ProTour teams. Jan Ullrich is expected to come and race for the win. The move to after the Tour de France means that the top riders in the race will not have to hold anything back. I would expect really strong performances from Ullrich and the rest of T-Mobile, Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner and Jens Voight of CSC. Bobby Julich could close the gap to ProTour leader Danilo DiLuca with a strong showing in the race. DiLuca will race but had a poor showing at the Clasica San Sebastian due to illness. DiLuca has a significant lead but he will need to mark Vinokourov, Julich and Rebellin for the rest of the season. He should win the ProTour overall but he needs some results here in the last half of the season. We will have more on this race on Friday.

Friday, August 12, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 12, 2005

Bobby J Continues His Most Excellent Season

Bobby Julich won the Benelux Tour with a monster time trial performance on Wednesday. Even though the course was just 26.3 km, Julich vaulted himself from 12th into 1st with his stage win. He managed to win the stage by more than 37 seconds and managed to win the overall over local favorite Erik Dekker of Rabobank by 21 seconds.

The Benelux Tour proved to be more difficult than people had expected with long, flat, windy stages. Moreover, the level of competition was higher than it had been in the past due to the inclusion of the race in the ProTour. Julich came to the race with high expectations, but wind and rain during the opening prologue caused him to ride conservatively and that he lost 25 seconds and finished 89th on the stage. He came through strongly at the end to vault into the lead on the final stage.

Julich has maintained form throughout the year starting with his victories at Paris-Nice and Criterium International. His win in the Benelux Tour vaulted him to 4th in the ProTour standings. Although it is unlikely that he will over take Danilo Di Luca’s lead in the ProTour, Julich is heading to the Tour of Germany, another ProTour event, and has to be considered a possible winner at that event as well.


Discovery Future

Discovery Channel had an excellent showing at the Benelux Tour. Leif Hoste returned to racing after a tough spring and rode well finishing on the podium in third. Max Van Heeswijk won his first two races of the season.

More impressive, however, was the emergence of Discovery’s young guns. Belgian Jurgen Van Den Broeck finished 8th overall. Young Slovenian Janez Brajkovic emerged for Discovery with a most excellent performance. He finished 17th and had an excellent time trial.

Although names like Hoste, Van Heeswijk, Van Den Broeck, and Brajkovic are not Armstrong, Hincapie, or Hamilton, it is clear that Discovery has really done a good job of recruiting emerging talents from around the world for the team. Discovery Channel is in good hands for the future.

Boise's Kristin Armstrong Takes Third at Track Nationals

Boise's Kristin Armstrong took third at the US Track Nationals in the women's pursuit in Los Angeles on Wednesday. She set a personal best in the third place race. Pretty good for someone who does not live anywhere near a velodrome.

Boise really could use a velodrome. It is the perfect place for one. Large number of elite cyclists. Year round riding and training. Unlike the Alpenrose Velodrome in Portland and the Marymoor Velodrome in Seattle, it never rains here and they could probably operate it 11 months out of the year. In light of Boise City's sweetheart deals for a new climbing gym and the proposed whitewater park downtown, I don't see why Mayor Bieter just does not fork over the cash that is needed to build Boise a Velodrome. Boise Parks and Rec could even put it in Ann Morrison Park so it is close to the Greenbelt and sponsor Greenbelt Cruiser Races on Friday nights.

Volta a Portugal Update

Well, Gilberto Simoni returned to racing in Portugal after his period of fatigue following the Giro. Of course he has not torn things up at all. Hopefully the teams that are interested in him do not read the Portuguese sports papers because his performance has been utterly pitiful. After six stages Simoni sits in 115th place almost an hour and a half behind the leader and as discussed on Monday. It is not like he is racing against Armstrong, Basso, and Ullrich.

Some no name Russian is leading the race and some no name Portuguese and Spanish and Bulgarian guys are chasing.

Sunday, August 07, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 8, 2005

Sorry that I have not kept you up to date as to the status of pro cycling over the last week. My real job got in the way of doing what I like. That said, there was a lot of interesting action during the past week.

Tour of Denmark

The Tour of Denmark concluded Sunday with a dominating performance by Ivan Basso.
The Tour of Denmark is obviously important to Team CSC as it is based there, and they brought a strong team. However, the Benelux Tour, which is a ProTour race, is occurring simultaneously and Team CSC has also sent a strong team to the Benelux Tour with Bobby Julich as their leader. The ProTour has had an effect on some of the smaller races with fewer top pro teams contesting the smaller stage races, like the Tour of Denmark, the Volta a Portugal and the Vuelta a Burgos, which are all occurring as the same time as the Benelux Tour.

CSC is just one of three ProTour teams to be at the Tour of Denmark this year, along with T-Mobile and Rabobank. That said, Basso’s performance, even if it is over a weaker field, is impressive. Basso won the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th stages of the six stage race. Basso won just about every way you could conceive. He countered an attack at the very end of stage one to upset the field sprint, he won from a solo breakaway, he won from a two man breakaway, he won the individual time trial.

After the efforts he put in at the Giro d’Italia and at the Tour de France, Basso could be taking it easy. He has had a season that most pro’s would dream of but instead, he is showing a level of professionalism that has been lacking in the pro peleton for some time. He is racing in Denmark solely because that is what the team wants him to do. And more importantly, Basso is racing to win, every day. Basso has given a truly old school performance this week.

Volta a Portugal

This week is the 67th Volta a Portugal. This is a race with a long and underappreciated history. The Volta a Portugal has long been the focus of the domestic Portuguese teams. Very few Portuguese racers ever race outside of Portugal. That is not due to a lack of talent as evidenced by the careers of Joaquim Agostinho and Jose Azevedo. Rather, there is so much racing in Portugal and there are so many domestic teams, which have historically been affiliated with one of the major soccer teams, that a rider could make a decent living and have a significant career just racing locally.

The Volta a Portugal used to be over two weeks. However, UCI reforms have resulted in the shortening of the race to ten stages. In my book, after the grand tours and the Tour de Suisse, the Volta a Portugal and the Peace Race are the most important stage races in the world. Unfortunately, the Peace Race has been canceled and may not ever make it back.

Due to the size of Portugal, virtually every inch of the country is visited over ten stages. Moreover, due to the heat that exists in Portugal in August, it is not an easy race by any means.

The ProTour has had an effect on the field at the Volta a Portugal with Lampre Caffita and Fassa Bortolo being the only two ProTour teams competing. Fassa Bortolo has significant commercial dealings in Portugal so that is not a surprise. Lampre’s participation is a surprise and their team leader, who has naturally already promised great things at the race, is the one and only Gilberto Simoni. Simoni, however, finished the first stage in 120th place almost two and a half minutes back.

The Volta a Portugal has never been a big draw for top professional teams. However, the race is the highpoint of the Portuguese season and attracts every one of the domestic Portuguese teams as well as the usual assortment of smaller Spanish teams. The racing is usually very agitated as each of the domestic teams is trying to prove they are the top dog in Portugal.

When I lived in Portugal in 1988-1990, even though the country only had two television stations at the time, the Volta a Portugal was covered in depth each day with live coverage of the finish of each stage. In fact, in 1989, I knew more about what was transpiring at the Volta than I did about LeMond’s amazing victory at the Tour de France which were being run concurrently.

If you follow the Volta a Portugal, you may not know who most of the riders are or who sponsors the teams. Just know it is some of the most hotly contested bike racing in the world each year.

For more on the history of this great race check out http://cyclolusitano.com/ipw-web/portal/cms/index.php.

The Benelux Tour

This race is new arising from the UCI’s requirements for the ProTour. The UCI mandated the combination of the Tour of Holland and the Tour of Belgium and thus the Benelux Tour was created. Although it resulted in the destruction of two separate and truly distinct races, its inclusion in the ProTour has resulted in significantly better teams and riders than in past years.

Unfortunately, the race will not get to Luxembourg this year and the race will pass through Germany so it might be more aptly called the BeneGer Tour.

The one highlight so far is Discovery Channel’s Max Van Heeswijk breaking through for his first sprint win of the season.

However, Sunday’s stage was interrupted when the race comissars led the riders off course and had to stop the race and restart it to correct the mistake. You would think that if you are going to run a national tour, you would get the directions right.

Monday, August 01, 2005

The Cycliste Moderne, August 1, 2005

Just because the Tour is over does not mean the cycling season is over. There are other races to look forward to and other things to consider.

HEW Cyclassics Cup Recap

Sunday marked the return to ProTour racing with all the top teams back in action in Germany. Historically, the HEW Cyclassics Cup was a world cup race that lent itself to sprinters. This year a few more climbs were added but the race certainly is not as difficult as many of the older spring classics. In fact, the race has a relatively short history, first being contested in 1996. With the rise of the ProTour, the race retains its status as one of the top races; the quality of the field was probably enhanced by the ProTour.

The race marked the return to racing of ProTour leader Danilo DiLuca. He has a large lead in the ProTour’s individual standings and is likely to win the season title. He had a rather unremarkable day, however, finishing 52nd on the day.

It was not surprising that a rider from Quick.Step-Innergetic won, as Paolo Bettini has finished on the podium at the Hamburg race each of the last two years. It was surprising that two Quick.Step riders, Filippo Pozzato and Luca Paolini, came to the line together and contested the sprint, with Pozzato winning the race.

Even with an exciting finish, the HEW Cyclassics Cup is not a race that is easy to get excited about.

LuK Challenge Recap


Saturday was the two-man time trial, the LuK Challenge in Buhl, Germany. Although the race is a UCI rated event, it is not a ProTour race. However, that did not stop it from attracting some of the best time trialists in the peleton.

For the second straight year, Team CSC’s Bobby Julich and Jens Voigt won the race. Julich and Voight finished more than a minute and a half over the second placed team from Gerolsteiner. Discovery, Gerolsteiner, T-Mobile, Credit Agricole, Quick.Step and Rabobank all sent riders to contest the race.

The LuK Challenge also has a two-woman time trial in conjunction with the men’s race. It was won by Judith Arndt (Ger) and Trixi Worrack (Ger) of Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung.

LuK is most famous for being the German automobile parts manufacturer that also sponsors Didi Senft, builder of unique and large bicycles and the “Devil” who chases riders during the Tour de France and other races.

More Zabriskie Bad Luck

David Zabriskie cannot get a break. After his stellar performance at the Giro d’Italia and his win at Stage 1 of the Tour de France, things looked on the up for Utah’s Zabriskie. After two injury plagued seasons, he was finally having the types of results that his career had long promised. However, another fluke accident has put him out of commission for a couple of weeks.

While in Denmark to compete in a post Tour criterium, Zabriskie cut his hand in several places when he put it out to stop a glass door from closing on him. The glass shattered and severed a nerve. Zabriskie had surgery Saturday to correct the damage and will be in a cast for up to a month. Poor guy.