The Cycliste Moderne, March 26, 2006

Criterium International Recap

The 75th Criterium International took place this weekend in the hilly region of northern France along the Belgian border. The race is unique as it is intended to be a “mini-Tour de France.” Three stages take place over two days. Saturday is a flat stage for sprinters, Sunday morning is a short but hilly stage for the climbers, and Sunday afternoon is the usually decisive short time trial.

Historically, the winner of Criterium International has been a strong general classification rider who does well in the climbing stage and then either wins or finishes high up in the time trial. The list of past winners is a whose who of grand tour podium finishers. Jacques Anquetil, Raymond Poulidor, Bernard Thevenet, Bernard Hinault, Joop Zoetemelk, Sean Kelly, Miguel Inderain, Laurent Fignon and Laurent Jalabert are all past winners. American Bobby Julich has won the race twice in 1998 and again last year.

This year marked Team CSC’s third consecutive win at the race following Jens Voight’s 2004 win and Julich’s win last year with Tour de France favorite Ivan Basso winning Sunday morning’s climbing stage and taking second in the afternoon time trial.

Saturday’s sprint did not go as planned as an early break got away including most of the expected favorites including Floyd Landis of Phonak who had already won Paris-Nice and the Tour of California. However, Landis crashed late in the stage ending his chance to win the race. Rabobank’s Erik Dekker was aggressive and ultimately won the stage finishing just ahead of Basso.

Dekker stayed with Basso on Sunday but had a late mechanical that gave Basso the stage win and GC lead. Basso then rode a strong time trial to secure his victory. Criterium International is a good barometer for who is on track for quality results in the Grand Tours come May and July. Certainly Basso is on form and should be strong for both races if he elects to actually ride both this year.

One Week to the Tour of Flanders

Next Sunday is the Ronde Van Vlaanderen or Tour of Flanders. It is probably my favorite race of the year because you do not win the Tour of Flanders by being lucky (as many recent Paris-Roubaix winners have been). The winner of the Tour of Flanders wins by being able to ride away from the peleton.

Tom Boonen will be back to defend his title and won his third consecutive E3 Prijs Vlaanderen on Saturday in Belgium. The race is an important warm up for the Tour of Flanders including many of the same climbs that the riders will go over next week. The key move of the day came on the Paterberg about 40km from the end. The Paterberg is very short but very steep with an average gradient of over 12%.

Oscar Friere of Rabobank showed good form winning Sunday’s Brabantse Pijl. Although Boonen did not ride Brabantse Pijl, Friere defeated a strong field and showed that his ongoing back problems may be resolved.

Discovery Channel has had strong rides from its classics team this spring with Leif Hoste, Roger Hammond, Stijn Devolder and Max Van Heeswijk all riding well at the moment. Discovery could have the most depth of any of the teams at the Tour of Flanders next week, but that depth did not help them last year when the team failed to cover the late move of Tom Boonen even though they had Armstrong and Hincapie in the final group.

The dark horse could be Alessandro Ballan of Lampre-Fondital. The Italian rider has had good form this spring and has been very aggressive. Ballan was part of the almost decisive break at Milan San Remo last weekend finishing 8th and finished second to Boonen on Saturday. He has shown excellent form and is not intimidated by any of the main riders.

During the Tour of Flanders, the Paterberg comes too early to be decisive, however, if you are not in the lead or close to it after the Koppenberg you probably won’t win it. The Koppenberg is the place where riders lose the Tour of Flanders.

The Cycliste Moderne, March 22, 2006

Milan-San Remo Recap

Quick.Step raced a perfect team race in Saturday’s first one day classic of the year. It was perfect strategy which yielded a surprise winner. Although Tom Boonen was clearly on form and Paolo Bettini had recovered from his hard crash in last week’s Tirreno-Adriatico, it was the surprise finish of Filippo Pozzato who took the win for the Belgian-Italian team.

Pozzato had covered a late break for his teammates. It appeared that Quick.Step had intended to have Bettini attack on the Poggio and save Boonen for the sprint. Milram had ridden hard all day in order to keep leader Alessandro Petacchi out of danger and ready for the sprint. By the end, though, Milram had spent the team and Petacchi only had Erik Zabel for the final sprint. Rabobank’s Oscar Friere was looking good late in the race as well; however no one expected the manly man performance of Pozzato who managed to ride away at the end to victory.
When a small group got away late in the race, Pozzato covered the move for his team and the six man break away held off the peleton until the last 600 meters. At that point Rinaldo Nocentini of Acqua e Sapone attacked and Pozzato covered his move. The two stayed away and with 400 meters to go Pozzato jumped of the front and road away. Although Petacchi was able to close the gap, the race was 100 meters too short and Pozzato got the win. Petacchi was second, Luca Paolini of Liquigas was third and an elated Tom Boonen finished fourth.

You can see the last kilometer of the race at OLNtv.com if you have a broadband connection.

The happiness of the Quick.Step team in the victory was refreshing to see. Boonen and Bettini were both obviously thrilled by their younger teammate’s result.

Teams that ride strong races should be thrilled to win. Clearly Quick.Step rode a better tactical race than Milram. Had Milram not spent its entire team on chasing the breakaways all day long, Petacchi would have likely won. Milram will have a long classic season if they ride the way they did on Saturday. If you are going to try to control the race and set it up for your sprinter, you better make sure the team is up to it and that you have not expended the entire team 20km before the finish.

How not to Prove Rehabilitation

The UCI and USA Cycling cracked down on domestic professionals this last week after photos and results showed upon the internet for an unsanctioned criterium in Boulder, Colorado and showed Tyler Hamilton racing and finishing in the top 10 against top US domestic professionals. The Tyler Hamilton Foundation was a sponsor of the race series and race organizers decided not to sanction the races with either USA Cycling or the ACA, the other primary sanctioning body in Colorado.

The UCI swiftly announced its intention to punish any professional with a UCI license who participated in races with Hamilton. USA Cycling similarly announced that domestically licensed professionals would be sanctioned for participating in races that permitted suspended riders to participate. Last year, Hamilton had participated in the Mount Washington Hill Climb without any repercussions as it too was not sanctioned by USA Cycling.

Rather than risk punishment for any of the domestic professionals Hamilton announced that he would not participate in the charity criteriums but that his foundation would continue to sponsor them.

All of this has transpired while Vileness has run a very detailed account of the Hamilton doping case from both Hamilton’s perspective and that of USA Cycling, the US Anti Doping Agency and the World Anti Doping Agency. Many of the letters to the editor in the various online cycling publications have been highly critical of Hamilton over the past few weeks since the decision was handed down on his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The moral of the story is that as seen in the case of Richard Virenque, David Millar, and Adam Bergman that even convicted dopers who do not admit that they doped until after they are punished will be embraced by the public for their heroism in admitting their guilt after they are caught and punished but that those who proclaim their innocence will be vilified as liars and cheats. Now as I have indicated earlier, I do not know if Hamilton doped. There certainly is evidence to support both his guilt and his innocence. However, it is disconcerting to see dopers be rehabilitated merely by confessing their guilt.

Certainly, Hamilton’s continued profession of innocence and willingness to not just go and hide during his suspension but to try and race wherever he is legally permitted to do so is an irritant to the bodies that suspended him.

The moral of the story and it is something I discussed frankly with clients at various times in my career, is that everyone loves a repentant sinner and that people are highly suspicious of and hostile towards individuals who proclaim their innocence. Unfortunately, it is often cheaper and easier sometimes to admit to wrong doing, even if you don’t think you did anything wrong, to take whatever punishment is levied and move forward than it is to attempt to prove your innocence.

Marla Streb Pregnancy Photos
For those that did not know, gravity goddess and scientist, Marla Streb is pregnant, however that did not keep her from the first media appearance of the season for the Luna Chicks team this last week. Here is evidence that they make race outfits in maternity sizes. Scroll down the page to the best shot of the last woman in the world you every would have thought would be having a baby.

The Cycliste Moderne, March 13, 2006

Paris-Nice Victory for Landis

American Floyd Landis became just the second American winner of the first ProTour race of the year by winning Paris-Nice on Sunday. Having shown strong form in winning the Tour of California, Landis was certainly among the favorites heading into the “Race to the Sun.” However, Landis won the Tour of California by destroying the field in the individual time trial. Landis won Paris-Nice by destroying the field during the first significant mountain stage, accompanied by little known Spaniard Patxi Vila, who one the stage.

Amazingly, Landis’ team managed to keep him out of trouble, even if it looked week at times and did not face any real attack from Vila who appeared to be happy racing for second place overall. American Chris Horner was also impressive with his tenth place finish for Lotto-Davitamon but he certainly benefited from the early season start in California as well. Discovery Channel teammates Jose Azevedo and Chechu Rubiera finished sixth and ninth respectively showing early season stage racing form.

American Bobby Julich, last year’s winner of Paris-Nice, won the opening prologue for this year’s race and wore the leader’s jersey for one day. However, Julich did not start on Sunday.

Milan-San Remo Preview

Next Sunday is Milan-San Remo the first of the classic single day races of the season. Based upon early form it is clear that current world champion Tom Boonen of Quick.Step has to be considered a favorite. With three stage wins at Paris-Nice, Boonen already has ten wins this season. His chances may have suffered a blow, however, with the injury to his teammate Paolo Bettini, during this week’s Tirreno-Adriatico while leading the race. Bettini had won two stages before crashing hard and ending up being transported to the hospital. Certainly the teammates would have been formidable requiring all the other teams to mark them as they hit the final climbs of the race before the finish in San Remo. Boonen is strong enough currently that he can win with power and does not necessarily have to ride a strategic race.

Another rider to watch is former world champion Oscar Friere who is also showing good form at Tirreno-Adriatico. Friere has been limited by back problems over the past few years. He is currently leading Tirreno-Adriatico and has shown he is still the equal to some of the fastest men in the peleton. The only legitimate sprinter/hard man Spain has produced in some time, it would not be surprising for Friere to duplicate his victory in 2004.

The final rider to watch, last year’s champion Alessandro Petacchi, has also shown excellent form this spring. Petacchi already has a handful of victories this year but the integration of Petacchi and German supersprinter Erik Zabel at Team Milram has shown some difficulties as Petacchi was beaten on Saturday at Tirreno when his lead out train did not show the precision that Petacchi is clearly used to and Thor Hushovd of Credit Agricole got around Ale-jet at the finish.

The Cycliste Moderne, March 6, 2006

Paris-Nice Kicks Off ProTour

Paris-Nice, the first ProTour race of the year, started Sunday with a prologue outside of Paris. The “Race to the Sun” is an important race to kick of the season, however, over the past few years it has declined in stature and was ultimately acquired by the ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France. Moreover, the winner of Paris-Nice generally is not a factor in the Grand Tours later in the year.

With their strong showings at the Tour of California, Team CSC’s Bobby Julich and Phonak’s Floyd Landis should be primed for strong finishes next week when the race ends in Nice on the 12th. Bobby Julich, last year’s winner, had a strong prologue on Sunday in Issy-les-Moulineaux to take the first leader’s jersey. Tom Boonen of Quick.Step rode strongly to finish fifth in the prologue just three seconds behind Julich. Boonen will likely take the leader’s jersey after Monday’s opening road stage.

ProTour Protests

The fight between the Grand Tours and the UCI over the ProTour does not show any sign of abating. The Grand Tours announced their wild card selections for each of the races. Each of the Grand Tours will have the twenty ProTour teams together with two wild cards. The wild card selections are not a surprise. The Giro d’Italia announced that Ceramica Panaria – Navigare and Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni would be invited to participate. Both teams have participated before and both have had Latin American climbers that have made the race exciting in the past, although being small Italian teams they both wear jerseys that look like something NASCAR would find too much. I think Ceramica Panaria – Navigare is sponsored by a ceramics company and a shoe company, while Selle Italia-Serramenti Diquigiovanni is sponsored by the bicycle seat manufacturer. I have no idea at all what a “Serramenti Diquigiovanni” is or whether I would need one.

The Tour de France selected Comunidad Valenciana and Agritubel. Comunidad Valenciana (formerly Kelme) is probably the strongest non-ProTour team in Europe and Agritubel is the top non-ProTour team in France and was nearly the recipient of a wild card last year during its first year at the top professional level. (Agritubel is sponsored by a French manufacturer of agricultural tubing and fixtures, so I guess that if I had an agricultural tubing or fixture need in France, then I would call Agritubel and their sponsorship would have been effective.)

The Vuelta a Espana also selected Comunidad Valenciana as well as Team Relax. Neither selection is a surprise as both teams are strong domestic Spanish teams and have historically been invited to the Vuelta. (Relax is a Spanish mattress company.)

The announcement of the wildcards this early in the season removed some of the politicking that had happened in years past. However, it did not end the controversy, even though all six wild cards go to teams that are deserving. Cyclingnews.com is reporting Team Unibet protested over the weekend at its exclusion from the Grand Tours by racing with black armbands and hinting that its sponsor would be leaving the sport after its non selection. Being the fourth best team in Belgium and wearing green jerseys will not win you any friends at all.

Moreover, Team Unibet has hardly built itself to be competitive at the top levels of stage racing. The team is a collection of second tier racers, non-descript Belgians and a few convicted dopers. It is not like a great travesty of justice was done when this minor team was not selected for the Grand Tours. Even if the ProTour system were not in place, which would guarantee the first 20 starting positions at all three Grand Tours to ProTour teams, and if each of the Grand Tours were free to invite 20-24 teams of their own choosing, I guarantee you that Team Unibet is not on anyone’s top 30 list of professional cycling teams. The number one rule of protesting is to make sure your protest has merit and will appeal to a sense of injustice. Team Unibet’s protest is a lot like the protests you saw in college where affluent, privileged, white students protested social injustice by refusing to go to class. It was never like anyone cared what they did or thought.

Bikes Galore

This weekend was the annual Boise Bike Swap. I had been eyeing a new road bike for Kristin and was inclined to buy her a Trek with Shimano 105 components. However, I managed to pick up two bikes at the Bike Swap for what I had budgeted for Kristin’s new bike. I found a 43cm Fuji with 650 wheels and a “parts is parts” Shimano drive train which is just about the right size for my nearly 10 year old aspiring racer. Kristin meanwhile got a brand new Specialized Allez with the super compact 50cm frame. It too has a “parts is parts” Shimano drive train but she is not planning on racing the domestic criterium circuit so I got a good deal on it as well. My parents purchased a 2004 Raleigh tandem that is just like my 2004 Raleigh tandem so you will likely see me and a child out with my parents on their new scarlet and black tandem. Both tandems were new inventory that World Cycle put out at the swap each of the last two years. Now, I just need to figure out what I will purchase for myself.