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.