The Cycliste Moderne, May 22, 2006

Giro Recap

Well, we could provide stage recaps but in reality, watching this year’s Giro d’Italia is a lot like watching Armstrong win six of his seven Tours de France. The first climb and the first time trial put such a strangle hold on the race that it is pretty much over after those two events, usually during the first half of the race. That is exactly what happened this last week.

Ivan Basso has reaffirmed his stature as the best Italian stage racer in probably 20 years. That may be sacrilegious for Pantani fans, but let’s remember that Pantani was never a well-rounded stage racer. He was a marginal time trialist at best and he never had strong teams around him. Pantani’s victory in the Tour de France came during the Festina doping scandal which decimated the peleton. Pantani could put major time into opponents on major climbs, but he would give a lot of that up during time trials or during the transition stages where inattention can cost an inattentive rider time in a difficult finish, finishes like some of those during the first week of this year’s Giro.

Basso, on the other hand, has shown strength in all areas. He is tactically aware, not permitting time to slip away to rivals. Over the last two years his time trialing ability has greatly improved. As shown this week when he finished second, about thirty seconds behind Jan Ullrich, Basso’s skill against the clock has greatly improved. The Stage 11 course was a very flat course that favored those riders that could generate big power. Ullrich was expected to do well and he did. Basso was expected to do well, but he almost matched Ullrich on the course. The pure climbers again lost a lot of time to Basso.

Basso has also shown that he learned well from watching Armstrong. He attacks when it makes sense to attack, like he did on the first mountain finish of this year’s Giro, a stage that was not expected to create big time gaps but that had the potential to break up the leaders due to the short but steep finish. He has put the hammer down against the clock showing that like any of the great Grand Tour champions a rider cannot consistently win a Grand Tour if he is not one of the best time trialists in the field. He is on a team that has a director who understands the importance of the team to win a Grand Tour and his team sacrifices everything for him.

Basso is far and away the most complete rider in the Giro this year. His ride has been truly Armstrongesque as he attacks to put his stamp on the race, conserves his energy when appropriate and has ridden a race that leaves his rivals scratching their heads. Savoldelli, Cunego, Simoni, and Di Luca really have not been able to match Basso’s efforts at all. Rujano had been a disaster being more than nine minutes behind after the time trial in Stage 11. Rujano could have have put the hurt into Basso and his team this final week with three mountaintop finishes, but he abandoned on Saturday demoralized and at odds with his team. Basso very likely can win both the Giro and the Tour de France this year.

Final Week Preview

This final week starts with a flat stage on Monday for the sprinters. Then the route heads into the mountains for a brutal slog to Milan. With the midweek forecast being for rain, the climbs are not going to be easy or fun. The heavily awaited finish on the Plan de Corones is likely to be a complete mess as they just finished “surfacing” the dirt road to the summit in the last week and it has been very wet, so wet that there is serious concern about the integrity of the road surface over the final stretches to the summit. Pictures of the last 5km to the ski lift at the summit can be seen at both Velonews.com and Cyclingnews.com. If it keeps raining, I do not see how they can keep the finish at the summit. If they are forced to move the finish down the mountain, it will certainly benefit Basso who only has to play defense on the road to Milan.

Just Riding Along

Saturday was the annual charity ride for the Treasure Valley Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. Cyclista has supported this event for several years and Mrs. Cycliste Moderne served on the organizing committee. It has been a good event for our family and supports a cause that we feel is important due to the family history we have with blindness. Saturday was the first time the entire Cycliste Moderne family rode together in a charity ride. It was not supposed to happen.

Mrs. Cycliste Moderne had intended to put up the Cyclista booth, help the event organizers and wrangle the two-year-old while I rode with one kid on the tandem and the other on his bike. With a child now wanting to ride his own bike, I am no longer riding centuries or dragging a kid for 25-35 miles. So we committed to just ride the 10-miler thinking the 9-year-old was ready for that.

However, Friday night as Mrs. Cycliste Moderne was getting stuff ready we lost power in the midst of a nasty thunderstorm. In light of her interrupted preparation and the possibility of bad weather she announced that we were not going to put the Cyclista art out for display and purchase. I said, “Well you wanna ride?” She said she would but having flatted earlier in the week, her new Specialized was not in rideable condition. So I did what any reliable bike mechanic would do, I took the front wheel off of my road bike and put it on hers. Solved that problem.

Saturday morning, we lined up with my parents, all decked out in our Cyclista team kits and rode the 10-mile route. My parents actually finished first of the Team Cyclista group. My tandem with the Burley kid stoker kit and the Bell trailer was not able to stay with them because, well, kids won’t eat bananas on the road and that is a lot of weight to drag up very small rises in the road. You have to stop at the rest stops and let them out. The toddler tried to escape to Sunset Park’s playground when I let him out and that added five minutes to the rest stop. Mrs. Cycliste Moderne rode with the 9-year-old and showed him he is not yet Ivan Basso if the climb up Collister and Pierce Park are too much for him.

Anyway, we all got back safely, we all had fun, and we actually sold some bike stuff. More importantly, the power finally came back on at our house after 12 plus hours. We now know that all five of us can go do charity rides if they have a route that is fairly flat and about 10 miles long. I cannot wait until they get a little bigger and we can go at least 25 miles for our $30 entry fee. One thing to be said for the National Federation of the Blind: they don’t give out water bottles, they don’t give out t-shirts. They give out socks. Everybody needs socks.