The Cycliste Moderne, September 24, 2006

2006 World Championships Recap

This weekend marked the crowning of this year’s world champions for men, women and under 23 riders in the road race and time trial. With a hilly course in Salzburg, Austria, the road race was expected to favor an all around strong rider as opposed to a sprinter. However, recent hilly worlds’ courses, like Lisbon, Portugal in 2001, which saw Oscar Freire win his second world championship jersey, have not been sufficiently difficult to create a significant selection and keeping the race from resulting in a field sprint. Hamilton, Ontario in 2003 did have enough climbing to break up the race, although the winner Igor Astarloa, who has won a fair number of technical races, was kind of a fluke.

Paolo Bettini of Italy proved a deserving winner as the race ended with a field sprint. Bettini, Il Grillo or the “Cricket,” is a deserving winner. He is a fairly quick sprinter but he also is an accomplished all around rider who has shown his ability to stay with the toughest men in the peleton. He has won most of the big one day races that have any climbing to them. He has won the World Cup in the past. He is the reigning Olympic gold medalist. He probably would have won in Lisbon in 2001 had a teammate not chased him down. Bettini has never whined about his bad luck at Worlds or criticized his team. Bettini is a deserving winner.

However, the course for the World Championships needs to be revisited. It has been ten years since there was a truly climber focused world course. Although this year was expected to shake things up more than in recent years, that did not happen. Bettini is a deserving winner and would have likely been able to win this year on a flat course or a mountainous course. However, every four to five years, there ought to be a World’s course like Liege-Bastogne-Liege that truly tests the peleton and does not end with 30 riders in the main group. Additionally, the course has to be difficult enough that it does not result in a one-hit wonder like Oskar Camenzind in Valkenburg, Netherlands in 1998 or Romans Vainsteins in Plouay, France in 2000 or Igor Astarloa in Hamilton.

The Americans had an excellent Worlds. Americans brought home gold, silver and bronze, all in the time trial. Kristin Armstrong won the women’s time trial with a dominant performance. California physician Christine Thorburn finished a strong third. Dave Zabriskie finished second to his CSC teammate, Swiss time trial champion and general all around rider Fabian Cancellara, who blew the field away. Idaho now has its own world champion.

The American Press is Stupid

Many mainstream press websites picked up a wire service story about significant turnover after the season on Discovery Channel. Most reports focused on the fact that eleven riders who had ridden with Lance Armstrong would be leaving at the end of the season. There seemed to be some insinuation that recent doping allegations or personality conflicts were the cause of the departures. Additional discussion occurred regarding the fact that George Hincapie was the only rider who had ridden with Armstrong in the Tour de France who was remaining with the team.

What was largely unreported was that eleven riders represented only about a third of the total riders on the team and that one departure was caused by the retirement of Slava Ekimov, who was moving into team management, and Jose Azevedo’s decision to ride domestically at home in Portugal so he could spend more time with his family. Moreover, the media seemed to have no knowledge of the fact that most riders are only on one or two year contracts with contracts of three years or longer being incredibly rare in cycling thus, each team has the potential of losing one third to half its riders at the end of any season.

To the contrary, the cycling press focused on who Discovery had signed for next season, including Levi Leipheimer who is returning to the team after three seasons at Rabobank and two at Gerolsteiner, the signing of the first Chinese national ever to sign with a top professional team, Fuyu Li, who had become the first Chinese rider to win a UCI rated race when he won the Tour of Thailand. Also joining Discovery are Uros Murn, a Slovenian rider currently with Phonak, Olympic medalist Sergio Paulinho of Portugal, currently with Astana, and Tomas Vaitkus, AG2R’s Lithuanian sprinter. As a ProTour team, Discovery will have approximately 30 riders, so a change of eleven is not that significant of turnover in the grand scheme of pro cycling.

Discovery continues to demonstrate its commitment to having a roster that is diverse and international, just like the network. Next season, the team will continue to have a strong international flavor with riders from at least 12 countries under contract. The team will continue to have a strong Belgian and American flavor reflecting its management. So contrary to what some think, Discovery, although an American team, does not view itself as the American national team, but rather a team that expands the network’s branding internationally.

The Cycliste Moderne, September 17, 2006

Vuelta Recap

Alexandre Vinokourov was a deserving and aggressive winner of the final Grand Tour of the season. Having been forced out of the Tour de France as a result of the implication of four teammates in the Operacion Puerto matter prior to the Tour, which left the team with fewer riders than regulations permitted, Vinokourov was clearly motivated. His new team, Astana, exists solely because of his efforts as he brought in a consortium of Kazakh businesses to sponsor what was left of the Liberty Seguros team.

There are questions about the team's future as a ProTour team as its relationship to Liberty Seguros has caused both the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana to attempt to exclude the team outright. Additionally, former management continues to contest the charges that destroyed Spain's number one team, Liberty Seguros. Astana rode incredibly aggressively througought the race and Vinokourov won his first Grand Tour showing the fearlessness he has exhibited througout his career.

Discovery Channel won the team classification, had a stint in the amarillo jersey, had two stage wins and put four riders in the top 12 on GC. It was an excellent result that will be unappreciated by Americans because (a) the Vuelta was not widely covered and (b) an American did not win. In the post-Armstrong era, Americans will have to become more sophisticated than they have been previously in following cycling.

The race also is a warm up for next week's World Championships in Austria. Although the Austrian course does not favor the bunch sprint finish that occurred last year, the winner of the Arc En Ciel World Champion's jersey will likely be worn by a rider who showed good form at the Vuelta. I think this year's World Champion could be Thor Hushovd, the Norwegian hardman who rides for Credit Agricole.

The Cycliste Moderne, September 14, 2006

Ride When You Can

I have been getting rides in when I can and the result has been that I have been riding after dark. With my lights and with the lack of traffic, it is a pretty relaxing time to ride. Plus, ride time passes much more quickly when you cannot see your bike computer or your watch.

I am surprised however, at the number of people that ride in the dark without lights, reflectors, or bright clothing. They also ride against traffic, ignore traffic signals, and weave all over the place. Just one more obstacle that you have to deal with to get your ride time in. A little bit of common sense goes a long way.

More Dope

Frankie Andreu's admission this week in the New York Times that he had doped leading up to the 1999 Tour de France spawned the expected quick and direct response from Lance Armstrong and US Postal Service/Discovery Channel management, as well as the immediate claim of Dick Pound that Armstrong obviously must have doped since people around him had doped.

Andreu was terminated by the Toyota-United team after returning from doing Tour de France coverage for OLN. The explanation had been that he had failed to attend to team duties. However, the termination came on the heels of leaked arbitration testimony that Andreu had given in Armstrong's action against the insurer who had refused to pay bonuses after he won the Tour de France for the fifth time.

Andreu reiterated this week that he never had seen Armstrong dope, that he was not aware of any other riders doping on his team, and that he had not done it during the 1999 Tour. That said, Discovery has threatened legal action, and the UCI said they don't know what Andreu thought to accomplish with his late admission.

The Cycliste Moderne, September 10, 2006

David Millar

David Millar won Saturday's time trial at the Vuelta a Espana. Overall, the top general classification riders matched each other's performance and as a result there were no real changes in the GC. After winning Saturday's stage, Cyclingnews.com reported that Millar proclaimed that he had done it on "bread and water" and that professional cyclists can perform at the highest level in the biggest races without "medical help."

Millar had announced that in coming back to race after his two year suspension for using EPO that he would be racing to show it could be done clean. Millar's suspension came about, not because of a failed drug test but was discovered only when his house was searched a couple of years ago in the then ongoing Cofidis investigation and police turned up used vials of EPO which Millar had used and kept after winning the World Championship in the time trial in 2003.

While it is good to see a rider come back from suspension with a new outlook on racing and a commitment to racing clean, I do have difficulty with riders who come back from doping suspensions and attempt to draw attention to the problem of drugs in sport by being vocal as to how well they now race without drugs. I also have issues with Millar, who has always seemed to have more promise than commitment and who has engaged in a variety of “enfant terrible” acts over the years.

In 2002, after crashing several times and getting hit by a team car on the stage of the Vuelta a Espana ending on the feared slopes of Angliru, Millar was given an “abandon” after he got off his bike a meter before the finish, removed his race numbers and place them on the ground and left without crossing the finish line. He had started the day in the top 10 in the GC but ripped into race organizers for a stage that was too difficult under poor conditions.

Millar had long been predicted to be the Anglo heir to Lance Armstrong. However, a few years ago in a profile of Armstrong by Sports Illustrated as its sportsman of the year for 2002, the difference between the two was demonstrated. During an interview for the article, Armstrong took a call from Millar. Armstrong had been training, Millar was out partying and drunk.

After the 2002 season, Millar was quoted by French sports paper L’Equipe as criticizing his team Cofidis for compensating the team’s riders based upon their performance. Millar felt that he was lacking the support of the team to win big races because the team’s compensation structure encouraged riders to ride for themselves.

Millar never had the maturity to be a great champion. Maybe he has it now having been suspended, losing two seasons on the bike, being forced to come back with Saunier Duval, not the biggest of teams. However, the more you hear a guy proclaim he is changed, the less you believe it. It is unfortunate that every professional athlete who announces that they have learned from their poor decisions, generally have not.


Riding in the Smoke

Air quality has been horrendous here in Boise the last week due to the large number of forest fires burning in Idaho and the hot stagnant weather. Last Thursday, the soccer league canceled all practices and games for the rest of the week. So having left the office early to come home and coach my daughter’s practice, I found myself with a free evening. So, once the Boise State-Oregon State game hit half time I decided to go for a ride. Mrs. Cycliste Moderne thought I was just going to hop on the trainer but instead I went out for ride on the roads.

The wind picked up and there was a fair amount of dry lightening. The amount of electricity in the air wreaked havoc with my heart rate monitor as a portion of my ride took me along a segment of old power lines in our neighborhood. As I was doing big laps around the Morris Hill Cemetery, my heart rate would go from 165 BPM on the side of the cemetery without power lines but then spiked to 229 BPM on the side with the power lines. I knew I was not having a heart attack just a malfunctioning heart rate monitor.

Anyway, I paid for my hour ride in the smoke on Friday as my eyes were sore and red and my lungs congested. So what did I do? Went for a ride Saturday night as well. The air was slightly cleaner and my heart rate monitor worked just fine.

The Cycliste Moderne, September 4, 2006

USPRO Recap

The Labor Day weekend was the revamped USPRO Cycling Championships in Greenville, SC. Historically the USPRO Champion was crowned at the Philadelphia CoreStates/First Union/Wachovia race in June. As an open race, the first American finisher was named USPRO Champion. While Philadelphia was the richest one day race in the United States and attracted top European teams to a difficult course, because the Philadelphia race was open to all nationalities, over the past few years, the USPRO Champion was typically an American who finished third or worse. Additionally, many seasons, a minor American pro would get into the break with 4-5 europeans and sit back and get hauled to the line. The result was less than recognizeable US Champions.

Because the race conflicted with the Giro d'Italia and the Dauphine Libere, over the past eight years or so the top Americans have not been in Philadelphia. With the loss of the sponsorship of Wachovia and a desire to head in a different direction USA Cycling did one of the smarter things they had done in a while. They opened the USPRO road and time trial chamiponships up to a request for proposal and decided to move the race from Philadelphia in June to Greenville in September. The later date provided greater opportunities for top European based pros to come back and race for the Stars and Stripes Jersey.

Additionally, the USPRO time trial championship had been contested in conjunction with the US Elite Amateur races and had not been contested by top US pros based in Europe for a long time. Putting the events together meant that odds were good that the national championship jerseys would see more time in Europe next year.

Last year, Chris Baldwin won the time trial and Chris Wherry won the road title. This year they both road for Toyota-United and the team was clearly motivated to defend their titles. With the USPRO Championships open only to US riders holding professional licenses the domestic pro teams showed up clearly outnumbering the European based professionals that came to contest the race. David Zabriskie of Team CSC, Levi Leipheimer of Gerolsteiner, George Hincapie and Jason McCartney of Discovery Channel were the only pros to return from Europe as Fred Rodriguez and Chris Horner of Lotto Davitamon were both riding the Vuelta a Espana, Bobby Julich of Team CSC has wrapped his season up and Floyd Landis is well, that is another story.

In the time trial, on what to proved to be a very difficult course, Baldwin put in an epic effort to defend his title. He had the lead over time trial specialist Zabriskie until he went down in the final turn and was forced to switch bikes. Zabriskie ended up winning by thirty seconds. Baldwin would have won but for the crash. Zabriskie was expected to win due to his time trialing prowess so while disappointing, Baldwin certainly showed he is an international caliber time trialist. Zabriskie maybe could have gone faster if he had been more aerodynamic.

Toyota-United lined up at the start of the road race with 9 riders as did Health Net. TIAA-CREF showed its domestic development focus by bringing fifteen riders to Greenville. Navigators showed up with four riders evidencing the fact that it is a truly international team in its focus. The other minor domestic teams showed up as well to try their luck against the handfull of European pros. At the end of the day, they all should have just stayed home.

I have previously documented the unlucky season that George Hincapie has had. With a disasterous crash at Paris-Roubaix when his fork disintegrated and having been taken out in the final 50 Meters of the Benelux Tour which he was leading, Hincapie was in excellent shape and was in no mood to lose the USPRO Championship. It also helped that Hincapie's domestic base is Greenville, SC and he is very familiar with the course and the one big climb on each lap. Sure enough, even though the European based pros were outnumbered, Hincapie and Leipheimer worked the domestic riders over what proved to be a very difficult course. Hincapie won his second USPRO title of his career. It will be great to see the Stars and Stripes Jersey racing at the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix next spring.

Less Racing, More Cycling

With all the negative press about cycling at the moment, I sometimes forget that I loved bikes long before I knew what the Tour de France was or before I could even spell pave or Vlaanderen or Roubaix or Ventoux or Anquetil. Sometimes, you may wonder even if I can spell in English. From the time I got my first bike it was the most liberating thing I ever received from my parents. I remember in detail every bike I ever owned or rode. I remember every significant crash that I ever had. I remember all of the truly epic bike rides I have done since I was a kid.

So, I am not abandoning what I love, just trying to focus it again. I want my kids to love bikes and the freedom they afford, even if they never "turn a crank in anger" as Phil Liggett would say. Today, I don't race. I gave that up a long time ago. But I do love bikes and that is why we started Cyclista and CyclingMovies.Com. I have also written a lot about bikes. As such, I am going to try to include more in the future of the Cycliste Moderne about cycling, not just cycle races. Obviously, this is a seasonal thing as well as the Vuelta a Espana is the last major event before the World Championships.

And Finally

Oh, the stuff you find on the Internet that is bike related.