The End of the Classics

The Ardennes Classics

This week represents the end of the Spring Classics. With last Sunday's Amstel Gold Race followed by Wednesday's Fleche Wallone and today's Liege-Bastogne-Liege, the most important one-day races from the first half of the season come to an end. This is typically an opportunity for the GC men for the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France to test themselves and each others. The "Ardennes Classics" are as hilly as the "Flanders Classics" are flat. Although, the climbs of the Belgian and Dutch countrysides are usually significant enough to break things up, this week's races were almost an exact replay of last week's Amstel Gold Race. Large groups in good conditions brought danderous breaks back very late in the gam eto put a large group of the men you would expect to be at the front for these races together at the end.

Wednesday's Fleche Wallone ended with the peleton together for the third and final climb of the Mur de Huy. Although the Mur de Huy has areas approaching 20% it is only about 1.5km long so while it breaks things up on the final results, typically, the final attacks of the leaders only occur over the last 500m. Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin rode a solid race and found himself at the base of the final climb with the expected protaganists, DiLuca, Valverde, Kesler and Schleck together at the end. Ultimately, Rebellin easily rolled to a six second victory over Valverde and DiLuca.

Today's Liege-Bastogne-Liege almost seemed to be a replay of Wednesday's race. The leaders stayed together and out of trouble until the closing kilometers of the race. All of the expected contenders stayed together and watched each other as they raced back to Ans outside of Liege. Again with about 500m to go, the leaders attacked and Liquigas' Danilo DiLuca was able to ride away from Valverde and Schleck.

So, what do we take from this week's races? First, the men you expected to be strong were strong. The top ten from the Amstel Gold Race, Fleche Wallone and Liege-Bastogne-Liege were almost identical. Rebellin, DiLuca, Valverde, Kessler, Schleck all had good results. Rabobank and Saunier Duval-Prodir both had strong showings over the races. Second, the races were almost boring. The big riders all road defensively in the peleton, with largely unthreatening breaks getting away for most of the day, only to be brought in at the end. Third, Danilo DiLuca is in good form and will likely be in good form for the Giro d'Italia. He still probably cannot win a grand tour but he will contend for the podium and should spend some time in pink. Fourth, Liege, Belgium looks an awfull lot like Akron, Ohio. Having traveled through Liege a few years ago, its absolute ugliness cannot really be described.

Puerto Update

Italian doping officials reopened their investigation of Italian riders implicated in Operacion Puerto, in particular, Ivan Basso. With Jan Ulrich's blood having been matched to his DNA, Italian officials are looking to do the same and determine if any of the blood seized by Spanish officials was taken from the riders named by judicial officials. As a result of the reopening of this investigation by Italian officials, Ivan Basso has been removed from competition and is likely done for the season barring absolute proof that his blood is not in any of the bags held by Spanish police. Basso's season is likely over. Discovery Channel is in the hunt for a new sponsor and is not likely to go to the mat for Basso if it were to threaten its start at the Tour de France, the only race Americans care about. Levi Leipheimer was originally signed to be Discovery's GC leader for the Tour. The signing of Basso earlier this year resulted in some serious friction at Discovery Channel among the team's remaining few Americans, Leipheimer and Hincapie. Leipheimer has shown excellent form this spring at the Tour of California and the Tour of Georgia. Discovery has shown team strength at significant stage races this spring and the loss of Basso will not be a negative as both Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador provide strong GC riders for the Tour.

My Big Ride

Saturday marked the most significant ride I have taken in a long time. I rode to Bogus Basin, the local ski resort here in Boise. It is twenty miles from my front door to the parking lot at the base of the resort. The base is about 6,100 feet so the climb results in about 3,600 feet of vertical gain over fifteen miles. It is a long constant slog up the mountain. The first half of the climb has the steepest climbs. The second half, is fairly constant although it is not an easy ride finally flattening out over a couple of miles. What is amazing is the fact that the winner of the race typically does it in around 55 minutes. It took me about twice that to do it yesterday. However, I have been able to make some climbs over the past few weeks that I have not undertaken in several years. Thanks to a lighter bike and a signficant lighter me, I have been willing to undertake some challenges I have not ridden in close to seven years.

Amstel Gold Recap

Amstel Gold Recap

Steffan Schumacher of Team Gerolsteiner won the 2007 edition of the only Dutch classic, the Amstel Gold Race. On yet another unseasonably warm day, the peleton rode under clear sunny skies as the peleton raced through multiple laps and turns in the southeastern region of the Netherlands, in and around Maastricht, finishing in Valkenburg on the famed Cauberg.

Once again the mild weather changed the race a bit as most of the peleton stayed together far longer than had occurred in the past. An early break of no-names went away early and with about 50km to go, Jens Voight of Team CSC and last year's second place finisher Stefan Wesemann of Wiesenhof, who was also fresh off his Paris-Roubaix podium, attacked in what looked like could have been the decisive move of the day when they bridged up to the early break. However, they did not stay away even though Voight and Wesemann certainly are strong riders who have shown strength in these types of races.

The peleton ulitmately shook things up and the final move came on the Eyserbosweg which was the twenty-eighth climb of the day. In the decisive move was an elite group of former winners, including Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin, Rabobank's Michael Boogerd, Liquigas' Danilo Di Luca as well as Paolo Bettini of Quickstep, Matthias Kessler of Astana and Alejandro Valverde of Caisse d'Epargne in the group. However, this group of strong men spent the last 20km watching each other and riding defensively with Gerolsteiner's Rebellin and Schumacher in the group.

As the potential victors watched each other as they raced towards the finish on the Cauberg in Valkenburg, Schumacher attacked with about 3km to go and road away from the group and to the win. Dutch favorite, Michael Boogerd failed in his attempt to win as he was left covering the riders in the chase group and finished fifth on the day. Boogerd has had an impressive career at home with one win, four second places and two thirds over the last ten seasons at the high point of the Dutch season. Boogerd has announced his retirement.

The "ride" of the day may have to go to last year's winner Frank Schleck of Team CSC who crashed hard with about 50km to go but managed to ride hard back to the peleton to finish the race in 10th. Cyclingnews.com's account of the race does to provide some detail of the amount of "assistance" that Schleck received from his team car, but the video stream covered his chase back closely and even the race commentators had to note that Schleck seemed to be getting an inordinant amount of assistance. The race commissars did not sanction Schleck but probably could have for improper assistance.

Tour of Georgia Recap

Discovery Channel showed dominance again this week at the Tour of Georgia. The race was over on GC after a thirteen man breakaway put twenty nine minutes on the peleton. Discovery won three stages with Gianni Meersman won Stage 3, Levi Leipheimer won the individual time trial in Stage 4, and the climb to Brasstown Bald, Georgia's highest point on Stage 5. Discovery's Slovenian all arounder, Janez Brajkovic, was in the Stage 3 breakaway, had a strong time trial in Stage 4 and spent the rest of the race marking Team CSC's Christian VandeVelde ultimately winning by 12 seconds. Discovery's Tom Danielson also looked very strong on the climb to Brasstown Bald, finishing second to Leipheimer.

Like occured in the Tour of California, only Toyota United was able to steal a stage win in Stage 2 away from the European based teams with Discovery, Predictor-Lotto, Team CSC and Tinkoff Credit Systems getting the rest of the stages. The gap between the european teams and the domestic US teams is still very large. The Stage 3 gap created a somewhat distorted GC with thirteen riders gaining 29 minutes on that stage, including many of the smaller domestic teams. However, the reality is that the domestic teams are still far removed from even the weaker teams that Saunier Duval, Tinkoff and Predictor-Lotto sent for the race.

#$%@# Global Warming and Subaru Drivers

Global Warming Sucks

Well, Al Gore is right. Global warming is a catastrophe waiting to happen, and truth be told, this week's unseasonably warm and dry conditions ruined my favorite week of bike racing. With temperatures in the 80's, no rain, and nothing but sun, the Northern Classics were lacking everything that makes them both northern and classic.

Now, I cannot fault the winners of the races this last week. Ballan at the Ronde, Burghardt at Ghent Wevelgem and O'Grady at Paris-Roubaix all road strong races and were deserving winners. Ballan and O'Grady are certainly riders who have shown in the past that they could win these types of races. However, the conditions were too good for races of this caliber and the fact that large groups stayed together right up until the last 20km of both the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix evidenced that fact.

However, Team CSC's Stuart O'Grady rode an excellent race on Sunday to become the first Australian winner of Paris-Roubaix. He did not panic after a flat in the Arenberg Forest, latched on to Tom Boonen's group and followed what proved to be the decisive attack at about 30km to go. O'Grady then powered away to win by a minute over Rabobank's Juan Antonio Flecha and Wiesenhof's Steffen Wesemann. Boonen again lacked the legs he has shown in the past and none of the main Belgian protagonists showed anything today.

Team CSC once again showed why they are such a great tactical team. Team CSC had excellent numbers at the front of the race throughout the day. They covered the dangerous breaks and made strong attacks that put everyone else on the defensive. T-Mobile continued to show throughout the day that even with a retooled team, their tactical acumen still is pathetic. They once again had the numbers and failed to capitalize in the Hell of the North. Maybe it is the pink kit that keeps them from winning it.

Still a great race and O'Grady is a very deserving winner. But I really prefer the race when the temperature is in the 40's, it is raining, and it is an all day long war of attrition. When you see spectators in mini skirts and flip flops, you know that global warming has claimed yet another casualty.

Subaru Drivers Suck Too

After an exhilarating ride Friday afternoon after taking the day off to work in the yard with my wife in celebration of our 16th anniversary, I was brought back to reality by a fool in a Subaru as I rode down Idaho Street at 5:30 pm. Now, this individual may just be an idiot, but Subaru drivers tend to be rather sanctimonious about their outdoor bona fides and their love of the environment. Take a look here at my friend, Bike Boy's blog entry earlier this year where he had an exchange with a self-righteous Subaru owner.

Anyway shortly after climbing all the way to the end of the pavement on Shaw Mountain Road (800 feet of elevation gain over 2 miles with segments at the very bottom and the very top of the climb at or near 10% grades) for the first time ever on my road bike, after taking the steepest approach to it (Haines Street to Shenandoah Drive), something I had only ever done on my mountain bike using the full capability of my compact triple, I was accosted by a guy in a white Subaru at 6th and Idaho who did not like the fact that I was riding along with traffic on the right side of the road. He was the second idiot that day who had decided that me riding along with traffic somehow precluded them from getting where they wanted to be. Now, when you are riding at 20-25mph in traffic you are not slowing anybody down and not making anybody late.

While turning to give him a long "Lance glare" I refrained from pointing at him or showing him who was number one. But that did not mean that I was going to not protect myself from SubarDude. So, I moved over to the center of the lane to make sure he did not try to put me into the parking strip and held my line. When I crossed Capitol Boulevard, I dropped into the bus lane, sped off and chuckled as SubarDude was left in the mess that occurred at 10th and Idaho as a result of the closure of two lanes at rush hour for construction. I think he may still be stuck in traffic.

I do have to give thanks, however, to the school bus driver and the construction worker who patiently waited at intersections along my climb leaving me the right of way as I struggled through two of the steepest segments of the climb. They got a smile and a waive.

Easter in Flanders

De Ronde Recap

Sunday was an unusual Tour of Flanders. With sunny weather and warm temperatures, the conditions were not going to dictate who won. That did not keep Gerolsteiner riders from falling off their bikes however. Crashes did take their toll as an early crash probably kept Tom Boonen from getting his third title.

I was somewhat disappointed with the Versus coverage today. I went to my cousin's wedding in Salt Lake and when you share a hotel room with your two little boys, you cannot fire up the laptop and watch it live, so I recorded it on the DVR and avoided looking at the results. So when I realized after sitting down to watch it that they only had an hour's worth of coverage and of that hour only about 40 minutes was devoted to actual race coverage and that they only picked up the last 40km. Thus, while it is better than no bike racing and no Ronde, it kind of left me unsatisfied.

Anyway, Lampre's Alessandro Ballan had a great day as he rode the type of Ronde that proved why it is a classic. He had been riding well all spring and has showed good form. After covering Boonen's attack on the Muur of Geraardsbergen Ballan rode away with Predictor's Leif Hoste. The two got a lead and worked well together. Hoste has come close to winning in both 2004 and 2006 when he finished second. However, the final sprint between Ballan and Hoste proved to be about 100 meters too far for Hoste who looked to have the race won before Ballan came around him at the very end.

Hoste now has three second place finishes over the last four years. That is really hard luck for a Belgian in his home town race.

US Whatever They Called It on NBC On Saturday

In case you missed the race that almost was not, the Belgian weather on Saturday was in Virginia. NBC committed two hours of prime Saturday afternoon sports coverage to the US Open Cycling Championships which was run on a course from Williamsburg to Richmond, Virginia. The first year race had been plagued by management and sponsorship issues. However, they had the A-team out for race coverage with Bob Roll, John Eustice, and Frankie Andreu working the race with Al Trautwig. They had helicopters and motorcycles providing pictures just like you would expect in Europe. Unfortunately, bad weather delayed the start of the race and some of the domestic teams were upset about having to ride in cold, snowy and wet conditions. The course was more difficult than some of the domestic races that get run with cobbles and climbs making it Belgium like over the closing circuits in Richmond. Symmetrics Svein Tuft won the race. It is good that the race got TV coverage. However, poor weather, poor organization, poor racing and poor spectator turnout made the race less than appealing to watch on TV.

Domestic Sponsorship Blues

With the excitement permeating American cycling last fall with everyone announcing their big races, the concerns I expressed then about saturation in the market and sponsorship issues have come true. The US Open Cycling Championship failed to land a major sponsor and slashed its prize budget by 2/3rds. The Tour of Georgia only got a replacement for Ford last week announcing that AT&T would be its presenting sponsor. The Tour of Utah announced a one year hiatus to get things lined up for 2008. None of this is good for the sport. Many promoters do not realize how expensive putting on top races can be. There is a reason that great domestic races like the Coors Classic, Tour Du Pont, San Francisco Grand Prix and the Ore-Ida/HP Women's Challenge have gone out of business: expenses exceeding sponsorship revenue ultimately doom even the best events.

The Best Week of the Year

My focus this week has unfortunately been on my legal practice. It made me miss Criterium International, which is one of my top ten favorite cycling events. It made me ignore last weekend's great racing in Flanders with both Boonen and Freire having impressive wins. It made me miss the NCAA finals. Yes the law really gets in the way of cycling.

However this next week is the one week of the year that I live for: this Sunday it is the Ronde van Vlaanderen, Wednesday, Ghent-Wevelgem, and next Sunday, Paris-Roubaix. That is like having Christmas, your birthday and your anniversary all in the same week. It is the week you wait for gleefully each year.

So for you neophytes, here is what you need to know about each:

De Ronde Van Vlaanderen: If you are Belgian and you win this race you will not have to buy your self for a beer for a year. If you win it twice you won't have to buy a beer every again. The winner of the Ronde, if he is Belgian is a hero for ever. They have an entire museum dedicated to this single race. While luck is important, the Ronde produces winners who have earned it. There are no flukes here. It is a race of pure aggression where each cobbled hill further reduces the size of the main group. It generally does not end in a sprint.

Ghent-Wevelgem: This is the entertaining intermission next Wednesday. It is the transition to Paris-Roubaix. Not as many of the hills as De Ronde, shorter, crazy stuff likely to happen. It produces great sprint finishes. Mario Cippolini won this race three times, including in 2002 when he bridged to the leaders on his own and outsprinted Americans Fred Rodriguez and George Hincapie.

Paris-Roubaix: If the Ronde is a race of pure aggression, Paris-Roubaix is a race of pure power. Not a single hill on the route. Pan flat. Riders head northeast from Compiègne to the Belgian border and then take a left heading northwest. The cobbled sections are not like in the Ronde where they are well maintained. These are farm roads and alleys. This race requires a monster chain ring, a strong team and a lot of luck.

So, if you have not already done so and you are in the United States, get to Cycling.tv, pay your annual subscription and get ready for the greatest week of the year in cycling.