A Few Races Have Happened

There have been a few pre Tour tune ups that have happened over the last few weeks.

Dauphine Libere

AG2R’s Christophe Moreau had one of the biggest victory of his career with his win during last week’s Dauphine Libere. It was his second victory in the important Tour de France warm up, which he also won in 2001. He showed tactical acumen that he has rarely shown in the past. With a win in the stage finishing on Mont Ventoux, Moreau seized the lead and held on for the win. While Astana had a good performance as a team winning four of the eight stages, Alexandre Vinokourov did not show the form you would have to believe he wanted to show for this important Tour warm up. Vinokourov lost significant time in the mountains

While it is important to do well at the Dauphine, past winners have maybe peaked too early and have had Tour let downs. Although Lance Armstrong had won the Dauphine in 2002 and 2003, it has long been believed that his Dauphine victory in 2003 took so much out of him, that it resulted in his smallest margin of victory of just over a minuite over Jan Ullrich in clearly his most difficult Tour victory.

Astana has to be considered one of the favorite teams for the Tour, however, Vinokourov has never had the pressure of racing as a favorite at the Tour. He has performed well in the Tour when he had the ability to be opportunistic. It will be shown whether he has mental strength to win the Tour as a team leader.

Tour de Suisse

The Tour de Suisse ended with a major victory for French-Spanish team Caisse d’Epargne with Vladimir Karpets showing good form in the mountains and in the time trials. Karpets also won the Tour de Catalunya a few weeks before and is a former Tour de France white jersey winner (2004). However, much like the Dauphine, winning the Tour de Suisse is not really a good indicator of potential for winning the Tour de France because winning the “Fourth Grand Tour” two weeks before Le Tour just requires too much effort to keep one’s top form for nearly six weeks and have a team which can successfully defend for the better part of thirty plus race days.

Eindhoven ProTour Team Time Trial

Sunday was also the ProTour Team Time Trial in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Originally created as a way to provide the ProTour with a team time trial to help teams prepare for the Tour de France, Tour organizers ASO torpedoed the significance of the event by elminating the team time trial from the Tour. While organizers of both the Giro and the Vuelta a Espana have both added team time trials to their events, without a eam time trial in the Tour the event is largely irrelevant and has been plagued by a lack of sponsor support and general interest. Most importantly, the race always goes past the Holiday Inn where I always stay when I am in Eindhoven. Note, I have not informed you that Team CSC won the race because, well, it just does not really matter. Most teams send the B Team and no one is going to remember who won this year.

New Stuff I Have Purchased

I bought another bike two weeks ago at my friend’s garage sale. I felt like I was taking advantage of him, but hey, if someone offers me their KHS track frame as well as HED disc wheel for one ridiciulously low price, I will go ahead and take a set of tubulars wheels and Continental tires too. My seven year old daughter expressed her concern as to whether I was spending too much money on bike stuff and not enough on food for our family. Of course she thinks, correctly so, that she probably ought to get the next new bike at our house. So I doubt she will complain when I buy her a new bike for her birthday.

Early Summer Recap

Giro Recap

Danilo Di Luca proved to be the strongest rider at the Giro and is a deserving winner. Saunier Duval-Prodir had the strongest team with four riders winning stages, the team winning the team GC competition and the king of the mountains competition being won by one of its riders. That said, there really was not a single moment of the race where you honestly thought that Saunier Duval would put Di Luca in jeopardy. He rode a smart race and was a deserving winner. That said, with all of the turmoil surrounding T-Mobile/Team Telekom and the other goings on in Italy and with weekend coverage only available on VS. it was not really easy to get excited about the race. I did however keep the live text recap of the climb up Monte Zoncolan up on my computer at work.

CoreStates/First Union/Wachovia/Commerce Bank Philly Week

With the loss of the US Pro Championship leaving the Philadelphia week in jeopardy as well as the in sponsorship support, it is clear things have changed for what was once the most important week of American cycling. This year, T-Mobile showed up and had a good week, although the T-Mobile men once again showed how to ride a tactically poor race where they had the final train lined up and could not deliver the win on Sunday in Philadelphia. The races have really lost some of their importance and excitement as evidenced by Discovery Channel's notable absence from any of the three Pennsylvania races. They just aren't as relevant or important as they used to be as noted by my lack of discussion of who actually won any of the races.

Maybe France Will Get It Together After All

In case you missed it, recently elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy received a clear legislative and ruling mandate with Sunday's first round of elections for the National Assembly. I think that the poor performances that the French have had in the last twenty Tours de France is a direct reflection of national malaise and a refusal to accept social responsibility. Sarkozy has struck a chord with the French public who are tired of the bureaucratic and economic chirrosis that permates French life. More importantly, Sarkozy's victory is a reflection of the fact that the French public is willing to support his desire to reform French society. So what does that mean? Nothing really, but the current generation of cyclists in France were born and raised during the Mitterand/Chirac eras. Sarkozy has already in just his first few months in office repudiated the notion that France is right to do things differently by pointing out that 40 years of doing things differently in Europe has resulted in an unproductive workforce and a clear lack of national identity. Maybe in 25 years France will be able to celebrate a French champion once again.

Various Things I Have Experienced Recently

1. Cat 5 blowing a tire and then blowing a gasket when no one would give him a wheel at the Tour of Eagle criterium. Dude, the rule "wheels in, wheels out" applies to everyone. It is not like you were leading the Tour de France.

2. Cat 3 indignantly asking where he was supposed to put his schwag bag after registering for the race. Dude, we gave you a couple of coupons, a t-shirt and some stickers. Put it where ever you want it.

3. Lady in pickup truck pulling on to turn 3 of the Tour of Eagle race course and when stopped telling me that "I know the road is closed but I want to go to my friend's house." When asked where her friend lived she noted it was a block away. She was totally put out at having to walk a block.

4. Saturday as I rode in on the final miles of the metric century at the Bob Lebow Ride in Nampa, Idaho (when you help set up and tear down a criterium course the night before, you don't get up to do the full century) I passed a guy whose bike gloves were leather roping gloves, a girl aparently doing the ten mile route in flip flops, and a guy riding a Specialized Allez with a kickstand.

5. For all that is said in Idaho about 2C and 2O drivers, I did not have a single car honk at me, make me think there was going to be an accident, scream at me, or throw anything during the Bob Lebow Ride. Never have either. The folks in Canyon and Owhyee Counties are always courteous and polite clearly recognizing that they have a great event.