Another Fine Mess

The NVGP seems to have more than it's share of bad weather.

last year was close to perfect, but 2 years ago in Minneapolis manhole covers were being blown out by the water pressure from the storm.

Last night was a return to awful weather as the rodes dried out from the day's thunderstorms just in time to get soaked by the night's thunderstorms. Luckily we had just finished getting the expo tents up so I had some shelter from the rain, but it was just windy enough to get me wet and chilled before I coudl go get the raincoat from the car.

After holding the women's race to try and let a storm cell pass they ended up doing call ups just as the skies opened. I was stuck under the farmer's market which ended up being the best place to watch the race as turn three caused carnage all night long, not just crashes but gaps being created by riders unwilling to take too many chances. In the end Kristin Armstrong was incredible lapping practically everyone and 2/3 of the filed getting pulled. it was all for naught though because despite having a podium presentation the officials neutralized the race overnight.

The men's race was even more of a cluster if that's possible. Once again things got strung out from the get go, but there was some wicked racing with O'Bee/Olson off the front and Kelly Benefits organizing the chase while Rory sat on their wheel. I figure that Health Net pretty much had the stage win in the bag when a moto crashed on the course and in the confusion they neutralized the race at the start/finish and it was all brought back together. There were a few choice words said by the riders who had been in the lead as they worked their way back up to the front but by then the officials gave the peloton the choice and the vote was overwhelmingly not to race.

There's definitely some upset riders if you search the WWW.

Hopefully today goes a little better

you can't win if you don't try

WOW! What an amazing stage at the Giro today.

There is a reason that Phillipe Gilbert has become perhaps my favorite pro cyclist in the peloton today. He isn't afraid to attack. Success or failure, he gives it his all every race. To an extent Boonen is similar because he isn't afraid to attack even if he is much more conservative in his riding (or maybe he is kept on a leash).

What does that have to do with the Giro?

Today the Killer showed that he's a hardman who isn't afraid to go all in (kind of like Jens yesterday).

From the attack on the descent from the first climb of the day, Salvodelli buried himself until Diluca took over and put the hammer down and gained even more time eventually coming in second.

It was interesting that Contador seemed to not know what to do and eventaully the team car came up alongside of him and like 30 seconds later he attacks, but kind of half-heartedly and all major challengers came right with him.

Ricco definitely shoudl have been in pink for his attack with a few KM to go, but for some reason Sella decided to drag the lifeguard" up the climb just barely keeping him in the lead. Maybe he is blown. I guess we will see tomorrow, but it looked like he needed to follow someone's wheel and didn't realize when he needed to go on the attack.

I think ultimately that has always been my problem with USPS/Disco/Astana. they seem too tightly choreographed and the riders don't seems to have much freedom. I guess I like a little more passion and drama in my sport rather than cold and calculating.

I am guessing they are hoping to stay close to the lead if not in the lead tomorrow and figure that Contador will pick up time again on all his main rivals in the final TT. I really hope not though, becasue I honestly don't think the lifeguard deserves the win.

killer climbs and amazing riders

after the last couple of Giro stages, I have to say that Emanuele Sella might be my new hero. I mean he has ridden these last two mountain stages like they were nothing en route to take 2 stages and solidify his hold on the green mountains jersey. I only wish Soler hadn't been injured as I would have liked to see the 2 of them duke it out.

Ricco for all his smack talk was pretty awesome in today's stage as well, putting in dig after dig on the final climb to dislodge all his major rivals. They might have been able to claw their way almost back all the way back to him, but he definitely put them on notice. It's too bad he is such a poor TT rider or he might have a chance to take the maglia rosa.

Diluca who hasn't looked strong enough to defend his title did look strong right at the end today. I love that he will look like he is just about to crack and then right at the end/steepest parts of the climbs he just has another gear and takes off.

Looks like Astana will be defending the maglia rosa for Contador and with his newfound TT abilities, I really don't see any way for him to lose unless it is in the over the Gavia next saturday. Having that monster climb right at the end of the Giro is just plain mean.

the race of truth (sort of)

the last few riders are still out on the course, but the TT in the Giro is having the expected affect on the GC with all the usual suspects in the top ten so far (including surprisingly Simoni).

Now I am not an Astana fan, but I have kind of been cheering for Kloden because I think he is a great rider who has always been stuck playing spock or bones to someone else's capt kirk. Given this I was pretty psyched that kloden came in with a huge time to take 2nd with only a dozen riders left on the course so it seemed like team leadership would fall to him for the rest of the Giro (especially since Contador had a broken elbow or whatever).

here is where the drama queen BS comes in though. Contador, whose injury is supposedly right where he needed to rest his elbow for his aero position, comes in faster than Kloden. Why do I get the feeling that all this wringing of hands over his "injury" is similar to someone taking a dive in football soccer to force a red/yellow card.

As Ricco noted, for someone who had such a bad toothache they needed surgery and then took some time off the bike until the last minute call up to the show, Contador certainly seems to be pretty strong so far.

the killer shows a little fire

yesterday's stage of the Giro was interesting.

DiLuca put in a massive attack but Ricco (and Contador) was able to follow with little problem. I wonder if it might be too early in such a tough tour to be going on the attack?

Some seem to think that Contador couldn't keep up at the end but I think he realized there will be plenty of places to grab 5-10 seconds on his rivals. interestingly Ricco had some comments on people who said they hadn't been training and yet were able to respond to such an early attack.

I did like the Saunier Duval technique of sending Piepoli up the road to be there when Ricco went. Very Smooth.

also you have got to love DiLuca's game face.

He always looks like he is about to crack or is really struggling and then he just kicks it up a notch like he did at the finish yesterday.

The next few days don't look like they will shake up anything but the points competition so Wednesday's stage seems to be the next one with some potential to shake things out a little more.

Talk about your bad luck

After working all day to make the break stick, David Millar broke a chain when he tried to respond to Pavel Brutt’s attack with 1 km to go.

Normally I would say he acted like a spoiled brat for throwing his bike over the barriers but I kind of think he had a right to be frustrated in this situation.

I wonder what the rule is on his time since he was with the break with only a click to go when he had his mechanical?

The results should be up soon so I guess we will find out then

Update 11:45:
Well it looks like they gave Millar the same time as the last member of the break at 25" down. At least he gained a few seconds on the leaders but that's all he saw out of it.

slip slidin' away

what is with the Giro and crashes? I know the first few stages of any grand tour are a bit nervous and you might see a few crashes but it just seems that the Giro goes above and beyond to fill its quota.

As of stage 4 this is the list of riders who are out already due to crashes (not counting all the riders feeling the effects of crashes like Ricco):
Stage 2 DNF: David Zabriskie (Slipstream Chipotle - H30)
Stage 3 DNF: Bradley McGee (Team CSC)
Stage 4 DNS: Stuart O'Grady (Team CSC)

apparently David Millar didn't crash yesterday but got his shoe ripped off in the scrum and had to go looking for it before he could continue.

Unfortunately today was no exception and there was a crash with about 700m or so to go and a Cofidis rider looked like he broke his collarbone. The video of it made me cringe as he must have touched wheels and went sideways almost catching himself before he went over the bars right onto the shoulder.

That kind of brings me to another point, I don't speak Norwegian but the web coverage on NRK has been awesome. I am sure they get the generic feed everyone does but even if that's the case the coverage has been great. You are right in the peloton seeing all the attacks and people shouldering past others, team leaders yelling instructions, just awesome (and you can watch it free).


Massive respect for Cavendish and his first Giro stage win today. He looked to be boxed in on the right with about 400-500m to go and when Bennati went he was able to swing to his left and take it easily. Cavendish kind of reminds me of McEwen with his ego but he more than backs it up with his results.

Finaly if you have any desire to understand the 11 different intergiro competitions check out the article on Cyclingnews and good luck on keeping it all straight

Since it is so early the GC really isn't set so here are the main jersey leaders (they shouldn't have changed today):
Maglia Rosa - Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
Maglia Ciclamino - Daniele Bennati (Ita) Liquigas
Maglia Verde - Emanuele Sella (Ita) CSF Group Navigare
Maglia Bianca - Morris Possoni (Ita) Team High Road

fashion faux pas?

some might argue that pink with orange and blue argyle is a pretty bad look, but I can think of at least one person who might argue with that:


Congrats slipstream and Christian Vande Velde on taking the maglia rosa.

and in one of the many things I love about the Giro...this year they aren't messing around. Here's day 2:

Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Nope its not that the semester is winding down-although after this weekend spent cramming for finals, I will at least have a break for a month. It also has nothing to with the weather finally getting nice in Minnesota. We’ve still got a couple months to wait for warm temperatures and the winds to get under control.

It’s the best time of the year because the best of the grand tours—the Giro D’Italia starts on Saturday. Why is it the best? It finishes around my birthday for one, but more importantly it consistently has some of the most amazing mountain stages around (this year especially with the Gavia coming into play).

I won’t go into too much detail because race junkie has a great primer, but I do think it will be a race of survival this year.

As for favorites or predictions.......

for the sprinters jersey....it's going to be hard for the sprinters this year with a course that skews to the climbers but Robbie McEwen may have started to peak at the right time. Otherwise I think Danilo Napolitano is one to watch as well. I would love to say the cricket is going to pull it off, but with all the injuries this spring I don't think his form is up to taking the jersey (stage win here or there probably).

For the climbing jersey....it's hard to argue with Soler as an obvious favorite but he is focused on the Tour so maybe not. The other favorite has to be Simoni in his last Grand Tour. It would be great to see Piepoli take it for all the work he did last year

for the maglia rosa....Simoni is always a threat when it comes to the Giro. With 4 time trials I'm not sure that it is his type of Giro but the mountain stages make him a likely podium contender. Di Luca has been MIA this spring due to his fight not to be banned and lose the 07 Giro so I just can't see him pulling off the back to back wins. With Piepoli as his top lieutenant Ricco can't be counted out in this year's Giro but is he mature enough to win a grand tour and are his injuries healed?

Brasstown Bald - OOPS addition

well, well, well....the self-described best team in the world and the new America's team have to be feeling a little foolish this evening.

Both Levi and Trent Lowe getting schooled by High Road's ace up their sleeve, Kanstantin Siutsou, on the climb that is supposed to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Personally I do think that Astana played their cards right, getting a rider in the break and letting Slipstream do the work. I can't fathom however that Brunyeel missed the fact that the guy trailing Levi was so close in the GC. Supposedly they knew how close he was so Levi must have just been done.

Slipstream on the other hand was kind of confusing. Missed the big break and then drove the peloton faster than they needed to before leaving Trent Lowe without any teammates on the final climb practically immediately. I have to wonder if Lowe truly knew how close Siutsou was in the GC because he responded to all of Levi's attacks like they were nothing but he seemed to completely ignore Siutsou's attack at the end. You have to guess that he had the gas left in the tank because he jumped in the last 200 meters to get second, so it's questionable that he didn't follow what has to be the race winning move.

Not with a roar but.......

well in the end everyone got something apparently.

Rock racing is in the Tour de Georgia.
The Tour which has had more than its share of financial issues has a new "Founding Sponsor"
The fans get.....well maybe a pretty good race with the overwhelming favorites Astana (and their wah, wah we're the greatest thing since sliced bread routine and machine like efficiency), beloved dark horses Slipstream (Zabriskie, Vande Velde, Pate), and the team everyone loves to hate-Rock Racing (will the Puerto boys be kickin ass and taking names?)


As for my riding this past week, I had my biggest week so far but the crappy midweek weather put a damper on too much riding. Saturday I tried out a couple of the hills I like to ride over by the U and I definitely have a ways to go but overall I felt pretty good.

Week Total - 39
Season Total - 78
Miles to Goal - 1423

Tornado Warning and new kid on the block

Well unfortunately my pick did not win but 3rd is not too bad Ballan, especially considering that he was up against Boonen and Cancellara in the velodrome.

And if I must be wrong, I am happy that it is Tomke that proved me wrong to take his second win in the Hell of the North. I kept waiting for Cancellara to attack in the last couple of km but he was reportedly having cramps so that is understandable.

If there was a revelation in this year's Paris-Roubaix though it was Martijn Maaskant from Slipstream who hung on in the chasing group with the likes of O'Grady, Hoste, and Devolder then attacked and went on to get 4TH.

You could see O'grady and Devolder try to drop the other two and then it looked like Hoste was trying to shake him at one point in the run in but he held on. I somehow think that he is going to be taken a bit more serously after his spring campaign this year and I hope that Slipstream has him locked into a contract or they are goign to lose him.

Who do I think is going to win Paris-Roubaix?

Of course I would love to see Tornado Tom pull off his second victory in the Hell of the North, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this guy might do it

Don't count Cancellara out either though, but I kind of think he might have peaked a little early for Paris-Roubaix. And I guess it is possible that Stijn Devolder could take a flyer and get the double, but I think there would be trouble back at the Quickstep ranch if that happened.

Really?? Really??

Rock Racing sues to get into Tour de Georgia

I've gone back and forth on Rock Racing this year as I like a lot of people think Michael ball is abrasive and pushy and ultimately a bit self-centered.

On the other hand, the "Puerto 3" are getting screwed by the larger cycling world, just like most of the other riders out there who have been busted for doping. Hamilton, Sevilla and Botero have valid licenses from the UCI so they should be able to ride. period. Tyler Hamilton served his suspension, so what if he claims he is innocent still. If that is the case then I hope that people have the same opinion about Floyd when his suspension is up.


This latest attention grab however is ridiculous. oh boo-hoo someone actually told you no and now you are gonna sue them? maybe if you stop being a prick to everyone else in the cycling world stuff like this won't keep happening

Such a little thing, but the difference it made......

So today was the first day I actually got the bike out on the pavement this year (I suck this because I am almost a month behind last year), and it was just the short 4 mile dash through rush hour to get to work and then home this afternoon.

What is amazing to me is that despite a couple little bumps as well as the climb up Lincoln on the way home, I wasn't even winded on my ride. Last year the first couple of rides I fet and new I was fairly out of shape, but today I was spinning along almost too fast for the gear on my commuter bike.

The only thing I can point to that I did differently this winter was riding the trainer. I wasn't even very consistent until February but apparently it was enough to put me on the road with a little bit of fitness. I guess I will be testing this tomorrow morning when I take the road bike out for the first time and tackle cemetery hill.

For anyone who has read this in the past you know that Tornado Tom has been my guy for the past couple of seasons, but I have to say that Phillipe Gilbert is my new rider crush. Training to some old videos of the spring classics this winter he is all over them and then you get to this season and he has been incredible.

I think the reason I like him so much is that he just picks a point and goes for it. Whether he has riders to go with him or if he has to go solo like Het Volk it doesn't matter. Sure he gets caught most of the time but I love the devil may care attitude. It's just great to see a rider who doesn't seem like he is so controlled by the DS. Francaise Des Jeux may just have to be my underdog team to root for this year.

Here is some Het Volk action, check out the attack about 3 minutes in

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

And just for the hell of it here is some Milan-San Remo action with Cancellera schooling everybody after 300km and taking the easy win

Find more videos like this on www.truveo.com.

chasing back on

I haven't really mentioned it much but I have been interning/volunteering with marketing for the Nature Valley Grand Prix since January.

I've been focusing on interactive content (both researching options as well as helping to get some new content off the ground) and updating the website (you can blame me when the results aren't up soon enough). It's been pretty fun to see behind the curtain for an event like this.

Even though the race is more than 2 months away, there are a couple of pretty exciting things coming up.

The men's field of the NVGP is an invitational this year, but there are going to be a couple of ways for Cat 1s to get in on the action.

Locally there is gonna be a little competition to fill some of them. Called the info on the NVGP Qualification Race Series the info looks like it went out to the world this week via Bikethrow and MN Bike Results and hopefully it will some additional excitement the local races and TT involved.

The other exciting news has been confirmed but not announced so I won't go into it too much here, but there will be a way for other Cat 1s to get on an amateur squad at the race in a similar way to the locals.

More to come.

Tour of F'in California

So a few unhappy campers after the penultimate stage and last chance to try and take some time from Levi.

Mark Cavendish looked to take a stage and erase the oops of leading out no one earlier in the race. Look again though as he is penalized for being helped back to the peloton by his team car after the entire Rock Racing team crashed and took him with them 8km from the finish. Unsurprisingly Mark Cavendish was not happy:

a disappointed Cavendish told Cyclingnews. "It's just bullshit -- who is working on this f**king race? When you have every car in the peloton dropping back to get me on... like it has been in professional cycling for a hundred years... who is working on the jury here? What are you going to do, make it a f**cking crit every day?

Even Bob Stapleton had a few choice words about the incident "If Cipo was practically in the f**king car, but Mark comes from all the way back and wins... and that is something that has to be yanked, that is completely wrong" Considering the adjustment to the rules made last year to keep Levi in the yellow jersey following that early race crash, this does seem like a sketchy decision as Cavendish still needed to make his way through the peloton to the front AND win the bunch sprint to take the stage.

Kevin Hulsmans from Quick Step had a completely different kind of complaint after the time trial Friday. Apparently he was selected for the doping controls and when the controller came to get him the whole team was in the showers, so the controller waited right there for him to finish. Not a big deal except the controller was a woman. "We politely asked her to leave, but she refused. What were they thinking? That I would try to escape through the roof? Would they send a man to look at eight naked female athletes?"

Dominoes

At the rate that people are dropping out of this race, Levi might be racing by himself (maybe Chris Horner too) by the end of the race. I mean look at this list of people who either did not start or DNF yesterday:

Riders who did not start stage 4:
Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner)
Johannes Frohlinger (Gerolsteiner)
Heinrich Haussler (Gerolsteiner)

Riders who abandoned during stage 4:
Dmytro Grabovsky (Quick Step-Innergetic)
Patrice Halgand (Credit Agricole)
Jonathan Hivert (Gerolsteiner)
Mathias Frank (Gerolsteiner)
Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner)
Julien Belgy (Bouyges Telecom)
Tom Danielson (Slipstream-Chipotle)
Jackson Stewart (BMC)
Jonathan Sundt (Kelly Benefit Strategies-Medifast)
Matt Crane (Health Net-Maxxis)
Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United)
Burke Swindlehurst (Bissell)

You have to feel for Jackson Stewart. Taking the max on all the KOM to get the jersey back and then dropping out due to hypothermia.

Hypothermia? At the Tour of California? Absolutely ridiculous. And who would have predicted that Gerolsteiner would have a smaller team than Rock Racing by the end of the race.

Add the virus going around to the miserable weather and it’s amazing more riders haven’t dropped out. The start list for stage 6 should be interesting since it still has a good amount of climbing in it.

Tornado Tom and the Argyle Armada pt. 2

Big Tom took his first win on US soil today in stage 2 of the ATOC with third place going to Cipo of all people.

Apprantly BMC's plan is to have a rider take off alone each day and take all the KOM and Sprint points. Today Scott Nydam must drawn the short straw and going it alone for over 4 hours.

Slipstream played it perfectly and helped Tyler Farrar into the yellow by taking bonus time in each sprint. Can he hold it with the big climbs in store for tomorrow's stage? Time will tell but I am guessing no.

No publicity is bad publicity

In the continuing circus that is Rock Racing, Michael Ball has once again shown a flair for getting everyone talking about his team, but maybe more importantly talking about Michael Ball.

After AEG lists the Rock Racing roster minus the trio of Sevilla, Botero, and Hamilton, Ball goes ahead and announces them at a press conference and seems to pretend he doesn't know they are excluded at first. What a mess.

I have to say that initially I was with rock racing on this one. The whole Puerto thing has been a joke and to have 3 of their riders barred for that is ridiculous. On the other hand, acting like a spoiled child is a sure way to make sure people don't take you side.

Hopefully the UCI can just finish this stupid investigation and focus on what is happening today in the cycling not 2 years ago.

--------

Paying attention to stage 1 more than my homework, I have to say go Jackson Stewart with the epic solo break that must have come as a, perhaps unwelcome, surprise with no one bridging up.

IN the women's racing world, the one and only women's race is done and congrats to Brooke Miller who pipped Laura Van Gilder at the line for the win. Hopefully both of them can make it to the NVGP again this year.

Updated - 10:15pm

Well as one might expect Jackson Stewart's epic breakaway did not net the stage win, but did get him the KOM and most aggressive jerseys.

My pick in the poll from the ATOC website, JJ Haedo, went ahead and won the stage (I suppose you get lucky once in a while).

Big George should maybe start thinking about skipping the ATOC after bumping with Boonen and hitting the deck.

Shouts to Freddie Rodriguez for beingthe highest placed non-Pro Tour rider today.

General classification after stage 1
1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 4.07.20
2 Tyler Farrar (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30 0.02
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) High Road 0.04
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.06
5 David Millar (GBr) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30 0.07
6 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team CSC 0.08
7 David Zabriskie (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30
8 Benjamin Jacques-Maynes (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling 0.09
9 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) High Road
10 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle Presented by H30 0.10