Rules are rules, especially when Riis rules. Schoolkids A. Schleck and S. O'Grady bump into Bjarne at a bar

Seems a bit farcical, pro bike riders - adults at that - have a quiet drink and are back a bit later than you'd expect for athletes participating in a major stage race. Yes, they must have known they were breaking team rules, but it's their swansong with the team and things are a bit more casual than in the recent past. Crucially they bump into their boss at another bar whilst coming back to their digs. With Andy I can understand it - young, out for a laugh with no real pressure on him in this race - and with one eye on 2011 and his new team - but it's hard to imagine a seasoned pro like O'Grady breaking team rules, especially during a Grand Tour... it's a bit, umm, rebellious? Has Riis simply had enough from these admitted defectors?

Vuelta A España: Stage 10, Route Maps & Results | Cyclingnews.com

The major news on the start line was Bjarne Riis’ decision to send Andy Schleck and Stuart O’Grady home from the Vuelta for breaking team rules by drinking alcohol after dinner the previous night. Once the racing the started, however, the remainder of the peloton showed no signs of a post-rest day hangover as it covered 47 kilometres in a hyperactive first hour of racing.

UPDATED Andy Schleck, O'Grady Removed From Vuelta | Cyclingnews.com

"I acknowledge that I have broken a rule on the team by going out for a drink after dinner and for that reason Bjarne has decided to send myself and Stuart O’Grady home.

"I’m responsible for my actions and even though I think it is too harsh a decision, I respect that Bjarne is the boss and he needs to do what he thinks is the best.

"I was getting back into shape and I would really have liked to stay at the Vuelta and help Frank and the rest of Team Saxo Bank."

UPDATED Andy Schleck, O'Grady Removed From Vuelta | Cyclingnews.com

Both Schleck brothers are leaving the Danish team at the end of this season, to join a new Luxembourg team being organised by Brian Nygaard and Kim Andersen. O'Grady is also leaving Saxo Bank and is said to be joining the new team.

PezCycling News - What's Cool In Pro Cycling

Over the Cat 1 Rat Penat climb, which hit the riders at 142km and averaged 12.5 %, all the usual GC suspects were there except for Andy Schleck, who along with Stuart O’Grady was sent home from the Vuelta for getting caught going out for a drink after dinner last night. Odd to think Bjarne would be so harsh on these two, but we suppose rules are rules. But….really? So Frank was alone with the other climbers. The climb had taken its toll on everyone, and also everyone in the break, but that group reformed over the top.

Saxo Bank drops Stuart O'Grady and Andy Schleck from Tour of Spain | The Australian

“Mate, we stepped out of the team hotel at 10pm and stopped for a couple of beers at a bar in the local piazza,” O'Grady said.

“We had two beers, that's all. Some members of the European press over here have made us sound like we were on the drink all night.

“That's simply not true.

“We had just ridden our guts out in the team time trial. I don't want to sound like I'm whinging, but the decision to pull us out of the race was harsh,” the South Australian added.

“The decision has cost me two weeks of hard racing preparing for the worlds in Geelong.

“ I guess it means that I can bring the family home a little earlier than expected.

“It also means I've ridden my last race for Saxo Bank. This is not the way I would have wanted my career racing for Bjarne Riis to end. I've ridden my guts out on the front for the team for the last six seasons.”

O'Grady has been linked to a move riding alongside the Schleck brothers at Team Luxembourg next season to be run by former Riis staffers Brian Nygaard and Kim Andersen.

“I'll make an announcement where I'm going next year in a week,” he added.

Andy Schleck and Stuart O’Grady out of Vuelta for ‘violation of team’s rules’

Schleck was contacted by Sporten.dk, and said that the reason they were excluded was due to going for drinks yesterday night.

“The fact is that on the rest day yesterday, we chose to go out after eating late dinner, which people do in Spain,” he said. “We had no more than two beers each, then we went home at 1 o’clock and met Bjarne who was sitting at another bar.”

LA pic from Adelaide via Twitter

Just sharing a pic from Lance in Adelaide (for the TDU):



Nice to see a fit Pat Jonker (past winner, retired from pro riding but still looking good). O'Grady looks like he has been working out - preparing for the Euro-season cobbles?

Giro 2008: ouch and ouch again

As a cyclist I know that falling is part of the game, but not a good part. I never want to fall and I never want to cause anyone else to fall (yeah, sometimes I have wished the worst on some idiot but not often). I especially hate it when riders are weaving around for no reason other than their own desire to shake people off. OK, fine, that happens, we all want to get a gap and ride alone to glorious victory. But how often does it work? Versus how often it causes a fall? Sometimes - possibly every time - positioning with stealth and cunning beats those stupid pre-sprint desperation weaves.

And then there are just plain accidents. Potholes, punctures, car doors, crossed wheels, too fast into a corner, a nudge here or there and... boom! And in a tight bunch the slightest wrong move in the middle or side can send someone off the road. It happens.

Which brings me to a stage of this year's Giro I'd rather forget. Stage 3: It was a day characterised by breakaways, crashes and high speeds but, as expected, the third stage of the Giro d'Italia came down to a bunch sprint. Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) did precisely what his team-mate and race leader Franco Pellizotti yesterday suggested he would do, winning in Milazzo and thus making it a double success for the acid green squad. That's the good bit. Good on Bennati. Good on Pellizotti.

But this is the worst of it:At the start in Catania, there was concern about the stage's technical finish, but the worst wrecks occurred mid-stage. One massive pile-up took down riders such as stage two winner Riccardo Riccó (Saunier Duval – Scott) and David Millar (Slipstream Chipotle H30) while another put Bradley McGee (CSC) out of the race with a broken collarbone. McGee's team-mate Stuart O'Grady, who was doing his first Grand Tour since he was seriously injured in last year's Tour de France also crashed, and while he finished the stage it was later found that he also broke his collarbone.

Both McGee and O'Grady are coming back, either from obvious or more hidden maladies, and it's a shame to see them go out of the race. There were others hurt, too: Other riders caught up in Stage 3's mass crash included Saunier Duval-Scott's Riccardo Riccò and Eros Capecchi. Both riders have undergone X-rays and been cleared to ride, with Riccò dislocating a finger on his left hand while Capecchi's suspected broken collarbone turned out to be muscle injury.

I'd like to say we can fix this sort of thing, but how? Bike racers draft in packs. It's the sport. Proximity is both a danger and a blessing - the convivial bunch rolling along is a great thing that no other sport shares. Perhaps we need full-body armour (ventilated of course) and/or crash detection and prevention radar.

Rider diaries are always fun

You have to be there to really experience it, but any racing cyclist can imagine themselves riding with Stuart O'Grady, can't they? Maybe Stuey jumps on your wheel as you attack the C-grade bunch, ha ha, or you come around him and take the sprint win? Well, maybe. Or maybe we should just read the rider diaries during stage races and get a feel for what it really feels like. From cyclingresults.net:After joking around with Stu Shaw, saying “I hope you have your sprinting legs on Stu”, with him replying “They’ll be on as long as you get your attacking legs on.” I decided I better do my part and got up the front jumping on everything I could. At around 25km to go, there was a break at around 30secs and I thought I should one more time. I looked around to find only Stuart O’Grady on my wheel, and along with him managed to bridge across. I must say, after only a month on the bike I was absolutely on the max just holding his wheel, but it was a pretty exciting experience for me.

O'Grady now leads the ProTour!

From TuttobiciWeb comes the news... O'Grady has stepped up a gear to lead Freire overall!


"15/04/2007 Stuart O'GRady è leader del Pro Tour
Grazie all'odierna vittoria nella Parigi-Roubaix l'australiano Stuart O'Grady passa al comando della classifica del Pro Tour. Il portacolori della Csc ha 79 punti contro i 77 dello spagnolo Oscar Freire e i 62 di Davide Rebellin. Ottavo con 50 punti Alessandro Ballan, vincitore domenica scorsa del Giro delle Fiandre. Prossima gara del Pro Tour l'Amstel Gold Race, in programma domenica prossima.

CLASSIFICA DI PRO TOUR

1 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC 79 pts
2 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 77
3 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 62
4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 58
5 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 57
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 57
7 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 53
8 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 50
9 Roger Hammond (GBr) T-Mobile Team 45
10 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 45
11 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Lampre-Fondital 45
12 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 44
13 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 41
14 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 40
15 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 40
16 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor-Lotto 40
17 Allan Davis (Aus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 40
18 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 38
19 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 38
20 Luca Paolini (Ita) Liquigas 36"

Dwars door Vaanderan and more

O'Grady just misses again.. Boonen reigns supreme. Again.

Results from Cyclingnews...
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 4.47.00 (41,81 km/h)
2 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques - Topsport Vlaanderen
3 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Team CSC
4 Mathew Hayman (Aus) Rabobank
5 David Kopp (Ger) Gerolsteiner

And Rogers is on the podium at the Coppi-Bartali
1 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo 4.28. (40.49 km/h)
2 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.06
3 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile
4 Morris Possoni (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
5 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Miche