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.

Giro 2008: Ricco wins, Pellizotti leads

Ouch, that was hard. Nice to see the leader of the Pantani appreciation society, Ricardo Ricco take the win, and Pellizotti is a deserved leader on GC. Bad news for Zabriskie with a nasty fall - will his luck turn back soon? Surely it must! Riccò and Pellizotti were equally satisfied with their day. "This morning I wanted to win the stage," said the former. "Benitez helped me in the last kilometres and then Piepoli. I was feeling well so my team-mates helped me. We made a great sprint and it was good to beat Di Luca because it shows I have great condition.

Tomorrow is a sprint stage, although Mount Etna may erupt and change the face of Calabria. You never know.

2008 Giro - I hate TTTs

OK, they are interesting and all but to start a Grand Tour with a TTT really disadvantages so many GC riders - well, mostly the sprinters in the less-evenly-balanced teams. It's fine if you are a strong TT team with plenty of riders prepared to give it their all, but what if you are a sprinter who wants to conserve a bit for later in the week? Or a climber with similar ambitions? Yes, I know, it doesn't matter how you start, someone will be set-back by the nature of "the thing". It's just to me a TTT is "the thing" I like least! If it came later in the Giro it'd make for an interesting reshuffle (but I'd still hate it).

That gripe aside, it's nice to see Slipstream and Vandevelde win. From CN: Scooping its biggest ever win and simultaneously propelling Christian Vande Velde into the first American maglia rosa since Andy Hampsten 20 years ago, Slipstream Chipotle H30 thundered to team time trial success on day one of the Giro d'Italia.

Olympic cyclist Ben Kersten's fury at road-rage driver | The Daily Telegraph

More on the near-tragedy this morning... you'd think from some of the comments that we should be starting an education campaign for motorists on the road rules and the application of duty of care...

CHAMPION cyclist Ben Kersten says a random hit-and-run road rage attack could have killed several riders - including Olympic Games gold medallists Graeme Brown and Kevin Nichols - in Sydney today.

Olympic cyclist Ben Kersten's fury at road-rage driver | The Daily Telegraph

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Idiot driver takes out cycling pack - apparently with intent

If you've cycled in Sydney you'll know the feeling of being hassled by drivers with little apparent self-control and an inability to separate their emotions from their driving task. In this instance the "Crazy driver" involved has gone one step too far - maybe 2 or 3 steps too far. Doesn't matter that there were Olympians involved, this shouldn't happen to anyone.

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Where's Mick? Sick!

I asked where's Mick Rogers? Well apparently he has Epstein-Barr virus. Now that can take many forms, including 'glandular fever' or mononucleosis and has been linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I think Cunego had it just after his break through year and has been slowly regaining the form he used to have... OTOH just about everyone has it at some point in their lives and they get by...

Personally it recurred every time I got back on the bike... it took about a year to get over it and I never got back the form I had prior... but as I say, Cunego is coming back strong and it's a very common virus. But I would guess Mick is out for the season...

A slower than usual start...

But as usual McEwen takes a win: Australia's Robbie McEwen of Silence-Lotto took his first win of the season, capturing a sprint finish in Fribourg ahead of Italy's Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) and Denmark's Matti Breschel (CSC). Swiss Michael Albasini (Liquigas) kept the leader's jersey.. Plenty of changes for Robbie this year - no early wins is unusual, and a Belgian team even more clearly split between 2 Aussies has taken away some of the dedicated support he previously expected. He's blaming other factors, but one has to wonder what happens in July, when Cadel Evans will be numero uno and his GC aspirations the clear focus of the team. (Cadel's not racing in Romandie so there's no conflict - yet.)

Whilst many will say that McEwen can look after himself in a sprint, he has also relied on teammates to get him into position (witness the work Steegmans used to do, launching McEwen to spectacular wins) or to catch sprint-threatening breakaways. If a breakaway doesn't threaten Cadel on GC, would the team help to it close down, for Robbie's sake? Or will it be down to just Robbie and pal Nick Gates to make the best of it?

And now a win for Hilton Clarke

Brought to you by yet another famous Aussie cycling family (funny how some things run in families, my local butcher is the same)... Clarke claims Beaufort win. Notice that it's a crit, and a big one. Anyone remember Shane Sutton winning the US Crit Champs about - umm - 20 years ago?

Nice stage win for Sulzberger

In what can only be described as a tactical team victory - OK, you could also say it was a personal, individual win - Wesley Sulzberger (Aus) Australian National Team 3.54.54 (37.65 km/h) outsprinted GC leader Vitaly Buts after a monumental day of attacking in stage 3 of the Giro delle Regioni. The Aussies softened 'em up with a leg-breaking mountain attack by Travis Meyer, followed by the counter. Each move included an Aussie and effectively launched Wes to the win. Yes, yes, he still had to sprint.

And Valverde will be there

Well, we hope he'll be there come July. He can climb and sprint. He can mix it with anyone in a tour - and even in a Classic. Whilst he does have a small cloud still hanging about from his brush with that Spanish Affair, he's not in the frame at the moment. So tick Valverde come July. Note also that Cadel Evans missed the key break but wasn't too far off the pace.
One year ago in Ans, Alejandro Valverde found himself just short of his second victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but this year the Caisse d'Epargne rider hit back with Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and Fränk Schleck (Team CSC) left wondering what could have been. The 28 year-old, winner of the 2006 Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, added a third Ardennes Classic to his already rich palmarès by waiting until the final 200 metres to swing by his two escape companions.

Georgia on my mind

Well it was an interesting result in the end, but not so surprising. NZ's Greg Henderson won the final sprint for High Road, and the team picked up the overall as well - just. What conclusions can we draw? Is this a serious indication of tour form for High Road? Will Slipstream's Trent Lowe come of age this year with a major win? Where's Mick Rogers?

Well it's only April. Let's look at the top 30 or so anyway.

Siutsou was a revelation and deserved winner, and Aussie Lowe came oh-so-close to end up 2nd on GC. Leiphemer could only hang with these guys for 3rd. (But it's April, and Astana won't be at Le Tour anyway.) There was a bunch of guys close, too, but they also won't figure in July. However it was nice to see Oscar Sevilla racing at a high level again (6th). Rory Sutherland was a good 9th and could have been higher with a bit of luck. Julich's 10th also under-rated his potential. Willo, Chadwick and McGee were all in the mix, too.

1 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Team High Road 22.44.44

2 Trent Lowe (Aus) Slipstream Chipotle p/b H30 0.04

3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 0.14

4 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 1.02

5 Iñigo Cuesta Lopez De Castro (Spa) Team CSC 1.11

6 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing 1.25

7 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle p/b H30 1.32

8 Moises Aldape Chavez (Mex) Team Type 1 1.37

9 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Health Net p/b Maxxis 2.08

10 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 2.31

11 José Luis Rubiera Vigil (Spa) Astana 2.39

12 Scott Nydam (USA) BMC Racing Team 2.49

13 George Hincapie (USA) Team High Road 3.19

14 Michael Blaudzun (Den) Team CSC 3.26

15 Valery Kobzarenko (Ukr) Team Type 1 3.29

16 Darren Lill (RSA) BMC Racing Team

17 Christopher Jones (USA) Team Type 1 3.37

18 Christian Meier (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 3.44

19 Francois Parisien (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team 3.48

20 Glen Chadwick (Aus) Team Type 1 4.13

21 Trent Wilson (Aus) Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team 4.15

22 Bradley McGee (Aus) Team CSC 4.26

23 Christopher Baldwin (USA) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team 4.28

24 Jacob Erker (Can) Symmetrics Cycling Team

25 Michael Lange (USA) Jelly Belly Cycling Team 4.34

26 Jai Crawford (Aus) GE Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team 5.02

27 Matt Cooke (USA) Health Net p/b Maxxis 5.06

28 Chris Horner (USA) Astana 5.33

29 Jeremy Vennell (NZl) Bissell Pro Cycling 5.46

30 Matthias Russ (Ger) Gerolsteiner 6.02

Evans attacks, 2nd time this year!

Kidding. As I've said before, he attacks when he thinks he has an advantage, not because it's his only tactic. Evans plays a strategic game in his races, mulling over the pros and cons whilst digging deep to counter important moves. Well, that's how most riders do it, too. But he has the engine to launch decisive attacks, which is not the case for every rider. So there are expectations.

Anyway, he launched but lost. It was close. It confirms his form and his motivation. It was worth a shot. Kim Kirchen won instead, Cadel 2nd, Cunego 3rd. Read CN's report of the Arrow of Wallonne here: With Efimkin exhausted, Wegmann pressed on solo and held a 20-second advantage to the final kilometre. But he quickly succumbed to the savage gradients of the Mur as Evans blasted past with 400 metres remaining. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Cunego, Joaquím Rodríguez (Caisse d'Epargne) and Kirchen were all in tow as the 31 year-old Australian fought hard with Amstel Gold winner Cunego and last year's winner Rebellin.

As runners, cyclists make good cyclists

But triathletes fare better. Well Armstrong was a triathlete many moons ago, and it shows. As a cyclist and not a runner I can quite honestly say that I was "fast enough", but only over about 400m max. After that it became a slog, a real slog.

Anyway, from CN: Seven times Tour de France champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong finished the 112th Boston Marathon in 2:50:58, placing 488th out of more than 25,000 Monday. Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot won the men's race in 2:07:46, missing the course record he set by just 32 seconds. He became the fourth man to win Boston four times, joining American great Bill Rogers.

Cuban missile wins, (Aus) dominates Tour de Georgia stage 1

Go Ivan! There's always something nice about a US and Japanese corporation-sponsored US-domestic pro bike team winning ahead of the ProTour teams. Better yet, being Cuban in origin allows everyone to use the "Cuban missile" cliche yet again. Life is good.

Interesting to see who was up there in the sprint... and it's a loooong way back to the first Yank, Taylor Tolleson (sorry, who?), let alone non-sprinter Chris Horner:

1 Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team 2.30.18 (45.43 km/h)

2 Nicholas Sanderson (Aus) Jelly Belly Cycling Team

3 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner

4 Richard England (Aus) Bissell Pro Cycling

5 Serguei Koudentsov (Rus) GE Trek - Marco Polo Cycling Team

6 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team

7 Bradley McGee (Aus) Team CSC

8 Gregory Henderson (NZl) Team High Road

9 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astana

10 Karl Menzies (Aus) Health Net Presented By Maxxis

11 Cody Stevenson (Aus) Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team

12 Matt Rice (Aus) Jelly Belly Cycling Team

13 Taylor Tolleson (USA) BMC Racing Team

14 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing

15 Dominique Rollin (Can) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team

16 Hilton Clarke (Aus) Toyota - United Pro Cycling Team

17 Jonathan Cantwell (Aus) Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling Team

18 Chris Horner (USA) Astana

Is that 9 Aussies ahead of Chris? Is that Bradley McGee I see before me? And Sanderson - great result in 2nd place. Tomorrow will sort the guys out, this was too short, more like a crit than a road race...

BTW, Contador beat Evans in finale

Does it really matter? In the final 20km TT Contador - despite suffering "dental problems" was able to overcome Evans and the rest to secure his home race. I guess that's important - it was his home race after all. As well, Evans is building up to July so should still be off the pace, particularly in a short TT that doesn't play to his strengths. Looked at in that light Evans must be pretty pleased with his form.

From CN: Astana's Alberto Contador overcame a week of personal challenges and continued his dominating performance in the Vuelta al País Vasco to win the final stage and the overall classification. In the stage six 20 km time trial, the Spaniard won by 22 seconds over Australian Cadel Evans, from Silence-Lotto. Rabobank's Thomas Dekker was third, 27 seconds back . Evans and Dekker also finished second and third in the overall.

OK, so I watched it on replay - The Paris-Roubaix

I wasn't going to stay up that late, although it would've been good practice for Le Tour...

Anyway, did anyone actually get a surprise out of Boonen winning? Or Boonen out-sprinting Cancellara and Ballan? I thought not. Still, it's the whole drama of the thing that matters and once again the race was full of "ouch, that hurt", "can he bridge that gap?", "will the break succeed?" and "will they work together or play a tactical game?" before we got to the final selection. And gosh those cobbles look hard to ride on.

Kirchen wins, waves to teammate

Well he could have. Off in a break, caught at last gasp, your teammate snatches the win. Well yes, Kirchen had to take it, I know, it just seems wrong somehow. Meanwhile, as CN reports,
overall leader Alberto Contador maintained his slim three second lead over Ezequiel Mosquera (Karpin Galicia). The main breakaway of the day, with Possoni, Australian champion Matthew Lloyd (Silence Lotto) and Basque rider Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel – Euskadi) was caught with just 50 metres to the line, and mixed in with the bunch gallop with Possoni coming second, Lloyd fifth and Txurruka in seventh.

There's another chance at a glorious GC-splitting breakaway tomorrow, but with little change on GC since day 1 it's not looking good. It may end in the TT... Evans is just 8 secs back on Contador. Hmmm. Unless someone gets away in the next stage on paper it's an Evans win, but then again with 44 riders within a minute of the lead anything is possible.

Contador versus Evans?

What does it matter? Contador can't defend in July, so it's just a non-event. Or is it? It's a minor side-show at least. Can Contador demonstrate that he should be in a team at Le Tour? Can Evans maintain the roll he's on? Does he want to beat Contador (and the rest)? Or is it all about fine-tuning the Silence-Lotto team for July?

I'd go for a mix of all of the above. Alberto Contador (Astana), virtually lost his GC lead to compatriot Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel Euskadi) out on the road, but thanks to the work of his team, he remained in yellow at the end of the day with a five-second margin on Ezequiel Mosquera (Karpin Galicia). Evans is down 8 seconds, as are many others.

Some thoughts on World Champs, Olympics and McGee

It's been 4 years since Brad McGee finished 8th overall in the Giro, and - hmmm - 3 years since we last saw him absolutely flying. It's hard to remember some of the details, what with the constant drug-related Tour "lowlights" of the past few years, but Brad looked to have the goods back then and was, to some at least, looking to claim his stake on the Tour lead back then. I remember he was in a break, flying up and down mountains, taking a few risks. He was putting his hand up as a contender. But he crashed instead.

But he's fixed his physical problems - a cyst behind the knee, not the back problem he thought he had - and is ready to go. And he's only 32. The slightly revamped CyclingNews.com has a good interview today: McGee may have been some way off gold in the world championships but, with his injury problems now appearing to have been resolved, with a new team and a good race programme helping to build his form and with over four months to go until Beijing, he could have a very successful Olympic campaign. All going to plan, Bradley versus Bradley fighting it out for the gold medal is a real possibility.

Which brings me to what I feel could happen in Beijing. Britain is on a high, they have peaked for their home World Champs after all - and it is very hard to maintain that level, or even to peak again in 4 months. It's certainly do-able, but it won't be the same. Not every rider who medalled in Manchester will reach the same peak - and let's face it, the riders from other countries will be peaking as well. And they may well be aiming higher.

So I'd expect to see Britain drop slightly overall but still be picking up medals aplenty. Thy may just be silver or bronze rather than gold. Which leaves the door open to the French, Dutch and Australian riders to pull out some outstanding performances. They know the gap, and they have the time. Let's see who can bridge the gap and beat the Brits in Beijing.

Weak April 1 jokes I enjoyed

Well, kind of got a giggle out of, anyway.

Firstly, aligning stripes on a jersey with ancient 'lines of force' to get getter cycling performance is not just amusing, it's believable that someone somewhere will believe it, too. "Skeptics try to play this down because they cannot explain it with science," said longtime ley line expert Martyn Erlin to Cyclingnews on Monday. "They need to see to believe, they need to be able to measure and to quantify for something to exist. However there's a huge amount of examples from the recent and distant history of this country to show that something inexplicable, unquantifiable yet wonderful is going on." Manchester has long been regarded as a fast track but the number of world records, track standards and personal bests broken during the recent championships led experts such as Mr M. Erlin to ponder if something more significant was taking place.

Next up is wrapping old bike parts in new materials, and I have to say that it's an intriguing idea. I have a rusty old frame that's too far gone to restore, or to be bothered restoring. What if I could coat it instead with carbon - or some other substance - and get more life out of it? Would I trust it not to fail? No. Anyway, nice joke that we'd like to believe in: However, when Colorado retailer Chris Jacobsen first informed us of his intriguing Jacobsen Carbon Wrap-It system, we were rightfully skeptical. Jacobsen proposed that consumers could wrap their own frames and parts and achieve nearly the same results as far more expensive factory jobs. As such, his rather inexpensive do-it-yourself kit could transform relatively mundane aluminum frames, forks, stems, bars, or nearly any other bit into a stronger and stiffer equivalent, all at a surprisingly reasonable cost as well.