The Sticky Bidon – February 28, 2011

Posted on February 28, 2011 by

Interesting cycling items from across the Internet, February 28, 2011

Seen any cool links we missed? Share ’em in the comments below!

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Monday Musette – The Rest of the Weekend

Posted on February 28, 2011 by


Fotoreporter Sirotti


While I admit that we didn’t spend much time covering them, there were other races this weekend besides the Belgian Opening Weekend.  Here’s a quick run-down of what you might have missed:

1. Lampre’s Michele Scarponi took the final stage and Liquigas’ Peter Sagan the overall title of the Giro di Sardegna Saturday after a 174-kilometer stage that finished atop a 5-kilometer dirt climb in Gesturi. For both riders, their impressive wins bode well for the next events on their programs. Sagan goes to Paris-Nice as an overwhelming favorite for the win—he took two stages in last season’s edition—while Scarponi heads to Italy’s Tirreno-Adriatico to avenge last year’s narrow loss to Stefano Garzelli. Scarponi’s win his first for Lampre, who took another important victory thanks to Damiano Cunego’s win in Stage 2. Cunego finished third Saturday and third overall as well, an indication that he might be back to his former, classic-winning self.

2. From Sardinia, the majority of the field went to Cagliari, Italy for Sunday’s Classica Sarda, where Sardegna-winner Sagan was forced to third on the day by Katusha’s Pavel Brutt—the first win of the season for the Russian squad. The final selection was a veritable who’s who of early-season stars including Sagan and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), Cunego and Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-ISD), Emanuele Sella and Robert Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli), Oscar Gatto and Elia Favilli (Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli), and Geraint Thomas (Team Sky). An aggressive finale ultimately produced a worthy-winner in Brutt, who took a 2-second win over Sella.

3. Meanwhile, in Switzerland, Saturday’s Gran Premio Regio Insubrica produced another candidate for the overall win in Tirreno as Italian National Champion Giovanni Visconti emerged victorious for Farnese Vini. Team Type 1’s Jure Kocjan was second—the young Slovenian’s fifth top-10 result of the season.

4. At the GP Lugano the next day, Liquigas’ Ivan Basso took his first win of the year, beating Geox-TMC’s Fabio Duarte. Visconti once again beat Kocjan to take the sprint for third. The victory has some people wondering if Basso’s a favorite for Tirreno, especially with an ITT closing out the race.

5. But any disappointment at Geox following Duarte’s loss was quickly consoled by Italian neo-pro Matteo Pelucchi, who won the field sprint at the Clasica de Almeria. It was the restructured team’s first win after a much-troubled off-season—and given the fact that Pelucchi was one of Italy’s most successful U23’s in 2010, expect more of the same from the talented, young speedster.

6. And last but not least, many were lucky enough to attend this past weekend’s 7th edition of NAHBS, the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. There was apparently much to see—for a terrific and thorough overview, head over to John Prolly’s Flickr page for photos and slideshows of pretty much everything that mattered. Thanks for your time and effort, John. From what I’ve seen so far, my personal favorites are Ritchey’s Swiss Cross and P-29er, Cielo’s CX Racer, and anything by Nick Crumpton.

That about does it for this week’s Monday Musette. Come back later this week for the final two teams in our 2011 Season Preview, a season’s worth of International Cyclocross Awards, Valentin Scherz’s latest Letter from Abroad, and a few new features we’re sure you’ll enjoy.

As always, share your comments below.

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2011 Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne – What I Think I Think

Posted on February 28, 2011 by


Photo By Luc Claessen/ISPA Photo


We covered Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad earlier. As for yesterday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, I think we were treated to more of the race we expected to see.

1. Australia’s Chris Sutton took the biggest win of his career, in my opinion. Yes, he won a stage in the Tour Down Under, but a semi-classic against the likes of Farrar and Greipel is much bigger victory.

2. Team Sky really seems to have this weekend dialed-in. Flecha was impressive again, setting a wicked pace on the Oude Kwaremont to pull away from the field with Tom Boonen.  As for Edvald Boasson Hagen, either he’s not quite in the form we thought he was or Team Sky’s found a new role for him. Personally, I see his performance as a good sign that he’ll be at his best for major classics still to come.

3. Once Boonen and Flecha escaped, it was Garmin-Cervélo’s Martijn Maaskant who dragged the peloton back up to them. Another rider who seems to have found a new role within his team, Maaskant seems much better as a super-domestique than a team captain.

4. During Boonen’s attack inside the final 10 kilometers of the race, it was suggested during our live Feed Zone that it is disrespectful to use a race as training. One has to remember though, that professional racers compete so often that training is more of a moot point by the time the season begins. When in a racing period, all they do is race and rest, race and rest; many of the efforts we see are nothing more than a bit of mid-race interval work.

For Boonen, he likely had this weekend penciled-in as an intensive two-days of racing; after Saturday, he needed to get his work in while he could. And while the move was clearly not meant to win the race for his team, it did turn the screws on the peloton and give teammates Geert Steegmans and Gerald Ciolek a free ride to the finish.

5. Unfortunately, Ciolek only managed 17th. I wonder how many Quick-Step riders read the paper this morning? Who will be the first rider to be called out by Patrick Lefevere now that Devolder’s gone?

6. And speaking of Stijn Devolder, why was he at the back of the race coming into the Oude Kwaremont? His race today was oddly reminiscent of last year’s Ronde, a race in which he spent more time chasing at the back than racing at the front. Considering his performance Saturday, he’s another rider who might want to skip reading today’s Het Laatste News. (Sorry Stijn, but you’re no Peter Van Petegem.)

7. Lotto’s Jurgen Roelandts spent some more time off the front, this time with six others following the Cote de Trieu. After Philippe Gilbert’s no-show Saturday and Greipel’s lackluster third-place Sunday, Roelandts’ weekend was the team’s lone bright spot.

8. As for Andre “I Had No Leadout” Greipel, at what point do we start thinking he was more a product of HTC’s system than his own talent?  Just wondering—there’s a lot of season left for him to prove us wrong.

9. Tyler Farrar finished right behind Greipel in fourth place. Considering the finish was tailor made for the American, Garmin-Cervélo has reason to be disappointed. Maybe the squad has more kinks to work out than the team’s impressive start to the season first indicated?

10. Let’s take a minute to acknowledge the quiet weekend enjoyed by Katusha’s Filippo Pozzato. Given last year’s pre-Ronde flu, I have a feeling the Italian’s taking a bit more of a quiet build-up to this year’s Monuments. Remember last year, when we were all wondering about Cancellara’s form coming out of Tirreno and Milan-San Remo? Expect much of the same from Pozzato this season—will he reap the same rewards?

11. And last but not least, we rolled-out The Feed Zone this weekend, a live chat where we could all watch the race together, commenting, questioning, and discussing as the events unfolded on our own computer screens. Needless to say, we are gracious for the overwhelming warm response it received. Expect a Feed Zone schedule for the rest of the spring soon—and thanks to everyone who participated!

Come back later for a brief Monday Musette covering the rest of the weekend—there was other racing, you know…

Share your comments and observations below.

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2011 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad – What I Think I Think

Posted on February 28, 2011 by


Photo Luc Claessen/ISPA Photo


Well, its Monday and I’m still not sure what I think about Saturday’s Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. But here’s what I think I think:

1. First, let’s address the obvious: Rabobank’s Sebastian Langeveld rode an incredibly aggressive and gutsy race to take the biggest victory of his career. At 26, the best is yet to come for the young Dutchman.

2. Second only to Langeveld was Team Sky’s Juan Antonio Flecha, the defending champion and the only pre-race favorite who seemed willing to race today. That was the first time I’ve ever seen a spring classic turn into a match sprint—and it was fantastic.

3. And speaking of pre-race favorites willing to race Saturday, I have three theories as to why the majority of them weren’t:

a. They were caught napping. (I’m talking to you especially, Mr. Devolder.)

b. The weather left them all with wet matches. (They’re hard men, but they’re still human.)

c. They were subtly protesting the radio ban. Unfortunately, if this were indeed the case, in an effort to prove just how boring racing would be without radios, they failed miserably. (And by the way, next time you send out a pre-race memo about a mid-race protest, make sure Juan Antonio Flecha gets it.)

4. How long do you think it will be before we see micro-headsets tucked inside helmets, i.e. radio doping?

5. Quick-Step still thinks more of itself than the rest of the peloton does. Aside from Niki Terpstra, Quick-Step missed just about every move that mattered, as if they expected the race to just naturally come back together with about 40 kilometers to go. Shame on you, Quick-Step.

6. Now take that last paragraph, copy and paste it here, and replace Quick-Step with Omega Pharma-Lotto, and Niki Terpstra with Jurgen Roelandts.

7. Now take that last paragraph, copy and paste it here, and replace Omega Pharma-Lotto with Garmin-Cervélo, and Jurgen Roelandts with Maartijn Maaskant.

8. For those of you who keep track of such things, score Saturday 4-1 in favor of Holland for riders in the top-10. Quick-Step and Omega Pharma-Lotto were lucky there are no Sunday papers in Belgium.

9. For the second consecutive year, Flecha attacked on the pavé, and Lotto was unable to follow.

10. Thank you, World Cycling Channel. You have everything I could ever ask for.

11. It’s funny how things work out by the end of a race, but I had only 2-Star faith in Rabobank’s ability to score a good result without Matti Breschel, yet the team put both of its pre-race co-captains in the top-10. In the end, of the pairs I picked, the next closest was Sky’s Flecha and Edvald Boasson Hagen in second and…41st-place.

12. Manuel Quinziato made the second group for BMC, while Greg Van Avermaet and Marcus Burghardt were practically non-existent. Burghardt and Van Avermaet better make most these chances while they have them. Alessandro Ballan appears to have rediscovered his former self and George Hincapie’s always going to be Option #1—this weekend might have been the German and Belgian’s only chances to lead the team in the classics.

13. As for HTC, the team seems to have signed another young star with John Degenkolb. The Omloop’s distance and weather seemed to affect to the young German by the end of the day, but 12th-place is a terrific rookie result.

14. And thank you, Luca Paolini, for making me look like I still know a little bit about which riders perform well in which races.

What did you notice Saturday? Share your comments below and come back in a few hours for my thoughts on yesterday’s Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

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The Feed Zone – Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne 2011

Posted on February 26, 2011 by

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The Feed Zone – Omloop Het Nieuwsblad

Posted on February 26, 2011 by

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