The Sticky Bidon – Dec 1, 2010

Posted on December 1, 2010 by


Photo By John Watson


Interesting and/or amusing cycling items from across the Internet, December 1, 2010.

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2010 Team-by-Team Season Review: #19

Posted on December 1, 2010 by


2010 Tirenno-Adriatico - Scarponi in Stage 4

Fotoreporter Sirotti


#19 – Androni Giocattoli – Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni (Preview Ranking: not ranked)

What We Said:

Nothing, we didn’t rank them in our preseason top-20.  Hindsight’s 20/20.

What We Saw:

Left out of our pre-season top-20, Androni was a team thought by many to contain little more than aging veterans, washed-up former stars, and men most likely to be seen on the next list of doping positives.  Little did we know that by the end of the season, this punchy band of agitators would find itself in second-place only due to a technicality in Tirreno-Adriatico, fourth-place (with a stage win) in the Giro d’Italia, and second yet again in the Tour of Lombardy—plus several other Italian wins and placings to boot.

In all, Androni took home 15 wins in 2010.  Of these, four came at January’s Tour de San Luis in Argentina, one was the Swiss National Time Trial Championship, and another was a stage in the Tour of Austria.  In other words, like many Professional Continental teams, this is a squad designed for success at home. (And heck, with so many sponsors on the jersey, can you blame them for wanting a bit of hometown exposure?)

That said, while the team’s best results mostly came thanks the efforts of one rider, they are impressive nonetheless.  Michele Scarponi was a consistent instigator at Tirreno, the only man able to follow Basso and Nibali in the Giro, and the lone soul attentive to stay out of trouble and in Gilbert’s slipstream at Lombardy.  Some call it luck; I call it a man who knows how to stick to his program.

Most Valuable Rider:

With second places in Tirreno and Lombardy to go with his stage win and fourth-place overall in the Giro, it goes without saying that Michele Scarponi was Androni’s most valuable rider this season.

Biggest Disappointment: After leading the race for much of the week, Scarponi missed the win at Tirreno due to a tiebreaker.  The leader heading into the race’s final stage, Scarponi let Stefano Garzelli steal the 2-seconds he needed to draw even on time via a mid-race bonus sprint.  Tied atop the GC, the win went to the rider with highest combined stage finishes.  Much to Androni’s dismay, it wasn’t Scarponi.

Biggest Surprise: Call me a cynic, but only one of Androni’s riders was popped for “medical irregularities” this season (Massimo Giunti).  Given the track records of several men on the roster, I’d call that a surprise.  Aside from that, give credit to Alessandro Bertolini—at almost 40 years of age, the guy still wins races.

And that’s it for #19 in our Team-by-Team Season Review.  Look for #’s 18 and 17 tomorrow.

Feel free to share your comment and reflections below.

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Domestic Cyclocross Report & Power Ranking – Week #11

Posted on December 1, 2010 by
2010 NACT CX Round 8

Photo: Natalia Boltukhova/Pedal Power Photography/2010

It was a wild weekend for everyone involved in the US Cyclocross scene this past weekend as a last-minute venue change had the NACT finale at the two-day UCI Cat. 2 Baystate Cyclocross race in Sterling, MA. Unfortunately, the change resulted in a diminished field compared with other rounds of the NACT. In the end, Jeremy Powers won both days, wrapping-up the NACT overall title. On Saturday, he put 35-seconds into Canadian Derrick St. John and almost a minute into New England stalwart, Adam Myerson. On Sunday, Luke Keough was the last man able to with Powers after he whittled down a large leading group one-by-one. In the end, Keough cracked, coming-in 12-seconds behind Powers, while Myerson edged Justin Lindine for third.

A bit further West, Iowa has become a hotbed of Thanksgiving cyclocross as the three-day UCI Jingle Cross Rock event has continued to grow over the past few years. Friday night offered its traditional UCI Cat. 2 event followed by a pair of races on Saturday and Sunday. This year though, Sunday’s race was a UCI Cat. 1 race, making it a definite stop for those looking to grab UCI points ahead of Nationals ten days from now.

Cross Rock 1 was held in below-freezing temperatures at the Johnson Fairgrounds in Iowa City. The course was a technical, lung-busting circuit that featured a 40-second climb every lap. Teammates Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon (Kona) were able to get away early, opening a 20 second gap to a stellar chase group. Unfortunately, Trebon soon crashed-out, while Jamey Driscoll bridged across the gap to Wicks. Wicks, who was clearly gassed, was hoping for a bit of cooperation from Driscoll, but it was not meant to be as Driscoll took-off on his own to win by nearly 30 seconds. Behind, Wicks held-off a hard-charging Chris Jones—who ended up flatting with half a lap to go—for second.

Saturday’s race featured a similar course to Friday’s, except it was a bit longer and very twisty. Driscoll elected not to start, conserving energy for Sunday’s Cat. 1 event. Soon after the race began, Trebon, Wicks, Jones, and Todd Wells formed a leading group. Trebon used the course’s challenging climb and run-up to gain about a 10-second gap each lap. However, he took the decent carefully after the previous day’s crash. As a result, Wells was able to rejoin the Kona rider until about three to go, at which point he was forced to settle for second. Jones rolled across the line one minute after Trebon for third on the day.

On Sunday, Driscoll proved that there is something to be said for taking a day off as he picked-up his second—and most important—victory of the weekend in Cross Rock 3. After the race, Driscoll admitted that he used the break to do some studying even though he knew that this weekend was all about points and money as the season winds down. Behind Driscoll, Todd Wells took second-place after battling it out with Trebon who rolled a tire during the penultimate lap, which allowed Jones to slip by for his third third-place finish of the weekend.

One final note: Tim Johnson stayed in Europe to race Round Three of the World Cup in Koksijde, Belgium. The notoriously sandy course will host the 2012 World Championships, but unfortunately proved too much for the National Champion. Johnson’s first row start was rendered moot and he quickly found himself riding outside the top-30. Unable to move up, he was pulled with two laps to go.

That said, it was a wild weekend of domestic cyclocross. How will the action affect the rankings? Let’s find out:

Domestic Power Rankings – Week #11

1. Jeremy Powers (2) – Powers moves up to #1 this week despite the fact that he raced against considerably smaller and weaker fields than the rest of the riders in the rankings. However, his solid season and impressive rides in New England prove he’s a national title contender. Next weekend will be a real test for Powers as the USGP heads to Oregon. In my opinion, winning the USGP overall would be a bigger accomplishment for Powers than the NACT title.

2. Tim Johnson (1) – After finishing just outside the top-10 last weekend in Gavere, expectations were high heading into Round Three of the World Cup. But Johnson seemed to struggle right from the start en route to a disappointing DNF. However, Johnson is now the UCI’s top-ranked American and will have a guaranteed front row start for Nationals. That said, I think it’s important for Johnson to win in Oregon next weekend to keep his confidence high for Nationals.

3. Jamey Driscoll (6) – The “studious one” picked-up a pair of victories in Iowa this past weekend. He was very impressive in both races and is now a prime candidate for a national title. Driscoll’s smartest move may have been his decision to rest on Saturday. Not only did it allow him to win on Sunday, but it also gives him a slight edge over everyone else as the cross world moves to the Northwest.

4. Todd Wells (4) – Last year, Wells announced himself as a national title contender by winning all three rounds in Iowa. This year, Wells finished sixth on Friday and second on Saturday and Sunday. I really like Wells’ chances if the conditions are tough in Oregon, which is almost a guarantee. He’s raced consistently all year, and think a breakout victory in Portland is a distinct possibility.

5. Ryan Trebon (5) – Trebon continues to struggle with staying upright and finishing races. He dropped-out Friday night after a nasty crash, but was able to bounce back with a win on Saturday and a fourth-place ride Sunday. After a season of travel, America’s best will head to Trebon’s back yard for the USGP finale and Nationals. Hopefully he can handle the pressure and pick-up some huge wins.

6. Geoff Kabush (3) – Kabush will head to Portland for his last races of the season on US soil. After taking some time off, I’m sure he’ll be ready to go—and looking for a few victories. With just about everyone peaking right now, it’s going to be a very tough order.

7. Chris Jones (n/a) – Jones has been just off the radar for a while now. But his three third-place finishes in Iowa show that he’s coming around at just the right time. Still known as more of a roadie, it will be interesting to see how Jones does in the muck and sludge of the Northwest.

8. Adam Craig (8) – Over the past few weeks, Craig has quietly ridden his way into a wildcard kind position. If anyone can surprise the US’s best in the Northwest, Craig is that guy. I’m not saying he’ll win in Portland or Bend, but he could destroy the hopes of others with a stellar ride.

9. Barry Wicks (n/a) – If you asked at the beginning of the season who was going to have the toughest year, I would have said Wicks. He’s been Trebon’s right hand man for years, but has been unable to really help him in recent years. However, like Trebon, Wicks is an Oregon native, so he cannot be counted out. A podium spot on Friday, a top-five on Saturday, and a top-ten on Sunday in Iowa, prove that the Oregonian is enjoying his best form of the season. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the top-5 this weekend, but a lack of UCI points may hinder his chances in Bend.

10. Troy Wells (n/a) – Some of Wells’ best results have come in adverse conditions, much like the ones we expect to see in Oregon. With a pair of fifth-places in Iowa, Wells makes the rankings for the first time this year. His seventh on Saturday is also worth noting. The key for Wells—who will have a significantly better starting position after his breakout weekend—comes in this weekend’s USGP events. A pair of top-10’s would put him right in line for Nationals.

Dropped this week: Valentin Scherz (7), Luca Damiani (9).

One final note regarding the two riders to have dropped this week. Both Scherz and Damiani went back to Europe after solid US campaigns. Valentin Scherz struggled in his European debut, finishing outside the top-thirty at the U23 race in Koksijde. Hopefully, after some more time at home he’ll rebound with the great results he’s capable of. Meanwhile, Luca Damiani went back to Italy still recovering from his crash in early November. With 16 stitches in his leg, Damiani flew back last week after an abrupt, and disappointing end to his US season. I wish both riders luck with their European campaigns—we’ll continue follow them with great interest.

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2010 Team-By-Team Season Review: #20

Posted on December 1, 2010 by
2010 Tour de France - Casar Wins Stage 9

Fotoreporter Sirotti

You might recall our team-by-team preview of the 2010 road season back in February.  Now that the dust is about to settle on another year, it’s the perfect time for a team-by-team review of what we said and what we saw.  So over the next few weeks, we’ll count down the top-20 teams of 2010 (from #20 to #1), including a reprint of our original prognostications.  So let’s kick things-off with #20:

#20 – La Francaise des Jeux (Preview Ranking: #18)

What We Said:

What a start for Marc Madiot’s men in white and blue!  If they continue this streak, I’ll soon be looking pretty foolish for ranking them so low.

Or will I?  Yes, they’ve won a few races so far this season, and yes, they have some talent (including a rider who finished 10th in last year’s Tour de France).  But come June, will wins in the Med Tour and Haut Var still look all that impressive?  Don’t get me wrong, there are some terrific pieces here, including many riders capable of taking impressive wins. But which wins and how many is another story.

FDJ hasn’t had a bona fide star since Baden Cooke. Sure, Sandy Casar’s a terrific rider on his day, an opportunist known for his dramatic Tour stage wins.  And yes, Frederic Guesdon won Paris-Roubaix—in 1997.  Anthony Geslin won a semi-classic in 2009 and Yauheni Hutarovich has already won several races this season—but something still seems missing.

Like so many of the French teams, FDJ’s strategy seems to involve throwing everything against the wall and seeing what sticks—hardly the way to run a successful program.  In the end, success is quite possible for one of the longest-running teams in the sport.  But when and from which riders is anyone’s guess. This team needs a true leader, someone the others can ride for, confident in the knowledge that if they do their jobs, he’ll do his.  Until they find a truly talented and dynamic lead rider, their destined to pick through everyone else’s scraps.

Man of the Hour: Christophe Le Mevel stunned many with his top-10 finish in last year’s Tour de France.  He’s started-off 2010 on the right foot, winning the second stage and the overall title at this past weekend’s difficult Tour du Haut Var.  If he keeps his form, together with Casar and Remi DiGregorio, FDJ might have some hope for success in their first major domestic engagement of 2010: Paris-Nice.

On the Hot Seat: And speaking of Remi DiGregorio, when will we see him capitalize on all the potential everyone thought they saw him indicate in the Dauphiné a few years ago?  He’s still just 24, but the home fans—and pundits—are growing impatient.  Hopefully he’ll continue to display the aggressive riding he showed in the Med.

Up-and-Comer: It’s not all gloom and doom for France though.  2009 was a banner year for French U23 riders, culminating in Roman Sicard’s World Championship win in Mendrisio.  Lost in all the excitement over Sicard was young Thibaut Pinot, the winner of the difficult Val d’Aosta stage race in Italy.  In Pinot, Marc Madiot might have made his best signing in years—if this young climber comes close to meeting the expectations of those who have seen him ride.

Best Pick-Up: Considering there are only 3 newcomers to the roster, signing Pinot has to be the best of this year’s off-season haul for FDJ.

Biggest Departure: Again, not many teams are lining-up to steal riders away from French teams right now—at least not at this level.

What We Saw:

If for nothing else, credit FDJ for it’s staying-power. In a sport where team after team (many of them French) faces one sponsorship crisis after another, Marc Madiot and his management team have always managed to put forth a marketable—and relatively stable—squad each season since 1997.  What’s even more impressive, they’ve managed to do it with largely the same industry partners and sponsors—could that be a key to team’s success?

That said, while the squad’s stability and consistency are impressive, the riders themselves rarely set the world on fire—especially outside of France.   This past season, FDJ won 17 races—4 of them came outside French borders.  Still, FDJ’s season was not without its highlights.  Imports Yauheni Hutarovich and Jussi Veikkanen started the season with wins at the Mediterranean Tour, while Christophe LeMevel took the Tour du Haut Var.  Jeremy Roy took an impressive win in the Norman Rouabaix, the Tro Bro Leon, while Benoit Vaugrenard took stages on Algarve and Dunkirk.  As for the rest of the season, some smaller wins came here and there, but the big headlines were stage wins by Sandy Casar at the Tour and Hutarovich at the Tour of Poland and the Vuelta.  All in all, it wasn’t a bad season, but one that would have benefitted from better showings in key French races such as Paris-Nice and the Dauphine.

Unfortunately, in the end FDJ’s efforts were not enough to guarantee the team a spot in the UCI’s Pro Tour for 2011—at least until Marc Madiot finds a new calendar, that is.  Nevertheless, this is not a squad built to perform at the world level.  As one of France’s top formations, the team is all but guaranteed an invitation to France’s biggest races without worrying about UCI-point accrual.  And with new recruits such as Pierrick Fedrigo, William Bonnet, and Steve Chainel joining the fold, there’s little to suggest the team won’t continue to grab an impressive win or two on home terre.

Most Valuable Rider: Hutarovich won more races, but Sandy Casar came through with another stage win in the Tour de France, instantly making him the team’s most valuable rider.  For a French rider on a French team, Tour stage victories guarantee contracts—with several impressive Tour performances including another stage win in 2007, Casar’s more or less set for the rest of his career.

Biggest Disappointment: After his 10th-place finish in the 2009 Tour de France, Christophe Le Mevel was FDJ’s Man of the Hour heading into the 2010 season.  Unfortunately, the pressure obviously got to him as he failed to deliver on 2009’s impressive result.  The rider has since departed for Garmin-Cervélo, obviously hoping that riding for a non-French formation will ease the pressure a bit—if he even makes Garmin’s Tour team, that is.

Biggest Surprise: We were all a bit surprised when Hutarovich out-sprinted the likes of Cavendish, Petacchi, and Farrar to take the Vuelta’s second stage, giving FDJ a rare grand tour stage victory outside of France.  Were I Madiot, I’d have Hutarovich thinking of next year’s Ghent-Wevelgem, as the Belarussian’s similar in style and talent to 2010-winner, Bernie Eisel.

That’s if for #20, come back later for #19!

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Monday Musette РGarmin-Skyv̩lo?

Posted on November 29, 2010 by

Photo: © Slipstream Sports

1. Garmin-Cervélo released a sneak peak of their new jersey. We look forward to confusing them with Sky in 2011.

2. Sven Nys broke a pedal in the final stretch of this weekend’s Superprestige. He managed to stay upright, and ended up hobbling across the line in fourth.

3. Alexi Grewal wrote a great blog post about using equal parts strength, intelligence and subterfuge to win his 84 LA gold medal. It’ll be interesting to see how far he can take this comeback he’s attempting at 50.

4. Its been 123 days (give or take, based on your timezone and how “in” you are) since the Schleck’s announced their departure from Saxo Bank to Team To Be Named Later. Said team got it’s ProTeam license last week, so Andy and crew will be set to defend his Tour de France performance next year.

5. On an entirely related note, Fabian Cancellara still doesn’t officially have a cycling team, but does have a new management team, who’ll be happy to tell us where he’s heading in just a few more weeks (see item #4).

6. Seems like a few people were confused by the postings of @PeterSaganNews on Twitter, mistaking them for the actual Peter Sagan – or at least someone close to the rider. The latest posts, indicating conflict between Sagan and team doctors prompted a press release from Liquigas, denying the accusations and any link between Sagan and the Twitter account in question. The Internet is a strange place, but its truly strange that someone would make up these sorts of quotes from Sagan – I’m inclined to believe he had some involvement.

7. There’ll be no confusing you for a Sky or Garmin-Cervélo rider in your 2011 Pavé kit. Hopefully we’ll have a final version this week. Interested? Sign up here and we’ll keep you posted.

Have a great week—share your comments below!

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Garmin/Pearl Izumi – Much Ado About a Skinsuit?

Posted on November 29, 2010 by


2010 Vuelta a Espana - Dave Millar in Stage 17

Fotoreporter Sirotti


So Garmin are in a little bit of hot water with Pearl Izumi as it looks like the now infamous “winged” skinsuit prototypes have not been returned. (I’m bet this was just an error in the laundry department; they are probably “lost in the wash”—no doubt to make a reappearance soon.) Obviously, with the announcement that Castelli will be providing the team with apparel for the next three years, it looks like Pearl Izumi put 2 and 2 together, and—well, you get the picture. It’s a funny chain of events as I know that many clothing manufacturers have recently backwards engineered Castelli’s Cervelo TestTeam Aero Jerseys and Shorts—perhaps Pearl’s afraid of Castelli beating them at their own game?

Seriously speaking, Garmin have lots of changes in store for next season: new riders, new staff, new bikes and components, and lots of new kit. We all know about the change in frames for next season, but what else is on the cards? According to my sources, the team is more or less swapping its 2010 set-up for Cervelo’s, with the exception of wheels—and tires?—which will be Mavic. Lately, Garmin seems to change sponsors so regularly that one cannot be blamed for getting the feeling that the team (rightly or wrongly) considers its sponsors less “partners” and more “suppliers”. I hope this is a trend Mr Vroomen can reverse, bringing over from the CTT project the belief that suppliers are partners.  Everybody benefits from the relationship in different ways, so in the end they all benefit. This has been proven over the last two years as some really great products came from the collaboration between Cervelo TestTeam’s riders and sponsorship partners.

As for the skinsuits, I sincerely hope they were really lost.  As we saw last week with the Canyon/Cervelo frame case, copying another company’s ideas may no longer be dealt as casually as in the past. Product development takes time and money and as a team supplier/partner it’s great to be able to provide a technological advantage to the riders.

Garmin-Cervelo will face a lot of challenges next year as the integration of the two programs will make the squad feel very fresh in many ways—but this could go one of two ways. In the best case scenario, ‘a plan will come together’ and Garmin will have one of the two or three best teams for the cobbled classics and stage wins on the Tour—although a true GC contender might be another year or two away. At worst, the riders don’t gel and internal power struggles over who gets to ride (never mind win) which races could be a DS’s worst nightmare. Should this be the case, a few missing skinsuits would be the least of Garmin’s problems.

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For more from Rich, please visit his site, Sprinting for Signs.

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