Monday Musette – ENECO, London, & Utah

Posted on August 15, 2011 by

Fotoreporter Sirotti

 

Here’s this week’s Monday Musette:

1. The big news from this weekend’s ENECO Tour was Edvald Boasson Hagen’s 22-second defeat of Philippe Gilbert. (It says a lot about Gilbert’s season when he makes more news by losing a race than he does by winning it.) But his victory in today’s Belgian time trial championship notwithstanding, a soft spot has been identified in Gilbert’s armor.  Unable to defend his GC lead after taking the win in Stage 3, Gilbert lost valuable seconds to Boasson Hagen in Friday’s time trial. And despite a final stage that looked to favor the Belgian’s talents on a course that might closely resemble next year’s World Championships, Boasson Hagen more than held his own, winning the stage and the race—his second win in the Benelux event.

2. Along with EBH and Gilbert, encouraging performances were also recorded by Britain’s David Millar and the young American Taylor Phinney. Phinney has admitted that he made some poor choices earlier in the season; he now looks ready for a standout autumn. The Vuelta is next on his program; it’s his first grand tour.

3. Is it just me or might the Norwegian federation have a hard time identifying a leader in Copenhagen next month? 

4. Meanwhile, some of the men hoping to succeed Spain’s Samuel Sanchez as Olympic Champion went to London Sunday to compete in the London Surrey Classic, the latest in a series of test events in which “national” selections in various event s can compete on the courses to be used in next year’s Olympic games.   Great Britain’s Mark Cavendish took the win in front of his home crowd, a result that is certain to have Team Sky rushing to the bank for more credit.

Then again, the race was only 140-kilometers long, a far cry from the distance to be tackled next summer. Still, the win’s a boost for Cav, especially as it ended a week in which his top domestique—Mark Renshaw—announced he has signed with Rabobank, initiating what quickly appears to be the dismantling of what might have been the most successful lead-out train in history. Get those wins while you can, Cav, you might find them harder to come by in the future.

5. At the Tour of Utah, Radio Shack’s Levi Leipheimer successfully defended his 2010 title, employing to perfection his typical strategy of following wheels and time trialing to take the win. Levi should start a team sponsored by Glidden, Dutch Boy, MAB, or Sherwen Williams, because watching him win races is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Yes, a win is a win and there were several riders who would have been happy to take his place atop the podium. And yes, great riders (especially older ones) know how to maximize their talents and minimize their deficiencies to win races—something Leipheimer does quite well. That said, we can be forgiven for feeling a bit underwhelmed by the ho-hum manner in which Leipheimer took his second stage race victory of the year. After all, there’s something to be said for panache. Let’s hope next week’s USA Pro Cycling Challenge produces a more exciting winner.

6. Speaking of panache, in taking three stage wins and doing just about everything it could dethrone Leipheimer, let’s give credit to Colombia’s Team Gobernacion de Antioquia for winning three stages, the Best Young Rider title, and the team classification. Race runner-up and double stage-winner Sergio Henao was by far the biggest revelation of the event, a fact confirmed by the announcement of the Colombian’s 2-year deal with Team Sky. We’ll see more from Henao and his teammates at next week’s USA Pro Cycling Challenge. Will more wins—and ProTour contracts—result?

7. Radio Shack’s Janez Brajkovic looked good while finishing third in Utah, he now heads to the Vuelta where he will finally get a chance to lead his team at a grand tour. Meanwhile, Garmin-Cervelo’s Tom Danielson and Christian Vande Velde looked strong in their final race before the USAPCC. Danielson’s a master at peaking for late-August/early-September; he’s my pick for the win in the inaugural Colorado event.

8. Last but no least, take a look at the recent mini-essay over at Rouleur about Roger De Vlaeminck’s 1977 Roubaix-winning Gios. It’s an abstract from the upcoming issue 25; I can’t wait to see it up close!

That’s it for today—share your comments below!

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The Sticky Bidon – August 12, 2011

Posted on August 12, 2011 by

Fotoreporter Sirotti


Interesting cycling items from across the Internet, August 12, 2011

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Weekend Preview: Eneco, Utah, and Transfer Season

Posted on August 12, 2011 by

Fotoreporter Sirotti

This weekend sees the culmination of two races on opposite sides of the globe, the Eneco Tour, and the Tour of Utah. Both wrap-up on Sunday.

The Eneco Tour has given flatlanders an opportunity to test post-Tour or non-Tour legs alike. Perhaps the biggest news coming out of Eneco was the prologue victory of Taylor Phinney. The youngster on BMC has had a topsy turvy start to his professional career, and he recently admitted to the newsmedia that for much of the year, he hadn’t worked very hard – his injuries, he claimed, had been a result of overstressing underprepared legs. However, he’s gearing up for his first Grand Tour, this year’s Vuelta a Espana, and his form is obvious: in the short 5.7km prologue, he beat out a host of big-name short-course time trialists including Edvald Boasson Hagen, David Millar, Lars Boom, Phillipe Gilbert, and Geraint Thomas.

Phinney held the race lead through two sprint stages, both won by Omega Pharma Lotto’s Andre Greipel – credit Phinney with guts for reeling in 6th- and 7th-place finishes in both stages to keep the race lead. With a time trial victory as well as the ability to stay at the pointy end of the race in the closing kilometers, it’s seems apparent that Phinney’s talent runs deep and that his potential could turn in any of several directions. With a Grand Tour in his legs, next year should be an exciting year for Phinney, and I wouldn’t rule him out for a fine showing in some semi-classics.

Phinney’s leader’s jersey was taken by Phillipe Gilbert on a spikey Stage 3, and today’s 14.7-km time trial saw rainy, difficult conditions that didn’t offer Phinney an opportunity to ride himself onto the podium – especially with this weekend’s Stages 5 and 6 lurking. However, Phinney’s ride is already an impressive top-ten showing for the youngster, and notable riders keeping him company on the GC are Gilbert, Boasson Hagen, Millar, and QuickStep’s Dries Devenyns – coming off of several impressive top tens in Tour stages. Not bad company to keep.

Moving across the globe, the Tour of Utah has gotten underway, in one of the United States’ few international professional races. The first three installments have included a short uphill prologue and two mildly hilly road stages, and this weekend’s final three stages are a circuit race, an individual time trial, and a road stage with a 20km finishing climb. With a good number of Tour de France riders on the start list, the final climb should be a good glimpse at who’s coming out of the Tour strong, and who’s coming out of it tired. Look for American riders to put on some fireworks on their home soil, and look for riders with expiring contracts to take one last shot at securing employment for next year. With an uncertain layout of ProTour teams – with HTC folding, Lotto looking elsewhere after the QuickStep/Omega Pharma merger, and rumors of Vacansoleil losing its ProTour license due to subpar showings – it’s possible that the market is contracting.

Elsewhere in transfer news is the report that Thor Hushovd has not been named to Garmin-Cervelo’s team for the Vuelta a Espana. Given that Thor’s signed to BMC, it doesn’t come as a surprise – and neither does news that Cadel Evans isn’t too keep on taking Thor to the Tour in 2012, prefering a full squad built around his GC aims. Which leads me to wonder if Thor Hushovd could be a bit better about choosing his teams – earlier this year, he claimed that Credit Agricole (his team from 2000 to 2008) inhibited his Classics development, and after two years at the Cervelo Test Team, found himself dissatisfied at the post-merger Garmin-Cervelo. Is Thor headed into another sticky situation of power struggles and support dissatisfaction?

But most importantly, does Cadel Evans really consider Hushovd a sprinter? I’m of the opinion that anybody who still calls Hushovd by “the S-word” hasn’t paid attention for the past several years.

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The Sticky Bidon – August 11, 2011

Posted on August 11, 2011 by

Interesting cycling items from across the Internet, August 11, 2011

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Discuss: Renshaw to Rabo – an end to Cav’s dominance?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by
2010 Tour de France - Cavendish After Stage 18 Win

Fotoreporter Sirotti

Yesterday, Cyclingnews reported that Rabobank has signed Mark Renshaw, and will support him as their number one sprinter. This comes as something of a surprise this transfer season, as it was widely speculated that HTC’s Mark Cavendish was looking to bring his leadout train with him to his new destination – likely to be Team Sky.

It raises several questions about the futures of Renshaw, Cavendish, and the Grand Tour terrain:

  • Are Renshaw’s career prospects better as a leadout man than as a sprinter? Can he alone ever get the glory and recognition he got as Cav’s Main Man?
  • Is this the end to Cavendish’s Grand Tour sprint dominance? We’ve seen him win and lose with and without his leadout train, and while he’s won without it, the control that his leadout train provides is a major source of his deathgrip on July sprinting.
  • Is the dissolution of HTC, built around supporting Cavendish’s final 200 meters, the beginning of the end of sprint dominance, in general? Without riders like Tony Martin and Bert Grabsch flying HTC’s colors at the front of break-or-sprint stages, there could be more breaks staying away.
  • Following HTC’s surprising demise, we can’t help but wonder if Cavendish could have played a more active role in keeping the team together. Remember that Thomas Voeckler stayed committed to the former Bbox Bouygues Telecom, during its hunt for a new sponsor – thus anchoring the team’s roster, attracting Europcar, and paving the way for what has turned out to be an incredible season. Early though it may be to call Cav’s career in decline, might he come to regret not doing exactly what Voeckler did, in order to keep his fully-loaded leadout train together?

What are your thoughts on the Renshaw transfer and the Cavendish speculation? Share them below.

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The Sticky Bidon – August 10, 2011

Posted on August 10, 2011 by

Fotoreporter Sirotti

Interesting cycling items from across the Internet, August 10, 2011

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

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