On behalf of everyone at Pavé, I would like to welcome the newest member of our “team” as Sam Rauch entered the world yesterday! Sam, Mommy, and Daddy (Jeremy) are all doing well–although we have a feeling Dad did nothing but follow wheels until the end.
At 9 pounds, 4.5 ounces, Dad’s hopes of a future Tour-winner might go unfulfilled, but a Roubaix or two would certainly do just fine.
Congrats to Jeremy, Jessica, Leah, and Sam!
Fotoreporter Sirotti
While watching the video of Philippe Gilbert methodically dispatching of Bjorn Leukemans to win Wednesday’s Brabantse Pijl, a thought occurred to me: is Gilbert about to become the Ardennes equivalent of Fabian Cancellara?
In other words, has the Belgian displayed such superior form that it will be impossible for him to avoid the stalemate-inducing, check-down tactics (at least among the favorites) that effectively prevented Cancellara from winning Flanders and Roubaix?
Consider the evidence, with a win in the E3 Prijs that left little room for doubting his fitness, Fabian Cancellara cemented himself at the top of every other team’s hit list. He would get no favors from in Flanders and Roubaix, even if it meant—in the case of teams such as Quick-Step—cutting-off one’s nose to spite one’s face.
Now Gilbert—already one of the best riders in the world—has won the final Amstel-Ardennes warm-up seemingly with one hand tied behind has back. He most certainly heads to the Amstel Gold Race (a race he won last year) as the top favorite to repeat his win, but now will bear the burden—along with his team—of controlling the race from the outset.
Luckily, Gilbert’s style is the complete anti-thesis to Cancellara’s—he attacks relentlessly, and demeanor that ultimately force his rivals to put up or shut-up as it’s hard to mark a rider out of a race when you can’t follow his accelerations. But the question is still worth asking: before the races have even started, has Gilbert already lost?
Share your thoughts below.
Fotoreporter Sirotti
Interesting bits from the cycling world, April 14th, 2011:
See anything we missed? Share it below.
Photo by Luc Claessen/ISPA Photo
There is still much discussion (criticism, praise, etc.) of Garmin-Cervelo’s tactics and results in the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix. Â A forward-looking question is whether their breakthrough spring season will continue as we switch gears to the Ardennes. Â This season’s infusion of talent, notably the heads of state from the former Cervelo TestTeam, arguably has strengthened their squad significantly. Â Add to this Ryder Hesjedal’s 2nd place finish in Amstel Gold Race last year, and the team may have a legitimate contender. Â Will their Ardennes warrior match the accomplishment of their cobbled gladiators?
The cobbled classics of the last few weeks are notable for several factors:
All these should not take away from Team Garmin’s accomplishments, but they offer a contrast as we look forward to the Ardennes classics. Â Garmin’s win owes much to Johan Van Summeren being in the right place at the right time, and the reluctance of the strongest rider to take a risk against Cancellara. Â Garmin should rightly take credit for the placement of Thor Hushovd and Sep Vanmarcke in the Cancellara group, and BMC for having both Ballan and Quinziato, at least until Mons-en-Pevele.
Cobbles-oriented teams include obvious favorites Leopard-Trek, Quick-Step, BMC, Garmin. Â Among these, big negative changes happened at Leopard-Trek and the super-team QSI, which we covered in a separate article. Â They had to field significantly less firepower than in past years. Â And the stars either had rotten luck (Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Pippo Pozzato) and or they played to not lose to Cancellara.
To compare, consider the hill-oriented teams such Lampre, Astana, Katusha, Euskaltel, Movistar, and perhaps Garmin again. Â Many of these teams have kept or even increased their roster, notably Lampre. Â Many argue that an Andreas Kloden in renaissance and a lucky Chris Horner can contend for a win, perhaps with help from the likes of Janez Brackovic.
I expect more controlled races in the Ardennes than in the cobbled races, and more stars playing to win rather than lieutenants competing for podium. Â Hence, lesser chances for Garmin unless they can match the other teams in strength in the finale. Then again, Hesjedal’s proven himself to be an aggressive rider with a knack for being at the right place at the right time. Can he follow-up Vansummeren’s monument with a big win of his own?
Share your thoughts below.
Fotoreporter Sirotti
If you started to follow professional cycling in the post-Festina era, there are a few truthisms that are universally-accepted:
For years we laughed about Christophe Moreau’s pitiful goal of being the highest-ranked French GC rider in the TdF. That is, until the Andreu-Vaughters chat transcript revealed that he may have been the only clean rider anywhere in the top 20 of the GC. With these truthisms, even Jalabert’s performances seem a very calculated “action rapide” with only one single arrow in the quiver. As if anybody else had paid attention to what exactly he was doing, or if anybody else cared, his wins would have evaporated. Tommy V.’s 2004 tragi-drama was dismissed by many as a one-off affair, as were Chavanel’s repeated attempts to win just one stage in the name of the Fifth Republic!
Yet today, a breakaway seems strange without Tommy V. driving it in the last 15 km, and any respectable spring classic seems lonely without Chavanel ever-ready to pounce from the front of the peloton. Add to this Steve Chainel, Yoann Offredo, and many others, and it seems that this Rise of the French is more than just a change of generation. What is going on and what does it take for them to be winners once again?
1. Dare to win. Even in the depths of the malaise of French cycling, some teams such as Madiot’s FDJ dared to put their cards on the table at once and genuinely wanted to win without excessive flanking. Even if they had to rely on a Franco-Belge named Gilbert, they put force on the front and consistently tried. They chase gamely, and blocked, and raced with coherent techniques.
Contrast this, for example, with Brioche de Boulanger / Bouygues Telecom’s typical approach of randomly throwing a few riders into breakaways with the hope that they might finish in the top ten. Or, Cofidis’ notoriously mercenary approach to racing.
Even if FDJ’s dedication didn’t pay off as much as it did other non-French teams, having a cohesive squad is a huge asset that pays off in the long term. It is hard to see Cofidis mounting any serious chase, but FDJ is very well-drilled and willing to do so. Now all they need is a star rider, which they may have in Offredo and Fedrigo. Can Cofidis buy itself “team fighting spirit”?
2. Dare to recruit. All sports must compete with all other sports for the best athletes. The Festina Affair must have been a blow to the recruiting efforts of French cycling. Perhaps this can explain the apparent gap in the 25-28 age bracket, between the Chavanel generation and the Offredo generation.
3. Dare to invest. One thing that BdB/BBox and Cofidis did right, was to invest in riders. BdB/BBox hung on to both Voeckler and Chavanel for along time. And Cofidis periodically brings in an entire compagnie des etrangeres, starting the Armstrong cabal in ’96 (Armstrong, Andreu, Livingston, et al.), and later on the infamous VDB squad and the occasional anglo. Of course, this approach tend to lead to in-team factions if not managed properly, such as VDB-Millar’s “non-communication” for several seasons. The good news is that the sponsors themselves appear to be happy with the investment (excepting perhaps the aptly named Monsieur Francois Migraine of the Cofidis group).
4. Dare to travel. Chavanel showed that moving to a large foreign squad does not mean complete loss of one’s freedom as a rider, but rather he used the resources to be able to target races outside the traditional focus on the team, such as Paris-Nice. And in the absence of Boonen, why not stage wins in le Tour itself? This model has been hard to replicate, however, with very few successful French riders outside of French teams. Voeckler has stayed around under Bernaudeau’s umbrella for all his pro career and that’s unlikely to change.
5. Dare to try elsewhere, and to lose. There is something to be said about having a winning mentality, and France is still blessed with many local races at all levels. Basically try to get used to winning even in smaller races. To the casual fan Voeckler may appear to have done nothing since his epic 2004 TdF defense of the maillot jaune, but the real fans know that he won the 2004 Bordeaux-Cauderan, 2005 GP Dijon, 2007 GP Plouay, and a whole bunch of other races. He’s used to WINNING.
Even the evergreen Chavanel started winning smaller races as far back as 2002 with Brioche de Boulanger, including standout performances at the Trophee des Grimpeurs, Quatre Jours de Dunkerque (which has just been changed from 5 days to 6), and the Tour du Haut Var.
Offredo, despite his youth, podiumed in 3 races his first year, 7 races his second year, and after an off year in 2008 is now a regular podium finisher in respectable races. Compared to Voeckler, his finishing rank is not nearly as spread, but we know that Tommy takes more risk than Yoann does. If anything else, Offredo’s trajectory makes for an interesting career study case that he is having a slower rate of win as his race schedule is increased to include more competitive races.
Of course, name recognition is important, and the participation of Voeckler, Chavanel, the Feillu’s, et al. help re-introduce one-day and smaller stage races to the French public, which in turn improves the legitimacy of these races. It is no wonder that Belgian riders and teams hold de Ronde and Roubaix as the holy duo, as the Belgian public holds these races with as much reverence if not even more.
6. Dare to disappoint the public. Offredo, Chainel, and many other talented youngsters show that they are perfectly willing to focus in races other than the Tour. Turning back the clock, Jalabert’s renaissance owed much to his change of focus from being a GC rider to a KOM specialist and aggressive one-day classics rider.
A great comparison can be made to the career of Patrice Halgand, who was touted to be the French GC hope in the 2000-2003 era. For one reason or another, he went from being a winning rider to a winless one, all while maintaining his fame of having been a top-10 TdF GC finisher in 2001.
In closing, I believe that today is a very exciting time for French Cycling not only to rise again, but also to re-define itself. The key is that it has to fully leverage its fortunes and natural resources, namely its rich races–large and small, and renewed interest in pro cycling as a career.
Share your comments below.
Photo By Jered Gruber / jeredgruber.com
Jered Gruber snapped some pictures of the Katusha Focus fleet, and this one obviously caught our attention. It’s neither an Izalco nor a Cayo, both of which were in use at Roubaix.