Thursday, July 20, 2006

"Yesterday, I dared to struggle... today, I dare to win."

Floyd's Big Day Out
That quote from Bernadette Devlin is a fairly accurate summary of the courage and tenacity displayed by Floyd Landis today at the Tour de France, as he reversed almost all of the 8 minute deficit with which he started the day. Those 8 minutes were the result of his inexplicable collapse on the ascent to La Toussuire at the end of yesterday's 16th stage.

The French sports newspaper, L'equipe, has criticized Floyd for his lack of panache. Is this the panache that les francais wanted to see? Floyd's response: "Panache that!"

It takes so much character for a guy to come back from something like yesterday's fringale. Today's stage will go down as one of the greatest performances in the history of the Tour. This Tour underscores the trials and tribulations of actually being human. You see Pereiro go from a disastrous day in the Pyrenees... losing almost half-an-hour, gaining it back with a big break - some say a tactical mistake - and perhaps losing it again in the final time trial to a guy who lost 10 minutes one day and then fights back with an amazing 150-kilometer solo ride the next! As my team-mate, Mack, would say, "that's bike racin'". You cannot script a better Tour. To borrow from Paul Sherwen: “This is panache, this is banging your fist on the table and saying I am the strong man, I will win the Tour”

Quote of the day - In response to a journalist's question of whether he expects to win Saturday's individual time-trial, Landis joked: "It wouldn't be any fun if I told you what was going to happen next!" .

My final thought, from les vallees of desperation to les cols of self-belief, this was an inspiring ride!

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Alpe d'Huez

Today's Tour de France stage, ending atop Alpe d'Huez, was stellar... I watched it three times... a review from Michael Fee below!
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I'm certain you'll agree that there was much for a cycling fan to love about today's stage.
Start with the baseline: we got to follow our riders' progress up the spectacular switchbacks of Alpe d'Huez. With a backdrop like the surrounding Alps buoying my mood, I could enjoy watching overweight men riding tricycles up those switchbacks -- let alone the world's top cyclists.

Then go to the results: Frank Schleck, a rider from one of the Low Countries, reached the top of cycling's most famed ascent ahead of renowned climber Damiano Cunego. Winning on behalf of tiny Luxembourg and downtrodden Team CSC, Schleck gave his backers a victory to be proud of. (Which makes me think: every Olympiad, someone calculates the number of medals won per capita, or per dollar of GDP, to show that, say, New Zealand winning five medals is a bigger deal than the U.S. winning thirty. I say that for this Tour, we figure out which country won the most stages per acre of land mass; unless San Marino or Andorra has a rider in there somewhere, I'm guessing Luxembourg's win is safe). Frank Schleck on the podium
Plus we got to see Floyd Landis don the Maillot Jaune for the second time -- and I'm guessing he won't relinquish it quite so easily this time.
But even more than wistfully gazing at those famed 21 switchbacks, or fist-pumpingly cheering on Schleck and Landis, I loved following today's team tactics. During the Era of Lance, we came to believe that "tactics" meant sending your incredibly strong climbers to the front of the peloton, methodically watching for any potential breaks and launching your superstar somewhere on the final climb. You ignored the other jersey competitions, and you rarely went for stage wins. It was a simple strategy, and it was the right one for USPS/Discovery and Armstrong. But with the Maillot Jaune competition wide open -- not to mention the climbers' contest as well -- and without a dominant rider or team, the squads have become far more resourceful.
Excuse for another Zabriskie photo! That's why we saw Zabriskie and Voigt hammering not just up the Col du Lautaret, but daringly down the wet roads on the backside as well, all to put teammate Schleck at the foot of the Alpe with enough time to outdistance the GC contenders....
And why Axel Merckx first got himself into the break, and then, upon being dropped, drifted back to fellow Phonaker Landis, to whom he offered a water bottle and then a slipstream-tow for a welcome couple kilometers....And why Michael Rasmussen, seemingly spent, bridged up to a suffering Denis Menchov, doing everything he could to restore him to the ranks of his Yellow Jersey rivals. It's one of my favorite elements of bicycle racing: that out of such a simple contest -- be the first to the finish line -- you can squeeze intricate tactics. (My other favorite part of all of this is imagining Rasmussen's director's screaming into his earpiece; I wonder what "Make like a real climber and get your bony orange ass up to Menchov now!" sounds like in Dutch?

Oscar Pereiro with two Aussies, Michael Rogers and Cadel Evans, in tow
But the best piece of today was the sheer determination with which so many of the riders raced. Whether it was Menchov twisting himself around his bicycle in a futile attempt to stay with Landis, or de la Fuente going never-say-die after every possible polka-dot point, or Pereiro riding like a real grimpeur, spurred on by the Yellow Jersey on his back; or Schleck himself, gritting his teeth through the final kilometers and then collapsing in a tearful heap on the steps of his team's bus -- each one of these guys and many others "reached deep into his suitcase of courage" and gave us a stage to remember.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

cycling distractions and hand update...

I had surgery on the hand two weeks ago and it's becoming much more useable... the range of motion remains constricted (swelling persists) but my dexterity improves each day. I'm ready to get back on the bike and rode with Tommy for a couple of hours today... but I've developed an awful head cold so it was a pretty bad ride... I'll be taking it very easy for a few days!

Thankfully, I have some televisual distractions to entertain me while camping out on my bed. July means that it's Tour de France time. If I thought I was a tad obsessed during the Giro d'Italia in May, I've now taken it to the next level for the 2006 edition of the Tour de France. I tend to watch the morning and evening viewings on OLN, read articles, race commentary and interviews as well as watch videos on every cycling website that I am aware of! I also manage to get insensed at the incompetence of some of the OLN commentators... while Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen have some wonderful, colorful descriptions and vernacular... Phil is losing his ability to recognize and correctly name a rider in the peloton, and Paul just doesn't have the heart to correct him! As for Bob Roll and Al Trautwig... the former has such a narrow and superficial grasp of race strategy that even Al's insistent attempts to *get to the bottom of what is going on in the race* do not enlighten the audience.

Floyd in yellow
Let me expand on this point and use the example of "Phonak giving up the yellow jersey" to Oscar Pereiro by way of exposition of my superior knowledge of Tour history and race strategy ;-)
Posted by Picasa
Bob Roll keeps referring to the fact that Oscar Pereiro finished 10th on GC at last year's Tour as evidence that Oscar is too dangerous a rider to be given back the 30mins he lost on the stage. What Bob fails to remember and point out to the OLN audience is that the composition of Oscar's time gains and losses in the 2005 Tour are similar to what he is experiencing this year... he gained (or rather was awarded) time on stages where he was in breakaways - the mountain stage where he was beaten at the line by George Hincapie and the stage he won after being led out by Cadel Evans who was racing for GC time. In the 2005 Tour Oscar did not ride with the cycling heads of state GC contenders in the big mountains and he lost a decent amount of time in the time-trials. He's strong but he has never shown himself to be a GC rider.

Posted by Picasa I'm also adding a couple of great pictures that I've come across while perusing all those cycling websites! George Hincapie sporting the sunglasses that make him one of the most recognizable riders in the peloton... not that Phil Liggett seems able to recognize any rider these days. I also like Floyd's shades too... see above!Posted by Picasa

I also had to include a picture of Dave Zabriskie and this TT pic was the best I could find... unfortunately that TT did not go so well for Dave Z!