Our coverage started with just 69k to go, but the picture was truly awful, jittering, blurred, and smeary. We gathered that there was a breakaway of three riders - clearly a TV break, as they are all shitsmall teams - (oh, with apologies to IAM who may be going on to great things next year if they get Pro status and Cancellara) and through the fuzziness of the picture we can just make out BMC on the front of the peloton, pulling for PhilGil.
Just as I say to LLB "I can't watch an hour and a half of this!" the picture suddenly steadies, then snaps into focus.
Oh good.
David Harmon makes a comment about Sky not being dominant in the classics so far, and suggests that they have "got it wrong", along with a suggestion that it would be a bit ambitious to expect one team to be dominant in all races, and as Sky did so well in the Grand Tours last year, perhaps they should be satisfied with that, and not try to win the Classics as well. An interesting viewpoint: when I worked for Nissan, many years ago, they were dominant in BTCC racing, to the point where after winning every single race for two seasons running, the other teams were losing sponsors and dropping out - so Nissan withdrew from the sport altogether. On that basis, maybe it's a good thing that Sky aren't taking over all the Classics?
On the same subject, apparently Kurt Asle Arvesen, one of the Sky coaches, (and a former Sky rider) spoke to Cancellera, about the possibility of him joining Sky. Nothing came of it, but wow, can you imagine Sky with Cancellara on board? They would win everything!! I think it's unlikely though - and a lot more likely that Fab will go to IAM. That's still just rumour at this stage, but a rumour that keeps on getting repeated. Well, I think we all agree that Fab is going to leave Shack at the end of the season (leaving Andy behind, sob! sob!) and although they still have Andy and Frankie shackled into long contracts, I personally think it's likely that the team is going to fizzle out at the end of the year, what with Shack withdrawing their sponsorship, and Nissan already gone. With their reputation, and links with Armstrong, I can't help feeling it would be better to let the name die, and maybe to get Trek to sponsor a different team.
Wonder who Trek would sponsor? Perhaps they'd go with Fabian to IAM? IAM-TREK? *laughs* IAM Trek, hear me squeak!
Back at the race, we now have stop-motion photography - you know, that really, really bad stuff from the days of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts, where they move the plasticine monster on one step at a time. Harmon is giggling, because it makes it look as though they are pedalling backwards, but I am getting concerned about a plasticine dinosaur lunging jerkily out of the woods. I'm also getting a headache.
Contador changes bikes - is there a hill approaching? It's been a while since we saw him playing that game.
Oh no, our commentators are having another big debate as to why Sky haven't won any classics. Brian Smith says they have overtrained, and have just got it wrong - on the other hand, I am wondering if they have merely worked out that having three riders in the top 10 gives them more points than having one rider on the podium?
52k to go, and there's a crash! Just one rider down, thank heavens, it's someone from Team Colombia: he gets back on his bike, but is shaking his fingers and looking pained. Although I am trying to be sympathetic, I am distracted by his weird rainbow-coloured shoes. They are strangely fuzzy, as though the stripes have run in the rain... but it's not raining. Just some rather strange coverage, I think. BriSmithy completely ignores the crash, and continues to analyse Sky's shortcomings. Am I the only one getting a bit tired of this?
Shack jump off the front! Is it Andy?
No-one mentions it, so we assume not, and at 48k the gap is down to 20 seconds and the cars are being pulled out. As an aside, it always looks odd when the cars race past the about-to-be-caught leaders, you would think that they would just pull over and let the peloton go past them. Presumably they roar off in front to find a safe pulling-in place? Or maybe just to make the break feel bad?
5k later and we are back to stop-motion again, groan: the break still have 20 seconds, I am still expecting dinosaurs to leap out from the trees, and despite the terrible picture, BriSmithy continues talking non-stop. Usually he has to be prodded by his co-commentator, but not today. He keeps going on about a small murder (bearing in mind that he is very Scottish, he calls it a murder/wee) but I suddenly realise that he must mean Mur de Huy. Wups!
Oh crikey, even the helicopter shots are now stop-motion, which is just plain strange: clearly a transmission problem, but this race is organised by ASO. They do the Tour, for heaven's sake!! Come on, get your act together!
With 32k to go, the route goes through the town and heads towards the hill - we see all the team buses, wow, that's a daft place to park them. Don't look, boys! Keep pedalling! The buses are locked up, there's no point anyone getting off!
"Andy Schleck goes through, getting a bit of a push" we hear. What? Rewind! Oh yes, there's Our Glorious Leader, but it's hardly a push, more of a friendly pat on the back in passing. Still, at least he got a mention.
We get a replay of a rider at the back of the bunch coming to a dead halt due to the bottleneck ahead, and Harmon says "Aww, go on, someone give him a push!" in a very indignant tone, until finally a stout gentleman steps forward, places a huge meaty hand on the rider's backside and shoves him into motion again.
At 28k to go, Monfort flies the Shack banner (did you check out the Liege photo gallery on the Shack website, btw? Lots of photos of Monfort hob-nobbing with Mr Becca. Hmmm.) and pings off the front, now they're levelling off a bit.
They go, confusingly, across the finish line, with the bell ringing to remind them that there is another lap to go.
I often wonder if anyone ever makes a mistake, and sits up with finish celebrations, then gets all embarrassed about it...
21k to go and what's this? Two Garmin riders are off the road, what are they doing? Oh, Dan Martin has a puncture, there is no car in sight, so a team-mate is nobly handing him a wheel. Then has to do the wimpiest clunky-shoe can't-run-properly shoveoff ever seen.
Ah, one of the Crusaders - Blanco - crusades off the front - it's Ten Dam. Intriguingly, he only has his name on one side of his jersey, the other side has a sponsor name. I do sometimes wonder who designs these kits... Sky have the rider name on both sides of the jersey, at the appropriate angle for reading it when they are riding, which seems like such a sensible thing to do. So why doesn't every team do it? It would be really helpful for us spectators...I'd also like to see riders personalising their kit a bit more - different coloured shoes, or something: it would help us to pick them out. Come on guys, be a bit more individual!
The bunch is still 20 seconds behind the leaders, and suddenly there's Andy (*waves* "Hi, Andy!") near the front and making headway. Harmon and BriSmithy both exclaim "That's Andy Schleck!" in surprise, at the same time, which makes me laugh. Thought he'd abandoned, huh? Think again! Go, Andy!
Andy and Henao from Sky both surge forwards, look at each other, look at BMC massing behind them, and ease off. Wise decision, lads! BMC are presumably riding for PhilGil, who is presumably riding his own bike this time.
With 8k to go, Andy is off the back, but that's ok, he's still pedalling, and (to look forward a little) he does indeed complete the race, which is as much as I was hoping for.
7k to go and Rigoberto "so good they named him twice" Uran Uran is at the front, along with one of the Pyjama Boys. It's Jakob! Yay, go Jakob! "I don't think he has the power" says Harmon. Boo! What a mean thing to say! But oh dear, he's right, Jakob pulls over - well, at least he got a mention.
Now we have not one but four Dark Lords of Katusha at the front, where on earth did they come from?
Despite being so close to the end, we get another shot of Andy, (*waves* "Hi, Andy!") he's with one of the chasing groups, but he's looking quite cool and collected, and he is leading the group. In fact, the chasing group are so relaxed that they are chatting, and Andy is actually smiling and laughing at something one of the others said. That's nice to see, he must be feeling better and stronger. Go, Andy!
Things hot up as the leaders cross the bridge into the village of Huy, and they turn up the hill: lots of elbows being used as they jostle for position.
PhilGil is at the front, as is my favourite Carrot, Igor Anton, along with Rigo and Henao of Sky, as it gets narrower, and narrower, and steeper, and steeper...
Sagan, having not been mentioned all race, is suddenly active, chasing after PhilGil: just as our commentators get all excited about his amazing performance - oh dear, he cracks. Ah well, they say, he's still very young. Now we see PhilGil going in zig-zags - that's it, he's cracked as well! This really is a hill. Moreno pings off the front and whizzes over the line, followed by Henao (which is pronounced hay-now, in case you didn't know: and every time they say his name I start singing "Henao - HENAO! Henao - HENAO! Iko, iko i-nay" and if you don't know why, go to You Tube and type in "iko iko" and "Dixie cups" to find out for yourself. I tried to link the video, but it just wouldn't work!)
Anyway, Moreno gets first, Henao (*faintly in the background* "HEY-NOW!" ) gets second, and Dan Martin gets third. Or does he? Bettencur thinks he's got third. Dan Martin glares at him. Our commentators are confused. We all wait, with bated breath, until the placings graphic comes up. There you go, Bettencur got it. Oh well, better luck next time, Dan.
Andy comes in at 86th place, out of 145 finishers, and his group is 4 and a half minutes down. Encouragingly, he comes in third of his bunch, so I think that's a real result and shows progress. Keep it up, Andy! We believe in you!
We must find a song we can sing to show our support, with a chorus of "we believe in you". Any suggestions, anyone?
Monday 22 April 2013
Thursday 18 April 2013
Giro Trentino - early days
At this time of year, we are still desperate for any pro cycling to watch, so at the weekend LLB and I watched our recorded coverage of the Giro Trentino: it's what Cav what call a shitsmall race, with only half a dozen pro-teams in it, but we watched it because a) it's considered a good run-up to the Giro, and b) it was the only race on that weekend.
We turned on the TV, warmed up the hard drive recorder, got out the small cheesy biscuits in the new heart-shaped bowl (LLB would not let me take a photo of it to show you, on the grounds of Blog Security) (Or possibly to avoid having to admit that he's a teeny tiny bit of a softy now and then, aaaaaaw!) and settled down on the sofa - it was supposed to be a catch-up of Day 1, then on to Day 2, but instead they gave us a good long catch-up of Amstel Gold....
...and then started showing us Day 2 of Trentino, while telling us what happened in Day 1.
*sigh*
So, what happened on Day 1? Apparently there was a short road race in the morning, length unknown, won by Ahhh-Djay-Deux-Airrr (AG2R to you and I, but Rob Hatch insists), followed by a shortish TTT in the afternoon, at which Sky hammered everyone else into extinction, surprise surprise, and at which AG2R did so badly, coming in 19th, that they had to hand the winner's jersey straight over to someone else. Possibly this was due to the truly outstandingly horrible colour of it. Pink? Not really, too dark. Purple? No, not dark enough. Lilac? Cerise? Whatever it was, it looked horrible with brown shorts.
The PJ boys (Ass-t'na) did a very credible ride, with 7.5 of their 8 riders across the line at the end - one was just hanging off the back a bit, but they were the only team (I think) who got all their riders over the line together.
BMC were what is called "on the back foot" as they could only be bothered to send a team of 6, so they didn't have much spare capacity. We got the feeling that they were not really trying to win this race, but were using it as prep for the real Giro. (Cries of "Pink knickers for the Giro!" from my twitter-friend Jen.)
So, here we are watching Day 2, proper road racing, and the peloton contained an outstandingly horrible colour clash, as the race leader is now someone from CCC Polstat, who are a pro-conti team whose kit is the same tangerine bright as that of Euskaltel (leading to some confusion in the helicopter shots, I can tell you) only distinguished by the black CCC here and there, which frankly looks as though a small pony with very dirty hooves has galloped all over them. They are hereby referred to as the Pony Polstat Express. And the combination of Euskaltel Orange with Hideous Dark Lilac/whatever is so bad that even LLB, a man, and therefore not affected by tasteless colour combinations, was moved to comment on how revolting it looked.
Apart from that colour clash, it's often quite interesting to see what the pro-conti teams are wearing: their kit often seems to be a simplified version of the pro-team kit, generally using the same colours, but usually a season or two behind. One in particular was making me laugh, it was a sort of cut-down Cannondale kit, in almost exactly the same shade of green but with the shorts having the front modesty panel and the padded seat panel in black.
Now normally, I am fully in favour of black shorts, as some of you might remember, but in this case it did rather look as though they were wearing black nappies. Just a trick of perspective, like the way that Blanco from the front, at a quick glance, appear to have a Crusader cross on their chests (it's actually the word "Blanco" in white text combining with the vertical white gap between the colour blocks, but it looks just like a cross, which is why I now refer to them as the Crusaders) but it is a bit distracting. Apart from the nappies, I wonder if they take a photo of their favourite team to the kit-maker and say "I want it in THAT shade of green, please!" ?
Today we have Carlton Kirby and Magnus Backstedt commenting - I'm still a bit peeved at Magnus for leaving UK Youth and going into Triathalon instead. But I do enjoy him commenting, so I suppose I will have to forgive him. Today we can hear him coughing in the background whenever Carlton is talking, and he was doing it last week as well, so we wonder if he's got some sort of bronchitis. That'll teach him to ditch the lovely Yanto Barker...
The race continues, lots of long rolling roads, lots of flat bits around some very nice lakes.
Ah, the green nappy team are apparently called Bardiani Valvole, great name. There's not much happening, so LLB and I are fighting over the cheesy biscuits again, getting in practice for the Tour. He picks out one of the heart-shaped ones and hands it to me. Aaaaaw! I can't find another heart-shaped one, as I am concentrating on watching the TV, so I pick out another one, and nibble the edges off until it is more or less heart-shaped, then give it to him. Surprisingly, he's less than thrilled with my romantic gesture.
OOh, more lovely lakes. I can see why people go on holiday to the Italian Lakes, they are quite wonderful. There's one with a house built on a little promontory, with water on three sides. Lovely!
At 20km to go, we still have one of the Green Nappy boys out in front, with just over a minute back to a small chasing group of pro-contis, then another minute back to the peloton, who are doodling along and really not putting in any effort at all. Apparently the finish is at the top of a biggish hill, so they aren't bothered about a handful of pro-contis. Sure enough, with no apparently increase in effort, the catch is made, and suddenly Sky are on the front again, en masse: ah, normality is restored.
As an aside, it's so nice to see the guys back in shorts and jerseys, not swaddled in layers of gilets, rain capes, gloves, leg-warmers, arm-warmers etc. Although, strangely, Ass-t'na still look as though they are wearing pyjamas, although now they have short leggies. Summer onesies?
Ah, a Sky rider has shot off the front, and is making a break for freedom, towing a couple of oddments with him. Oh blimey, it's Siutsou, pronounced Svitsoff, so that's how I am going to spell it. He's another Belarusian, a country-man of Vasil Kiryienka, the Deltic Domestique of Sky (NB note for non-UK readers and non-trainspotters, a Deltic was a hugely successful and powerful diesel engine, used in trains of the same name. The usual expression "goes like a train" can be trumped by saying "goes like a Deltic" End of digression) and he's clearly been let off the leash today.
I notice in passing that the Sky techies can keep a track of their riders, not just the watts that they are producing, but by checking their blood pressure using the handy built-in pressure cuff in the blue sleeve stripe.
The peloton is shrinking, with just 7.5km to go, and it's uphill now, and uphill all the way home. It's also getting steeper: Cadel Evans is looking good, and about time too: perhaps he's finally thrown off that bug, and is coming back into form? Carlton and Magnus speculate about it, for a while.
Ass-t'na are now pulling on the front - Sky have, of course, dropped right back while their guy is in the lead, and are laughing and joking together - and are starting to sweat, in their winceyette summer onesies. They unzip, to reveal - oh no! one rider is not wearing the regulation white vest underneath, he's wearing black! There's a rebel in the Pyjama Party!
Svitsoff pings off the front again, he's clearly toying with the two riders still trying to stick with him. Rouland, the Europcar rider, looks as though he's on the very edge... and sure enough, he cracks, and drops back. Green Nappy Team man makes a valiant effort, but Svitsoff is off again, not even out of the saddle, he just rides away, Vasil-style, with that same poker face and not showing any effort. Do they train them, from childhood, to act like Vulcans, do we think? Vasil is the only one not smiling in his Team Sky mug-shot, that's for sure.
The peloton responds, after momentary panic, by sending Nibali off the front, shattering what's left of the peloton, apart from Wiggo, who appears from nowhere and calmly pedals up behind him, and a Vini Fantini rider (are they still a British registered team, I wonder? Farnese Vini were, but I don't know if the change of sponsor has altered anything).
There are sweaty faces on the hill, but there is snow on the roadside. I can't imagine what it must be like to live somewhere where you can sit outdoors in short sleeves, then half an hour in the car and you are above the snow line. Amazing. Anyway, the sweat is dripping, the snow is lying, and Cadel Evans crumbles into a little sobbing heap at the roadside. Well, ok, not actually lying down and crying, but you could see that he was thinking about it. He pedals squares the rest of the way, while Nibali shoots off again, leaving the other two behind, for about three seconds - then the steady-steady calm pedalling of Wiggo brings he and the Vini Fantini day-glo yellow rider back up to Nibali's wheel. This is such a good technique!
2k to go and of course Wiggo just paces merrily behind Nibali and Vini rider *pause to get his name - Santambrogio, that's the one* - of course, he's not going to do any sort of attacking, with his teammate being in the lead.
1k to go, still uphill, and it's starting to look as though the chasers are going to catch Svitsoff, they are gaining on him! It's a terrible moment, even if you don't know him, as he's worked so hard for so long, all alone, and really deserves the win. Carlton is saying that he's definitely going to get caught, until - oh joy! - the course suddenly flattens out, and he miraculously picks up speed. The Vini rider is putting heart and soul into it, and is pounding away, but he's not going to catch up.! Svitsoff has enough of a lead to look around, sit up, and make a rather unfortunate hand-on-heart gesture which completely obliterates the sponsor name on his jersey.
Whoops!
Perhaps he hasn't won a race before? Kosta, you are supposed to make a big thing about the sponsor name, not cover it up with your hand!
He meant well. And he'll probably still get chocolate cake for tea. Or is that only Cancellara?
Wiggo and Nibali come up to the line together, and it is plain to see that Wiggo could easily take 3rd if he wanted to, but he lets Nibali have it, and pats him on the back as they cross the line, which is a nice sports-man-like gesture to make.
So that's the first instalment of Trentino over and done, not terribly exciting, but better than nothing. And this weekend we'll hopefully have Fleche Wallone to watch, which Our Andy was in, and finished: and on Sunday Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which Our Andy won, once, and which he is riding again this year.
Yay!
We turned on the TV, warmed up the hard drive recorder, got out the small cheesy biscuits in the new heart-shaped bowl (LLB would not let me take a photo of it to show you, on the grounds of Blog Security) (Or possibly to avoid having to admit that he's a teeny tiny bit of a softy now and then, aaaaaaw!) and settled down on the sofa - it was supposed to be a catch-up of Day 1, then on to Day 2, but instead they gave us a good long catch-up of Amstel Gold....
...and then started showing us Day 2 of Trentino, while telling us what happened in Day 1.
*sigh*
So, what happened on Day 1? Apparently there was a short road race in the morning, length unknown, won by Ahhh-Djay-Deux-Airrr (AG2R to you and I, but Rob Hatch insists), followed by a shortish TTT in the afternoon, at which Sky hammered everyone else into extinction, surprise surprise, and at which AG2R did so badly, coming in 19th, that they had to hand the winner's jersey straight over to someone else. Possibly this was due to the truly outstandingly horrible colour of it. Pink? Not really, too dark. Purple? No, not dark enough. Lilac? Cerise? Whatever it was, it looked horrible with brown shorts.
The PJ boys (Ass-t'na) did a very credible ride, with 7.5 of their 8 riders across the line at the end - one was just hanging off the back a bit, but they were the only team (I think) who got all their riders over the line together.
BMC were what is called "on the back foot" as they could only be bothered to send a team of 6, so they didn't have much spare capacity. We got the feeling that they were not really trying to win this race, but were using it as prep for the real Giro. (Cries of "Pink knickers for the Giro!" from my twitter-friend Jen.)
So, here we are watching Day 2, proper road racing, and the peloton contained an outstandingly horrible colour clash, as the race leader is now someone from CCC Polstat, who are a pro-conti team whose kit is the same tangerine bright as that of Euskaltel (leading to some confusion in the helicopter shots, I can tell you) only distinguished by the black CCC here and there, which frankly looks as though a small pony with very dirty hooves has galloped all over them. They are hereby referred to as the Pony Polstat Express. And the combination of Euskaltel Orange with Hideous Dark Lilac/whatever is so bad that even LLB, a man, and therefore not affected by tasteless colour combinations, was moved to comment on how revolting it looked.
Apart from that colour clash, it's often quite interesting to see what the pro-conti teams are wearing: their kit often seems to be a simplified version of the pro-team kit, generally using the same colours, but usually a season or two behind. One in particular was making me laugh, it was a sort of cut-down Cannondale kit, in almost exactly the same shade of green but with the shorts having the front modesty panel and the padded seat panel in black.
Now normally, I am fully in favour of black shorts, as some of you might remember, but in this case it did rather look as though they were wearing black nappies. Just a trick of perspective, like the way that Blanco from the front, at a quick glance, appear to have a Crusader cross on their chests (it's actually the word "Blanco" in white text combining with the vertical white gap between the colour blocks, but it looks just like a cross, which is why I now refer to them as the Crusaders) but it is a bit distracting. Apart from the nappies, I wonder if they take a photo of their favourite team to the kit-maker and say "I want it in THAT shade of green, please!" ?
Today we have Carlton Kirby and Magnus Backstedt commenting - I'm still a bit peeved at Magnus for leaving UK Youth and going into Triathalon instead. But I do enjoy him commenting, so I suppose I will have to forgive him. Today we can hear him coughing in the background whenever Carlton is talking, and he was doing it last week as well, so we wonder if he's got some sort of bronchitis. That'll teach him to ditch the lovely Yanto Barker...
The race continues, lots of long rolling roads, lots of flat bits around some very nice lakes.
Ah, the green nappy team are apparently called Bardiani Valvole, great name. There's not much happening, so LLB and I are fighting over the cheesy biscuits again, getting in practice for the Tour. He picks out one of the heart-shaped ones and hands it to me. Aaaaaw! I can't find another heart-shaped one, as I am concentrating on watching the TV, so I pick out another one, and nibble the edges off until it is more or less heart-shaped, then give it to him. Surprisingly, he's less than thrilled with my romantic gesture.
OOh, more lovely lakes. I can see why people go on holiday to the Italian Lakes, they are quite wonderful. There's one with a house built on a little promontory, with water on three sides. Lovely!
At 20km to go, we still have one of the Green Nappy boys out in front, with just over a minute back to a small chasing group of pro-contis, then another minute back to the peloton, who are doodling along and really not putting in any effort at all. Apparently the finish is at the top of a biggish hill, so they aren't bothered about a handful of pro-contis. Sure enough, with no apparently increase in effort, the catch is made, and suddenly Sky are on the front again, en masse: ah, normality is restored.
As an aside, it's so nice to see the guys back in shorts and jerseys, not swaddled in layers of gilets, rain capes, gloves, leg-warmers, arm-warmers etc. Although, strangely, Ass-t'na still look as though they are wearing pyjamas, although now they have short leggies. Summer onesies?
Ah, a Sky rider has shot off the front, and is making a break for freedom, towing a couple of oddments with him. Oh blimey, it's Siutsou, pronounced Svitsoff, so that's how I am going to spell it. He's another Belarusian, a country-man of Vasil Kiryienka, the Deltic Domestique of Sky (NB note for non-UK readers and non-trainspotters, a Deltic was a hugely successful and powerful diesel engine, used in trains of the same name. The usual expression "goes like a train" can be trumped by saying "goes like a Deltic" End of digression) and he's clearly been let off the leash today.
I notice in passing that the Sky techies can keep a track of their riders, not just the watts that they are producing, but by checking their blood pressure using the handy built-in pressure cuff in the blue sleeve stripe.
The peloton is shrinking, with just 7.5km to go, and it's uphill now, and uphill all the way home. It's also getting steeper: Cadel Evans is looking good, and about time too: perhaps he's finally thrown off that bug, and is coming back into form? Carlton and Magnus speculate about it, for a while.
Ass-t'na are now pulling on the front - Sky have, of course, dropped right back while their guy is in the lead, and are laughing and joking together - and are starting to sweat, in their winceyette summer onesies. They unzip, to reveal - oh no! one rider is not wearing the regulation white vest underneath, he's wearing black! There's a rebel in the Pyjama Party!
Svitsoff pings off the front again, he's clearly toying with the two riders still trying to stick with him. Rouland, the Europcar rider, looks as though he's on the very edge... and sure enough, he cracks, and drops back. Green Nappy Team man makes a valiant effort, but Svitsoff is off again, not even out of the saddle, he just rides away, Vasil-style, with that same poker face and not showing any effort. Do they train them, from childhood, to act like Vulcans, do we think? Vasil is the only one not smiling in his Team Sky mug-shot, that's for sure.
The peloton responds, after momentary panic, by sending Nibali off the front, shattering what's left of the peloton, apart from Wiggo, who appears from nowhere and calmly pedals up behind him, and a Vini Fantini rider (are they still a British registered team, I wonder? Farnese Vini were, but I don't know if the change of sponsor has altered anything).
There are sweaty faces on the hill, but there is snow on the roadside. I can't imagine what it must be like to live somewhere where you can sit outdoors in short sleeves, then half an hour in the car and you are above the snow line. Amazing. Anyway, the sweat is dripping, the snow is lying, and Cadel Evans crumbles into a little sobbing heap at the roadside. Well, ok, not actually lying down and crying, but you could see that he was thinking about it. He pedals squares the rest of the way, while Nibali shoots off again, leaving the other two behind, for about three seconds - then the steady-steady calm pedalling of Wiggo brings he and the Vini Fantini day-glo yellow rider back up to Nibali's wheel. This is such a good technique!
2k to go and of course Wiggo just paces merrily behind Nibali and Vini rider *pause to get his name - Santambrogio, that's the one* - of course, he's not going to do any sort of attacking, with his teammate being in the lead.
1k to go, still uphill, and it's starting to look as though the chasers are going to catch Svitsoff, they are gaining on him! It's a terrible moment, even if you don't know him, as he's worked so hard for so long, all alone, and really deserves the win. Carlton is saying that he's definitely going to get caught, until - oh joy! - the course suddenly flattens out, and he miraculously picks up speed. The Vini rider is putting heart and soul into it, and is pounding away, but he's not going to catch up.! Svitsoff has enough of a lead to look around, sit up, and make a rather unfortunate hand-on-heart gesture which completely obliterates the sponsor name on his jersey.
Perhaps he hasn't won a race before? Kosta, you are supposed to make a big thing about the sponsor name, not cover it up with your hand!
He meant well. And he'll probably still get chocolate cake for tea. Or is that only Cancellara?
Wiggo and Nibali come up to the line together, and it is plain to see that Wiggo could easily take 3rd if he wanted to, but he lets Nibali have it, and pats him on the back as they cross the line, which is a nice sports-man-like gesture to make.
So that's the first instalment of Trentino over and done, not terribly exciting, but better than nothing. And this weekend we'll hopefully have Fleche Wallone to watch, which Our Andy was in, and finished: and on Sunday Liege-Bastogne-Liege, which Our Andy won, once, and which he is riding again this year.
Yay!
Monday 15 April 2013
Amstel Gold - Andy felt good!
Firstly, a terrible and shocking revelation: our local supermarket does not stock Amstel Gold beer.
I know, I know, how are we supposed to watch the race properly without the right beer? *laughs* So we bought some ordinary beer and wrote "Amstel Gold" on the labels in felt pen.
This race footage started in the usual way, with a quick look back at the start: there was the big red inflated air bridge, there were the riders, champing at the bit, edging forward over the invisible line, and there was the local dignitary with the tiny little gun.
Bang! He appeared to aim the little gun right at the air bridge, which could have been interesting, had the gun been loaded: Pfffffffffssssssssssssssss! and down comes the airbridge over the rear half of the peloton. Panic ensues as riders hastily unclip themselves, hand their bikes over the deflating bridge and scramble across. Some of Euskaltel are seen bouncing up and down on the last inflated section. A race official tells them to take their shoes off. Their DS tells them to put their shoes back on, and get back on their damned bikes, and get out there in a break.
The race starts, and to the utter amazement of our commentators, the sun is shining, it's not raining, it's not snowing, and if not actually warm, it's not absolutely freezing. There is some speculation that this could finally be the arrival of Spring in Europe, at long, long last. LLB and I look at each other: we took one look at the weather in England and decided to stay in and watch the race. It's not quite Spring in the UK yet.
Honorary Schlecklander Johan Van Summeren (JVS) makes an early break, and shoots out from the peloton, his back-hair flying in the wind. A couple of others go with him, including an Euskaltel Carrot, and apparently they get up to 11 mins out at one point, making it a classic TV-break.
Carnage! There is a huge crash, the worst sort - where several riders stay on the deck. There is a big tangle of bikes in the middle of the road, and Phillipe Gilbert is underneath it. He looks as though he wants to get up, but is pinned in place by the bikes. Riders are shooting off around the field to avoid the crash, about three-quarters of the peloton go cross-country, and one Lampre rider is seen clambering back - bikeless - over the low hedge on the left. Did he do a header over the hedge? We replay the incident, but we can't see exactly what happened. However, he hops awkwardly over the hedge, presumably not wanting to rip his lycra in an embarrassing place.
The BMC mechanic comes running up with a new bike, but PhilGil doesn't seem keen to get on it.
Mechanic: *panting* "New bike, sir!"
PhilGil: *pouts* "That's my second spare bike."
Mechanic: "Phil, get on it, get going."
PhilGil: "But I want my first spare bike, not this one."
Mechanic: "Mate, just get on it, we'll swap bikes again later but you must get going..."
DS: *on radio* "Gilbert! Get on the damned bike!"
Andy is one of the many caught behind the crash, he must have been well back as we then saw him chasing back on with PhilGil. Great to see him racing again! He looked good, lean and energetic, and he was keeping up with Gilbert who was really hammering along, using the car, the magic spanner, another car and a sticky bottle to get back up to speed. Andy just pedalled along behind him. (Cries of "Go, Andy!" from my direction. LLB gives me a Look.) We're fairly certain that Andy didn't crash, but he was just held up. David Harmon keeps referring to him as "Schleckie" which I find quite annoying...
The break, now sitting at four minutes away, contains a hitherto-little-known rider whose name is De Troyer.
De Troyer, singular? What a pity it's not plural, Des Troyer. Then he'd be The Destroyer. (much laughing from our sofa) It's slightly unfortunate that his first name is Tim, which does not really go with The Destroyer. Stijn would do it, or Thor - oh yes, Thor the Destroyer, great name. Tim? not so much.
We get to see quite a lot of the break, as the host broadcaster has a new camera which does super-slow-mo, and every so often we are treated to a super-slow-mo of JVS with his hair rippling in the wind. He lifts his hand - very very slowly - to his face: oh no, don't say he's going to blow his nose - and you know that cyclists don't carry hankies, they just block one nostril with a thumb and snort it all out, while turning the head sideways. Yuck! This could be the most revolting bit of race footage ever seen!! Thankfully the shot pans away - very very slowly, we are anticipating a stream of snot at any moment - and just in time, it moves on to another rider doing stretches. A lucky escape, there.
Our commentators start a huge debate about brakes: did you know, one and all, that in Europe the left-hand brake lever operates the front brake, whereas in Britain and America, the left-hand brake lever operates the rear brake? No, I didn't think anyone else would be interested. Harmon and Magnus Backstedt, though, discuss this point for aaaaaages.
At this point we see two Sky riders hanging around at the back of the peloton: one is Josh Edmondson, youngster extraordinaire, on his first "big" race - a "baptism of fire" says Magnus - and the other is Vasil Kiryienka, super-strong domestique with the poker face and the legs of steel. He has blood dripping down his arm from the crash - ha! this proves that he is NOT a robot, as has been suggested.
Finally, the discussion turns away from brake lever set-up and our commentators start discussing the new style mini-aero helmets, the ones with the smurf-like rounded back. Harmon asks Magnus what he thinks of them. "Visually? Not so keen," says Magnus, "but from an aero point of view? You'd be silly not to."
Drat, that means we are going to be seeing a lot more of them. This disappoints me, as I have always been secretly quite keen on vented cycling lids, they are so much funkier and better-looking than, for example, horse riding hard hats, which are the most horrible, unflattering, heavy, lumpy, bulbous, *runs out of words* horrible things. I have been hoping that if I ever get horses again, I will find that equestrians are now allowed to wear cycle hats...
News comes over race radio, Tommy Voeckler has broken his leg. Huh? We all hope not.
JVS and his accompanying Carrot, Mikel Astarloza, break away from their break, as they head up the longest hill on the circuit. David Harmon comments that this shows the difference between the riding at ProTeam level and at ProContinental level, as none of the others can keep up with the two ProTeam riders. The IAM rider struggles manfully, however, and finally manages to catch them.
Talking of IAM, I wonder if they are going to go for Pro status next year? There have been rumours for some time that Cancellara, our Lovely Leopard, will be moving to them, as his contract expires at the end of this season, and of course they are a Swiss team, so it would make a lot of sense. But only if they were a Pro team. From their point of view, even if Fabian doesn't ride another race this year, they would still be able to get Pro status on his points - assuming all else is in place, of course - so I guess that there is a real possibility that a deal might be made. Only time will tell.
Crikey, another big crash, and this time a Vacansoleil rider finds the only body-sized muddy puddle in the whole of the area, and lands full length in it. He rises, dripping mud, and clearly unhappy, but he gets back on his bike. Rodriguez, on the other hand, looks as though he has done some damage - he gets back on his bike but he is barely turning the pedals, and is rubbing his knee. It does not look good.
More bad news, we hear that there are rumours that Andy has abandoned: later, after the race, we find out that he was involved in the second crash, and hit the deck, then punctured, and just couldn't get back on to the peloton, so he gave up. But he was upbeat about it, saying that despite sore ribs from being whacked by the bars, and some lost skin, he is not hurt, and he was feeling good. But that all comes later.
Back in the race, 32k to go, and Mikel Astarloza, the Carrot, has broken away from JVS and the IAM guy, and is making a break for freedom. There's a very small peloton, no more than about 25, chasing them.
At this point we hear that Voeckler, according to a Twitter comment attributed to L'equipe, has a fractured shoulder. We shall see.
Suddenly, Team Sky are being accused of not doing anything, as they have not come to the front and taken over the race, as they normally do. Whaaaat?? Speaking as a Sky fan, it's a bit much to have this criticism thrown at the team, when for the entire season so far we've heard nothing but moans about Sky monopolising the races. Sigh. We haven't seen much of Sky at all, other than Vasil and his blood, Josh looking slightly over-horsed, and Eddy Boassen-Hagen *bites tongue to resist adding "Daaz"* looking under the weather, and a bit chunky.
More news, Voeckler now has a broken collarbone. And this time it's definite. So much for L'equipe, so much for Twitter, ha! At least a broken collarbone is - and this is Magnus talking, not me - only 2 weeks off the bike.
At this point I'm struck once again by the lack of Lux flags: all last year, they were nowhere to be seen, as Andy wasn't racing. Somehow the Lux ensign has become very much Andy's Flag, and it's been very sad not seeing them for a year. I had high hopes that now that Andy is riding again, they would be out in full force, but it seems not.
Getting back to the race coverage, we are following the leading Carrot, and I clearly hear someone in the crowd shouting out "Go, Mikel!" as he is nearly caught by the chasers. I'm impressed that a spectator knows which rider it is - LLB suggests that he might be listening to the radio, or following it on the internet. Or he might be a huge Eskaltel fan - I'm sure that I could spot most of the Leopards as they approached. I wonder if it's distracting, to have someone call out your name like that - or are they so focused on racing that they don't hear what's going on around them? At the final day of the Tour of Britain two years ago, LLB and I had a list of the ITT riders in start order, so as each one swept past us, we shouted out "Go!" and their name, whatever it was, and of course none of them took the slightest bit of notice of us - wouldn't expect it, really.
Ass-t'na join in the chase - Jakob's in the race, apparently, but we haven't seen hide nor hair of him, nor has his name even been mentioned, boo, shame. At least Andy still gets a few name checks...
At 10k to go, the chasing group are only 8 seconds behind - and by 6k, Rider Hesjedal (as opposed to his father, DS Hesjedal, or his brother, Mechanic Hesjedal) pings off the front, followed by a solitary Shack rider. For a moment, hope rises in our breasts (that's me and the Schlecklanders, not me and LLB) that maybe Andy hadn't abandoned after all: but no, it's Ben Hermans, drat.
At 2k to go, Gilbert attacks, presumably now on his number one bike: but he can't catch Stinkoff's Kreuziger, who is no doubt desperate to get some UCI points for his team. I don't know what Uncle Bjarne was playing at earlier this year, but he seemed to have forgotten that Contador's points won't count towards Pro-Team status at the end of the year. Bjarne kept putting Conti in as race leader, and allowing him to just go ahead and win points, instead of telling him to super-domestique for other team members, to the extent that last week, Stinkoff had 126 points, putting them comfortably about 6th from the bottom of the table, except that all but 2 of those points were from Contador, and therefore won't count at year end. With just two points? Last.
Maybe Uncle Bjarne suddenly realised this? For whatever reason, Kreuziger did a great job and won 80 points, putting Stinkoff up into 9th position, or last-but-one without Contador's points. But the season is yet young. And where are RadioShambles? Oh, they're ok, sitting second, thanks to Fabian's contribution.
So, the race was over, despite the lack of proper Amstel beer: in the tent where the podium riders go to get changed and primped ready for the presentation, we were greeted with the usual hard-to-watch spectacle of a knackered rider having his jersey peeled off, and the wet towel applied, while microphones and cameras were shoved in their faces for interviews: honestly, guys, we can wait a couple of minutes. Let them get cleaned up in private, please? Today it was weirder than usual, as behind the row of three chairs were four or five Amstel Gold Lovelies, all in uniform -no, proper skirts, not the silly beer-mat ones - all standing with their toes turned out and one hand on hip, just like proper modd-ells, and each with a pure white fluffy towel draped over one arm. And a fixed smile in place, as though to tell us that they actually can't see the sweaty cyclists stripping off their kit and mopping their bodies right in front of them. Weird.
Final word, from the winner: the interviewer asked him to tell us about the final climb. Kreuziger replied "I hear only the people who call my name and I do my best."
They do hear us shouting! (Cries of "Andy! Andy! Go, Andy! We Believe In You!" from all Schlecklanders)
I know, I know, how are we supposed to watch the race properly without the right beer? *laughs* So we bought some ordinary beer and wrote "Amstel Gold" on the labels in felt pen.
This race footage started in the usual way, with a quick look back at the start: there was the big red inflated air bridge, there were the riders, champing at the bit, edging forward over the invisible line, and there was the local dignitary with the tiny little gun.
Bang! He appeared to aim the little gun right at the air bridge, which could have been interesting, had the gun been loaded: Pfffffffffssssssssssssssss! and down comes the airbridge over the rear half of the peloton. Panic ensues as riders hastily unclip themselves, hand their bikes over the deflating bridge and scramble across. Some of Euskaltel are seen bouncing up and down on the last inflated section. A race official tells them to take their shoes off. Their DS tells them to put their shoes back on, and get back on their damned bikes, and get out there in a break.
The race starts, and to the utter amazement of our commentators, the sun is shining, it's not raining, it's not snowing, and if not actually warm, it's not absolutely freezing. There is some speculation that this could finally be the arrival of Spring in Europe, at long, long last. LLB and I look at each other: we took one look at the weather in England and decided to stay in and watch the race. It's not quite Spring in the UK yet.
Honorary Schlecklander Johan Van Summeren (JVS) makes an early break, and shoots out from the peloton, his back-hair flying in the wind. A couple of others go with him, including an Euskaltel Carrot, and apparently they get up to 11 mins out at one point, making it a classic TV-break.
Carnage! There is a huge crash, the worst sort - where several riders stay on the deck. There is a big tangle of bikes in the middle of the road, and Phillipe Gilbert is underneath it. He looks as though he wants to get up, but is pinned in place by the bikes. Riders are shooting off around the field to avoid the crash, about three-quarters of the peloton go cross-country, and one Lampre rider is seen clambering back - bikeless - over the low hedge on the left. Did he do a header over the hedge? We replay the incident, but we can't see exactly what happened. However, he hops awkwardly over the hedge, presumably not wanting to rip his lycra in an embarrassing place.
The BMC mechanic comes running up with a new bike, but PhilGil doesn't seem keen to get on it.
Mechanic: *panting* "New bike, sir!"
PhilGil: *pouts* "That's my second spare bike."
Mechanic: "Phil, get on it, get going."
PhilGil: "But I want my first spare bike, not this one."
Mechanic: "Mate, just get on it, we'll swap bikes again later but you must get going..."
DS: *on radio* "Gilbert! Get on the damned bike!"
Andy is one of the many caught behind the crash, he must have been well back as we then saw him chasing back on with PhilGil. Great to see him racing again! He looked good, lean and energetic, and he was keeping up with Gilbert who was really hammering along, using the car, the magic spanner, another car and a sticky bottle to get back up to speed. Andy just pedalled along behind him. (Cries of "Go, Andy!" from my direction. LLB gives me a Look.) We're fairly certain that Andy didn't crash, but he was just held up. David Harmon keeps referring to him as "Schleckie" which I find quite annoying...
The break, now sitting at four minutes away, contains a hitherto-little-known rider whose name is De Troyer.
De Troyer, singular? What a pity it's not plural, Des Troyer. Then he'd be The Destroyer. (much laughing from our sofa) It's slightly unfortunate that his first name is Tim, which does not really go with The Destroyer. Stijn would do it, or Thor - oh yes, Thor the Destroyer, great name. Tim? not so much.
We get to see quite a lot of the break, as the host broadcaster has a new camera which does super-slow-mo, and every so often we are treated to a super-slow-mo of JVS with his hair rippling in the wind. He lifts his hand - very very slowly - to his face: oh no, don't say he's going to blow his nose - and you know that cyclists don't carry hankies, they just block one nostril with a thumb and snort it all out, while turning the head sideways. Yuck! This could be the most revolting bit of race footage ever seen!! Thankfully the shot pans away - very very slowly, we are anticipating a stream of snot at any moment - and just in time, it moves on to another rider doing stretches. A lucky escape, there.
Our commentators start a huge debate about brakes: did you know, one and all, that in Europe the left-hand brake lever operates the front brake, whereas in Britain and America, the left-hand brake lever operates the rear brake? No, I didn't think anyone else would be interested. Harmon and Magnus Backstedt, though, discuss this point for aaaaaages.
At this point we see two Sky riders hanging around at the back of the peloton: one is Josh Edmondson, youngster extraordinaire, on his first "big" race - a "baptism of fire" says Magnus - and the other is Vasil Kiryienka, super-strong domestique with the poker face and the legs of steel. He has blood dripping down his arm from the crash - ha! this proves that he is NOT a robot, as has been suggested.
Finally, the discussion turns away from brake lever set-up and our commentators start discussing the new style mini-aero helmets, the ones with the smurf-like rounded back. Harmon asks Magnus what he thinks of them. "Visually? Not so keen," says Magnus, "but from an aero point of view? You'd be silly not to."
Drat, that means we are going to be seeing a lot more of them. This disappoints me, as I have always been secretly quite keen on vented cycling lids, they are so much funkier and better-looking than, for example, horse riding hard hats, which are the most horrible, unflattering, heavy, lumpy, bulbous, *runs out of words* horrible things. I have been hoping that if I ever get horses again, I will find that equestrians are now allowed to wear cycle hats...
News comes over race radio, Tommy Voeckler has broken his leg. Huh? We all hope not.
JVS and his accompanying Carrot, Mikel Astarloza, break away from their break, as they head up the longest hill on the circuit. David Harmon comments that this shows the difference between the riding at ProTeam level and at ProContinental level, as none of the others can keep up with the two ProTeam riders. The IAM rider struggles manfully, however, and finally manages to catch them.
Talking of IAM, I wonder if they are going to go for Pro status next year? There have been rumours for some time that Cancellara, our Lovely Leopard, will be moving to them, as his contract expires at the end of this season, and of course they are a Swiss team, so it would make a lot of sense. But only if they were a Pro team. From their point of view, even if Fabian doesn't ride another race this year, they would still be able to get Pro status on his points - assuming all else is in place, of course - so I guess that there is a real possibility that a deal might be made. Only time will tell.
Crikey, another big crash, and this time a Vacansoleil rider finds the only body-sized muddy puddle in the whole of the area, and lands full length in it. He rises, dripping mud, and clearly unhappy, but he gets back on his bike. Rodriguez, on the other hand, looks as though he has done some damage - he gets back on his bike but he is barely turning the pedals, and is rubbing his knee. It does not look good.
More bad news, we hear that there are rumours that Andy has abandoned: later, after the race, we find out that he was involved in the second crash, and hit the deck, then punctured, and just couldn't get back on to the peloton, so he gave up. But he was upbeat about it, saying that despite sore ribs from being whacked by the bars, and some lost skin, he is not hurt, and he was feeling good. But that all comes later.
Back in the race, 32k to go, and Mikel Astarloza, the Carrot, has broken away from JVS and the IAM guy, and is making a break for freedom. There's a very small peloton, no more than about 25, chasing them.
At this point we hear that Voeckler, according to a Twitter comment attributed to L'equipe, has a fractured shoulder. We shall see.
Suddenly, Team Sky are being accused of not doing anything, as they have not come to the front and taken over the race, as they normally do. Whaaaat?? Speaking as a Sky fan, it's a bit much to have this criticism thrown at the team, when for the entire season so far we've heard nothing but moans about Sky monopolising the races. Sigh. We haven't seen much of Sky at all, other than Vasil and his blood, Josh looking slightly over-horsed, and Eddy Boassen-Hagen *bites tongue to resist adding "Daaz"* looking under the weather, and a bit chunky.
More news, Voeckler now has a broken collarbone. And this time it's definite. So much for L'equipe, so much for Twitter, ha! At least a broken collarbone is - and this is Magnus talking, not me - only 2 weeks off the bike.
At this point I'm struck once again by the lack of Lux flags: all last year, they were nowhere to be seen, as Andy wasn't racing. Somehow the Lux ensign has become very much Andy's Flag, and it's been very sad not seeing them for a year. I had high hopes that now that Andy is riding again, they would be out in full force, but it seems not.
Getting back to the race coverage, we are following the leading Carrot, and I clearly hear someone in the crowd shouting out "Go, Mikel!" as he is nearly caught by the chasers. I'm impressed that a spectator knows which rider it is - LLB suggests that he might be listening to the radio, or following it on the internet. Or he might be a huge Eskaltel fan - I'm sure that I could spot most of the Leopards as they approached. I wonder if it's distracting, to have someone call out your name like that - or are they so focused on racing that they don't hear what's going on around them? At the final day of the Tour of Britain two years ago, LLB and I had a list of the ITT riders in start order, so as each one swept past us, we shouted out "Go!" and their name, whatever it was, and of course none of them took the slightest bit of notice of us - wouldn't expect it, really.
Ass-t'na join in the chase - Jakob's in the race, apparently, but we haven't seen hide nor hair of him, nor has his name even been mentioned, boo, shame. At least Andy still gets a few name checks...
At 10k to go, the chasing group are only 8 seconds behind - and by 6k, Rider Hesjedal (as opposed to his father, DS Hesjedal, or his brother, Mechanic Hesjedal) pings off the front, followed by a solitary Shack rider. For a moment, hope rises in our breasts (that's me and the Schlecklanders, not me and LLB) that maybe Andy hadn't abandoned after all: but no, it's Ben Hermans, drat.
At 2k to go, Gilbert attacks, presumably now on his number one bike: but he can't catch Stinkoff's Kreuziger, who is no doubt desperate to get some UCI points for his team. I don't know what Uncle Bjarne was playing at earlier this year, but he seemed to have forgotten that Contador's points won't count towards Pro-Team status at the end of the year. Bjarne kept putting Conti in as race leader, and allowing him to just go ahead and win points, instead of telling him to super-domestique for other team members, to the extent that last week, Stinkoff had 126 points, putting them comfortably about 6th from the bottom of the table, except that all but 2 of those points were from Contador, and therefore won't count at year end. With just two points? Last.
Maybe Uncle Bjarne suddenly realised this? For whatever reason, Kreuziger did a great job and won 80 points, putting Stinkoff up into 9th position, or last-but-one without Contador's points. But the season is yet young. And where are RadioShambles? Oh, they're ok, sitting second, thanks to Fabian's contribution.
So, the race was over, despite the lack of proper Amstel beer: in the tent where the podium riders go to get changed and primped ready for the presentation, we were greeted with the usual hard-to-watch spectacle of a knackered rider having his jersey peeled off, and the wet towel applied, while microphones and cameras were shoved in their faces for interviews: honestly, guys, we can wait a couple of minutes. Let them get cleaned up in private, please? Today it was weirder than usual, as behind the row of three chairs were four or five Amstel Gold Lovelies, all in uniform -no, proper skirts, not the silly beer-mat ones - all standing with their toes turned out and one hand on hip, just like proper modd-ells, and each with a pure white fluffy towel draped over one arm. And a fixed smile in place, as though to tell us that they actually can't see the sweaty cyclists stripping off their kit and mopping their bodies right in front of them. Weird.
Final word, from the winner: the interviewer asked him to tell us about the final climb. Kreuziger replied "I hear only the people who call my name and I do my best."
They do hear us shouting! (Cries of "Andy! Andy! Go, Andy! We Believe In You!" from all Schlecklanders)
Friday 5 April 2013
Will Andy do the Tour this year?
What a good question.
He said, in Velonews yesterday that he was not likely to be on top form by July:
“I cannot dream about winning the Tour this year,” he said.
When they asked if he thought that he could not win the race, he said:
“I don’t go as the leader of the race, no. I haven’t been there last year,”
Of course, there is always that famous "lost in translation" problem: to us, in English, that second quote implies that he is going to the Tour. But it might have been meant "If I were to go, it would not be as the leader".
There is a case to be made for his team management, who should not "waste" a place (sorry Andy, you know I don't mean it like that) on a rider who is not 100%: but as I said in my last post, he's such a high-profile rider that I rather think the organisers would want him competing, even if he were not quite fit.
Personally - bearing in mind that I'm not a DS nor a sports psychologist and therefore don't know what I'm talking about - I would have thought it would be a huge pressure on Andy, to send him to the Tour in the knowledge that he's not fully fit (we are, of course, assuming that he won't make a miraculous return to form: which might yet happen!) and with everyone and his dog watching him closely. And no Frankie for support.
Actually, I say "and no Frankie" as though that were essential, but of course when Frankie crashed out with a broken collarbone, Andy not only continued without him, but finished on the podium, so that does rather prove that Andy is perfectly capable of racing without Frankie.
But of course that was in the Leopard year, when he had the full support of the team, the management, the other riders, etc: things are a little different these days, even without Mr Bruyneel looming over him in the background.
Regardless of the support issue, we all know that it's the biggest, longest, hardest stage race in cycling, and if a rider is not fully fit, he could easily fail to finish: and we can all imagine what that would do to anyone's confidence, let alone Andy's.
So personally, on balance, I'd rather see Andy give the Tour a miss this year, win the Giro, and start afresh (preferably in a new team, ha! ha!) next year.
But that's just my opinion.
What do you think?
He said, in Velonews yesterday that he was not likely to be on top form by July:
“I cannot dream about winning the Tour this year,” he said.
When they asked if he thought that he could not win the race, he said:
“I don’t go as the leader of the race, no. I haven’t been there last year,”
Of course, there is always that famous "lost in translation" problem: to us, in English, that second quote implies that he is going to the Tour. But it might have been meant "If I were to go, it would not be as the leader".
There is a case to be made for his team management, who should not "waste" a place (sorry Andy, you know I don't mean it like that) on a rider who is not 100%: but as I said in my last post, he's such a high-profile rider that I rather think the organisers would want him competing, even if he were not quite fit.
Personally - bearing in mind that I'm not a DS nor a sports psychologist and therefore don't know what I'm talking about - I would have thought it would be a huge pressure on Andy, to send him to the Tour in the knowledge that he's not fully fit (we are, of course, assuming that he won't make a miraculous return to form: which might yet happen!) and with everyone and his dog watching him closely. And no Frankie for support.
Actually, I say "and no Frankie" as though that were essential, but of course when Frankie crashed out with a broken collarbone, Andy not only continued without him, but finished on the podium, so that does rather prove that Andy is perfectly capable of racing without Frankie.
But of course that was in the Leopard year, when he had the full support of the team, the management, the other riders, etc: things are a little different these days, even without Mr Bruyneel looming over him in the background.
Regardless of the support issue, we all know that it's the biggest, longest, hardest stage race in cycling, and if a rider is not fully fit, he could easily fail to finish: and we can all imagine what that would do to anyone's confidence, let alone Andy's.
So personally, on balance, I'd rather see Andy give the Tour a miss this year, win the Giro, and start afresh (preferably in a new team, ha! ha!) next year.
But that's just my opinion.
What do you think?
Thursday 4 April 2013
Phew! Frankie will be hitting the Vuelta!
Sighs of relief all round, Frankie's one-year suspension is going to end on the 14th July as planned: today we finally got the news that both the UCI and WADA have accepted the ruling of LADA (Lux Anti-Doping Agency) (oh all right, ALAD, if you insist) for a reduced ban, they are not going to appeal, it is going to stand.
An appeal would have been bad - it would have meant that they were asking for the full two-year ban, which would have been unfair in the extreme when you think that LADA concluded that Frankie had inadvertently consumed a contaminated supplement, containing the not-actually-banned-just-restricted diuretic that might have made him seriously ill . And that people like Zabriskie only got 6 months (cunningly positioned in the off-season anyway) for admitting to "real" doping. Sigh.
Anyway, we can now put it behind us, the date for his return is set, and he'll no doubt be targeting la Vuelta.
As will Andy, hopefully: won't it be great to see them cycling together again?
I suspect that RadioShambles will put Andy into the Tour, even if he is not up to full fitness - after all, he is a former winner, even if by default, and he brings his own layer of publicity with him. I'm sure the organisers would want him. But I suspect he'll be in much better form for la Vuelta, especially if he's cycling with Frankie again.
Meanwhile, in the Tour of the Basque country, Andy's doing well: he's still going, he's showing his face, and he's very much "in the bunch". Yes, it would be lovely to see him win a stage or a jersey, but I'm just really happy to see him riding, completing each day, and - we confidently expect - completing the race.
Go, Andy!
Hey, there was a funny moment, LLB and I were watching the recording of Stage 2, and Jensie, in the middle of the bunch, was talking in an animated manner to the Ass-t'nah rider next to him. LLB wondered why - until I pointed out that it was Jakob!
An appeal would have been bad - it would have meant that they were asking for the full two-year ban, which would have been unfair in the extreme when you think that LADA concluded that Frankie had inadvertently consumed a contaminated supplement, containing the not-actually-banned-just-restricted diuretic that might have made him seriously ill . And that people like Zabriskie only got 6 months (cunningly positioned in the off-season anyway) for admitting to "real" doping. Sigh.
Anyway, we can now put it behind us, the date for his return is set, and he'll no doubt be targeting la Vuelta.
As will Andy, hopefully: won't it be great to see them cycling together again?
I suspect that RadioShambles will put Andy into the Tour, even if he is not up to full fitness - after all, he is a former winner, even if by default, and he brings his own layer of publicity with him. I'm sure the organisers would want him. But I suspect he'll be in much better form for la Vuelta, especially if he's cycling with Frankie again.
Meanwhile, in the Tour of the Basque country, Andy's doing well: he's still going, he's showing his face, and he's very much "in the bunch". Yes, it would be lovely to see him win a stage or a jersey, but I'm just really happy to see him riding, completing each day, and - we confidently expect - completing the race.
Go, Andy!
Hey, there was a funny moment, LLB and I were watching the recording of Stage 2, and Jensie, in the middle of the bunch, was talking in an animated manner to the Ass-t'nah rider next to him. LLB wondered why - until I pointed out that it was Jakob!
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