Bici-GoGo

Chris Horner Interview re: US Pro Nationals, Vuelta, Lombardia

2010-09-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

In 2010, Chris has had his best season ever with 10th overall and best American at the Tour de France, winning the Tour of the Basque Country, 4th overall at the Amgen Tour of CA, and three top 10 placings in the spring classics - including 7th at La Flèche Wallonne and 8th at Lìege-Bastogne-Lìege (a race he told me earlier this year was one of the most beautiful races in the world).

While he was traveling to Sacramento to participate in a cycling festival ride @clarkscornerca, I got the chance to talk with Chris about the upcoming National Road Championships in Greenville, SC on Sunday, Sept 19, RadioShack not being invited to the Tour of Spain, and his prospects for participation in the Giro di Lombardia on Oct 16 - the last Monument of the road cycling season.

I apologize for the audio quality - I had some very bad feedback when I asked Chris questions, so I had to re-record the questions after the fact and drop them into the audio - so you might notice that in the recording.

Photos courtesy of Ebers Garcia

Horner Storms the Time Trial and Wins the Vuelta a Pais Vasco! & Post-Victory Interview

2010-04-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Chris Horner (RadioShack) won his first European stage race ever today, beating Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) by 8 seconds in the Time Trial, Stage 6. Going into today's stage, Horner was down by 1 second on GC to Valverde, but when I spoke with him after Stage 5 and asked him how he planned to get time on the leader, he told me "I'll just have to beat Valverde in the Time Trial." He had a phenomenal ride.

After his win, I interviewed him for Universal Sports, available here following the commercial (if you're on a Mac, use Firefox as your browser, not Safari):

http://tinyurl.com/y9qe5am

The same 7-minute-long interview is also available at the video link below, done with Horner when he's in the car with his Director Sportif, two-time Olympic gold medalist Viatcheslav Ekimov (aka Eki), after the race. It's worth a listen - he talks about his strategy, race preparation for the TT earlier that morning, what Eki was telling him from the car, and what he was thinking when he crossed the line. Horner came to the Basque country first in 1997-98, and has wanted a win for twelve long years. Congrats, Redneck! You made us all proud today as the first American ever to win this race. Enjoy your chapelas!

Horner Interview after Stage 4, Tour of the Basque Country

2010-04-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

I interviewed Horner for our Universal Sports TV broadcast after Stage 4, and here are his thoughts as he looks ahead to the final two days.

This video is all about the audio - please ignore the image quality. Photo is of the final podium after Stage 6.

Horner and Valverde on the Hunt at Vuelta a Pais Vasco, 2010, and Horner Interview Stage 1

2010-04-08T19:54:00.000-07:00

Thursday, April 8, 2010--The 50^th edition of the Vuelta de Pais Vasco is currently underway in Spain, and today’s mountainous Stage 4 confirmed that Chris Horner of Radioshack is feeling good. On the final Category 1 climb, after Robert Gesink (Rabobank) wound up the pace and whittled down the numbers in the leading group, Horner countered with a blistering move of his own. Down only 1" second on GC behind Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne), he threw himself into the virtual race lead as he road away from the main contenders, with about a mile to go the top of the climb, and only another mile from there to the finish line.

Hormer’s solo attempt didn’t last, although he put about 15 seconds into the leaders. First he was joined by Sammy Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and they worked together as a duo over the summit and on the descent. Close on their heels were Valverde and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) – and as these two pairs neared the finish, Valverde lit it up to close the gap to Horner and Sanchez in order to protect his preeminent position as overall race leader at the end of the day. Sanchez (about 1’40” down after losing serious time on Stage 1) countered for the stage win, super stoked as he crossed the finish line and letting out an almost primordial roar as if he were lunging at a woolly mammoth (featured photo)! The Lion of Flanders has nothing on Sanchez!

Valverde and Horner crossed the line together two seconds behind Sanchez. Although Valverde’s comeback took some serious effort, I was sad to see Horner not stay away for a major win in this European stage race he has enjoyed so often over the years since his first attempt in the late 90's.

A few days ago, at the start of the Tour de Basque, Horner spent a fair amount of time at and off the front of the peloton. Clearly he’s been feeling good. I called him up after that stage to interview him for NBC Universal Sports, which is covering the race daily on US TV in the major urban areas that carry their station. We tried to fit the interview into the broadcast during Stage 2, but were not able to, so I’m posting it here, with thanks out to Horner and to Universal Sports. To watch videos from the broadcasts (less optimal on a Mac with Safari, by the way, and better on Mozilla Firefox), go to:

http://www.universalsports.com/news/article/newsid=464433.html#basque+country+central

To contextualize his comments about the final sprint between Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Valverde, if you didn’t see Universal Sports' TV coverage, here’s what happened. As the sprint came to the line, Freire’s path took a straight line from slightly right of center of the road diagonally toward the left side. Because Valverde was on his left, as Freire neared the left side of the road, Valverde was forced up against the barriers, with still a few meters left to go in the sprint. He raised his hand in protest, just before Freire crossed the finish line in first place with Valverde on his wheel. The officials relegated Freire to second place and gave Valverde the win.

Here are Horner’s thoughts on Stage 1 and that sprint: (btw, I had trouble with audio file upload of the 5-minute Horner interview after Stage 1, below. The video here is all about audio - please ignore the image quality).

FYI, I always thought the rule was that a rider couldn’t change his line during the sprint, and because Freire’s line was consistently straight – but just on a diagonal path – it seemed open for debate whether he violated the rule. Further thought offered a couple of options: as he got to the left side of the road in front of the finish line, in fact his line had to change from diagonal to straight in order to cross the line, or else he also would’ve hit the barriers. Also, the current UCI rule (2.3.036) has changed its wording slightly, modifying it in 2005 to now read: “Riders shall be strictly forbidden to deviate from the lane they selected when launching into the sprint and, in so doing, endangering others.” I don’t have the original wording before the modification, but by using the word “lane” rather than “line,” it seems to reference parallel paths straight down the road, like car lanes or lanes on a track. Similarly, by calling out “endangering others,” it leaves room for an official’s discretion about what that means in each particular case.

Ironically, in the sprint the very next day at the Stage 2 finish line, Valverde and Freire went at it again, this time starting from the far left side of the road with Valverde in the lead and Freire on his right but slightly behind. Valverde’s line moved diagonally toward the right, then straight, then diagonally right again, then straight, then diagonally right again as he crossed the finish line, with Freire still on his right and therefore pushed up against the barriers. The officials didn’t say a thing, maybe because Freire chose not to raise his hand in protest. So despite similar tactics and positioning during two back-to-back sprints for Stage 1 and Stage 2, Valverde came out with two wins and Freire with two second-places, even though Freire crossed the line first on day 1.

Team RadioShack - First Training Camp for this Powerhouse Team

2009-12-22T10:15:00.000-08:00

With cycling becoming more and more of a global sport, Team RadioShack's camp in Tucson, AZ, in early December is likely the only time that the entire team will be on U.S. soil for the 2010 racing season. I was invited to attend the media day, which brought journalists from around the U.S. and the world, because Lance was giving a press conference and introducing his new team.

Training camps require a ton of logistical planning: setting up interviews, finalizing team equipment adjustments, arranging travel for riders from 16 different nations, meeting sponsors' needs, setting rider schedules for the upcoming season, scouting appropriate training routes, dealing with the constant public curiosity of the team, making a comfortable environment for the riders to start to get to know each other, etc. The camp actually served more as a team-building, meet and greet exercise than it did as a place for the riders to log long hours in the saddle. Though seven of the riders will kick-off their racing season at the Tour Down Under in Australia from January 17 - 24, most of them still have a bit more time to gradually build their fitness for the racing season which lies ahead.

Here's a picture of Chris Horner and me with Levi in the Astana kit right behind and between us.

I had the opportunity to join the team on one of its training rides - a short and easy ride of just over two hours. One highlight from the ride was spending a considerable amount of time chatting with Chris Horner. It's always fun to see Chris, and he's a rider who has interesting insights into the world of the professional peloton. Chris had an unusual season in 2009 - he's had great fitness but also numerous injuries: crashing out of the Tour of CA with a knee injury, crashing out of the Tour of the Basque Country with a broken clavicle, crashing out of the Tour of Italy with a hairline fracture in his leg and rounding out the season with a broken hand in the fourth day of the Tour of Spain. The amazing thing about Chris is he shrugs it all off and keeps looking forward. He's really an eternally positive guy, who loves to race his bike and deals with all of the ups and downs along the way with little complaining - even when his Astana team from this season (2009) got months behind paying salaries. He controls the things he can (like coming to Team RadioShack to move to a more stable team and work environment), and makes the best of the things he can't - like keeping a positive attitude when he's injured. He's also quite a character, and one can't help but laugh when hanging out with Chris.

I also got the chance to catch up with Lance Armstrong on the bike as well that day. It was great to ride with him again, after being teammates way back in 1991 on the Subaru Montgomery team. One thing about Lance that most are aware of is how exceptionally busy he is. But most of you probably don't know that he constantly emails and texts while on his bike. Spending ten minutes riding shoulder-to-shoulder with him was a real treat. I realized at one point when we were bumping elbows and shoulders, gesturing, etc., that I was right back in that place of some 18 years ago - two guys out doing what they love - riding their bikes - and talking about many things cycling related. At one point, I realized how rare it is to get to rub elbows with him - literally - because of the inherent risks of doing so.

We led the RadioShack train back into town, and as we approached the resort, the ride ended. With that, we said goodbye and he slipped through a side door to avoid the people who invariably are waiting for him to try to get a picture, an autograph, to say hi or just get a chance to see the man who is trying to beat the odds, and win his eighth Tour de France in 2010. By the way, when I asked Lance if he could "put it together" (referring to winning the Tour in 2010), he told me he wouldn't be out here if he didn't think he could.

Tour of Spain Stage 12 Winner Ryder Hesjedal on Electronic Shifting

2009-12-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

Ryder has proven to be a valuable asset to the Garmin - Transitions team. He spent the first 11 days of the 21 day Vuelta a Espana largely helping to control the race to set up the team's sprinter, Tyler Farrar, for his first taste of a Grand Tour stage victory. In stage 10, Ryder put himself into the winning four rider break but ultimately had to settle for second after being out-sprinted by Australian breakaway specialist Simon Gerrans of the startup Cervelo Test Team.

In stage 11, everything clicked and Tyler Farrar picked up his first, and in fact his team's first, road stage win of a Grand Tour (they had previously won a team time trial at the 2008 Giro d'Italia).

After a rest day, stage 12 again saw Ryder in the nearly day-long breakaway group. Today was going to end differently, however, as the finish was atop the massive climb up the Velefique. Ryder had to contest the sprint with David Garcia - the only other man who survived from the break all the way to the finish to contest the win, and he chocked up his first Grand Tour stage win! Amazingly, for the former mountain bike racer now in his sixth Grand Tour appearance, it was his FIRST road victory on European soil. After he won he said it was a "lifetime worth of work" to get this stage victory on the Velefique. Congrats, Ryder!

I had a chance to ride with Ryder doing some winter training at his home away from home in Maui, in late November. He was on the exact bike he used to finish out his season in Europe, including his Vuelta stage win. I asked him a little bit about his electronic Dura Ace shifting:

If you experience trouble playing the video after it downloads, try grabbing the progress icon in the progress bar and moving it to get things started.

Three Months in 10 Minutes.... The World's, Weddings, Pro's Training & Team Camps

2009-12-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

I know, most bloggers who take a three-month hiatus would tell their readers that they were signing off for a while, but I never expected that I would not have blogged sooner. I mean, there have been so many great things to blog about: like when I officiated Jonas and Justina Carney's wedding (Jonas and I were team mates, and we've remained very close friends). It was a true honor to be asked to officiate for them, and also great to be able to repay the favor to Jonas, who married Christina and I almost five years ago. It was great to hang out with Alex Candelario, Reid Mumford, Mike Creed and their wives, and entertaining to watch Danny Pate crash the party.

Or, I could have told you about Levi Leipheimer's Gran Fondo (http://www.levisgranfondo.com/), held on the same stunning course in Sonoma County, CA we raced on in the Coors Classic back in 1988 (where I took 2nd). 3,500 people from around the country, and even world came to challenge themselves, meet Levi and his wife Odessa, and raise money for two great causes. It was one of those events which was really fun to announce but I've got to say I almost wish I had been riding! Here's a picture of me interviewing Levi moments before the start.

It was also great to see Scott Nydam there (BMC), who's been recovering from a bad accident and head injury earlier this season and Paul Mach (Bissell) my fellow Davis, CA resident. Scott looked like he had regained his old form from earlier this year, and he was the first rider to finish the gran fondo. On top of that, he was getting married two weeks later - congratulations Scott & Jennifer! It seems weddings were in the air.... On the stage after the event, left to right; Levi Leipheimer, his wife Odessa, Scott Nydam, Carlos Perez (event promoter) and me.

Carlos, the promoter, was a great guy who put a huge event together with his crew in just a few short months. This one sold out this year so make sure to register early if you want to do it in 2010.

Likewise, there was the World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland. There was no question that big Fabian Cancellara, the reigning Olympic TT champion and 2X World TT champ was the odds-on-favorite for the TT. He easily won, but oh!, what a day for American Tom Zirbel, who ended the day 4th! Here's a short video of us calling his TT on Universal Sports: http://tinyurl.com/Zirbel-Worlds-TT

Tom is a huge motor who also won the season-long National Racing Calendar in the U.S. this year, and he'll be riding for the Garmin-Transitions team in 2010 - so he'll get a big dose of European racing. Most people don't realize how good Tom is; he beat Lance Armstrong in every TT they both did in 2009 - the Tour of CA (Tom 7th, Lance 14th), the Tour of the Gila (Tom 2nd, Lance 3rd). Granted, Armstrong was coming off of 3 1/2 years of retirement, but that's still a pretty big accomplishment for a domestic pro!

With the conclusion of Levi's Gran Fondo, the road season has pretty much been over, and hence my down time. But things have been ramping back up as of late - talking with teams and trying to figure out which team camps I'll visit to interview riders and staff and hopefully get on a team ride with some of the guys. It's an exciting time of year because it's time to think of all of the team changes for 2010, and also to work on my announcing calendar.

There's been some time for vacationing in Maui along the way. And when in Maui, one resident you always want to try to hook up with for a ride is Canadian Ryder Hesjedal. Ryder had a great year, and capped it off by placing 2nd in a stage of the Tour of Spain, and then four days later winning a mountain top finish stage. I've got some video of Ryder which I'll add under a separate blog entry soon, but I leave you with this picture of good friend, and fellow vacationer, Michael Aisner. Michael used to own and run the largest bicycle race in America back in the 1980s. Most people credit him with putting the U.S. on the modern-day racing map. Here, Michael is at 10,000', atop Haleakala volcano. I know many people will say "10,000', what's the big deal? I've been higher in Colorado!" The cool thing here is that the climb starts at sea level, and Michael's about 5,000' above the clouds, contemplating the view from above - a view we don't see often.

Next week, I'm heading off to the first team camp for Lance's new team: RadioShack. For those of you who haven't heard yet, Lance has left Astana and formed a new, U.S. based team. He has also hired about a dozen of his former teammates to come with him including Americans Levi Leipheimer and Chris Horner, as well as a bunch of other international and American talent. In total, there are 26 riders from 16 countries, here's the official team roster:

Lance Armstrong (USA)

Fumiyuki Beppu (JAP)

Sam Bewley (NZL)

Jani Brajkovic (SLO)

Matthew Busche (USA)

Ben Hermans (BEL)

Chris Horner (USA)

Daryl Impey (SAF)

Markel Irizar (SPA)

Andreas Klöden (GER)

Levi Leipheimer (USA)

Geoffroy Lequatre (FRA)

Fuyu Li (CHI)

Tiago Machado (POR)

Jason McCartney (USA)

Dmitriy Muravyev (KAZ)

Sérgio Paulinho (POR)

Yaroslav Popovych (UKR)

Gregory Rast (SUI)

Sébastien Rosseler (BEL)

Ivan Rovny (RUS)

José Luis Rubiera (SPA)

Bjorn Selander (USA)

Gert Steegmans (BEL)

Tomas Vaitkus (LIT)

Haimar Zubeldia (SPA)

Big Days in the Big Mountains at La Vuelta a Espana

2009-09-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Today was an epic battle for day 14 of La Vuelta a Espana; it was the third day of mountain top finishes in a row - on paper, arguably the hardest three days of racing in a Grand Tour this year. When the overall contenders hit the 12% - 14% slopes of the Sierra de la Pandera climb to the finish, it was the 23 year old Dutchman, Robert Gesink who put in surge at the front after Ivan Basso (Italy) had gone to the front to stretch some legs. Gesink, who came into the day in second place overall and only 27" behind Alejandro Valverde, timed his surge perfectly as Valverde was already in trouble from the effort Ivan Basso had made. Valverde came unhitched from the Gesink led group, and it looked like Valverde would likely loose his jersey. But, Valverde didn't panic - which likely would have caused him to ride until he blew up; instead, he stayed within himself over those few kilometers which were the steepest part of the climb, and later proceeded to reel in first Ivan Basso and Cadel Evans (Australia), and later the man who was the source of his alarm (and pain!) - Robert Gesink. By the finish Valverde had even shed Gesink and picked up another 4", which makes Valverde look more and more like a man who cannot be broken in this three-week test. Here's Valverde before everything started to unravel:

Oh, did I mention that it was also raining? Well, it was.

The winner today came from an early group of escapees, which made it to the final two climbs with a healthy advantage of over 7' on the pack. Damiano Cunego emerged from that group of nine men, to take his second victory of this year's Vuelta - and they have both come in mountain top finishes - his first being back in stage eight on the Alto de Aitana. Here's Cunego getting close to the summit, surrounded by throngs of enthusiastic fans:

By the time Cunego made it to the finish, he still had over 2' advantage over his nearest chaser:

Had it not been for the very untimely puncture on the Sierra Nevada climb yesterday, in stage 13, Cadel Evans (Australia) might have been able to challenge Valverde for the overall - because he can out time trial Valverde on the penultimate day on stage 20. But, for Evans, no support cars were within sight when he punctured on the Sierra Nevada because all the team cars were stuck behind the exploding peloton on the narrow roads. Evans lost almost a minute while the neutral support fiddled with putting a new rear wheel on his bike (possibly the slowest wheel change I've ever seen!), and finally his team car arrived with his spare bike. He chased hard, initially making up ground, but eventually cracked from the effort and lost just over a minute to Alejandro Valverde. That has pretty much taken the wind out of his sails for any chances of an overall victory.

There are still seven more days of racing in this Spanish Grand Tour, and though there are lots of mountains looming on the horizon, there are no actual mountain top finishes remaining. Valverde is a better time trialist than his nearest challenger (Gesink) and pretty similar to Samuel Sanchez (Olympic Gold Medalst - Beijing) who sits in third at 1'10". At this point, La Vuelta looks to be Valverde's to loose.

Only after the next seven days will anyone know for certain, but it looks more and more like Alejandro Valverde will finally take his first ever overall Grand Tour Victory on September 20th in Madrid, Spain.

You can check out the daily action on Universal Sports TV:

http://www.universalsports.tv/Universal_Sports_on_TV.html)

and on the web (which has finally started archiving our TV broadcasts) at:

http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=204770092

After Four Days of Racing, La Vuelta a Espana Makes the Transfer from Belgium to Spain

2009-09-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

The first four days of the Tour of Spain have been a battle of nerves, constant fighting for position, luck and attrition. Considering the mountainous course the organizers have served up in the final Grand Tour of the year, you wouldn't have known it from the first four days which began in The Netherlands, dipped briefly into Germany and finished in Belgium. With the narrow roads, bricks and cobblestones, innumerable medians, roundabouts and various other road furniture, wind and rain, the collective frayed nerves of the peloton could be seen play out time and again - crashes, both large and small, have been a constant companion along with the race. The worst crash was on day four, and you can view it as Steve and I called it for Universal Sports:

http://www.universalsports.com/mediaPlayer/media.dbml?id=646459&db_oem_id=23000

Unfortunately for American Chris Horner, he ended up breaking his wrist in that crash and has been forced out of competition for the fourth time this season; Tour of CA in March (knee injury), Tour of the Basque Country (broken clavicle), Giro d'Italia (broken leg), and now this. Chris always has such a good attitude through it all, and he's an incredibly talented and respected athlete. He was one of the "protected" riders on Team Astana for the Vuelta, and I was hoping to see him shine come the mountains of Spain. It is truly a shame to see him injured again, and I wish him a fast recovery and a much more fortunate season in 2010.

After that crash, there were only six riders left to contest the finish, and Andre Greipel, the German riding for the U.S. Columbia - HTC team took his 16th win of the season. He's racked up the second largest number of race wins in men's professional cycling this year, behind his teammate Mark Cavendish - who just won six stages of the Tour de France, and has over 20 wins to his credit this season.

Even in the less than appealing weather, huge crowds awaited the riders in The Netherlands and Belgium, surprising even the race organizers and the riders themselves, but most everyone will be glad to leave the treacherous conditions behind as they head into the more familiar terrain of this race - which will be found in Spain. Mountains get slowly introduced over the next several days, but by Sunday there will be no mistake about what lies ahead - the terrain in this Vuelta will be the more difficult than the Tours of Italy or France. The climbs are ridiculously steep, some reaching grades close to 20% in the ensuing days, and that all begins with Sunday's 111 mile affair which has eight different rated climbs - this will be the first day to see who is likely to be amongst the contenders when the race finishes two weeks later, in Madrid. Luckily for the riders, the climbs on day eight are not the steepest, or the longest climbs of the race, but those days will not be far away.

There are three consecutive mountain top finishes on days 12, 13 and 14, and if anyone still has any snap in his legs at that point there will not be many riders left to contend with. With three consecutive days finishing on major climbs, a rider who's got the acceleration and the staying power to back up an attack will be able to gain big time on most all, if not all, of his rivals.

With just under 40 miles of time trials in this year's race, one thing's for certain - the winner will make his mark in the mountains.

Chris Horner to RadioShack? Exclusive Interview Day Two of Vuelta

2009-08-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

I got a chance to catch up with American Chris Horner of Team Astana after the first road race of the final Grand Tour of the year - La Vuelta a Espana. Today's race, almost pan flat, was contested over 110 miles (204 km) in The Netherlands, of all places. The constant small roads, combined with numerous changes of direction and some wind made this first mass-start day a tricky one for riders looking for a good overall finish on September 20th - three weeks from today.

Starting the day, there were 198 riders, but by the finish of this flat, aggressive day, there were only 173 riders remaining. And, almost 100 of them lost some time in the final 3 miles as the sprinters teams battled for control at the front of the field. Many of the pre-race favorites lost valuable time, including:

Andy Schleck at 30" (the Luxembourger who took 2nd place in this year's Tour de France),

And a bunch at 18":

*Alexander Vinokourove (the Kazak, the winner of the 2006 Vuelta who is coming back from a two year suspension)

*Samuel Sanchez (the Spanish Olympic champion last year in Beijing)

*Linus Gerdemann (the German hope, a stage winner of the 2007 Tour de France, and as a consequence of that win, he led the overall classification for a day)

*Frank Schleck (brother of Andy, a stage winner at this year's Tour de France)

Here's a link to my interview with Chris Horner, from after the race on Sunday:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/ChrisHornerInterviewVueltaDay2

Looks like Horner is going to make the move to Lance's new team, RadioShack for 2010. Officially, teams and riders are not allowed to say anything before September 1, but there are always plenty of folks who are willing to hint at what might be coming, and some will outright say where they are moving before the September 1 date. The penalty for making announcements before September 1 is nebulous. If a team wanted to make a stink over a rider leaving, they could, and the UCI (international cycling governing body) could impose fines, but most teams don't care to escalate things to that level. At any rate, we should have a ton of transfers to digest and talk about this week.

Tomorrow is another flat day at the 64th edition of La Vuelta, which again starts and finishes in The Netherlands, and briefly crosses the border into Germany. Another day for the sprinters.

As always, you can check out all the action on Universal Sports TV, check local listings here: http://www.universalsports.tv/Universal_Sports_on_TV or, there is plenty to view on the internet here: http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=13044&DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=204770092

Vuelta Starts Saturday!

2009-08-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, today is two days before the third and final Grand Tour of the year - the Tour of Spain. Three weeks in duration (as they all are), and Universal Sports is televising it every single day (just like we did for the Giro d'Italia back in May) - click here to find out if you have TV coverage in your area, and if you don't and you like cycling on TV, I suggest that you contact your local cable TV provider because US will have over 100 days of TV again next year: http://www.universalsports.tv/Universal_Sports_on_TV.html

The race will also be on the internet at: http://www.universalsports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=13044&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=23000&ATCLID=204770092

Here's a 30 second video of short audio clips from earlier this year featuring Steve Schlanger and me calling races for US. Just a foreshadowing of the exciting Tour of Spain which Starts August 29 and finishes September 20, enjoy:

Many of the climbs which are to be featured in this year's event are wicked steep - harder than the Tour de France. It's going to be a climber's race, for sure.

Best Sprinter, Larry H Miller Tour of UT

2009-08-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

The Tour of UT, Larry H Miller Sprint Winner Jersey presentation to the 21 year old Canadian, David Veilleux of the Kelly Benefit Strategies team. A young man with a bright future, he will represent Canada at the upcoming World Championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, September 23-27. I will be doing the commentary for the event for the US television audience on Universal Sports.

You can find out where to view Universal Sports at this link:

http://www.universalsports.tv/Universal_Sports_on_TV.html

Winning Team at the Larry H Miller Tour of UT

2009-08-23T16:55:00.000-07:00

Podium presentation of the impressive team of Rock Racing, winner of the best team competition at the Larry H Miller Tour of UT. Podium presentation was MC'd by my colleague Jeff Roake:

Francisco Mancebo

Oscar Sevilla

Victor Hugo Pena

Jose Enrique Gutierrez

Glen Chadwick

Sergio Hernandez

Ivan Dominguez

Moving.... and then, The Tour of Utah!

2009-08-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while. I've been on the move, last week driving 49 hours in six days from Montreal to Santa Fe, en route to our new home in Davis, California starting on the 26th.

You all know how moving is. When we left Santa Fe 13 months ago, we stored all our stuff in this building here, which was full from floor to ceiling. Star items uncovered included 12 bikes, most special of which were 2 oldies. These were my second-ever racing bike - a Picchio - that I rode for my local New Mexico team Strings 'n Spokes before I got picked up by Ten Speed Drive, and the Crest bike. This is one of only 12 small-tube frames that Cannondale ever made, in order for the Crest team to comply with a UCI regulation about frame size (which was later overturned). My mom had the Picchio, which she's been riding daily while wearing my old Brancale brain bucket, one of the first hard-shell helmets ever made. Too bad I don't have a picture of her to upload - she surrendered these historic items in exchange for a new upright bike and a helmet that actually lets the air in to cool her down. Let's just say my new Cannondale Super Six performs a lot better than those old favorites.

But in the interim before Davis... Monday I fly to Salt Lake City to announce The Tour of Utah along with Jeff Roake and Bob Roll. I'm really looking forward to working with them. It will be great to be alongside Bobke in a less adversarial role than the last time we worked together, racing against each other on competing teams in the Coors Classic , Redlands, even the Vulcan Tour -- a race that Roake himself used to promote in Northern California. I wish Dave Towle was also on the crew like he was last year with me at Utah, but he's currently announcing the Tour of Ireland.

The Tour of Utah runs from August 18th-23rd and features 5 stages plus the prologue, totaling over 30,000 feet of climbing and 325 miles. It is a stunning and grueling course. Major teams include Ouch, Bissel, the young crew of Trek/LIVESTRONG, Team Type 1, BMC, Rock Racing with Oscar Sevilla, and many others. Check out their website http://www.tourofutah.com/

And after that, the Vuelta a Espana, baby! Universal Sports is offering a ton of daily coverage of the full race, with additional features that I'll fill you in on as soon as I can. Stay tuned...

Then and Now- How Team Leadership Is Established in Professional Cycling

2009-08-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

This post focuses on the recent spate of public demands being made by successful professional cyclists – broadcast through the media and internet – for next year’s contracts, following their strong performances at this year’s Tour de France. I could not help but immediately notice this approach, which seems a radical departure from the usual procedures in place when I was racing in the 1980s and early 1990s. I believe it is significant in its implications for a number of reasons that range from benefits and drawbacks to the individual cyclist, their teams and the sport as a whole.

Let’s begin with Jurgen Van Den Broeck, a young talented Belgian racer who was hired by Silence Lotto to be a lieutenant for Cadel Evans to help him win the Tour de France. He decided after the race that it was time to go to the press to demand co-team-leadership with Evans for next year. Admittedly, this was after Evans’s failure in the race and Van Den Broeck’s strong showing in the mountains and race overall. Presumably he acted on his own, and not at the direction of the team manager, in his many attacks at the front of the field, since these attacks did nothing to help Evans.

Van Den Broeck was not alone in doing this. For example, Franco Pellizotti, the 31-year-old Italian on Liquigas who just took the King of the Mountains jersey at the Tour de France after finishing third overall at the Giro d’Italia, used a very similar tactic. He went straight to the media and demanded sole leadership for next year’s Giro d’Italia, a position he shared this year with his teammate Ivan Basso, a former winner of the Giro. Even Contador’s agent, his brother, has disclosed Contador’s refusal of Astana’s offer of $16 million euros to extend his contract for another four years at $4m/year, a tidy sum of money. By making this private financial offer into a public refusal, he appears to be using the media to leverage his salary and position with other teams.

Despite these riders’ outstanding performances, I can’t help but wonder why they would go public with their demands. Is cycling becoming like a reality TV show, where the popularity of a voting public determines the outcome? Is it simply that tweeting and the internet are so easy and accessible that riders automatically use them to communicate with their fans? At the same time, these tools function strategically to leverage one’s cause through the media and public support, with outcomes that potentially could transform a rider’s career.

But what are the downsides of this turn of events? Because most sponsors and fans do not know the intricacies and complicated strategies inherent in winning diverse types of races over a long season, if they hear a rider’s demands after a strong performance, they may pressure the team director to comply when in fact that may not be the best decision for the team in the long run. Team leadership is earned through proven successes, which draw the trust and respect of teammates and team management, as well as through maturity in representing the sponsor publicly before the media.

During my years of racing, the process of negotiating contracts and one’s role on the team were matters of private discussion with the team owner, director, and athlete. In part, this is due to the way professional teams are structured, both then and still today. The team owner guides the team like the CEO of a company, either solo or through a director and/or manager who functions as the COO of the team. Their leadership roles include choosing the athletes, negotiating their contracts and intuiting their various roles on the team in relation to the overall team objectives, and then actually running the team throughout the season, financially, logistically, strategically. The team owner approaches sponsors with their product – a professional cycling team, perhaps one with particular goals which can be modified to suit the sponsor’s needs – which in turn offers a marketing service to the sponsor in exchange for financial support.

To give one specific example from my own career, in 1987 when I was racing for Len Pettyjohn on Team Lowenbrau, I had by far my best season ever. I was ranked second in the national standings, won about 20 races including the World's Trials, Cascade Cycling Classic, Mt. Evans, and the Battle at the Brewery - the only race I ever competed in at Superweek. I was selected as the team leader of the US team at the Pan American Games (placing 4^th) and also at the World’s, although a crash kept me from starting that race. As the season was winding down, I had several discussions with Pettyjohn one-on-one to discuss my salary and my leadership position on the team. It was clear that his position was fairly firm.

He had hired me under a two year contract as one of several team leaders, along with a couple others including Alexi Grewal (1984 Olympic gold medalist), and I had agreed and this was not going to change. From his perspective, his job was to have a team that represented the sponsor with as many successes as he could bring. He knew that the season was long, spanning from February through October, and that different riders excelled at different periods of the season and at different types of events under different conditions – stages races, criteriums, one-day races, climbing, sprints, altitude, etc. He also was perceptive enough to work with the riders to get them to all have personal opportunities to shine and get results without causing infighting or conflict.

The reason this matters is because cycling is a team sport – as Lance recently told Contador via twitter, “there is no ‘I’ in ‘team’” and to “drop this drivel.” Therefore all riders have to want to support each other throughout the season since the sport is so difficult. It truly is a real world example of the sum being so much greater than the potential of its individual parts. Without incredible team cohesion, respect, and sacrifice amongst each other, plus their willingness to listen to their team director, teams are not successful. Pettyjohn’s strategy was therefore not only good for the team, but was also good for business – both for the sponsor as well as for the athletes and the staff. Out of my ten years of racing, my five years with Pettyjohn were by far the most stable, enjoyable and successful.

Why is it useful to compare then and now? While I feel like the media blast approach has the potential to benefit individual riders in their negotiations (which I support), it may do so at the expense of undermining the foundation of what is at its heart a team sport with incredible self-sacrifice. Imagine how these self-proclaimed (rather than director-proclaimed) demands impact the teammates of these riders, especially in light of the fact that it takes years to mature as a cyclist with the tenacity, mental focus, physical endurance, and consistency of right decision making to earn your team’s respect. Without the self-sacrifice of the many, the few will find their opportunities greatly diminished.

Two examples drive this point home. A few years ago, the team many thought was the best in the world, Team T-Mobile, went to the Tour de France to try to unseat Lance Armstrong. They had Alexandre Vinokourov, Jan Ullrich, and Andreas Kloden – 3 potential tour winners – all on the team. Over and over, they chased each other down in the race. It was a spectacular display of a meltdown of one of the top sporting franchises in the world, in an event that has extremely high visibility worldwide. To be sure, the management was trying to stop the infighting, but it couldn’t be done. The riders took control and ruined the team’s chances to win.

Similarly, let’s look briefly at Contador’s press conferences after winning this year’s Tour de France. For a man who should be very excited about winning his second Tour de France at only age 26, along with recent wins at two other grand tours, instead he went on a spiteful rant about how he did not respect his teammate Lance Armstrong nor the rest of his team. Furthermore, a few days earlier in a post-stage 17 interview, he only meagerly admitted to making a slight mistake when he attacked and dropped his teammate Kloden from the four-rider break, when they were both with the two Schleck brothers on the final climb of the hardest mountain day. Contador’s sole responsibility at that moment was to sit on and make the Schlecks pull, conserve his own energy and help Kloden stay in the break, and hope that Lance could catch on the descent. By attacking and dropping his teammates, all he did was hurt them; see my blogpost below on Astana’s rare double mistake. If instead he had helped Kloden, and Lance had caught on the descent, the three top GC positions after that stage would have been held by Astana. In fact, based upon their results in the remaining decisive stages of the race, it looks as though Contador and Lance would have taken first and second overall, and Kloden and Schleck would have been competing for third with only seconds separating them, making an Astana podium sweep a real potential and a feat not seen since 1914 at the Tour.

This new trend may just reflect a shift in the sport’s popularity and riders’ access to media and the internet – for example, I could never tweet or blog in 1987 to raise my case before the fans. Furthermore, back then cycling publications were all in print, so there was a huge lagtime between events and their publication, and such small stories did not count as news. This new strategy of negotiating in public definitely marks the onset of a new star system in professional cycling that, while potentially offering riders more influence to their benefit in negotiations, may at the same time signal a self-centeredness that threatens team cohesion and the effectiveness of team management. Only time will tell.

Universal Sports to air La Vuelta a España!

2009-07-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

More great news from Universal Sports - nine hours of daily coverage of La Vuelta a Espana from August 29 - September 20!

Here's a link to a press release about the four year deal: http://www.cyclingfans.com/node/440

I'm excited to be joining Steve Schlanger once again as we take you through the third and final Grand Tour of the year. From the looks of it, there are going to be some interesting battles and stories - Ivan Basso is targeting the event, after not racing the Tour de France earlier this month. Alexandre Vinokourov - the Kazak rider who was booted from the Tour de France after failing a doping test in 2007 has also announced his intentions to race. Vino held a press conference during the Tour this year and stated that he would be competing in this year's Vuelta after his two year suspension was over. VeloNews quoted him as saying “I have served my suspension and I do not see why I could not return. If Bruyneel does not want me, it will be Bruyneel who is leaving the team."

Johan Bruyneel is the new manager of team Astana, the former manager of the Discovery Channel and U.S. Postal teams of seven-time Tour champ Lance armstrong. He was hired to revamp team Astana following Vino's expulsion from the 2007 Tour de France. And if you look at this year's Tour, things have gone pretty well in the Astana team camp taking 1st, 3rd & 6th in the Geneeral Classification, and also winning the team competition at this year's Tour de France; in addition to that Alberto Contador leads the international rankings and Astana leads the team rankings.

This year, the Vuelta starts in The Netherlands before finishing 23 days and 2,035 miles later in Madrid, Spain.

The Vuelta will air daily on Universal Sports TV and on the internet at universalsports.com

If you are wondering if you can view Universal Sports on your TV, go to this link where you can enter your zip code and cable provider towards the top right of the page, or you can click on your state and look there: http://www.universalsports.tv/Universal_Sports_on_TV.html

Here's the link to the Vuelta's homepage: http://www.lavuelta.com/09/ingles/recorrido/resumen.asp

Viva la Vuelta!

A Rare Double Tactical Mistake By Team Astana

2009-07-22T08:43:00.000-07:00

Today's stage of the Tour de France was the day with the single toughest profile of the entire Tour, and since the course was either up or down virtually all day, team Astana knew it would be the toughest day of the entire 21 days of racing to control. Here's the profile:

After an early group was finally allowed to escape on the first climb of the day, things settled down with team Astana riding a controlled pace at the front of the peloton to keep the break in check. By the time everyone had crested the top of the second climb, they had already climbed over 6,000', and they still had three categorized climbs to contend with before the finish.

Here's how the race for the overall looked going into the day:

1	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana	67:33:15
2	Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana	0:01:37
3	Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream	0:01:46
4	Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana	0:02:17
5	Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank	0:02:26
6	Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas	0:02:51
7	Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux	0:03:09
8	Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank	0:03:25
9	Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team	0:03:52
10	Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream	0:03:59

All appeared to be going according to plan for the Astana team, as their efforts and the efforts of team Saxo Bank slowly whittled down the main field of the remaining contenders for the overall in this year's race. When the pack arrived on the bottom slopes of the penultimate climb of the day, the Col de Romme, there were only about 30 strongmen left. After a series of attacks which began with last year's Tour de France winner, Carlos Sastre, and ended with Andy Schleck, last year's best young rider, the pecking order had been established - two groups of four were left to settle the score: in the leading group were the brothers Andy and Frank Schleck accompanied by teammates Alberto Contador and Andreas Kloden; the second group contained Lance Armstrong, teammates Brad Wiggins and Christian Vande Velde, along with Vincenzo Nibali. Having eight of the top 10 riders in the overall battle represented in these two groups, it was clear that the race was in full attack mode.

With Armstrong playing the perfect teammate to Contador and Kloden who were up the road, all he needed to do was to follow the wheel of Wiggins. Wiggins is the most dangerous adversary for team Astana in the 25 mile individual time trial tomorrow, and this played perfectly into the hands of Astana by distancing two of their men from Wiggins. With Lance saving energy by following in the draft of the chasing Vande Velde and Wiggins, and Contador and Kloden getting the same free ride up ahead since it was up to the Schleck brothers to drive the pace to gain time on the Wiggins group, Astana were literally sitting pretty as the two groups crested the top of the climb.

All looked to be going pretty much according to plan, when on the final climb, suddenly, Contador made the first mistake for the team - he attacked the Schlecks, and in the process dropped his teammate, Kloden. He realized his error, but the damage was done and the brothers Schleck poured on the gas to get rid of the German. Meanwhile, Lance made a smart move by waiting for Vande Velde and Wiggins (the man called Wiggo) to run their gas tanks right up to empty, then he sprang clear toward the top of the climb. With Armstrong closing on Kloden, it was a judgement call to decide if you have Kloden sit up at the top to join forces with Armstrong, or not. Kloden crests the top 1:19 behind the three leaders, and 52 seconds ahead of Armstrong - still a sizable gap so maybe not time to sit up and wait. But, on the descent, Kloden continues to loose time on the leaders, and to Armstrong. Now it's time to wait for Lance, in the hopes that they can do a better job of minimizing their losses together, and further distance themselves from Wiggo who's chasing behind. It does the team no good to have Kloden and Armstrong bombing the descent individually, only to have them come together at the finish! This was where Astana makes their second mistake of the day. Kloden pressed on, alone, and was caught by Armstrong in the final mile - both guys wasting valuable energy and losing valuable time in the process of not being together to share the pacemaking.

It was surprising to see a team of this stature and experience make these mistakes today. What appeared to be the case was that both Contador and Kloden rode selfishly, Contador hoping for a stage win and Kloden wanting to pass Armstrong in the overall battle before tomorrow's critical TT. Armstrong, on the other hand, impressed me with his selfless teamwork by not responding to the move which had two of his team mates in it on the penultimate climb, just as he did yesterday. And that deference is impressive indeed, coming from a man who hasn't entered a Tour de France he hasn't won in his last seven starts.

Here's how the overall battle looks now:

Alberto Contador (Astana) at 72:27:09
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) at 02:26
Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) at 03:25
Lance Armstrong (Astana) at 03:55
Andreas K l oden (Astana) at 04:44
Bradley Wiggins (Garmin - Slipstream) at 04:53
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) at 05:09
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) at 08:08

Looking to tomorrow's TT, Wiggo gains time on all of the contenders, Lance outperforms everyone except Wiggins, followed by Contador and Kloden. This is my prediction of the GC picture following the stage, barring incident:

1. Alberto Contador

2. Lance Armstrong

3. Bradley Wiggins

4. Andreas Kloden

5. Andy Schleck

The real shame of it is that todays oversight just might have cost Andreas Kloden and team Astana the chance to have all three places on the final podium in Paris - something which hasn't happened for one team since 1914.

The rest of this week is going to be one heck of a battle, but Contador should finish in Paris in yellow, and Lance should also be on the podium.

Boise Twilight Crowd

2009-07-21T11:08:00.001-07:00

Just a portion of the crowd hanging out to see the Women's and Men's awards at 10 o'clock that night.

You can see why it's one of the best in the country!

Boise Twilight Criterium + GoGo's Close Shave

2009-07-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

After finishing the Universal Sports TV voice-over for Milan-San Remo in Los Angeles, I caught a late night flight on Friday to Boise for the 23rd edition of the Boise Twilight Criterium on Saturday, July 18th. While having a quick breakfast with old friends from Austin (Andrew, Piper and their twin boys), we started talking about short hair. Well, you can see the outcome of that discussion here (this one's for you, Matt Diefenbach):

After the dirty work was finished for the day, it was back to business as usual announcing the races. And let me tell you - it was hot! Temps reached 106 degrees, and we had a full day of racing beginning with several waves of kiddos (some with training wheels!) - all being led out on their race by hometown hero Kristin Armstrong - the Olympic, World, and five-time National champion.

The racing everybody was waiting for started at 7:10 pm, when the Pro/Elite women took to the streets. Armstrong, who had earlier this year announced her intention to retire at the conclusion of the 2009 racing season, was the big attraction - and competing in her last race on U.S. soil before returning to Europe to try to win another Gold Medal at the World Championships in Switzerland this coming September. She was watched like a hawk by the women's field for the entire 60 minute race. Unable to break free of the whittled down field, she had to resort to winning in a sprint finish - something she's not particularly known for. The crowd went wild as she took the sprint ahead of her six remaining challengers.

Then, as the temps were finally below 100 degrees, the Pro/Category 1 men's event got under way. With raucous crowds estimated to be between 15,000 and 20,000 in downtown Boise, the race was strung-out single file for almost the entire 80 minutes. It was a night full of attacks but none gained any lasting advantage until near the end. Inside the final 10 laps, Peter Latham (Bissell) and Tyler Wren (Colavita Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light) put together what looked like it might have been the winning move. Working flawlessly together, they held the field at bay, but with a handful of laps remaining, Team Type 1 put its entire squad of six riders on the front of the bunch - catching the lead duo with less than 500 meters to go and setting up Ken Hansen to his second sprint win in as many weeks.

The next morning I hopped on a plane at dawn heading back to Montreal, where my wife, Christina, has been doing research for the past couple months. I thought it would be fun not to tell her that I'd shaved my head the day before, but it turned out that was the wrong decision. If you've ever imagined doing this, I can tell you your wife probably won't think it's funny if you show up bald one day without warning. After she almost drove right by me at the airport pickup -- recognizing me only by my shirt, which looked familiar --, she was speechless while we drove home. I thought it was a strong reaction to a simple head shaving, and then the next day (today) she told me that not only did it reminder her of picture of her dad when he was in college, but also of her ex-husband. You can only imagine how well that went over. And, quite frankly, after only two days, the stubble is a nightmare! I've always like the bald look on my friends, but alas, I guess it's not right for me.

Second Mountain Top Finish - Another Day for Alberto Contador

2009-07-18T23:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday's stage of the Tour de France is going to be a race for the yellow between two men, and they are on the same team-Astana. Though Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong both want to ride into yellow at the finish on the 1st category Verbier climb, there are still a lot of questions as to how the team strategy is going to play out and if they both go all in for a race to the top, which one of them will have the better legs. The climb is almost nine kilometers long, with an average gradient of 7.1 percent. This is a tougher climb than the only other mountain top finish the Tour has had so far, where Contador attacked late on the final ascent and took just shy of 20 seconds from Lance, moving himself a couple seconds ahead in the overall classification.

One thing's for certain, it's really inconsequential that the Italian Rinaldo Nocentini is leading the race by six seconds over Contador and eight seconds over Armstrong. If there is any battle on the final climb on Sunday, which there very well should be, Nocentini's time in the coveted yellow jersey of the worlds biggest bicycle race will be long gone at the finish.

Today, American George Hincapie had a smart ride, infiltrating the break of no-hopers in the overall battle, and he almost rode himself into the yellow jersey by the finish, coming up a scant five seconds short of dethroning Nocentini. It would have been a coup for the former team mate of Armstrong, who now rides for the incredibly successful Columbia-HTC team based in San Louis Obispo, CA-the same team of the sprinting sensation Mark Cavendish, winner of four stages of this year's Tour already-as well as a slew of other talented riders who all appear to be willing to lie down on the tracks for each other should they feel it would help a team mate to win. But George is a smart professional, with no delusions about his chances on the final climb tomorrow-he's going to loose at least a couple minutes, and he knows it. Still, what a treat it would have been for him, his team and all his legions of fans to see Big George in the yellow jersey for a day.

Here's the battle for the overall. Note the very small gaps at the top of the standings:

Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r-La Mondiale) in 58:13:52
George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC) at 00:05
Alberto Contador (Astana) at 00:06
Lance Armstrong (Astana) at 00:08
Christophe Le Mevel (Francaise Des Jeux) at 00:43
Bradley Wiggins (Garmin - Slipstream) at 00:46
Andréas Klöden (Astana) at 00:54
Tony Martin (Columbia - HTC) at 01:00
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin - Slipstream) at 01:24
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) at 01:49

So, what do I expect to happen Sunday? Nocentini loses the jersey to Contador. Hincapie falls out of the top five, and Armstrong loses ground on Contador-why you ask, would the seven time Tour winner lose time to his team mate? He just doesn't have the ability to accelerate with the Spaniard, and the Spaniard is here to win the Tour. Lance would love to win, but he will lose time Sunday, and next Saturday on the dreaded Mont Ventoux. This is a true beast of a climb at 21.6 km in length with an average grade of 7.6 percent. For folks not too familiar with how steep that is, let's just say that it is a very formidable climb, and any mountain top finish sends the fireworks flying so this is going to be a day to remember with one day to go in the Tour de France. This is an historic first for the Tour to have a climb like the Ventoux with only one day of racing to follow into Paris.

When the attacks come on the Verbier, both Lance and Contador will mark them, because neither wants to give time to the other. But when the going gets rough, I simply don't see Armstrong having the suds to follow Contador's hardest accelerations. And, I don't see Contador sitting back and following the wheels of others to the top of the mountain. At some point, after things have been whittled down with the group of contenders, Contador will strike out on his own to gain more time on his rivals (not just Lance), so that he has a greater buffer for the upcoming 40 km individual TT. Even though Lance might out ride Contador in the TT, he probably can't gain enough time to compensate for the final two mountaintop finishes of the race, where he's almost certain to lose time.

Lance's only chance to win the Tour, comes if his team mate Contador cracks tomorrow or next Saturday on the Ventoux, and if Lance puts together a great time trial in Annecy on Thursday. Anything is possible with Contador, he looked to be a shoe-in for the win earlier this year at the Paris-Nice stage race only to succumb to another dreaded part of bike racing-hunger knock. In a day which saw fast and aggressive racing right from the gun, he simply didn't get enough calories and liquids into his system, and he cracked on the final climb. It's an easy mistake to make, especially when the racing is fast, and you're constantly fighting for position and trying to manage everything which is going on in the race. And without proper nutrition, your body simply shuts down. These are the type of mistakes which can cost any rider the victory, no matter how great they are.

To his credit, Lance appears to be headed for his peak form of the year during the final week of the Tour. His coach, Chris Carmichael, says he expects Lance to be on his best form of the year this week. And, one can never discount how dominant Lance was in the Tour before he retired after his 7th win in 2005, but even for Lance the cards are stacked against him. I don't have access to his power-to-weight ratio numbers, which is largely what makes the difference on a finishing climb, but it's hard to imagine that in a head-to-head battle Lance can ride with Contador when the chips are down. It will all be settled in the next eight days and then the world will know just how well Lance has bounced back from retirement.

Next year, all bets are off should Lance again put his full attention on winning the Tour.

Beijing and Milan-San Remo Coming Soon on Universal Sports TV

2009-07-13T16:42:00.000-07:00

Just a heads up for those of you longing for more cycling TV coverage in the US. Universal Sports will soon air footage from the Beijing Olympic Men's Road Race (150 miles) and this year's Milan-San Remo (185 miles). Clearly these are both epic races in amazing locations. Steve Schlanger and I will be calling the races.

The Olympic Men's RR is planned to air on Universal Sports TV starting this Friday, July 17th, although check their TV schedule to confirm.

Here's the link to their TV schedule (all times Eastern):

http://www.universalsports.com/EPG/tv.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&SPID=13408

To find out if you get a Universal Sports TV channel in your area, consult this link:

http://www.universalsports.tv/Universal_Sports_on_TV.html

If you don't get US TV in your area, please contact your local cable provider to request the station, and also email Universal Sports to let them know, since they want to reach their audience and are working to expand their coverage.

GoGo's Cycling Photo Album, 1975-Present

2009-07-11T20:17:00.000-07:00

Just created this cycling photo album, including the likes of Davis Phinney, Michael Aisner, Ron Kiefel, Andy Hampsten, Steve Tilford, etc... as well as my love of all things bike-related.

http://picasaweb.google.com/BiciGoGo/BiciGoGoPhotos#

A permanent link to this slideshow will be in the photos section of the right sidebar of this blog. It automatically updates as I add in more images. Enjoy!

Armstrong's Second Best Chance for Yellow?

2009-07-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

Today's stage number seven of the Tour de France has been heavily scrutinized - and the majority of the flap surrounds whether or not Lance Armstrong will be in the Yellow Jersey at the conclusion of the day - a 139 mile day in the Pyrenees which finishes atop the Arcalis mountain. While I would be thrilled for Lance to win both this stage and the overall Tour, here are the reasons why I don't think it's likely.

Let's roll back the calendar a few days to stage three when Lance was the only general classification contender to infiltrate the split in the cross winds which occurred with just under 20 miles to go while Columbia-HTC drove the peloton. Making that split, and gaining 41 "free" seconds over all the major GC contenders showed that Lance has been paying attention to the sketchy and unpredictable world of the professional peloton-he was caught behind splits during the closing kilometers during some stages in the Giro d'Italia, and though he wasn't racing there as an overall contender, he hasn't forgotten the importance of every detail in being atop the leader board in this incredibly physically and mentally demanding sport.

Unfortunately for Lance, he missed his best chance to slip into yellow during the following day's team time trial, by a scant fraction of a second. His Astana team had an incredible ride to beat Fabian Cancellara's Saxo Bank team by 40 seconds in the short but very technical TTT-which put Lance in a virtual deadlock with stage one winner Cancellara - Cancellara beat Lance in the opening time trial in Monaco by 40 seconds. So, as is always the case in cycling, the tie-breaker then comes down to fractions of a second from that TT, with Cancellara enjoying a razor-thin two-tenths-of-a-second lead. Had Astana gone one second faster in the TTT, Lance would have been in yellow, and would have changed history once again.

Today, Lance has what will most likely be his second best opportunity to take the Yellow Jersey-but it's NOT likely that Cancellara will be his greatest obstacle. Instead, with the final 6.5 miles of the 139 mile race being up to the summit of Arcalis, this will be the first chance for the climbers to show their form. Luckily for Lance, he is immediately trailed in the GC by three of his team mates-here are the top 10 in the overall battle going into today:

1. Fabian Cancellara Team Saxo Bank in 19:29:22
2. Lance Armstrong Astana in 19:29:22
3. Alberto Contador Astana in 19:29:41 at 00:19
4. Andréas KlÖden Astana in 19:29:45 at 00:23
5. Levi Leipheimer Astana in 19:29:53 at 00:31
6. Bradley Wiggins Garmin - Slipstream in 19:30:00 at 00:38
7. Tony Martin Team Columbia - Htc in 19:30:14 at 00:52
8. Christian Vande Velde Garmin - Slipstream in 19:30:38 at 01:16
9. Gustav Larsson Team Saxo Bank in 19:30:44 at 01:22
10. Maxime Monfort Team Columbia - Htc in 19:30:51 at 01:29

It is pretty much expected that someone from the Astana camp will be the race leader after the conclusion of today's stage (though Cancellara says he thinks he can defend the jersey today) -the big question is whom? My prediction is that it will go to Contador, and these are just some of the reasons why:

1. Lance hasn't gone to battle on a mountain top finish in the Tour since 2005, and for three of those years he was in retirement. Though he did spend some time "training" during those years, there simply weren't the goals, focus or intensity one has when racing professionally.

2. Lance started training in earnest last fall, when he shocked the world by announcing he was going to come out of retirement. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, has ever come out of three and a half years of retirement and been able to win the Tour de France six months later. The Tour is a three week race, averaging over 100 miles a day, competing against the best riders in the world. Just to be competitive in the race would be unprecedented - to win the overall, a miracle. Winning today wouldn't get him the win when he arrives in Paris, but it's still highly unlikely that he will be in the jersey at the conclusion of today's stage.

3. Lance has never raced two Grand Tours in one season - and this year he already competed in, and placed 12th overall, in the three week long Giro d'Italia in May. Lance did get better as the Italian Grand Tour progressed, which bodes well for him at the Tour de France, but it's still an incredible workload and stress to his body to race, recover from, then ramp up his training again before the Tour, recover and be in winning form physically and mentally to win the Tour. Lance has shown that he is an incredible talent with an iron will to succeed, but after all the human body/mind do eventually reach their limits!

4. Once a person reaches their early 30's there begins a physiological slide. Muscle mass starts to go south, as does one's cardiovascular system - and hence one's ability to process oxygen. This decline can be largely mitigated by heavy and consistent training, but still affects a guy who, by his own admission told me during the Giro d'Italia, "It wasn't far from the truth when I said I spent the last 3 1/2 years drinking beer on the beach." Though this is a bit of an exaggeration, there's a big difference between training full time like all of your competitors and being retired and training to stay fit.

5. Alberto Contador. He has won every Grand Tour he's competed in over the last two years -Tour de France 2007, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana 2008. He is still in the prime of his career, and he will be hungry to win the race which his team was excluded from competing in last year. He is a punchy climber who has shown that he can accelerate repeatedly on climbs which will be to his advantage on summit finishes. Armstrong will have a very difficult time matching accelerations, and will have to "ride within himself" if he has any hope of being with the leaders at the top - he will need to let others beat each other up by attacking, and he'll have to ride steady so as not to blow up.

What I expect today, is that there will be attacks on the final climb - after all, there are only three summit finishes during the entire 21 days of racing and if you want to win the world's biggest bike race you will have to test on each one of them. Lance and Contador will both have to follow the attacks, and if Lance can stay with Contador he certainly will - but Contador should be the better climber today, and he will have to follow the attacks by the other competitors, even if Lance cannot follow. Contador will not help others get away from Lance, he will just follow wheels, and he will go for bonus seconds by out-sprinting them at the finish line, or dropping them late if he sees an opportunity.

Lance's only chance for yellow today will be if his Astana team can control the race well into the final ascent by keeping a stranglehold tempo on the front of the peloton, and if the race isn't aggressive and the attacks come too few and too late to crack him. With the likes of his team mates Leipheimer, Kloden, Popovich and Zubeldia, there is a lot of horsepower which can stifle breakaway attempts - but Armstrong will have to be quite good to be able to be there with them if the attacks come fast and furious from the bottom of the climb. The good thing for Lance is that the climb is relatively short at 6.5 miles (though it does trend uphill for some time to get to the base of the climb), and not as steep as the hardest climbs in the Pyranees. That means it's just a little easier to control, and Astana just might be able to do it!

They're on the road now, so let's see how it plays out. One thing's for sure, all eyes are on the battle for yellow.

Lance Armstrong Exclusive Giro d'Italia Interview for Universal Sports

2009-07-08T10:04:00.000-07:00

http://tinyurl.com/nuy9oa

Check out the interview Steve Schlanger and I did with Lance near the end of the Giro for Universal Sports. He talks about his return to racing, his strategy of tweeting to reach the public, and his Tour de France predictions.

Lance Armstrong Makes the Break, Stage 3 Tour de France

2009-07-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

The whole Armstrong story has been misinterpreted, in my opinion. From a tactical sense, it was the perfect move for Lance to be in, because not a single one of the other overall race favorites was in that front group - so he actually gained time on all of the rivals, which in fact, is not only perfect for his team but it is also perfect racing tactics. All it does is put him in a better position to be a threat, should he actually have the legs when the race reaches the more crucial stages.

He actually didn't harm Alberto Contador at all, because nobody who is a threat gained time on Alberto except Lance - and that is fine in this situation. This would have been a completely different story if Sastre, Andy or Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans, or Denis Menchov had been in the split. Then you would have had to say it's a mistake, because Lance doesn't know if he's going to be better than those guys in the long haul. So in essence he would've been contributing to giving time to someone whom you might not be able to beat.

I read some of the articles about this yesterday, and I didn't see a single one which correctly pointed out what a good move this was for Lance and team Astana. It's a real shame, in my opinion, that others have interpreted this as a "rift," but I think there's a certain amount of journalistic sensationalism going on here.

Team Time Trial, Stage 4 Tour de France

2009-07-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

Check this out-a report on the sketchy TTT today, and the brilliant ride by Astana. Now they have the leader board stacked in the general classification in places 2-5, with Lance less than one second behind overall are leader Fabian Cancellara.

It's typical for the winning TTT team to move many of its riders into the top places overall, because the TTT happens early in the race when the time gaps in the GC are not very significant. But nobody would have predicted that Cancellara's team (Saxo Bank) would have lost 40 seconds to Astana:

http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/article/94639/astana-steamrolls-team-time-trial

Astana clearly has more than one guy with good form, in fact, they have more than two!