Here is a quick video preview of the 35 mile course at Barry-Roubaix in Middleville, Michigan. March 26th, 2011 will mark the first race of the season for the Bohunk, the beginning of a ninth month expedition around the state, seeking cycling glory and free stuff.
Thanks to Rick Plite, the race promoter and the other guy in the video.
The Bohunk scurries up the Muur…(This is what I imagine I look
like on the bike. Everyday.)
About a mile and a half from getting home from my ride today, a middle-aged woman waddling across the road with her equally wide pal made a comment about me. It’s rare I actually hear people say anything because I am most often cruising along too fast or too far away. But this lady, I heard. As I rounded a corner and tore into the pavement to keep the pace up, she said, quite flatly, “Well, he is serious.” Yes, ma’am, I am. And let me tell you why…
Your skills of perception, madam, are lacking. What you saw was a 22 year old in tight clothing on a full suspension bicycle that is more than a bit too big for him. But what that young man really was doing was launching an attack off the front to get a gap over a select group of eight, including, just to name a few, Fabian Cancellara, Thor Hushovd, Tylar Farrar and Juan Manuel Garate. And trust me, the young man you saw was digging himself to China in an effort to get away.
You believe you saw this on a normal, cold and wet Thursday in Traverse City, Michigan, whilst in (my) reality, I was really just rolling of the top of the Muur climb at the Tour of Flanders, Belgians yelling and spiting obscenities at me in a drunken fervor as if I was Lance Armstrong his very self. You can see then, ma’am, that yes I was indeed quite serious. Thank you heartily for taking a moment to notice.
The sixth day of the TC Training Camp was a mountain-bike-on-the-road-ride because of the deep slush and snow on most of the roads. I only did an hour and twenty minutes and about 22 miles because of a very strong and cold wind, but I was really feeling the effects of a long run yesterday. Looking forward very much to the weather tomorrow, which promises partly cloudy skies and a temperate 37 degrees. More from the roads tomorrow!
Stage Five of the Paris-Nice dragged the peloton into the high mountains for the first time in 2011, hitting seven categorized climbs including two CAT 2s and a CAT 1. Race leader Thomas de Geent of Rabobank was not expected to hang with the big boys and folding on the last big climb of the day. On the eight kilometer climb, de Muure, the peloton exploded into pieces. Only on the descent did a group of contenders collect together, drawing together the strongmen of the early 2011 season. RadioShack’s Andreas Kloden won in a sprint on the line over Olympic champ Sammy Sanchez. Tony Martin, the big favorite going into the 27km time trial tomorrow, limited the damage of the last climb in order to keep the overall win within reach. Frank Schleck rode well but did not challenge in the end, still not ready to duel with the best of the peloton. The Bohunk’s favorite Frenchmen, Thomas Voeckler, was dropped on the final climb as well, losing a rather large chunk of time and dropping well behind in the overall classification.
In the first Classics race of the season, Rabobank’s Sebastian Langeveld outkicked Juan Antonio Flecha of Team Sky to win the hiply-named Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. The race is even more fun to watch than to say, and racers did not disappoint. First, a potential protest over the radio ban was averted by representatives of the riders voicing their concerns but agreeing to go pedal, and forcibly. The Classics masters like Tom Boonen, Thor Hushovd and Phillippe Gilbert missed out on the moves in a confusing and dynamic race. The weather was 48 degrees with a steady rain over most of the course, leaving deep pockets of mud on roads and making the cobblestones slick and grimy. 50 km out, Langeveld attacked on the Eikenberg climb and went roughly half the distance alone before being caught by Juan Antonio Flecha, who rode down a gap of a minute in under 30km to join Langeveld to set up a tight finish. The former teammates (Flecha spent three years at Rabobank) worked together to hold off a chase group that never really closed ground before sprinting to the line, with Langeveld taking it by little more than the width of a rim.
Victory! It took Rabobank’s staff three hours to hose this guy down.
Note: He wasn’t in it today, but the Bohunk’s personal Classics favorite and all-around Nice Guy Thor Hushovd looked stronger today than he did at Tour of Oman. He finished 33rd but with many of the pre-race favorites, and even rode down Tom Boonen after the Belgian took a jaunt up the road.
Over at one of my favorite cycling events in Europe, the Ruta del Sol, Fran Ventoso sprinted to a win in the third stage. After dragging himself over some rated climbs, Ventoso and the other sprinters queued up with six km to go and hit the gas; Ventoso bested Juan Lobato and Davide Appollonio to take the win after being handed second place in a photo finish earlier in the Ruta. RadioShack man Markel Irizar retained his one second lead over Jurgen Van den Broeck and is looking good with just two sprinting stages left to go. Levi Leipheimer is in third two seconds back and looking strong against some of the top riders in the European peloton, including the Schlecks from LEOPARD-TREK (the sponsors of the team ask their names be capitalized; the Bohunk abides) and a surprising ride by Spanish rider Luis Pasamonte, in fifth.
“V'” for Ventoso!
Andy and Frank Schleck make their stage racing debut; its’ early,
folks….
After my Lance Armstrong retirement photo montage, the Bohunk received several emails about omissions. It is not possible to include every moment of a twenty five year cycling career, but after an email from a Belgian fan, I had to attach an important appendix to that post.
Armstrong goes it alone in the 2010 Tour.
In the 2010 Tour, Lance suffered a flat on the cobbles as the peloton, indeed, the race, was torn apart by Fabian Cancellara. While the Swiss Time Machine pounded away on the front, Lance was tacked on to the lead group of contenders until his front wheel went. He had to wait for a replacement, and, nursed along by teammate Yaroslav Popovych, trailed by over two minutes behind the favorites. Ahead on the road were the likes of Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans and Denis Menchov. Alberto Contador was the main benefactor. Before Lance’s flat, the Spaniard was about a minute behind. After, he ended up with over a minute buffer.
Armstrong used Popo as long as he could before going it alone, chasing down a small group ahead of him on the road to reduce his losses. He spent a lot of energy in the chase and ceded an awful lot of time to the main threats to the overall. Lance has won Tours and impressed Yours Truly many, many times, but this ride is still one of the most impressive and important. Even at 38, with the odds and critics against him, Armstrong still had enough to go after the race alone and give it his all. Cheesy? Absolutely. But without heroics and great stories, cycling is just suffering painful.
Alberto Contador avoided a one-year ban and very quickly joined the Tour of the Algarve on this past Wednesday, his first competition since the Tour last July after his suspension for doping. Contador held on Friday for a steep finishing climb to stay in the top five, but very, very German Tony Martin won the time trial that concluded the race to keep Alberto off the top step of the podium or even on it. Alberto finished well outside of the top ten on in the time trial but held on to fourth place overall, forty-one seconds behind Martin, who took the overall title.
Close but no clenbuterol: El Pistolero comes up short at the
Algarve.
Contador won the last two editions of the Tour of the Algarve and admitted after the race he was simply not in shape to win it again. Other riders have some racing miles in their legs and, coming off of his suspension, Contador has not pushed a pedal in anger since the second to last stage of the 2010 Tour de France.
RadioShack note: Tiago Machado, Jesse Sergent and Andreas Kloden all finished in the top five of stage six, and Kloden placed fifth overall for the race.
Lance Armstrong retired officially yesterday, indicating he will not ride the Quiznos Challenge or Tour of California in 2011. Lance won seven Tours de France, was a world champion and served as an inspiration for millions of cancer survivors while raising money and awareness through his foundation. Today, forget just for a moment the drug accusations and the federal investigation. Wasn’t it just fun to watch him race? Yes, I believe it was. The Bohunk can admit that there is an awful lot of indication of wrongdoing, but nothing has stuck yet. So, regardless if you hate Lance, or love him, and you probably aren’t in between, enjoy a few pictures from his amazing career….
A young, world champion Lance Armstrong and American Tour champ Greg LeMond…This may be the only friendly conversation the two ever had.
A grainy look at Lance on the brink. One of his later chemo treatments in the mid 90’s.
Sestriere in 1999: The attack that won him
the Tour and made him the best climber in
the world over Marco Pantani.
The Look: 2001, Lance takes a peep at rival Jan Ulrich. Lance went; Ulrich could not.
Lance won his seventh tour in 2005, and retired shortly after.
Comeback 2.0 resulted in a third at the Tour and, as Lance often said himself, it was a lot more work.
Crashes marred 2010, including this one at the Tour of California, the same day Floyd Landis began his campaign against Lance in the press.
We will leave Lance here, on his way to 23rd place at the Tour in 2010, but still riding well even at 38 years old.
Saxo-man Contador cannot believe the Tainted Beef Story worked…see you at Algarve, Pistolero.
In cycling, typically, once a rider is suspended, an appeal is asked for by the rider, upheld, handled poorly over a long period of time, then denied. Alberto Contador got his one year ban overturned, effective today and meaning “El Pistolero” will be eligible to join in for the Algarve racing event in Portugal later this week. It also means he’ll be there for the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and all the warm up races Tour contenders frequent in the months of April, May and June. So much for “zero tolerance”. The ruling completely ignored the evidence of plasticizers in Contador’s samples, which cannot be explained away by the old stand-by, tainted beef. This story is too old and, now, too frustrating, to continue on with. Barring anything dramatic, like a judicial admission of corruption or something thoroughly juicy, you will indeed see Contador in Italy and France this season, and, no doubt, contending for the podium in both events. You will. You just, my Dear Readers, will.
Very, very Australian Mark Renshaw won the Tour of Qatar over fellow Aussie Heinrich Haussler by defending the lead on the last stage of the Tour. Andrea Guardini won the sprint finish, and Renshaw, helped by his powerful HTC-Highroad squadmates, cruised all day controlling the tempo and attacks to keep Haussler, Juan Antonia Flecha and Roger Hammond in check. Renshaw is the best lead out man in the business, but got the green light to ride for himself and take the win after some bad crashes and poor form from the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish. Special note of Theo Bos, a budding former track star who now rides with Rabobank, who finished third on the final stage.
Mark Renshaw: Great sprinter, amazing head-butter…
A quick Update on the Tour of Qatar after two stages are completed. The third stage is currently underway at the time I slapped “Publish”, so check out VeloNews for today’s finish and standings.
Garmin-Cervelo rider Heinrich Haussler took the second stage of the 2011 Tour of Qatar in a tight sprint of fellow Fast Men Daniele Bennati of Team LEOPARD-TREK (the sponsors asked to be all caps; not doing it every time) and Denis Galimzyanov of Katusha, not to mention Haussler’s old Cervelo pal Theo Bos, now with Rabobank.
Contador and Boonen are both stained riders. Boonen is returning from suspension while Contador is delaying the start of his….
Tom Boonen, back from a suspension for positive drug testing, has launched himself back into the international cycling fray by taking over the overall after a massive win on stage one. He leads by a tenth of a second over Haussler, though reports from the road currently have him in a group almost a minute back of the other favorites. Tom “Disco” Boonen has a lot of racing left to do before he is back to his old dominant self. Note: Whether you hate him or love him, it’s good to see Mark Cavendish slowly returning to form after a disastrous Tour Down Under last month. Mark rode most of that Tour in last place, le latern rouge, but has rebounded somewhat at Qatar, finishing twelfth on the second stage. It is nowhere near where he expects to be, but it is getting warmer all the time.
