Paris-Nice: Tony Martin Wins “Generation Battle”

The Paris-Nice is over with the Race to the Sun ending in clouds and ran after clammy weather for most of the race. Thomas “The Bold Frenchmen” won the final stage in yet another brave and long breakaway effort. The very, very German Tony Martin (HTC) retained the overall lead to win the race’s GC over also German Andreas Kloden of RadioShack.

The very, very German machine that is Tony Martin on his way to the TT win in the Paris-Nice…

Some writers have called the Kloden vs Martin fight for the overall “The Battle of the Generations”, alluding to the youth of Martin against the aged legs of Andreas Kloden. The Bohunk sees the obvious generation, but does not see the importance. There are a lot of older gentlemen in this race, not to mention the oldest man in the professional peloton, Jens Voight. The obvious intent of this juxtaposition is to show the future of cycling as clean and unassociated with the doping of the past. While that is more than fair to say, we run the risk of dragging racers without any history or evidence of doping through the mud. Kloden has ridden on teams with Jan Ulrich, Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, a convicted cheat, an exonerated champion and a suspected legend, respectively.  Kloden has had no links to doping at any of these stops, yet is insinuated as being associated with the shadowy professional peloton of the late 90s and early 00s.

The claims are not overt, but definitely present. As much as cycling fans can be thankful for the emphasis on clean and honest riders in the future (and believe me, that is the best thing we can ask for) we cannot write off all the riders of the past just by association or having had ridden with some bad eggs. That would be a terribly unfair way to deal with riders like Voight, Kloden and Leipheimer who have been heroes and outstanding advocates for cycling for over a decade.

Congrats to Tony Martin and his HTC team, and check back in later for the Tirreno-Adriatico stage report, or, as always, follow me on Twitter for Updates.

TC Training Camp: Day Three, and Stage 2 of Paris-Nice

The weather cooperated to a small degree today to allow for a rare jaunt into the “mountains” of Northern Michigan. The temperature was a balmy 35 degrees in town with an 8 mph wind from the south. The roads were mostly clear around town but near the tops of some of the climbs were spotted with piles of snow with no pavement exposed, meaning a precarious slip through on skinny tires. I did my normal climbing route except for one climb, which ended up being 5 climbs over 300 feet each. The legs are weak, but the lungs were better than I expected and my times on the climbs were not terrible considering my limited training. In Allendale, it would take all day to climb 400 feet, while the very first Col of the day on this ride was over 400 alone. The descents were a bit more dangerous and I took them with some degree of caution, tapping the brake occasionally and checking the shadows mud puddles for ice.

Thomas de Gendt wins on Stage One of Paris-Nice, donning the
Yellow Jersey for the second stage.

In the Paris-Nice, Greg Henderson of Team SKY won in a very close sprint in the second stage, edging out Robbie Hunter of RadioShack, Denis Galimzyanov of Katusha and a personal favorite of the Bohunk’s Heinrich Haussler (Garmim-Cervelo). The terrifying Peter Sagan of Liquigas-Cannondale) wound up fourth. The Bohunk is an excellent predictor of things, though admittedly better when Cheer-Babes are involved. For Paris-Nice, look out for Sagan for the overall. Remember that in a few days’ times…

Ruta del Sol: Winner Gets A Goofy Hat

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….

Big, Strong, German: Tony Martin Wins Tour of the Algarve

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.

Tour of Qatar: Renshaw Wins

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…