A dramatic finish in the ENECO Tour (Tour of Benelux) saw Hincapie hit the deck in a controversial finish. George Hincapie looked set to bring home the win after several attacks by Vincenzo Nibali were neutralized. Nibali was seen as the biggest threat even though he was 11 seconds down.
In the final sprint Philippe Gilbert took the win ahead of the pack which saw Stefan Schumacher hook Hincapie. The hook resulted in Hincapie crashing meters from the finish while Schumacher grabbed a four second time bonus that allowed him to take the lead from Hincapie and win the ENECO Tour overall.
Schumi says that he swerved to avoid a spectator, but pictures of the finish show Schumacher and Hincapie with enough room on either side. Schumacher must have swerved violently to cause Hincapie to crash. Regardless, Schumacher must face some sort of penalty for not keeping his line. Instead he was awarded the overall victory.
Schumacher afterwards explained “I started the sprint on the inside, and as I was going along, one of the spectators caught my left arm. I almost fell and my bike swerved to the right.”
Hincapie was upset with the result and almost refused to cross the line. He had some heated words with Schumacher after the finish. The judges ruled that Schumi’s move was OK and Discovery’s protests fell on deaf ears. Regardless of intention, it seems that if a rider does swerve violently in a sprint they should suffer some sort of penalty.
Ivan Basso’ case will be argued next week on August 29th in front of CONI. It seems that there is a bit of doubt into the evidence given by the Spanish Guardia Civil related to Basso’ involvment in Operation Puerto. Despite of a possible incriminating fax that lists Ivan Basso and Jan Ullrich the President of the FCI (Italian Cycling Federation) Renato Di Rocco has doubts:
“From the documents I have seen, there are not sufficient elements to accuse [Basso].”
Questioned on the fax, Di Rocco cmments: “This fax we knew of before and according to me it serves to show that Basso can’t be ‘Birillo’, the number ‘2′ and the other times be ‘Ivan Basso.’ A person that uses codes would always use codes.” [i.e., if Basso is Birillo, why would Fuentes suddenty start referring to him as Basso?]
Seems like there may be some leniency for Basso, while Ullrich is getting skewered in the German media.
Ivan Basso and crew have been very quiet about Operation Puerto and issues related to doping. Today Riis hit out at Ivan Basso stating that “Ivan needs to prove innocence before everyone”. This makes it unlikely that the Italian will return to CSC if he is found innocent of the charges stemming from Operation Puerto.
“At the moment, I do not see a future for Basso if he does not deomonstrate that he is completely extraneous to the Operation Puerto situation and show that he never had contact with Fuentes. This is very critical. He needs to provide us with the details to prove his innocence. Otherwise we are put into a situation where we cannot defend or trust him, therefore he would be finished with CSC.
Damiano Cunego looks to be wrapping up his long season soon. This means that he will not vie for one of 9 spots on the the Italian team for the World Championships Road Race in Salzburg, Austria. Cunego’s riding style would be an ideal fit for the hilly course, but a long season with results in Liege Bastongne Liege, a decent come back performance at the Giro and the “Best Young Rider” jersey at the Tour are very good results. This is coming after last year’s bout with Epstein-Barr syndrome which left Il Princippe searching for form while doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with the small Italian cyclist.
Italian Director Sportif Franco Ballerini says that “It is understandable why he is tired since he had a long season of racing.” Ballerini believes that Cunego could still ride a few more races without getting mentally tired of racing. Ballerini nonetheless speaks highly of the young fuoriclasse rider and belives Cundego could return to winning a Grande Giro.
(Damiano showed improved time trialing skills in the Tour de France. This could a a good sign for
future Tours)
The legendary Chris Thater Memorial happens on the weekend of August 26th and 27th. One of the biggest races in the Northeast features a heavy duty lineups of top domestic pros and top riders at all levels. I will be competing in the Men’s 4/5 race on Sunday morning at 8am.
Here is a preview from Matt Howey of Spokepost.com:
Race Preview: Chris Thater Memorial Criterium
Racing for prestige on the streets of Binghamton, NY
By Matt Howey
A Small Hill Helps Break Things
Up In the 2003 Professional Race
Binghamton, NY (August 17, 2006) — Ed Beamon, director of the Navigators Professional Cycling Team, answers a few questions below about the big upcoming Chris Thater Memorial Criterium in Binghamton, NY on August 26th and 27th. Of course, Ed’s Navigators team will be racing on Sunday in the marquee event, the men’s professional race. The pro race for 2006 is attracting some of the biggest domestic talent, all vying for their share of the prestige and monetary windfall that comes with a good performance at Thater.
The Teams
Here’s an overview of the teams slated to compete for the $20,000 purse in the Pro race:
Health Net presented by MAXXIS
Navigators Insurance
T-Mobile
Colavita Olive Oil/Sutter Home Wines Pro Cycling Team
Toyota-United
Rite-Aid Pro Cycling
Nerac / Outdoorlights.com Professional Cycling
MONEX
Jittery Joe’s-Zero Gravity Pro Cycling Team
TargetTraining
Priority Health
KodakGallery.com/Sierra Nevada
Jelly Belly Cycling Team
VMG Racing
It seems like there are potential contenders from any of these teams. This is a veritable who’s who of American domestic professional cycling. The 50 mile race is 40 laps of a six-corner technical course with a small hill in it.
The Ascension Crit in North Tonowanda, NY was my latest escapade. Two consecutive weekends of racing in criteriums brought about similar results, all not great. I have to figure out how to do this crit thing. The biggest problem I have is the constant accelerations which wear me down after a while. The .6 mile four coner rectangular circuit was a nice course. The corners were fun, some of the the road conditions weren’t ideal, but it was manageable. The Buffalo Bicycling club put on a great event overall. I was even able to bring the wife and baby to the race followed up by a trip to Niagara Falls.
I was able to sign up for two censecutive races since I arrived in plenty of time for the 3pm start of the Masters Men 35+. I figured I would ride, get blown away and be warmed up enough for the next race. At the start the commentator read off the names of some of the competitors. There were a few guys that would race in the Cat 1/2/3 race later on including Todd Scheske who has been racing with the pros in events allover the Northeast. My name was mentioned when the announcer rattled off the names of the Colavita team. I was thinking there was an issue with my registration, but it was just recongnition, for what I don’t know. Woody Woodford and Rob Walters (winner of the Concrete Crit a week before) were my teammates in this race.
The race started much easier than normal the pace was manageable for a few laps. Woody was telling me how much slower this race was compared to the Men’s 45+ which was averaging over 30 mph. With each lap I tried to get into a good position and stay in the pack keeping up with the accelerations. I would lose spots in some coners, but make it up on others. Eventually, I found myself off the back and time trialing to get back.
The news has been everywhere and the writing was on the wall, but earlier this week Andy Rihs made it official, the Phonak Team is no more. The beleagured cycling team will close up shop at the end of the season after their marketing cache evaporated following several doping scandals. iShares did not want to take the reigns from Phonak and still suffer the constant doping headlines.
The news is bittersweet since it is always sad to see a sponsor leave the sport. But it is a sign that doping does have serious consequences. This is good news to some degree since it could help to shake up the practice of doping on the Pro peloton.
The downside of doping is now much higher than simply losing a race. Riders can lose their jobs and the jobs of those around them, which should make them be more careful whe deciding on performance enhancing options. Better to ride the few extra miles or motor pace a little more than go for the testosterone patch/cream or other “mother’s little helpers” that are available.
Phonak’s move to drop their sponsorship at this point is probably not the best move to make at this point. Their name will be associated with Landis’ positive dope test and running what is perceived to be a dirty team. Festina watches have their name associated with the 1998, but they continued to sponsor a team for years later. Today they are the timing sponsor of the Tour as they have their name plastered on cars and the time-trial start house. This presence helps to soften the blow of being associated with one of the biggest scandal in cycling up until this year.
Andy Rihs should probably stick around cycling for at least another year in some form so that Phonak is not known for the scandal in cycling circles.
The fact that Phonak has had so many positive dopers on the team brings up an interesting question. Is Phonak really the cleanest team in the peloton? This sounds counter intuitive but if you think about the process of doping it would make more sense. Doping, especially if it is done properly should never result in a positive test. Dopers are well aware of masking techniques and processes used to steer clear of positive test results. Those who do get caught are either sloppy, lazy or did not have all of the facts. The Tyler Hamilton/ Santi Perez positives for blood doping point to the athletes mixing up their blood bag and accidentally injected the wrong blood.
If you use the proper masking agents and monitor your levels there would be no reason to fail a test. If a guy like Floyd Landis was doping systematically then he would know the proper time to take testosterone so as not to get caught. If he is slapping on a patch on his scrotum out of sheer desparation without team support, then he would get caught because he would not be aware of the proper way of using the product.
Overall, I think Landis will walk from the positive test and he will be racing in 2007. If/When he does get cleared he will now have to look for a new team.
The Segway is bad enough with a range of 24 miles and a top speedof 12.5 mph. Now comes the latest bad product, the treadmill bike! Take a bike and put a treadmill on it. It is like running inside, but outside on a completely unnecessary contraption. The next invetion will be pedal powered legs. Here is a video with people using it. The funniest part is when a guy tries to take it on the bus. Notice they cut away beofre he is on the bus since it does not look like the handlebars will clear.
If you are in Edinburgh, Scotland checkout the film festival which features “The Graeme Obree Story”. The biopic of former Hour Record holder Graeme Obree details his various troubles on and off the track.
Back in 1993, an unemployed amateur, Graeme Obree, came out of nowhere – well, Prestwick – to smash the world one-hour cycling record … and did so, furthermore, on a bike entirely of his own design, nicknamed ‘Old Faithful’ – a revolutionary, ultra-lightweight frame fashioned by hand out of bits of scrap metal. Simply as a study of courage, endurance and ingenuity, Obree’s story is remarkable enough – but it’s also the tale of a man haunted by depression and a fierce mistrust of authority, whose struggle to overcome his own demons was at least as courageous as his exploits inside the velodrome. Starring Jonny Lee Miller, Brian Cox and Billy Boyd, and marking the feature debut from Scottish director Mackinnon, this is a stirring and defiantly cinematic biopic (check out that long steadicam shot, a coup worthy of Scorsese!), sure to move even the hardest of hearts.
Maxim magazine usually features a lovely model or celebrity as “Today’s Girl” The key is that the person is a female. For August 1th. the feature is Floyd Landis, or a urine sample riding a bike.
Here are the reasons he is featured:
The alleged crime: After Tour officials found Jose Canseco-esque amounts of testosterone in his urine samples, Floyd is no longer recognized as the 2006 Tour de France champion.
His excuses: I always have high testosterone, I got wasted the night before on a 12 pack of Testoster-Ale, Mennonites have huge balls (full of testosterone), Hulk smash urine sample judge…
Our verdict: You can’t get away with using steroids. Unless you play baseball.
