Danilo DiLuca has been looking very ticked lately. He made it to the podium, third place to be exact for the Amstel Gold Race and Fleche Wallone. The Killer of Spoltore usually does not seem to be the groggy angry type. He usually seems friendlier. Perhaps it is frustration that he did not take the top spot in the races that he dominated just two seasons ago. DiLuca had a dream season in 2005 where he won Amstel and Fleche and followed that up with a fourth place in an epic Giro D’Italia. 2006 saw Diluca struggle to find the same magic.
Photo credit should read DOUG PENSINGER/AFP/Getty Images
Well that did not last long. Ivan Basso announced that he is leaving the Discovery Channel team. Basso asked out of his two year contract in order to avoid being a distraction to the team as they try to find a new sponsor. Basso wants to make it known that this decision was 100% his and not of the team. Basso spoke with
My bike is a LeMond Chambery and is named for this race. 1989 was the year of Laurent Fignon and Greg LeMond. Fignon was so cool back in those days since he was just so strong and smug about it. The waving pony-tail with he receding hairline just added to the menacing look. Not to mention the wire-rimmed glasses which gave him the unoriginal nickname of “The Professor”. If he was a studious type he would have paid more attention to aerodynamics and at least worn an aero helmet during the final time trial of the Tour de France.
Sunday April 29th will be my first race of the season. I couldn’t go to the Rochester Giros, the MaxPower Racign Training series was frozen out by bad weather and I also missed out on Bloomfield last week.
Ivan Basso is angry about the timing of the recent reports about the opening of the CONI investigation. In fact the timing is questionable since we are two weeks away from the start of the Giro D’Italia and in the Spring Classics season. Basso was to make an appearance at Fleche Wallone on Wednesday and Liege bastonge Liege on Sunday.
Investigators from CONI did say that the Spanish Guardia Civil contacted them in November and December with more information and samples from the bags of blood that allegedly belonged to Basso. The investigation was ongoing but in private. Perhaps CONI was in a Discovery phase of gathering evidence to put together a solid case against Basso, but the timing suspect. CONI has had a bad reputation of pooping on the Giro in order to get the maximum publicity from drug seizures, raids and tests. So for Basso to question the timing of the latest episode of Operation Puerto is not out of the question.
Schumi (Stefan Schumacher) and Tintin (Davide Rebellin) have been a powerful duo in the last two hilly Classics races. Schumacher has been getting better results since his breakout performance in last years Giro. Amstel Gold is a major win for the young German.
The Operation Puerto case against Ivan Basso was suspended back in October due to a lack of evidence. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) did not have substantial evidence to prosecute Ivan Basso, so they suspended the case with the caveat that it could be reopened if new evidence arises in the future. It is not immediately clear if any new evidence has turned up, but CONI has decided to summon Basso to appear before officials on May 2nd.
The committee said on its Web site (www.coni.it) that the rider had been summoned to appear before officials in Rome at 1500 local time (1300 GMT) on May 2 and had been notified personally of the summons.
Discovery Channel must have seen this coming when they decided to sign Basso. Christian Prudhomme is cracking down on the Operation Puerto people, 50 in all. Armed with the news of Jan Ullrich’s positive DNA match with the Operation Puerto blood bags and news that Fuentes is back to his old ways, the ASO must have a queasy feeling in their stomachs. But I can’t say I do not blame them.
Operation Puerto was a mess in many ways. the investigation was sloppy and inconclusive. There were more leaks than actual evidence. The Spanish Guardia Civil looked about as bad as Alberto Gonzalez does now. Poor management of information and a bumbled investigation do not help the cause of eliminating drugs in cycling.
Here is the new kit for the MaxPowerCycling Team. I designed the kit and VO Max is the clothing supplier. The only disappointment is that there is no spot to put a logo on the shoulder, but I am happy with the final product.
The design process was long as I went through almost 10 variations before we finally settled on this design. Originally I wanted a black, red and white scheme to match the 400watts.com logo. But blue turned out to be most popular. I added a fade effect to give the jersey some depth and there are some subtle designs that are influenced by the Saeco team jersey of a couple of years ago.
The race is lower key than the Tour of California especially as it comes right in the middle of Classics season. But the beauty of cycling is the fact that there is enough talent to go around. So the Tour de Georgia sees George Hincapie (Phil and Paul’s favorite cyclist) appear for his return after suffering a thumb injury at the Tour de California. He has been working hard to stay in form and recover from his injury.
Disco’s Race?
We are not sure which Hincapie we will see at this race as Discovery have quite a few cards to play. First is Hincapie, who can probably climb as well as anyone especially now that he does not have to focus on the Spring Classics this year. Then there is Tom Danielson the winner two years ago and runner up last year. Levi Leipheimer is just coming off a Tour of California victory and would probably like to continue that winning streak. He is now a winner with Discovery Channel where he found the extra push to get to the top step of the podum in California.
Don’t Tick off Tinkoff
Tinkoff are a new team and they are on a mission to win as much as possible. Tinkoff guys have been seen at the front of many races and have also bagged a few wins. The owner Oleg Tinkoff looks like a guy you would not want to mess with.
Discovery Channel must have seen this coming when they decided to sign Basso. Christian Prudhomme is cracking down on the Operation Puerto people, 50 in all. Armed with the news of Jan Ullrich’s positive DNA match with the Operation Puerto blood bags and news that Fuentes is back to his old ways, the ASO must have a queasy feeling in their stomachs. But I can’t say I do not blame them.
