Velochimp: Astrochimp on Cycling

Francisco Mancebo took the win in a brutal stage that Lance Armstrong said:

Holy hell. That was terrible. Maybe one of the toughest days I’ve had on a bike, purely based on the conditions. I’m still freezing.

Photo by Ken Conley

Mancebo attacked from the start of the stage and was joined by two other riders Jurgen van de Walle QuickStep and Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas. With constant rain and temps in the 40 degree range these were conditions closer to Belgium than of California.

Photo by Ken Conley

Rock Racing busted out a new “Anarchy” theme complete with a graffiti themed kit design. The red A on the shoulder is nice, but the “Rocks Not Dead” across the crotch area is not too great. This is an even worse placement when you consider what jackets and other over-layers will do to the overall look of the kit. If you see Mancebo happily crossing the finish line after a tough stage, you see the text DEAD over his crotch area. This is not the message you want to send to the ladies. Maybe a slight adjustment of the placement of that text or some plain black shorts without the graffiti will be better for the next stages.

Mancebo gave Rock Racing a big win in California and is marking his own comeback of sorts to the professional peloton. Mancebo abruptly retired when his name was put into the Operation Puerto investigation in 2006. He was one of the many Tour contenders of 2006 that were not allowed to race. He is in the company of Ivan Basso (served two years) and Jan Ullrich (retired). Mancebo decided that he could return to cycling, but no one really wanted the former Tour contender, so he returned with the smaller Relax-Gam team where he was competing in much smaller races. His only result of 2007 was a win at the Vuelta Chihuahua.

Mancebo’s win will mark a great result for Rock Racing which has been through a difficult off-season. Their brand of uber-cool and uber-expensive jeans were a major victim in the economic downturn. The team is said to have just enough money to run until mid-season at which point they will either cease to exist or get a new sponsor, or hope to get a bailout from the Government. Even a win by a former Tour de France contender who retired to the lower ranks of pro cycling to avoid any Puerto related issues will not convince the ladies who’s husbands used to run massive Ponzi schemes and now find themselves on the brink of jail-time to buy some more Rock and Republic jeans. Maybe Rock and Republic should take a note from Mancebo’s career and downgrade. Mancebo found that he could not ride in the upper levels of the sport since he was being implicated in the Puerto Affair. He quickly retired but then returned in the lower ranks. Now, Rock and Republic is finding it hard to sell overpriced jeans and clothes. Perhaps they should go downmarket and pony up next to Martha Stewart at KMart or be a new brand at Wal-Mart?