Discovery Channel’s Alberto Contador was only six seconds behind Davide Rebellin going into the final stage 7 around Nice. The final stage was a brutal one with climbs up the Col D’Eze. Alberto Contador showing great form attacked Rebellin whose Gerolsteiner teammates were left far down the road.
More later…
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Update: The collegiate races were canceled but the other races will go on:
Hi everyone. For those of you that were planning on attending this race in NYC, just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Because of the impending snow this evening, the collegiate portion of the program has been cancelled. So therefore, the USCF races (Pro/1/2/3, 3/4, Women) will be moved to later in the day, with the women scheduled to start at 12pm. All registered riders will be receiving a notification from the promoter via BikeReg; but for those of you might be planning on coming down, please make note of the time changes. The order of the races will not change, Women will go at 12pm followed by the 3/4 race and then the 1/2/3.
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Winter weather does not want to shake its hold of the Northeast. Our MaxPowerCycling Series did not really get going last week since the weather was till in the 30s and no one was interested in much racing.
(winter weather from February, but still applies)
Now the Grant’s Tomb Criterium looks like it is a non-starter due to the Nor’Easter that is ravaging up and down the east coast. I was half thinking of racing there especially since some folks from the Syracuse University Cycling team are going to race there too. (more on SU Cycling later)
The movie 300 is a big hit as it tells the tale of ancient Spartans battling the Persians in the battle at Thermopylae. The movie is all CGI with outlandish sets made to look exactly like Frank Miller’s graphics novel on which this movie is based. Everything in the movie was shot in front of a green screen and the CGI effects applied later. The actors however are not CGI’d. Their low fat “cut” abs and chest are real thanks to the 300 Workout.
While a Spanish Judge dropped the case dubbed Operation Puerto due to lack of evidence. Pat McQuaid president of the UCI is going to look at either appealing the judges decision or to take up the case through the UCI. Part of the problem with Operation Puerto is that there was no law against doping in sport in Spain until November 2006. That is well after the evidence in Operation Puerto was found. Spain only recently enacted the strict anti-doping laws that France and Italy have already established.
Another issue with Operation Puerto is the lack of clear evidence that implicated any rider and the constant leaks given to the press. This resulted in a sloppy ham-fisted investigation that inflicted more damaged against anti-doping efforts.
On stage 1 of Paris-Nice riders held a moment of silence to protest the archiving of Operation Puerto. This is in a race where the leader is David Millar of Saunier Duval a former doper who paid the price and is on the comeback trail. David Millar is one of the few exceptions in the never ending Global Struggle Against Doping. He admitted to doping, realized it was a mistake and fessed up. He took his punishment and is now coming back proving he can race clean. Most other doping offense do not come out so neat and tidy.
With all of the sound and fury signifying nothing. That is a good way to summarize Operation Puerto which come Monday will be archived. The investigation failed to turn out any solid evidence against anyone that was remotely associated with the case.
Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich, Fransico Mancebo were barred from the Tour de France based on thin evidence. Liberty Seguros dropped their sponsorship of their ProTour team. Cycling was cast in the shadow of doping once again during its peak exposure time. This combined with Landis’ testosterone issue and you have a body blow for cycling in general.
The civil war that was threatening to destroy cycling may not happen. The UCI and ASO, Unipublic and RCS (organizers of the Grand Tours) have called a ceasefire in their struggle for power and control of their events and cyclign in general. This is good news only one week before the first ProTour race of the year Paris-Nice was supposed to start. Paris-Nice was under threat of having no ProTour teams present. The event was at risk of being run as a Continental or worse and amateur event.
Finally cooler heads are prevailing allowing for the ProTour to continue with all of the 20 teams including Unibet.com and Astana.
Filippo Pozzato’s switch from the talent laden Quick-Step team to the Liquigas team for 2007 was a sign that the 25 year old Italian was ready to be his own man in the Classics. The winner of Milan San-Remo in 2006 was a new talent in a talent rich team twhose goals all seemed to mirror his own. How can you try to win MIlan San Remo on a team win Paolo Bettini and win the Tour of Flanders on a team with Tom Boonen? Pozzato accomplished the first task by being in the right place on the Via Roma and attacking at the right time. Now he is on a new team and is the captain for the Classics such as Paris-Roubaix, and the Tour of Flanders. Pozzato’s win in the junior version of the Tour of Flanders came Saturday as he took the win from the fading O’Grady and Flecha. Once again he is in the right place at the right time.
Odd invention for downhill adrenaline junkies. It would be much like a street luge but look more embarrassing. Instead of guys lying flat on their backs, they will be in this position with fanny packs. My daughter would think this is taking the “pony” ride to a new level.
If you still think this may be a good idea then the next line will change your mind.
There are no motors so gravity is your go juice and to activate the rear brakes you need to squeeze your knees together like a mobile ThighMaster. Your legs are strapped to the rear gear so there’s no bailing out but there is a fender to fend off fanny friction should you sit too low.
An Idaho Powerball jackpot winner decides to spend his money wisely instead of splurging it all on a solid gold house and a rocket car.
Brad Duke, 34, a manager for five Gold’s Gym franchises in Idaho, pocketed a lump sum of $85 million after winning a $220 million Powerball jackpot in 2005.
He does not want to end up like most Powerball winners in the past who would quickly run through his money. Instead he smartly assembled a group of financial advisers to help him achieve more wealth through diversified investments. He did not splurge on much. The first indulgence was a trip to Tahiti for him and 17 of his closest friends. After that he bought bikes including as $12k BMC! This is especially cool when you consider that he bought a 2002 Jetta worth $15k. So he basically has spent more on cool bikes than a new car. No shocking green Lamborghini for this lotto winner. Just a red and black BMC Time Machine perhaps?
The Marco Pantani Movie finally made it to RAI International only a few days after its Italian premier on RAI. I set my DVR to record it but was unable to get enough time to watch until Monday when I came down with a cold and was at home with a few hours to kill.
The Marco Pantani Movie was produced by RAI and has the same qualities as any major network “Movie of the Week”. The story follows Marco’s life through a flash back that is bookended with Marco smashing a plate glass window during the 1999 Giro at Madonna di Campiglio when he found out that his Hematocrit level was above 50%. The 50% threshold required that Pantani take two weeks off from cycling as a health precaution. This meant that he was booted from the Giro where he was dominating.