Category: cycling (Page 18 of 37)

Having never watched the full Vuelta a Espana before this year, I don’t know if it is usually so difficult (mountainous) or relentlessly contested, but I’m glad I decided to watch it this year! Especially after a less than exciting Tour de France earlier this summer.

Don’t know if you’ve been following it, but every stage has been raced aggressively with daily attacks by the favorites and top placed riders. There have been no free rides – no deference to the leader’s red jersey – no riding to protect overall position.

This grand tour has had a remarkable display of skill and race tactics throughout the almost 3 weeks of racing. Not to mention the brutal summit finishes and climbs.

Stage 17 was no exception – except for the brutal summit finish. At the beginning of today the general classification (GC) looked like this:

• 1. Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Katusha, in 63:38:24
• 2. Alberto CONTADOR VELASCO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, at :28
• 3. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 2:04

At the end of Stage 17 the GC looked like this:

• 1. Alberto CONTADOR VELASCO, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank, in 68:07:54
• 2. Alejandro VALVERDE BELMONTE, Movistar, at 1:52
• 3. Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Katusha, at 2:28

After the brutal mountaintop finishes – most recently Stage 16 – the top 3 podium spots looked set as the best grand tour this year (and arguably best in many years) was coming to a close. Yesterday was a rest day and today’s Stage 17 was a medium mountain type of stage. Rodriguez and his team Katusha probably started the stage pretty confident.

The 2nd place Contador who has attacked Rodriguez repeatedly in the high mountain stages (of which there have been many) all to no avail, attacked on the 2nd climb today – and caught Rodriguez and Valverde unaware. Contador had teammates in the break up the road and had a former teammate of Astana also help him. Valverde had teammates to support him so was able to make up much of the time gap but Rodriguez was all alone and couldn’t.

Contador held off Valverde and won Stage 17, Valverde took second at just :06 back and Rodrigues finished 10th losing 2:38 to Contador. A race that appeared to be settled was turned upside-down today – fortunately I got to watch it online via Steephill TV and  Eurosport.

A video of the highlights of Stage 17:

http://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/2276153092/Vuelta-a-Espana-Stage-17-Fuente-De

It is isn’t easy these days to believe what you see in professional bike racing, but if seeing is believing this one of the finest days of racing you’ll ever see, both in terms of racing and strategy.

Below is an excerpt from an excellent article today about Lance Armstrong by Brent Cohrs from his blog “Easy As Riding A Bike” . After the excerpt I’ve republished my article about LA from 2011 right after his retirement II. ~Susan

Defending Cycling: Lance Armstrong Edition

…”If the cards should come tumbling down, I don’t want bicycling to get buried in the rubble.

Lance inspired a generation of cyclists to get back out on the road and ride at faster speeds. He reminded them what it was like to sprint up a hill and bomb down a descent. He helped bring road bikes back to popularity. He helped thousands rediscover bicycling.

The last thing we cyclists need is for the public to begin associating cycling with cheating and cyclists with dopers. The jerseys we wear with pride as we ride together and raise money for worthwhile causes shouldn’t serve as a target for the ire of misinformed motorists.

We’re not cheaters. We’re not dopers. We’re not liars. We’re not breaking any rules. We’re just out riding bikes for our own personal reasons. We deserve respect when we’re out on the road.

Riding a bike is an individual choice that benefits the rider and the rest of society. One doesn’t have to break any rules to participate in the activity. Those that break the rules only represent themselves – not everyone else that chooses to ride a bike.

In just three days, the court of public opinion will be in session when the USADA publicly sanctions Lance Armstrong. We should expect public sentiment to turn against cyclists as the critical thinking-impaired among us react to this sound bite.” —Read on

---

---

 

My post on Lance Armstrong from February 2011:

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong announced today he is retiring again. Retirement 2.0. is no doubt his final retirement from professional bike racing.

I have followed the career of Armstrong since the early days – before his Tour de France racing. The picture here is from his 1992 Olympic card which I have. He competed in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and turned pro shortly after.

I’ve been a fan of the Tour de France since the mid-1990’s. I was hopeful when Armstrong competed in the Tour in 1996 and disappointed when he had to quit. Like everyone I was shocked when he announced he had cancer.

And like everyone else I was shocked again when he beat cancer and then against all odds, beat the best bike riders in the world to take his first of seven Tour de France wins.

Armstrong was without equal on the bike then, both in his physical ability and his preparation. He was phenomenal and I loved watching him race.

I love bike racing and the simple fact is that Armstrong racing in the Tour de France meant Americans began to care about bike racing. And that meant we got coverage of the greatest bike race in the world – in my mind the greatest sporting event in the world.

Amazing amounts of coverage. I could actually watch the race – every day – whereas when I first started following the Tour I read about it when I could and watched the occasional 5 or 10 minutes of coverage it got on television on Sunday afternoon.

We have Armstrong to thank for that too. I watch more television in the month of July than I watch the rest of the year combined. And when I’m not watching the Tour in July I can still watch the 1999 – 2005 Tours on DVD.

I’ll miss the attention he brought to cycling – and the respect. Armstrong riding a bike changed things for all bike riders in the U.S. I personally saw attitudes change toward me on the bike – especially during the peak of Armstrong’s Tour performances.

It was like all of a sudden motorists thought it was sort of okay that I was on the road. At least they didn’t look at me as if I was from another planet. Well most of the time anyway. The spandex still threw them.

But what Armstrong did for cycling here was huge – beyond measure – and I will forever be thankful for that.

What he has done for cancer awareness and for people coping with cancer is also beyond measure.

When his book, “It’s Not About the Bike” came out I bought it even though it wasn’t about the bike – and most of my wanting to read it was about the bike – I still enjoyed it. I loaned it to several people when they learned they had cancer.

In 2001 I was diagnosed with breast cancer and one of the first things I did was re-read that book. And it wasn’t about the bike that time. My doctor recommended I go to Denver for further tests (which ultimately showed no breast cancer) and my husband and I decided to drive. I read it throughout the drive out. It gave me hope. Armstrong has done that for millions affected by cancer – and for the most part that’s the group that fiercely defends him – and I understand why.

We may never know whether or not he doped during any or all of his Tour de France wins. Like many, I believe he did. That was the climate then, it is not the climate now – largely because of the international obsession with whether or not Armstrong doped and the tests and anti-doping protocols put into place because of it.

Absolutely my preference is that Armstrong raced clean, my preference is that all cyclists race clean.

My preference is that all football – baseball – basketball – soccer – track and field (I don’t care about hockey) athletes compete clean too.

If we expect one group to compete clean, shouldn’t we expect it of all?

If Armstrong is proven to have doped during his career I will be very disappointed like every other fan of cycling.

Regardless of how you see it and whether you believe he raced clean or not, we should be able to agree that what Armstrong has done both on and off the bike is nothing short of extraordinary.

---

Do you know all the parts of your bike?