This Week in Road Cycling: June 23 to June 29

Is it July yet?

Local Racing:

Week in Review:
-Tortilla Flats RR, Tuesday June 17: It was hot.
-Swiss Crit 6/20-6/21:
-Team Results: Niko Skievaski 11th (CAT 4/5), Philip Alan 22nd (CAT 4/5)

This Week:
-Tortilla Flats RR (see flyer below)
-Summit Center Stage Race: http://www.summitcenterclassic.com/

Races in July:
-Tortilla Flats RR (Series): Every (Except the second Tuesday of every month) Tuesday starting May 20 though August 12. http://www.azcycling.com/08cal/FLYERS/tft_08.pdf
-Picacho Time Trial Series: 7/6. 7/27: Picacho, AZ http://www.saguarovelo.org/infopicacho.htm

Pro Racing:

Most of the important information this week had very little to do with the actual racing.
-The two big American teams competing in Europe have each announced their new title sponsors. Slipstream is now Garmin, and High Road is now Columbia. Add that to the news about team CSC becoming team Saxo Bank next year, and it has been a good month for pro-cycling.
-I said it was a good month right? Maybe not. Velonews has an interesting article about the power struggle going on between the UCI and ASO.
-Oh yeah, Campagnolo had their official release of their redesigned gruppos this week. I think it looks hideously awesome, but not as cool as the new Dura-Ace.

But, I'm supposed to be writing about racing aren't I?

Tour de Suisse:
Stage 3: Robbie McEwen wins, and then insults the entire country (I love that they interviewed Cancellara about the whole thing too).
Stage 4: McEwen wins again and trys to make friends with Switzerland.
Stage 5: Markus Fothen hasn't done much since coming in second to Cunego for the maillot blanc in the 2006 Tour, but he won on Wednesday. Also, Frank Schleck fell off a cliff, climbed back up and started walking around like nothing had happened (video).
Stage 6: There were a lot of fireworks on stage 6, with Kim Kirchen taking the stage and the lead.
Stage 7: World TT Champion, Fabian Cancellara, won in his usual way -- A strong attack in the last few kilometers that no one is able to catch.
Stage 8: Roman Kreuziger(22 yrs. old) won the Mt. TT to take over the lead from Kirchen.
Stage 9: Cancellara wins again, in pretty much exactly the same way. Apparently Cancellara treated the previous days TT as nice easy day in the rainbow jersey. Also, he apparently lives in the town that stage nine finished in. Plus, I bet he was still a little pissed of at McEwen for insulting his country earlier in the week.

Route Du Sud:
Garmin-Chipotle won their first stage race this week, with 21 year old Dan Martin defending his lead from an old French guy (Christophe Moreau).

Ster Elektrotoer:
I'm only mentioning this race, because it is the first race that Tom Boonen has taken part in since his positive test for Cocaine. He won stage 4.

Only 13 more days until the Tour!

-Anthony

Yoga Mondays

Hey Team,
Great News: Yoga is now included in your club membership!

Elizabeth Lawaczeck teaches a great class designed specifically for triathletes and cyclists in a laid back and relaxed atmosphere. A group of us have been going for the past few weeks and have really enjoyed it. So bring your friends and family and come out to Tribe for Yoga Mondays! (Only the first two classes are free for non ASUCTC members, but only $6 thereafter.)

Check out the Calendar for class dates and times. A few Yoga mats are supplied but bring your own if you have one.

Hope to see you there,
Niko

This Week in Road Cycling: June 16 to June 22

It's heating up in the Valley of the Sun, and the bike racing in Europe is doing the same.

Local Racing:

Week in Review:
-Picacho Time Trial: Results haven't been posted yet, but let me know if you went.

This Week:
-Tuesday June 17: Tortilla Flats RR 5:30 pm (See flyer below)
-Swiss Crit 6/20-6/21: Should be an interesting two days. The crits are really short because of the heat as well as the "Dash for Cash" event.


Races in June:
-Swiss Crit 6/20-6/21: Glendale, AZ http://www.azcycling.com/08cal/FLYERS/dfc-sc.jpg
-Summit Center Stage Race 6/28-6/29: http://www.summitcenterclassic.com/
-Is anyone doing this or knows of a cheap place to stay?

Races in July:
-Tortilla Flats RR (Series): Every* Tuesday starting May 20 though August 12. http://www.azcycling.com/08cal/FLYERS/tft_08.pdf
-Picacho Time Trial Series: 7/6. 7/27: Picacho, AZ http://www.saguarovelo.org/infopicacho.htm

Pro Racing:

Dauphine Libere:
-Stage 1: Alejandro Valverde outsprinted Thor Hushovd for a stage win. I know Valverde is an extremely versatile bike racer and the finish was slightly uphill, but how does that happen? Regardless Hushovd moved into the lead by 1 second.
-Stage 2: What the crap? Why are non-sprinters winning in sprints? George Hincapie takes stage 2.
-Stage 3: The time trial was won by Alejandro Valverde with 19 seconds to Levi Leipheimer and 20 seconds to Cadel Evans. Valverde moves into Yellow.
-Stage 4: Cyril Dessel won out of a breakaway and Valverde kept the lead.
-Stage 5: Yuriy Trofimov won out of the break. Cadel Evans attacked and Valverde easily followed.
-Stage 6: Chris Sorensen won as Leipheimer and Evans were being uncharacteristically aggressive. Valverde remained in the lead.
-Stage 7: Another break with the stage win going to Dmitriy Fofonov. Valverde won the overall.

Tour de Swiss:
-Stage 1: Oscar Freire won the day.
-Stage 2: Igor Anton won a hard day in the mountains, with a couple favorites (Cunego, Schleck) for next month close behind.

It's hard for me to get excited for these two races even though there is a lot of awesome riding going on. The bottom line is that they are sandwiched in between the two biggest races of the year (the Giro and the Tour) and performances here don't always translate to strong rides come July. Hopefully, in the case of Valverde, he will be able to produce in the Tour.


Anthony Molieri
ASUCTC Road Captain

A Message from Velocity Group

Dear ASU Cycling and Triathlon Club Members,

We would like to take a moment and thank you for the opportunity to work
with your club for the upcoming school year. We're very excited about this
new partnership and hope that we can provide the club with a strong level
of support. If there's anything we can do to help further advance your
athletic careers, please don't hesitate to ask.

For those that don't know us, the Velocity Group is a component of Keller
Williams Realty, America's fastest growing real estate brokerage.
Established in 2005, the Velocity Group has quickly made a name for itself
with an unparalleled commitment to customer service. Partners of the
Velocity Group include cyclist Greg Kilroy and former professional
cyclists Austin King and Nathan Mitchell. Not only will we be able to
serve your real estate needs, but we will be able to lend our support on
the bike as well.

If you are currently in need of assistance in finding housing for the
'08-'09 school year please feel free to let us know. We have already begun
helping a few club members and look forward to the opportunity of helping
more. For more information, please contact Austin King at
austin@velocitygroupaz.com or by phone at 602.330.6215.

Thanks again for this opportunity,
The Velocity Group
Greg Kilroy, Austin King, and Nathan Mitchell

This Week in Road Cycling June 9 to June 15

Local Racing:

Week in Review:
-Tortilla Flats RR: 6/3
No race this week (6/10), so don't drive out there and waste your gas.
-AZ Road Race Championships 6/8: It was good times. Special thanks to Mary and her Grandma for letting us sleep at her place.
Notable Results:
-President Nikolai Skievaski: CAT 5; 12th
-Anthony Molieri: CAT 4; 3rd
-Will Allender: CAT 3; 3rd

Races in June:
-Tortilla Flats RR (Series): Every* Tuesday starting May 20 though August 12. http://www.azcycling.com/08cal/FLYERS/tft_08.pdf
-Picacho Time Trial Series 6/15, 7/6. 7/27: Picacho, AZ http://www.saguarovelo.org/infopicacho.htm
-Swiss Crit 6/20-6/21: Glendale, AZ http://www.azcycling.com/08cal/FLYERS/dfc-sc.jpg
-Summit Center Stage Race 6/28-6/29: http://www.summitcenterclassic.com/


Pro Racing:

Commerce Bank Triple Crown:
-Lehigh Valley Classic (June 3): Won by Yuri Metlushenko of team Amore & Vita/McDonald's. Check out their website and notice a Lamborghini as well as Mcdonald's consumption. Also, their bike sponsor (VeloVie) is based out of Arizona.
-Reading Classic (June 5): Won by Oscar Sevilla of Rock Racing.
-Philadelphia International Championship: Won by Matti Breschel of CSC. It was apparently wicked hot (36 degrees!!!)

Dauphine Libere: This race and the Tour de Swiss are generally used as warm up races for the Tour next month. Be prepared to see some big names high in the standings.
-Prolouge: Levi Leiphemier took the prolouge by one second over Thor Hushovd with Alejandro Valverde sitting in third at six seconds back.


Anthony Molieri
ASUCTC Road Captain

Tribal Sprint Triathlon ASUCTC Memeber Results

Females:
Min Wang - 1st Female 30-34, 57th Overall, 1:30:23
Jaclyn Brown - 4th Female 25-29, 80th Overall, 1:35:25
Mary Cameron - 4th Female 20-24, 168th Overall, 1:51:00

Males:
Tom Lang - 7th Male 20-24, 73rd Overall, 1:33:12

Relays:
Lost in Transition - 1st Relay, 9th Overall, 1:15:55