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