This Week in Road Cycling: Sept 1 to Sept 7

I know it has only been three days -- so what?

You need it, I need it, it's This Week in Road Cycling.

Local Racing:

Races in September: This month will close out the road racing season in AZ.
-AZ Team Time Trial Championships: Picacho, AZ- Sept 7; http://www.southwesthandcyclingteam.com/AZTT/TTT.htm
-AZ Time Trial Championships: Picacho, AZ- Sept 14; http://www.southwesthandcyclingteam.com/AZTT/ITT.htm
-Buckeye Crit: Buckeye, AZ- Sept 20; http://www.wmrc.org/buckeye/index.htm
-Sonoita TT: Sonoita, AZ- Sept 21; http://www.saguarovelo.org/infosonoita.htm
-AZ Hill Climb Championships: Mt. Graham, AZ- Sept 28; http://presteza.com/MtGrahamIndex.html
-AZ Cyclocross Race #1: Payson, AZ- Sept 28; http://www.azcross.com/content/races/september_28th2c_2008.aspx

Pro Racing:

Vuelta a Espana: The final grand tour of the year is finally here. The Tour of Spain doesn't enjoy as much popularity as the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia, but it's always difficult. This year in particular is going to be quite difficult with the return of the climb to the top of the Angliru. Last used in 2002, Roberto Heras resorted to using a triple crankset in order to take the win. But that doesn't happen for two weeks. Here is what has been happening so far.

-Stage 1 Team Time Trial: Liquigas came through with the win, possibly upsetting the first week hopes of Alberto Contador (Astana, winner: Tour '07, Giro '08) and Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxo Bank, winner: Tour '08). Filippo Pozzato came across the line first for the team, and took the first Maillot Oro. Normally I would take this chance to poke fun of Pozzato by mentioning his questionable style, and showing pictures like this, this, and this. Not this time though. This time I simply say to Mr. Pozzato -- respect.

-Stage 2: Alejandro Valverde (Caisse D'Epargne) won an uphill sprint, again. The profile of stage 2 looked a lot like one of the Spring classics, or stage 1 of the Tour. With the time bonus that was at the end, Valverde took over the lead from the mustachioed Pozatto. A big part of me hopes that Valverde will be able to ride strongly throughout the whole race, and possibly win. I'm not going to be as foolish as I was during the Tour though, it's silly to bet against Contador.

US Pro Championships

-Time Trial: Zabriskie (Garmin- Chipotle) won his third in a row. It's really not that surprising when this happens anymore, but it was good for the guy to win after his season was pretty much shut down by a crash in the Giro. Zirbel (Bissell) and Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle) rounded out the podium.

-Road Race: With Leipheimer over in Spain, the USPro road race started without a defending champion this year. It was a pretty hard race with a lot of guys dropping out, and it eventually came down to a photo finish between Tyler Hamilton (Rock Racing) and Blake Caldwell (Garmin-Chipotle). The 37 year old Hamilton managed to just barely beat the 24 year old Caldwell, and he did it without his twin. Hamilton's come pretty far from what he was a few years ago, so this win has got to be pretty nice. I'm just looking forward to how ridiculous Michael Ball will make the national champions kit look. Danny Pate (Garmin-Chipotle) rounds out the podium in third and Lucas Euser (Garmin-Chipotle) was fourth.

Tour of Ireland:

-When last we left the Tour of Ireland, Mark Cavendish (Columbia) had won the first two stages and was wearing the leaders jersey. Well, he won another stage and continued to maintain the lead. that was until David Millar (Garmin-Chipotle) decided to make everyone ride their bikes through a river. Fording a river proved to be too much for Cavendish, and he surrendered the lead to a guy (Russel Downing; Pinarello-CandiTV) who stole Valverde's bike. It's OK for Cavendish though, because on the final day his teammate Frantisek Rabon took the stage win, and his other teammate Marco Pinotti ended up winning the GC.

Deutschland Tour:

-Linus Gerdemann (Columbia) doesn't have a broken leg anymore, and he proved it by winning the first stage of the Tour of Germany. On the second day David de la Fuente took the win while Gerdemann remained in the lead.

Tech News:

Probably some of the biggest news this week was that Cervelo will no longer be sponsoring Bjarne Riis' team. Instead, Cervelo will be starting their own team (with all of the former CSC sponsors) that may or may not have Carlos Sastre on it. Instead of Cervelo, the new Saxo Bank team will be riding Specialized.

Here is a short list of some other changes

Team Columbia: Scott (was Giant)
Rabobank: Giant (was Colnago)
Katyusha (formerly Tinkoff): Ridley
Silence Lotto: I don't know, but they were just dumped by Ridley
American Beef (formerly Scott-American Beef, formerly Saunier-Duval): I don't know

That's all for now,

Anthony

P.S. I think Pozzato stole the whole mustache idea from Zabriskie earlier in the year.

This Period of Time in Road Cycling (Apologetic Edition)

Dear Team,

I want to start off by saying the I'm extremely sorry that I have been negligent in writing TWIRC this week. For many of you, this is the highlight of your week and I'm sorry I have let you down. Those of you who are new, and therefore probably don't know what this is, consider this a slightly less detailed precursor to what will certainly become one of your favorite things in the world (I would also like to welcome you to the team, and I look forward to meeting all of you).

Anyway, here it goes.

Local Racing

Week in Review:
-Skull Valley Road Race: It was a pleasant morning out in Skull Valley, with moderately overcast skies and a light sprinkle every now and then. The CAT 4 race went really fast.
-Team Results:
CAT 4: Anthony Molieri 25th

Races in September: There is a lot going on for the last month of the season
-AZ Team Time Trial Championships: Picacho, AZ- Sept 7; http://www.southwesthandcyclingteam.com/AZTT/TTT.htm
*Does anyone with a tandem want to race in the tandem division? For some reason I think doing a tandem time trial would be awesome.
-AZ Time Trial Championships: Picacho, AZ- Sept 14; http://www.southwesthandcyclingteam.com/AZTT/ITT.htm
-Buckeye Crit: I assume in Buckeye, AZ- Sept 20
-Sonoita TT: Sonoita, AZ- Sept 21; http://www.saguarovelo.org/infosonoita.htm
-AZ Hill Climb Championships: Mt. Graham, AZ- Sept 28; http://presteza.com/MtGrahamIndex.html
-AZ Cyclocross Race #1: Payson, AZ- Sept 28; http://www.azcross.com/content/races/september_28th2c_2008.aspx

Pro Racing:

Olympic MTB:
I know it's a little weird to be mentioning mountain biking, but the Olympic cross country race was just an amazing showing from Julien Absalon(note the grip shift and bar ends). He gradually rode away from everyone on the first lap, and stayed away the whole time. You can watch the replay of the race here. Two other things, the Eddy Merckx of cyclocross (Sven Nys) pulled off a solid ninth, and Adam Craig (USA) wore aviators.

Eneco Tour:
Won by this guy.

Tour of Ireland:
Mark Cavendish is showing everyone how weak his form is after the Olympics by winning two stages in a row.

This Weekend:
US Pro, Deutschland Tour, Vuelta a Espana!

Plus:
a look at all the craziness that is happening with team sponsorships.

I promise to be back on my game next week.

Anthony Molieri
ASUCTC Road Captain

This Week in Road Cycling: August 18 to August 24

This week's TWIRC might be a little short, and I'll probably miss something important. Sorry. Instead of spending all weekend sitting in front of my computer compiling information like I usually do, I went camping and slept in a flooded tent. Anyway, here it goes.

Local Racing

Races in August:
-Skull Valley RR: Skull Valley, AZ- Aug 24; http://wmrc.org/skull/index.htm
*This is the last road race of the season. If you plan on going, and want to carpool, email me and I'll try and facilitate everyone.

Races in September: There is a lot going on for the last month of the season
-AZ Team Time Trial Championships: Picacho, AZ- Sept 7; http://www.southwesthandcyclingteam.com/AZTT/TTT.htm
*Does anyone with a tandem want to race in the tandem division? For some reason I think doing a tandem time trial would be awesome.
-AZ Time Trial Championships: Picacho, AZ- Sept 14; http://www.southwesthandcyclingteam.com/AZTT/ITT.htm
-Buckeye Crit: I assume in Buckeye, AZ- Sept 20
-Sonoita TT: Sonoita, AZ- Sept 21; http://www.saguarovelo.org/infosonoita.htm
-AZ Hill Climb Championships: Mt. Graham, AZ- Sept 28; http://presteza.com/MtGrahamIndex.html
-AZ Cyclocross Race #1: Payson, AZ- Sept 28; http://www.azcross.com/content/races/september_28th2c_2008.aspx

Pro Racing:

Olympic Time Trial:
Fabian Cancellara won, of course, and at this time is responsible for 40% of Switzerland's total medal count. His CSC teammate Gustav Erik Larsson got second for Sweden, and Levi Leipheimer was third.

Olympic Track Racing:
I didn't really keep track of what happened over the weekend, so here is a recap from someone who did.

US Crit Nationals in Downer's Grove:
Rahsaan Bahati of Rock Racing took the win. I look forward to seeing what his national champ kit will look like. I really love this team, as long as they're not doing this.

Until next week,

Anthony

Nike Women’s Half Marathon Program

Our partner, Susan Silver, has been tasked with organizing the Nike/Lady Foot Locker Half Marathon Training Program. Because of our success with Nike’s Rock the Lot event in May, she is giving ASUCTC the opportunity to spearhead Nike’s latest running endeavor by offering paid positions vital to the success of this event. Here’s some background on the training program:

Nike and Lady Footlocker (LFL) is offering an official 6-week training program for local runners to participate in The Nike Women’s Half Marathon (N+WM) by running a half-marathon on the same day as the official N+WM is run in San Francisco. This virtual race will be held in 5 cities: King of Prussia, PA; Schaumburg, IL; Edison, NJ; Boca Raton, FLA; and Phoenix, AZ. The training program begins during the first week of September and runs until the N+WM on October 19, 2008. There will be two training runs per week: A weekday evening run (for distances from 2 - 6 miles) and a Saturday morning run for distances from 4 - 14 miles). Nike/LFL provides its participants a full half-marathon-training program, all for free, including free coaching, training runs along the course to be run on 10/19/08, and group runs led by a friendly staff of pace leaders for various paces; free Nike footwear trials; Nike product giveaways; on-course hydration and fueling; post-run food; and a fun atmosphere for socializing and community building.

Susan is looking to fill the following positions with responsible leaders committed to the sport of running and athletic development:
· Program Manager
· Production Manager
· Pace Leaders
· Training Coach
Please contact asucycles@gmail.com to apply and for more information.

Thanks,
Niko

This Week in Road Cycling: August 11 to August 17

Local Racing

Races in August
-Tortilla Flats RR (the last one): Aug 12; http://www.azcycling.com/08cal/FLYERS/tft_08.pdf
-Kitt Peak TT: Tucson, AZ - Aug 17; http://www.saguarovelo.org/infokitt.htm
-Skull Valley RR: Skull Valley, AZ- Aug 24; http://wmrc.org/skull/index.htm

The Olympics

Men's Road Race
-This years course was said to be the hardest Olympic road race ever. Looking at the profile, as well as the short list of riders who finished (90 of 143), and it's pretty believable. The day started off with an escape by two men, Patricio Almonacid (Chile) and Horacio Gallardo (Bolivia), who at one point had a gap of over ten minutes. Some time after that, a 26 man group of riders split from the rest of the peloton in an effort to hunt down the fugitive South Americans. This was a very dangerous group, and it looked like the new olympic champion would come from this group. Some riders in the group included: Carlos Sastre (Spain), Jens Voigt (Germany), Marzio Bruseghin (Italy), and Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg). It wasn't to be though, and the huge break eventually was brought back. Once the race hit the hilly finishing circuit, the attacks started, and after a lot of aggression from a lot of riders five men went clear on the final lap. Those riders were Andy Schleck (Luxembourg), Davide Rebellin (Italy), Samuel Sánchez (Spain), Michael Rogers (Australia) and Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia). On the last major climb, Rogers and Kolobnev were dropped by the awesome riding of Andy Schleck, and it appeared that the three remaining riders would fight it out for the podium. That was, at least, until Fabian Cancellara decided he was bored, rocketed out of the peloton, caught Rogers and Kolobnev and pulled them back in contact with the front three. That left a six man spring for the win, and Samuel Sanchez took it with Rebellin in second and Cancellara in third. The finale of this race was just amazing to watch. Cancellara is just fun to watch on the bike, and Andy Schleck was climbing head and shoulders above everyone else (it's a shame that the Schlecks can't sprint).

Two things that I thought were pretty interesting from the end of this race was the continued strength of CSC-Saxo Bank and the presence of Michael Rogers. Three out of those final six men were all riders for CSC (Schleck, Cancellara, Kolobnev). Of course, they weren't riding to help each other, which is seen by the fact that Cancellara's final burst of speed meant that Schleck was unable to medal, but the depth of that team always amazes me. In regard to Michael Rogers, it was just good to see him riding well again after his disaster at last years tour. Hopefully he'll do reall well in the time trial this week and maybe beat Cancellara.

This week will be the time trial, and next week the riders will move to the tack.

-Anthony

This Week in Road Cycling: August 4 to August 10

Local Racing

Races in August
-Mt Lemmon TT: Tucson, AZ - Aug 10; http://www.saguarovelo.org/infolemmon.htm
-Tortilla Flats RR (the last one): Aug 12; http://www.azcycling.com/08cal/FLYERS/tft_08.pdf
-Kitt Peak TT: Tucson, AZ - Aug 17; http://www.saguarovelo.org/infokitt.htm
-Skull Valley RR: Skull Valley, AZ- Aug 24; http://wmrc.org/skull/index.htm

Pro Racing

Post Danmark Rundt:
-I think this year the race promoters were thinking of changing the name of the race from, "The Tour Denmark," to "CSC-Saxo Bank rides around Denmark for a week-- everybody come out and watch." This name change was initially proposed due to the fact that the Danish team CSC had made the race their own personal plaything, by winning 5 of the last 6 editions of the race. It's a good thing they didn't though, because this year it was won by Jakob Fuglsang from the team Designa Kokken. Don't feel bad for CSC though, because they made up for it by winning 4 out of 6 stages (Matti Breschel (stage 2&3), Gustav Larsson (stage 5), Juan Jose Haedo (stage 6), the points competition (Matti Breschel), and the team classification. Also, the signed Fugslang to a two year contract, probably as punishment for thinking he could beat them.

Clasica San Sebastian:
-Ok, so he can't manage to do well in the Tour, but Alejandro Valverde is scary good when it comes to hilly one day races. He won the Clasica San Sebastian on Saturday in an 8 man sprint that included some pretty big names (like Bettini and Rebellin). If this race is any indication, the Olympic road race next weekend should be a pretty good one (the Spanish and Italian teams are stacked). On top of taking the win, Valverde also gained a 19 point lead in the protour standings on Damiano Cunego. You have to wonder if Valverde will actually wear the jersey in the remaining protour races. The protour is dead and won't be around next year, so pissing off the UCI isn't that big of a deal. Besides, the white jersey of the protour leader doesn't match his bike.

Until next week,

Anthony