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