Lynne Kiesling

Every year the KP Spouse and I pick a favorite rider and team in the Tour de France, and to keep things interesting we don’t pick the same rider and team (this is a household where we deliberately cheer for different English Premiere League and NHL teams too …). While we share in the general enthusiasm about Lance Armstrong’s return and his magnificent work with Livestrong, and we both cheer for all of the American riders and teams (as I mentioned in my earlier TDF post), this year he’s pulling for Saxobank’s Andy Schleck (whom I agree is a wonderful and exciting rider).

Me? I’m pulling for Chicago-suburb-native Garmin-Slipstream leader Christian Vande Velde. After a decade working the team hierarchy as a doméstique (supporting rider) on a variety of teams with many great cyclists, he’s the team leader for Garmin-Slipstream, having finished 4th in the 2008 Tour de France (among other successes). I met Christian at a Vision Quest Coaching event in 2006 (also met Dave Zabriskie, Floyd Landis, and triathlete Jessi Stensland at the same event, which was great; Vision Quest is Robbie Ventura’s coaching business), and since then have followed his career eagerly. The stars all seemed aligned for this year’s Tour, until in the Giro d’Italia on May 11, 2009, he broke several vertebrae and a rib and fractured his pelvis in a crash. Would he ride again at all, let alone riding in the 2009 Tour? Denver’s 5280 magazine has an outstanding article that chronicles the tale.

The first five stages have proven that the answer is a resounding yes; he’s currently ranked 12th, and led his team to a 2nd-place finish in yesterday’s team time trial, which was some of the most thrilling sport I’ve ever watched. Christian’s also keeping a rider’s journal at the New York Times during the Tour, and you can read his first entry on returning from his Giro injuries and his retrospective on yesterday’s team time trial. He’s a frank, eloquent, and compelling writer, and although I am not a sentimental or overly emotional person, I have to admit that the combination of physical endurance, mental discipline, and strength of character and integrity reflected here almost brings me to tears.

It also motivates me to challenge myself more consistently, professionally and athletically. For me, sport is a big part of what I write about as an economist and social scientist — human action, choices, and striving to live life fully in the personal way that you define that fullness.

OK, off to have lunch so I can deliver on some of that this afternoon!

How big a deal would it have been if Alberto Contador had moved to Garmin-Slipstream just days before the tour? Let’s put it this way: It would have entirely changed the dynamic of the race.

In the last couple days, revelations about just how close the scenario was to playing out have come to light. First, Joe Lindsey brilliantly reported that Contador and Garmin-Slipstream were in serious talks if Astana failed to come up with the money to keep its license. So serious – and this is particularly revealing – that Garmin-Slipstream’s Felt bikes had been shipped to Contrador.

Then on Wednesday, Garmin-Slipstream team manager Jonathan Vaughters wouldn’t deny the report.

If Contador had jumped to Garmin-Slipstream – and, to be honest, I wish he had – it would have set up a more exciting tour for a few reasons.

First, it would have vaulted Garmin-Slipstream into a major contender in the G.C. I know there has been a lot of hype about Christian Vande Velde as Garmin-Slipstream’s leader. But his injuries are well-documented and his form should be questioned, especially compared to Contador’s. (That’s not to say that I wouldn’t feel bad for Vande Velde. The move would have sucked for him, big time.)

Second, and most importantly, it would have set up a better showdown between Contador and Lance Armstrong and/or Levi Leipheimer. All spectators right now are curious as to how Astana will determine who their team leader is. Will it be the first time trial and mountain stages? At what point does team manager Johan Bruyneel tell Armstrong he has to support Contador? At what point does he tell Contador he has to support Armstrong?

This speculation only continues because those three haven’t answered the question. Contador went so far as to say he considers Leipheimer and Armstrong his rivals for the tour. And Armstrong wouldn’t rule out being the team leader in his interview with VeloNews.

If Contador had left, we (the fans) would have gotten a better look at who deserves to win the tour. For example, what if Contador has a great first time trial and Armstrong is relegated to riding a supporting role? We would have had to wonder whether Armstrong had the form to, at the very least, give the Spanish climbing god a run in the mountains.

On the other hand, there will be a lot of confused and angry fans if Contador is forced to support Armstrong. More than one, I predict, will say that the race is fixed for the attention grabbing, ad selling Armstrong.

At the very least, a Contador move to Garmin-Slipstream would have made for great television.

pelotonpost@gmail.com

Christian Vande Velde at Paris Nice / Slipstream Sports

A dissapointing opening of the Giro d’Italia continues for the Argyle Armada of Garmin-Slipstream.  After missing their goal of winning the Team Time Trial, team leader Christian Vande Velde has crashed out of today’s stage 3 and has been taken to the hospital.  No word on any possible injuries, but this doesn’t bode well for Jonathan Vaughter’s squad. 

The dissapointment for Garmin will be two-fold.  Vaughters has always felt that the Giro is the best preparation for the Tour de France.  Vande Velde confirmed that last year with a fourth place finish in Paris.  Now Vande Velde’s tour preperations are in doubt.  If there is a major injury, he may not have time to get back for this years Tour; if there’s a minor injury, he may have to arrive in Monacco in less than ideal form.

As for this year’s Giro, Vande Velde will miss out on an opportunity to go stage hunting, and perhaps support Tom Danielson in a mountain stage or two.  The team will have to re-double its focus on helping Tyler Farrar to bring home a sprint or two to salvage their trip around Italy this year.

It’s been a long  journey from the old 7-Eleven squad to Slipstream.  Non-existant in a Grand Tour peloton 25 years ago, American teams look to factor largely into tomorrow’s opening salvo of the Giro d’Italia.

2008 Giro / AP Photo

Last year, Slipstream-Chipolte arrived in Sardinia and rode away with a team time trial victory in their first ever Grand Tour stage.  The goal this year for that same team is simple…repeat.

Slipstream took the stage by six seconds over Team CSC, with High Road another second back and Liquigas two more seconds in arrears.  The Astana squad, fresh off the beach, finished seventh, 29 seconds back.  Unfortunately for Johnathan Vaughter’s squad, no amount of Garmin GPS’s can deny the major uptick in competition from last years Giro. 

Still, Garmin-Slipstream should go into the race as the favorite.  They’ve added Bradley Wiggins to last year’s squad that includes Time Trialing studs Dave Zabriskie, David Millar and Christian Vande Velde.  They’ve got some big motors in Cameron Meyer and Danny Pate to help out along the way, and the possiblity of one fast final 500m with the sprint duo (and not shabby soloists either) Julian Dean and Tyler Farrar.

If a team is favored to knock Garmin off the top spot of the podium, I’d have to name Astana.  Levi Leipheimer may be the best time trialist entering this year’s event, and Lance Armstrong has been known to take a long pull or two on the front of a train himself in the past.  Jani Brajkovic, Yaroslav Popvyich and Jose Luis Rubiera are no strangers to riding this discipline under Johan Bruyneel, and Chris Horner will help out as well.

Team Columbia-High Road should be in with a chance as well.  They’ve dealt with the loss of Wiggins from last years team by bringing Canadian Michael Barry, Thomas Lovkvist, Michael Rogers and Mark Renshaw to Italy, joining a squad that already includes the winner of the final time trial of last year’s Giro, Marco Pinotti.

Also look for good results from American Jason McCartney, who’ll be riding in line with World Time Trial Champion Fabian Cancellara on a Saxo Bank team looking to improve on last years runner-up status, and Ted King on a Cervelo Test Team formation that’s looking to place Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre in an ideal position to begin his attack on a second Grand Tour victory.

Don’t count out Liquigas, winner of this discipline two years ago in the Giro.  Although Daniel DiLuca and Enrico Gasparatto have gone to other teams, they’ve found a few capable replacements to lead the squad in Ivan Basso and Franco Pelozotti.  The Italian squad should feature prominently in the race for the first Maglia Rosa of 2009.

Who do you think will win.

2008 Tour of California / Getty Images

This time next year, we’ll not only be looking forward to the 2010 Giro d’Italia, but according to AEG Sports president Andrew Messick, the 2010 Tour of California as well.  Cyclingnews.com is reporting that next years addition of America’s elite professional stage race will shift from the February spot its occupied on the UCI calendar for its first four years of existence to a head-to-head slot with the Corsa Rosa in Italy.  In addition, the Tour of California is slated to become the North America’s first Pro Tour event beginning in 2011 (no word on the Giro’s current competing stage race, the Vuelta a Catalunya, but one would think that the UCI would be averse to three Pro Tour events at the same time.)

The move to May for the Tour of California seems to have many advantages.  It should solidify the event as an important tune up race in the run up to the Tour de France.  A May date should also remove any concerns about weather that have hampered the event over the past two years, especially.  Much as the Vuelta a Espana’s move from April to September took that event out of the rainy season in Spain, riders, spectators and photographers should all benefit from a better seven-day forecast next year

The biggest advantage the move may have, however, is the ability to take the race into the mountains they way the organizers have wanted to do so over the past few years.  While the Sierra Road climb factored largely into the race in 2007 and 2008, and the 2009 version took the pack into the Sierra Mountains and over the top of Mount Palomar, February was too early for many of the top level riders to be at their best on as the road turned uphill.  Messick mentioned so much in saying they were set on including a mountaintop finish in next years event and even had one in mind already.

And while the advantages of a move to February are clear and abundant, it remains to be seen what it will do for a start list that had become arguably the most star-studded field to ever race in North America.  Obviously, team goals will change the directors and sponsors decide how to deal with a new calendar, but assuming the riders and teams that have targeted the Giro d’Italia this year will continue to do so, here’s a look at some of the riders who competed in California this year that would have missed out on a May edition (Americans in italics)…

Liquigas: Ivan Basso

That’s a whole lot of firepower to lose for a race that had gotten as big as it did.  The list also doesn’t include the likes of Thor Hushovd, Tom Boonen, Oscar Friere and Kim Kirchen who would all likely are and would likely once again sit out the month of  May after a grueling Spring Classics season.

Granted, that’s not to say that Garmin-Slipstream wouldn’t use the Tour of California to train for France rather than the Giro.  It’s also not to say whatever shape and form Astana takes on next year would not come to California instead of Italy either.  AEG’s Messick said the race would not have survived the February slot; that there was no appetite for a race at that time.  Now, it will be up to AEG and Messick to figure out how to build the hunger of the pros in Europe for a race in May.

Christian Vande Velde gets what has to be one of the bigger wins of his career today at Paris-Nice.  Even on my so so Eurosport feed it was clearly a great performance.  Now the question is, whether there is relationship between me getting my Slipstream gear yesterday in the mail and Christian’s outstanding performance today.  Of course not.  He was money today, and that is all that mattered.  However, Slipstream may not want to take any chances.  You know where to find me.  All I am saying is good kharma begets good kharma.  Maybe?

Anyway it was great to watch.  It was also something watch Contador attacking on that last climb.  I’ll tell you, when Bert wants to go, Bert goes.  He was eventually caught, but it clearly showed his skills are right where they need to be.

We all know Lance is Twittering, but who else?

Pro Cycling on Twitter: 48 People Who Aren’t Lance Armstrong

Some of the world’s top cycling professionals have taken to Tweeting on a regular basis. For the first time, cycling fans are getting the real skinny about the behind-the-scenes happenings of professional cyclists as they travel the world.

It’s not just the pedaling pros who are Twittering. Team managers, mechanics, coaches…they’re all getting into the act.  We’re getting real-time updates from team cars as the races progress. And race organizers themselves are Tweeting information for fans attending the races on a regular basis: where to park, where to watch from, after race events, and much more.

http://mashable.com/2009/02/26/twitter-cyclists/

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Article lists a few big names like Levi Leipheimer, Ivan Basso, Christian Vande Velde, George Hincapie, Dave Zabriski, Mick Rogers.. the list goes on.

And here’s another article with about 400 cycling related Twitter-ers.

Of course, we’re on Twitter too: http://www.twitter.com/bccycling

Sastre rode great today, ultimately getting the victory atop Alpe d’Huez.  But even more important was the work of the Schleck brothers.  Andy and Frank’s attacking and subsequent covering of attacks essentially destroyed any chance of the chase group maintaining any contact with Mr. Sastre today.  Furthermore, it appeared to me that Valverde and the Schleck brothers, while on different teams, were in “cahoots” together.  There was certainly a lot of chatter and head nods between the three.  Anyway, I guess the question is whether or not Evan can beat Sastre by enough time to take the jersey on Saturday. 

My hopes for Christian Vande Velde breaking away and gaining some time after his crash yesterday  proved to be futile.  He did attack a couple of times, but for the most part he was glued to wheels all the way up Alpe d’Huez.  I really question whether or not he can podium at this point, even with a good time trial.  I hope he can, but it is looking tough at this point.  But I guess that’s why they race.

You’ve probably already seen this Graham Watson photo on Velo News, but I like it so much I put it up here too.  Sorry for the redundancy.

Two of the good guys in the peloton

Remember the ’80’s?  Collars turned up, preppy was in?  Men wearing pink?  Well history is repeating itself at the Giro.

You can’t tell me that the sight of Team Slipstream at the front of the peloton for two days did not give you a smile.  Last year, we talked about the Men in Black.  Now we are talking about the Men in Argyle.  

With Christian Vande Velde wearing pink, just seemed natural to the whole ensamble.  If we can only get Izod to sponsor the team then all will be complete

Image from cyclingnews.com

Great job to Christian Vande Velde winning the stage 2b time trial at the Circuit de la Sarthe. It is Slipstreams first win since Julian Dean won the New Zealand national championship in January. Christian is now in 2nd overall by 1 second to Thomas Voekler. Great job Christian! Here is Slipstream’s report on the day of racing.