Cycling has found its Mr. October: Murilo Fisher. Dude is blowing up. Worlds (ok, so not technicnally in October, but c’mon, he was riding for Brazil…) – 5th place. Last week, he won at GP Beghelli rocking Paolo Bettini mere days after Bettini’s beatdown of pretty much everyone at Zurich. Then today, at Giro del Piemonte he won in a bunch sprint over Paride Grillo and Stehpen DeJongh. Asked about his chances at Lombardy on Sunday, the 26-year-old says “I don’t believe I have a big chance to win.” Well, that’s good; it would be a shame if everyone had to rewrite their race previews. If those aren’t enough to whet your appetite, the news that both Danilo DiLuca and Luca Paolini (scroll down slightly) are good to go for the race, in addition to these sweet insider reports from Pez oughta get you going.
Meanwhile, back in the US of A, component manufacturer SRAM (which has eaten such reputable parts companies as Sachs, Truvativ, and Avid, amongst others), finally revealed today (because it would be too complicated to have done it last week at Interbike…) how all that acquired tech got put to use. It’s called DoubleTapâ„¢, and it shifts by two different motions in the same direction with the same lever. Sound stupid? Well, I agree; it seems like Shimano’s infuriating Dual Shift system, but mercifully, with the shifter seperated from the brake lever. Also, SRAM continues to propagate the myth that an indexed front shifter is necessary. Folks, on a double, there’s only two options: Big Ring or Small Ring. With a friction shifter, you have an infinity of space to adjust and trim; sure, the intermediate clicks on STI and Ergopower are nice, but the best front shifts I’ve ever had have been from the downtube. Still, the cyclingnews guys seemed to like it, so it couldn’t be that bad. No word on whether DoubleTapâ„¢ will offer a triple, leaving Harry and Lloyd to continue their debate.
Finally, yesterday, you may have heard me complaining about how teams never release their transfer news all in one bunch. Well, I stand corrected. Those boys and girls over at Tailwind sure know how to run a team. Now the only question mark for Disco next year is “Who’s the boss?” Many speculate on Yaroslav Popvich, who won the maillot blanc for being the highest placed GC rider under 25 in this year’s TdF, as well as taking the overall in the 2005 Tour of Catalunya, a week-long ProTour stage race. But young Popo, divulges Disco DS Dirk Demol (note the alliteration), is not ready. I guess it could be a two-headed sort of team, as Roger Hammond crossed with George Hincapie might look something like Tony Danza, although Disco’s evil mastermind Johan Bruyneel doesn’t look a thing like Mona. Ah well, I guess we’ll just have to wait until next season to find out.
isn’t the maillot blanc for u26, not u25?
This page says “Under 25.” But I think they mean “any age below and including 25,” because Popo (DOB: 1/04/80) was 25 when he won the white jersey on 7/24/05.
So if by “u26” you mean “below but not including 26,” then yes, you are correct. But if instead you mean “any age 26 or lower,” (which, if I remember youth soccer, is what u26 means), then no.
yeah, in cycling, u26 means under, but not including, 26. like espoirs, which are u23. the oldest you can be is 22