Maybe you thought that Erik Zabel ended his T-Mobile career with a win back in October? Well, seems you were wrong. The Green-Jersey-Wearingest rider in the history of cycling didn’t totally finish racing for T-Mobile until today, when he and Rolf Aldag defeated all comers at the Dortmund Six-Day. Given the, uh, somewhat shady history of the sixes, this fairy tale ending might be a bit too perfect for the more cynical readers of Cyclocosm, but with nearly three decades of racing between them (and at freakin’ T-Mobile no less), I’ve got no inclination to scrutinize their victory too closely.
As the carnival atmosphere of the six-day attempts to make cycling readily accessible to the bored European TV viewer, so too does the Red Bull Road Rage attempt to insert road biking into the truncated attention span of a 14-year-old American. Among the glitterati slated (scroll down) to shoot down California’s Tuna Canyon as fast as humanly possible this weekend are Postie/Disco rider Tony Cruz, former maillot jaune Steve Bauer, facial tattoo enthusiast David Clinger, Olympic medal winner Marty Nothstein, and downhill MTB legends Marla Streb and Brian Lopes. Also on hand (sadly, just for commentator duties) will be the incomprable and occasionally naked Bob Roll. Califonia is also aiming to play host to the next Great American Stage Race. And apparently EPO maker AMGEN wants to sponsor it. Rather than being just a terribly ironic coincedence, the company actually wants to give back to the sport it nearly destroyed in the late 90’s. No word yet on if Miller plans to follow suit by opening an “Olde English 800 Community Development Center” in East LA.
Now fast and sloppy through the rest of the day’s news: As previously reported here (sort of) Inigo Cuesta is going to CSC next season, along with Volodymir Gustov. Curious about Saunier Duval for 2006? Wonder no more, thanks to the good people at Daily Peloton. And here’s some tech news from last month’s London Show, along with two product reviews, and some technical clarifications from Lennard Zinn. Finally, a world court today awarded the Lance Armstrong Foundation rights to three domain names with the word “livestrong” in the title. URLs are so cheap these days that it seems any moron can just hope on the internet and make their own page.