Diaries, diaries, diaries! With this level of rider contribution and feedback, you’d think the peloton had been overrun with 14-year-old girls. And if the diaries didn’t give you that impression, the headlines certainly might. But don’t try to pin Carlos Sastre down on that sort of preadolescent intruige; a Cyclingnews rest-day feature paints him as being all about the racing.
While the off-piste banter does add a bit to the sport, what makes cycling truly fantastic is the Man-Drama that occurs between start and finish lines, tending to accumulate toward the latter. Case in point: today’s Poland Tour stage. There aren’t enough superlatives for this before and after set; the lost radio in the center, Rene Hasselbacher floating eerily above it; Jimmy Caspar peeking out above the lunging Napolitano; Tyler Farrar’s inexplicably-directed gaze; and the Italian triumphant over the wreckage of his enemies.
Now, you’d think with Graeme Brown and Crashelbacher side by side like that, one of them must have been at fault. But word is it was Ciolek that started the fracas, and not for the first time, either. Youngster might want to consider staying off the barriers in the future, or at least think about pursuing safer sprints, like those in a small group, or the central US. Check out Zabel and Petacchi from today’s Vuelta stage if you want to see the Euro group gallop thing done right.
