Reason #426 I’m looking forward to to Het Volk: it’s neither a ProTour event, nor owned by Grand-Tour organizers ASO, RCS or Unipublic (henceforth referred to on Cyclocosm as The Cartel), and thus provides a much needed reprieve deLaclosian squabble raging between those two camps. After months of posturing, threats and fruitless negotiation, the fact remains that no one has any clue exactly what’s going on.
Eurosport says at least six teams plan to defy a recent UCI ruling and attend Paris-Nice. Cyclingnews claims no one’s doing anything until a meeting of team managers on Saturday. But so long as events like Het Volk provide fierce competition and a top-level field, my frustration doesn’t come from a lack of clear informtation on this debate; instead, it stems from the fact that, like 100% of the people in cycling not named Pat, Christian or Jean-Marie, I just don’t care.
America is still abuzz from the Tour of California. Record attendances, the best racing of the year thus far, and tifosi spirit, thousands of miles away from the fat, old white guys that run this sport, suggest to me that cycling would benefit immensely from more high-profile racing on this side of the pond. After all, one of the major reasons for the creation of the ProTour was to advance the profile of non-TdF bike races, but after only two years, the ToC is already bigger than many ProTour events. One could make similar claims for the antipodean Tour Down Under and Tour de Georgia.
I’m not saying America, or anywhere else in the world, will be a magic bullet land of milk and honey for the sport. After all, Het Volk’s a great, idiocy-free race, and it takes place in Flanders, the heart of cycling’s establishment. And Last year’s drug testing gaffe at the ToC would have been a major embarrassment had it broke during or shortly after the race. And, as I have long maintained, the American media still has a ways to go (“supercharge” is one word, and what exactly does that have to do with bike racing?), though I feel like once more people take an interest, the wheat will be separated from the chaff.
At any rate, I’d take a bumbling reporter or two over administrators and organizers seemingly bent on their own destruction any day of the week.
Absolutely! At this point, I think it’s the “fat, old white guys” who are the problem. They can’t agree on anything, whether it’s races or doping. They suck. BTW, what’s your opinion of CSA’s anti-doping bracelet campaign? I find their mags now depressing and holier-than-thou at the same time.
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The breakaway riders were: Greg van Avermaet (BMC jerseys), Oliver Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Guillaume Bonnafond (ag2r mondiale jerseys), Evgeni Petrov (Astana) and Johannes Frohlinger (Skil-Shimano). Sylvain Chavanel (quick step jerseys) had been part of both breakaways, but ended up back in the peloton.
On the 2nd Cat climb of the Portillo de Lunada; Oliver Kaisen looked to be the strongest as he led the break, behind the work was being done by Vacansoleil-DMC. Marzio Bruseghin (Movistar) and Mathias Frank (BMC) rode off from the peloton, they were soon joined by the KOM mountains leader; David Moncoutie (cofidis jerseys) and made their way up to the leaders to catch them before the top. Geox-TMC took over the chase work with Denis Menchov setting the pace for the race leader; Juan José Cobo.
At the top of the Portillo de Lunada trek cycling jerseys; Guillaume Bonnafond was first with David Moncoutie second adding to his KOM points, the bunch were at 39 seconds. At the bottom of the long, fast descent; bunch and break were together at San Roque de Riomiera with 32 kilometres to the finishing climb. Pablo Lastras (movistar cycling jerseys) and Andrey Kashechkin (astana jerseys) tried their best to get away, but they were given no chance by Geox.