When Bonnie Ford leaked news of Lance Armstrong’s new sponsor, many an eyebrow was raised. Radio Shack? It would be like Manchester United getting sponsored by Poundstrecher, noted one British commentator; it just doesn’t make sense. After all, a surprisingly large number of pixels has been scattered on the notion that cycling is the new…
Tag: Analysis
Riding the Leadout Train
Barry Hoban, who’s spent the past two years losing his legacy as England’s Greatest Sprinter to Mark Cavendish, was never a fan of Mario Cipollini. Aside from the Italian’s inevitable Grand Tour abandons and grandiose showmanship between stages, I think Hoban also took issue with the fact that Cipollini did so little work coming into…
How The Race Was Won – Stage 15 – 2009 Tour de France
Finally! Back to GC action and Contador delivers. It certainly wasn’t a knockout blow, though. I’ll have plenty to say about this tomorrow, but for the time being, I’ll let the video do the talking. It’s also up on YouTube, but let’s try not to tell the ASO about it this time, yeah? [right-click for…
Stage 4 By The Numbers
A tight, crash-heavy parcours, riders dropping off the pace left and right, a symbolic surge to the line by a snubbed favorite, and frantic, split-second calculations after the last team’s finish. Stage 4’s Team Time Trial has delivered on what is rapidly becoming one of the most exciting TdF first weeks in recent memory—and a…
Great Minds Think Alike
From my twitter feed today. Literally within seconds of each other: I didn’t see even a second of footage from after today’s stage got interesting, and from what I can tell, neither did anyone watching Versus. My frustration at this is countered only by my anticipation of the awesome spectacle as Astana continues to spin…
2009 Tour de France – Stage 2 – How The Race Was Won
Stage 2 of the 2009 Tour de France—in useful video analysis form! Some early-race crashes and good racing over the final kilometers. Watch the picture-perfect leadout by Columbia-Highroad HTC and hope they aren’t this effective for the next three weeks. I had a fairly clear schedule yesterday, so I figured I’d put another one of…
WADA's 8-Year-Snitch
If you had been unceremoniously dumped from your team for “abnormal blood values”, and knew that any samples you had given any dope tester over the past 8 years could be rescrutinized ad infinitum, why on Earth would you ever stop doping? Thomas Dekker’s lousy performances this season might just indicate that the cessation of…
The Four Impossibilities of Radio-Free Racing
It’s not like I haven’t covered this before, but I feel I ought to touch again on the radio issue. With two stages of this year’s Tour de France to be run radio-free, there’s a significant groundswell of support for the out-and-out prohibition of radios in professional cycling. I’ve characterized this group—largely for comic effect—as…
Astana's Tour Selection is a Ticking Bomb
I like Johan Bruyneel. I think he’s a savvy, solid DS, knows how to play out a good hand as well as anyone, and can handle the occasional a curveball. He even has a book, and apparently, it’s a decent read. But I think, some years down the road, if anyone ever writes book about…
How The Race Was Won – 2009 Giro d'Italia Stages 3-6
Ah, only two weeks and 10 stages behind schedule, we have the exciting second installment of the How the Race Was Won Giro coverage. An exciting sprint, some hill stages, crashes, Lance getting dropped (repeatedly) some nonsense tactics, and a long breakaway. Makes a good rest day retrospective, I suppose. [right-click for iTunes compatible download]…