Brad Wiggins is a forgetful guy. First off, he obviously misplaced his Garmin-Slipstream aero lid, and was forced to pair his Robin’s Egg and Creamsicle Argyle skinsuit with an obviously uncomplimentary Union Jack helmet. His resulting detention by the fashion police doubtlessly cost him the stage (he was only :02 out), but the Brit seemed…
Tag: Race Coverage
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…
Cancellara Makes It Look Easy; Astana Makes It Look Hard
“I took it easy on the climb because I didn’t want to have problems with lactic acid building up in my legs” – Fabian Cancellara Excuse me? Fabian Cancellara buries the entire field by 18 seconds, in a TT that went over a Category 4 climb and he took it easy? Man, forget holding the…
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]…
Sastre's Win Still Doesn't Take Cervelo Off the Hook
I bet that out there, somewhere, are people who think today’s Giro win by Carlos Sastre somehow justifies the ridiculousness of the Cervelo Test Team’s tactical blunder yesterday. From the moment the team car pulled alongside Serge Pauwels, the squad has been trying to explain away what was nothing but team mismanagement, pure and simple….
It's Not Right, But It's OK
That’s how I’d describe the rider reaction to today’s stage in Milan. Granted, the the 25 corners over 15k weren’t exactly easy, but it’s nothing pro riders can’t handle. I’ll agree the parked cars are a problem, but there are parked cars all over the Spring Classics, too. Would you rather see them on a…
EBH Unleashing the Dragon
Edvald Boasson Hagen is rapidly turning into one of the best riders of his generation, and I’ve gotta say, I love watching him win. Today’s Giro stage was a quality addition to his palmares, especially given the conditions and the presence of Robbie Hunter, one of the better sprinters in the pro peloton, in the…
First-Week Equilibirum at the 2009 Giro
Six stages in, and I think the GC has reached something approaching stable. Yes, there are still hills coming, and yes, disaster could strike any moment CVV-style, but for the most part, I think the party won’t get going again until after Sunday’s SuperCrit in Milan. Running back through the results, I see ample fodder…