Now that’s how a one-day race is supposed to end. 30k of attacks while the creme de la creme try to whittle each other down. DiLuca and Schleck making the-all-or-nothing move at 4k; Valverde, stuck back in the group, trying to will the field back together; the daring jumps by DiLuca and Valverde as they…
Tag: The Cartel
Bjarne, Basso, and Bonehead Europeans
Ah, [inhales deeply] no racing today! (Ok, well, a little racing. But I’m gonna ignore it.) Nothing to fetter my otherwise irrepressible polemicism! I’ll begin with Bjarne Riis, who regrets nothing about the Ivan Basso affair. Bjarne, you bald-headed hypocrite, just a few months ago you were pining away like a jilted lover. You can’t…
Wevelgem Recap, Stupid Statist Tricks
Man, I sure can pick ’em. My call for today’s Gent Wevelgem was Daniele Bennati; DNS. But hey, the guy who did win the race, Marcus Burghardt, has been on my list since Het Volk. It’s nice way to open your pro account – rocking the top-step in a one-day ProTour classic. And T-Mobile –…
Cobbles Only, Weveglem, What Do You Mean It's Legal?
I’m sorry, folks, but the Tour of Pais Vasco really isn’t cutting it for me. Some dude named “Cobo”? When are all these big guns gonna throw down? Valverde? Sammy Sanchez? Where you at? Ok, yeah, you could say that Tricki Beltran is a pretty big name – a big name domestique. I see these…
Kloden Wraps Up T-A, The Real Season Begins
Stick a fork in the ’07 pre-season, kids – it’s done. Down-again/up-again Andreas Kloden held on to win Tirreno-Adriatico, perhaps reminding Team Astana’s enemies in The Cartel that the Kazakh squad’s talent more than outweighs Rene Haselbacher’s incessant crashes. Anyway, Het Volk, Paris-Nice and T-A are big, important events, but the season begins in earnest…
McEwen Wins at T-A, Another Small Name at P-N
And the winner of today’s Paris-Nice crapshoot is…Alexandr Kolobnev. I’ll overlook his inability to spell his own name aside, and instead glumly focus on the fact that he won in a breakaway while using a Carbon Soloist – intolerable train of Cycling.TV Cervelo ads, here we come. Fortunately, there was another ProTour event today at…
New UCI Dope Plan, More Cartel Fun
I love the fact that the Associated Press has a style guide. It’s kind of like Oprah giving advice on debt management; the author isn’t exactly an expert on the subject. Take this article (please!) – it’s not the misleading statements, gross oversimplifications, or flat-out inaccuracies; it’s the limp-wristed prose that hurts.
ProTour Crisis Averted, Paris-Nice a Go
Cycling is kind of like James Bond in that it has a habit of defusing bombs with exactly 0:07 left on the timer – not at the last second, but perilously close. It’s also like James Bond in that its recurring long-term problems never get properly addressed. Take doping, for example; the fact that Operation…
Het Volk Previews; I'm Wrong Twice Already
There’s nothing like the giddy thrill of a season-opening race in which there is no clear favorite (except for that one guy who is always a clear favorite for every race until June or so…) to take the mind off darker news. Here are previews from Cyclingnews and Pez; if the map looks familiar to…
Unibet Rips Me Off, ASO's Finger on the Button
Why do I suddenly feel like a Band-Aid? Because I just got ripped off. Mere hours after coining the phrase myself, much–maligned ProTour neophytes Unibet.com issued a statement entitled “Do not wreck the European bike” that said, in part (my boldface): “We feel strongly victimized by the cartel ASO, RCS Sport and Unipublic…The cartel wants…