Rocacorba Daily: Friday March 15

The weekend is nearly upon us but before we get there, why not have a read of today’s Rocacorba Daily? We continue our build-up to Sunday’s Milan-San Remo, share some tech stories, feature a handful of great videos and even share details of an interesting cycling-related job opportunity. Is there anything you think we should include in the Rocacorba? Let us know: editor@cyclingtips.com.au

Oceania Road Championships are underway

The 2013 Oceania Road Cycling Championships have begun in Canberra and we’ve already seen defending champion Paul Odlin (NZL) and Australia’s Taryn Heather (VIC) claim the elite time trials.

In wet and slippery conditions, Odlin prevailed in the 40km men’s event over Ben Dyball (NSW) by less than three seconds, with teammate Joseph Cooper finishing third. Heather had a more convincing victory in her 25km time trial, finishing almost one minute clear of Grace Sulzberger (TAS) and Ruth Corset (QLD).

Reigning Australian champion Damian Howson (SA) claimed the honours in the under-23 category, with his Jayco-AIS World Tour Academy teammates Campbell Flakemore (TAS) and Adam Phelan (ACT) rounding out the podium.

It is a rest day for the athletes today, with the Championships to continue tomorrow with the under-19 women’s and elite women’s road races.

Starters for the elite races include Cameron Meyer, Will Walker, Darren Lapthorne, Luke Davison, Caleb Ewan, Alex Morgan, Alex Edmondson, Ruth Corset, Chloe Hosking, Carlee Taylor and Grace Sulzberger.

Click here to read more on the Cycling Australia website. And click here for live results from the 2013 Oceania Road Championships.

Red-hot Sagan looks for a victory at Milan-San Remo

Slovakian Peter Sagan will be among the big names to watch when Milan-San Remo kicks off the season of major cycling classics this weekend.

Although only 23 years old, Sagan is already regarded as one of cycling’s next big stars and could take his stock further with a maiden, historic history in “La Primavera” on Sunday.

The Slovakian highlighted his form with two stage victories in the Tirreno-Adriatico race last week when his former Liquigas teammate Vincenzo Nibali, now at Astana, triumphed for the second year in succession.

Click here to read the full article.

Miserable weather forecast for Milan-San Remo

As if racing a nearly-300km cycling Monument wasn’t hard enough, the weather for Sunday’s Milan-San Remo is looking ordinary, to say the least. Depending on which forecast you believe, the top temperature for Milan will be somewhere between 6-8ºC and rain looks almost certain to affect the race. There are also suggestions that the riders will face snow as they ride the course’s highest point, the Passo del Turchino.

By the time the riders reach San Remo and the shores of the Mediterranean, the temperature is set to be a balmy 8ºC with heavy rain.

Some interesting stats about Milan-San Remo

British cycling website Cycling Weekly has published an article featuring some interesting stats about the 103 editions of the Milan-San Remo race.

“Only 44 riders have won solo, [Fabian] Cancellara was the last in 2008. The race has seen 22 bunch sprints, including the year Cavendish won [2009]. He was one of 16 riders to win in their race debut. At 20, he was the youngest winner since Eddy Merckx, but not as young as Ugo Agostoni in 1914. Agostoni was also 20, but born earlier in the year,” read the article.

“Merckx won a record seven times. Over the years, organiser RCS Sport tried to make its one-day classic harder. In 1960, director Vincenzo Torriani added the Poggio. The Cipressa arrived in 1982, followed by Le Mànie in 2008.”

Click here to read more on Cycling Weekly.

World Champion Gilbert is just another name at Milan-San Remo

Philippe Gilbert (BMC) has won most big one-day races, including all the Ardennes Classics and last year, the World Championships. But he wants to add a few more to his palmarès, including the Tour of Flanders and Milan-San Remo. For the latter of these, this Sunday, Gilbert has said he is just one of many favourites.

“There are 20 or 30 names and I am just another,” Gilbert told VeloNews. “The most important thing is [to] not be a favourite, but to have the legs.”

The Belgian has twice placed third in San Remo. He indicated he will need to win from an attack on the Poggio, like Simon Gerrans did last year.

“If there’s an attack on the Poggio, it depends on which riders are there and if there are others coming from behind. … It’s like any classic. You have to be fast.”

Click here to read more on VeloNews.

Critérium du Dauphiné route leaked

The Critérium du Dauphiné stage race will start in Switzerland this year and will include two new summit finishes, according to a news report. Dauphiné Libéré, the French newspaper that used to organise the event, anticipated the route announcement on Monday.

“A Swiss start, no prologue and novel summit finishes,” read the article. “The 65th Critérium du Dauphiné will have some surprises this June.”

Organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) will officially announce the route on April 15. The Critérium du Dauphiné is one of the most important lead-up races to the Tour de France and is often used by Tour contenders to test their form before the biggest race of the year.

Click here to read more at the Dauphiné Libéré website.

Team Sky Tenerife training video

Here’s a great little video produced by Team Sky featuring a bunch of riders training at Tenerife. With no internet and with very few English-language TV channels at their hotel, not to mention the Spring Classics just around the corner, the team has had little excuse not to train hard. Luckily, it looks like a pretty great place to ride.

Armstrong hoping for forgiveness

Lance Armstrong believes people will forgive and forget his doping and lies in the way they forgave US President Bill Clinton his indiscretions.

“Ultimately … remember the good stuff you did,” Armstrong told Texas Monthly in a lengthy interview. He mentioned Clinton and added, “He’s my hero.”

In 1998 Clinton admitted to having had an “improper physical relationship” with an intern, Monica Lewinsky. As the Texas Monthly points out, however, “Clinton had fared better. In print and on the internet, across the country and around the globe, reviews of Lance’s cold, careful [admission on Oprah Winfrey in January] had been universally scathing: he was a narcissist, a sociopath, a douche bag.”

“It’s been a bloodbath,” Armstrong added. “But we expected that.”

Click here to read more on Texas Monthly.

Want to become a professional cyclist?

If you’re looking to join the ranks of cycling’s elite, you could do worse than to check out these words of wisdom from Michael Rogers, Neil Stephens, Daryl Impey, Stuart O’Grady and Matt Goss.

Cervélo’s new 667g frame could be yours for just $10,000

Cervélo has revealed the second frameset to come out of its Southern California research and development facility, the RCA. Cervélo co-founder Phil White said the new RCA frame is the result of two years of materials work and frame analysis.

Engineers were given the task of taking the already light and stiff R5ca frameset and making it even lighter and more aerodynamic, while retaining stiffness. With a recommended retail price of $10,000, the RCA is essentially a concept bike which allows Cervélo to reveal new technologies that can be trickled down to other models.

The RCA weighs in at 667 grams, about 30 grams lighter than the R5. Cervélo claims the new frameset reduces aero drag by 7.4 watts compared to the R5 and up to 10.2 watts compared to other road bikes on the market.

Click here to read more on the Cervelo website. Click here to watch a promo video. And click here to read more on VeloNews.

Custom-made Garmin mount

Morten Tillquist has made a bit of a name for himself in internet circles for making his own custom pieces of equipment, including cycling gear. Check out this YouTube video in which Tillquist machines his own custom Garmin mount. And before you ask: no, they’re not available for sale.

Click here, here, and here to see images of the completed mount.

UCI looking for social media coordinator

Don’t worry: we aren’t going to turn the Rocacorba into a jobs board, but this gig looks pretty interesting. The UCI is looking for a Social Media Coordinator to “engage with cycling’s many fans, followers and friends” and much more. The salary appears to be “70%-100% flexible” but we’re not quite sure what that means. But we are sure that the UCI could only benefit from a good social media presence.

Click here to read the job description.

3 Peaks Challenge highlights video

The team at Bicycle Network Victoria has produced a cracking video featuring some of the highlights from last Sunday’s 3 Peaks Challenge. Click here to watch the video and click here to read Wade’s write-up of what was a very tough and gruelling day on the bike.

Did you make it to the video?

CyclingTips kit pre-orders: last day!

And finally, this is your last day to pre-order the fluoro CyclingTips kit. We won’t be doing another run of this, and the design will change hereafter. Click here for order details.

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