Alberto Contador heard the bad news crackle on his earpiece early in Wednesday’s fourth stage at the Mallorca Challenge and then uncorked a rage-fueled solo attack across the rainy mountains. The 25-year-old yelled with emotion to a Spanish television camera: “Astaná, en el Tour!” he said, defiantly grabbing his jersey. “Astaná, in the Tour!”
Amaury Sport Organization, the company that owns the Tour de France announced Wednesday that the Astana team of defending champion Alberto Contador will not be invited to compete in that race or in any other event it organizes in 2008.
When Johan Bruyneel, Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and many of their Discovery Channel colleagues switched allegiance to the Astana team last fall they knew there was a risk that their new team might be excluded from events organized Amaury Sport Organisation — including the 2008 Tour de France. Now that ASO has done just that, we aren’t surprised, but like UCI president Pat McQuaid, we “can’t understand” the logic of ASO bosses Patrice Clerc and Christian Prudhomme’s decision.
Alberto Contador and his Astaná teammates might not be racing in July, but Vuelta a España officials were quick to say that the team is welcome in the season’s final grand tour. Vuelta director Victor Cordero told the Spanish wire agency EFE that the Spanish tour will not follow the lead taken by the Giro d’Italia and the Tour to exclude Astaná and said he hopes to see the team for the Vuelta start in Granada on Aug. 30.
Lost amid Wednesday’s headlines was the official release of the invited teams for the upcoming 66th edition of Paris-Nice. The “Race to the Sun” will have a strong American presence with both High Road and Slipstream-Chipotle earning bids. Twenty teams with eight riders each will take the start March 9 with a 4.3km opening prologue in Amilly. The race concludes per recent tradition on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice on March 16. Route details have not been released.
The Mailbag is a regular department on VeloNews.com. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have read in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to webletters@insideinc.com. Please include your full name, hometown and state or nation. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. Writers are encouraged to limit their submissions to one letter per month.
He'd won the first three bunch sprints, but each time there had been a breakaway ahead. Nonetheless, Alberto Loddo’s Tinkoff teammates continued to believe in him, so on Tuesday they sacrificed everything for him, only to see him boxed in at the finish. It was all for nothing. By this time last year he'd already won two stages and was on his way to a hat trick.
The chart above shows how hard is was for Mario Aerts to maintain a consistent pace within the 2007 Solvang time trial.
This chart highlights the Sierra Rd climb where Mario Aerts averaged 385w for 20 minutes in the 2007 Tour of California.
This chart shows Mario Aert’s Training Stress Score (TSS), total kJ’s, maximum 6-minute value and maximum 20-minute value for each stage of the 2007 Tour of California.
Training Stress Score (TSS)- The TSS represents a calculated number that takes into account the duration and intensity of a workout to arrive at a single score of the overall training load and physiological stress created by that session. One hour of functional threshold (as hard as you can go for one hour) = 100 Training Stress Score points.
Lance Borrows MTB Kerrville TX 1993 Post Worlds
The members of Team High Road introduced themselves to their new neighbors over the weekend at Art's Cyclery in San Luis Obispo, California. High Road recently registered its headquarters in the California town, making it the sole American ProTour team this season. High Road manager Bob Stapleton introduced the athletes — some of whom were straight off a training ride as part of a team camp — to a packed crowd at Art's Cyclery. City mayor Dave Romero, also on hand, said he was thrilled to have a team of High Road's caliber based out of his town.
It is often said that races are won - and lost - in the off season. One thing is certain: The rider who steps to the top of the podium on the last day of 2008 Tour of California has surely been training with rock-solid focus over these past few months, and those who haven’t will soon pay the price. The Tour of California is back with a vengeance.
Steep climbs couldn’t slow down the peloton in Tuesday’s third stage at the Mallorca Challenge. Despite tackling some of the steepest roads in Mallorca’s dazzling Tramuntana range, the peloton came through for another mass sprint in the 168.4km stage from Pollença to Alcúdia.
The High Road professional cycling team announced a partnership with Right To Play in an effort to increase awareness of the charitable organization and in turn help improve the lives of children through the power of sport and play.
“Right To Play’s values and mission align with those of High Road. They develop the values and benefit of sport and play in society. Team High Road focuses on clean and fair sport and upon success won by fair means. We believe in the global work of Right To Play and hope that we can help, “says Team High Road owner, Bob Stapleton.
U.S.
A forced time-out can sometimes be a good thing. As long as you're allowed to return to what you did before, have the strength to come back and deal with the consequences, it can make you a better rider. Perhaps even a better man.
Teams are on edge this week with growing uncertainty about who will be invited to the 2008 Tour de France. Amaury Sports Organisation is heightening that anxiety ahead of Wednesday’s expected release of Paris-Nice invitations in what’s seen as the clearest signal for things to come ahead of the Tour.
Dear Lennard,
I'm confused about the BB30 design. How do they increase the spindle diameter from 24mm to 30mm and put the same sized bearings inside the BB shell? Is a larger diameter BB shell the design change the article mentions?
James
Dear James,
Yes, the bottom bracket shell is larger. Here are specs: www.bb30standard.com.
Lennard
There’s a new title sponsor in domestic road racing this year, one that has already built a growing legacy in the sport. Bissell, the Grand Rapids, Michigan-based floor-care products company, enters its sixth year in pro-cycling sponsorship. Bissell's support for the sport began in 2003 with the U.S. Postal Service team. From 2005 to 2007 the company co-sponsored Discovery Channel, and last year it co-sponsored the Priority Health continental team. When that company scaled back its commitment, Bissell stepped in as title sponsor.
This time the sprinters got it right. A day after Philippe Gilbert (Francaise des Jeux) upset the peloton’s fastest men with a late-stage attack, the sprinters got it back on track Monday in the second stage at the Mallorca Challenge in Spain’s Balearic islands. A heavily bearded Graeme Brown (Rabobank) won easily ahead of Denis Flahaut (Saunier Duval) and Gert Steegmans (QuickStep) in an eight-up sprint that saw the bunch splinter in the late going in the 162.7km rolling stage across eastern Mallorca from Cala Millor to Son Servera.
It takes three generations of a single Italian family to make the Ghisallo rims, crafted from Slovenian beech using a laminated construction method that doesn’t produce a seam. Hjertberg sells them for $175 apiece.
Ric Hjertberg was at the show with the Italian wooden rims he imports. “They have DNA,” he says, “and they’re incredibly lively.” They’re also quite durable — he has nine months of everyday commuting on a pair of the wooden clinchers he imports. He also brings in two tubular rims: One weighs a mere 320 grams; the other, 420.
Shimano used the Handmade Show to unveil its 29er wheel. The nine in the graphic is a snake. Snakes eat frogs; if that’s an indication, the competition should look out. The wheels are built on a XT platform with 24 spokes, a 7075-T6 aluminum rim and XT freehub body. The set weighs 1810 grams and will be available in July.
The Grognard from the front.
The bar McCormick built has a purposefully large, flat top, palm-sized bullhorns and an integrated brake lever.
Its dropouts are hand cut, something craftsman Dave McCormick will do in any custom build.
Grognard Bicycle built this special fixie for the show.
Romano and Norstad built it up using Paragon’s junk bins.
The owners of VeloNews have entered into an agreement for the sale of the magazine, its website and parent company, Inside Communications Inc., to Competitor Group Inc., a recently formed private equity-financed media company based in San Diego, California. The deal, announced to staff on Friday, is intended to add needed financial clout to VeloNews and other ICI divisions, including VeloPress, VeloGear, VeloSwap and Inside Triathlon magazine.
Romano couldn’t throw the CAD scraps away, so he saved them for four years and molded the Garbage Fiber 3000.
Franco Romano, who was sharing space with Norstad at the show, builds CAD cut carbon frames using T-700 fiber.
Norstad, who has enough tubing for three more ti' couches, estimates this one's price at $16,000.
Norstad’s titanium couch. The titanium rods were originally made for medical usage as femur implants but when tested had too much iron in the alloy. They came to Norstad in a bundle 1.5 feet wide by 20 feet long. The couch took 300 hours to complete and is built on an aluminum frame. He has enough tubing for three more and estimates its price at $16,000.
Paragon’s business: All the little bits and pieces to build a bike.
Mark Norstad of Paragon Machine Works explains the intricacies of one of his bottle openers.
Moon's britches come in two styles, shorts and plus fives for men and women. The plus fives are shorter than pants and longer than knickers. The herringbone series Britches will cost $170.
Sheila Moon previewed her Herringbone Riding Britches at the show. She had her regular Riding Britches on sale for $100; they were a hit with the Portland crowd.
Fi’zi:k had three brown and black saddles at the show with matching brown Microtex handlebar tape. The styles fit the scene well.
The Brooks saddle booth had a fitting flat screen and the will, so the crowd grew.
Someone was looking for a good place to show a San Francisco-made messenger movie.
Nobilette also had a few customers’ bikes on display as well, including this custom white cyclocross bike.
Mark Nobilette, a builder from Longmont, Colorado, had a few frames on display. This one was built especially for the show.
SyCip's fixie sported matching tidbits, including the steel bar-and-stem combination.
The SyCip has a unique braking (or at least velocity-damping) system. It has a Formula Oro brake attached to its downtube and a rotor attached to the custom White Industries crank arm. Obviously, since the gear is fixed, the brake slows both cranks and the bike.
SyCip had one of the most-talked-about fixed-gear messenger bikes on the floor.
Actor and comedian Robin Williams was both admiring and admired.
Gravity racer Brian Lopes also visited, and he, too, seemed genuinely intrigued by the fine craftsmanship on display.
Lance Armstrong was in attendance, though there wasn’t a Trek in sight.
Hometown pride was on display for Portland, Oregon, and the builders who live and work there.
Exhibit hall C was packed to capacity with bike geeks for three days.
The North American Handmade Bicycle Show was quite a draw this year for boutique frame builders and their fans — including Lance Armstrong, Brian Lopes and Robin Williams.
Monday's podium: from left, Won Jae Lee (Seoul Cycling), Mathieu Sprick (Bouygues Telecom), Anuar Manan (Letua Cycling Team) and Shinichi Fukushima (Meitan Hompo GDR).