Monday Musette - Paris-Nice Wrap-Up, Sad News from Poland, & One Great Ride

Here’s today’s Monday Musette:

1. Let’s begin with yesterday’s completion of Paris-Nice, where Astana’s Alberto Contador kept his cool to survive an onslaught of attacks from Caisse d’Epargne to win his second Paris-Nice. Give me some credit for predicting the top-3—even though I had Contador and Valverde in the wrong positions.

Here’s what we noticed:
--Astana and Katusha work well together. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I found it interesting to see Katusha—not Astana—setting the pace at several points during yesterday’s stage. Were they trying to place Joaquim Rodriguez higher on the GC? Maybe, but more likely a deal was made where Katusha offered support to Astana for a favor to-be-named-later.

--Peter Sagan’s for real. At one point, I thought he was going to win a third stage on Saturday. Liquigas heads to Milan with perhaps the strongest overall team for Saturday’s La Primavera. If they’re smart, they’ll work to keep the young Slovakian tucked safely near the front of the pack, ready for the attacks on the Cipressa and Poggio, as well as a possible small group sprint. He’ll be one of my top favorites in Friday’s Milan-San Remo Preview.

--Where was Levi Leipheimer? If you’re Johan Bruyneel, you’re worried.

--The French rode a respectable race, taking two stages and placing two riders in the top-10. Cofidis’s Reim Taaramae might be Estonian, but he rode a fantastic race as well—I might have learn how to spell his name as we could be seeing more of it.

--Watch-out for Sylvain Chavanel when we get to Belgium. He put in some attacks here and there during the week and is certainly hoping to be peaking in 10-days time. With Stijn Devolder conspicuously absent down in Italy, Chavanel looks to be Quick Step’s #2 man for the cobbled classics.

--Nicholas Roche appears closer and closer to earning a big win—he finished 11th in Paris-Nice. Look for a top-10 result this Saturday—if his team’s up to the challenge of keeping him in contention.

2. Moving to Tirreno-Adriatico, the action over the last 3 days has been pretty exciting as we’ve seen some difficult finishes. As we expected, Michele Scarponi and Stefano Garzelli seem to be waging a two-man civil war for the GC, while Cadel Evans lurks in 3rd. We’ll let the race finish tomorrow before making our final judgments, but for now I’ll say this: the next 3 weeks should be very exciting.

3. I wasn’t surprised to hear of the Szczepaniak brothers testing positive for EPO at Cyclocross Worlds this past January. And while I smirked at how obvious their transgressions were after the fact, I’m saddened to have heard the news of younger brother Kacper’s suicide attempt following the news. First of all, let’s hope the kids get some help as clearly they have bigger problems than giving back their medals. But the bigger question remains: when will we learn that doping goes beyond just being a cheater. It’s like faulting a student for failing an exam without considering the fact that they can’t read. Maybe there’s a better analogy, but at some point I hope the UCI, WADA, and the IOC devote some money to not only catching dopers, but also to researching why they do it in the first place.

4. Here are two great sites I found recently—one from New Zealand and one from Italy. They’re connected, but I’ll let you read to find out for yourself. Great stuff!

5. Thanks for finding this video, BQ. Close your eyes if you’re squeamish.

6. And finally, I don’t talk about my own riding too much, but yesterday I participated in a ride that was too good not to share. It’s called the Philadelphia Spring Classic; it’s unsanctioned, unadvertised, and unlisted—but if you know someone who knows someone, you can get the details. Occurring over 3 weeks, the Classic incorporates some of the dirtiest, narrowest, and craziest roads, trails, and paths Philadelphia has to offer. Each week is about 55 miles in length—If you ride all 3 “stages” you’ve completed the equivalent of a “real” classic and have earned the right to enjoy a cold stout and a warm cigar upon crossing the finish line.

Due to NAHBS and some family commitments last weekend, I was only able to partake in yesterday’s final stage—luckily the wind, rain, and cold temperatures arrived to celebrate my participation. What ensued was several hours of some of the most fun I’ve ever had on my bike including one crash (not me), several flats (not me), at least two flasks of hooch (okay, I had a little), several cans of sardine “nourishment” (not quite there yet), and one leg-cramping ascent up The Wall in Manayunk.

I’ll be certain to make arrangements for next year’s event well in advance—those cigars looked mighty satisfying.

As always, thanks for reading—share your comments below.

Turkey for Me, Turkey for You...

I’m still reeling from the video of yesterday’s final stage of the Tour of Turkey. What a way to bring the sport to new audiences! I hope ESPN includes it in this week's “Plays of the Week”. Maybe they can create a montage combining this footage with pictures of Tyler Hamilton winning Gold in Athens and Michael Ball firing riders to cut costs. (Don’t you hate it when a pet needs more care than you thought it did? "But Mommy, he looked soooo cute in the window.")

And we complain when our sport isn’t taken seriously.

While we’re at it, let’s take a minute to honor another example of field sprint shenanigans, this time courtesy of Sir Tom Steels. (And note the highlight at the end announcing Abdu's positive test. A nice touch!)



But back to Turkey, Theo Bos (the Rabobank rider) says it wasn’t deliberate. I can’t see how we are to believe him. There’s a difference between a tap on the thigh to let a rider know you’re there and grabbing a jersey and pulling it across your front wheel. Daryl Impey (Barloworld) fractured a vertabra and lost a tooth in the fall; but hey, Robbie McEwan’s willing to vouch for Bos, so maybe I should reconsider my stance. (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)

Speaking of dopes, read “The Dope Show” at The Service Course. Ryan continues to astound me with his wit and writing style. This post is a classic to be read and shared by all.

Do you know the Boulder resident of which he speaks? I think I do.

More things to consider:

1. Rule #1 when picking race winners: always go with your first instinct. It's lip service now, but when looking over the Start List prior to Amstel, Ivanov's named jumped out at me. Alas, I talked myself out of including him. Next time, when my gut tells me something, I'll listen. (Unless it might result in me breaking someone's back and teeth.)

2. If you haven't been paying attention, Jeremy over at the Embrocation blog was in Belgium and France for the cobbled classics. He's been posting terrific photos and videos from his travels. Click here for a brief but exciting video from the caravan at Roubaix. (Brings back memories for me. Remind me to tell you the story sometime of the Italian DS who threatened to run me off the road during a stage in Malaysia in 2001.)

3. Jeremy also took part in Rouleur's latest version of The Crazy Bet. The goal: to ride the entire courses of Flanders, Ghent, and Roubaix the day before each classic. They failed on Day 1, but the stories are still worth a look. My favorite is here, and details their experiences over the last 90km or so of Roubaix with Katusha.

4. Battenkill was this past weekend. I'll give something--once we have Pavé logos on something--to the first person to provide us with a Pavé-exclusive 1st-person account and photos. Here's an example.

5. And if you're in the Mid-Atlantic, be sure to head over to Ridelugged and check out the Spring Opener. It's certain to be a great day!

Enjoy your week!

Amstel Gold Race - Live Stream

If you have Windows Media Player, click here.

Otherwise, you might need to wait until 9:15EST when more coverage is set to begin.

Update #1: Unfortunately, I'm not getting reliable links to streams today. Maybe because I'm using a Mac? Others say the link above works, so hopefully you're able to enjoy the action.

Amstel Gold Race - Preview

Yes, this comes a bit late in the day (the soigneurs might even be stirring soon—or at least returning to their hotels after a night on the town), but there's still time to talk about tomorrow’s Amstel Gold Race.

A relatively “new” classic (this year is only the 44th), the Amstel Gold race used to be the final cherry on the Spring Classics sundae. However, following the recent calendar change, it now serves as the bridge between the cobbled and the Ardennes classics. Team trucks will drive east from Flanders and north from the Basque Country, exchanging bikes, equipment, and staff for the next phase of the season.

The unfortunate thing about Amstel is that it has a tough time living-up to the reputations of its peers. Riders coming off Flanders and Roubaix look at it as a sort of consolation prize. For example, Juan Antonio Flecha is likely hoping for a chance to make his fans forget about his untimely crash last Sunday. On the other hand, the Ardennes riders could be looking ahead to next Sunday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège . Would Valverde like to win Amstel? Sure he would. But at the cost of another Liège? Not necessarily. So tomorrow might be a day for an aggressive “I-want-to-win-everything-I-enter-with-little-or-no-thought-of-the-future” kind of rider. (Are your ears burning Damiano?) Or it could be a day for a rider to assume the spotlight that might not quite be accustomed to it. (I’m talking to you Rinaldo Nocentini.) Regardless, expect a large breakaway or a small peloton to have thinned itself out by the last 25km of this 258km berg-fest (there’s 31!). From then it’s anybody’s guess; the final sprint up the Cauberg is usually quite a sight.

This year’s preliminary start-list is filled with a bevy of interesting riders—should they all take the start. From the cobbles we have Sylvain Chavanel, Flecha, Nick Nuyens, Martijn Maaskant, Heinrich Haussler, and Philipe Gilbert. Of these, look for Flecha and/or Nuyens to be aggressive for the home crowd, but fade later in the race. Maaskant has a better team of supporters here than he did over the past two weeks, but I think he too will suffer as the day wears on. In fact, you might be better putting your Slipstream money on Canada’s Ryder Hejsedal (why don’t they start him in more cobbled classics?). I’d love to see Chavanel cap-off a perfect spring with a win here; in doing so he would cement his status as Lefevre’s newest Stefano Zanini. And Gilbert? As has been well-documented, he’ll simply need to make the break that matters. If he does, he could easily take the win and make a late bid to salvage his team’s spring.

As far as riders beginning their Ardennes peak we have Alejandro Valverde, Damiano Cunego, Robert Gesink, Davide Rebellin, Samuel Sanchez, and Fabian Wegman. Of these, I think Valverde’s biding his time, while Cunego’s in it to win it (at the cost of a win next Sunday). Rebellin’s a threat, but not quite his old self; Gesink’s too nervous and crash-happy for these roads. Sanchez is too isolated and in terrain that’s not quite his specialty. And Wegman? Well, frankly, I think he could win. Seriously. He’s out to prove that his explosion on the Muur de Huy last year was no fluke (except for the explosion part). Aside from Cunego, Wegman’s most serious threats lie in the form of Luxembourg’s fabulous Schleck brothers. Frank gets the edge for his propensity to attack a bit more, and he’s a past winner.

Outsiders? Kreuzinger and Nibali will be the Ardennes version of Quinziato and Kuschynski (although he’s on the line too). Rinaldo Nocentini probably won’t win, but he could sprint his way through a defeated group of the leaders to sneak onto the podium. Kim Kirchen’s here, but he’s been out for a while. Look more to his teammates Albasini and Pinotti—both won stages in Pais Vasco last week.

But my money’s on Wegman—anyone on a team racing in blue cow kit deserves some respect.

Who’s your pick to win? Let us know below.