Category VII Cycling

Ok, seem to have fixed a slight problem and the earlier posts from this week should be on-line now. Not that it was such a good week quality-wise in any event.

I'll be off-line probably through the weekend, so I won't even have a Flanders update until Monday.

In the meantime, for what will undoubtedly be the best write-up on the race itself, check out the Cycloblog.

Samuel Abt has an interesting column on a narcoleptic cyclist. Of course, the most interesting wider point is the seeming fact that WADA and the UCI can't seem to get on the same page on an anti-doping strategy. Somewhat amusing, too, are the Ads by Goooooooogle that are pimping cures for insomnia...

And if you're looking for an angry young man's perspective, try Cyclocosm. Perhaps not always the most focused, but definitely an angry edge to the daily round-up.

Perhaps the biggest potential obstacle standing between Quick Step and victory on Sunday in the Ronde is Quick Step itself. Of course Hoste is looking impressive coming off his win at the Three Days of De Panne, but impressive doesn’t begin to describe the form Tom Boonen is showing these days. And the new champion of Flanders will be bringing the World Championship stripes to what for Dutch-speaking Belgians is already regarded as the real World Championships.

(To interrupt for just a moment, why the hell is one of the featured climbs of the Tour of Flanders, the Mur de Grammont – known in the race by its French name, rather than the Dutch “Muur van Geraardsbergen”?)

But similar to Milram in the run up to Milan-San Remo, a question for Quick Step has to be whether or not it can sort out the competing ambitions of the various captains in the team. Experience tell us it will not be a problem – Boonen showed in San Remo he can be the ultimate team player, and even if Paolo Bettini began the season with ambitions of targeting the Ronde, he is certainly aware that this is Boonen’s turf. There still remains Liege-Bastogne-Liege – the appropriately named la Doyenne, at least for the non-Flemish portion of the cycling population – where Quick Step can give unqualified support to the Cricket.

At the same time, this exposes one of Quick Step’s weaknesses going into the race: the team cannot be counted on again to gamble with the early breaks as it did in San Remo. Similar to Milram in La Primavera, Quick Step may find itself in the position of chasing, not because of a lack of viable options, but rather because of a desire on the part of the captain, the sponsor, and the fans, to see Boonen – and not just a Quick Step rider – win.

Of course the major difference is that unlike Alessandro Pettachi, Boonen is fully capable of making the break himself. He did it en route to victory last year, and he showed he’s not afraid to attack again last weekend at the “Little Ronde” in Harleberke.

So it’s a decidedly small kink in the armor. But give me a break. I mean, seriously, you try and paint a credible picture of how Boonen won’t win on Sunday… Aside from the curse of the rainbow jersey.

Then again, out on the cobbles of the monts, anything can happen. Just ask Skibby. The attacks will come fast and furious, and Boonen will be surely tested. Small wonder that this race over the past years has fast become one of my favorites -- and small wonder as well that the Flemish regard it as the true World Championship.

In addition to Jan Ullrich’s perennial problems with mental preparation for the Tour, he now has a knee inflammation pushing back his already tardy entry into the racing scene.

Ok, so perhaps this is merely Jan’s style. Basso’s early season form could very well come to naught – in fact it would be easy to see this as a case for peaking too early – especially when he has ambitions to ride for victory in both the French and the Italian national tours.

From a physiological point of view, Ullrich’s condition probably isn’t a cause for concern. But then again, his physical form has generally not been an issue. Even when he looked like Proky Pig peddling around in his magenta garb after adding on a few layers of blubber to ward of the cold of a Central European winter, it was really much more of a manifestation of Jan’s commitment to his Tour preparations we were concerned with, rather than the extra weight he would carry through the low-caliber races he attempted to keep pace with in the early season.

This year the difficulties are all that much greater: following Lance’s retirement, Ullrich has become the heir apparent. The title is earned as much by default as by distinction – he is, after all, the only active rider with a Tour victory in his palmares. Plus his five second place finishes and last year’s third place behind Basso clearly confirm his talents.

But the kink in Ullrich’s armor has always been in psyche. When he lacks confidence, he squeezes too hard, often with disastrous results. There was the extremely sketchy mountain descent in 1997, when Riis had to calm the young rider and guide him back to the attacking Virenque and Co. In 2000, he had Armstrong on the ropes and isolated in the mountain, where he again descended with disastrous results. And in 1999 when he was barred from racing, he managed to crash his Porsche into a row of parked bikes on his way home from the local rave.

The pressure is even greater this year: he is the odds-on favorite to win the Tour now that the insurmountable obstacle we call Lance has been removed. And unlike Basso (who could justifiably be the odds-on favorite), Ullrich has no “out.” Winning the Giro is not a viable means of salvaging the season for Ullrich. Success or failure for Jan will be measured exclusively by whether or not he finishes in Paris atop the podium (small wonder, then, that Basso insists that Jan remains the overwhelming favorite). Success in one-day events, smaller stage races, even a repeat of his 1999 success in Spain will not serve as redemption, but rather as a stark reminder of what he failed to do: live up to his potential to win the Tour. Repeatedly.

Because of this pressure, Jan’s Tour preparations more than other riders needs constant confirmation that he is on the correct trajectory. Recent history has offered too many examples of the best laid plans going just awry, and the last thing T-Mobile needs, is an Ullrich in the mountains, squeezing those handlebars just that much more tightly.

So Basso’s going for the Double. Sure much has been made of the storied Giro-Tour Double, an accomplishment pulled-out for the last time in 1998 by Marco Pantani. Of course, the circumstances surrounding that Tour and even Pantani’s later life (curiously, related “circumstances”) tarnishes that accomplishment a bit. Fortunately, Miguel Indurain – cycling’s equivalent of “Mr. Clean” – pulled off a Double Double, winning the four contests in 1992-93. The impressive pedigree of the Giro-Tour Double reads like a veritable member roll of the cycling Hall of Fame: Coppi, Anquetil, Merckx. Somehow even Stephen Roche snuck in there.

But Basso is going for an even more exclusive or elusive Double, as winner of both Le Tour, and the mini-Tour as the Criterium International is ridiculously termed. Last rider to take both the miniature and the larger-than-life versions of cycling’s premier event? The Badger himself, Bernard Hinault, pulled off the feat in 1981.

Assuming any of your drinking buddies like cycling, you can maybe win a free round.

Turns out the bigger winner in today’s multiple tune-up races is none other than Discovery Channel’s own George Hincapie. Seriously. In hearing his name called out, it was natural to think the commentators were only making reference to Alessandro Ballan’s “pulling a Hincapie” by giving Tom Boonen a free ride to the finish line at the E3 Prijs. Granted, it wasn’t as big a race as Roubaix by any stretch, but did Ballan pack a slushie in his water bottle to bring on the brain freeze?

But no. The name check to Hincapie went out as he was not only described as a Tour contender – double take – but we were also assured he would be dropping with ease the likes of Valverde, Basso, Cunego, and Mancebo in the high mountains – stunned double take. Somewhere in Spain, Mar-Jac suffered a stroke.

Not to disparage the efforts of the fine folks at Cycling.tv [whose impressive line-up of races was better than the TV coverage I got when living in Europe] but calling Hincapie a Tour favorite is as incredulous as calling the Criterium International a “mini-Tour de France.” Quite simply, no he is not, and no it is not.

The theory behind the claim – regarding Hincapie at least – is that though he has been found wanting in the mountains in the past, this was do to his yeoman efforts in the flat stages of the Tour’s first week. As a protected rider, he will enter the mountains with fresh legs, and be able to fly past all the other pretenders.

In a way the logic is the same as that spelled out by Telekom’s Udo Bölts in 1997: riding for a legitimate cg contender (indeed, the overall 1996 winner in Bjarne Riis), forced the Telekom boys to ride at the front more often, but also gave them greater confidence and in general seemed to raise the abilities of even the lowest domestiques. And haven’t we seen myriad other former domestiques go on to lead their own campaigns in the major tours? In recent times alone, Garzelli started as Pantani’s domestique, just as Simoni began as a Casagrande helper. Heras, Landis, Leipheimer, and Hamilton, all worked for Lance. Escartin was one of Indurain’s most trusted lieutenants, and anyone who entered the Kelme squad apprenticed for one year before putting in their own claims. Hampsten sherpeded Lemond through the hills, and he in turn started as Hinault’s domestique (who would ever forget that). And the rivalry that started it all began when the former domestique Fausto Coppi rode directly against his former patron Gino Bartali.

The difference in all those examples, however, is that the domestiques excelled in the high mountains, where the major tours are so often won or lost. This has never been Hincapie’s terrain, precisely why he has been sacrificed in the first weeks. This is not to disparage Hincapie’s contribution to Lance’s record seven wins – he did huge work in all seven. But that is a far cry from being an overall contender in a three-week race, let alone dropping with ease more gifted natural climbers.

Yes, Hincapie won a single mountain stage last year. I thought it was a cheap and tactless win, but if you choose to see it as impressive, so be it. But, it was the only mountain stage where Hincapie was at the front of events. When Lance needed support in the mountains, they turned rather to their trio of Spanish riders: Rubiera, Beltran, and Azevedo. Bottom line: Before Hincapie can confirm that he can remain with the best in the mountains, its premature to talk about his as a Tour contender, let alone dropping the others on the hors categorie climbs of the Alps.

But back to Hincapie and back to Belgium. Bölts’s theory does seem to be holding in the South Carolina rider – he’s certainly been going stronger each year, not only in the Tour, but increasingly in the Classics as well. The challenge this year for George and the entire Discovery Channel team will be to avoid the brain freezes they like to suffer in the classics. They missed the crucial break in Flanders. Hincapie choose not to attack Boonen on the run-in to Roubaix, Devolders on team orders didn’t work to keep his break away at Paris-Tours. The latter may be especially dangerous, as coupled with Hincapie’s manner of winning in the Tour, teams will likely be loathe to work with Discovery riders this time out. Fool me once…

In the post-Lance era, Discovery Channel desperately needs a new leader, and an American one. With the Tour dominating the sport – and more so in America – it is perhaps natural that the team hype George’s chances in France to try and keep the interest of the American audience. But if he is to play his cards to his best talents, he would be better served forgetting about a starring role in Paris, and instead getting down to the details separating him from the place of honor at the end of the likes of Flanders and Roubaix.

But given the way Boonen and his entire Quick Step team is riding this early season, perhaps it is easier to concentrate on climbing away from the pack on tha Galibier...

The barrage of doping news opened this week with the Swiss civil court action effective laying aside the second-year of the two-year ban brought against Danilo Hondo for his two (yep, two) positive drug tests at last year’s Tour de Murcia. Two stages he was positive on – including his B-probes, he failed four drug tests.

While the Swiss court did not dismiss the ban, but rather set it aside pending a fuller investigation in the fall. The UCI was appropriately worried by the precedent set by the civil court action, saying it would unleash a flood – “no, a Tsunami!” – of future civil suits against doping suspensions, making enforcement of their and WADA’s drug policies impossible. Indeed, shortly on the heels of the Hondo decision the belated Vuelta final jersey ceremony to award Denis Menchov his rightful due was postponed upon suspicion that Roberto “EPO” Heras would file civil suit against the Spanish tour’s organizers. And then today we have the news of new drug raids throughout Belgium netting loads more dope…

The UCI’s response to the curtailing of its power has been somewhat arbitrary – lashing out against riders participating in charity rides alongside Tyler Hamilton, for example (and prompting this rant at Cyclocosm.com). But lost in the shake-out was the stand taken by Gerolsteiner – the little German boy standing with his fingers in the dam as the flood waters inch higher.

Gerolsteiner told Radsport-News.com (auf Deutsch) that they were not interested in retaining Hondo’s services, even if the courts and the UCI had cleared his way back into racing. Noting that the image of a doping rider was not something a mineral water manufacturer wanted associated with its product, the sponsor and team management clearly stated that the only way Hondo would be welcomed back is if it were definitely proven that he had not doped.

Gerolsteiner deserves at least three cheers for the stand they’ve taken. Given that the UCI has been either unabale to craft effective doping guidelines or enforce suspensions, it will be up to team sponsors themselves to effectively police their own squads. Certainly some sponsors will be willing to suffer the occasional doping black eye as long as results continue coming in, but if more sponsors start taking stands like Gerolsteiner’s, the sport would be in a much better position to seriously confront the problems of doping in cycling.

According to a children’s song, “there will be no more snow, the flowers will grow, that’s how you know it’s Spring!”

Try telling that to a Classics cyclist.

It is one of the many cruel twists that comprise the professional cyclists life that after getting a taste of the more temperate climes along the French and Italian Riviera, that the real action of the “Spring” takes place on the still frozen grounds of Belgium. Small wonder, then, that the word means less about warming temperatures, the life-affirming effects of sunshine, the greening of the foliage to the men who contest the sports toughest one-day events, but rather conjures up images of rain, mud, pain, agony, (let’s face it, a dry Roubaix just doesn’t count) and for but a select few, also the sweet reward of victory.

Although now standing in the shadows of the grand tours – and above all The Tour – there is a special appeal of the Classics that make them just that: classic. For one thing, the Classics maintain the Aristotelian Unities of Drama: rather than an entire jour sans, it is instead a mere moment of inattention that often separates the champions from those contemplating what might have been. And though we are loathe to admit that the winner was perhaps not the strongest rider on the start line, the day’s spoils go to he who best combines athletic ability with tactical guile.

The races have earned their reputation as hard races for hard men, and when the two clash, it is not the race left wanting. Ballerini in frustration and coming so close – and yet remaining so far – in the Hell of the North had him vowing never to return to the velodrome of unrequited love. No such scene ever played out in the grand tours (though, for Abraham Olano’s sake, sometimes we wish it had). Sweeter than was the triumph when Ballerini did return to the Queen that had so often spurned him, but now fully embraced him.

The difficulty of the races and the tradition steeped into every oft-raced mile adds to the sense that this is the terrain of the seasoned veteran and not the Johnny-come-lately. Of course, every now and then there is a fluky ride that stands the conventional wisdom on its ear. But again those often prove to be just flukes. Just ask Frederic Guesdon. It is rare indeed that a rider has his debutante ball in April in Northern Europe. And woe is he who feels the Classics rained on his coming out. As an Italian teammate commented to Dario Pieri on realizing his tears at the end of the 1999 Tour of Flanders went of joy at having ridden so well in his first major Classic, but rather at disappointment in coming in second to Andrei Tchmil, “You haven’t earned the right to be upset at losing to him.”

The “Orthodox” Northern Classics comprise but six races: the Monuments at Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, as well as the Amstel Gold Race, Ghent-Wevelgem, and the Fleche-Wallone. On the calendar, they’ll take up a month before the “real” racing begins at the Giro and then the Tour. But for some, the purest essence of what makes the sport of cycling so great – indeed, Classic – is what transpires on the northern roadways in the Spring.

Perhaps as expected, Alessandro Pettachi showed today that he was the fastest man on the Via Roma. Less expected was that today that was about as good as being the tallest of the seven dwarves.

Instead, the day’s honors went to Filippo Pozzato, whose split second advantage over the second-placed Pettachi typified what has lately become a successful breakaway at the Classicissima: a perfectly timed move to just beat the charging sprinters to the line.

Pozzato was actually with the long break the left well before the Turchino Pass, but although a modern day Coppi wasn’t found in that group, he managed to get himself into a six-man break that went just before the summit of the Poggio – the false flat near the summit of which had been the secret to San Remo success in the years before the sprinters reclaimed the race. Feeling the peloton bearing down on him, Pozzato launched himself free of his break companions with about 300 meters to go, just holding off Ale-Jet, who had ridden Zabel’s wheel to near victory.

(Pozzato may have stolen the next to the last chance for the sprinters. Thursday, Velo News had a great write up on the latest rumors – complete with the conspiratorial details that must surround contemplations of Italian racing routes – of adding an additional climb between the Cipressa and the Poggio for the 2008 edition.)

Pozzato was the beneficiary of Quick Step’s curious – curious, but successful – tactics on Saturday. Naturally they seemed to focus exclusively on Pettachi and his Milram squad, and noting the absence of their classics rider Mirko Celestino sought to cover all the breaks, forcing Pettachi, Zabel and company to chase.

The curious aspect of Quick Step’s race was not that they did not use Bettini in the mix – who knows just how dodgy his knee really is – but instead that ex-Pettachi leadout man Guido Trenti was sent to cover the break that left at the base of the Poggio (if memory serves, Fignon was the last rider to win San Remo with an attack from the base of the Poggio in 1989). In this case, Quick Step was not merely playing an additional card, they were also somewhat compromising their Boonen-card. Perhaps Trenti was the only Quick Step rider able to respond, or perhaps Quick Step team management was hoping to avoid a sprint showdown with Pettachi. In any event, the wondering is left for writers of cycling blogs and the likes, while Quick Step enjoys a great victory in the season’s first Monument.

As the classics head north, the young Pozzato seems content to reprise his role as a domestique in the services of Bettini and Boonen. Although great things have been expected of him since his breakthrough at Tirreno-Adriatico in 2003, he’s had health and other problems. With La Primavera now in his palmares, Pozzato, however, seems to recognize that experience is what he’ll need in the other Classics, and thus seems content to apprentice this year behind the World and Olympic champions and playing a even a bit part in the dominating machine that is the 2006 Quick Step team.

Taking a page from the days when riders would sometimes through a leg over their bikes for the first time when they lined up at the start of Paris-Nice, Oscar Friere tells L'Equipe that "80% is sufficient for Milan-San Remo." Noting that the race is one with smarts more than legs, the former Primavera winner and World Champion noted, "with 100% form, you actually have more opportunities to lose."

Apparently the "psych-out" is also a page from the old Eddy Merckx book...

In many ways it’s really a lottery, but at the same time Saturday’s Milan-San Remo is a two-man show with Alessandro Pettachi and Tom Boonen the protagonists. Sure, Oscar Friere could take the days honors – either by again capitalizing on early celebrations, or also on the merits of his own fast finish – or someone like Alejandro Valverde may finally be able to put in the attack on the run-in that leaves the charging peloton behind. But, until proven otherwise, Milan-San Remo is now sprinter’s domain, and there’s no reason to suggest anyone else will be in a position to rain on the parade of the two heavy-weights of sprinting Saturday. (Even Mother Nature is currently expected to hold off until Saturday night.)

Of course, Paolo Bettini was ready to crash the party, flying high at the beginning of the Tirreno-Adriatico warm-ups, but a hard crash on stage 3 puts paid to his chances. Although he will start Saturday, knee pain combined with the longest race of the season is not a recipe for success. Bettini can nurse his wounds, knowing that he also has great chances in the other Spring Classics. Though obviously there is nothing like winning La Primavera for an Italian rider.

Bettini’s misfortune is likely to benefit his teammate Boonen, who looks to be the hot rider coming in after taking three stages in Paris-Nice. And looking coolly comfortable in doing so. Skipped the last day to reconnoiter the final stages of the race down the Italian Riviera with most of his lead-out train – apparently the tenth time this season at least that Boonen has trained on the course, a nice additional benefit of taking a tax-exile in Monte Carlo. Bettini’s sidelining will mean there is no sand in Boonen’s well-oiled lead-out train, even if Quick Step does sacrifice some tactical options by not having the Cricket as a potential break-away threat. Oddly, just as he did last year, Boonen is flying back to Belgium for a few days rather than remaining in Italy (or Monte Carlo) for the remainder of the week. That plan didn’t work so well for him last year…

While Boonen has perhaps covered the route onto the Via Roma more than anyone in training this year, no squad has covered the course more in a winning fashion than Milram. In addition to defending champ Pettachi, four-time winner Erik Zabel will be rushing down the Poggio in the new baby-blue abomination that is the jersey of the German-Italian team. But in contrast to the smooth workings at Quick Step, preparations at Milram appear to be anything but. Tirreno-Adriatico was an exercise in futility for the squad and seemed to confirm the foolishness of trying to forge a team out of two sprinters with similar ambitions. That they finally seemed to get on the same page for the win in the last stage suggests that perhaps roles have been settled – most likely with Zabel working for Pettachi on Saturday, and then leading the squad’s campaign in the other upcoming Classics.

If Milram does have their internal issues sorted out, the race is Pettachi’s to lose. After all, while Zabel benefited from riding on Gian-Matteo Fagnini’s wheel, no one previously had the luxury of being led up the Via Roma by a four-time winner on the Via Roma.

If you thought the Ullrich rant was a bit on the long side, check out this from Vuelta a Espana. Like I don't have anything better to do than read other people's blogs. Ok, so I don't, but I mean there might be some people out there with jobs to go to and all.

Actually, quite a nice effort at capturing something of an insiders look at cycling for outsiders.

When, according to the T-Mobile press announcement yesterday, Jan Ullrich – finally – turns pedals in anger at the Tour de Sarthe in early April, he’ll begin the new season as the consensus if not undisputed heir to Armstrong’s throne. His position is a bit tenuous at the top of the heap: it can reasonably be argued that while he may be the strongest rider when in form, his best performances – like his one Tour victory – are far in the past.

Curiously, at the T-Mobile team presentation, Jan tried to make the case that this year would be a new beginning of sorts, hinting that the departures of both team manager Walter Goodefroot and sprinter Erik Zabel had improved the mojo aboard the T-Mobile team bus. While it should have been somewhat apparent to even casual observers of the team that thee was a decided funk in the air, suggesting that the source was either of the two aforementioned suspects is, well, suspicious.

Goodefroot of course was at the center of a stormy dispute with his former deputy at the helm, Rudy Pevenage, who quit the then Telekom squad to join Jan in his ill-considered Team Coast adventure as a quasi-trainer, quasi-mentor, quasi-Svengali. Oddly, he seemed to displace Peter Becker, Jan’s coach from his junior days in Rostock, who in a similar position on the fringes of having a semi-official position had been a source of concern for both Goodefroot and Pevenage as they tried to manage team affairs in the halcyon days of 1996-97.

After the split, Pevenage constantly criticized Goodefroot’s managerial moves, despite the T-Mobile chief’s record in turning the squad from canon fodder to one of the best-oiled machines in the peloton. Not only were the Magenta Boys (don’t call their jerseys pink!) tops in the Tour, but Goodefroot – a formidable Classics man in his day – recast the squad in his own image making them a force to be reckoned with in the Spring as well. While it is easy to understand why Pevenage sought to tie his horse to the Ullrich cart, it seems puzzling why Jan would similarly choose Pevenage over Goodefroot…

Similarly, calling out Zabel for the obvious discord in last year’s Tour is disingenuous at best. The whole affair began at last season’s team presentation when Klöden – seeking to bolster his own ill-founded claims at Tour glory – sought to exclude Zabel from the Tour line-up by publicly calling for it. (Given Klöden’s remarkable inconsistency over the years, it probably was best to look for more crutches.) You may recall this is also the same Klöden who single handedly pulled back the Vinokourov attack early in the race. Certainly wouldn’t want a possible GC threat to ride away from Lance and the Discovery team. I mean, that might actually make them work…

Now Goodefroot and Zabel are gone. Also departed is Rolf Aldag, who with a lot of class turned down contract offers from multiple teams (and for more money than he had ever earned as a cyclist before) to take a PR job with T-Mobile. Aldag was the one doing much of yeoman work at T-Mobile, and – along with Zabel – often leading the squad over the initial climbs of the big days in the mountains. Klöden and Pevenage, though still remain by his side…

All of which suggests something most of us have known for a long time – Jan’s a bit messed up in the head. After winning his first Tour in 1997, Phil Ligget was comparing his to Eddy Merckx and suggesting that Jan would be the first rider to win seven Tours. Instead, the intervening years have been a nice cocktail of a lack of commitment to training, repeated bad judgment both on and off the bike, and a seeming inability to focus on the necessary tasks to build a successful season. In stark contrast, Lance Armstrong came to embody the type of commitment that makes champions. Although his race scheduled was dramatically pared, he trained as though he were racing. His focus was singular, but also all-consuming. He willed himself to win, and that willingness saw him accomplish the Herculean task that many saw possible in Ullrich.

If Jan emerges on top of the podium in late July, he may salvage his reputation as perhaps the greatest talent to be eclipsed by Lance’s remarkable career. But it is more likely he will cement his standing as perhaps the greatest talent undermined by his own inability to screw his head on straight.

Received an e-mail yesterday looking to find someone to adopt a dog. The e-mail assured that the yellow lab was full-bred, show-quality, adding that “another puppy from the same litter went to Sheryl Crow and Lance Armstrong – we’re not kidding!”

Presumably that was added as a selling-point, though I’m not sure it is.

Floyd Landis’ overall at Paris-Nice this weekend secures the Mennonite’s place as at least an outside contender as successor to Lance Armstrong’s mantle. While Jan Ullrich still is considered by many to be the preliminary Tour favorite (if only because he remains the only active rider to have won the Tour), and riders such as Ivan Basso, Alexandre Vinokourov, Gilberto Simoni, Danilo DiLuca, or even a young gun like Damiano Cunego have better palmares, Landis has one advantage: as an American, he is the only one who could possibly replace Lance in Nike’s great marketing machine (or in a less jaded view, in the hearts of American cycling fans).

Granted, Landis is not without American competition. Levi Leipheimer has been a solid if unspectacular rider the past few years, and his Gerolsteiner squad certainly has been able to challenge its domestic rivals T-Mobile. And lest we forget, there is always “The Man,” George Hincapie. No really. Stop laughing. People are actually serious about him, apparently.

But Landis’s early wins sets him apart in the eyes of a cycling public eager for any signs that not all was lost when Armstrong hung up his wheels. Caveats that these days early season form is anything but an accurate predictor of summer performance be damned, Landis does give some hope that the Stars and Stripes will fly again in Paris.

At the same time, such pressure will certainly prove an enormous challenge for Floyd to overcome. Just as Lance struggled in his early career with expectations of being the next LeMond, early American successes will be met with even more pressure now – given that Lance’s accomplishments were of such a greater magnitude than Greg’s. That another domestic race – the Tour of Georgia – figures large in Landis’ Tour preparations (and presumably in those of many of the other US riders as well as Discovery), will likely serve only to increase the pressure.

But Landis will also be laboring under another burden, which – like Lemond’s legacy – was also a problem for Lance: the shadow of doping. The day after his win, a young Swiss teammate was suspended from Phonak for failing a mid-February drug test. Not EPO this time but testosterone, this is only the latest in a long line of drug allegations involving Phonak riders. It was only a year ago that the UCI originally declined to offer a ProTour spot to Phonak because of the number of drug scandals involving the team. Now with this latest revelation, continued performances by Landis will be met as much with suspicion as admiration. (See also, anything done by Bjarne Riis’ riders at CSC.)

How Landis handles the twin psychological burdens of American expectations and drug allegations will have as much to do with his preparation for Tour competition as will the physical training regimen between now and July.

Whether or not Tom Boonen emerges from Paris-Nice as the bigger winner over top CG man Floyd Landis will first be known in a week, with the opening of the Spring Classics season at Milan-San Remo.

Looking to get an early start on his preparation for the race, Boonen rode off the race course after 6 kms, for the short journey to San Remo where he'll be training with most of his expected lead-out train for next Saturday's Monument. If Boonen stays in Italy for the remaining time before La Primavera, it will signal a marked departure from his preparation for major races last year. After completing the 2005 Paris-Nice, he headed back to Belgium, rather than hang around the Med like spring rival Pettachi. The two also took different routes to prepare for the World's. Again boonen quit the Vuelta early to return to Belgium for training, while Ale-Jet rode through to Madrid to reconnoiter the championship course. The two split those two races, so who's to say who has the definitive better plan?

But in a lottery such as Milan-San Remo has become in recent years, and with so little to actually gauge riders on, Boonen still looks to be a prohibitive race favorite. That is, until the bunch goes charging up to Poggio, and then down the twisting descents onto the Via Roma...