Sunday, April 16, 2006
Schleck Nicht Schlecht
Apparently domination is overrated. Rabobank controlled the peloton and much of the race for the day, and T-Mobile not only created the winning break, but ensured they had a numerical advantage in the move as well. Still, Frank Schleck was able to show them both to the lower rungs of the final podium, reserving the top spot for himself on the day after his birthday. And the win marked the second consecutive ProTour Classic to go to the CSC squad, which is becoming adept at controlling races without dominating them.
Schleck read the sometimes puzzling Amstel race perfectly. Not an easy task, given that the apparent motivation behind the course is to tour every retail outlet for Amstel Beer in southern Holland. Thus we get 250 kms of racing crammed into about 10 square kms of the Low Countries. The need to showcase the various bars and taverns of the Limburg region also created something less than stability in the race course – in recent practice, the course was more or less laid out by a trained chimp with an etch-a-sketch.
But in the last few runnings, the finish has been moved to the top of the Cauberg in Valkenberg (which is also ascended twice), and the 22% Keutenberg has been moved from its previous spot about half-way through the race to the penultimate climb – just 11 kms before the finish.
The result has been an assured selection (if the grade of the Keutenberg doesn’t thin out the peloton, the narrowness of the road will), and a more “classic” finish in Valkenberg, compared with the bunch sprints that were becoming more common at the end of the 1990’s. The CSC Luxembourg national champ on passing the summit of the Keutenberg, likely noted that the leaders seemed content to fight in out on the Cauberg, and went off in dramatic style.
Steffan Weseman, who had earlier initiated the winning move, was the only rider to seriously pursue him. The group may have considered Schleck’s move a feint to set up a win for Karsten Kroon, CSC’s favorite for the day. And indeed, Kroon did dutifully mark Paolo Bettini, seemingly in anticipation of jumping away with the Olympic champ if the group reintegrated the breakaways. But Schleck, who was runner up in Lombardy last year, had to be considered a threat on his own, as certainly Weseman – who had been animating the race all day – was a real threat. Michael Boogerd, whose Rabobank squad considers Amstel its home race, looked not like a rider in a nine-man break, but very much in a no-man’s land: he had missed the move ahead, but wasn’t sure if he should wait for reinforcements from behind. The hesitation left him to fight it out for third – which he handled in impressive fashion.
CSC thus took its second ProTour Classic in the course of a week. In each case it is easy to argue that the best rider of the day won, albeit without the best team, the winner’s estimation that CSC was “the best team in the world, and I’m proud to be in it,” notwithstanding. But even without dominating the races, CSC is able to control them, perhaps a foreboding omen for those seeking to stand in their captain Ivan Basso’s way as he aims at the Giro-Tour double.
Schleck read the sometimes puzzling Amstel race perfectly. Not an easy task, given that the apparent motivation behind the course is to tour every retail outlet for Amstel Beer in southern Holland. Thus we get 250 kms of racing crammed into about 10 square kms of the Low Countries. The need to showcase the various bars and taverns of the Limburg region also created something less than stability in the race course – in recent practice, the course was more or less laid out by a trained chimp with an etch-a-sketch.
But in the last few runnings, the finish has been moved to the top of the Cauberg in Valkenberg (which is also ascended twice), and the 22% Keutenberg has been moved from its previous spot about half-way through the race to the penultimate climb – just 11 kms before the finish.
The result has been an assured selection (if the grade of the Keutenberg doesn’t thin out the peloton, the narrowness of the road will), and a more “classic” finish in Valkenberg, compared with the bunch sprints that were becoming more common at the end of the 1990’s. The CSC Luxembourg national champ on passing the summit of the Keutenberg, likely noted that the leaders seemed content to fight in out on the Cauberg, and went off in dramatic style.
Steffan Weseman, who had earlier initiated the winning move, was the only rider to seriously pursue him. The group may have considered Schleck’s move a feint to set up a win for Karsten Kroon, CSC’s favorite for the day. And indeed, Kroon did dutifully mark Paolo Bettini, seemingly in anticipation of jumping away with the Olympic champ if the group reintegrated the breakaways. But Schleck, who was runner up in Lombardy last year, had to be considered a threat on his own, as certainly Weseman – who had been animating the race all day – was a real threat. Michael Boogerd, whose Rabobank squad considers Amstel its home race, looked not like a rider in a nine-man break, but very much in a no-man’s land: he had missed the move ahead, but wasn’t sure if he should wait for reinforcements from behind. The hesitation left him to fight it out for third – which he handled in impressive fashion.
CSC thus took its second ProTour Classic in the course of a week. In each case it is easy to argue that the best rider of the day won, albeit without the best team, the winner’s estimation that CSC was “the best team in the world, and I’m proud to be in it,” notwithstanding. But even without dominating the races, CSC is able to control them, perhaps a foreboding omen for those seeking to stand in their captain Ivan Basso’s way as he aims at the Giro-Tour double.
