Category VII Cycling

Not from me so much. I guess I’m still on hiatus – just taking a break from studying for tomorrow morning’s penultimate final exam. Ok, so truth be told, taking a break from procrastinating about studying for the exam.

Rather the post is about Jan Ullrich. His ride in the Giro is inexplicably being celebrated in the German press as the return of the Prodigal Son. Ullrich’s daily progress is being hailed as the latest miracle worked by the new German-born Pope, to the extent that his Giro – which he truthfully did “enter without ambition regarding the overall classification” – is being considered “fully successful.” After all, he is regarded as a favorite for tomorrow’s only long-distance time trial.

With the exception of teammate Michael Rogers, though, where is his competition? Ivan Basso is widely expected to pad his lead as well because most of the participants in the year’s Giro ride about as well against the clock as I do. Fortunately for them, this year’s race will be won and lost in the mountains of the final week, not in the contre le montre mañana. More significantly for Ullrich as well, if he is to win Le Tour he will have to take the fight to Basso, Alejandro Valverde, and Damiano Cunego in the mountains – if not to take time away from them, then at least to manage his losses.

In that regard, from the pre-season Ullrich’s ride in the Giro seemed to make since. Although pros supposedly don’t follow the dictum of race your strengths, train your weaknesses, Ullrich certainly needs to find his form in the mountains if he wants to duplicate his last Tour victory of nearly a decade past.

Granted, this is only the second week of racing that Ullrich has in his legs this season, but time is not on his side. His own goals, those of his team, and largely those of his country, are focused solely on those three weeks in France. Bearing this in mind, much like the real Giro – the one for the maglia rosa – Ullrich’s Giro won’t really begin until the final week. If Ullrich somehow manages to haul his hump over the summits of the Dolomites, he emerges from the Giro, he emerges from Italy as something of a legitimate contender at Le Tour. But if he continues to stuggle mightly every time the asphalt inches oh so slightly upward, than it will take a comeback unlike any seen since the time of Lazarus to put Ullrich back on top of the heap.

(And since I’ve apparently become an evangelical, I suppose in the finance exam tomorrow, I should just copy out the tale of the money changers in the Temple…)

The crunch of finishing up my program here, getting ready to move and starting a new job isn't leaving a lot of time to blog these days. Or more accurately, is leaving no time to blog (and damn littel time to watch teh Giro at that). I'll be back for Le Tour.

Defending champ Paolo Savoldelli won the short Giro prologue in Belgium in commanding fashion. Il Falco needed only 6.2 kms to take more than 20 seconds out of his main rivals for the maglia rosa. The second prologue won in impressive fashion within a week, perhaps the more impressive this time out as it follows quickly on the heels of the virus infection that prompted his withdrawal from the Tour de Romandie.
Still, Savoldelli would seem to have his work cut out for him in this year’s Giro, and likely still figures as a second-best favorite. The realm of the five-star protagonists is more the realm of the pure climbers such as Gilberto Simoni, Damiano Cunego, and last year’s surprise discovery, Jose Rujano. The cream of the crop is still likely Ivan Basso, who combines climbing finesse with a decent race against the clock.

Danilo DiLuca is also aiming for the final podium, and his approach to this race should see an appreciable increase in his chances of success. Unlike last year where the realization that riding through to the end would cement his overall ProTour win, DiLuca will not be going for stage wins in the first half of the race. Rather he’ll conserve his energy for mountains, and should make him into a credible overall threat.

But the mountains will likely hold the less-than-pur climbers a step behind. The profile of the race will likely do them in – not because of any objective increase in the difficulty of the race (where the overall climbing is roughly the same as last year). Instead it will be the timing that is the critical factor. The four most critical stages follow one after the other in the final week, unlike last year where there was an opportunity to recover between the mammoth stages.

And in keeping with tradition, the organizer’s have unveiled another of the sick climbs that have become the hallmark of the Tour of Italy. “Right here,” Damiano Cunego indicated when checking out the latest unpaved monstrosity of the Plan de Corones, “is where the Giro will be lost.” With a grade reaching 24%, the 17 km long climb on the road to Kronplatz will be the main battle ground for the maglia rosa. It is difficult to predict exactly who will emerge from the trenches unscathed, but one thing seems certain – again this year the Giro will be serving up the most dramatic of the battles among the three grand tours.

“Before his second Tour triumph, the American Greg Lemond showed up overweight at the Giro and abandoned.” Thus German cycling federation president – and Ullrich’s number one fan – Rudolf Scharping, attempted to restore credibility to Jan’s seemingly deflated ambitions to stand anew atop the winner’s podium in Paris.

His late season debut in the final Giro-tune up seemed at first glance to be a nearly complete disaster. Ending far closer to the laterne rouge than the maillot jaune, the Tour de Romandie in one major sense was still a successful test. Not of his form, but of his dodgy knee, which reportedly held up well and did not bother the German. The same cannot be said of the mountains or even the races against the clock, but at least with all his moving parts in working order. And judging from his reactions and his obvious relief in speaking with the German press following the race, a huge burden has been lifted mentally as well – and it is this latter aspect that has so often proven to be Jan’s downfall.

Looking, though, towards the business end of the final general classification, Cadel Evans stands as a dramatic contrast to Jan in many ways. Not only his he in shape, and also improving in disciplines that were previously his weaknesses – shaping himself into a legitimate contender along with his podium-mates Alejandro Valverde and Alberto Contador. But he also joins the legion of former T-Mobile riders who have gone on to greater success after adopting more masculine colors than the Bonn-based squads “magenta” (lest you thought it was pink).

Alexandre Vinokourov is perhaps the T-Exile garnering the greatest attention. But he is not the only cast-off now being cast as a possible favorite in the Tour. Joining Vino and Evans is Paolo Savoldelli, whose departure was particularly acrimonious. Never given a real role in the German squad, or given any real support, he was harshly criticized by the T-Mobile team management when he pulled off a remarkable ride at last year’s Giro. At this point, too, even Bobby Julich – who received his own share of criticism from the spurned Germans after winning Paris-Nice – is more likely to reprise his former Tour podium placing than is Ullrich.

Jan’s contract expires at the end of the season, ad there is heavy speculation this will be his last season as a professional. Although he is an undisputed natural talent, and solely responsible for the enormous interest in cycling in Germany now – including the cause for German sponsorship of two new ProTour teams in Gerolsteiner and Milram – his retirement will likely be a fillip to the sagging fortunes of the still (albeit barely) premier German squad. Ending their singular focus on Jan at all costs, the squad will be forced to recognize and cultivate the other talents they have brought into the fold – rather than casting them off as potential usurpers of Jan’s supposed title.

Forget the Race to Replace. Forget Popovych. Discovery Channel needs to recognize the other winner of a major tour in their ranks, Il Falco, Paolo Savoldelli. Riding an impressive prologue, he barely edged out Alejandro Valverde – who had arguably the more impressive ride, given his relative abilities in the race against the clock.

While the difference between Savoldelli and Valverde was measured in the hundredths of a second, both put an impressive 4 seconds into Brad McGee, usually a man for the prologues. And McGee had earlier put four seconds between himself and the rest of the peloton... Impressive, indeed.

Savoldelli’s win underscores his ambitions to defend his Giro title, and Valverde’s effort will severely undermine team management’s efforts to quell expectations in Spain of an attempt at the overall in Spain. Salvodelli’s real test, of course, will come when he defends the maglia rosa, and sees whether or not Discovery Channel has enough confidence in him to support him fully in this year's attempt. Valverde for his part will not only need to confirm his abilities against the clock in a longer time trial, but he’ll also need to demonstrate an improvement in his climbing on Friday and Saturday’s stages. While he had a good Basque Tour, he was notably absent from the head of affairs on the tougher stages.

The prologue was also too short for the celebrated (at least by the throngs of German fans), if long-delayed, return to competitive cycling of Jan Ullrich. The once Tour favorite rolled through with a middling time, but like the others the real indication of his form will come later in the week. Unlike Savoldelli and Valverde, he won’t be testing his mettle against the best, hoping to be able to dictate the pace from the front. Instead, the challenge with Jan will be to roll with the group over the flat stages – and not humiliate himself by being beaten by the sprinters over the mountain passes.

Alejandro Valverde put paid to some criticisms that, like Hincapies, he’s good over 200 kms, but no more, winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege from a lead group of some 17 to roll into Ans. Liege is indeed La Doyenne, and in the past was always my favorite of the spring Classics. But it seems to be catching the bug that has infected Milan-San Remo, with the finishes increasingly seeming like a bunch sprint. Granted, the likes of Pettachi won’t soon be booming in at the front of the Liege “peloton,” but seemingly gone are the days when the selection was made a La Redoute, and the winning attacks were put in at the last on the climbs of Sart-Tilman or St. Nicholas.

Also seemingly gone are the days when the “Ardennes Double” (Fleche and Liege) was considered a rare achievement. The curiosity these days is of course when a rider wins one, but not the other…

Not to take anything away from Valverde’s win. An historic one at that: Alejandro was the first Spanish rider to claim the world’s oldest cycling race. Valverde has been progressing steadily over the few years of his young career, and looks now not only to fill the promise of Oscar Friere in producing an Iberian Classics winner, but perhaps more importantly for the Spanish cycling public, also looks to have what it takes to be a successful GC contender.

Indeed, immediately after the race, his team management was trying to quell what was expected to be a wildfire of speculation in the Spanish cycling press regarding Valverde’s chances in Paris. After all, Miguel Indurain and Pedor Delgado had only managed fourth in Liege. So today’s victory must be a portent of future success in Paris.

Certainly it would be sweet revenge for the runner up at the Madrid World’s to push the reigning champ out from cycling’s brightest limelight. While Boonen and Pettachi will certainly light up the opening week by rejoining swoards, Valverde could steal the attention when the real racing starts once Le Tour heads uphill. But the powers that be at Caisse d’Espargne are pooh-poohing such dreams – at least publicly and at least for now.

But then again, Valverde in the finale did handily beat Damiano Cunego, who only two years ago looked to be the archtype for the post-Armstrong generation. If not this year, the future does look to be open for Valverde’s ambitions. Indeed, to the extent that Liege is used as a barometer of the form of the major tour contenders, Valverde easily outclassed riders like Cunego and Basso. While the two arguably did more to animate the race proceedings, like his win earlier in Liege, Valverde controlled matter by not going with every break, keeping confidence in his finishing touch. He handed Cunego’s lunch to him, while Basso didn’t figure in the end…

On Tuesday the real “second season” – to borrow a phrase from the concurrent NHL playoffs – begins as the Tour of Romandie ushers in the season of the big stage races – and Jan Ullrich’s introduction to the 2006 season, period. Perhaps the greatest excitement this weekend from the pro peloton was not the racing in Belgium, but Bjarne Riis’s criticism of Ullrich in the Danish press. After meeting with his former lieutenant, Riis stated he was overweight and unmotivated. For his part, Udo Bölts, the D.S. at Gerolsteiner, and Ullrich’s top man in the mountains of the 1997 Tour who dispatched his captain to victory with the phrase “Qual Dich, du Sau!” (Dig deep, you sow) – and who gave the same title to his recently published memoir – dismissed Riis’s charges as a form of psychological warfare on behalf of Basso. While Bölts was perhaps more sympathetic to Ullrich, he was equally concerned that his tour preparations are wildly amiss. Noting that it was not only important for a Tour contender to have early season wins under his belt for self-confidence, but also that a team manager needs to see his Tour team tested under various conditions of the year – something that T-Mobile have not yet managed this season.

Defusing attention from Riis himself, but also sharpening the focus of the general criticism, Bölts notes, “it doesn’t matter if you ask Bjarne Riis, Patrick Lefèvere or me. We would all ask, why hasn’t he yet raced a single event?”

Alejandro Valverde took the his first Classics win today, with an impressive sprint at the top of the Mur de Huy to capture the Fleche Wallone. Oddly, most of the commentary has commented on the apparent ease with which he one, easily pulling away from Samuel Sanchez – the main protagonist at the Basque Country Tour – and CSC’s on-form Karsten Kroon. In the race I saw, though, Valverde’s sprint was anything but easy or undramatic. In fact, after making an initial move, he added a second, strong kick as it appeared that Kroon and Sanchez were actually coming up even with the Madrilleno.

The Fleche isn’t what it used to be – 250 kms and on the day before Liege – but it is still an impressive race (even if the organizers decided to include a detour through what appeared to be downtown Beirut before hitting the foot of the Mur) and an impressive win for the talented Valverde.

In a more general point in response to Cosmo’s criticism of Tom Boonen’s palmares, it’s worth pointing out that Valverde is another impressive representative of the emerging generation of cycling heroes. (It’s also worth pointing out that The Cyclocosm is one of the best cycling blogs out there and the points Cosmo raises aren’t petty, but deserving of a response.)

In the first instance, dismissing Boonen’s accomplishments so early in his career seems foolhardy at best. It is easy to forget that the amiable (that’s twice now I’ve called him that) Belgian is only 25 – after all, he rides the cobbles with the savvy of a much more grizzled veteran.

And each day that his contemporaries win another big race, it does improve Boonen’s stock, using Cosmo’s Thevenet Rule.

But in my view, the most impressive aspect of the Boonens and Valverdes is their challenge of the specialization of the pro peloton. Given that such specialization is in large part a by-product of the infusion of money into the sport – and hence the pressure for teams and riders to succeed – targeting more than a few weeks’ worth of races is dangerous. The jack-of-all trades is a master of none, and the master of no race finds himself without a contract, just as the team with no wins finds itself losing sponsorship.

Tour champions no longer contest Classics. (In fact, similarly viewed in the context of Merckx’s accomplishments outside of the Tour during his five victories, Lance’s seven wins still seem somewhat thin. But just as Lance cannot be criticized for competing at the top level of the sport in his day, neither should Boonen.)

Boonen has challenged specialization to a degree. In addition to the Classics, he’s one of the very few that can take on Alessandro Pettachi in a straight-up sprint. While he’s not likely to “make a run at the Giro,” at least not for the maglia rosa, he is a sure fire bet to win stages and take some points jerseys should he ride the grand tours to the end. Moreover, Boonen is a man for all seasons, if not yet for all road gradients. Known now for his dominance in the Spring, his World’s title came in September, following stage wins in France and Spain.

More impressive in this regard, however, is Alejandro Valverde. A true all-around talent – approaching the master of all – Valverde has shown he can sprint, climb, and now deliver that extra type of punch that the Classics demand. Courchevel, too, showed his promise for the general classification – and certainly a top placing in Paris figures largely in his planning for the season. (Thus, for the first time in an epoch, Liege on Sunday will see two hopefuls for Le Tour – Valverde and Basso – also hoping to emerge victorious at La Doyenne.)

Some riders in the course of their careers come to change their major focus. Zabel shifted from field sprints to the Classics. Basso was originally a man for one-day racing. Now he has in mind 23. Di Luca, too, may be thinking more about the general classification than stage wins after his flirtation with the pink jersey last season. And of course Lance made a major shift in his cycling goals.

But what distinguishes these riders from the likes of Boonen, Vlaverde, and – should he confirm his promise after a disappointing 2005 sophomore season – Damiano Cunego, is that the young guns from the beginning of their careers have no placed limitations on their ambitions.

We can continue to look at these riders with the pantheon of the past in the forefront of our mind, discounting their accomplishments in the modern era. Or instead, we can look at them recognizing that while their careers are only just dawning, they hold the promise not only of the modern peloton, but also of raising the bar for the riders that will come after them.