World Championship ITT and TTT Preview
World Championships
Men’s elite TTT: This should be a race between three teams, BMC, Quick Step, and surprisingly SKYThe reason I say suprisingly is because theyv’e never produced a great TTT at the worldsSure theyv’e done well at grand tours but they’ve not gone all out at the worldsUntil nowThis team, in my mind, is the strongest one they could put togetherGeraint ThomasGianni MosconVasil KyrienkaOwain DoullMichal KwiatkowskiChris FroomeI mean come onOther than Doull that’s like a who's who of top Froome domestiques + FroomeAlthough we can’t count Doull out, he won a gold medal for team GB in the olympics in Rio on the track last year and Sky wouldn’t have just put him on this team of teams for a laughIndividually this team is stackedPolish National champItalian national champFormer world champ2x bronze medalist in olympicsAt least 5 grand tour itt stage wins63 yellow jersies(oh yeah and 5 grand tour wins but whatever)
LANCE ARMSTRONG, racing with No.11 on his back, placed a modest 64th from 133 starters in his comeback race, the Cancer Council Classic, in Adelaide last night. But for the seven-time Tour de France champion it was one of the most significant results of his career.
In front of a record crowd estimated by police as being 138,000 strong, it was Robbie McEwen who claimed victory in the 51-kilometre criterium made up of 30 laps of a 1.7km circuit around Rymill Park to give his new Russian Katusha team their first win of the year.
But Armstrong's Astana team manager, Johan Bruyneel, who guided him through his seven Tour wins from 1999 to 2005 before he began his temporary three-year retirement, said: "It is a very special moment. Finally he could put a number back on his back and do a race. Now he is a racer again. He is not a guy who is training for a comeback."
Armstrong, meanwhile, was in high spirits after crossing the finish line in a group of 13 riders 23 seconds behind McEwen, who beat Dutchman Willem Stroetinga of the Milram team, and Sydneysider Graeme Brown, who races for Rabobank, to win the curtain-raiser to the Tour Down Under, which starts tomorrow and finishes after 802km on Sunday afternoon.
Armstrong conceded that the high speed and frenetic style of racing had been difficult but added that the greatest hazard was the blinding sun on one corner as it set at the end of a day where temperatures reached 33 degrees.
"That was fast. The last time I did something that fast a race was probably back in the States in the '90s. It is fun to get back in there," said Armstrong.
"I found it a little bit safer and easier in the back [of the peloton]. In the first 50 or 60 [positions] there was a bit of positioning happening.
"I was a little nervous in the corners. The hardest thing was the sun. On one corner you really had the sun in your eyes. After the sun went down it was all fine. That felt good.
"[But] I have trained a lot for this comeback and this race. I am glad the first day is over and we can now get into the [road] racing.
"It lets me relax a little bit more. There was a lot of anxiety before today."
Armstrong is looking forward to finding his racing legs in the steadier pace of racing on the open roads in the Tour Down Under.
"At that [criterium] tempo it will take a while, but the [road] race stages will slow down significantly and there will be more hills and I can use more power," he said.
"I think I will find it easier to adapt to road racing tempo. [But] it is good for the first day."
Read it all HERE
After more than three years out of professional cycling, Lance Armstrong — the cancer survivor and seven-time Tour de France winner — announced Tuesday that he would emerge from retirement and climb back onto his bike.
Armstrong, who will turn 37 next week, briefly spoke about his decision in a videotaped statement posted on his foundation’s Web site.
“Hey everybody, I know there’s been a lot of reports in the media today about a possible return to racing,” he said. “Just want to let you know that after long talks with my kids, the rest of my family, a close group of friends, I have decided to return to professional cycling in 2009.”
Armstrong provided few details, but he said he was making the comeback to begin an international cancer strategy. He did not return telephone messages, but in an e-mail statement he said his return would “raise awareness of the global cancer burden.”
Armstrong, who retired from racing after winning the 2005 Tour de France, said he would discuss his plans during an appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative on Sept. 24 in New York.
News of Armstrong’s return made its way through cycling circles in minutes. Steve Johnson, the chief executive of USA Cycling, said Armstrong’s comeback would be a boon for the sport.
“Lance did so much to put the sport on the radar screen and, to me, I think heroes and role models are big in sports development,” Johnson said. “I think a lot of people will tune in, just out of curiosity alone.”
Bob Stapleton, the owner of the Columbia cycling team, also welcomed Armstrong’s announcement.
“His ability to focus the world on other issues is a powerful tool,” Stapleton said from the Tour of Missouri. “I hope this is part of a bigger story than just winning another Tour.”
Stapleton cautioned that Armstrong’s return would not necessarily be well received by all within the cycling community. While Armstrong’s career was filled with amazing achievements, it was not without its clouds. As a rider, he was dogged by doping allegations.
“He can be polarizing,” Stapleton said. “There may be a different view in Europe about this than in the United States. It’s a provocative issue.”
Still, Stapleton said he had no doubts about Armstrong’s ability to return as a competitive rider.
“It’s quite a different dynamic; he’s going to take the sport by its nose,” Stapleton said. “He’s dealing the cards right now.”
Armstrong may not be the oldest rider in next year’s Tour de France — if he competes in the race — but he will be beyond the typical age for an elite cyclist. An eighth victory would make him the oldest winner of the Tour. Firmin Lambot, a Belgian, won in 1922 at age 36, according to the Tour’s official history.
But first, Armstrong must find a team. Even the most talented cyclist cannot win on his own. Teammates provide shelter from the wind, chase down opponents and free the sport’s stars from mundane, energy-sapping tasks such as picking up water bottles from a team car.
The speculation has focused on the Astana team because of Armstrong’s close connections to the team. Johan Bruyneel, whose holding company owns the team, was selected by Armstrong to direct the United States Postal Service team when Armstrong made his return to racing after his cancer treatment in 1999. As a team director, Bruyneel was part of all of Armstrong’s Tour de France wins.
Astana, though, is not guaranteed a berth in next year’s Tour. The team was excluded from this year’s race by the organizers because of doubts about the team’s willingness to root out doping.
Philippe Maertens, a spokesman for Astana, said the team was unaware of Armstrong’s announcement. He added that Bruyneel had been trying to reach Armstrong since Monday.
“O.K., you’ve surprised me,” Maertens said. “But I’m not surprised about what Armstrong says about making a comeback.”
Stapleton suggested that Astana’s surprise about the announced was feigned.
“I don’t think this is a rash action,” he said of the announcement. “It’s hard to believe that Astana is not the choice. If you announce something in an article like this, most of it must be worked out.”
In an article published Tuesday on the Web site of Vanity Fair magazine, Armstrong discussed his comeback. He said he would contact President Nicolas Sarkozy of France to plead his case if the Amaury Sport Organization, which owns the Tour de France, did not allow his team to enter that race.
Armstrong said the Olympic triumphs of older athletes like the 41-year-old swimmer Dara Torres inspired him to make his comeback.
Torres, who won three silver medals at the Beijing Games — her fifth Olympics — said she felt honored to have played a part in Armstrong’s decision.
“He’s young, only 37; that’s just a baby,” Torres said. “I’m sure he’s going to surround himself with the best people to be successful.”
Armstrong told Vanity Fair that he wanted to prove that he was competing without performance-enhancing drugs, mentioning that he would have a “comprehensive program” that would mean “there will be no way to cheat.”
from the New York Times
From the UtneReader.com, read it all HERE.
Serious bicyclists are undoubtedly familiar with the concept of a paceline, a group of cyclists riding in a tight, single-file line in order to reduce wind resistance and increase efficiency. Writing for the literary journal Matter (article not available online), Mark Hinterburg elegantly argues that the humble paceline demonstrates keys concepts for a more conscientious society.
The paceline’s first lesson is to share the load. Like a flock of geese flying in V-formation, riders in a paceline take turns riding the front and breaking the wind. Weak or inexperienced riders aren’t expected to spend as much time there (known as a “pull”) as the stronger riders. Hinterburg suggests society should behave in like:
Society degenerates, and the paceline is broken, when an unreasonable burden is expected from the lesser-abled groups. Are rising drug prices and inadequate insurance a fair way to treat our elderly? Likewise, the paceline loses efficiency when stronger riders take shorter pulls than weaker ones. Is it sensible to cut taxes on the ultra-rich, while the buying power of the middle class continues to decline?
The paceline also prescribes to a common cyclist credo: the “no-drop” rule. When a flat tire or other problem strikes, one or two riders stay behind with the afflicted cyclist until the issue is resolved. We fail to behave this considerately as citizens, Hinterburg writes, pointing to the U.S. health care system as a clear case of no-drop violation:
In the United States, people are left behind with reckless abandon. Those that are stricken with cancer or other chronic illness are left to life of high insurance premiums, at best; or lack of proper coverage, at worst. Through no fault of their own, they are randomly dealt a flat tire, and the society continues without them, as healthy citizens are convinced that the same thing cannot happen to them.
The paceline’s most compelling lesson, however, isn’t one of its rules of conduct, but rather the underlying concept. At face value, the paceline serves a simple purpose—reduce wind resistance, make the journey more efficient—but underneath, Hinterburg writes, there is greater meaning:
The paceline represents an ethos that ties us all together, across time and geography. Find those that are going the same direction, and help them along, and have faith that others will help you as well. Convince others to join in on the journey, and ride with a smile.
