Tour of Missouri rolls out for stage 1 - will it be the last time?

RadioShack Giro update at bottom of post

Every morning for quite a while I have woken up and connected my laptop to watch streaming video of a European race. Sunday, out of habit, I started to hook up my laptop to my big screen when I realized there wasn’t anything to watch. However a Facebook update from Sean Weide, press liaison for BMC, said that he was monitoring a race. If Weide is montoring something, it has to be worth watching. Next thing you know I’m watching Eneco Ronde van het Groene Hart. Admittedly I’m not too familiar with this race but it looked like the steepest hill was a freeway overpass. But hey, beggars can’t be choosers. In the end Vacansoleil’s Jens Mouris broke away and soled in to win. That kind of victory is always cool to watch. I’m going to try that one day. Thanks for the heads up Sean and another victory for social media.

I have always been pleasantly surprised about how popularity of the Tour of Missouri. Fans packed both the start and finishing areas of all the stages. When the peloton rolled through the towns it seemed like everyone poured out to line the road and watch. Last year, by the skin of its teeth, the Tour of Missouri survived. This year, it isn’t looking so good. Unfortunately the race has become a political football between the governor and the lieutenant governor of Missouri. A grassroots effort was started with a Facebook Page supporting the race. Racers are chiming as well trying to sway the powers to be that this race is a good investment. For crying out loud, Jens Voigt came back from his awful Tour de France crash at this race and gave it big praise (WWJD – What Would Jens Do?). For that reason alone this race must continue! To show your support go to the Tour of Missouri website. The organization has listed ten things you can do to help save this race. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hoping it doesn’t go the way of the Tour de Georgia.

More recently Milan-Sanremo was the race that caught all our attention. It was going to be the big showdown between Boonen, Petacchi, Boasson Hagen, Freire, and last year winner’s Mark Cavendish. As we all know poor Cav has had some teeth issues and hasn’t been up to form. At best he was a very outside chance for victory. What was interesting was the HTC-Columbia put their full support behind the rider from the Isle of Mann and kept off the roster a rider who has already won ten times this year – Andre “The Hulk” Greipel. On Sunday, with Cavendish coming in over six minutes back, he let his frustrations known about being excluded. Who wants to bet me that Greipel won’t be riding for the boys in yellow next season. Interesting thought – jump ship and go to The Shack. Boom – you got a guy with the instant ability to win Classics. You’re welcome. Okay, you might have to hire on some leadout guys as well.

Speaking of the Shack things got a little testy on the Twittersphere. It was reported that RCS Sport, the owners of the Giro, left RadioShack off from the list of invited teams. Johan Bruyneel responded with a Tweet and then later in his blog saying that they had in fact sent a letter to RCS stating that the Shack wouldn’t be participating and that Cyclingnews should check their facts. Well I checked around in past emails and press releases and I couldn’t find anything about the team declining to race in Italy and had instead decided to focus on the Tour of California. Understandable – American team with American sponsors. But why not release this information to the media in January so you can control it the way you want to?

Will this pissing match continue? Will RadioShack be flicked from other RCS events like the Giro di Lombardia? Perhaps the team will want to race the Giro in 2011 – will they be invited? Oh, the drama. I recommend sending a Vermont Teddy Bear with the message “Sorry we couldn’t make it to your race this year ” to RCS.  Those bears have always gotten me out of a bind.

I’m loving that at least the other American teams are racing in Italy which means my boys in red Team BMC. It looks like an on-form Cadel Evans will be there. I’m wondering if this is prep for the Tour or is he going for the overall? George will be racing the Tour of California where he could snag a stage win. Team BMC has the depth to pull off wins on both continents. I’m looking forward to May. Fortunately April is right around the corner which is cycling’s version of March Madness.  Starting next month I’m just going to leave my laptop tethered to my t.v.
UPDATE  UPDATE  UPDATE
So I did some more poking around concerning RadioShack not contesting the Giro d’ Italia. While on the RadioShack team web site there is no press release stating that the Giro wasn’t in the big picture for the Shack, however Johan Bruyneel’s Facebook page has the proposed 2010 racing calendar and glaringly obvious by omission is the Giro.

Now I know an official Facebook page probably isn’t the most efficient way to disseminate information ( you have to belong to Facebook as well as check the site and filter through the thousands of random messages). But none the less there it was – no Giro on the RadioShack race schedule. Actually way back in December Joe Lindsey brought this to our attention but hey, it was a long holiday and we forgot. However the question remains, why not just issue a press release in January confirming the race schedule posted on the Facebook page? This is where it gets complicated.

There is a bit of wheeling and dealing that goes on when you are trying to invite teams to your race. What I know about how teams get invited to the Tour of California is interesting and a blog post to follow soon. It’s not always about what team is the strongest. Anyways I’ll save that one for later…

What I’m thinking is Bruyneel was keeping his cards close to his chest and by posting the schedule on his Facebook page he playing poker with RCS, “Due to sponsorship obligations the RadioShack team is not participating in the Giro…blah, blah, blah…” This gives the Giro’s race director Angelo Zomegnan an opportunity to offer something to entice the team to Italy. Instead it looked like Zomegnan retaliated by snubbing the team and not inviting them to Tirreno-Adriatico – an RCS event. There also might be some lingering polemics when Armstrong was the ringleader of rider protests during stage 9 of  last year’s Giro.

Either way you slice it, this whole hubbub could have been avoided by just issuing a press release saying, “Suck it, we’re racing in Cali!” Those are my words, not Bruyneel’s.

PHOTO: RadioShack

Home rider Tiago Machado (Team RadioShack) finished second atop the Alto do Malhão in the 3rd stage of the Volta ao Algarve (Portugal). Teammate Levi Leipheimer (USA) finished third. Stage winner Alberto Contador attacked at the bottom of the final climb, immediately took ten seconds and managed to keep that advantage.

“It was our job to be in the front the last kilometers,” commented Machado. “The first two corners were sharp and the slope was steep. When Contador attacked with his teammate David de la Fuente, we decided to wait for the reactions of other potential overall contenders like Luis León Sánchez or Kim Kirchen. Their reaction did not come, so I counterattacked. The gap between Contador and me remained constantly the same, about ten, fifteen seconds. This means that I may not complain about my condition.”

Team Director José Azevedo added: “It’s the first race of the season for our riders. We have to be careful and not too audacious. The most important thing is that Tiago proved he has worked hard and that he has a place in this big team. Tiago was nervous before the season. Now we see there was no need for it.”

Levi Leipheimer attacked in the last kilometer of the climb and rode away from the other contenders to finish third at 22 seconds of the stage winner.

Both Machado and Leipheimer are still within striking distance to fight for the overall on Sunday’s final 17.5 kilometer time trial in Portimão.

“Tiago and Levi are both real time trialists. However Contador is that too,” said team Director Dirk Demol. “The distance is not so long, but for sure we will go for it. Up to now we are happy that all our riders prove to have worked hard during the winter. We are the best in the Team’s Classification now but unfortunately we’ve already lost two riders this race.”

Tomas Vaitkus, who crashed on his shoulder in the first stage, went back home to Spain and will keep his shoulder immobilized for a few days. Next week he travels to Belgium. Vaitkus is confident to be able to start in the opening weekend of the Belgian cycling season.

Gert Steegmans was involved in a crash in the stage of today after only 8 kilometers of the race, landing on his head. After being brought to the ambulance, Steegmans was able to leave the ambulance and finish the stage in a race car. He suffers no fractures but complains about headache and vertigo.

“My helmet saved my life,” Steegmans explained. “The helmet was in different pieces. I am lucky. I have some minor injuries at elbow and hip, but my head worries me the most. The team doctor will keep me in Portugal to follow me up. He cannot rule out a concussion. I will have to rest a few days, but as of now, I am confident to be able to start in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.”

Result Stage 3: Castro Marim – Malhão, 173.7 K:
1 Alberto Contador; 2 Tiago Machado (Team RadioShack) 0:11; 3 Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) 0:22; 4 Peter Velits 00:25; 5 Tejay Van Garderen; 6 Jean-Christophe Péraud 0:29; 7 Samuel Sánchez 0:31; 8 Rui Costa 0:33; 9 Luis-León Sánchez; 10 Andreas Klöden (Team RadioShack)

General Classification after Stage 3:
1 Alberto Contador; 2 Tiago Machado (Team RadioShack) 0:15; 3 Levi Leipheimer (Team RadioShack) 0:28; 4 Samuel Sánchez 0:35; 5 Tejay Van Garderen; 6 Rui Costa 0:43; 7 Luis-León Sánchez; 8 Matthew Lloyd; 9 Andreas Klöden (Team RadioShack); 10 Joaquín Rodriguez

"All you're left with is a plaid thermos..." the wolfman

You know who has balls of Godzilla like proportions? RadioShack’s Fumy Beppu and I’ll tell you why. He has one year left on a two-year contract with Skil-Shimano and says, hell with that, I’m bouncing over to the Shack. He works a deal with RadioShack and Skil-Shimano finds out he’s racing on SRAM via the internet. Perhaps Beppu simply consulted The Art of War and made his decision to leave Skil-Shimano based on one of Sun Tzu’s tenants. “Every general has heard of these five things. Those who know them prevail, those who do not know them do not prevail. Therefore, use these assessments for comparison, to find out what the conditions are. That is to say, which political leadership has the Way? Which general has ability? Who has the better climate and terrain? Whose discipline is effective? Whose troops are the stronger? Whose officers and soldiers are the better trained? Whose system of rewards and punishments is clearer? This is how you can know who will win.” Clearly the answer is RadioShack. Enjoy the complimentary remote control car and free batteries Beppu.

Browne Eye Media is taking another step forward in total internet domination by now offering an Android Browne Eye app. Since I don’t have an Android phone I would appreciate it that someone show it to me on the next ride.

HTC-Columbia is killing it at the Tour Down Under

As January winds down the first UCI race of the year is almost complete. The Tour Down Under seems to have been tough enough in 2009 for Armstrong to cause him to have a gut check on whether his return to professional racing was a good idea. This year it’s a different story. He’s been in breakaways and mixing it up. His fellow RadioShackers have also been at the front and have been top three in some stage finishes – so far so good. Now if they can score a win this Saturday… Team Sky came in with the plan of making a race day debut splash, which they accomplished with Greg Henderson taking the win at the Cancer Council Helpline Classic. But from there on it has been Andre Greipel of HTC-Columbia putting on a daily sprint clinic. I know it’s way too early to make predictions but damn, HTC-Columbia seems to have picked up where they left off last year, dominating anything that ended with a sprint finish. Once Cav gets his choppers sorted out he’ll once again be racking up the wins as well. One bit of advice for Cav: Resist the urge to go with Team Sky. I can’t put my finger on it but my Spidey senses tingle in a bad way with the thought of him joining Sky. When his contract expires I fully expect him to hear the siren call of racing for a British pro team like any American who wasn’t racing for 7-Eleven in the ’80’s.

While teams like HTC-Columbia, RadioShack and Team Sky seem to be enjoying a healthy budget, other squads don’t seem to be faring as well. Milram, Caisse d Epargne and Saxo Bank as title sponsors are getting out of the cycling game at the conclusion of 2010. Also, Quick Step is cutting back on their racing schedule due to budget constraints. Here in the States races and teams are scaling back. One rider is taking the situation in hand and is becoming the master of his own domain. Burke Swindlehurst, a strong climber on the Bissell squad last year, is going solo in ‘10. He has cobbled together several individual sponsors and is going to be competing in both road and mountain biking. Is this the new cycling sponsorship business model in these tough economic times? In mountain biking teamwork is not a factor, however road racing is another thing all together. In crits and road races he’s going to have to rely on being in the right moves at the right time with no margin of error. That said, in a climbing race it can become mano-a-mano and Swindlehurst can climb with the best of them domestically. I’m always a fan of the underdog, so I’m betting on Burke to pop up here and there on the leader’s board. I have suggestion for Burke: install a PayPal donation widget on your website. There’s fans out there that love to see you race and can appreciate you being a fly in the ointment. Plus your musical insights are priceless, so why not let people throw a couple of bucks your way.

One last comment I have is regarding a Twitter post I read from David Zabriskie and a few Garmin-Transitions riders. It looks like today was Media Training Day for the team. I’ve sat in on a few and if you saw the bio film, “Blood, Sweat and Gears” you can see how much the media is loved by riders and staff alike. I’m curious now that most riders have Twitter accounts as well as Facebook pages, how much random, unfiltered Twittering is going to occur. As a personal plea don’t let the P.R. people completely neuter your thoughts. Those 140 characters offer a tiny glimpse of who you are as a person beyond the rolling billboard you’ve become. And that glimpse behind the curtain causes people to become fans of a sport that could use a few more.

Who will be working for who in California Courtesy-Al Crawford

The racing season is right around the corner and all the pro teams are counting the days till their specific race rendezvous. Taking a quick glance at the various team sites you can see where riders will be. In the case of Kenda p/b Geargrinders it’s the Tour de Taiwan in March. The Tour of Taiwan is a UCI ranked event, so snagging some early season points will make them an attractive selection for any of our domestic grand tours such as Tour of California (I actually heard that only one slot is still open for a team), Tour of Missouri (keeping my fingers crossed on that one) and of course the Tour of Utah (inside source told me they are going big in 2010). Beyond the American Continental teams is the Big Show – the teams who are assured a spot in our domestic races as well as the three European Grand Tours. Let’s not forget the Spring Classics.

For those stalking Garmin-Transitions (I’m talking about a certain group of #cyclingdivas) the team was polite enough to not only post their race schedule but also format it into an attractive calendar suitable for framing. I have mine pinned up next to my mounted talking bass. Both are great conversation starters. “Hey, what’s that? Is that a talking bass mounted next to the Garmin-Transitions racing schedule?” Yes…yes it is.

With a large squad Garmin-Transitions is splitting the squad into a Giro and Amgen Tour of California team. From a personal standpoint I’d like to see both Christian Vande Velde and David Zabriskie line up at the Amgen Tour of California. However, the Giro has been the traditional tune-up for potential Tour de France champions. Wiggins of Sky has already stated that he’s eying the Giro’s prologue and the time trial. If Zabriskie is going to have the break out year that Vaughters predicts then Italy may be where he’s headed in May. Vande Velde has contested the Giro these past two years and went on to strong finishes at the Tour, so I wouldn’t expect a change in his racing program.

One schedule that got me thinking was Team RadioShack’s race program posted on Johan Bruyneels’s Facebook page (never in a thousand years did I ever think I’d be writing that sentence). The month of May is missing the Giro and instead has the Tour of California followed by the Tour of Belgium. This is an interesting conundrum that Joe Lindsey pointed out in the Boulder Report. Armstrong had used the Giro for the high-intensity training to fine-tune the fitness. However the Tour of California has been Leipheimer’s race. There could be awkward moments around the dinner table in California if Armstrong wants to flex his racing muscle during the race and not be the super-domestic he was in 2009. And what about Kloden? It looks like scraps for him. With no Giro, the Tour of California is Leipheimer’s, the Tour is Armstrong’s – no matter what he said at the press conference, so what’s left? Maybe throw him a bone at Paris-Nice?

Wiggo - the next big thing?

I have mixed feeling about the new British Sky team. They are the New York Yankees of the cycling world buying up any and all available (in the case of Wiggins – not so available) talent. The British side of me is rooting for them and I’m glad that in these uncertain times a huge corporation has stepped up and backed a team. The a-hole side of me will enjoy harassing my father who has become a big fan of them and I will be able to endlessly mock him when Sky doesn’t win. I am gambling with my inheritance because if I piss him off too badly he might remove me from the will. However the reality is that the Browne fortune is probably no more than several boxes of empty Lucky Lager bottles and my grandfather’s old prosthetic arm, so it’s not a big loss.

While not a Pro Continental team, BMC with Cadel Evans, George Hincapie and Alessandro Ballan are deserved of a wild card entry into all the races. Their season is starting off early with the Tour Down Under and then it’s a European campaign with Hincapie, Ballan and fresh meat John Murphy. I don’t think anyone would argue with me by saying that Murph is a guy who deserves this shot. I expect to see Hincapie, Ballan and Murphy to be at the Tour of California. Evans has already decided to race the Giro as prep for the Tour. He’s going to have to be a cagey rider to do well in the 2010 Tour.

With no TTT can anyone really beat him in the Tour?

With the new year just hours in front of us the speculation has begun. Will the Giro once again be just an event the Italians battle for and everyone else uses for Tour training? Can the Tour of California become THE race to attend as we hope for drier days? Will the new super budget Sky Team be more than just an over-expensive team filled with racers and their bloated egos? Will their failure to win any significant races cause my dad to have a rage-fueled stroke? Who knows, but I’m double checking the will. I think Lucky Lager beer bottles are collectables and might be worth some coin.

RadioShack rides SRAM's Red group

As a stock holder of Trek Bicycles it was a no-brainer that when Lance came out of retirement he’d be once again on a Trek bicycle. What wasn’t so obvious was what components were going to hang on the Trek frames. Alex Wassmann of SRAM took the time to talk to me about how this relationship began before he headed down to the RadioShack team camp in Tucson.  Apologies for the poor audio quality.

Available to the public in March

The first images of the official RadioShack Madone were released on the Trek Bicycles Facebook fan page. However, unless you’re riding for the Shack, you’ll have to wait till March before they become available to the public.

[View with PicLens]

IMAGES: Trek Bicycles Facebook Fan Page

Pounding out the miles

Day 2 of the RadioShack camp is in the books. Ace photographer Brian Hodes of Velo Images has returned from a day of facing backwards on the moto, thawed off and downloaded images. Hodes reports that the day started off with Johan Bruyneel telling the assembled media to obey the rules of the road. “In America you can go to jail for traffic violations.” European drivers take note! However, after 60 miles Bruyneel waved off the media so the team could train in peace. Luckily the rain held off, but the cold snap continued. RadioShack unveiled the “working” version of the jersey, but so far no one is riding in it.

Team RadioShack Training Camp – Day 2

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IMAGES: Velo Images

Brian enjoying warm weather. Not the case today

“Dude, it’s fucking cold!” That’s Brian Hodes of Velo Images first words to me today as he prepares to mount up on the back of a motorcycle and shoot. A late night run to the store got him rain slickers, but the one piece of clothing he’s missing is ear warmers. “They’re cold.” The forecast is calling for a slight improvement as the day continues. However it had been raining all night with wind gusts of 30 miles per hour. Right now there is no rain, just the biting cold.  “This is shades of the first days of Tour of California when I killed a camera.” His camera was so damaged by the rain at the Tour of California that he gave it a burial. May his Nikon rest in peace.

If possible Brian will give updates from the road…

Brian is prepared for today's weather, except for ear warmers...

Working version of RadioShack jersey

We wanted to say thank you for your support and give you a sneak preview of a working prototype of the jersey the guys will be riding in in 2010. While the final Jersey is expected to look very similar, it will be officially unveiled in Australia in January during the Tour Down Under. It was our goal this year to create something visually distinctive and a look that was symbolic of what we feel Team RadioShack is all about: cutting edge technology, speed, strength, determination and a global message to LIVESTRONG. The experts at Nike and our partners at RadioShack helped to create this fast form-fitting design using various textures and patterns symbolizing the themes of new technology, global connectivity and community. We think it looks pretty damn cool.

The guys are gearing up at training camp this week and will be riding in team colors for the first time. Stay tuned for more news and updates from the team as we get ready for the season kick off just a few weeks at the Tour Down Under!

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