Author: Velo Club Sud Eglise

The super supporters – VCSE’s thoughts on Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico

Chris Froome
Settling for 2nd – Froomey (Photo credit: Petit Brun)

Tirreno Adriatico finished with Tuesday’s Time Trail. For Team Sky and Chris Froome there was perhaps disappointment that he was unable to emulate Richie Porte in Paris Nice and win the general classification. 

With talk of a breakaway world series ahead of the start of last weeks races it could be seen that some of the world tour teams were sending coded messages to the UCI by running their A squads in the Tirreno. Sky were led by Froome with most of his helpers from last years Vuelta supplemented by new signings Dario Cataldo and Joe Dombrowski. Froome faced a stellar cast of GC contenders in Alberto Contador (Saxo), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana)and Cadel Evans (BMC).

There was plenty of room within the field for other stories to be played out a week ahead of Milan San Remo with the sprinting hierarchy represented by Mark Cavendish (OPQS), Andre Greipel (Lotto) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale).

There were metaphorical raised eyebrows in France that the world tour teams appeared to be placing Tirreno ahead of Paris Nice  with their selections but at the end of both races the teams looked justified as Tirreno led the way for incident and excitement.

Porte had seemed uncomfortable with the leaders mantle to begin with, sometimes looking like he needed to be reminded that he could call the shots. Certainly he had a strong pairing to work for him at the front with the ex Movistar riders David Lopez and Vasil Kiryenka impressing on the climbs also. Sky’s other new signings at Paris Nice Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and Ian Boswell had a tougher time. Brian Smith, JTL’s ex manager suggests that he would be better suited for the classics. but Sky have him earmarked as a GC rider. Other than flashes when the race entered the climbs he cast a rather forlorn figure before abandoning due to illness on stage 5. Boswell was conspicuously out the back on most days and will no doubt be expected to improve.

Porte’s moment of clarity about being team leader probably came at the end of stage came at the end of stage 4 when Andrew Talansky (Garmin) took the yellow jersey and stage win. Porte and Sky were super strong the following day with a summit finish that allowed Porte to demonstrate his superiority on the climbs.

The possibility of Talansky wresting back the yellow on the final day’s TT was demolished when Porte’s time split came on screen. It’s not surprising that speculation about Porte as a potential GC winner at the Giro next year has begun. VCSE wonders if Dave Brailsford can imagine a world where his two GC contenders are Froome and Porte rather than Froome and Wiggins.

As Paris Nice was reaching its climax Tirreno Adriatico was just beginning to warm up. Omega Pharma had Cavendish in the leaders jersey until Saturday after the opening team TT and his consistent sprint placings on stages 2 and 3. Beaten in both, Cav, his lead out, or a combination of the two didn’t appear to be firing on all cylinders. Peter Sagan’s strong start to the season continued with stage wins book ending the summit finish action at the weekend.

Froome had appeared beaten on the climb to Prati di Tivo on Saturday but produced a stunning victory that left his rivals shell-shocked riding up to their wheels, then around, before soloing up to the line.

Sunday’s stage to Chieti with its final kilometres formed of narrow streets and double digit ramps were Froome and indeed Sky’s undoing. As with the Vuelta last year he looks vulnerable to attack on short, steep climbs. As the finish approached Froome burnt all of his supporting ‘matches’ and was spent going too early for the final intermediate sprint. losing out to Contador. Purito Rodriguez rode away from everyone on the final climb which left VCSE wondering about Katusha and ‘ethical reasons’.

Chieti’s climbs were familiar ground. On Monday the penultimate stage visited the 300 odd metres of the Muro di Sant’Elpidio and its 27% ramps not once but twice. The height of the climb was the deceiver in what appeared to be a fairly innocuous stage. The sight of the worlds best riders resorting to walking in some cases and more than fifty abandonments is an indication of just how tough the climb was. RCS, the Tirreno organisers, admitted the following day that yes perhaps it had been too much. Spare a thought for BMC’s Taylor Phinney who at least completed the stage, but at 35 minutes down missed the time exemption.

A second day of this type of climb did for Froome as leader as he again lost his support and even lost out to the likes of Sagan on the Muro. Sagan re bonded with last years team mate Nibali to share the spoils of stage win and leaders jersey ahead of the final days TT.

The Tirreno also saw a renaissance of sorts for Damiano Cunego who starred in a solo breakaway on Sunday and was part of the group break on Monday. His efforts rewarded by the King of the Mountains jersey.

Froome’s challenge at the Tour will be to use his domestiques wisely. While the Tour is unlikely to feature the type of ramps seen in Italy or Spain a double ascent of Alpe d’Huez will not take prisoners. Sky look to have all of the cards with their domestiques this year. Kiryenka and Lopez in Paris Nice and Cataldo in the Tirreno all impressed, looking like the can ride at the front all day and with Porte returning to normal duties in the grand tours Sky’s first six names on the team sheet have probably already been written.

‘Beyond the Peloton’

It’s entirely possible that newer fans imagined that documentaries about pro cycling began with ‘Road to Glory’ the Team Sky / British Cycling series shown last year. When you watch ‘Beyond the Peloton’ you realise it has actually all been done before, long before Bradley Wiggins became famous for being (well) Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish was the new sensation at HTC Columbia.

‘Beyond..’ features the Cervelo Test Team born out of the manufacturer losing its position as supplier to CSC after the 2008 season and deciding to go it alone. The team was built around Carlos Sastre, winner of the 2008 Tour de France and Thor Hushovd, but following his scene stealing podium places in the spring classics Heinrich Haussler is the rider that the filmmakers gravitate towards.

The doc is introduced by robotic sounding Cervelo employee Joseph who is apparently entrusted with telling the story of the teams first season. Despite promising to bring the perspective of the mechanics and soigneurs Joseph pretty soon defaults to the view from the saddle or the team car. The footage is generally hand held shaky but this does help to convey the sometimes chaotic nature of racing none more so than during the Giro d’Italia when Serge Pauwels goes off message and leaves Sastre flailing on a climb.

Something missing from ‘Road to..’ was technical detail on the teams bikes. ‘Beyond..’ as much a marketing exercise as for the fans has some interesting segments featuring Gerard Vroomen and Phil White during wind tunnel development and later on modifications to the bike for Paris Roubaix. It’s hard to imagine ‘Road to..’ featuring the raw egg and dessert wine concoction whipped up for Sastre either!

Sadly missing from ‘Beyond..’ was much reference to the women’s Cervelo team that pre-dated the men’s team. Other than a few frames in episode 1 and a brief appearance by Kristen Armstrong in episode 2 (ironically where she is more aerodynamically efficient than Hushovd in the wind tunnel) the ladies do not feature at all.

As the season progresses its fair to say that although the supposed goals for the season are unrealised, the results that are achieved more than compensate. Spoiler alert! Haussler cements his classics results (at one point during 2009 he was the #1 ranked rider in the world) with a stage win at the Tour. Sastre goes well at the Giro winning two stages and (following a disqualification of a rival for doping) finishes 3rd overall. At the Tour Sastre struggles but Hushovd while unable to compete with Cavendish on out and out speed does enough to claim the green points jersey.

These days Hushovd is with BMC but has been off the radar following illness in 2012. Sastre failed to reach the heights of his 2008 results and retired at the end of 2011. Haussler joined the neo pro-continental IAM team this year.

‘Beyond the Peloton’ in 2009, ‘Road to Glory’ in 2012. Plus ca change!

Few problems embedding this. click on the link below for season 1 with seasons 2 and 3 on the VCSE YouTube channel.

http://tinyurl.com/cg28ucn

 

It’s Velo Club time

Diet Velo – also available in XXL

For those of you that prefer your (insert popular soft drink brand here) low cal. Here’s the alternative to our Real Thing design.

Visit the VCSE store for instant refreshment!

Continental Tires & Tubes offer – 40% off

One for the Rubber Lovers – save over 40% on these beauties

Here’s a great offer from our friends at Wiggle.

Conti GP4000S tires have all the features you know and love but with the new ‘Black Chilli’ compound that increases grip while reducing rolling resistance. VCSE can vouch for their super sticky nature and confidence inspiring grip even in the wet.

This deal supplies two GP4000S tires in 23mm or 25mm width and 5 Conti tubes. Normally priced at over £110 you will save 40% and pay just £65!

Get in!

Back to the Old School

This series of clips was produced 20 years ago but many of these are still available.

There’s some classic early 70’s clips including ‘A Sunday in Hell’ my all time favourite documentary about Paris Roubaix. The final clip shows Eddy Merckx during his world hour record attempt. This was completed at altitude in Mexico. It’s hard to imagine the record being attempted in these less than sterile surroundings now.

It’s all introduced by a youthful Phil Ligget (check the full head of hair).

The Hell of the South – Isle of Wight cycling reflections

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Paris Roubaix? – one of the regular roads used by VCSE in West Wight

VCSE spent last week on the Isle of Wight and put the claim from Lonely Planet to the test that the island is the number one location in the world (note not just the UK) for cycling.

IOW council were at the London Bike Show in January and we were able to grab a copy of the (free) cycling map which proved to be a bit more wieldy in the VCSE jersey pocket than taking the OS map on our rides. It’s pretty clear that the council have recognised the enormous potential to market the island for cycle holidays with the added attractions of a thriving music festival and local food scene likely to prove complimentary for two wheeled visitors. There’s a good choice of ferries across the Solent with Portsmouth the nearest terminal to Southend.

There is a well signposted route around the island that can be ridden in either direction (clockwise or anti clockwise) but with other (quieter) roads shown on the map it’s pretty straightforward to work out a route.

Iow_sign

There are a number of dedicated cycle routes with more under development although these are mostly on the eastern side of the island and VCSE’s base in Freshwater Bay meant that we were exploring the roads around West Wight. For the same reason we can’t say too much about the suitability of theses routes for road bikes. The one route we recce’d looked less suitable (between Freshwater and Yarmouth).

The roads themselves while not exactly smooth are generally not too bad although there were a few sections that had broken up from frost. At this time of year even the main roads are pretty quiet and keeping to the round island routes and minor roads meant that we could ride two abreast 90% of the time. There’s some great scenery with Hobbit like ferns and moss covered banks enclosing some of the narrow lanes opening out to chalk downs near the south coast.

Used to the wide open spaces of estuarial Essex the up and down nature of the IOW’s routes was a pleasant surprise and describing a course across the down land between Alum Bay and Ventnor you can find yourself on ramps of 12-14%. The downs peak around the 200′ mark but seem higher particulary when looking from north to south. There are plenty of short, punchy climbs around the 5 to 6% mark around the villages and farms VCSE visited. For an up and down ride with great views out to sea ride the Military Road from Freshwater towards Ventnor before it disappears; the road has been cut to one lane in places due to erosion.

The downside of the rural riding is a fair amount of mud and farm ‘deposits’ on the road and the VCSE bikes looked more like cyclo crossers after our final ride. VCSE had some ‘moments’ on some of the descents on wet days. Less likely to be an issue as the weather warms up.

It was unusual not to pass another rider of two when we were out despite the less than perfect weather. Winds were pretty light for our visit, a refreshing change from the Esplanade!

VCSE booked accomodation through Island Cottage Holidays (link below). They can also provide discounted ferry travel when you book your accomodation. Our base for the week was a reconstituted one bed cottage, part of a victorian coastal fort complete with moat and gun emplacements.

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Sea views – VCSE stayed here

Out of season its fair to say that sleepy does not really describe West Wight. We arrived on a Saturday and were a bit taken aback by the lack of people around. Outside of the convenience stores we didn’t see much else open. The handwritten sign in the antique clock store in Freshwater said that they would be closing for good on 6th April so perhaps the secret for commercial success is to try not to be too niche. If you do feel the need to shop then Ryde and the island capital Newport offer the most choice.

For anyone needing cycling related retail therapy VCSE recommends a visit to The Bike Shed (link below). They have recently opened a new store in Ryde on Union Street and as well as stocking Trek have a well appointed service area. For those of a more off road persuasion The Bike Shed’s original store at Arreton (well sign posted) is a good starting point. Simon and the team are very friendly and are a good source of local info.

VCSE is pleased to report that there is good eating on the island. IOW council produce some guides that are a good starting point to decide where to eat. Our pick from the week are The New Inn at Shalfleet and The Garlic Farm (links below).

We managed to get a table at The New Inn on a Tuesday night in February but would probably advise booking a table otherwise. The food celebrates its local providence and there’s a good choice of meat and fish with vegetarians catered for also.

The Garlic Farm is a great lunch stop (open daily until 5pm) and is a good spot to pick up foodie related gifts. VCSE enjoyed refuelling with thick cut ham, eggs and proper chips.

27 miles from one side to the other and approximately 70 miles around the ‘edge’ its possible to ride most of the best routes on the IOW in a week, if not more than once. VCSE intends to head back to the island later in the year but would recommend an out of season visit also.

http://www.islandcottageholidays.com/

http://www.the-bikeshed.com/home.html

http://thenew-inn.co.uk/

http://www.thegarlicfarm.co.uk/

 

‘We’d like to teach the world to sing…’

The real thing – looks as good as it tastes! 

The latest VCSE design – sure to improve the taste of any beverage. Enjoy!

Celebrate the classic climbs – the latest design added to the VCSE store

Mountain High – latest design at the VCSE store

As part of our classic climbs series here’s the latest Velo Club Sud Eglise offering. The photo represents the obelisk at the summit. 

Follow our links to the VCSE store and enjoy.

 

 

Spring has Sprung – VCSE’s view on the Spring Classics #1

An enforced absence and lack of wifi prevented us giving you our thoughts ahead of the first of the Spring Classics – Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne Brussel Kuurne. On Saturday attempts to watch the live feed from Sporza defeated the VCSE mobile and having set Sky+ to record KBK on Sunday the rest of the week was spent avoiding Flipboard and Twitter so the race could be enjoyed ‘as live’ on our return to Essex.

Initally crestfallen that the race hadn’t been recorded a quick search soon established that KBK had been cancelled due to snow! Reviewing the highlights of Het Nieuwsblad it certainly looked chilly although Heinrich Haussler managed without gloves when every other rider had the full winter ensemble on.

The race developed into a two rider battle with 26K’s to go with the little and large duo of Luca Paolini of Katusha and Stijn Vandenbergh of Omega Pharma getting away from the leading group. Vandenbergh, described by Cycling Weekly as a ‘bunch driving labourer’ had OPQS teammate Sylvain Chavanel in the group with him but when Vandenbergh broke Chavenel, perhaps tiring after an earlier breakaway, was unable to go in support.

Etiquette was followed between Vandenbergh and Paolini until they reached the last few metres and the crowd were denied a home victory as Paolini managed a passing imitation of a sprint clear to win.

Tuning up for the next races in the calendar (Ghent Wevelgem & Ronde an Vlaanderen) continues this week with Paris Nice and Tirreno Adriatico. Ahead of the two Belgian races is the first of the Monuments Milan San Remo on 17th March.

Mark Cavendish is taking part in Tirreno Adriatico although he is playing down his chances of a repeat of his 2009 (Milan San Remo) win. As far as the one day races go, with shorter (albeit) ‘punchier’ climbs and with a team that is more likely to work hard for him VCSE wouldn’t rule out another win for Cav in the first monument of 2013.

After a strong team performance from Cannondale in the Strade Bianche at the weekend the current favourite for Milan San Remo is Peter Sagan. Sagan was the ‘bogeyman’ in the Strade with the other teams so busy covering him that teammade Moreno Moser was able to get away for the victory.

VCSE’s outsiders for Milan San Remo are AG2R la Mondiale after Rafael Nocentini’s 3rd place in the Strade and victory for Blel Kadri in last Sundays Roma Maxima.

The spring collection

The ‘road test’ of the VCSE store continues. Just had the first T delivered and here I am ‘modelling’ the Track Club variety. 

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Suits You Sir – VCSE Track Club T in the flesh