USAPC 2014 Reaction

With the warm, cuddly glow of the impending college basketball season beating down upon my face like the spring sun that now seems so far away, I haven't spared a thought for much else.  But the Monday morning announcement of host cities and route generics for the 2014 edition of the USA Pro Challenge gave me pause.  Upon first glance, they did not go the way I expected, but nonetheless appear to have hit the things I desired at the conclusion of the 2013 race.

Overview:
Stage 1) Aspen circuit
Stage 2) Aspen to Crested Butte
Stage 3) Gunnison to Monarch Mountain
Stage 4) CO Springs circuit
Stage 5) Woodland Park to Breckenridge
Stage 6) Vail TT

First and foremost, they have definitely provided the action 2013 lacked.  With the Vail TT on Saturday, this thing will NOT be decided before the weekend.  And sure, it makes sense to bring Saturday's stage to the Front Range to optimize fan attendance, but the Vail TT has been PACKED the first 2 times they ran it.  Midweek.  The last km of that climb there's not room to take a breath.  And with the race on the line, 5 stages under the belt, this could be epic.

Other things I like: Mountaintop finish on Monarch Mountain.  They call it the first ever, I guess because the other uphill finishes have really been to the base of a mountain.  Though Flagstaff was kind of mountain-toppish.  Either way, it'll provide nice action.  Of course we don't have details of the route until Spring, but given Gunnison is at roughly 7700 feet, and Monarch at about 11000, and the direct route would be way too short, I imagine this one will be tough.  I need to learn that area of CO better to weigh in properly.  They did go over Monarch Pass in year one to end at CB.

Speaking of which, one of the classic finishes in the short history of the race was year one, stage one, up to the base of Crested Butte.  And that's back on stage 2 this year.  Seems like that would have to be the stage they send them over Independence, but that would involve going over Monarch Pass, so... wait and see.

And then...?  Oh yes, there's an and-then.  Shawn Hunter, CEO of the whole shabang, said the finish in Breck would be revisiting Moonstone Road.  Which was gnarly and epic and awesome sauce.  Add on to all that, to please the Colorado-loving crowd, 2 stages of circuits where we can camp out for hours and see our favorite riders for more than 2 seconds.  I gotta say, this course, right now, in my head... they nailed it.

AND THEN?  The list above is missing stage 7 you say?  Or maybe you don't since you read all the news releases too?  It's up for a vote!  Talk about incorporating your fan base.  They have 4 possible final stages, and it's up to a vote to pick it.  They are Golden to Denver, Boulder to Denver, Boulder to Golden, or Denver circuit.  My personal feeling is a) it needs to end in Denver, we need to make sure that's a thing and b) enough circuits for the year.  Lookout was fun, re-do the first finish route from Golden, a few laps around downtown.  Winning.  Go vote here.

And theeeeeen?  No and then.  Go vote.  Go watch the race.  Oh, and go to the CEC and watch the men's and women's CU basketball teams tear it up.  That should get you through the winter.

Parting Thought: My happy song playlist has recently added Best Day of My Life .  You can't not be happy listening to it:

CU Basketball Season Preview

Men's Basketball Preview:

BUFFS WIN

Women's Basketball Preview:

BUFFS WIN


Parting Thoughts: Go Buffs.  #IsItNovemberYet

Worlds

The UCI World Championships are upon us.  Over the next week, champions will be crowned in TTT, ITT and road race, for men, women, and juniors.  For those so inclined, NBC Sports will be covering the women's TT (Tuesday, 9/24), men's TT (Wed, 9/25), women's road (Sat, 9/28) and men's road (Sunday, 9/29).

The Field
USA is sending a total of 29 riders.  The men's elite team is 7 strong, with automatic bids going to Fast Freddie Rodriguez (current national champ), Andrew Talansky and Tejay VanGarderen.  Talansky and Tejay earned their bid by being in the top 50 of world rankings.  The others are Chris Horner (barely off of his Vuelta victory), Taylor Phinney (Boulder-based TT power), Alex Howes (also from Boulder, what-what), and Peter Stetina.
The U-23 team has the familiar face of Lawson Craddock, as well as 4 others, all of whom ride for the Bontrager (formerly Livestrong) team.
Among the women are Mara Abbott (BOULDER!), and Evelyn Stevens (Olympian, 2nd in Worlds TT last year).
Complete list here.

The TT
I'm skipping over the TTT, because it's really just for funsies to fill up the week.  For TTT, the riders go with their pro team, not by country, and to my knowledge you don't get to sport an awesome jersey for the rest of the year announcing your awesomeness.  Which isn't to say there's not pride and cash on the line, but, you know, we've seen it.

The men's elite TT course

The elite men's time trial course is 57km, ending in= Florence.  I want to go ride it just because I'm sure it's beautiful.  But 35 miles is a LONG TT.  Taylor Phinney skipped out on the USAPC pretty much to train for this race.  It's flat, which suits his track background, but I'm concerned about the length (that's what she said).  Not that he doesn't have the motor, but he seems more likely to excel in a race more about the pure speed.  It's hard to not pick a standby, like TdF winner Froome or billion-time Swiss TT champion and crowd favorite Cancellara, but Taylor has been so many times the bridesmaid (2nd place twice last Worlds, 4th place twice in the Olympics) I'll be rooting for him to be the bride.  Not like he'll be worrying about saving energy for the road race.  And he'll probably have sweet shoes.

The Road Race
Because the Worlds are only one day, it's always a long day.  Like maybe they can wear the guys down enough to make a breakaway a possibility.  One thing about the national races, as opposed to the pro team races, the peloton does seem to be less organized.  There's less cooperation, fewer people per team, and a different feel to the race.  This year's race is 272 km, almost 170 miles, mostly in a circuit around Florence.

The only chance for an American to win this thing is a weird breakaway situation.  I'd be looking for something like a 10 man break, which on the last circuit splinters even more on the last lap and some opportunist Talansky who hasn't been doing his share of the work takes advantage.
The women's race is only (only!) 140 km, and does that same circuit 5 times to finish.  Stevens will be focusing on the TT, but she's won some overalls and can certainly handle this course.  Abbott is coming off a GC in the women's Giro, first American ever to wear that crown.  Again, though, I think both of them would operate better in a small break than trying to pull away in a mass finish.
U!S!A!U!S!A!

Parting Thoughts: The only thing I put ahead of me is do and re.

Angliru

Found a decent feed, got to see the Angliru.  Count it!

Though oppressive crowds, who stand in the way of the riders to wave a flag at the camera, because, you know, TV.  Through 21% grades, that stalled one of the camera motorcycles and caused a brief break in coverage.  Through a fog that settled in at the top of the mountain, and obscured the view of the road and riders around them.  Horner comes out on top.

An amazing battle between Nibali and Horner unfolded on the slopes of the Angliru.  An early attack by Nibali wasn't immediately answered, and had us wondering if Horner had spent it all to catch up over the last week.  Nibali seeemed in good position, with 2 teammated up the road, and all the other favorites riding solo.  But Fuglsang and Tiralongo didn't drop back to him fast enough and Horner, along with Valverde and Rodriguez, eventually made the catch, though neither of the latter helped Horner in the chase.  And even though Chris Horner may be the most awkward-looking man up a climb, I don't think I saw him in the saddle at any point in the last 10km, and apparently that works for him.  With a little more than 1km to go, he put in an attack and Nibali hit the wall.  Horner came in with a 34" advantage (and collapsed to the ground, surrounded by a very excited group of RadioShack support staff).

It would appear to me that Horner's injury this spring was well-timed.  If he was healthy at TdF time, he probably would have gone, been second-fiddle to Andy Schleck, and been eaten alive by Froome.  As it was, he got back in form right before the Vuelta, hit up the ToU to test the waters.  And comes home with a Grand Tour GC title.  The dude's 41.

Epic.

Parting Thought:  Big ups to the CU football team and staff, using the day off from the postponed game to help out people affected by the floods and serve the food that was already delivered to Folsom to those in need.

Battle at La Vuelta

I was a little disparaging about the Vuelta last time I mentioned it, but it has slowly turned in to the best Grand tour of the season.  Nibali was in control of the Giro, and Froome left no doubt about the outcome of Le Tour, but American Chris Horner is not interested in a similar storyline for La Vuelta.

After losing the lead and falling behind favorite Vincenzo Nibali way back on Stage 11 (September 4th) by 46 seconds, and then losing 4 more seconds a couple days later, Chris Horner has slowly but surely gotten himself back in this thing.  Showing impressive climbing form and well-times attacks, he has toirtoise-and-hared himself in to the Red leader's jersey before the final stage.  22 seconds on 16, 25 more on stage 18, and 6 more seconds on stage 19.  Horner is now up 3 seconds on Nibali, with the next closest competitor being Valverde at 1'06".  The presence of Valverde and Joaquin Rodriguez in the top 5, both top 10 finishers at TdF, is very impressive in itself.

But the story now is today's real final stage (the stage tomorrow won't make a difference).  And it's the perfect setting for the showdown.  Check out the profile for the final climb.

Not only ouch, but ouch

The La Vuelta website, though I'm sure a little biased, calls Alto de l'Angrilu perhaps the toughest climb on the entire racing calender.  With gradients up to 23.5%, and an average of 10.2%, there's no joking around.  There's also no wasting time, because the course is under way, and I need time to go find a feed from some sketchy Italian website  to watch it play out myself.  Darn you, Universal Sports!  Chris Horner is now in the driver's seat, and just has to sit on Nibali's wheel (and make sure one of the others doesn't run off unchecked).  Go Chris!

Parting Thoughts: Ylvis, the Norwegian Lonely Island... go check em out on the youtubes.

Random CU Basketball Stat Day

Though I am certainly feeling the excitement of the UNDEFEATED football team (no, I don't care who it was over), I cannot suppress my desire for college basketball to start up.  And the winning ways of both the CU teams over the past 2 years has made me giddy as a schoolboy.  A schoolboy of roughly 11 to be more precise, back when the women's team (nee Lady Buffs) was on top of the world and I saw almost every home game.  But I digress... I was curious how our teams have fared over our first 2 glorious seasons in the Pac-12 and here are some interesting numbers I picked out of the results:

Combined men's and women's record, last 2 seasons: CU comes in 3rd in the Pac-12, with a win percent of 0.667.  Numbers 1 and 2 are Stanford and Cal, basically buoyed by their women's team (Stanford women are 64-4 over time).  Interesting note, though, is that CU men and women come in at .652 and 0.683 respectively, ie 0.011, aka very close.  For comparison, Stanford has a gap of 0.307 from their women to their men.  Also, there are only 4 teams with losing records.
Other notes: Wazzu and USC are the only teams with losing records for both men and women over those 2 years (though there are several teams that just scrape by).
On the men's side, conference play only, there is a pretty fast drop off from the top tier to the bottom tier (from Stanford at 19-17, to ASU 15-21, then OSU and WSU at 11-25).  The top 6 teams are within basically 0.1 of eachother.  The women are much more evenly spaced, but that also means the outliers (from Stanford at 35-1 to 'Zona at 7-29).

Basically, what I'm saying is, CU is the best.  Yay, numbers.

Parting Thought: For the purposes of these calculations, I used the men's "official" record, but I think we all know better...

USAPC look back and look forward

So, yeah... the PC ended a while ago, and I never got around to a wrap up.  This will be a very short look back, some thoughts on the future, and that whole other gigantic race that's happening now (featuring an American!)

2013 USAPC
Judging by the shots they showed on TV, attendance at this year's race wasn't a let down.  The course this year was designed to draw in more people, and the riders put on a show.

• Peter Sagan kept on proving that he came here to win, by taking the finishes in Steamboat, Ft Collins and the finale in Denver.  He was never really tested.  No other teams brought a top-tier sprinter to this race.
• Tejay finally came through, after a 2nd and a 3rd in previous years, and added the PC to his TdCali earlier this year.  After a somewhat disappointing TdF, he showed that he is still the man to beat in the US.
• Andrew Talansky held the course record on the Vail TT... for about an hour, until Tejay came through and beat him by 4 seconds.  It was heart-wrenching.  The kid really went all out, and I was rooting for him to claim that stage.

The pain on that face...

I said quick, so there it was.  All in all, I very much enjoyed this year's edition, and watched most of the 32 hours of coverage (however spotty it was) over the course of the week.  But, there are still improvements to be made, for the sake of this race and the sport of cycling in the US...

Looking Ahead

The race NEEDS Boulder.  Well, not Boulder really, but Flagstaff.  And not so much Flagstaff as any uphill finish on the Front Range.  Saturday of the race must come back to the Front Range, it's where the fans are and the money is.  And I'm actually pretty down with the idea of the sprinter showcase, essentially meaningless to the GC, circuits around Denver to finish it off on Sunday.  But the GC needs to be in contention up until the finale, and the best way is throw down a big climb to end the penultimate day.  Flagstaff was perfect.  I could see Lookout working, there's some room up there and it's close to Denver.  I'm sure there are other I'm not aware of.  But DO IT!

And Tejay, as good as he is, needs competition.  Either that or a personality.  Dude doesn't have a twitter account.  And yes, I'm ashamed to call for one, but to connect with the youth and the fanbase as a whole, and make cycling accessible and fun, you need to go there.  Besides, there's a fake Tejay account and confuses the crap out of people.  Plan B is for another American who *does* reach out to go stride for stride with him.  Yes, Talansky beat him at TdF, but he needs to bring it at home, where he's seen (and primetime coverage in the US...).  Also, Talansky has over 20k followers, fwiw.

Look, Tejay's having fun!  Share with the world, Tejay!

Vuelta
Oh yeah, and the 3rd and final Grand Tour of the year is happening.  I would be remiss to skip over it, but a) I don't get TV coverage and 2) it's just not as glamorous as the Giro or TdF.  But they do know how to dish out the pain.  11 of the 21 stages are uphill finishes.  One of the stages last week had the Mirador de Ezaro, which included a section of 30% (!!) grade, that some pros walked up.  And, up until today's TT, won by one of faves Fabian Cancellara (266k followers on twitter... just sayin), American Chris Horner had the leader's Red Jersey.

Miradorrrrr!  *shakes fist*

Parting Thought: According to some random site that I can't verify the validity of (besides, of course, that the number they do list seem accurate), the top-followed pro cyclists are: Alberto Contador (673k), Mark Cavendish (639k), and Andy Schleck (258k).  Fabian is next on that list.  And Justin Bieber has 44 million.  *sad face*

PC Stages 1 & 2

Those were two fantastic days of racing.  I feel this sums it up:

And... boom goes the dynamite

Yeah, this race has already been blown up.  Not in the way that one person's wrapped up the W, but a lot of people have crossed themselves off.

Stage 1

First of all, let me just say this race shows off our majestic state wonderfully.  The scenery around Aspen made me want to go there.  And I live in the same state to begin with.  Think about the people that live crappy places.  Anyways, this stage ended up going down the way everyone expected, but it didn't look like it for a while.  After joining a failed breakaway attempt a little more than 5km from the finish, Sagan looked like that might have been his go at it, and it would end up between Carter Jones and George Bennett, the 2 remaining out in front.  But the peloton caught on with 1 km to go, Sagan sprinted right around Greg Van Avermaet, and locked up another victory.  GVA adds another 2nd place finish to his August, with 3 runner-ups in the recent T-o-Utah.

Sagan doing his thing for the crowd

I took from this stage a couple things: 1) Sagan came ready to rumble.  Many of the Europeans showed up last week, and are using this as a training ground for the late-season races.  Peter came 3 weeks early, powered over the climbs, and claimed a rare leader's jersey for himself.  2) Andy Schleck seems to be continuing to improve form, being one of only 17 riders who ended up on the same time.  3) Pretty much all the players were right there, including Tejay and Tommy D, with Joe Dombro, defending champ CVV and Dave Zabriskie just 5 s back and 4) Even though it's cool the TdF winner shows up, again they're not showing up with their A game.  Froome back almost 5 minutes after 1 stage.

Stage 2

Now things get really real.  The early ascent over Independence Pass was really just because you have to do Independence Pass.  It was too early to mean anything.  Too bad a summit finish there would be impossible to pull off, logistically.  After the descent and rollout toward Hoosier Pass, a 15-man break got clear of the the peloton.  The break contained 4 people who were on the same time after stage one, including Andy and the young American Lawson Craddock, one of my new favorites.  On the bottom slopes of Hoosier, Lachlan Morton took off, and was eventually caught on the descent by Craddock and the veteran Matthias Frank.

After a sweep through Breck, a nasty little gut punch of Moonstone road up to Boreas Pass Road caused the real damage on the day.  Frank took off, followed closely by Morton, and dropping Craddock.  And Peter Sagan proved he cares not for your labels.  The "sprinter" led the "peloton" over "the" top, just 40 seconds behind with a few km to go.  The man is impressive.  And, well, he came to play.  Frank kept his lead to the finish line, but needed 5s to go in to yellow jersey.  Sadly for him, he chose to celebrate instead of power through the finish, and that may have cost him.  Morton goes in to yellow, 2 seconds over Frank.  Sagan and Tejay came in together between those leaders and Craddock, and now are tied at 3rd overall, +11 seconds.

Thanks, random dude, for bringing the Buffalo to the race!!

More takeaways?  Tejay is back in form, for sure.  I think he'll be pleased to be +11", with the "sprinter" ahead of him, and most of the week in sight.  And I think it's not impossible for Sagan to hang around and be high up in the GC.  The stage to BC and the TT will still tear him up, but he had the best climbing legs of the bunch up Moonstone, so who knows?  That's right, nobody knows.  If they did, this wouldn't be any fun.  Also, fan presence has been amazing.  All 3 summits looked packed on TV.  WTG, CO.

Biggest takeaway?  I managed not to look up ANYTHING between work and getting home and watching the stage on DVR.  It took a tremendous amount of self control.  One of my proudest moments.

Parting Thoughts: This: http://theairuphere.com/2013/08/19/having-some-fun-with-little-brother/

USAPCC!!

That's right, the USA Pro Challenge is here!  And I couldn't be more excited!  Except, perhaps, if they were to find a better name for the race.  But they dropped the "Cycling" this year, so at least it's USAPC instead of USAPCC.  For the remainder of my coverage, I will just be calling it the PC.  Which also helps towards my quota of using the term "PC", which is required of people who come from Boulder.
Also, I got a little too wordy again.  This preview got long.  Sorry bout that.
Note: All images from www.usaprocyclingchallenge.com.  Do you see how long that URL is?

The Stages
The PC has taken some notes this year on making the race more viewer friendly, while keeping it exciting, and enticing the world's best riders.  Stages 1, 2, and 6 include multiple passes on locations, giving fans a chance to both not move AND see more than 1.5 seconds of action.  Stage 4 includes the now-famous uphill finish to Beaver Creek (sadly the only finishing climb of this year's edition, which is the planner's 1 miss).  Stage 5 is the even-more-famous, and brutal, TT out of Vail.  And stages 3 and 7 should give the sprinters a chance to participate, including to one of the most packed towns in the 1st edition of the PC (and my 2nd home town), Steamboat Springs.  Note: Steamboat doesn't require residents to use "PC", but they do require a cowboy hat and participation in an extremely dangerous sport of your choosing.

Stage 1: A neat route, and one I'm glad they put in.  Only 66 miles, it goes 3 laps around Aspen, and manages to pack in over 7700 feet of climbing.  I could really see this one going a couple different ways, too.

Stage 1: Round and Round

It's definitely not a warmup stage, or the prologue of year one, but a lot of times the riders will just ride a little easier on the opening day.  The guys will be getting acclimated, too, and some of the Europeans are only just getting in for this.  I think some motivated attackers will make the break work this stage, but it'll be tight.

Stage 2: Just your average 126 miles and 12,250 feet of climbing here.  Hope they got warmed up the day before, because stage 2 takes the climb that will always be in the PC, and adds some new flava.

Stage 2: Today is the day we declare our Independence

After ascending the classic Independence Pass (which I did this year!  Piece of cake... or something), they'll roll for a while, come up through Fairplay and over Hoosier Pass, a first swing through Breck, then circle back by way of Boreas Pass and what the site says are 15% grades.  I've also driven (not biked) the descent down Boreas Pass road they'll be taking back in to Breckenridge, and that should be pretty epic to watch.  Not an uphill finish, but that short punch to Boreas right at the end should break apart the group (you know, if the Jensie isn't all alone out front anyways).

Stage 3: Not that anything is easy about Rabbit Ears Pass, but chances are the breakaway will really just be for show on stage 3 (check the calendar, if a rider has a birthday on the 8/21, they'll be in it).  This is a repeat of a stage in the inaugural PC, which came down to what was really a fantastic bunch sprint finish.

Stage 3: I wish I had a Rabbit in a hat with a bat

Steamboat likes to call themselves Bike Town, USA, and they lived up to the moniker 2 years ago by having an outstanding crowd there.  I believe they'll live up to it again

Stage 4: Surprising brutal.  That was my response when I read about this stage.  For some reason Steamboat to BC seems like a cruiser with an uphill finish in my head.  It ain't.  It's 11,627 feet of climbing in just under 103 miles.  Bachelor's Gulch claims grades of 18%.  The 2km in to BC has made for amazing finishes both of the previous 2 years.  This stage and the TT the next day will decide your winner in 2013, I believe.

Stage 4: Ouch ouch, baby

Stage 5: The TT that got professional cycling back to CO.  Roughly.  The all-uphill, 10 mile TT requires the riders to seriously push their limits, while trying to save some for the end.  2 years ago, this stage was decided by .58 seconds, with Levi Leipheimer (not present) beating out CVV (present), and Tejay (also present) throwing a little bit of a tantrum after losing his Yellow jersey.  Tejay is older, CVV is back, and the course will be packed.

Stage 6: Welcome Loveland and Ft Collins in to fold (because, well, Boulder decided to pass this year... don't get me started there).  Luckily, the race stays on the eastern slope for the weekend, ensuring massive crowds.  Another stage with over 10k in climbing, but the long downhill and subsequent rollout should create a sprint again in Ft Collins.  What this stage will definitely offer, though, is the last KOM points of the race.  If this is still up for grabs, the climb up to Devil's Gulch could pack some fireworks.  The sprint finish also depends on the sprinters still being able to roll after 6 days of pretty intense riding.

Stage 6: The Devil went down to Ft. Collins.  See what I did there?

Stage 7: Basically, a way to lure as many people as possible to watch the grand finale.  I think attendance at the final TT last year was a bit underwhelming, because as good of an opportunity as it is to see each rider and stretch out the viewing, it lacks the thrill of the whole pack going by.  Which they will do 8 times.  If you are around, you should get down there, support the race, support the future of cycling in CO.  And see them go by 8 times!  If you get there early, you can even find spots where you'll be able to see them twice per lap.  The race will be decided already, but the bragging rights are on the line.

A Quick Word On the Riders
I have to pick Tejay to win.  He was disappointed in his showing at the TdF, after winning in Cali, and showed some good legs in week 3 of the Tour.  Is Chris Froome beatable, you might ask?  I suspect he'll still be in victory tour mode, making the rounds to let cycling fans see him in action, rather than really going for the win.  The true threat from Sky will be Richie Porte, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Froome put in some good work for Richie.  Garmin-Sharp is sending a beast of a squad, and both CVV and Danielson looked great in Utah (Tommy D being the winner).
There's not much in the way of "pure" sprinters, because, well, they'd get toasted.  But Sagan is more than capable of hanging with the group on most of the climbs, and will be looking to add to his resume.  Fast Freddie Rodriguez, reigning US champ, is not as Fast as he used to be, but will certainly be looking for some wins.

Parting Thoughts: The Bontrager development team, which has been a joy to watch, needs a new sponsor.  If you have 500 grand laying around and want to sponsor a team, now's your chance!

Tour of Utah Wrap

I promise not to rag on ToU again.  Much.

ToU Wrap
The Tour of Utah finished with a couple great stages.  The 33 mile circuit of Salt Lake City on Friday got rave reviews from the peleton.  It created something very different for the racers and the fans, and was a success.  But the Queen stage the next day provided the first real fireworks of the tour.  Finishing up the very steep Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird, the riders were ripped apart, huge time gaps were created, and at the end there were only 2 men left standing... or, uh, riding.  Chris Horner pulled the ultimate jerk move in cycling, and stayed on Tommy Ds wheel the entire way up the climb, never once pulled... And then predictably got the last laugh by accelerating in final hundred meters for the win.

Yeah, I'm just gonna stay back here, k?  Promise I won't pass later.

Joke was still on Chris, though, as the final stage proved too tough. Tommy D still had the legs, and even though a fairly lengthy descent to the finish followed the climb up Empire Pass (some 3500 feet of climbing in 12 miles), the split up the pass held.  Danielson got 3rd on the day, Horner finish 1'25" back, and big Tommy D took home the GC title.

What Does It All Mean?

As usual, the Americans came to play on their home course.  Though there wasn't much in the way of top name rivals, but Chris Horner looked well back from his injury (he can blame lack for losing it up the last pass of the tour) and Tom Danielson looked like the climbing man we know and love.  Also, Lucas Euser, a common sight in the American tours, looked very strong.  Tommy D and Lucas Euser are expected at the US Pro Challenge, Chris Horner was not on the original release, but if he's feeling good after Utah it wouldn't surprise me if they slide him in.

The Complaints

OK, ToU announcers, you just really need to stop comparing this Tour to a Grand Tour.  Yes, Cottonwood Canyon was wicked, and yes there was a section of road where you could see the fans... but just don't.  More than that, however, Jens Voigt blasted the race organizers and race judge on Twitter.  He was not impressed with the neutral support cars or rule enforcement.  One one stage a rider fell over the edge of the road, and actually got help from an opponent's car to get going again.  He finished the stage just slightly outside the time limit, and got cut.  The rule for the time limit makes allowances for "Unanticipated extreme circumstances" and there's an unwritten "showed a lot of heart" rule.  And in the end, the Chief Referee gets to override anything.  But, as it was for Ted King at TdF, no such luck.  Bummer man, show some heart.

USAPCC REVIEW IS COMING SOON

Parting Thoughts: Anna Kendrick is just cool.  I want her back to judge on SYTYCD.

ToU and Pro Challenge, too

Tour of Utah Update
As much as I try to respect the ToU as another great US-based pro race, it's still little bro to Tour of Cali and the Pro Challenge.  Besides the Americans, lots of names I haven't heard of (oh, and not even Tejay!), but that's just put in to more perspective by part 2 below.  Mostly it was the announcers that I took great joy in mocking yesterday as I watched it.  They were equally awesome today.
But this about the race, and the move that won it yesterday really was impressive.  With 1 km to go, Greg Van Avermaet of Team BMC took off, and managed to keep a gap on the bunch.  After the race, he said it was a planned move, and well executed.  He followed that up with a 2nd place today, getting an additional time bonus, he keeps himself safely in yellow for now.

The Belgian celebrating like real Americans... with a cowboy hat.

Pro Challenge Provisional Rosters Released
Meanwhile, USAPCC has cemented itself as one of the premier post-TdF destinations for professionals.  Props to the race organizers to getting this off the ground in such amazing fashion, and the fans for showing up in droves and proving to the governing bodies this race is worthy of the 2.HC rating.  For somewhere between those 2 things, and I'm sure some bundles of cash, the race has garnered another amazing roster.  It will feature, among others, TdF winner Chris Froome, his 2nd in command Richie Porte, Andy Schleck, Tejay VanGarderen, CVV, Tommy D, Peter Sagan, Jens Voigt, Andrew Talanksy, Dave Zabriskie.  I could go on.  Point being, the teams are bringing their A-game to the US of.  I'm stoked, if you couldn't tell.
Notably missing, Taylor Phinney is choosing (?) to stay in Europe, hit a couple of 1-day classics and prepare himself for world TT championship.  I put the ?, because BMC may actually be putting enough fire power behind Tejay's victory that they left him off.  Either way, it's a bummer, he made a nice showing last year and he's SO local.

Parting Thought: I kind of hope that if The Simpsons ever ends, Lisa ends up with Nelson.

Races that aren't the Tour de France

With the upcoming super-amazing USA Pro Cycling Challenge (thankfully shortened to USA Pro Challenge, though if they could just go ahead and buy the rights to Tour of Colorado we'd all be just a little better for it), I thought I'd take a second to look at the other races happening now and another excellent highlight of cycling in the US of A.

Tour de Pologne, Tour of Denmark, Arctic Race of Norway (?)
I highlighted Poland briefly last time, because of Taylor Phinney's amazing solo to victory.  Pieter Weening won the overall in this race, but perhaps more notable was that last year's TdF winner Bradley Wiggins (ok, fine, it always come back to TdF) won the final stage TT, showing for the first time since his injury that he's back in bicycle shape.  Also, Taylor Phinney got 3rd in that TT... but assuming his time wasn't good enough after he finished, he was back in hotel and missed the podium presentation.  Woops.

There's no one on Sir Bradley's left side...

Tour of Denmark saw a Mark Cavendish win on the final sprint, and the newly newly reformed Team Belkin get their first GC win with the young rider Wilco Kelderman.  The kid's 22!  He snatched victory as so many do on the time trial.

I only point out the Arctic Race of Norway because it's an inaugural event, and the scenery is pretty darn cool.  Check out letour.com/arctic-race-of-norway/2013/us/

Cycling back in the US

The Tour of Utah kicks off Tuesday.  This has been kind of a lead-in event to the Pro Challenge.  Which isn't to say anything bad about Utah, but Colorado usurped them and pros use this as a chance to acclimate.  That said, it goes through some pretty good terrain and brings in some big names.  Any chance for American cyclists to race on home soil will be hard fought.  One of the most interesting stages is Stage 4 on Friday.  It is only 33.8 miles long (yeah, no more metric system when it's in 'Merica), and is 5 laps going through downtown SLC.  This is a great stage for fans, and a very different race for riders.  They're usually barely warmed up at 33 miles.

What's also fun about these races (Tour of Cali and USAPCC included) is the chance to see some of the smaller class American teams and riders, like Lucas Euser and United Healthcare, as well as the young development squads of Bontrager (formerly Livestrong) and Hincapie.  Why Bontrager had to drop the Livestrong from its name, but Hincapie goes ahead and uses the name of a man who less famously but no more gracefully exited cycling, I don't know.

And then...

The US Pro Challenge, back here in CO on August 19 for the 3rd running!  TdF winner Chris Froome has (tentatively) confirmed his appearance.  Also Jens Voigt should be back (he will be racing Utah).

Parting Thought: Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle, yeah

TdF Wrap, Dumb Stuff, and OMG TAYLOR PHINNEY

TdF Wrap
After all the apologies, after the concessions, after the praise I laid on Marcel Kittel after his previous stage victory... I still didn't give him a chance in Paris.  So what did he do?  Won the thing, clearly out in front of Mark Cavendish and Andre Greipel.  Sagan was nowhere to be seen.  So, in the words of my lovely wife, "Poor Cav, all he got was 2 stage wins and some piss in the face".

Anyways, congrats again to Kittel.  The time-honored tradition of sports writership is terrible pun headlines, so here are some I didn't get to use:
Cav You Believe It?
Mark Up Another Win
'Dish Network
Greip for the Taking
Count Andre (it's a stretch)
Going, Going, Sa-gone

Dumb Stuff
Just had to comment on 2 things I've seen on SportCenter this week.  1) Of course I don't want to make light of a homicide, but scrolling the quote from Patriots head man Bill Belichick in regards to the Hernandez case saying "This doesn't represent the ideals of the Patriots organization" is just... I mean, really?  That was an important quote to keep showing?  Did anyone really think... oh nevermind. 2) Johnny Manziel's father saying he drinks to handle the stress.  If so, surely let's take it seriously, but also consider the fact he drinks because he's a college student.  It happens... I've heard.
Ok, that's all on that, I feel better.  Now last, but most importantly...

Taylor Phinney!
The Boulderite got his first stage win (non-TT) at the Tour de Pologne today.  With 7km to go, he attacked, and never building more than a 15 second lead help on for victory.  Yay Colorado!  Yay Boulder!  Yay Taylor!

Not saying it's a good look, but winning looks good

Parting Thoughts: And if you close your eyes, it almost feels like nothing's changed at all (go find Bastille Pompeii and give it a listen!)

TdF Stage 20: Flawless Victory

Oh boy, Stage 20 went down so perfectly.  The eventual top 3 were the last 3 standing, a head above the rest.  Nairo Quintana (a much more difficult name to make a pun of), Jaoquin Rodriguez and Chris Froome proved themselves the worth podium by finishing 1-2-3 on the punishing uphill finish.

The first time we saw anything but cool and calm on his face

Quintana, the rising star of Colombia and climbing aficionado, countered Froome's last attack and then leapt ahead.  Rodriguez and Froome couldn't keep up with the kid.  For his efforts, Quintana takes home the Polka Dot and technically the White, but American Andrew Talansky will get to wear that in to Paris.

Final Wrapup
For those who don't know, the Paris finish is traditionally formalities, plus the last time for the sprinters to show off.  The pack will finish together, they'll go slow (until they hit Paris), they'll drink champagne while riding.  Technically, the Green jersey could do something on the final day, but this year Sagan's bus would need to crash on the way to the start line for him not to take that home.  So, really, it's just for the stage win and the prestige.  For everyone but those top sprinters, they get to take it all in.  So congrats to Talansky for coming in 2nd(ish) in the young rider category, congrats to Tejay for showing he's still got legs in the last week, congrats to Tommy D and Brent Bookwalter for representing the US and completing another Tour.  Congrats to Sagan for successful defense of his Green jersey, congrats to Nairo for showing up on the world scene in style, and congrats to Froome for kicking everyone's butt and probably not saying "I'm Chris Froome, b*ches" along the way.  What a Tour!

Parting Thoughts: Nooo, mista Superman no here

TdF2013 Stage 19: Costa-ing to Victory

Yeah, I just made that pun.  And I'm sticking by it.  The back-to-back TdSuisse champion, Rui Costa, got his 2nd win in the Alps today in the fairly grueling stage 19.  After Pierre Roland went out to win himself the Polka Dot jersey by hitting most of the climbs first, Costa caught him on the final climb and cruised to the win.  The peleton was 8:40 back.  No major shakeups in the overall, though Daniel Navarro jumped himself in to the top 10.

He may have Rui-ned Pierre Roland's day.  Boom, 2 for 2 on puns.

One more big day in the mountains, with a nice uphill finish, and then they can all coast in to Paris on Sunday evening.  With a 100-point lead, and 3 sprint spots left in the race, Sagan has pretty much wrapped up that Green jersey for a 2nd consecutive year.  The Polka Dot is still very up for grabs with 6 categorized climbs tomorrow.  Nairo Quintana looks pretty solid in the White, with a 10 minute lead and only more climbs, his specialty.

Other Notes
Up to 28 withdrawals, including several today and I'm sure a few tomorrow.  How heart-wrenching it must be to make it through this much TdF and not see the finale in Paris.

Parting Thoughts: I missed Parting Thoughts yesterday, in my very very brief summary.  So to the anonymous commenter I give you this gift of one of the finest pieces of music ever composed:

Parting Thoughts 2: Just be glad I didn't Rick Roll you...

TdF Catch-up Through Stage 18

While I was off having my own little bike adventure (I may sum that up at a later date), the Tour de France went on.  And I was pretty much able to catch all the details.  Here, in no particular order, are my thoughts, revelations, and summaries of the last few stages.
1) Chris Froome is still a badass
   Amendment 1: Team Sky is a bunch of cheaters.  They have twice gotten food for Froome within the no-feed zone from the finish.  I appreciate their ahead-of-its-time, no-tolerance policy regarding performance enhancing drugs, but that doesn't give them carte blanche to abuse the other rules.  The sad part is, it doesn't even matter to him because he has such a lead.  Le sigh.
  Amendment 2: When Richie Porte dropped back and got illegal food for Froome, it was Porte that served the punishment.  Lame.
2) Tejay found some legs.  Sadly he didn't last all the way to the top of D'Huez, but his top-10 TT and 2nd place on the Alpe showed some form.  Good for him.
3) Contador is impressing me just in that he hasn't conceded.  He keeps trying to find a chink in Froome's armor.  Sadly, there is none.
4) I hate that I enjoy watching one of these guys blow up.  It's so amazing that when these fine-tuned cycling machines hit the wall, all of sudden they can barely move the pedals.  They ride such a fine line.
5) Time to catch up on True Blood.  2 more stages!

TdF 2013 Week 3 preview

Stage 14 Wrap
Yay, a Jensie breakaway!  Sadly he got dropped, but the 18 man break still make it to the finish line (down to 14) and made 7+ minutes on the GC leaders.  Included in that break was Tejay, finally getting some camera time, and Andrew Talansky.  His 7 minutes pulled him up to 12th overall, which is nothing to sneeze at.  It was pretty clear that no one up front was a big threat, and the bug guns were saving their legs for tomorrow.  Speaking of tomorrow...

Week 3 Preview

Ahh, the final week.  The coup de grace.  The last act.  The final episode of Lost, except without all the disappointment.  The Alps!

Stage 15
Well, let's not waste any time acquainting the riders with the serious mountains of week 3.

In the words of ET, "ouch"

This 222 km stage, which undulates but it relatively flat, ends with the climb to Mont Ventoux.  A 20 km climb, with average gradient of 7.5%.  And take a look along the bottom of the chart above... plenty of sections of 10%+, and the final 2km at 9.5%.  I can see the peleton getting to the bottom of this climb still relatively together, but Mont Ventoux will be the liquid nitrogen and the hammer.  With the rest day following, the climbers will be going all out, and there will be a lot of attacks.  Can anyone pull away from Froome though?  I'm saying with a relatively comfortable lead and week still to go, he won't execute the death blow to the field just yet, and we'll see another fine climb by the likes of Nairo Quintana or Pierre Roland.  Then again, if a team puts the hurt on Sky again (less likely here), you'll see attack from the top GC contenders to test Froome.

Rest day!

Stage 16

A bit more medium mountains, Stage 16 will be the lead in to the stages the TdF organizers and fans have been drooling about.  Certainly some hard climbs, but maybe not big enough to drop Sagan.

Stage 16

I picture a fairly large group finish, but with most of the sprinters dropped.  The best of the rest to win, no time change in the GC top 10.

Stage 17

A 32km TT, last of the Tour, but much different from the first one.  This TT actually has 2 fairly significant climbs, and will be much less favorable to the classic TT style of Tony Martin.  It's no Vail TT, in my opinion, but will suit Froome well (what doesn't suit him?).  It could also be a chance for Alejandro Valverde, who lost 2 minutes in the first TT, to compete with Froome.  There will definitely be some big time gaps here, but probably of the duration one could make up on the next 2.

Stage 18

The winner of this stage will be telling their grandchildren about it.  "Hm, how should we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Le Tour," I imagine someone asking in the planning meeting (use your worst French accent).  "I know!  Let's take one of the most famous, most evil ascents in the world... and do it TWICE.  Oui!"

Alpe D'Huez x 2?

If you are not familiar with the Alpe D'Huez, check out the wiki entry.  Honestly, on paper it doesn't look as bad as Mont Ventoux, but it's the way it does it.  The 21 hairpins.  The 10% right off the bat.  The 11.5% before the false flat at the top.  I've also heard that the Cat 2 right after the first summit is steeper, but shorter (hence the cat 2), and that the descent is super sketchy.  And the fans will be so in the rider's grills

Sometimes you have to make room...

I'm actually curious, given the harshness of the stage and the relative shortness, how firmly they'll enforce the time limit.  After kicking out Ted King, seems like they have to stick by the books, but what if Cav came in outside?  I don't think they'd let the Paris finish go off without him.

Stage 19

Really no rest for the wicked here.  Pretty tired after d'Huez?  Why don't you start the stage with 2 more back-to-back HC climbs.  The nature of this course should allow for a small regrouping after the early big climbs, but with two more Cat 1's to conclude, it could be a breakaway day.

Who will stay away?

The descent is short enough that a group over the top of the final Col de la Croix Fry could stay on for the win, even with as little as 30 seconds lead.  Also, French names are fun.  This is the stage I pick for Tommy Voeckler, but I'm sad that there's no Jensie stage in the works.  I think the mountains are bigger than he'd be looking for for a breakaway, but he did do it over Independence Pass last year so who knows.

Stage 20

The last time any changes can be made in the GC, but I suspect it'll be too late.  Then again, they're all (mostly) human, so they can blow up at any time.  This stage is very short, and ends up the HC Annecy-Semnoz.  It's 10.7km average 8.5%.  Someone will blow themselves up on this climb for a final shot at glory in 2013.

Short and sweet

I'm just shooting from the hip here, and going with my new hero, Andrew Talansky.  The thing that will really make this stage is if the King of the Mountains is still up for grab.

Stage 21

They have champage while riding their bikes, which is not officially recommended, but they deserve it for surviving the previous 3 weeks.  They'll spin in like a big happy family, but then it actually gets pretty serious in Paris.  Some people will attack while riding around the laps (last chance to get on TV), then they'll get caught.  Then Cavendish will win.  Unless, of course, he's been eliminated...

I've seen nothing to far to change my overall predictions, namely Froome in Yellow and Sagan in Green, but that one will be mostly set before week 3 hits.  The battle in the mountains will decide White between Quintana and Kwiatkowski.  And the KOM is too up in the air for me right now, but I think Pierre Roland is planning on protecting his Polka Dots.

So, that's about that.  So it's time to sit back and watch people with enormous quads put themselves through immense pain for some cash and glory.  I, for one, can't wait!

Parting Thought: The Tour of Austria happened.  It was won by Riccardo Zoidl, a guy I've never heard of from a team I've never heard of.  My boy Joe Dombrowski had a decent ride, however, wearing the White jersey there for 1 stage.  Poor Austria, I'm sure they deserve better than to take place during the TdF.

Stage 12: BEWARE THE ECHELON

Stage 12, nice flat stage before the big mountains.  Easy day, right?  Sprinter stage, right?  No, today's stage turned in to an opportunity for several major riders to gain time on Froome because ECHELON.  A nasty side wind allows for opportunistic attacks, and as Jens Voigt spurned the attack in the Tour of California earlier this year, Contador and SaxoBank timed it just right to drop Froome by forming the allmighty echelon.  Making the cut of the small lead group were Sagan and Cavendish, and Cav made up for his miss yesterday, taking the stage and pushing Sagan to another 2nd place.

I don't even see another rider in the shot

Also making the cut were Bauke Mollema and Laurens Tem Dam, both making up just over a minute on Froome.  Missing the move, and even further back after some poor timing with a flat, was Valverde.  He dropped WAY out of 2nd place.  And my prediction which I was oh so proud of a few days ago is toast.
Not to beat a dead horse here, but one of the reasons Froome missed the move and couldn't catch back up was that he only had 2 Sky riders along side.  Contador was riding with 4 or 5 teammates for the last 30km.

Week 3 preview coming tomorrow, stay tuned!

Parting Thought: ech·e·lon  (sh-ln)

n.

1.

a. A formation of troops in which each unit is positioned successively to the left or right of the rear unit to form an oblique or steplike line.

b. A flight formation or arrangement of craft in this manner.

c. A similar formation of groups, units, or individuals.

Stage 12: Kittel the World

What the what?  It's not like Marcel Kittel was an unknown sprinter or anything, but I think there would be few people outside of Ma and Pa Kittel who would have bet on him winning 3 stages in this year's tour.  Matching the wins by Cav, Greip, and Sag combined (I thought they all needed 1 syllable nicknames).  I'm done making excuses for him, too.  Sure, it was another finish that wasn't clean, but you know what?  He's the constant survivor.  He's the one that's gotten through the mess and put himself in position to win.  3 times.  And today over the Manxman himself, Mark Cavendish.
Congrats Marcel.  And congrats Ma and Pa Kittel for going with the name "Marcel".  It's cool.

Another photo finish (letour.fr)

Rider update:
I am usually writing this in a hurry, because for some reason I don't get paid for this, so I forgot a couple notes from yesterday:
1) Why is Andy Schleck SO BAD at time trials?  Even when he was in top form, he lost the TdF on a TT to Cadel.  I don't get it.  And with the latest breed of top cyclists excelling at the TT, that's just minutes to lose.
2) Where did Tejay go?  I thought he was back in it again (he keeps teasing me) when he came through the first TT time check in 2nd.  And then he slipped down, down, down.  I really hope he's back in form for the Pro Challenge later this summer in CO...

Parting Thought: Here's some things I think are awesome to go check out: Chance's End music, and Rumblin Buffalo's CU sports blog

Stage 10/11: Brawlin

Stage 10: WW(td)F
OK, that title's double meaning may be a bit of a stretch, I was attempting to reference ye old World Wrestling Federation (sorry World Wildlife Fund).  Stage 10 played out mostly to expectations, with the early break getting caught (quite late, actually) and setting up for a sprint of the world's fastest men on a bike.  But then things got weird.  It seemed to start with the medians on the road, that kept splitting the peleton, and causing ripples back through the group and people tried to rejoin a slip-stream.  And as fascinating as I always find it to watch the dynamic nature of the peleton at high speeds, this just seemed chaotic before it got to the final sprint.  The teams weren't able to set up as efficiently as they're used to... and then it got downright fighty.
I've been looking for solid video to post here, but it seems there is little to find.  If you find some, pay attention to Peter Sagan and a Movistar guy I haven't been able to identify.  They repeatedly are biking in to each other.  There's always bumping, but this just looked like a little battle between the two.  Someone must have been talking smack.  Ahead of them, shortly before the finish, as Cavendish attempts to get involved in the sprint that's leaving him behind, he clearly (imho) shoulders in to Tom Veelers at high speed and knocks him to the ground.  He was not penalized, and the race official even said that if anyone were at fault it was Veelers.  Go check it out, there's no way.

Kittle edged out the Gorilla

This left Stage 1 winner (thanks to the cluster that was Stage 1) Kittel to battle with what appeared to be an exhausted Greipel, and Kittel was the first man to take 2 stage wins this year.
There was essentially no change in standings, as everyone finished at the same time.  A couple more sprint days ahead before the Alps for them to deal with their emotions and try again.  Deep breaths, guys, use your ears not your elbows.
Another Sky note: Froome's teammates fell off again.  He's clearly shown he doesn't need them, but he was not surrounded by his Team Sky guards as is typical of the Yellow Jersey wearer.  This will probably not matter, but I imagine it keeps him up for a little bit at night.

Stage 11: No Pain No Gain
World TT champion Tony Martin, who I've mentioned a couple times sustained some pretty serious injury on Stage 1, stayed in this race for this stage.  And his suffering over the last week and a half paid dividends today, as he went very early in the day and his time held up all the way through to Chris Froome, and he gets to tack on a TdF stage win to the resume.  Froome's second place increases his lead on the GC, and Kwiatkowski's strong 5th place showing increased his lead for the White.

Parting Thought: 2 minutes in heaven is better than 1 minute in heaven.