Active Expert: Bruce Hildenbrand

We Was Robbed

Bruce Hildenbrand — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:56:11 GMT

Mark Cavendish was robbed of his win on stage 6 of the Tour of California, plain and simple. Yes, he received some help from his team car when he crashed in the final 10km's, but anyone who has ridden in the pro peloton knows how hard it is to move up, not only through the peloton, but also through all the team cars in the final few km's of a race, especially when everybody is going 35+mph.

This isn't a case of a rider hanging onto a car door and getting towed right back up to the front of the field. Far from that. Look at the photo. Cavendish is lying on the ground after crashing, lucky that the whole field didn't run him over and put him in a hospital bed.

After the crash, Cavendish was probably 15-30 seconds behind the field and yes, he probably got significant help getting back to the tail end of the race caravan from his team car. But, that sort of practice is totally OK in Europe in pro racing because just regaining the back of the caravan after a crash is viewed as"righting a wrong". A crash is viewed as an unfortunate circumstance and pacing back on is just the way to reverse the circumstance.

Once Cavendish regained the caravan, he had to work his way back to the peloton past 30 or so team cars. When he got to the back of the peloton after risking his life amongst the cars, he just had to work his way past 100+ racers all going wheel to wheel at 35+mph to end up at the front. Simply done, you say. Not!

So, this wasn't a case of Cavendish getting a free ride to the line from his team car. Far from it. He had to pick himself up, sort himself out, work his way through 30+ cars and 100+ riders going flat out. That's what sprinters do and that's what Cavendish did. Taking the win away from the plucky Brit is like taking Muhamed Ali's heavyweight crown away from him for fighting. It was a great win under the most difficult of circumstances. The sprinters are the showmen of our sport. Let them demonstrate why it takes a bit of madness, a bit of luck and a bit of savvy to win the bunch kick. We love it!

Bruce

Black is Blue

Bruce Hildenbrand — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 06:36:35 GMT

I don't think anybody will ever consider me a walking fashion statement on
either side of the spectrum(maybe that's the silver lining!). In fact, my
fashion sense is somewhere between sweat pants and blue jeans, but hey, I
don't care. However, for those of you who religiously watch shows like "What
Not to Wear," "Project Runway" and "Tim Gunn's Guide to Style", here is a blog
just for you.

The third annual Amgen Tour of California kicks off in about a week and based
on my recent visits to some of the pro team camps, we just might have an
honest-to-god fashion emergency. I remember a few years back when powder blue
was the 'in' color so much so that a number of pro teams changed their jerseys
to include the azur shade. Well, it looks like black is the new blue. No less
than three pro teams, BMC, Rock Racing and High Road Sports are wearing
predominately black racing kit.

Call me a colorcist, but I am having a hard time distinguishing between the
three different squads. Add to the fact that the riders will be going upwards
of 30 mph as they rocket down the beautiful California coastline and any subtle
differences such as sponsors logos might just become a blur.

Rumour has it that High Road Sports may be rolling out a new team kit with
a predominately white theme. But, wait, it looks like the BMC boys are riding
white jerseys as well. Oh man, what is a cycling fan to do? Obviously, there
are subtleties between the jersey designs, but I am not a subtle guy.

OK. Maybe I am making a mountain out of a molehill, but I am always on the
verge of getting arrested by the Fashion Police so maybe this is my pitiful
attempt at obtaining a get-out-of-jail-free card. Regardless of what any of
the jerseys look like for the 17 teams participating in the AToC, I am certain
that the riders filling said jerseys are some of the best racers in the world. And,
c'mon that's what it is all about anyway, isn't it?

Bruce

Free Market Bike Racing

Bruce E Hildenbrand — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 08:10:26 GMT

I recently wrote about the split between the UCI and the grand tour organizers
enabling the bosses of the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana
free to invite any team they wanted to their races. Well, the Giro d'Italia
announced its invited teams and judging by the prominent names left off the
list, the free market in cycling has arrived.

To be sure, before the inception of the UCI's Pro Tour, there was a free market
in professional cycling, but things were so bad during the Pro Tour, it seems
like a re-birth of the free market. By free market, I mean the ability of the
individual races to determine which teams get to ride their events. If the Tour
de France want to invite only amateur teams from the state of Rhode Island it is
now their choice to do so. However, if the perceived quality of the race
suffers and fans go elsewhere then the Tour bosses only have themselves to
blame.

That may not seem so far-fetched. Back in the early 80's, in some people's eyes
the Tour de France was getting boring. So, in an attempt to add some excitement
to the race, the organizers extended invitations to several amateur teams
including those from the US, Russia and Colombia. Only the Colombians came, but
it ushered in the era of the Colombian climber and the likes of Lucho Herrera
and Fabio Parra won stages and stood on the podium at the Tour.

That's how a free market works. You develop a product. You market it. If people
like it. They buy it. That may seem to be a pretty simple formula, but it
isn't. Yes, the race organizers can be totally arbitrary in which teams they
include, but for credibility sake, they need to be objective with the criteria
they will use for determining who will ride. In this year's Giro, the
organizers excluded several teams including Astana and the former T-Mobile
Team, now called Team High Road Sports, because of concerns over doping.

Hey, that is their prerogative, but what about Michael Rasmussen's Rabobank
team and Team LPR which included Danillo DiLuca who is serving a three-month
suspension for a non-analytical doping offense? That just doesn't make sense
to me. Oh well, hopefully, saner heads will prevail at the organization
which runs the Tour de France and there will be no seemingly arbitrary decisions
about who will toe the starting line in July.

Bruce