Crash Update

guest — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:22:43 GMT

A few weeks ago I reported about what I felt was an unusually high number of serious crashes in the both the European and domestic pro pelotons. I have been in touch with a number of the crashees and just wanted to pass along some info on what some of the riders are up to.

Jelly Belly's Bernard Van Ulden, who broke his collarbone on stage 6 of the Tour of California(ToC) is back on the bike and recently placed third overall at the prestigious Joe Martin stage race in Arkansas.

Vladimir Gusev of Team Astana who also crashed on stage 6 of the ToC is currently racing the Giro d'Italia where he is riding in support of race leader Alberto Contador and is in 51st place overall.

Bissel Professional Cycling Team rider Tom Zirbel who went down on the final stage of the Tour of Gila while wearing the race leader's jersey is back on the bike and is scheduled to return to the fight at the Nature Valley Grand Prix in mid-June.

Tim Duggan of Slipstream/Chipotle crashed hard in stage 3 of the Tour of Georgia and suffered a serious head injury. Unfortunately, while Tim is on the road to recovery he will most likely miss the rest of the season to allow his head injuries to fully heal.

Dave Zabriskie who, after helping his Slipstream/Chipotle teammate Christian Vandevelde take the pink jersey by providing horsepower in the opening team time trial, crashed out on stage 2 and broke his L1 vertebrae. Dave is back in the states recuperating, but his participation in both the Tour de France and Beijing Olympics is in uncertain. On the bright side his wife, Randi, is about to give birth to the couple's first child so if Dave is sidelined he will be able to be present at a very important time in his family's life.

Brad McGee of Team CSC is back home in Monaco after crashing out of the Giro on stage 3 and breaking his collarbone. Brad had an operation to fix the break and is back training on the bike. The multiple Olympic medalist is still on track, so to speak, to represent Australia in the pursuit and team pursuit in Beijing.

Unfortunately, Fausto Munoz, the Mexican Team Tecos rider who was paralyzed from the waist down after crashing in the final stage of the Tour of Gila will most likely not recover. Props to the Toyota United Team for donating their prize money to help pay Munoz's hospital bills. Also, props to Beverly Harper of the Webcor Builder's womens team for donating her prize money and all the other riders who did the same.

Here's a get well soon to all those who have gone down.

Bruce

Fabulous Fabian

guest — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 06:49:02 GMT

If you haven't already guessed it, I love bike racing. And I love professional bike racing most. It features the best riders in the best races (apologies to Astana and Rock Racing) and it is cool. These pros are the cream of the crop, top of the heap, A-No. 1. They are the strongest, fastest and best bike handlers on the planet. It is incredibly inspiring and interesting to see the pros on the job.

Last Saturday in Italy, the skills, dedication and drive of the pros was abundantly evident at this season's first classic: the umpteenth running of Milan-San Remo, or La Primavera as it is known to the tifosi (Italian for 'rabid fan'). I am still trying to understand why the first big race of the year is also the longest. At 185 miles, that's seven-plus hours in the saddle for the best of the best -- which is a long time even at 25-plus mph average.

It was nice to see one of my 'hoodmates from Boulder, Will Frischkorn of the Slipstream/Chipotle team, off the front for almost 150 miles. Luckily, he had several other riders to share the pace and though their breakaway was reeled in on the penultimate climb, the Cipressa, they got a lot of TV time for their respective sponsors and that is what is about.

We got to see two-time world champion Paolo Bettini, who was just recently racing in the Amgen Tour of California, make a strong move on the Cipressa that seemed to contain enough horsepower to make it the final 10 miles to the finish. But the peloton still thought they had a chance as well and Bettini and company were caught just before the final climb, the Poggio.

If you want to impress somebody with your knowledge of European cycling, the Poggio is pronounced "pocho." It is not that long (1.5 miles) and not that steep (4-5 percent), but when you have ridden 180 miles and you are smoking up the Poggio in your big chainring, nobody is going to say it's easy. More often than not, everybody who matters seems to make it over the climb and down the kamikaze descent so that it is a bunch sprint at the finish. Not this year. Everybody's favorite Swiss rider, Fabian Cancellara, ignited his jets and left the field in his wake to win his second classic (the first being Paris-Roubaix in 2006) of his career.

I love it when a superhuman individual effort foils the sprinters. Not to knock the fast finishers, those guy have an interesting mix of speed, cunning and fearless abandon like nobody else, but there is something about one guy holding off the bunch. Maybe it goes back to the old western movies where one settler holds off a whole pack of charging Indians. What it all adds up to is that the pro racing season is full on. No more training camps, no more lollygagging. It's time to eat lunch or be lunch. Bravo Fabian!

Bruce

Blog Posts From Active Expert: Bruce Hildenbrand Tagged With team_csc

Crash Update

Fabulous Fabian