Blog Posts From Active Expert: Bruce Hildenbrand Tagged With tour_de_georgia

Tour de Georgia not a Peach

guest — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:31:43 GMT

Race organizers announced that the Tour de Georgia will not be held in 2009. While this is the official announcement, I have been talking about the demise of Georgia's premier bike race since late last spring. Most recently, I speculated if Lance's return to cycling could save the event.

It is not fair to blame Lance for the demise of the race. Yes, it is true that the event really blossomed the two years (2004, 2005) when the Texan rode it, but the organizers were unable to build on the buzz. Maybe it is just too difficult to sell cycling in a region where NASCAR has such a stranglehold on the sports community.

I think the organizers have to bear the responsibility for the demise. Last year, the race visited such cycling hot beds as Tybee Island and Savannah where crowds were almost non-existent. However, if you saw the final stage in downtown Atlanta, the site of the 1996 Olympics, there were no crowds there as well. So, either Georgia is just too much about four, and not two, wheels going fast or the race organizers just didn't do enough to whip up enthusiasm.

It was just reported that the title sponsor for the Tour of California, Amgen, will be printing up 60,000 handbooks using cycling to teach core subjects which will be distributed to 4th-6th grade students in schools at the race's 16 host cities. That's a move that has grass roots written all over it.

OK. Maybe this is a case of the cart before the horse and the fact that the Tour de Georgia could never land a long-term title sponsor (this will be Amgen's fourth year at the Tour of California) was really at the core of the problem and not the lack of fan support. But, it could be argued that without the fan support, you can't land a long-term title sponsor. Do I sense a Catch-22?

Whatever the reason, the Tour de Georgia won't be held in 2009. With the recent postponement of the Tour of Colorado, let's hope that all the other major US stage races, Missouri, Utah, etc. are healthy and happy with a long-term title sponsor.

Bruce

Can Lance Save the Tour de Georgia?

guest — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 07:09:10 GMT

The buzz in the domestic racing scene is that the Tour de Georgia will not be held in 2009. More importantly, it appears that the Tour de Georgia may be done forever. It should be noted that the seeds of the current Tour de name-your-favorite-cycling-crazy-state stage races such as California, Missouri and Colorado were sown by the organization which first promoted the Georgia event. So maybe this is just a passing of the torch, but is it too soon to send the fire westward?

Just as the Peach State was saying bye-bye to cycling, Lance Armstrong announced his comeback into pro cycling. As a bit of a history lesson, Lance's participation in the 2004 Tour de Georgia boosted the event into the stratosphere. When Lance retired in 2005, while the racing fields remained strong, the race declined.

Now that Lance is back in the picture, is his presence enough to revive the seemingly doomed event? Maybe more importantly, should we expect Lance or just his aura to come to the rescue? Clearly, Lance has had an incredible effect on cycling in the United States. It could be easily argued that Armstrong put cycling on the map in America and that he resurrected the Tour de France to boot.

So, is it justifiable to ask Lance to come to the salvation of the sport? Have we been poor stewards since Armstrong retired in 2005 and allowed the sport, as a whole, to decline? This time around, I think we all need to stop trying to hitch ourselves to Big Tex's coattails and figure out a way promote cycling without burdening the 37-comeback king with the responsibility.

What do you all think?

Bruce

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

The Spirit of the Rule

guest — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 18:19:05 GMT

On Stage 6 of the Tour of California Mark Cavendish crashed in the final few laps, fought back to regain the group and went on to win the race. Unfortunately, the race officials relegated Cavendish for drafting team cars to regain the bunch. As I pointed out then it is very common for riders involved in a crash or mechanical to draft the team cars to get back to the peloton. This isn't the case of a rider who was tired getting a tow to the line; it was the case of a rider who suffered an unfortunate circumstance and was just trying to make it right. Race officials in Europe clearly understand this and allow drafting team cars to regain the field after a mechanical or a crash.

Yesterday at the Tour de Georgia, a bunch of riders were taken down when their wheels were swallowed up by large cracks in the concrete roadway. I had this happen to me one at 40+mph while motorpacing in preparation for the National Championships and it is not pleasant. If a crack in the concrete runs the direction of travel and is wider than the width of a wheel the crack can swallow a wheel and a rider can go down. That's exactly what happened and three riders in the Tour of Georgia went down hard. While two got up quickly, one did not. Tim Duggan of Slipstream Sports suffered major head trauma and was taken to a hospital in Atlanta. I have ridden with Tim and he is a great guy. Here's wishing Tim a full and speedy recovery.

The two riders who were able to continue were still about a minute behind the main field. George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer went to the front of the field and slowed things down to allow everyone to sort themselves out and in a few minutes the two riders were able to regain the peloton. But, wait. At the finish, race officials penalized the two riders for drafting their team cars to regain the pack. Nonsense. Do those officials have no heart? Do they not understand how the game is played on the biggest stage in the world(Europe)? Have they missed the spirit of the competition?

Bike racing is hard enough, even harder if you do it as a pro. Heartless race officials just make it that more difficult for riders to do their jobs. I just don't understand why the officials don't understand the spirit of the rule and apply it as such. The rule was put in place to stop riders who get dropped because they aren't fast enough to keep up. The rule is not there to punish riders who flat or get caught in a crash. Show some heart and don't penalize riders for circumstances outside their control. The riders race their guts out. They need to be shown a bit of compassion that comes with the respect for what they do.

Bruce

Tour de Georgia Rocks the South

guest — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:07:14 GMT

America's second most prestigious stage race starts today as the Tour de Georgia(TdG) sends 15 teams of 8 riders out on the roads of the peach state. As a bit of history, the TdG was first run in 2003 and it quickly became the number one stage race in the US. The organizers, Medalist Sports, had a long history in cycling, it's personnel were responsible for organizing the Tour de Trump and Tour Dupont in the 1990's. Chris Horner, now of Team Astana, was the first winner, Lance Armstrong launched the event into the stratosphere with his victory in 2004.

The Discovery Channel rider Tom Danielson's stock rose sharply in 2005 when he upstaged his Texas teammate and stole the race from Floyd Landis. The tables were turned in 2006 when, after an epic mano y mano battle on the fearsome slopes of Brasstown Bald, Landis bested Danielson. The Landis-Danielson duel on the 20+% ramps of Brasstown Bald was probably the most thrilling bicycle racing action ever seen by a TV audience on US soil. And the fact that top European teams were sending squads to the race made the performances by US riders memorable as well as credible.

However, 2006 also marked the beginning of another stage race organized by Medalist Sports. On the other side of the country, the Tour of California(ToC) began with much fanfare and anticipation. For the European pro teams, the ToC, with its February position on the racing calendar was a better fit. Throw in the fact that the weather in California usually trumps the climate found across the pond and it was clear that the ToC was going to be a hit with the Euros. Realizing that most European teams have tight budgets and don't like to cross too many time zones to race, would the Euros really head west for more than one stage race?

Two years ago I opined that the Tour de Georgia would suffer if the Tour of California became successful and, unfortunately, that appears to be true. This year there are only four European teams in the race, compared to eight for the ToC. That doesn't mean that the racing won't be difficult and entertaining. On the contrary. US domestic racing has increased in both speed and ability over the past few years; clearly the home boys can hold their own against their Euro counterparts. It is just that it would be nice to have a few more of the top pro teams in Georgia so that they can showcase their talents on US soil.

One hugely positive side to this whole situation is that it offers an opportunity for US-based pros to strut their stuff in front of some of the best professional teams and earn some respect for their efforts. Look for the homies to be very aggressive all race long with early breakaways and go-and-blow moves on every stage.

As for race predictions, there is no individual time trial in this year's TdG so Levi won't be able to crush everyone in the race of truth. However, look for the Astana rider and recent ToC winner to lay down some serious hurt on Brasstown Bald on the way to his second major victory in 2008.

Bruce

Rock Racing to Rock Georgia

guest — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:47:53 GMT

You gotta love it, Rock Racing will be at the starting line next Monday for the Tour de Georgia. The Pro Tour team Saunier Duval pulled out due to "numerous injuries to key riders" opening a slot for Rock Racing. After their reception and performance in the Amgen Tour of California it seemed like a lock that we would see the boys in black and neon green at all the biggest races on the US professional racing calendar. However, Medalist Sports announced last month that Rock Racing would not be invited to Georgia; managing partner Jim Birrell, told Velonews.com “I like all the riders he has on his team — it’s just that renegade approach and his desire to steal the limelight away from the platform that has been created for everybody else is what troubles me."

It appears that Medalist and Michael Ball were able to reach an agreement, hats off to both parties for sitting down and making this happen. This is a good thing on so many levels. First off, Rock Racing is the most popular new team on the US domestic racing circuit. Secondly, at the recent Redlands Cycling Classic, with all the best domestic pro riders in attendance, Rock Racing rode superbly and took the overall win with Santiago Botero. And probably most importantly, Rock Racing is bringing new eyeballs to the sport and those peepers belong to the young fans in the always critical 18-35 year old demographic.

On a personal level, the news is bittersweet for me. I am heading off to be one of the event announcers at the upcoming Sea Otter Classic and was looking forward to having Botero, Sevilla, Hamilton, Pena, etc. in the field for the National Racing Calendar(NRC) circuit race on Saturday. I am still hoping the Rock Racing sends a team to Sea Otter, team member Doug Ollerenshaw won there several years back. However, if it takes my disappointment to get Rock Racing into the Tour de Georgia I guess I will just have to live with it.

The next item on the agenda is to figure out a way to get Astana into the Tour de France. Short of the Kazakhstani government cutting off natural gas supplies to France, I think this might be an impossible task. Anybody out there have a solution?

Bruce