Word came from Spain yesterday that Jose Luis Rubiera had won stage 2 of the Tour of Muricia. It was the queen stage with big climbs and when it started snowing it turned into a mini-epic. You have to be happy for Chechu, Rubiera's nickname. In his final year of a storied career, the affable rider from Gijon in Northern Spain is a true class act and winning in difficult conditions just adds to the legend.
Less than two weeks ago, he was Levi Leipheimer's right-hand man on the big climbs and rainy, windy flats at the Amgen Tour of California. It was the Chechu of old, pacing his team leader to yet another major stage race win. For me, it was one of the feel-good stories of the race and it was great to see Rubiera riding again at such a high level.
Chechu has amassed an impressive record throughout his professional career. He rode nineteen grand tours and finished top ten in four of those tours. He won several stages of the Tour de France as a member of the US Postal Service/Discovery Channel team time trial squad and also won two individual stages of the Giro d'Italia. Of course, he was by Lance Armstrong's side from 2001-2005 for the Texan's last five Tour victories.
He rode strongly in all, but the 2002 event. I once asked him what happened in 2002 and he replied that he had tried to do Lance's pre-Tour training program and it had burned him out. "Lance is like a motor bike of 1000cc and I am a 250cc or even less. We can't do the same training, we can't," noted the modest Spaniard.
But, Chechu will retire at the end of this year and join his wife, who is a lawyer, in Gijon. He has a degree in industrial engineering which he received while racing as a professional many times cracking his books in his hotel room after an exhausting six hours in the saddle.
I will miss his infectious smile; his positive attitude and his professionalism. The guy is truly one of the gentlemen of the sport and a class act. To be winning mountain stages and paving the way for your team leader to win a big stage race is truly the best way to exit stage left. We will all miss you. Buena suerte, amigo.
Bruce
Active Expert: Bruce Hildenbrand
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The Amgen Tour of California(AToC) organizers had the capacity to invite 18 teams to its recent race; it only invited 17. One team noticeably absent was the Canadian Symetrics squad which, in 2007, won the UCI Continental Championship for North and South America an honor which means it was the best team, based on UCI points, on two continents. Add to that, their rider Svein Tuft, not only won the individual UCI Continental Championships as well, but he also pulled off a remarkable win at the US Open, a race televised nationally on NBC TV, last April.
Unfortunately, Symetrics got no love from AToC organizers and was left out of the race. The Vancouver-based squad was on the sidelines as teams they beat in 2007 were racing in the Tour of California. I ran into one of their top riders, Eric Wohlberg, a three-time Canadian Olympian the day before the start of the AToC. His frustration was evident; there really was no good reason the Symetrics team was left out of the race.
Hey but, Eric is a champion and champions don't get mad, they get even. This past weekend was the first big race on the US domestic calendar after the AToC, The Merco Cycling Classic, and all of the US domestic squads who had competed in the AToC were set to participate. All Eric did was solo off the front for the final 25 miles of the 120-mile road race to win alone. That's an in-your-face move if ever there was one!
You have to know Eric to realize that it wasn't so much as kicking mud in your eye. It was just a case of kicking your butt. As former US Postal/Discovery Channel rider and fellow Canadian Michael Barry once told me, "Eric has two speeds, hard and harder." Here's hoping that Eric and his Symetrics team can get some love from the other top races in the US. They deserve to be at all of them, including that Tour of California gig. Hey, was all that rain some sort of karma payback?
Bruce
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
Less than a day before the start of the 3rd annual Amgen Tour of California (AToC) and there is a huge storm on the horizon. At the center of the controversy is Michael Ball and his Rock Racing Team; the issue being whether certain riders on his team roster will be allowed to start the race. Earlier this week, Ball submitted ten riders names as potential members of his team for the AToC. When race organizers published the team rosters, only five of those original ten were listed as potential starters. Somewhere along the way, race organizers left five of Michael's riders off the list.
On Saturday morning, Michael Ball, just back from a training ride with his team, met with the press in downtown Palo Alto, the scene of Sunday's prologue start, to address this issue. The owner of Rock and Republic clothing was adamant that none of the members of his AToC team are involved in any active doping investigation and he provided written documentation to back it up. Also provided to the media was a written letter to race organizers informing them of the same thing, that no rider on his AToC team is involved in an active doping investigation.
The passionate Ball was firm in stating that the riders named to his team, Santiago Botero, Oscar Sevilla, Tyler Hamilton and Kayle Legrande who have been linked to potential doping practices will start the race. Micheal strongly denied that he would accept a reduced number of riders if the race organizers refuse to let the aforementioned teammates participate.
At the heart of Ball's insistence is his belief that under the current conditions in professional cycling, riders need to be given the benefit of the doubt, especially if there is no open doping investigation. Ultimately, he would like to form a rider's union, something which is commonplace in most high-profile professional sports.
At the time of this blog, AToC organizers had not issued any statements as to their plans with regards to this situation. Personally, I think we have to allow riders an "innocent until proven guilty" attitude. This is their job and how they put food on the table. Keeping someone from making a living based on rumor, innuendo or unproven charges is simply not fair.
I am hoping that a solution that is fair to the teams as well as the race can be reached. The AToC has so much to offer to the fans, sponsors and teams that it would be sad to see something like this bring any dark clouds to the race. Hey, it is February in California, we have enough other dark clouds to worry about.
Bruce
The official team presentation for the 3rd annual Amgen Tour of California
(AToC) took place Friday night in Sausalito. The super-swank, black-tie,
$250/person affair saw Phil Liggett, Paul Sherwen and Bob Roll doing the
call-up and Q&A for each of the 17 teams while yours truly hosted the always
entertaining fashion show. What a way to kick off America's best bike race.
There were two surprise guests, both of whom created a buzz of excitement as
they came up on stage. To close out the fashion show, cycling aficionado,
Oscar winner and all around funny guy Robin Williams took the stage doing a
very risque cat-walk to the sounds of James Brown's tune "Sex Machine".
Selecting a James Brown song was appropriate for the entertainer many feel has
inherited the legendary blues singer's moniker as the hardest working man in
show business.
Robin's schtick brought the house down. Look for some clips on the Versus
telecast of the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday.
Just as the evening was wrapping up, Michael Ball and his Rock Racing team
took the stage for their team presentation and when a legendary tall, blond Italian
walked up on the platform, it was an exciting confirmation that 'il Leone',
Super Mario Cipollini was indeed going to be a part of the AToC. While his
exact role on the team has not yet been determined, look for Mario to be at
the start line, ready to go for Sunday's prologue. Tyler Hamilton and Oscar
Sevilla will be there as well.
Did you all know that Tom Boonen used to play basketball before he became one
of the most successful and most recognizable stars in cycling? During the
silent auction, I turned Tom onto a great photo of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird
guarding each other which looked more like a wrestling match. Tom bought it
on the spot, doubling the current bid!
Actually, there are two many great moments to put in this blog. Suffice it to
say that the AToC got started in grand style and looks to be creating some
unforgettable memories for all who will attend America's premier bike race.
The fuse is lit!
Bruce
January and early February mean its pro team camp time. Every year I attend
five to seven of the pro team camps, it's a great time to catch up with the
riders and lay some foundation for the season ahead. This year, I stopped in
to see a number of teams such as the BMC, Health Net-Maxxis, High Road Sports
with trips to several others like CSC still upcoming.
The Health Net-Maxxis Professional Cycling Team camp is always fun. These guys
can ride bikes evidenced by their fourth straight NRC team crown in 2007 as
well as the individual NRC crown with Australian rider Rory Sutherland. The
team is a mix of cagey veterans like recently crowned National Cyclocross
Champion, Tim Johnson, and Kirk Obee, hard-as-nails Australians such as
Sutherland and Karl Menzies (he'll tell you he's actually Tasmanian), up-and-
comers like Frank Pipp and Phil Zaijeck and young guns like Matt Crane and John
Murphy.
The program for the media/sponsor day was to ride with the team from our
hotel in downtown Solvang and preview the 15-mile course for the upcoming
Stage 5 time trial in the Tour of California. We rolled out at a talking
pace, the idea of the ride was to get to know everybody and not to break too
big of a sweat. That's fine with me. Bonding on the bike is always a great
experience. There are times when it is best to hold back the endorphins and
just enjoy the ride.
When we finished our loop it was clear that the team was up for some more miles
and at a little bit more uptempo pace. So, I tagged along with the boys for a
rendezvous with Figueroa Mountain. Along the way we passed Michael Jackson's
Neverland Ranch and as