Archive for May, 2006
Jan Ullrich’s had enough of racing in his build up to this years Tour de France and felt it made sense to drop out of The Giro d’ Italia as Saturdays stage will be really tough and quite taxing. Jan does not want to over extend himself and after nearly four weeks of racing (Ullrich […]
Yesterday a doping bombshell hit the cycling community that is as big if not bigger than the Festina scandal of 1998 said Lance Armstrong. Liberty Seguros team manager Manolo Saiz was busted on Wednesday as officials raided two of his offices and found frozen bags of blood, equipment for blood transfusions as well as anabolic […]
This years Giro d’ Italia has been an excellent race, Ivan Basso has really proven his abilities. No rider out of the 200 plus field has come even close to challenging him. Expect all eyes to be on Basso this July when the “big race” gets started in Strasbourg. As the Giro wraps up this […]
Several days ago I was able to get out on possibly the best day for far this year for cycling Minnesota. The whether was simply amazing with warm tempatures (but it was not too hot) hardly any breeze at all and it was not too humid! It was a great day and I was smiles […]
Yesterday was to be the day in the mountains with an epic climb which was both long and steep (were talking 24% straight up), it was such a hard climb that many of the riders wanted nothing to due with it when the Giro course was announced last year. What would have made the climb […]
As I post this the riders are currently in the middle of stage 16 which features a mountain top finish that is both plenty long (18 kilometers) and very steep. Team CSC has been seen at the front of the peloton with both Julich and Voigt doing plenty of the work, Basso is looking cool […]
Casual viewers of the Tour de France and other major cycling events often think that pro racing is a solo event, this could not be farther from the truth. Pro riders ride for “teams” which consist of 9 riders and they work together to try to accomplish the “team” goals. While teams with top riders […]
Well, were two thirds into this years Giro d’ Italia and Basso has truly dominated the race, as the Giro heads into the finial week you can bet their will be more of a shake up on the general classification however Basso looks to be a shoe in for the win (baring any crazy crash or […]
Two additional rides to post (for my own cycling log), on Wednesday I went out for a solo ride through Wayzata and into the Long Lake area. Very windy day and I almost skipped the ride, however once I got out on my bike I felt great and the wind was not too bad (although […]
While many of the cycling bloggers (and press, and other riders, and team managers … and …you get the point) have been busy posting and reporting about Jan Ullrich’s late start to the season Ullrich has been busy getting fit by riding the Tour de Romandie and the Giro d’ Italia where he won today’s […]
Today the peleton gets a day off from the bike as they get a transfer from east coast of Italy to the west coast traveling to Pontedera Italy. Tomorrow’s stage features the longest time trial of this years Giro, at 50 kilometers over a very flat course (the course does offer a few rolling hills […]
London prepares for what they are calling “the largest cycling event ever held in London”, the Tour of Britain will kick off in Glasgow at the end of August and end in London on September 4th. The six day stage race will pass through some iconic landmarks such as Big Ben, Downing Street, the House […]
What a fantastic day for a great little ride, I decided to get a late start today and enjoy some afternoon sun and warm weather. It was just what I was hoping for minus the traffic, the lilacs were in bloom and smelled sweat, as were the crab apple trees as the sun beat down […]
Today’s stage of the Giro was one of the most beautiful stages of any race I have seen so far this year, the stage finished in the Italian town of Peschici which sits on a hillside and looks over the deep blue ocean. The historic city is lined with many old buildings that seams to hang off […]
Sunday’s stage eight of the Giro d Italia was pretty exciting as Ivan Basso put down the hammer in the closing kilometers of the first real mountain stage. It was real fun to watch although their were so many darn tv commercials, however it was cool to see the next Armstong emerge. In many ways […]
If yesterday’s Giro stage was the longest today is most certainly the first “real” mountain stage with a mountain top finish. The last climb of the day is 25 kilometers long and will separate the peleton in a big way, Tour Guy thinks riders like Jan Ullrich and Jens Voight will have difficulty and will not […]
The longest stage of the 2006 Giro d’ Italia also featured the first major mountain pass (Monte Catria) which brought out the favorites as they began to test their climbing legs. Clocking in at over 230 kilometers it was a long day in the saddle for the pro riders as they made their way through […]
Well over the last few days the weather has looked real nice in Italy for the Giro and the coverage has been quite good on cycling.tv. After yesterdays high paced team time trial the cyclists today enjoyed a flat as a “pancake stage” which brought out the sprinters. Robbie McEwen simply can not be beat in […]
Wow, what a day at the Giro d’ Italia team time trial today, as CSC crushed all who stood in their way. It was the first team time trial in quite a while at the Giro.
While CSC won the event miss fortune was in the T-Mobile camp as they lost the day by a mere […]
Today is a rest day in this years Giro d’Italia, and the riders surely are preparing for the big day tomorrow when they head into Team Time Trial an event that is not often in the Giro. It seams like the Tour de France and The Giro organisers have swapped the TTT this year as […]
The weather here in Minnesota has been just crap over the last few weeks, I mean it’s not snowing so I am thankful for that but we have had so much rain and cool weather that it has slowed my cycling training a bit. Today however the training program continued with just a great day […]
Yesterdays stage of the 2006 Giro looked more like an early “spring classic” than a grand tour, still in Belgium the riders had one tough day in the cold and rain. The stage started from Perwez and finished in Namur and was fairly long at 202 kilometers, with the crappy weather conditions and finish that […]
Last night while watching the Giro on OLN I caught several fun little tid bits of information, like how this years Giro d” Italia will feature over 22,500 feet of verticle climbing!
Also mentioned was Jason McCartney’s Blog at OLN. I thought I would check it out, not really much of a blog (like the guy […]
Yesterdays opening stage (Mons – Charlerioi-Marcinelle) of the Giro d’ Italia was text book for a big tour, long (197 kilometers) and flat with only one small “hill” half way through the day. Such stages allow the sprinters to flex their muscles and scrap it out between one another, the last 20 k’s were an […]
Il Falco for the prologue win! Discover Channel rider Paolo Savoldelli made it clear today that he was competing for one thing, defence of his Giro title in what many have called is the toughest Giro d’Italia course in years. Just week’s ago Savoldelli showed the world he was not only ready but prepared to […]
Coverage of this years Giro d’ Italia is underway from Seraing Belgium, the crew at cycling.tv has done a good job so far and had a nice little lead in with press coverage over the last few days. They interviewed Ivan Basso, Sean Yates and several other riders. Basso was slightly coy, saying that he feels […]
Bobby Julich has riden for Team CSC now for about three years, and it is a very good thing. Before sign for the Danish squad Julich had thought about giving up professional cycling as his results continued to diminish. Then he had a conversation with Bjarne Riis (team manager CSC) who convinced him to sign […]
Can Savoldelli Capture The Maglia Rosa Again in 2006?
Year after year the American sponsored US Postal Team / Discovery Channel have been very impressive with 7 TDF Wins under the guidance and strength of Lance Armstrong. While Armstrong was undeniably the “alpha male” of the pro peleton Discovery did have some very impressive showings last […]
Last years Giro was tough on Simoni, he was so hell bent on proving himself and winning the Giro after the Damiano Cunego incident in 2004 that many felt he “over cooked” himself in preparation and fell short in the end. None the less Simoni is a class act and a rider that has been […]
For the past several years Patrick McCarty has riden for the powerhouse team Discovery Channel, with so many talented riders on the Discovery team McCarty often did not make the selection for the big races however that is all changing now that Patrick is riding for Team Phonak.
The 24 year old cyclist who also hails […]
T-Mobile has their game plan set for the Tour of Italy and their big name will not be Ullrich. While Ullrich is surely the highest paid man on the T-Mobile cycling squad recent problems with his knee has delayed his preparation quite a bit for this years pro calander. Yellow Jersey reader will be aware […]
Alessandro Petacchi is poised, primed and ready for Italy’s big race, The Giro d’ Italia. Petacchi who was quite vocal in his disappointments with this years course says his conditioning and fitness level are improving on a daily basis. While the Italian sprinter may not be found of this years course he still will give […]
Friends, get ready! In less than a week the first of the “grand tours” kicks off and let me tell ya… it is one tough race! This years Giro course has had many of the big sprinters “voicing” their dissaproval while the climbers were all smiles The Giro gets started in Belgium on Saturday May […]
When I got back into cycling last summer I spent about 2k on the full package … a new trek 2100 bike with a carbon fork and stays, shoes, gloves, jerseys and a few pair of shorts. You could say that it was a bit of a mid life crises type of thing and I […]
Managed to sneak out today around noon before the clouds could screw up such a great day. Went out with my neighbor again, the plan was to head down the Minnesota river valley for a could of serious climbs. However once we got about 12 or 13 miles into the ride we decided to skip […]
Finding decent tv coverage of the Tour de France the Giro and other major cycling events has always proven difficult. However over the years broadcasting channels like OLN have really brought pro cycling into the mainstream by giving daily coverage to the Tour de France. OLN also features “cyclism Sunday” which airs on Sunday of […]
