Bright light from above!

A big bright sunny thing came out to great us at the Giro today, that confused everyone. And Robby McEwan still isn't back... better, but...

What are you thinking?

What was Cadel thinking when he started the field sprint in today’s stage? The little climber from just outside of Melbourne was solo on the right hand side of the road, wasting energy going for the sprint. Cadel is looking beyond strong at the moment. Apparently he had to do a lot of the work to close down a gap that HTC and Vino and his boys got in the last 30k. None of us had a clue what was going on at that stage. Everyone was cross-eyed focusing on the wheel in front and endless curbs that came flying at you left and right on yet another miserable and wet day.

Speaking of wet, apparently it rained today at the Tour of California. Not even a date change from Feb to May can get them the sun everyone expects when they find out they are headed to California for a bike race. In other news, some of the boys were racing in the Tour of Picardie, and the women have just kicked off the Tour de L’Aude, but one really cares at the moment because all eyes are on the Italian skies and the Tour of Crashifornia.

Only in America!

Velonews today ran a story about a timing confusion at the Tour of the Gila. I have myself done a little racing in America, and never have I come across a less efficient bunch of officials. Only in America could the officials argue back and forth between timing issues which would never have been issues in the first place. Laden with their white and black striped prison suits, the US cycling officials, rarely seem to know much about cycling in the first place, and despite having a vast array of technology for timing and finish line results, somehow manage to mess it up.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/05/news/tour-of-the-gila-final-podium-re-adjusted-dave-zabriskie-gets-back-on-the-podium_115680

Dungkerque

Well here's some excitement in the world of cycling. The 4 days of DUNGkerque (as the riders call it) is about the least exciting race on the calendar. For one thing it's held in the unbelievably boring and dull part of northern France that everyone hates going to. The area is dull, gray and industrial. The racing is about the same, dull, gray and... well, not industrial, but pretty uneventful to say the least. In the past, some riders have been sent to the this race by their team, after much protest they are forced to go anyway, so uninterested in the event, they ride the first 2km of the first stage and then pull out and head home early. Yipee for the 4 days of Dungkerque, which will probably go unnoticed anyway, as all the real riders are heading a little further south to a little local race called the Giro d'Italia, thank God!

Constantino Zaballa wins on old Crap

I must say I don’t recognize Zaballa’s team kit, and to be honest it looks like a local village club kit from some tiny Spanish farmer town. I know I’ve come across Zaballa somewhere before, in some race, and I’m pretty sure he used to race for one of the world’s bigger teams, but I can’t remember who. Regardless, Zaballa took the bull by the horns in Asturias on Sunday by winning the final stage in true hardman fashion, solo!

The keen eye out there will have noticed that Zaballa won the race on a bike sporting the old, 10speed Campagnolo equipment. So while the average overweight wanabee cyclist is out there getting all the latest and lightest equipment to get dropped on the local Sunday spin, Zaballa and his buddies are out there winning races on the world stage with old equipment. And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen this. CSC had the old 9speed Dura Ace for a whole season after all the other teams in the peloton (as well as all the overweight weight-weenies out there) had moved over to the newer 10speed Dura Ace. Lance said it himself, “it’s not about the bike, and as Zaballa’s legs clearly stated on Sunday, stop being a dork and ride your bike!

No Class for Podium Girl

Thank goodness for Levi Leipheimer’s and Darren Lill’s classy rides at this week’s Tour of the Gila. Sadly that’s about all the class we saw, as there was a definite lack of class when it came to certain aspects of the organization. Clearly a little “overweight” in certain areas, and with the big ugly tattoo dominating the scene, this young lady would be better suited in a dark corner of a Harley Davidson biker-bar than on a podium. When you compare podium photos of the Tour of the Gila to some of the bigger races, one word jumps to mind. “Class” (or lack thereof).