Here at VeloVeritas we're always banging on about riders getting themselves across the North sea to Flanders, so when one actually does, such as Dougie Young, it's only right that we should pay a bit of attention.
Another race, another Endura clean sweep on a glorious day for the David Bell Memorial Road Race at picturesque Straiton; Evan Oliphant winning solo from team mates Ross Creber and Gary Hand; these two crossing the line hand in hand to remind us of their team's spirit - as if we'd forget?
VeloVeritas is heading down to the British National Elite Road Race Championship on the 27th of this month. We thought we'd check in with 'our' boys, Hamish Haynes, Dan Fleeman, Dan Patten and Tom Copeland to tell them we'd be around to pester them, and to lend a hand with bike prep, feeding and anything else they might need. Here's what Tom Copeland had to say to us, in reply.
Big Race: Small Race. Mid June has been and gone, and I find myself up in the northeast of Italy once again (Arona to be precise), this time at a couple of tiny one day races. We came through the same area for the finale of the Giro, where Ivan Basso turned the screws over the final few days to win the overall.
Whilst the Pro Tour marches on at the Dauphine and the Tour de Suisse, the ‘other’ races just keep taking care of business. Take the 2.1 Delta Tour Zeeland in The Netherlands, the overall went to Garmin fast man, Tyler Farrar, but the strong man from Washington State didn’t have it all his own way; stage one saw a break through win for Skil’s 23 year old Aussie, Mitch Docker.
Came close to another win at the weekend, this time in Grandglise. I was second to an ex-pro called Jurgen Guns, who used to ride for Vlaanderen 2002 - Eddy Merckx around 1999/2000.
Arthur Doyle, (Dooleys) comfortably retained his Scottish 25 Mile Time Trial Championship 2010 title with 52:54 on a cool but mostly dry Sunday morning around the verdant Howe of Fife, second was the man on the big fixed gear who was the surprise of the 2009 ten mile champs, Peter Ettles (Sandy Wallace Cycles) with 54:07-surprise this time was Philip Kelman (Deeside) with 54:44 off an early number 45 start.
VeloVeritas didn't arrive until number 92 was on the line, so apologies to Mr. Kelman for the lack of photographic evidence.
However, we were up at 06:00 am on Sunday to edit yesterday's road race pictures; we weren't slacking...
Evan Oliphant (Endura) lead his team to a whitewash of the Scottish Road Race Championship 2010 on Saturday afternoon over a sunny but windswept course near Eaglesham. Track and criterium specialist, James McCallum was second with the man who so much wanted to win - Gary Hand, in third spot.
If mountain biking is your thing, and you're not really into road bikes, how - and why - would you end up working as a mechanic for a ProTour team? We met Garmin Transisions mechanic Kris Withington recently on the Giro d'Italia, chewin' the fat at the start of Stage 12 in Citta Sant'Angelo, and so we thought it would be great to find out the answer to that question, and discover a little more about this Giro, as well as life on the road with a top professional team.
Well It's been on the cards all season and last weekend in the town of Ghoy I took my first win in Belgium. Like always the attacks came from km 1 and I managed to get away midway through the first lap - and this was to be the move that stuck.
Racing for his Asfra Flanders team, VeloVeritas contributer Dan Patten bagged his first win of the year in Belgium at the weekend, at a kermesse in Ghoy, in the Wallonne region of Hainaut. It has been on the cards for a while but Dan finally got the first one under his belt.
Ed and I spent a week recently working on the Giro d'Italia, and after doing quite a few trips like this we have our routine down to a tee; we always travel light, just carry-on baggage, it makes getting through airport security checks and moving around in a hire car for a week or two far easier. Fortunately, just before leaving, we got our hands on some of the new T-shirts by Peloton Racer, which we were happy to put to the test on our travels.
Ever-versatile Endura man, Evan Oliphant crammed just about every discipline into last weekend - criterium, Premier one day and a British grass track title. We had a word...
Team Raleigh's Dan Fleeman has set the interview up for us, and we're sitting in the "Hotel Anonymous" in Walsall. A dapper, trim figure in blazer and slacks bounds up the stairs; it takes a moment to register - it's our man, Grant Thomas.
Dan Patten's Blog - So, I'm recovering well - so well in fact that I came my closest to date to winning here in Belgium last Sunday, finally ending up in 3rd place, but so close to taking the win.
Dan Patten's Blog - As the season rolls on the races are coming thick and fast. May was always going to be an important month with the Belgium Cup (Beker Van Belgie/Coupe de Belgique) series taking center stage.
Thursday 11:00 pm and the Giro is just a memory. Reality, work, bills and the Transit; tomorrow, Dan Fleeman is coming up for the Sam Robinson - best grab some sleep. Friday 07:00 am - where am I?
We've completed our stint at the Giro d'Italia 2010, but we miss the turn for Rimini airport, the signage is dire, we're late already, off at Rimini Nord, through the tolls, U turn and back down the other side of the autostrada, there it is, dump the car, limp to the terminal. 'You're baggage is overweight sir,' abandon my shorts, T-shirts, carry my sweat shirt and jacket - still over, even though I can tell the bag weighs nothing like the 13 kilos they say it does.
We made sure we were in plenty time for the Giro d'Italia 2010 stage start today - our mission was to get pics of Diquigiovanni's Cameron Wurf for Jered Gruber but Cam didn't arrive at the sign on before our appointed time of bolting.
Tyler Farrar again today... the Italians are like any other race, there's nice folks and not-so-nice folks - but in the main they're friendly and helpful. Until, that is, you stick them behind the wheel of a car - any car will do, doesn't have to be an Audi or a Jag, a clapped out Fiat is fine for acting like a juvenile, aggressive, ignorant, petulant twat.
United Nations of Awesome. Boombah! Or, as we like to pretend that the Italians say, Opahhh! So the last post I put through (earlier today) was 16km from the finish, and included a series of “hopefullys” all of which came to pass, meaning we won today! A great result for the team, and a super performance by the team.
We're into double figures. We’re now deep into the Giro, Day 10 in fact, and the cracks are starting to show! Firstly, there was a horrific incident of five of the team’s staff getting on the wrong side of some VERY raw, yet delicious steak, which fortunately didn’t lead to a team-wide outbreak of GIT problems. Thank goodness for Universal Precautions! Secondly (and as ever, less importantly) the riders are now in the hurt basket pretty much permanently.
Ciao from il Giro d'Italia 2010, amici! I was saying to Martin that I'm a bit worried, I've been wakening up feeling great - always a bad sign. The trouble with my usual Giro partner in crime, Dave being back in Scotia and suffering from Giro withdrawal symptoms (he's coming to le Tour, though) is that everything we write and photograph is subject to close scrutiny.
Today we saw Riders in the Mist... When I read folks saying that the Giro is better than the Tour, I have to shake my head. Better, how? The scenery in Italy can be stunning, sure - but like yesterday, it can be ghastly, too.
Today is Strada Bianchi day. Once you have your Giro d'Italia creds you feel better, despite the fact that a colleague had organised them for you a week ago, it's still a relief to hang that pink lanyard round your neck and stick those big lumps of sticky-back plastic on the hire car windscreen.
Ciao, come sta? Viareggio on the west coast of Italy, 06:30 Saturday May 15 and VeloVeritas is on the Giro - well, not quite, we have our credentials to collect from the Gazzetta camper van, this morning at the stage start in Carrara. The trip down wasn't too bad, Edinburgh to Luton, then Luton to Pisa - there was an hour's delay at Luton, but we were on Easyjet, so no one gets too stressed.
Yesterday was the Giro d'Italia Team Time Trial (TTT) a 33km shot through northern Italy where teams departed five minutes apart and raced the clock up the road. The order of starting was based on the overall standing of the best three riders from each team, with the slowest team going first, and the team of the race leader going last (regardless of how their team was faring).
Good Times Bad Times - CIAO! The Giro d’Italia version 2010 has begun. We started racing up in Amsterdam (which, while not technically* part of Italy, was a cool place to start racing from) with a time trial, followed by two road stages. The start of a Grand Tour is always cool — the whole team starts to find extra gears, and the organisation is singing by start time.
Back! Just a quickie before the Giro starts (well, only three days after the Giro started, but near enough).
March and April saw a nice turnaround in the fortunes of the team: only two fractured collarbones and two major concussions! MUCH less hectic! We also put in some very good results, popping up with wins in both individual stages and overall races (on one memorable day we won three times: two stages and an overall race. Very nice!). We also had some very strong showings in some of the biggest one day races on the calendar. Very nice indeed!
March also saw a grand turnaround in the life of Tobias, with the arrival of Mands to sunny Girona. Good times!
For 2009, our 'Kiwi discovery' was Jack Bauer - who will it be this year? Clinton Avery ? Or this man, who has a great Scottish name, but is also from the land of the long white cloud; Ruaraidh McLeod.