Thursday, April 18, 2024

Yearly Archives: 2011

Cyclo Cross Pro Ian Field

Ian Field Blog: Tough Times Make the Good Times Even Better

Whenever there is a long gap between me writing blogs it usually means I have been really busy training and racing hard. This time is no different! I ended the last blog on the disappointment of the Koppenberg Cross and as I mentioned next up would be the Superprestige at Hamme. I got a really good weeks training in between the two races and morale was high as my girlfriend was able to come and visit for just over a week.
Editorial

The VeloVeritas Years – 2011: RIP Wouter Weylandt

When Martin suggested we use the RIP Wouter Weylandt obituary as our 2011 article in our 'The VeloVeritas Years' series it stirred memories of such a sad day. It's not something I've mentioned to many but on that day of despair I had been waiting to speak to Wouter at the Leopard-Trek bus before the race - but with the depart looming we had to vamoose and get a head start on the peloton. I sometimes wonder that if we'd waited a little longer, met Wouter and spent even a few moments with him then perhaps it may have changed the whole dynamic of his day?
Interviews

Ian Steel – Peace Race WInner

During the entire history of the Peace Race from 1948 to 1989 there were few Western winners, and no English speaker ever won - except one that is, in 1952: Ian Steel of Scotland. The story that the East European propaganda machine circulated after that edition of the Peace Race, 60 years ago, was that the "Westerner" winner Steel had been approached by his country's intelligence agency before he travelled to the race and was asked to; 'keep his eyes open' whilst behind the Iron Curtain - to spy, in other words.
Stories

Dan Fleeman – Moving from Racing to Coaching

'There's a time to come and a time to go,' the words of Danny Stam when he announced that he would retire at the end of this winter season, the Dutchman is 39 years-old. But whilst the former British under 23 road race champion, twice British hill climb champion and Tour of the Pyrenees winner, Dan Fleeman is 10 years younger than the six day man, he's arrived at the same conclusion.
Interviews

Jérémy Roy – Looking Forward to the Show

Last July, Jérémy Roy (FDJ) was becoming well known to followers of the Tour de France, his attacking style gathering him lots of attention and admiration in this, his fourth participation, despite the big win in the biggest race eluding him thus far. In his ninth year as a Pro, but not a regular winner, Jérémy was one of the heroes of Friday's Stage 12 from Cugneaux to Luz Ardiden, having been in the break of six riders which escaped soon after the start and remained in front most of the day.
Garmin Physio Toby Watson

Copenhagen Road Worlds 2011 Reminiscences

As I sit here on a rainy Wednesday awaiting my wife's transition from early labour to full gas labour (is that the correct terminology? heh) I thought I should get my act together and at least attempt to begin more regular blog posts. What better time to try and commit to spending more self time than just before one of the major upheavals of your life, where you're guaranteed to have less time to do exactly that? What could possibly go wrong here"¦
Diaries

Zürich Four Day 2011 – Days Three & Four

It's 11:29 on Sunday, somewhere on an autobahn in Bavaria. The race finished at 02:30 but it was around 03:45 before we got away from the track. We parked up at 05:00 at a motorway services and rose at 10:15; we're en route Düsseldorf, which will take us the best part of the day. It's all part of the game.
Diaries

Zürich Four Days 2011 – Day Two

The hotel I'm in for the Zürich Four Days 2011 is nice, a double bed, en-suite shower and beautiful breakfast spread - but it's a logistical pain. Kris has to 'make massage' with Jesper at lunchtime, but I don't want to hang around the hotel all morning - there's work to do at the track. I had to scrounge a lift - always a pain.
Diaries

Zürich Four Days 2011 – Day One

From the chaos emerged a track centre bar and restaurant, cabins for us, work space for the mechanics - and something to race on. I can't say too much about the track - or Pete will slap me, but it obviously can't be as smooth as a permanent one. The stadium restaurant is good; we get one meal each day - last year it was two. Maybe they figure that since it's only four days we don't need fed as much?
Diaries

Zürich Four Days 2011 – Getting Ready

Monday passed in a trice - a motorway is motorway and a Formule 1 hotel is a Formule 1 hotel. Now it's 14:15pm on Tuesday and hard to imagine the building site I'm sitting in the midst of will be hosting the Zürich Four Days 2011 in a little over 24 hours. But it has to - first and foremost, the Sixes are a business proposition.
Diaries

Gent Six Days 2011 – Now, to Zürich

It's a long way from Gent Six Days 2011 to Zurich, around 800 kilometres - so best get on the road early. We picked up Jesper at the Expo Holiday Inn - where Vik and I have stalked the mechanics at many's a Het Volk - and then we were offski.
Diaries

Gent Six Days 2011 – Night Six

On the one hand, the 18:00 finish is cool; but on the other, the lunch time kick off means that the last day is pretty hectic for the support staff. The result was never really in doubt and I thought that the last chase was poor. But I said all of that yesterday - and what I'm not taking account of is the huge gaps in the Six Day programme.
Diaries

Gent Six Days 2011 – Night Five

We used to get to park the camper inside the old exhibition hall which ajoins the velodrome - but 'safety' means we have to park outside, adjacent to the old hall. In the morning it means you have a long walk to the shower, previously you could lurch the 10 metres, zombie-like, to the shower cubicle and be reborn.
Nuggets

An Open Letter to Mr. Pat McQuaid

Dear Mr. McQuaid, I'm so glad you've decided on VinoKolGate that: "Yes, there are rules about that. It is clear, if there is evidence, there could be penalties after an investigation on our part." I'm sure that you're aware that there have been arrests in the UK for the hacking of mobile phones and email accounts, and that there's not a court in Europe which would accept evidence obtained by hacking, but I realise that these are mere bagatelles to the might of the UCI and those Eastern riders have to be sorted out.
Diaries

Gent Six Days 2011 – Night Four

Whether it's a great edition of the Gent Six Days or not, it's still quite an experience to walk up through the tunnel for the first time. Especially if the Dernys are up on the track droning out their monotonous tune, there's the buzz of a thousand conversations, the lights, the throng, the smell of beer, the renners flashing around the bankings, the people piled high up to the roof in the corners - We love it !
Editorial

Welcome to the all-new VeloVeritas!

We're pleased to be able to present our relaunched site, now renamed "VeloVeritas" (ie. the truth about cycle racing and racers). We aim to provide you with truthful, accurate, unique and informative articles about the sport we love, and we'll do that by covering all aspects of cycling by being there, in the mix: from the local "10" mile time trial to the world-famous professional "monuments" - classics like Milan-SanRemo and the Tour of Lombardy, to the World Championships, the winter Six-Days and the Grand Tours - the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España.
Interviews

Steve Cummings – the Pro’s Pro

When Steve Cummings rode for Discovery Channel in 2007, he was in the service of Alberto Contador. 'Bert' told the Disco mechanic Allan Butler; "when you ask Cummings to ride on the front-he rides, I'd have him on my team any time!" Praise doesn't come much higher. We caught up with Steve just before he jetted off to the Far East for the new Beijing WorldTour race, to talk Cav, his move from Sky to BMC and-Liverpool FC.
Diaries

Grenoble Six Day 2011 – Sixth Night

Last day - it's not a big programme, sprint series, team time trial and the closing 180 lap chase. By six day standards that's not a long chase, around 38 K - at Copenhagen they have 300 lappers on a 250 track - but here, it's heavy duty for the small teams. Franco reckons that Kris and I should have dinner in the track centre, tonight - well, it sounded good to me.
Diaries

Grenoble Six Days 2011 – Fifth Night

Grenoble Six Day 2011... Bed was at 02:00 am so I didn't have too much problem getting up at 07:45 to do some 'real world' stuff. The only trouble with that is I know I won't feel nearly as frisky come 02:30 am. I was meant to have an interview with Luke Roberts today, he was meant to get word about what's happening team-wise for 2012.
Diaries

Grenoble Six Day 2011 – Fourth Night

It's a glorious day in Grenoble, warm, calm, sunny - not a day to be stuck in a stuffy stadium. But that's the runner's place in the way of things - scrambled eggs on fresh baguettes for breakfast eased the pain. The 35 minute chase was a better show tonight and the French guys didn't get pummelled quite so savagely.
Diaries

Grenoble Six Days 2011 – Third Night

Grenoble Six Days 2011... One day, I'd like to come here and sit at one of the big tables with friends and family, watch the cabaret, and the racing, chat, eat and drink too much. It's good value at 63 euros per head: that gets you in, allows you to attack the beautiful buffet and provides you a bottle of wine, mineral water and a coffee as you watch the racing and the cabaret - one day...
Diaries

Grenoble Six Days 2011 – Second Night

It takes a few days to find the rhythm of a six-day - usually for me it's the sixth day. My feet stop hurting and I get a proper sleep. Last night I slept ok 'til around 06:00 am but after that it was disjointed, the sound of the traffic and the drone of the refrigeration units on the restaurant supply tucks saw to that - not to mention the bizarre dreams.
Diaries

Grenoble Six Days 2011 – First Night

'The track door will open at 09:30,' we were told, but this is the Grenoble Six Days 2011 - in France, and you have to give or take 45 minutes - and sure enough, we got in around 10:15. Bring the last of the gear down from the camper, set up the track cabins, go to the shops for supplies, help the guys with their bikes, go to the shops for razors so Franco can shave his legs, help with the dinner, do the washing up and then slip out quietly when the riders all descend upon our cabin for their pre-race meeting.
Diaries

Grenoble Six Days 2011 – D minus 1

It's a grey morning in Grenoble; we can't unload until 11:00 am and then we have to drive up to Lyon and collect Jesper and Marc off the plane. In the stadium office they have great old black and white photos of the stadium under construction; it really is a gem of a building, if you like modern architecture.
Diaries

Grenoble Six Days 2011 – D minus 2

Up at 04:30, the plan was to get the bus from Porty at 09:00 - however, and to cut a long story short, the van is abandoned in a western suburb of Edinburgh and a cab was flagged down to get me to the airport on time. The flight was undramatic - thank God - and there was Kris in the airport bus park, with the camper. It's seems to be an unwritten law that you have to arrive in a different country from where the race is; so the rendez-vous was in Geneva, Switzerland.
Interviews

Don Allan – Six Day Legend, Part Two

In the first part of our interview with Australian ace Don Allan we discussed his road career, for the second part we talk about his 107 Six Day starts - that's 642 days on the boards; 92 weeks.
Interviews

Don Allan – Six Day Legend, Part One

f you know your Six Day stats then you'll be aware that the Australian pairing of Danny Clark and Don Allan is the ninth most successful ever, based on wins, with 15; but fifth most successful ever based on points from top four finishes - 15 wins, 15 second places, 11 third places and 12 fourth places.
Nuggets

World Road Race Championships 2011 – Cavendish Celebrates

World Road Race Championships 2011 - Cavendish and the whole team were brilliant, full stop. There can be no 'buts' or 'maybes' - his team...
Nuggets

World Road Championships 2011- Roundup

The Danish Press did Cav proud at the World Road Championships 2011; having Peta on his arm doesn't hurt as far as the photo opportunities go. And being the saddo I am, the first thing I did when I got home was to buy the British papers. All of the quality dailies 'done him proud'-The Independent gives him pride of place on their sports section and Alasdair Fotheringham's prose is perfect.
Diaries

World U23 Road Race Championship 2011 – A Young Braveheart in the Medals

Braveheart rider Andy Fenn took an excellent bronze medal in the World U23 Road Race Championship 2011 on a windy but dry day in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen. The French team proved best motivated and organised with a dazzling one-two. Let's hope that Arnaud Demare doesn't go the way of so many French amateur and U23 champions in the past - big hype, big contract then a gradual slide in to obscurity.
Diaries

World Road Championships 2011 – Day 4, rest day

No races today, time to catch up with some old friends, the gossip and write up the Worlds Elite rr preview and fit in an interview - I have to justify my existence. We're about 20 K from the city of Copenhagen in Naerum, which is right on the course. It takes two trains to get to central Copenhagen, but they run frequently and bang on time. Our meeting this morning was with Dane, Jimmy Hansen.
Diaries

World Road Championships 2011 – Day 3; Mens’ TT

'Time trials are boring!' say the road men. But run it through the middle of one of Europe's great cities, with the best 'chrono men' on the planet jousting for a rainbow jersey through dense crowds and it's far from boring - spectacular! We got to the World Road Championships 2011 course early to see what we could see.
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Here at VeloVeritas we aim to provide our readers with truthful, accurate, unique and informative articles about the sport we love.

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