Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Tag: Eastern European Riders

Yuriy Metlushenko – Legendary Ukrainian Pro for over 15 Years

Politics isn’t our thing at VeloVeritas and there are people out there much better qualified to talk about events in Ukraine than we are but we thought we’d re-run this interview from a few years ago with Yuriy Metlushenko, a man who embodies what being Ukrainian is all about – tough but human and humble, dedicated, resilient, a survivor…

Yuriy Metlushenko – Winning Races Across the Globe for a Decade and a Half

If you’re a regular VeloVeritas reader then you’ll know we try to buck the superlatives trend – ‘iconic’ and ‘awesome’ are words you won’t see on our pages too often. But we have to use a superlative when we talk about today’s interview subject, the Ukraine’s Yuriy Metlushenko – ‘Legendary.’ He’s been winning bike races across the globe for a decade and a half and shows no sign of slowing down.

At Random

Russell Downing – Cult’s New Signing; “I much prefer stage racing and classic racing”

The ride of the Commonwealth Games for me? Russ Downing's fourth place in the road race - 'grinta' is the man's middle name. As the World Tour stars headed into the pits, Russ just kept riding through the wind and rain - the man is dogged. His name featured in a recent press release we received from the Luxembourg/Danish Continental squad Cult, they're going Pro Continental for 2015 and yes, Mr. Downing is on board.

Jordan Kerby – Australian U23 Road Champion

The work ethic it takes to be reach and remain on the Australian National Squad is well known to the ‘Euros.’ The latest young man to take note of is Queenslander, Jordan Kerby; in his short career he’s achieved much – including two world titles. VeloVeritas spoke to the 20 year-old as his career began with Danish Continental squad Christina Watches-Onfone.

Same, but so different (TDF 2012 Stage 13)

So if you looked at the result of last night and saw Greipel from Sagan from Boassen Hagen, you’d likely think “Aaah just another bunchie” – it was certainly the finale that I was expecting! And was far from the finale that actually happened. BMC took advantage of the stiff crosswinds and tough little wall 25km from the finish to send Cadel shooting off the front of the bunch.

Thomas Gloag – “I find myself getting better as the road slopes upwards”

Tom Pidcock’s stunning performance to win the ‘Baby’ Giro - with three stage wins along the way - over-shadowed a very promising ride by his Trinity Racing team mate, Thomas Gloag, the young man from London getting stronger as the race progressed.

Volta a Portugal 2012 – Stage Two: Oliveira do Bairo – Trofa

191.5km, 2400m Ascent from Oliveira do Bairo to Trofa, and today was brilliant! No long transfers this morning and I didn’t have very much to do. It was fantastic, a rest day practically.

The VV View: Rogers, Gabrovski, Colo and Clenbuterol Inconsistencies

Back in December in our year end rant we mentioned the fact that there seemed to be one law for ‘genial Aussies’ and another for ‘dodgy Spaniards.’ What we said was: "And whilst Contador’s ‘contaminated beef’ defence was largely scorned, the mood surrounding Michael Rogers’ positive for Clenbuterol seems to be; ‘poor old Mick’ – with Matt White telling us that the UCI should sort out the Chinese meat industry."