Friday, March 29, 2024

Monthly Archives: June, 2012

Fabian Cancellara Again

All of the tension has finally left the peloton as they’ve finally started the race. Haha!! Or more accurately, the early tension of anticipation has been replaced by the tension to gain time/hold place/maintain position/get in the break/follow the right wheel/avoid the crashes/etc etc etc! Fabian Cancellara did what he does so well.

Le Tour de France 2012 Prologue: Liège ITT, 6.1km.

It's here. Le Tour de France 2012 Prologue. The endless analysis is finally over, there's rubber on tarmac, folks hanging over barriers and commentators getting their facts wrong, already.

Le Tour de France 2012 – High Speed & High Stakes

The Tour Prologue is one of the most High Speed & High Stakes stages in bike racing. 6.4km of maximum effort, with the winner being gifted with the Yellow Jersey at the end of the day. The value placed upon this for teams, sponsors and the riders themselves is truly enormous.

Le Tour de France starts tomorrow! Who do we fancy?

Like it or not, the sport of professional cycle racing is largely defined by one race – the Tour de France. To aficionados the Primavera, Ronde, Hell of the North and Classic of the Falling Leaves are eagerly awaited then devoured and endlessly analysed. But mention any of these races to the ‘man in the street’ and you’ll be met with a blank stare. The Giro and Vuelta will elicit a similar response - Paris-Nice? Forget it. But tell a ‘lay person’ you’re going to the Tour de France and in response you’ll get; ‘Lance, Cav, yellow jersey’ – and ‘drugs,’ naturally.

Le Tour de France 2012 – Time Trial = The Battle For Yellow

Le Tour 2012 is a day away! On paper it is going to be a race between Wiggo and Cadel, and it is hard to see anyone else good enough to match these two men. As has been noted everywhere, and ad nauseam, this is a Tour with over 90km of time trialling. Considering the miserable time trialling talents of the gun climbers in the race, particularly when compared to how good Cadel and Wiggo are at climbing, the race for third may well end up being a separate battle of the also-rans behind the Wiggins-Evans showdown.

Freshly Glued Tubs – the British National Road Race Championships 2012

The nationals are one of my favourite events of the season. The race is strange because I have no specific job to do, no pulling on the front, no marking, no driving the break and no one to let down apart from myself. The first British Elite Championships I took part in were in 2008, somewhere in Yorkshire.

Ian Stannard – New British Road Champion 2012

Winning the British elite road race title? Simple; go in the early break with a team-mate, drive to get a decent gap, ride tempo and when the opposition start to bring you back, step on the gas, crack them, then drop your breakaway companions to win in solitary splendour. That’s if your name is Ian Stannard ...

Daryl Impey – “You have to make sacrifices for the bigger picture”

Daryl Impey is the man who suffered a horrific crash in the final metres of the Presidential Tour of Turkey in 2009, with the yellow jersey on his back - when Theo Boss decided that the South African might like to make a close inspection of the crash barriers.

Ian Stannard takes the British National Road Race Championships 2012

With the bells of beautiful Ampleforth Abbey peeling in celebration, Sky made it a hat trick of British National Road Race Championships titles; strong man Ian Stannard following on from Geraint Thomas in 2010 and Bradley Wiggins in 2011.

Joe Dombrowski – “I’ll be taking my time with any decisions”

The ride which has really made the emails and phone calls from the big teams start to appear came last week when Joe won the GiroBio – or ‘Baby Giro.’ VeloVeritas was on the phone to the Joe Dombrowski who we think is headed for the very top - as soon as he’d had a good night’s sleep in his own bed.

Shane Archbold – Focused Solely on the Omnium

For the Beijing Olympics in 2008 it was the kilometre which got the chop. For London 2012 the axe is bigger and sharper – the individual pursuit, points and madison all become historical footnotes. We caught up with New Zealander Shane Archbold to discuss this, the Olympics, and more...

Whats going on, David McLean?

It’s been a while since David McLean posted, he intended to do something a little more regularly but unfortunately he's been preoccupied with health problems for much longer than expected.

Joe Dombrowski – Proving to be Well Rounded

'Stars of the future ?' Here's one - please just remember where you read it first. After the toughest stage of the Tour of California - traversing brutal Mount Baldy, many were asking 'who's Joe Dombrowski ?'

Christopher Jennings – Davie Bell Memorial 2012 Winner

The Davie Bell Memorial – a great race, but VeloVeritas can't be everywhere and we had to choose between Ayrshire and Fife, where the National ‘50’ was being fought out. Being a couple of old testers, we went for the ‘50’ – but we didn’t forget about the Davie Bell. We decided we best have a word with the winner – a young man who comes all the way from South Africa by way of Belgium and Spain; Christopher Jennings

Scottish 50 Mile TT Championships 2012 – Iain Grant gives it “11 out of 10”!

On a typical wet and miserable Fife Sunday morning, Dooleys' 41 year-old former duathlete Iain Grant made up for his one second defeat in the Scottish 10 Mile Championship with a sparkling 1:49:00 over the longer distance at the Scottish 50 Mile TT Championships, putting him 2:24 clear of Sean Childs (RNRMCA) and 2:55 up on defending champion Alan Thomson (Sandy Wallace).

Ryan Roth – Tro-Bro Léon 2012 Winner

Steve Bauer’s Spider Tech team pulled off the team's biggest win of the season so far with victory in the cult 206.4 kilometre UCi 1.1 Tro-Bro Léon in Brittany by Ryan Roth.

Glasgow’s Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome awarded a round of the UCI Track World Cup

Cycling’s world governing body Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), have today announced that Glasgow’s Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome will host a round of the 2012/13 UCI Track World Cup series, which will see British Cycling deliver an event in which the world’s best riders compete at the venue for the first time.

Preview: the South Carrick David Bell Memorial Road Race

It might be the middle of crit season, but the organisers of this Sunday's South Carrick David Bell Memorial in Girvan are delighted to have secured the strongest lineup in the race’s history.

Thomas De Gendt – Grateful to Mother Nature

Who were the men of the Giro? There was Ryder, certainly – and Rodriguez; but there was also Guardini’s confirmation; Ferrari’s transformation from from villain to hero; Cav and Taylor Phinney’s displays of grinta; Marco Pinotti’s class in winning the last time trial and Basso’s heroic but ultimately doomed bid for the podium. But perhaps the man of the race was Belgium’s Thomas De Gendt, who threatened to turn the Hesjedal/Rodriguez battle into a sideshow...

Marco Pinotti – Giro Time Trial Winner

It was way back in 1999 when Marco Pinotti signed his first pro contract, with Lampre Daikin. The Italian team is still with us – and so is the time trial specialist from Bergamo.

Jack Bauer – He’s Why We Love This Sport!

It was a Saturday night in the summer of 2009 and I was driving ‘up the Town’ to the movies. I pulled the car over, answered the mobile and had my first chat with the man. VeloVeritas's pundit in residence Viktor had spotted this New Zealand laddie who was burning up the Flanders kermis scene in the colours of Anglo/Belgian team, Kingsnorth Wheelers – Jack Bauer.

Luke Durbridge – Critérium du Dauphiné Prologue win

Despite having the advantage of starting as last man in the Dauphine’s 5.7 kilometre prologue time trial, Britain’s defending champion, Bradley Wiggins (Sky) couldn’t best the time set by 21 year-old world under 23 world time trial champion, Luke Durbridge (GreenEdge-Orica & Australia).

Paddy Bevin – Chasing a career to the Top Level

One of the names missing from Gila (one of the big US early season races) is that of Bissell’s, 21 year-old Paddy Bevin. The New Zealander preferring to keep closer to sea level as he starts his build up for the Tour of California.