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Cali Files: Two-wheeled wunderkind
For Anthony Tan, Peter Sagan’s incredible, come-back-from-nowhere victory on the opening stage the Amgen Tour of California brought back memories of a vintage Robbie McEwen, circa July 2007.
Did Peter Sagan’s come-back-from-nowhere win at the Tour of California remind you a little of the opening road stage of the Tour de France five years ago?
It was July 8, 2007. As part of a three-day British sojourn, the second day entailed a 203-kilometre stage from London Greenwich to Canterbury in the east. As per usual in the opening week of the Tour it was a jittery peloton, who, with 20 kilometres remaining and just having crested the third and final climb of the day, the 1.1km long Cote de Farthing Common, were nervous as a clutter of cats on a hot tin roof.
Giro Files: Band of brothers
You do not have to be a team of winners to be a winning team, writes Anthony Tan.
It’s our thing. It’s part a question of motivation. We take it so seriously; we train really hard for it. And we really think through every little detail… and I think that makes the difference in the end.Let me ask you a simple question. When you look at the Garmin-Barracuda band of nine riding this year’s Giro d’Italia (Jack Bauer, Robert Hunter, Tyler Farrar, Ryder Hesjedal, Ramūnas Navardauskas, Alex Rasmussen, Sébastien Rosseler, Peter Stetina, Christian Vande Velde), which name/s stands out from the crowd?
That’s right: they don’t. No one exhibits a preternatural level of ability or talent above anyone else. No one man is what you would call a prolific winner or superstar in their own right, nor would they describe or perceive themselves that way.
Giro Files: The more things change...
It appears that with the brothers Schleck, the more things change, the more they stay the same, writes Anthony Tan.
I was seven days off the bike, so I don’t know… I never experienced this ‘preparation’. I might be good, though. So I need seven days; seven to eight days to get in the rhythm.You can extract a lot of from this quote from the elder of ‘the Schleckies’, as Stuart O’Grady affectionately calls them. Saturday in Herning, Denmark, Fränk languished in 108th place (out of 198 finishers) after the opening time trial of the 2012 Giro d’Italia, 59 seconds behind Taylor Phinney of BMC in a technical, wind-exposed time test.
The result from 21-year-old Phinney was of little surprise. Specialist he may be, but the American phenom rode the 8.7-kilometre corner-laden circuit “about 10 times” with a final recon the day of his ride that, before sunset, earned him the maglia rosa. “It was important to get on the course today because of the way they set up the barriers,” Phinney said afterwards, who became only the third US rider to be pimped in pink. “It was a little bit different than the way they were [positioned] the other days.”
Giro Files: Eyes wide open
So much rhetoric has centred on the sprinters at the 2012 Giro d’Italia, one startling stat has been largely overlooked as a result, writes Anthony Tan.
While most of the talk surrounding the 95th Giro has revolved around the abundance of sprinters, there are three notable exceptions: Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD), André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) and Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step).
And with pundits waxing lyrical about the fast finishers, it has actually detracted from what I regard as a far more startling observation. One that over the course of the next three weeks will become more intriguing still, and is bound to have you, the cycling fans, grinning like a pig in poo.
How'd you like d'em apples?
Too much too soon? Not at all, says Anthony Tan, believing Bradley Wiggins to be very much the leader among men for July.
Too much too soon for Wiggins. The pressure of being the no. 1 favourite at the Tour will crack him eventually.
I found it rather perplexing that the first three reader comments under Monday’s lead story on Cycling Central, ‘Wiggins firms as Tour de France favourite’, essentially dismissed Bradley Wiggins as the man to beat come July. As my sometimes friend, sometimes Bike Shorts sparring partner, Mike Tomalaris, sagely observed in Sunday’s TV show: “Wiggo looks as good as Cadel did this time last year… Is that a fair call?”
Fair indeed, Don Tominator, for in 2011, as Evans won Tirreno-Adriatico, followed by the Tour de Romandie, most of you, including myself, said: ‘This is Cadel’s year, this will be the year he wins the Tour’.
