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The Cavendish question
What exactly are the future plans of World Road Champion Mark Cavendish as he struggles through the mountains to complete the Giro d'Italia?
The question among commentators is this; why exactly is Cavendish so determined to make it to Milan? And how does that determination affect his plans for the Tour de France and later on at the Olympic road race, where he is a burning hot home ground favourite for the gold?
And lets not forget that with every passing day in the Giro d'Italia grupetto, Cavendish spends a few valuable chips that could be useful at the Tour de France.
Variety, the spice of life
Too hard, or not hard enough? Depending on who you talk to about the Amgen Tour of California the answers vary.
One thing's for sure, the race was far from easy. This was the toughest course and the most competitive field we've had, and the riders all rose to the occasion. It was a race right to the finish for every stage this year.Any suggestion that tougher is necessarily equivalent to better however should be tempered. We saw at the 2011 Giro d'Italia that sprinkling in mountain top finishes like hundreds and thousands, doesn't add to the spectacle of the race. Anthony Tan put it best in a blog earlier this year when he said:
"La Corsa Rosa turned into a freak show, as the race took on an increasingly farcical nature to meet the megalomaniacal standards of Zomegnan."
Analysis: Baldy aftermath
Robert Gesink ripped the legs off his competition on the queen stage of the Amgen Tour of California, but his comeback story was only one of many that unfolded on the agonisingly tough Mount Baldy climb.
The winner, the comeback
Robert Gesink (Rabobank), 1st, 1st overall
But first, the guy who came first, Robert Gesink. The Dutchman was in disbelief at the finish, and considering the setbacks he's had in the last six months it's understandable as to why. A broken femur in the European autumn has meant the Dutchman has had to rebuild himself mentally and physically to even be at the start line in California. He's had an anonymous spring, but the result today is confirmation of his immense talent, and a reminder of what he can, and has done on the past if in top form. Honestly I can't believe it really. After I've all I've been through to do something like this. This is really incredible. In January I was still learning how to walk again, and now I'm here beating some of the best guys in the world.The revelations
Darwin Atapuma (Colombia-Coldeportes), 2nd, 16th overall & Fabio Duarte (Colombia-Coldeportes), 3rd, 5th overall
I was lucky enough to meet both Atapuma and former under 23 world champion Duarte in Decemeber of last year at a Colombia-Coldeportes training camp, and it was clear then that the team was going to be making waves come 2012. With a philosophy "inspired by climbing", a motto that harks back to the days of Lucho Herrera in the 1980s, the team is essentially built to animate the mountains, and animate they did in California.
Darwin Atapuma took the team's first win at the Giro del Trentino when he finished ahead of the likes of Ivan Basso, Domenico Pozzovio and Damiano Cunego and he showed again today what he rare talent he is. He was probably slightly unlucky to be riding on the same day as a rampaging Robert Gesink, but along with his team-mate Duarte is one to watch for the future.The stage win was so close, but second place in such an important stage at such an important race is a very good result.Special mentions: Joseph Dombrowski and Wilco Kelderman who are both only 21 years of age, and finished inside the top 10. Kelderman donned the best young rider's after helping to setup Gesink for the win. Big futures ahead for both riders.
Hauss of pain
While the rest of us have been going about our business this week, perhaps browsing fruitlessly for suitable podium sunglasses, poor old Heinrich Haussler has been caught in a time vortex, not unlike the one that sucked in Bill Murray in that one film.
Four times this week Haussler contested a sprint at the Tour of California. Four times Haussler came up narrowly short, and four times the man raising his arms at the line was Peter Sagan.
Asked ahead of stage two what it would take to stop him winning, Sagan replied: "I don't know, maybe it takes a natural disaster," which is not a line the Broom Wagon would be using within earshot of the San Andreas Fault, but to each their own.
Never-ending stories
If you've been around the traps for a while observing the to-ing and fro-ing of cycling discourse you'll find two kinds of stories that never seem to die.
One is the hard to take seriously big media blowhard banging on about Lycra louts on either the AM airwaves or in the pages of one of the big city tabloids.
Stepping into the breach yesterday for one of those yarns was failed shock jock Steve Price, who threw the entire bag of hammers in his head at, wait for it, “Cycle Nazis”.
