Omloop Het Volk & Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne

The traditional start of the cycling season has taken place last weekend. Luckily I was in The Netherlands, so I could see coverage from both races. And I noticed some interesting things in both the coverage and the races.

First, the coverage differs between The Netherlands and Belgium. In The Netherlands there is a lot of talk about the ‘New Cycling’, the new era after EPO and other doping dominated the sport. This is in part because the biggest team, Rabobank, is one of the teams that is in the middle of it. Not because of using doping, but as being the first team to get punished for not keeping track of their riders. The Rasmussen case and losing the Tour de France in the final week has had a huge impact on this team.

On Flemish TV, the coverage is about the cycling. Omloop Het Volk returned to Gent for both start and finish and the new track was great. Lots of talk about that, nice interview with ‘De Zwarte van Brakel’, Peter van Petegem, who is now assistant race director. And the doping issues were briefly mentioned, but didn’t control the coverage. And with Rik Vanwalleghem (journalist and director of Centrum Ronde van Vlaanderen) alongside Karl Vannieuwkerke, you’re getting nice stories as well.

Both the Dutch and Flemish TV had also a lot of attention for the fight between the ASO and UCI. I will get into that in another post, that’s still influencing the mood of the peloton. I still find it an annoying disruption of a great sport, solely driven by a need for power and money. But that’s for another time.

Back to the races. Omloop Het Volk was a classic ride, it had everything. The wind was bad, eating up a lot of strength from the riders. The Quickstep team was dominating the race, like they should, but some events made sure they weren’t taking part in the final stages of the race. First, there were a lot a riders falling from their bikes. And on the decisive moment when Gilbert first showed his strength, one of those riders was Bettini. At the same time, the Quickstep team was tired from riding against the wind all day. Boonen was still recovering from his trip to California, so he couldn’t follow. Very interesting to see how that worked out.

Then, we got to see how strong Gilbert really is. A phenomenal display of strength, he undertook a solo ride for about 40 kilometers to get to the head of the race and then to the finish. Absolutely amazing and a great promotion for the sport. This is what cycling is all about, one guy is clearly the strongest, feels that and goes for it. I enjoyed every minute of it. Omloop Het Volk was a great way to start cycling again.

On Sunday we got treated to a great Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne as well. Quickstep was not happy with how things went the day before and took control of the race in a later stage. The wind was strong once again, which resulted in a limited group riding towards the finish. And in that group, 7 riders of Quickstep were present (Bettini fell once again, having to retire after 18 kilometers). The final kilometers were exciting, with different riders trying to get away.

The final attempt was made by Sebastian Langeveld. Steven de Jongh was lucky to quickly react, after all the hard work in the previous 50 kilometers, he was barely able to keep up. But the sprint was easy for him, beating Langeveld by a stretch. The first big Dutch victory of the season, which is nice now that our chances will be limited this year, and a solid display by Quickstep and Rabobank.

I enjoyed the weekend, unfortunately the coverage here in the UK is limited. I got to find a way to watch my two favorite classics: de Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix.

Remembering Marco Pantani

Today, February 14th, is not only Valentine’s Day, but also the day that Marco Pantani died. His life had a tragic ending, but I like to remember all the nice moments he has given us during the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and many other races.

Legendary is the Tour de France of 1998. Finishing almost last in the prologue, he only had one option: attack in the mountains. And that was what he did, every day he was on the attack trying to get hold of the yellow jersey. Finally, he succeeded and did the unthinkable: winning the Tour de France as a climber. With that display he stole our hearts and will be remembered as a remarkable rider.

Thank you, Il Pirata.

Astana not allowed to start in Tour de France

ASO is doing it again this year: blocking teams from starting in their races. The big victim last year was Unibet, this year Astana is not allowed to compete. And with lots of respect for Unibet, Astana is a much bigger team.

Sure, Astana has a very bad reputation in the cycling world. Last year there were scandals surrounding Vinokourov, Kasjetsjkin, Mazzoleni and Kessler. It was a public secret that the team was really old-school cycling and didn’t comply to the new ethics that much. But after last season a lot has changed: new management, new cycling director and many new riders. Only the name has stayed the same. Basically the team is equal to the old Discovery team, with a new name.

You have to wonder if this is the next phase in the battle between the ASO and the UCI. The ASO organizes some of the big cycling races, besides the Tour de France also Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege to name a few, and thinks it should have more control over cycling in general. The UCI disagrees and states it’s the international body for cycling, which they are. And now with Astana being dropped and other teams still not sure (for instance Rabobank and Cofidis), we could see a big fight emerging.

One thing that could happen, and will happen if the UCI wants to show its strength, is that all ASO races will be moved to the national cycling calendar. That means for instance that only French teams can compete in the Tour de France, which would reduce the image of that race dramatically. It has to be seen how things will develop the next couple of weeks, but this season could turn into a worse season last year.

Tour of Flanders: Koppenberg returns!

One of the most famous hills in Flanders will make its return in the Tour of Flanders. Last year the Koppenberg was left out of De Ronde, due to the state of the climb. The cobblestones on this hill are laid out very unevenly, which makes this steep climb very difficult. But the local council of Oudenaarde has done some renovations to the road, so now it’s safe again to climb this hill.

Unfortunately I can’t participate in this year’s event (for the cycling enthusiast, not the professionals), due to a total lack of training and more importantly a lack of time. My Neptune Cyclo friends are going to participate and I just know they’re excited to climb this hill again.

Cycling season 2008 starting

With the Tour Down Under and the Tour of Qatar done, it’s time to start looking at the cycling season. It’s one of my favorite sports, both to watch and to participate in. Personally, the season starts on March 1st, the day of Omloop Het Volk. All other races before are just practice and are nice for the statistics, but cycling only starts when wind and rain come together in Flanders. Which is first in Omloop Het Volk and the day after in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

Last year was not the best for cycling. All the negative stories about doping hurt the competitive aspects of cycling, resulting in lots of bad press. And I feel it’s not over yet, the media will continue to look for doping scandals (like the ARD did with their false accusations of, primarily, Rabobank riders) and I’m certain they’ll find some. That being said, cycling will never go away and the following of the sport will grow. The Amstel Gold Race for enthusiasts reached its maximum number of participants (12.500+ riders) within two weeks and the Tour of Flanders will attract more than 15.000 riders.

This year we will see the definitive breakthrough of the next generation. Riders like Valverde, Contador and Thomas Dekker will show the new cycling. I really like Dekker, he has heart and the qualities to become a great rider. He has already shown he can compete in multiple stage races and the two Ardennes Classics (Amstel Gold Race and Liege-Bastogne-Liege) should also be no problem for him. Valverde will be strong in those rides as well, but I’m not so sure about his capabilities in multistage events. And Contador showed last year he can win the Tour de France, although his participation for this year is still uncertain.

And keep your eyes on the Astana team. Johan Bruyneel is a great director and will get that team to the level the US Postal / Discovery team was. In fact, other than the name not very much has changed and this team will excel this season. The other teams are basically the same as last year, so the usual suspects like Rabobank, Lotto and QuickStep will have great seasons as well.  For most teams this year will be very important. A lot of contracts with sponsors end and any negative news regarding doping will impact on their abilities to renew those contracts. So they will do anything to keep the riders clean.

It will be an interesting cycling season. Unfortunately I can’t ride as much as I would like. But still, my cycling heart is pumped.

ARD makes huge mistake in blood-doping accusations

I?m a big cycling enthusiast. Not only do I enjoy cycling myself, but I also like watching and following it. I won?t deny the sport has some serious issues it needs to overcome: the struggles between the UCI and ASO and most importantly the doping issue. This week the latest of rumors appeared and this one really made me sick.

Earlier this week, German TV station ARD reported that there was a new doping scandal. This time they had found a blood bank in Vienna, Austria. Blood-doping is a very serious problem and it needs to be battled. But at least you have to do your research right. If the ARD had done that, they would have quickly found out that the facilities of the blood bank were unfit for blood-doping practices. And as a result, they had to withdraw their accusations later this week.

But, already the harm had been done. Being eager to publish another doping story, they named some high-profile riders. Including three (former) Rabobank riders: Menchov, Boogerd and Rasmussen. And while the majority of alleged clients of this blood bank where in other sports than cycling, only the names of the cyclist became public.

And that is what makes me really sick. Sure, cycling is a sport where blood-doping can be very efficient. But look at other sports, for instance cross-country or biathlon. They have the same physiology as cycling and those sports are becoming more professional every year. If you?re a good cross-country skier you can earn a very decent living in Norway, Germany, Austria and a number of other countries. And while their names were also on the list, those heroes were not named in the report.

Why? Because Germany actually has some good athletes in cross-country and biathlon. Those are also sports which are extremely popular there, as opposed to cycling which draws hardly any attention at all. So it wouldn?t make sense for the ARD to throw in their own glasses and kill two of the more popular sports in Germany. They?ve done that with cycling, at a time when their golden boy Jan Ullrich was done. As a result, they have become hypocrites. If they were really serious about their anti-doping policies (the ARD and ZDF refused to broadcast the Tour de France last year), they would stop broadcasting cross-country and biathlon as well.