Podium Cafe

Tour of Qatar Stage 3.......LIVE

2010-02-09T10:00:32Z

Another day, another crosswind. With the successful breakaway yesterday that left Wouter Mol and Geert Steurs about two minutes ahead on GC we might see a more concerted effort of the big teams to get their big men to line with a chance to win. Expect a bigger bunch sprint today.

Live video from 13:00 CET (07:00 AM US eastern, 23:00 AEST)

Videolinks from Steephill or cyclingfans
Official site here

2010 Amgen Tour of California Route Details

2010-02-09T06:54:01Z

Class.... class..... class.... SHUT UP!... Thank you. Now then... Stage details for the 2010 Amgen Tour California will be sprinkled onto the interwebs like virtual crumbs being tossed to a hungry flock of new media cycling-fanatic pigeons, or something. The lede is that AEG has announced that they will post videos showing route details and the host cites (a.k.a the start and finish towns) at the rate of two stages per day, for four days starting Tuesday, Feb 9. Check here for details. More below...

Stage-by-stage videos revealing the route for the 2010 Amgen Tour of California will be released on the following days

Tuesday, Feb. 9 – Stage 1 (Nevada City to Sacramento) and Stage 2 (Davis to Santa Rosa)
Wednesday, Feb. 10 – Stage 3 (San Francisco to Santa Cruz) and Stage 4 (San Jose to Modesto)
Thursday, Feb. 11 – Stage 5 (Visalia to Bakersfield) and Stage 6 (Pasadena to Big Bear Lake)
Friday, Feb. 12 – Stage 7 (Los Angeles individual time trial) and Stage 8 (Thousand Oaks/Westlake Village/Agoura Hills)

Now everyone get back to work.

Ted King Chat Tomorrow!

2010-02-09T00:23:59Z

Reminder!

Tomorrow at 9am PST (5pm GMT), Ted King will be on the site for a live chat. Come on by and ask your questions about bike racing, food, travel, style, or whatever happens to be on your mind. Ted will do his best to answer as many question as he can while he's here. Need some inspirado? Have a look-see at his bloggy, I am Ted King.

We will post a live thread shortly before Ted comes online. Please try to keep side convo's to a minimum during the live chat. Also, we will have a strictly enforced no heckling rule. No heckling the guest! We have not ruled any topics off limits for the discussion, but please be respectful if Ted declines to answer a particular question. Even real live press conferences sometimes run into the no comment wall.

Look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Amy Dombroski: I like to go fast

2010-02-08T16:22:25Z

"Wicked Icy." This is how American Amy Dombroski described the World Championship cyclocross race in Tabor. The race turned out to be a frustrating experience, thanks to "treacherous" conditions. "I wasn’t happy with it," she told me in an interview last week. The Tabor slip-and-slide session came after two months of adventuring in Europe for Dombroski. She sampled Marmite, rode the track at Roubaix, and locked her bike in a shed for four days after a snow-induced break-down in England.

Want to see the future of U.S. women’s cyclocross? All signs suggest that Amy Dombroski will figure prominently. Already, the 22 year old is a three-time U23 national champion in cyclocross. Dombroski also holds U23 national titles on the road and mountain bike. This coming season, she will ride her first season on the mountain bike with the powerhouse women’s Luna team.

Dombroski grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Northern Vermont and competed in downhill skiing through the end of high school. She moved to Colorado to continue racing until a knee injury interrupted her career. The injury sent her to Boulder to recover, and she fell in love with the mountain town. "They have a sun!" exclaimed the New Englander, accustomed to dark winters. The turn to bike racing happened by accident. "After a long time out of competition, I was going crazy," she said, and her brother, who raced bikes, suggested she try it out. It only took one race, "I was hooked." For the past three seasons, she has focused her energies on bike racing, and specifically cyclocross. In December 2009, she reached the podium in the elite national championship in Bend, her highest finish yet at elite nationals.

After nationals, Dombroski headed directly to Europe. At the outset, she was not certain she was going to ride the Worlds race this year, and in fact, she bought a return ticket dated 2 January, over a month before Worlds. In part, her uncertainty resulted from the terms of her new contract with Luna. The contract went into effect on 1 January, and she was unsure that the team would allow her to compete. As it happened, Luna proved supportive, which opened the way for Dombroski to extend her trip. Still, her path to Worlds did not run especially smoothly.

When she arrived in Belgium in December, Dombroski promptly got sick. Traveling is a "gumball machine of germs," as she put it. She spent about ten days in Belgium before heading to England to stay with Simon Burney from Schlamm Clothing, who sponsored her this season. Her visit to England coincided with a massive snow storm that shut down most of the country for nearly a week. "England just got pummeled in snow," she recalled.

At first, Dombroski tried to train through the mayhem, but even badass New Englanders have their limits. "I cracked." One day after an hour of riding, she was done. "I’m not going to pedal anymore," she decided, and she pulled out her phone to call for a ride back to the house. Adding insult to injury, she discovered while standing there by the side of the road in the snow that her phone did not work in England. Resisting the overwhelming urge to hurl the bike into the nearest snow drift, she climbed back on the bike and headed home.

Once back at the house, she locked her bike in the shed out of sight. She also stuffed her clothes and shoes under the bed. "For four days, I did nothing. I didn’t ride. I couldn’t really go anywhere, because the car was shit in the snow," she recounted. One day to break the monotony, she went for a two hour run that included a pub stop for hot tea. And she seriously considered packing her bags and heading home. "On the fifth day, it got better. The sun came out finally." Dombroski unlocked the bike, pulled her clothes out from under the bed, and decided that maybe bike riding was not so bad after all.

That weekend, she traveled to Belgium to race the Roubaix World Cup. The race reignited her enthusiasm. She described her performance as "not great" and her preparation as "sub-optimal." "Two hour runs aren’t exactly the ideal training for cyclocross," she commented ruefully. But riding the Roubaix track was amazing. "I’d never ridden on the track, it was my first time," she said.

Fired up by her return to the atmosphere of big-time cross, Dombroski headed to Hoogerheide for the next World Cup in much better spirits. "I was excited to race again, especially at a venue I recognized." Dombroski rode Hoogerheide during her first trip to Worlds in 2008. "It’s awesome," she said of racing in the Netherlands where the course is lined with ‘cross fanatics. "It’s like hockey in Canada or football in the U.S." she said of the fans. At ‘cross races in the United States, most of the fans ride bikes, but in Belgium and the Netherlands, everyone comes out. "Guys are smoking cigars in your face, they have giant beer bellies. They don’t ride bikes at all," she said of the crowds. "It’s exhilarating!" At Hoogerheide, Dombroski rode to a ninth place finish, her highest at a World Cup.

The World’s race in Tabor proved more frustrating. The conditions were "mysterious" and constantly changing as the snow melted and re-froze throughout the day. Each night, the temperature would drop well below freezing and turn the half-melted snow into ice. "Early in the race, it was snowy and grippy, but as everyone braked on it, it got slippery," Dombroski explained. "There was black ice everywhere. You’d lose traction and fall down before you could even get a foot out," she said. The course also included constant u-turns which made the icy conditions more difficult to handle. Of the favorites, only winner Marianne Vos and second-placed Hanka Kupfernagel avoided crashing.

Going into the race, Dombroski knew she was going to crash. "You know you’re going down, so the key was to keep your cool and don’t panic," and she said she mostly succeeded. All the same, "I wasn’t happy with it," she said of the race. "Some laps, I was totally killing it, other times, I couldn’t get out of my own way." Watching the men’s race helped put things into perspective. "I was thinking, I’m such a rookie. Then I saw Sven Nijs, he’s like the best cross-racer in the world, slide out and face plant." Nijs finished third after crashing repeatedly in the icy conditions. "There was just no way to prepare for a race like that," Dombroski concluded.

At 22 years old, Dombroski has time. This year’s trip to Europe was all about gaining experience. She had never spent such a long stretch in Europe before this trip and she was not sure how it would go. In what turned out to be the best part of the trip, she found the experience invigorating. "I get a lot from new experiences, new cultures, new foods," she noted. She got "hooked on tea" and did not drink coffee for two months. She also discovered Marmite, which is a yeasty, salty spread like Vegemite, and Hob-Nobs, a tasty chocolate-covered cracker.

For some American riders, long stretches of time in Europe prove impossible and their careers are shaped by the need to return to the United States at regular intervals. Road-racer Chris Horner, for one, struggled with his first season in Europe, and returned to race full time in the United States. "I was excited to find out that I could do that," said Dombroski of her long stay in Europe. Over the long term, Dombroski is hoping to secure support to race a full European season of cyclocross. "You get such a long season there, from August to January," she said. And of course, there’s the crazed, ‘cross-loving fans.

More immediately, Dombroski will race for Luna on the mountain bike this season. The switch to mountain bike racing comes after two years on the road with Webcor Builders. Looking back on her experience with Webcor, she said, "the first year was great, everything was new. I loved my team-mates, the team was great." The second season went well, too, but sponsorship troubles led to cancellations for women’s races around the United States. The cancelled races opened up gaps in the calender, and Dombroski started doing a few local mountain bike races in Colorado to keep her fitness rolling. "I’d come in from training rides on the mountain bike with this shit-grin on my face. I was just having tons of fun with it," she said. The lure of the dirt began to tempt her away from road racing.

A trip to nationals last summer turned fun into victory. "I already had two U23 titles, so I figured I’d try to get one more," Dombroski explained of her U23 national mountain bike championship victory. "The race was an hour from my house in Boulder, so I figured, why not." She won the race and added to her growing collection of national championship jerseys. Dombroski also travelled to Australia for the U23 world championship. "That course scared the living daylights out of me. I kept thinking we were on the downhill course, there were so many steep drops," she said of the trip Down Under. She finished the race, her first international mountain bike race, in the top twenty.

In August, she faced a decision between continuing on the road with Webcor or finding sponsorship to race mountain bikes. She decided to turn down the offer with Webcor, though she had not yet secured another contract. "It was a gamble," she said of the nervous waiting period that lasted until October. But by then, Dombroski knew she really wanted to give mountain bike racing a shot, so she held out. Her reward was a deal with Luna, one of the biggest teams in the women’s mountain bike scene. Her race plan remains undecided for now, but she will likely race mostly on the American circuit for the coming year.

Still, "cyclocross is where my heart is." Dombroski admitted that after a season of mountain bike racing, she might change her mind. But for now, cyclocross is "the main focus." The best part of ‘cross racing is "the atmosphere." "You go to a road race, and you’re on the start line and everyone’s stone-faced. I mean, chill out! It’s not like any of us are making any money," she said of the road. Cyclocross has a partying atmosphere and Dombroski described the other women as "a fun group to race with." She also looks up to U.S. Cyclocross champion Tim Johnson, a rider she described as "all class."

In cyclocross, the races are "hard and short," and Dombroski enjoys the variety in the training. "It’s not just sitting on your bike for six hours," she explains. She also likes messing with the bike, fine-tuning tire pressure and learning what works in particular conditions. The best is when it’s fast and the dirt is grippy. "You can rail the corners," she explained.

Variety is a recurring theme with Dombroski. She likes to mix up her training and she likes ‘cross races with a little of everything. Ticking off her favorite things she counted, "hills, for sure. Sand is alright, but not huge stretches. I like running. Running is good." "Deep peanut-buttery mud, I need to get better at that," she said. Most of all, "I like fast courses. I like to go fast."

Fast is a good thing when it comes to bike racing. Dombroski is steadily making her way up the ranks, but she still has a ways to go before she can challenge three-time World Champion Marianne Vos, who is also currently 22 years old. Vos finished just over three minutes ahead of Dombroski in Tabor. With only a few European races in her legs so far, Dombroski will likely improve over the coming seasons, but much depends on whether she can find a sponsor to support a full season of European racing. In the meantime, watch for her out playing in the dirt with a shit-grin on her face. No doubt she will be going fast.

Follow all Amy Dombroski's adventures on her website and @AmyDombroski.

Story by Jen See. Photos are copyright Christopher See, and are used with permission. Thanks big bro!

Upcoming Attractions! Live Chat with Ted King on Tuesday

2010-02-04T22:55:13Z

New Feature!

Mark your calenders! Ted King, previously immortalized in crayon, has agreed to come to the Cafe (that's here!) for a live chat on Tuesday, 9 February. He will visit the site for an hour from 9.00 am to 10.00 am. That's Pacific Time. For other time zones, well, you can all do math way better than I can.

Ted will answer your questions about bike racing, training, food, travel, and whatever else you may have on your mind. Chris and I will be lurking about and we'll do our best to keep the conversation flowing, and if necessary, play a little red-light, green-light with the questions. We are hoping that Ted will be the first of many vict-- er, riders, to visit the site.

Want to start planning your questions? Roll by I am Ted King on the Missing Saddle and have a look around.

No need to R.S.V.P. Come as you are. See you there.. er... here!

Tour of Qatar Stage 2....LIVE

2010-02-08T09:00:27Z

After Sky have grabbed the racelead with an impressive ride in the Stage 1 TTT, todays stage will no doubt be a tougher one for the brits. Yellow jersey Edvald Boasson Hagen faces as good a sprinters field as you are likely to find anywhere this year. Look out for a revenge-hungry Cervelo-squad eager to avenge yesterdays relegation.

Live video from 13:00 CEST (07:00 AM US eastern, 23:00 AEST)

Videolinks from Steephill or cyclingfans
Official site here

Unzue's Man: Val...er...Lulu?

2010-02-08T01:50:24Z

I find Eusebio Unzue, Caisse d'Epargne's Director Sportif an unusual man. At least as a DS that is. I have no idea what he's like as a man. But as a DS he's unusual. He takes one of the basic truisms of the sport, disregards it and still guides his team into a solid top-five team in the world. Just to put some numbers to that (the only math that is required in this post!) if you take the Cycling Quotient team rankings from the last five years and average them out, you get:

CSC/Saxo Bank-1.2 (average ranking over the last five years)
Quickstep-3.4
Bruyneel's Disco/Astana teams-5.2
Rabobank-5.4
Caisse d'Epargne-5.6
T-Mob/Columbia/HTC-5.8
*Lotto-7
Liquigas-8
Lampre-9.4

Note: I only compared teams that existed over the last five years (Bruyneel basically took his team with him) so no Gerolsteiner, Fassa Bortolo, Phonak, etc.

Saxo was the #1 team every year until last year when Columbia took over the ranking. Saxo skidded all the way to 2nd. Within the five years Caisse d'Epargne, Columbia, and Liquigas have been on an upward trajectory, while Lampre has gone down after a couple relevant years. And there's no question which belgian team is the better every year.

Okay, back to Unzue. What's he done that's unusual? Ah, you'll have to jump for that.

It's a truism in the sport that if you have one of the big teams (see above) and you are targeting a certain few races in a given year (as all teams do) then you almost always have multiple riders who are threats to win those races. A few examples:

-Quickstep on the cobbles. Last year they had Boonen, Chavanel, and Devolder as class-A threats and a top notch support team to go with them. Basically they bludgeoned other teams who couldn't cover all their moves and Holy Week was theirs to lose. They didn't

-Also last year, Saxo Bank at Liege-Bastogne-Liege did the bludgeoning. Andy Schleck was, well he's Quality, but he was also the last of a series of attacks by the team that just wore out all the other teams. With Fuglsang chasing down the mid-race break and C A Sorensen, then Kolobnev, then finally Schlecket firing one after another, the likes of Phillippe Gilbert stood no chance. They didn't even need Frank Schleck, who was held in reserve all race.

-Astana in last year's Tour, Saxo the year before that, Disco the year before that: the Tour rewards teams that bring multiple treats.

Of course having multiple threats doesn't guarantee you the win, with last year's Giro being a case in point. Liquigas had the strongest team but couldn't quite keep pace with Menchov who had a good enough support team to defend from midway through the race. Still if one of the big teams brings multiple threats its hard to beat them with one guy. The main exception is if a team has one very dominant personality and that leader has a lot of high quality support riders like what Armstrong had for those seven Tour wins.

Numbers matter in pro cycling. That's why this year BMC bought three serious hammerheads in Ballan, Burghardt, and Hincapie to contest Quickstep on the cobbles. That's also why Katusha bought Kirchen, J-Rod, and Kolobnev to help out Ivanov to stand up to Saxo in the Ardennes this year. If you look at recent history I think you'll find that the biggest successes of virtual one-man teams lead by the likes of Evans, Gilbert, Cunego, Kirchen with Columbia happen when there aren't any overpowering multiple threat teams racing.

So multiple A-list threats at the big races is the thing to do for big teams. Except for Caisse d'Epargne. Unzue doesn't do that. Almost never. The last two Vuelta's were the races that Unzue came the nearest to fielding a multiple threat team with Valverde and J-Rod. But really those teams don't compare to either a) what other comparable teams do when they go all in on a race, and b) not nearly the most formidable lineup that Cd'E could have run out.

Unzue is different in that he separates his major riders, giving each their own races to star in with a decent but not great supporting cast. Take last year. You had Lulu as the star of the early season, winning the Tour Mediterraneen and Paris-Nice and losing his form by the end of Pais Vasco. Basically that was his season. He did come back with the Tour as his centerpiece but not with the form that he had early in the season. He raced some more after the Tour with middling results.

Valverde had a different schedule, one that included the Ardennes but only for practice purposes this time. It was after the Ardennes that he started to get in gear: 4th at Romandie, and wins at both Catalunya and the Dauphine which were supposed to get him into peak form for the Tour. But then his Italian ban hit and he had to change gears which he did successfully, culminating in the Vuelta win and a 9th at the Worlds.

Arroyo was in between Valverde and Sanchez. He didn't start as quickly as Lulu: Tirreno-Adriatico (20th), Pais Vasco (23rd) then the main goal, the Giro (10th). He raced the Tour and Burgos but was strictly a support rider with no results of his own.

Uran had yet a different schedule which I won't go into. Same with J-Rod. Same with Moreno. Same with Costa. Same with Gutierrez: all had different overlapping schedules where they took a star turn in one or more races and then were strictly support riders in the next. Even Valverde was a support this time to J-Rod in the Ardennes. For this year they lost Moreno and J-Rod but add Bruseghin, Soler, and Moreau and each of those guys will have a different agenda. As I said, Unzue does things differently.

So it was with interest that I read this from CN before the TDU:

Sánchez explained that he has taken a different approach to his preparations for 2010, in order to enter the new season with less bulk than in past years. "I'm not yet ready to fight for victory, but I've reached a reasonably good level. This winter I didn't train in the gym because in previous years my muscle mass increased too much and it has been a problem to lose it," he said.

Huh. Now I presume that Lulu didn't just decide this on his own; Unzue had to be behind this training change. Why the change? Reading further,

His goals for next season include the defense of his Paris-Nice title and, for the first time in his six-year career, a possible Grand Tour double at the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. "I would like to do as well as I did in 2009 and win again a race like Paris-Nice," he said. "Currently the team does not intend to let me start, but I hope that [Team Director] Eusebio Unzúe will change his mind so that I can race in France.

"Apart from Paris-Nice, it would of course be great to be able to win a third stage in the Tour de France and fight for the general classification at both the Tour and the Vuelta. I'm hoping to arrive both in good condition and very motivated."

Okay that clears things up for me. Reading just a bit between the lines, I see that Unzue knows that Valverde will probably get suspended and that a big hole in the Caisse d'Epargne schedule had opened up. Unzue, with a choice of GC-type riders to choose from is planning to fill that hole with Lulu. Lulu, being a jock, doesn't quite understand what his DS has in store for him but we do. (As for Valverde, expect him to try to go out in a blaze of glory at Paris-Nice.)

So what do we think of this news? And will the other riders be effected? As for the second question, it's hard to say. I'd expect Bruseghin to be on a similar schedule as Arroyo has been with the Giro as the main goal but will Arroyo change races? Moreau will be at the Tour but I expect the team will be behind Lulu still. Soler? I have no idea. Will this Valverde-less team demand different things from Gutierrez, Costa, and Uran? Beats me. Only thing I can say is that JJ Rojas...I wish he would get a good talking to from Oscar Freire or someone as he'll never get any support while at Caisse d'Epargne.

So back to Lulu. Is he capable of stepping up to the Big Boys of the Grand Tours? IMO he's an above average chronoman and an average climber and maybe the best GC stage finisher in the business and that should add up to success. Let's look at those three in a bit more detail:

- Time trialing. The 2008 Spanish national champion, last year he was Contador's bitch in the discipline: Lulu was 3rd at the Paris-Nice ITT, 9 seconds behind Bert, and 2 seconds behind Wiggins. He beat the likes of Millar, Chavanel, Martin, Posthuma, and Karpets there so 3rd was no small feat.

Then he was 5th at Pais Vasco, again behind Contador by 1'13", plus Colom, Sam San, and Rogers. He finished ahead of Pinotti, Vande Velde, Evans, Gesink, Cunego, Nibali, Kreuziger, and Brajkovic, so again a good effort against top competition.

Next, the Spanish ITT where he was second by 37" to you know who.

Comes the Tour and he screwed the Monaco ITT finishing in 89th place. Then he redeemed himself at Annecy, finishing 7th, just 45" back. That was it for his time trialing last year.

Bottom line? He's above average. Better than several major GC guys but not as good as the best. His best races against the clock were probably Paris-Nice and Pais Vasco (where he overtook Evans and Cunego in the final GC standings from his chrono effort).

-Climbing. Ah, this is harder to assess since his traditional early season schedule doesn't find him climbing the huge mountains of France or Spain. At Paris-Nice he did finish second to Bert (and tied with Frank Schleck) 58" behind up Ventoux' little sister, La Montagne de Lure.

In Pais Vasco's ultimate climb, he finished 7th, 35" behind Bert. Evans, Colom, and Sam San were just 8" back, Cunego 27", Gesink 32", and the likes of Kreuziger, Nibali, Kessiakoff further back still. More importantly perhaps, it was this stage where Lulu lost the race.

Now the Tour? Not bad, for a guy who again, was not planning on leading his team. He finished 20th overall, with a win in the Pyrenees, the stage after Arcalis. The other mountain stages he did less well. Would he have done better if he had started the season knowing that he was The Man for his team at the Tour? That's the question.

-Stage finisher. Maybe this has something to do with Unzue or maybe Valverde's sprinting abilities have rubbed off onto Lulu, but to me this guy is money finishing a stage in a small group. You seriously do not want to drag this guy to the line, just like his (soon to be erstwhile) teammate. We just saw a small demonstration of this strength on Old Willunga Hill. Better yet, was the penultimate stage in last year's Paris-Nice, the Bert Bonk stage.We remember that stage for the Bonk, but perhaps in the long run we will remember it for the decisive way Lulu crushed Bert and the rest of that small group: Chavanel, Frank Schleck, and Jens!, and Colom, winning by 50". Without Lulu attacking from 17 kilometers out, who knows how long Contador might have fooled the others and held on.

What? Want a third example? Try the Tour's stage 7 in '08. Look it up. I'll wait.

The main problem with this finishing skill is that he might give too much on a particular stage and needs a couple stages to regroup. But wasn't that the M.O. for Valverde until winning the Vuelta without winning one stage? Unzue solved that problem and should be able to coach up Lulu.

-------------------------

So Sanchez costs 12 points in the hallowed VDS competition, pretty cheap for a GC contenda. On the one hand, he's unproven in the Grand Tours. On the other hand he will have a schedule more like Contador and Valverde that has allowed those later two to rack up practically obscene amounts of VDS points. I'm not saying he'll rack up 2000+ points this year, but he's being primed for a jump beyond what he has done in the past. Myself, before it became apparent that he was The Green Bullet's successor, I wouldn't have thought twice about picking him for my team as I figured that he had basically maxed out on the schedule Caisse d'Epargne and Unzue had him on the past couple of years. But he's still young (he won't turn 27 until the season is over, a year younger than Bert) and he's been improving every year, including making a nice jump into the A-list last year: if you like Lulu and don't mind gambling in this silly game we play, Lulu might be the wild card you are looking for.

RIP Franco Ballerini

2010-02-07T10:44:39Z

Terrible news from Italy this morning as we learn of the death of classics giant and Paris-Roubaix winner Franco Ballerini. He was killed participating in a rally. Gazzetta has the full story. Ballerini was perhaps even more famous for his ability to unite the Italian national squad with WC wins for Cippolini, Bettini and Ballan to prove it. All of the cyclingworld mourns the loss of one of it's most well liked characters today.

Tour of Qatar Stage 1 TTT ......LIVE

2010-02-07T09:46:42Z

Start of the season for many of the big guns. Sortainly many of the sprinters have this race marked in their calendars.

Today's 8,2 km Team Timetrial seems to be about the grudge-match between Sky and Garmin. To the winner goes the right to call the other "Wanker" I believe. Normally though, the day is dominated by Quick Step.

Official start list (official site)

Live feeds expected at 12:00 CET (6:00Am US Eastern)

For livefeeds check Steephill or cyclingfans

2010 Team Previews: Growing Up Rabo

2010-02-06T05:49:06Z

What's Interesting About Them:

The Rabobank Continental Team, a/k/a the Development Program. I have carried on and on about Dutch Cycling slowly coming around, thanks to an investment in talented youth. Now, development squads are neither new nor uniquely confined to Rabobank. Heck, Lance has his own development project. Rabo Continental aren't doing anything revolutionary; they're just doing the old things very, very well. Or maybe it's timing: a wave of talent just happens to have arrived following a prolongued slumber, and there happens to be a program in place to turn this talent into results... has been since at least 2002. Or it's the fact that Rabobank is now more or less the story of Dutch Cycling: they've been lead sponsors since 1996 and the team's roots date back to the mid-80s, during most of which time there hasn't been another Dutch team of remotely similar stature. Rabobank is at least the image (if not the whole substance) of Dutch Cycling, and the Netherlands has long been a top second-tier cycling country, usually looking up at Italy, Belgium and Spain but fully capable of beating the bigger boys at their own game.

In any event, 15 of the 27 riders on the 2010 Pro Tour Team roster have roots in the development system, and that doesn't account for the ex-Rabo CT stagiares who've turned pro with other teams. Robert Gesink is the standard-bearer for Mollema, Boom, Leezer, Stamsnijder, Reus, Weening, etc. Sebastian Langeveld is the only prominent Dutchman on the squad with no ties that I can detect to the development team... and of course the foreign stars like Menchov, Freire and Nuyens came by alternate routes. Much is expected of this young home-grown crop, and if they continue progressing, if they can pull the country out of its cycling funk and catch up to their high-flying Belgian and Luxembourger neighbors, the Rabo development team will go down as one of the sport's wiser investments in some time.

The Rest of the Story...

Who Makes Them Tick:

Denis Menchov and Robert Gesink. Sure, it was nice to see wins on Mont Ventoux by Ardila Garate [fixed!] or the Tour de Belgique by Boom, but Menchov and Gesink are the headliners, point-scorers, and captains. At this point Menchov does little more than go hard after one grand tour a year -- a worthwhile pursuit with three overall wins to his name. Gesink, meanwhile, might show the colors in a few more places than you'd expect. Pegged as a grand tour climber, it was great to see him take the Giro dell'Emilia along with third at Amstel Gold and sixth at Lombardia. Boom, Langeveld and the Classics squad might do big things, maybe even this year, but until then this team revolves around their two GC guys.

Who Might Surprise You:

Sebastian Langeveld. Veteran Rabo watchers might not actually find this surprising. In fact, this team is well-dissected enough to thwart my effort to call anyone a surprise. Still, if you missed it, Langeveld has been off the front of a few important races the past couple springs, but thanks to tactics (see below) or other matters he hasn't had the results to show for it. But the classics reward strength above all else, and though the competition will be intense, Langeveld should be part of the conversation. And if not, look for him in a stage break or two this summer.

Where They will Rise Up:

The Tour de France? We still don't entirely know what Gesink can do in a three week race. He crashed out of the Tour last year, and when he returned in time for the Vuelta, he ran out of gas flesh [fixed!] in the final week. His time trialling is substandard for a champion. But the guy won't turn 24 until the end of the Giro this year, so concerns about his skills and chrono work should be kept in perspective. We do know that when he's feeling at all himself, he can climb the nastiest ascents in the world with the best, and that's a great base to work from. Menchov, meanwhile, will be roundly dismissed as an overall Tour contender, yet another Giro or Vuelta winner struggling in vain to translate that success over to le Grand Boucle. But consider this: he made the Tour podium as recently as 2008, last time he rode Le Tour without having emptied himself in the Giro. And he has a very respectable track record in the Pyrenees, with stage wins in the Tour and the Vuelta, so this year's course should be to his liking. As always, Breukink and co. will have plenty of interesting guys to fill out the roster and chase stages. Oh, and one of these days you'd think Gesink will win La Fleche Wallonne, no?

Where They Will Fall Down:

The Cobbled Classics. Not to sandbag or anything, but I think it's a bit much to expect Langeveld and Boom to break through in Flanders or Paris-Roubaix this year. [N.b., many including Gavia see Boom more as an Ardennes guy anyway.] Langeveld is a better bet for Gent or E3 perhaps. Nuyens can bag the odd result, like his impressive second in Flanders in 2008, but his form seems to come and go each spring. Considering how many other teams are completely loading up to contest these events in 2010, I'd think Rabo have to be realistic and hold back for a full assault on Amstel Gold.

Random, Vaguely Interesting Question:

Does a team learn tactics, or are they doomed to repeat them over and over? In the last few seasons Rabobank have made a name for themselves as a team with loads of ammo but that couldn't shoot straight. They frequently showed their colors at the front of big races, only to leave rivals and reporters shaking their heads over tactics. No better example than last year's Omloop -- memorable for the four-man all-Rabo breakaway that looked fantastic... but had no chance of success. Gavia's post-race chalk talk was one of the most informative tactical breakdowns you could find anywhere, all year. One mistake after another turned what could have been a huge day for Langeveld into a forgettable third place. Read the whole thing, but here's one scene:

Fortunately for the chasers, Rabobank decided to help out. With 23 kilometers to go and the gap at 1.03, Rabobank sent Juan Antonio Flecha up the road. Was Flecha riding for himself? Or did the team car direct his actions? Dekker's post-race comments suggest that it was his idea to send Flecha across to the break. He intended the move not only to reinforce Langeveld in the break, but also to pressure Haussler to keep riding. In theory, it might have made sense, but Flecha's move quickly brought a reaction, first from a Cervèlo rider, then from the chase group. Flecha's move failed, but not before it sped up the chase group, bringing down the gap to the break.

Yikes. So, is this a systematic flaw in the Rabobank machine, or something that can be fixed? Given the above, I have punted the question over to Ms. Magic Crayons. Wisely so. Here's Gav's take:

I think the transfer of Flecha away from the team helps - He seemed to want to be the team leader there, but didn't have the legs to put it into practice. Flecha's a good rider, but he can only win under specific circumstances. He doesn't have the speed for the sprint and he has to get away early. A rider like that makes team tactics difficult, because you can put everything into setting him up, but the race may not go his way. Also, Langevelde has another year of experience in him, and I think having shown what he can do, the DS people will be more likely to give him room to race.

What seemed to me to happen there was two things: they had too many talented riders on a relatively equal level at the same time that the DS didn't seem to understand fully what his riders could do. I think that's probably a risk of having a young team - you aren't always going to be able to judge what a rider can do. By contrast, though, I think Garmin handles this better- they just freakin' send the kids out there and say have fun, get some results. So you have Dan Martin winning Route du Sud and Maaskant riding to a high finish at Roubaix. I suspect it's easier for Garmin, though, because they've been from the start a team dominated by younger riders and had a development aspect to the team where Rabobank has the pressure of a storied past to live up to. Garmin I think is also more about marketing the team on personality than results. The Garmin approach probably wouldn't work in a cycling mad country like the Netherlands.

I think the addition of Boom helps - he's a race-winner. Maybe not immediately, but certainly down the line. I don't, by the way, think he's really a cobbles rider. More Ardennes, Amstel, Brabantse type races. Don't let the 'cross thing lead you astray ;-) Having a rider like that helps - he's going to seize initiative and say yeah, let me ride, don't second guess me. Big talent, and he probably knows what he can do, though it seems that he will pick and choose where he applies himself. Overall, more experience should help avoid further disaster. And, the reshuffling of the roster should also help.

Thanks Gav. I agree, and this brings me back to the opening theme: kids coming up together. These guys haven't been training partners for a decade or anything, but they certainly aren't strangers to each other or management. Gotta help... Also, Flecha is an Army of One. Tot ziens!

Last Words:

In this case, I think I've said enough.

Photo by Bryn Lennon, Getty Images Sport

'Cross LIVE NOW--GVA Trofee

2010-02-06T14:09:55Z

Live on Sporza!

Startlist

Tour of Murcia bans Italian teams

2010-02-06T06:59:31Z

Tour of Murcia bans Italian teams

This infuriates me, really pathetic and unprofessional move. So because Italy actually takes action against people they have proof doped and Spain sits there and ignores it, you guys will punish them for it?

Need help picking your VDS team? The unicorns are back!

2010-02-05T23:20:34Z

Depending on which one fits your personality (or perhaps that of the rider you're considering), ask either the White Unicorn or Black Unicorn for advice in building your VDS team. In either case, go to the site, type the name of a potential pick, then click the bar to see the unicorn's verdict.

Not familiar with the unicorns? The White Unicorn is sunshiney and good, and delights in helping the pure of heart. The Black Unicorn isn't--and doesn't.

Ask the White Unicorn: VDS Edition

Ask the Black Unicorn: VDS Edition

Have fun!

Team Sky: More Millwall Than Manchester City?

2010-02-05T23:32:36Z

Soccerball fans hereabouts no doubt know the Millwall chant - "We're Millwall and no one likes us." Well it seems that something similar may soon become the chant of the newly born Team Sky, winners of the prestigious season-opening Cancer Council Helpline Classic in Adelaide.

Shortly after their stunning successes down under, the team's impresario Dave Brailsford was forced to make a heart-wrenching plea for other ProTour teams and journalists to stop picking on Team Sky over the size of their budget.

Accusations about the size of the wedge in Team Sky's pocket are based on their courting of Britain's champion Tour de France cyclist and Paul Weller lookalike, Bradley Wiggins, which in some quarters has been compared to Manchester City's luring of Carlos Tevez away from Old Trafford with the promise of the sort of wealth Croesus could could only dream about.

That episode has lead to calls of 'down with this sort of stuff' from some other ProTour team managers and demands that cycling's governing body, the ICU, start copying professional soccerball and introduce a transfer window.

Brailsford's pleas though seem to have fallen on deaf ears and other ProTour teams are still picking on Team Sly.

Most surprisingly, it is the professional peloton's one time bad boy and now top goody-two-shoes, the Maltese-born David Millar, who is now leading the attack of Britain's top cycling team.

The self-confessed drug cheat recently lashed out at the new kids on the block, claiming that "they're not a popular team within the world of pro cycling, they're not really respected."

Before his move to Team Sky, Wiggins had described his time with Millar's Team Garmin as being like playing for soccerball's Premier League no-hopers Wigan Athletic: "It's a bit like trying to win the Champions League and to win the Champions League you go to Manchester United and I'm probably playing at Wigan at the moment."

Asked about how other teams were responding to Team Sky, Wiggins, who will make his Team Sky debut this week in Qatar's version of the Tour de France, claimed that the reason for the antipathy to Team Sky is quite simply envy: "I think there's a lot of jealousy out there," .

Millar's comments, Wiggins claims, are also fueled by the fact that Team Sky didn't want to sign his former teammate: "I was a bit disappointed with Dave’s comments, he got quite personal. And he’s quite hypocritical because he was desperate to be a part of Team Sky."

Wiggins went on to compare his split with his former teammates as being like a divorce: "In the end I suppose my leaving has been like the break-up of a marriage and everybody has taken things personally, but very few people knew the full story."

Podium Cafe Kits - Now On Sale! [Update] LAST DAY!

2010-01-21T19:21:32Z

Ordering for Podium Cafe kits is now open. Please read ALL of the information below before ordering.

Update: Did we mention that Podium Cafe kits are now available?

Up-update: We will take orders until February 5, next Friday. We have a way to go to make the minimums, and we can't order stuff if we don't make minimums. But we also don't want to delay indefinitely either. So don't delay! Order ASAP!

Final(ish) Update: Going once, going twice . . .

First & Foremost: This is a cooperative at-cost project. That is, this project is the result of a number of us putting personal time and effort into designing, ordering, processing, and delivering the kits to our fellow PodiumCafe fans. The prices and shipping fees you see are designed to make sure that all costs are covered, and nothing more. If you have any questions, please ask them here. We want everybody to be happy!

Color: It's black. Sure, your monitor may tell you that it's brown, or perhaps even grey. But really? It's black.

Sizing: For sizing information, please consult the size chart at the end of the page. The cut of the jerseys is form-fitting. If you prefer a looser fit, size up. Also, if you are between sizes, I recommend choosing the bigger size. Feel free to ask questions here at the Cafe or contact Gav directly over email if you have questions about sizing. She did try on samples of the kit. If you want a closer look at the materials, check out Capo's custom catalog, here.

Women’s kit: Unfortunately we are unable to offer women’s specific jerseys, but the jerseys are available in XS. Also, we are offering a women's bib that has a shorter inseam or women’s chamois for the bib shorts at no extra charge. The women's inseam is 2.54cm/1" shorter than the standard bibs. Chamois differences are pictured below:

How To Order: You must pre-pay for all items. You may order as many or as few items as you like. It is not necessary to order a complete kit. Easy, no? Now, it gets a little complicated:

US Orders - We will handle orders for shipping to US addresses through the Google Checkout buttons below. Click to add each item (after you've selected your size) to the Google Checkout cart. When you're ready to check out, hit the Google Checkout button on the top right of the box. It should be pretty clear from there. Update: due to the limited flexibility of the shipping cost calculators, we have them set to make the assumption that if you are ordering two items, you are ordering a bib and jersey (thus requiring shipping in a flat rate box, at $10.70). If it turns out that you have ordered, say, arm warmers and a hat (which would fit in a flat rate envelope, at $5.50), we will modify the order and charge a lower amount.
Non-US Orders - For reasons entirely uninteresting to you, the Google Checkout order system will not automatically process orders for shipping outside of the US. So, please make note of the items you want, and send an email to doodsmak@gmail.com, specifying 1) the item(s) you want, including size 2) your shipping address, and 3) your preferred method of shipment (US parcel post (slow & cheap), US priority mail (not so slow, still kinda cheap), or UPS (fast, rather expensive)). One of us will manually calculate the total, including shipping, and send you an "invoice" via email. This invoice will contain a link back to a Google Checkout page that will allow you to pay with a credit card. Please note that Google imposes a 1% surcharge on non-US orders.

Delivery Time: You should receive your order in 8-12 weeks. As anyone who has done team or club kit orders knows, there can be delays in the production process. Please be patient. We will do our best to keep you updated on the progress of the order. Once we receive the order from Capo Forma, we will need to sort and send out the clothing to you. Please remember that the kit project is a volunteer effort. We will do our best to get your clothing to you as fast as possible, but there could be delays along the way, especially for international orders. Thank you in advance for your patience.

Important Note: All sales are final. Please read the product information and size charts carefully before placing your order. We can not process returns (because, well, there is nowhere to return it to!). Ready to buy kit? Get to clicking below. Happy Shopping!

Nicole Cooke to ride for British National Team in 2010

2010-02-05T17:26:20Z

British Cycling have announced that Nicole Cooke will ride for the British National Team this season following the collapse of the former Team Nürnberger with which Cooke signed in the summer. After discussions with Dave Brailsford (in his capacity as Performance Director of British Cycling), the Olympic and former world road race champion has agreed a programme of races and will join the British squad for a training camp in Mallorca on 3 March.

According to a quote on the British Cycling website, Cooke received confirmation on Tuesday from Team Nürnberger manager Alexander Oppelt's lawyer that the team with which she has a "valid uncancelled two year contract" no longer exists. Where that leaves other riders seems unclear. The team ran into difficulties after a new sponsorship deal with Skyter, a charter yacht company, fell through.

The British Cycling piece ends with a nice bit of editorializing from website editor Larry Hickmott, who suggests that the UCI are failing in their responsibility towards women's cycling and should perhaps enforce greater integration between men's and women's teams. That's particularly interesting when you consider that Brailsford is now once again running a de facto team for Cooke, when not a few people thought that a women's team should have been part of the Team Sky project all along (and for a drop in the ocean of their budget).

VDS Open Season, Second Thread

2010-02-04T19:13:07Z

The main purpose here is to let people keep talking about the start of the Virtual Directeur Sportif signup. If this is news, go here. A few notes...

First, the doping policy. For practical reasons (per tedvdw), we will exclude any rider who has had a positive B sample from collecting any VDS points after that B sample ~~has occurred~~ is announced. This will undoubtedly touch off debate -- "how can you leave his earlier points in place?" -- but in reality the only perfect result is an adjudicated confession, and in the real world we are almost always left holding a big ol sack of ambiguity. So we split the baby, cutting off the points after the B sample unless they happen in a stage race that isn't over yet, and don't melt down our new app trying to undo old results.
Second, the fun. Have you seen this? The stats have only just begun...
Specifically saying "the names of my riders are..." is somewhat frowned upon, but it's great fun to speculate. In the first thread there was discussion of some teams' nationality makeup or pro team makeup. An excellent use of one's time. For the record, while my team isn't final, so far there are six Dutchmen and six Belgians. Rabo, BMC and Omega Pharma (bargain hunting!) seem to be the most frequently occurring teams. As you can tell, I am focused on the grand tours.
Last, there may be 90 teams completed, but I have received 170 registrations at podiumcafevds.com. In 26 hours. Not too shabby.

I Twitter, Therefore...

2010-02-04T18:42:27Z

...I understand that the weather in Spain sucks today. As a Seattleite I am tempted to play the HTFU card, but then my commute isn't five hours. Also, the following people have knee pain: Andy Schleck, Jakob Fuglsang, Tony Martin...

The Wednesday Session

2010-02-04T01:46:38Z

Long time, no sesh. So, how are we today? Good, good. I bet you thought I’d forgotten all about you, didn’t you. Nothing could be further from the truth, my friends. I think about you every day. Right after I check the bouys, consult my tide book, feed the cat, and whatnot. Especially the whatnot.

Apparently, there is bike racing in France. And also in Italy. And no doubt somewhere someone has done something silly. Which calls for a sesh. So here I am, and there you are, and we’re going to do whatever it is we do here.

Let’s start with some bike racing, hmm? Marianne Vos won her third World Championship in cyclocross this past weekend in Tabor. The multi-talented Vos finished 45 seconds ahead of four-time cross World Champion Hanka Kupfernagel and over a minute ahead of former World Champion Daphne van den Brand. French riders Christel Ferrier-Bruneau and team-mates Caroline Mani and Pauline Ferrand Prevot put up a solid challenge for the podium, but a late crash derailed Ferrier-Bruneau’s chances. A crash and mechanical trouble also slowed a hard-charging Katerina Nash, who ended the day in fourth.

Indeed, Vos and Kupfernagel proved the only two favorites to escape crashing on the rutted and icy course. Kupfernagel showed her strength and experience, but Vos rode silky smooth over the difficult terrain and won it with otherworldly bike handling. "I didn’t make any mistakes," Vos said after the race. Understatement much? For the Americans, Katie Compton had a disappointing day, dropping out with leg cramps. U.S. National Champion on the road, Meredith Miller finished 12th as the top American, just ahead of Amy Dombroski in 14th. New Englander Dombroski never found her rhythm on the snowy course, though she is typically at home in wintery weather.

In the men’s race... Wait, there was a men’s race?

Cyclocross, so over. Moving on. Time to play road bikes! Sprinter Borut Božič of Vacansoleil, best known for having far too many accents in his name and finishing on the podium of last year’s Paris-Tours, won today’s first stage of the Etoile des Bessèges stage race. Set in France, Etoile des Bessèges is best known for wet weather and crashes. The sun came out for the race today, but sadly, that didn’t prevent the early season jitters from striking and taking Daniel Lloyd out of the race. Early reports claimed that Lloyd suffered a compression fracture in his spine, the same injury that took Dave Zabriskie out of the Tour de France a few years back. But Lloyd has since confirmed that he has no fractures. In a rain on your wedding day stroke of irony, Lloyd wasn’t originally scheduled for this race. I’m not even supposed to be here today! Lloyd was filling in for sprinter Thor Hushovd who had the flu. Hushovd said he did not want to stress his body so early in the season, and decided to postpone his season start. The Norwegian will ride the Volta ao Algarve as his first race of the year.

Meanwhile, in Italy, there is also bike racing. Sprinter Alessandro Petacchi, who now rides for Lampre-Vini Farnese, has won two stages of the Giro delle Provincia Reggio Calabria. The 36 year old sprinter pronounced himself pleased with his victories and declared that already the team is working perfectly for him. "The mechanism is beginning to function," he said after Tuesday's victory. Only one incident interrupted Ale’s tranquility during today’s stage. Danilo Hondo, the German sprinter who plays lead-out for Petacchi, stopped to pipí at 25 kilometers to go, right about the time Lampre and Liquigas were getting busy with chasing down the requisite doomed early break. Fortunately for all involved, Hondo got himself back on the bike in good order. Young sprinter Oscar Gatto of ISD finished second today, followed by Mattia Gavazzi. Matteo Montaguti celebrated his first ever professional victory earlier this week during the Reggio Calabria, and dedicated his win to his fiancée Valentina. A nice early Valentine's Day gift, no?

The women’s racing season has started in Qatar. So far, no photos of women on camels have surfaced. Rasa Lelivyte of Safi-Pasta Zara won today’s opening stage which ended in a sprint. Cervélo TestTeam controlled the race intent on setting up sprinter Kristen Wild for the finale, but Wild flatted with 500 meters to go. It was Cervélo’s day for bad luck, as British rider Elizabeth Armistead crashed out of the race. A crash also took U.S. National team rider Amber Rais out of the race before the start. Rais broke her pelvis in the accident. Dangerous days, these early season races.

On the subject of injuries, HTC-Columbia rider Tony Martin has tendonitis in his knee as a consequence of over-training. This news comes after comments from one of his sports directors that he looked too light for the time of year. Martin seems to have worked overtime in the off-season in his desire for a successful year. Now after two weeks off the bike, he is slowly building back up. Though he may yet start Paris-Nice, his first planned race of the year, it will be difficult for him to match last year’s success which saw him win the Mountains classification. Said Erik Zabel of the talented young rider, "We must put the brakes on his enthusiasm sometimes." If Zabel says you are training too hard, you are probably training too hard.

In other news, Floyd Landis apparently lives in a Shack behind a car wash. Shacks these days, everyone’s got one. Landis is considering writing a book, but that ambition has been derailed by a job as a golf sign holder. Maybe this is real. Or, maybe this is the surreal projection of Neil Browne’s feverish imagination. I just think it needs more crayon. Maybe purple or cerulean.

The lengthy contract dispute over Fumi Beppu has at last come to an end. Beppu will leave his former team Skil-Shimano to ride for RadioShack this season. Rumor has for some time considered the transfer a done deal, but Skil-Shimano refused to release the Japanese rider, who had a year remaining on his contract with the Dutch-registered team. According to today’s press reports, Beppu (or The Team The Shack) will pay Skil-Shimano an unspecified amount to compensate them for his departure.

In doping news this week, DiLuca now owes €280,000 in fines for his sins. He will also spend the next two years on vacay from cycling, unless of course, the sports arbitration court overturns his sanction. Do you feel lucky Dani? DiLuca tested positive for CERA not once, but twice, at the 2009 Giro d’Italia. Two times the charm? Something like that, anyway. DiLuca has promised that he will appeal the sanction. Oh goody! Really, the appeals are my favorite part.

Vania Rossi meanwhile must be the only rider in history to use the pregnancy defense. Rossi tested positive for CERA just like her partner Riccardo Riccó. Interesting household you keep there kids. Riccó, who will ride for Ceramica Flaminia this season, claims he had no idea what Vania was up to. He only dresses like her, he doesn’t actually know what she does with her time. Riccó is also famously supportive of her racing career saying, "People know I don’t like her racing... Cycling isn’t for women, it hurts too much." Hey Riccardo, do you think you boys could take over the childbirth part? Because I hear that really really hurts, too.

Last, but not least, Jens! tells us today over Twitter that he is tired of talking about his crash from last year’s Tour. The Saxo Bank rider hijacked team-mate Andy Schleck’s laptop to tell Planet Twitter that the crash in the past now, and he’d much prefer to talk about something else. "ask me about my favorite joke, how to catch a helmet tiger. Its a silly one, but I just love it! Oops andy wants his laptop back," Jens! said. A helmet tiger. Don't ask me, I'm just the writer chick.

With that bit of silliness, I’m calling it done. Like, so done. How ‘bout we do it again next week? Maybe we could all wear funny hats and sing stupid songs. Or not.

Lates!
~Gav.

P.S. If you haven't bought your Podium Cafe kit, get on that thing already! Ordering closes on Friday.

The 2010 Virtual Directeur Sportif Is Here At Last!

2010-02-03T17:06:39Z

For two years I have awaited the opportunity to tell you that the Virtual Directeur Sportif has moved into the modern age of sports games, and at last that day is here. Our very own tedvdw has designed an application that has transformed the game you've come to know and love, or at least heard us prattle on about for a while. No longer do you have to download a spreadsheet, fill it out by typing or using dropdowns, and send it to me in the hopes that it'll be received and properly handled. Nope, now you need only go to our new website, create a login using your existing Podium Cafe ID, and follow the directions to assemble a team. When you're done, and I mean really done, follow the instructions and your team is in! During the competition we will have results updated almost instantly, sortable and searchable, and prominently displayed on the front page. Ready to get started??

Go To Podiumcafevds.com

Then come back here to discuss. While you're on the site, remember a few basic principles:

You have to have a login with the Podium Cafe and with PodiumCafeVDS to play. Neither one requires any real personal information except a working email address, in case you win.
For everyone, including existing PdC members: you have to create a new login at PodiumCafeVDS! You can't just proceed to logging in with existing info. For now, the login system there isn't sync'ed with this site's. But use the same ID as you use here; then whatever password you want.
You can tinker with your team as long as you want, and if you close out the window the application will save your team as it was where you left off. But once you submit your team, you can't make any changes.
Read all the rules. There aren't many of them, but until you comply with them your team will be blocked from submission.
Final deadline is Friday, February 26, 2010 -- the day before the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, our kickoff event.

Many of you know what the competition is, but for newcomers read on or go here for a fuller description.

What is it? A year-long competition, akin to fantasy sports (with a less creepy name), where you select a team of actual riders and score points based on their performance in real races.
Why would I play? To test your knowledge of cycling; to compete with your fellow Podium Cafe members; or to win a Podium Cafe jersey. My favorite reason is that these kind of games really do help you get to know the sport better.
Hm, is this complicated? No, you simply go to www.podiumcafevds.com, follow instructions, and set your team before the February 26, 2010 deadline. We do the rest. We also will run a separate competition specific to the Tour de France in July, if you don't have time now or don't want to think about the entire season.
Sounds cool. What will it cost me? Nothing, as usual. You only have to be a registered member of the Podium Cafe, and your registration must include a working email. Otherwise, it's free.

fireworks via www.bigfoto.com