It's been said that the only reason Johan Bruyneel is considered one of the sport's great Director Sportifs is because he always had the strongest rider in Lance Armstrong. Even though he'll never be able to get around this fact, Bruyneel should always be included in the discussion of great Directors because of two attributes: he seems to genuinely care about his riders and he's got a short memory about bad things. When Hincapie went down at Paris-Roubaix, Bruyneel was genuinely torn between staying at Hincapie's side and following the remaining Discovery riders in the break. Sure they still left him on the side of the road, but only after assuring Hincapie was comfortable with both his injuries and the decision to keep up with the leaders. After all of the Discovery Channel's bad luck on Sunday, it would have been easy to get extremely frustrated and angry. Bruyneel, when asked about the injuries and disqualifications, had seemingly moved on, saying through a wry smile and doing that Belgium shoulder shrug, hey what can you do it's Paris Roubaix?
Hincapie Update?
Initial reports post Paris-Roubaix indicated that George Hincapie had fractured a bone in his shoulder. But the most recent updates have stated that he dislocated the right shoulder. How much damage this created inside the joint hasn't been determined. He is scheduled to have surgery once he returns to the States and predicted to be off the bike for only a little over two weeks. Now you're probably saying to yourself, why do surgery on a dislocated shoulder? Can't he just pull a Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson's character in the Lethal Weapon series of films) and slam it up against a wall and pop it back in? The short answer is, yes he could. But by having surgery now, there is less of a chance of dislocating it again in the future (so unlike Riggs, he shouldn't have to pop his shoulder out and back in after every altercation.)
When you (and your wife) look that good, how can you complain?
Team or a Group of Individuals?
I read one of the letters to the editor on Velonews the other day admonishing Hoste and Gusev of Discovery Channel for not stopping and attending to George Hincapie when he crashed. The writer stated that if it had been Armstrong at the Tour, every single teammate would have stopped and offered help or a bike. Yes that's true, but this person has missed the boat on this situation and one has to wonder about his level of experience in following the sport. There is no yellow jersey etiquette in the one day classics, where the leaders slow down if the strongest of them has a crash or a mechanical. It's the opposite in the classics, and why it makes them, well, classic. The mentality is that if you are the strongest then you wouldn't have crashed. Do you really have to wonder why Tom Boonen put down the hammer immediately after seeing Hincapie go down?
The train boss, the train...
I've read all the explanations and all the arguments regarding the train situation that occured during the P-R this weekend. Some say it was a strict interpretation of the UCI law, but one has to wonder why the group who was delayed and then passed through those same closed gates weren't disqualified as well. Strict interpretation or liberal adjudication?
A 1000 Words
Once in a while a sports photographer happens to capture a moment which speaks to the humanity in all of us. For those who are deemed physically (and mentally) elite, there is easily a disconnect from those of us who are not. These photos make us realize that we are all part of the same species regardless of our physical accumen. Here's my favorite from this weekend by Graham Watson.
Where in the wide, wide world of sports is...
T-Mobile Pro Cycling Team. Since Erik Zabel's departure, they've been fairly non-existent besides the occasional injury update. If it wasn't for the newly formed T-Mobile Women's Team and wins by Olaf Pollack, the team has little to be proud of in 2006.
Judith Arndt in action
1 comment:
Well said Granny about the grit we know as cycling. Fresh from a Trek dealer: Trek published a several pasge diatribe about the for failure to all dealers. It was a long night in Waterloo.
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