Saturday, February 28, 2009

Het To Hushovd


After basking in the sunshine and warm temperatures of California last week, I was saddened and somewhat depressed with the prospect of heading back to the cold that awaited me back in the Midwest.

But as quickly as the chill began to penetrate my bones, a smile washed over my face in the realization that my favorite time of the cycling season was about to take place: the Classics.

Bring on the cold, the wet, the mud, and the slippery cobbles of the Northern Classics.

This year's Classics campaign began today with a clap of thunder as Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) sprinted to victory in the 64th running of the Belgian semi-Classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, formerly known as Omloop Het Volk (the newspaper Het Volk was taken over by Het Nieuwsblad in 2008 and subsequently renamed). Kevyn Ista (Agritubel) and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) took second and third, respectively.

Hushovd's second win of 2009, his first on Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California (above), bodes well for the fledgling Cervelo Test Team. With seasoned cobbled race veterans such as Roger Hammond and Adreas Klier, who finished 7th, and sprinters Hushovd and Heinrich Haussler, who finished in 8th, the first year team should prove very formidable during the rest of the Classics season.

Full Coverage

Results
1. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team
2. Kevyn Ista (Bel) Agritubel
3. Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Rabobank
4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence-Lotto
5. Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia - Highroad
6. Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
7. Andreas Klier (Ger) Cervelo Test Team
8. Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervelo Test Team
9. Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram
10. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step

In the shorter women's verion of the race, 128km to the 203km covered by the men, 24-year-old Suzanne de Goede (Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung) of the Netherlands claimed her second Omloop Het Nieuwsblad title, having won her first in 2006 as a member of AA Drink. Noemi Cantele (Bigla) took second and Kelly Druyts (Topsport Vlaanderen-Thompson) rounded out the podium.

Full Coverage

Results
1. Suzanne de Goede (Ned) Equipe Nürnberger
2. Noemi Cantele (Ita) Bigla Cycling Team
3. Kelly Druyts (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Thompson
4. Chantal Blaak (Ned) Leontien.nl
5. Sophie Creux (Fra) ESGL 93 - GSD Gestion
6. Adrie Visser (Ned) DSB Bank - LTO
7. Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Ned) Team Flexpoint
8. Andrea Bosman (Ned) Leontien.nl
9. Ludivine Henrion (Bel) Red Sun Cycling Team
10. Monique Van De Ree (Ned) Leontien.nl

Photo: Leonard Basobas (top)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Wrapping Up The 2009 Amgen Tour of California

What He Said
For those of you who didn't think Lance Armstrong (Astana) could play second fiddle, you would be wrong. According to some accounts, he actually enjoyed it.

Although his cancer initiative, LIVESTRONG, seemed ubiquitous and his supporters out in full force during the Amgen Tour of California, the man strangely was not. You could even say he shied away from the spotlight.


During his lone podium presentation, after the Prologue, when he received the first Amgen Breakaway from Cancer Jersey, he quickly scuttled off the stage seemingly leaving it for those more deserving of the spotlight on that day.

Below are some of his post-Tour thoughts on a variety of subjects.

On his impression of the Amgen Tour of California:
“I was very impressed with the event, and I think I speak on behalf of the other riders in the field when I say that everybody enjoyed the race. Obviously, we would have liked the weather to be a little different in the beginning of the race, but you can’t control that.”

“All-in-all this is a really great race. It’s really good to be back racing again. I’ve been here before in a car but it doesn’t feel the same. Most of these boys came ready to go and they got better as the race went on. We ended up getting tired because we were riding off the front for most of the stage. Hats off to the organizers, the state, and the people who came out to watch this race. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this was a great race. I’m excited to be back and I had a hell of a good time.”

“With Mt. Palomar, you have a climb that’s not exactly right down the street from people’s houses. It’s a remote climb and there were people camping out; it was very European-esque. The crowds all week have been amazing. From the start in Sacramento, to the finish of today’s stage in Escondido, I don’t think anyone can believe these crowds. It has been awesome.”

On the crowds during Stage 7:
“The crowds were simply amazing. Yesterday in Pasadena the crowds were really impressive. When we entered the circuit at the Rose Bowl, a legendary stadium, we saw hundreds of thousands of people lining the course.”

On the final day of the Amgen Tour of California:
“The final day of the Amgen Tour of California was tough. The Palomar Mountain climb was really tough; it is legit. It is twelve miles long with an elevation of 5,000 ft.; very similar to what we’d see in Europe. It’s steady, consistent. There aren’t a lot of climbs in the U.S. like that.”

On his performance in the Amgen Tour of California:
“I think there are a couple of factors that play into my performance. This only being my second race back is a factor. The team riding in the front for the entire race really takes a toll, and you can’t recover the same a rider who is sitting on someone else’s wheel. Having said that, being up front gives you the added advantage of being in a jersey, so the team morale goes up. I can’t complain. I wouldn’t say that I’m 100 percent, but I felt better today than I did yesterday. I’m glad we’re not racing tomorrow (laughing). The early weather made it hard for everyone to recover; it’s hard to prepare for bad weather.”

On the importance of athletes with interesting stories to help keep interest in cycling strong:
“Any time you want to create a movement, it needs to start with one person. You look at the personalities that we’ve had over the years, and the sport has ebbed and flowed with them. For athletes, it’s almost a part of our job. That is why we have to develop our young guys that can keep people interested in cycling. You have to have an interesting story, so that people will pay attention. People know Levi now, so they are going to go out and cheer for him. Ultimately, people will follow the story. If you don’t have people that have interesting stories, the sport will go away.”

“We have a history of having good races in the U.S., great events that get started and tons of people get involved, and then they just fall away. We can’t have that happen here. The momentum is too strong, and in four or five years, this race needs to be even bigger.”

On riding as a domestique for Levi Leipheimer:
“I saw Levi a couple of times this winter, and then of course at training camp, so I knew he was focused and motivated. Nobody came in here with any expectation to ride for Levi. As long as I can continue to achieve my goals from the cancer perspective, if I ride all year as a domestique, it’s still a win-win for me. It might be good for me personally too. I’ve spent 15 years sitting on people’s wheels, so it felt good to be up front and pulling weight. I was just excited to be here. We don’t mind working for Levi; there was no doubt in our minds that he was going to be strong.”

MASH Unit
During my time in the media room, I met Kristian Hansen of TrackStand. If you're not familiar with the term "track stand," its a technique often used by track cyclists in sprint events to balance themselves, with little to no movement, solely on their two wheels.

As single speed or fixed gear bicycles, often referred to as a "fixie," are popular with bicycle messengers and most urban cyclists and commuters, the term is also used when applying the balancing technique on the street.

Aside from following the tour down the coast, which was the "fun stuff" to Kristian, he was closely monitoring the exploits of the guys from MASH SF, who rode the entire 2009 Amgen Tour of California route on fixies (yes that includes the all the ascents and descents on a single speed bicycle with no brakes)!

Check out the images of their adventures, HERE.

Gallery Hopping
Speaking of beautiful Tour of California photos, the Boston Globe compiled a nice group of photos from the AP and Getty Images.

If you're a Lance Fan, your search for photos should begin and end with Elizabeth Kreutz. A nice subset of pre-Tour of California photos appeared recently in SI.com.

And who could forget the great Tim De Waele's (TDWsport.com) series of Lance versus Syringe Man on Stage 4.


April? How About June
Even before the conclusion of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California the speculation of further expansion and a new location on the racing calendar was already rampant. Some suggested a move to April as a Giro d'Italia warmup, but now there is momentum for a shift to June dates.

The Power of Social Media
For those of you who are not familiar with the power of social media, you need only review the case of the search for Microsoft Researcher, Jim Gray. Although the search for Dr. Gray was eventually abandoned, the mobility of social media made the effort to find a solo boat lost at sea that much easier.

As most of you already know, Lance Armstrong is on the social networking tool Twitter (and yes we are one of his 171,732, as of this posting, followers). When his one-of-a-kind time trial bike was stolen after the Amgen Tour of California Prologue in Sacramento, he enlisted the help of the "twitterati."

And in a matter of days, the bicycle was returned sans wheelset to the Sacramento police department.

I may be a bit biased because as bloggers we belong to this Web 2.0 phenomenon, but I can't help but feel that Armstrong's bike was recovered that much faster, and/or at all because of the speed with which social media/networking tools work.

Now comes the unfortunate news that Amgen Tour of California runner-up David Zabriskie's house was robbed during the race. A list of the stolen items can be found here and here. Get your Blackberry's, iPhone's, Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace accounts going and let's see if we can't help find DZ's stuff.

Anyone with any information on this burglary or the location of the items is asked to call the Tips for Cash line at (801) 799-INFO (4636). Please reference case #09-32767

I Wish I Had A Double Burger
The winner of our post-Stage 1 Triple Crankset T-Shirt giveaway was Frank, who answered both parts of the question correctly. The rider in the bottom photo is Chris Horner (Astana), and he was infamously known for heading to In-N-Out Burger for a Double-Double with onions, fries, coke and a milkshake after Stage 1.


Horner's caloric intake for that meal: 1,958.

For an elite level cyclist who just covered 173.1 kms at an average speed of 25.786 mph (distance and speed of Stage 1), Horner might have actually been short a few calories in replenishing what he burned off on that day.


Frank, send an email with your address, t-shirt size, and choice of t-shirt color
to thecrank@triplecrankset.com.

Long Wait
The 2009 edition of the Amgen Tour of California saw the incorporation of several new host cities to the race route. Folks from Merced, Clovis, and Visalia represented their communities well and signaled to the rest of California that cycling or the love of the sports isn’t solely reserved for their coastal counterparts.

On my way out of the town of Visalia after the start of Stage 5, I walked alongside a burly workman who sported a cap and his hair in a long ponytail. He was, at first glance, someone you might not consider a cycling fan or a cyclist. But as the conversation deepened, the joy and excitement that emanated from his voice was clearly palpatable.

Reggie has been a long time cyclist and cycling fan that grew up following the likes of Davis Phinney and Greg Lemond, among others. “I’ve lived in Visalia all of my life, and been following cycling since the Seventies,” he said. He had delayed the start of his workday to take in the race festivities. He added, “I still cycle and after 30 years, professional bike racing has finally come to my hometown, so I couldn’t miss it.”

Photos: Kathleen King (first); Leonard Basobas (second)

Monday, February 23, 2009

Schleck The Elder, Leipheimer The Overall - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 8


Escondido, CA - February 22, 2009 - On the newest stage of the Amgen Tour of California, a stage which had riders traverse the highest peak in the race's short history, it was only appropriate that a climber should win it.

Fränk Schleck provided the 2009 Amgen Tour of California with Team Saxo Bank bookends (teammate Fabian Cancellara won the Prologue) by taking the 155.8 km Stage 8 from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido. The elder Schleck brother beat fellow climber and breakaway companion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) to the line, while George Hincapie (Team Columbia-Highroad) proved to be the best of the rest and rounded out the podium.

"Three days ago, the plan was to just to keep our energy early and just go for the last stage, said Schleck. "Yesterday, I was in the break, but it was a very technical race and I was a bit disappointed. The riding was furious today and I said I’m just going to go for it again. The whole Saxo Bank team did a great job; the way we played it was great. I was really impressed with my brother (Andy Schleck) and Jason (McCartney) who have done really, really hard jobs the whole week. We put them out there and then I attacked from behind and we caught up. Without those guys, it never would have worked out.”

“On Palomar, that is where I attacked and got up to Andy, and then he set a really hard pace, added the 28-year-old Luxembourger. "I wanted him to slow down (laughing). But, I stayed with him and when we got to the last climb, that is when Nibali (Vincenzo) sped up and then I just had to keep going very hard to hold on. Really, for a guy like me, it took a big effort for me today for sure. I’m looking forward to having some wine tonight.”

The final stage of America's most prestigious race featured another difficult course for the riders. In addition to two intermediate sprints, the peloton faced four King of the Mountains climbs, which included the mammoth climb of Palomar Mountain, the highest point ever reached at the Amgen Tour of California at 5,123 feet.

Floyd Landis (OUCH presented by Maxxis) previewed the climb up Palomar Mountain (where the ascent unfolds over 11.7 miles and possesses 21 switchbacks at an average gradient of 7%) yesterday.

“The climb is pretty consistent and it goes from a five or six percent grade to an eight percent grade,” said Landis. “It’s as hard of a climb as you’ll find anywhere, especially at this stage in the race. After a week-long stage race, a lot of guys are tired, so the peloton will probably split up easier.”

Floyd proved sage-like, as he was one of the major antagonists on the day.

Seemingly showing no ill effects from the previous 8 days, the riders began the stage at a feverish pitch when a break of 8, including Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank), Jason McCartney (Team Saxo Bank), Thomas Peterson (Garmin - Slipstream), Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Serge Pauwels (Cervélo TestTeam), Alexandre Moos (BMC Racing Team) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling), headed up the road at the gun.

The break made it over the second KOM, Lake Wohlford Road (ascends from 733 feet to 1,566 feet over four miles with an average grade of 3.9 percent), with a 50 second gap to the peloton, but they only served as a harbinger to the fireworks behind when the riders began to tackle the Palomar.

Landis, Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing), Michael Rogers (Team Columbia-Highroad), and David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream), among others gave it a go. A huge effort from Team Saxo Bank, led by Jens Voigt, shuffled and re-shuffledthe lead group several times.

Eventually, Fränk Schleck and Nibali would break free, accompanied later by Glen Chadwick (NZL) of Rock Racing and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank). The latter two; however, were unable to keep pace, leaving Schleck and Nibali in a two-up sprint that was won easily by the rider from Team Saxo Bank.

Levi Leipheimer (Astana), the overall race leader, found himself isolated from his Astana teammates at times during the mayhem up the final two climbs, but the Santa Rosa native ultimately kept his wits about him and crossed the line in ninth to officially claim his third consecutive Amgen Tour of California title.

“I’ve been trying to think about how to articulate this and it’s tough," said Leipheimer. "To win it once, that was huge. To win it twice, that was almost a little bit of a surprise and almost felt like luck. But now, to have won the Amgen Tour of California three times, it’s the sweetest victory of all. It’s hard to describe, but to keep a streak like that going is difficult. I told Lance (Armstrong) that I don’t know how he won the Tour de France seven times in a row, because the pressure builds with each win. The expectations are higher. I think we proved that we were the best team in the race. There is no question about that.”

David Zabriskie (USA) finished in second place overall at 36 seconds behind Leipheimer, and Michael Rogers (AUS) finished third at 45 seconds behind.

Results
1. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
3. George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad
4. Rory Sutherland (Aus) OUCH presented By Maxxis
5. Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank
6. José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
7. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana
8. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
10. Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

Final General Classification
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Slipstream
3. Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Columbia-High Road
4. Jens Voigt (GER), Team Saxo Bank
5. Thomas Lövkvist (SWE), Team Columbia-High Road
6. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
7. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
8. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
9. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
10. José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana

Final Jersey Awards
Amgen Race Leader Jersey- Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Herbalife Sprint Jersey- Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team Columbia-High Road
Rabobank Best Young Rider Jersey - Robert Gesink (NED), Rabobank
California Travel & Tourism Commission King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey- Jason McCartney (USA), Team Saxo Bank

News and Noteworthy
- The final Amgen's Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey went to Fränk Schleck (LUX) of Team Saxo Bank

- Speaking of Team Saxo Bank, it has previously been mentioned how race prepared the Bjarne Riis led team is, but it bares repeating. I cannot recall a race where the team was quiet; their riders are always at the forefront. To recap their time in California, Cancellara and Frank Schleck won stages, Jason McCartney won the KOM jersey by not only being a solid climber but by being in most of the breakaways during the race, Gustav Larsson almost took the Solvang ITT, and Jens Voigt finished in the top five of the GC.

- The final count showed that 2 million fans came out to watch the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. In addition to increased programming on VERSUS, the Amgen Tour of California web site saw a significant increase in traffic during the 2009 race. Total visitors to the Web site topped 1.3 million in the month of February, compared to 777,000 in February 2008, and total page impressions for this month exceeded 5.1 million.

Photo: Leonard Basobas

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Nocentini By A Whisker - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 7

Pasadena, CA - February 21, 2009 – The day after the General Classification was all but decided, the penultimate stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California offered up the same difficult, hilly and technical course that was used as the final stage of last year’s race.

With fans lining the demanding finishing circuit through the area surrounding the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA) of AG2R-La Mondiale edged out Hayden Roulston (NZL) of Cervelo Test Team in a photo finish, three-up sprint. Pieter Weening (NED) of Rabobank followed closely behind to take third.

The 31-year-old Italian, whose last major win came at the 2008 Gran Premio di Lugano had this to say after his victory. “We had two riders (of the 10) in the front group, so we are really happy how we played our tactics to our advantage. In the final sprint, I didn’t know the other two riders, but the way they played it was to my advantage. They set me up well for the finish that happened,” said Nocentini. “There was an initial attack by a Rabobank rider, but we worked together to keep the breakaway together in the last three kilometers. I was pretty confident I could win, but I didn’t know for sure. I’m very content with how it came out.”

“Stage 7 opened with a gradual 25-mile climb out of Santa Clarita, through Acton, to the intersection of Angeles Forest Road. Showcasing the breathtaking beauty of the San Gabriel Mountains, the course continued uphill to the massive Millcreek Summit, which at 4,906 ft. is the second-highest elevation ever reached in the race. The riders then headed down a 15-mile trek to Angeles Crest Highway before dropping precipitously to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Surrounded by mountains and the legendary stadium, the field concluded the stage with five challenging laps on a rolling five-mile circuit around the picturesque Rose Bowl.”

On the final day of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, George Hincapie (Team Columbia-Highroad) sprinted to victory from a small breakaway group on the same difficult route. And early on during the stage, it looked as if Hincapie had similar plans.

The day began with several attacks and counter-attacks. After an hour and a half into the stage, Hincapie, Saxo Bank rider Frank Schleck (LUX) and five were finally able to establish a break.

“As the riders approached the only King of the Mountain (KOM) of the stage Millcreek Summit, team managers were urged to warn their riders about the enormous crowds lining the turns on the descent. A similar warning was issued as the pack headed into the finishing circuits at the Rose Bowl, a testament to the huge crowds that have turned out to watch the race throughout the past eight days.”

At 48 miles into the race, a break of 10 strong led by Hincapie, included Chris Baldwin (USA) of Rock Racing, Addy Engels (NED) of Quick Step, Martin Elmiger (SUI) of AG2R-La Mondiale, Markus Zberg (SUI) of Team BMC, Christian Vande Velde (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream, Schleck, Weening, Roulston, and Nocentini.

After a series of attacks on the final two laps, Weening, Nocentini and Roulston opened up a gap that proved to be the winning move. The trio dueled to the finish. With Roulston taking out the sprint along the left rail and Nocentini and Weening on the right there was some doubt as to who actually crossed the line first. But for a few premature celebrations when someone relaxes for a split second and gets pipped at the line, the winner always knows who came across the line first.

Results
1. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
2. Hayden Roulston (NZl) Cervélo TestTeam
3. Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank
4. Markus Zberg (Swi) BMC Racing Team
5. Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
6. Chris Baldwin (USA) Rock Racing
7. George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad
8. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
9. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
10. Addy Engels (Ned) Quick Step

Levi Leipheimer retained the overall lead with 36 seconds over David Zabriskie (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream heading in the final stage of the race tomorrow.

General Classification
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
3. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
4. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
5. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
6. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
7. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
8. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana
9. Christopher Horner (USA) Astana
10. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas

News and Noteworthy
- Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Astana retained the overall lead heading into the final stage of the race, which will take riders into San Diego County for the first time, as they race from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido tomorrow.

“This was a hard stage in the beginning,” said Leipheimer. “There were a lot of attacks with riders dangerous for the overall general classification. It took a while before there was a breakaway with which we could agree.” Added Leipheimer, “The Rose Bowl had a ton of people on the floor today,”. “When we rode in, there was so much noise from the crowd. All of the guys were really motivated by that.”

- Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey went to Christian Vande Velde. On hand to present the jersey was actor Luke Wilson, who is an ambassador for Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C).

Other celebrities included Ginnifer Goodwin, Greg Grunberg, and SU2C founder and producer Laura Ziskin; Goodwin presented the leader jersey to Leipheimer.

- Aside from Levi Leipheimer, the man of the race had to be Rock Racing’s Francisco Mancebo (ESP). From his improbable solo victory on Stage 1 to his standing atop every single rider classification, Mancebo was a daily fixture on the podium. But late in the race, the KOM leader crashed on a descent and had to abandon due to medical needs. Jason McCartney (USA) of Saxo Bank claimed the California Travel & Tourism Commission King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey as a result.


Rock Racing Team Statement: “Following his unfortunate crash during today’s stage, Francisco Mancebo is currently receiving medical attention at Huntington Memorial hospital in Pasadena. While we are still awaiting confirmation, we believe he has suffered a concussion as well as a broken hand and elbow. The fact he is unable to continue the race does not in any way diminish his accomplishments or those of the team. Attrition took its toll and we lost two incredible riders in Paco today and Victor Hugo Pena after Stage 4, but that’s bike racing. This is such an exciting team and I am incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved this week.”

- Ivan Basso (Liquigas) missed his scheduled start time during yesterday's ITT in Solvang because of a knee injury.

Commented Basso, “I apologize for not commenting sooner, but it was very difficult to communicate what happened yesterday quickly because I got hurt early in the morning. I had been training earlier and I hit my knee on the handlebar of my bike. I started to feel bad during the warm-up; I couldn’t push the pedal...The medical staff was amazing. I had immediate attention yesterday, and they helped me last night and again this morning. I had an MRI to check on my knee and the doctor said that I could possibly do more damage if I continued to race, so it is best if I stop now. Small problems can sometimes turn into big problems, and as a cyclist, I need a clear mind to ride, and I just can’t continue knowing that I could do more damage. I have been given such great attention. I have raced many years as a professional and I can say that the level of the medical staff here is very high...I am very sad to leave here because this is a fantastic race. I did some of my best riding in the first three or four days; I was riding really well in front. I knew I didn’t have the legs to win the race, but my intention was to do my best. I want to thank everyone, including the fans, for their support. For me, I really enjoyed the first part of the week. It is a very important race, but it’s impossible to compete in a race like this with only one good leg....There is a really high level of competition and speed in this race, and you can’t race at only fifty percent. Also, continuing to race might make the injury worse, and in this race, there is really no time to recover. Every day there are sprint and King of the Mountain (KOM) competitions, and the level of competition here is really high. This is one of the best races in the world. All of the best riders are here, and even when people are only going at fifty percent, it’s still a fast race...In the first couple of days, a lot of interesting things were happening; everyone was going full gas the whole time. But in this situation, I can’t continue. I am very sad and I promise to come again next year and do well. I have received so much support from the race staff, the fans, everyone...Again, I want to say thank you to everyone for their support, and congratulations on such a great race. I also want to say thank you to my team and the sponsors for their support. It is a great feeling knowing everyone is there for me”

Next:
Stage 8 – Rancho Bernardo to Escondido (96.8 mi/155.8 km)
"Often major tours end with a largely ceremonial stage, but not the Amgen Tour of California. For the second consecutive year, the final stage will be a challenging point-to-point excursion that might produce a change in the overall leadership. In addition to two sprints, the peloton will face four King of the Mountains climbs that could force the KOM jersey to change hands as well. Amgen sponsors Stage 8, which includes the mammoth climb of Palomar Mountain, the highest point ever reached at the Amgen Tour of California at 5,123 feet. The ascent unfolds over 11.7 miles and 21 switchbacks at an average gradient of 7%. There is one last climb after Palomar Mountain on which two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer expects a bevy of frantic last gasp attacks to ensue in pursuit of the yellow jersey. It will be a thrilling fight to the finish as winning the final stage of a major race is a highly coveted honor."

Floyd Landis (USA) of Ouch presented by Maxxis trains on the mountain and provided a glimpse into what the riders can expect tomorrow.

“The climb is pretty consistent and it goes from a five or six percent grade to an eight percent grade,” said Landis. “It’s as hard of a climb as you’ll find anywhere, especially at this stage in the race. After a week-long stage race, a lot of guys are tired, so the peloton will probably split up easier.”

Photos: AP (first); Vero Image (second & third)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Raising The Future of Cycling

As the news broke of 18-year-old Taylor Phinney’s remarkable victories last weekend, setting a new American records and winning gold in both the individual 4 kilometer pursuit and in the 1 kilometer time trial, at cycling's Track World Cup Finals in Copenhagen, you couldn’t help but feel that the future of American cycling is indeed bright.

But, for every Taylor Phinney there are countless numbers of American children who are lost to other sports every year.

The bicycle is an integral part of childhood, as fundamental as the scraping of knees or getting in trouble, but few American children are ever exposed to the sport of cycling at their most impressionable time.

Enter JETCycling.

The Southern California based junior development program was founded by Jet Tanner, whose vision is to grow the sport of cycling in North America so that it may one day rival the numbers and opportunities of other youth club sports.

Recently, I had the unique opportunity to speak with a few of the JETCycling juniors, including Jet’s 11-year-old daughter, Millie “Milliegoat” Tanner, who recently graced the pages of the February issue of Sports Illustrated Kids, 15-year-old Jordan Hirschmann, 16-year-old Scott Stern, and 17-year-old Anthony Felix, as well as JETCycling’s Vice President of Athletic Development, Dotsie Bausch, and Jet Tanner to find out more about the junior development program and to get their perspectives on the sport of cycling.


As you'll soon discover, the challenges on the bike are similar for those starting out in the sport no matter what age, cycling should not preclude one from being a good person and a good student, not all junior programs are created equal, and maturity sometimes belies age.

What are some of the challenges working with Juniors?
Dotsie: It’s challenging because the kids are all working on different things and each has specific goals. One has the goal of racing Junior Nationals, but one of the requirements is that he needs to be a [Cat] 3 before he can race at Nationals, so he’s go to get through the 4’s by the time Junior Nationals rolls around. They all have different goals, and so dramatically different.

Each age is so different. From Millie’s 11 to Scott’s 15, it’s night and day as far as their development and what they’re ready for, what challenges they’re ready for, the miles, all of it. So we have to piece it together because if they all just trained the same together all of the time, Millie would just be in a hurt locker all of the time, 24/7, while the other kids might not be getting worked out. So you definitely have to massage it and do different things for different ones.

Its fun and they really seem to enjoy each other. It’s a good mix of kids and Jet really enforces that their grades and school come first; practice is second. We’re really trying to move junior cycling forward to the point of if they like it and stick with it, maybe going to a college with a good cycling team and possibly get recruited on that aspect as well as their academics…just getting them to be well-rounded, but with academics as their number one.

I don’t know if any junior programs out there are like that, maybe, but I don’t think so.

I’ve been at some events where the juniors are just thrown into a big field because they don’t have enough participants. What are the specific categories?
Dotsie: There are specific ages, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, and 17-18. Locally, they just changed the women’s this year from 11-14, so it’s something that Millie is clearly freaking out about because she has to race against 14 year-olds. And I would be to. It’s a big jump from 11 to 14. The gaps are bigger than if you’re 25 racing against a 28 year-old; there’s really no difference there in the development.

But that’s a little unfortunate, but the guys will stay separate because there are enough of them. Scott went to the line a couple of times last year, he’s 15 1/2 now, and there were 50 in the field.

It’s about drawing kids in. One of our athletes came over from triathlon, and already had a love for riding her bike. A few of the kids, like Jordan, didn’t come from any other sports, but came in and really fell into it, took to it, and has some good talent. It’s about bring kids into the sport. You know what athletics does for kids and their confidence and their mind and their progress in the world and in society as they grow up. So it’s about bringing people into cycling, a sport that’s not very popular or stressed in high school.

It’s about moving the sport forward and bringing awareness to the sport, even if it means circulating thousands of flyers about JETCycling. There are so many cyclists in the area and a great many of them have kids, but they aren’t aware of junior programs like ours because not many outlets publicize it. Hopefully interviews like this can get the word out so that people know what’s out there and where to go and be part of the camaraderie.

It’s tough for kids, and even for me as a woman, to be riding with grown men all the time in group rides. It certainly is a different level, which is good, but it can also be debilitating to the spirit if you’re not ready for it. It can be a bummer when there are always people that are faster and always wanting to go hard, so to have kids your own age, and the camaraderie, and training and racing together with a team.

Have you incorporated any track work into the program? What is your experience out on the track?
Jet: Our program is focused on the road, but we do try to get them out to the track 2-3 times a year for the experience.

Dotsie: I would like to, but it’s a matter of time management. School comes first and on a good day the Home Depot Center is 45 to 50 minutes away. I’m hoping that we can get them out there during the summer when school is out and they have more time.

It would be so great for the kids and their bike handling skills and their tactile function to get out on the track. But we are primarily focused on road racing.

Anthony: (left) I have some experience on the track and it’s really fun and awesome. The steep angle is like riding up wall.

Scott: I have to say that I like road racing because I like sprinting, but I’ve gotten better at climbing and I think this year I’ll really love road racing and sprinting at the end.

Jordan: I’ve been to the track a couple of times and I like the track a lot. I would have to say I like road racing the best, knowing when it’s going to end, there are lots of people there, and you get to draft off of people. I don’t like time trialing so much.

Millie: I’ve been to the track and it didn’t work out so well. I kind of fell. But my favorite is the road race and the time trial because one of them is long distance and the other is all effort.

Do any of you have any cycling role models?
Dotsie: Not so much in cycling, no…not really. The obvious people have done great things, but the people I look up to most are the ones that have affected me personally rather than those that can go fast. Some of those fast people really aren’t that nice. They are usually off on their own and into their own deal; not really something to look up to. So I think it’s the people that I’ve been teammates with that have really inspired me daily, like Tina [Pic] who I have been teammates with for four years. I’ve always looked up to Sue Palmer-Komar…it’s the people that I’ve been teammates with and raced with not someone like an Eddy Merckx. I think he was just an amazing cyclist, but I never knew him. I’ve never been inspired by just pure athletic endeavors…you know it’s like you have talent and work hard and you can pull some races out, but it’s what you do with that, how you give that back to the world and that’s what matters more. Those girls are still racing, Iona [Wynter-Parks], the people who you’ve been in the trenches with who never give up and never give up on you.

Anthony: I would have to say…my dad. There are plenty of pros who people idolize but I would have to say my dad. He brought me to the sport and he’s my hero.

Scott: (left) One of the most important people in cycling who has taught me everything is Jet. He usually spends the time with me unlike many pros. The pros, yeah they’re really good, but how many take the time to make you better.

Jordan: The biggest cycling role model would definitely have to be Jet. He’s taken me to the next level and taught me so much. Even though I’m not a very competitive person I still enjoy cycling.

If I had to pick a pro, it would be Giddeon Massie. He’s just classy and talks with great care. Some would be like, “I just want to get rid of these kids.” Also, Dotsie, she has just taught me so much and when we’re out training she’s given me tips. They’re both amazing.

Millie: Dotsie Bausch is such a huge person who’s affected me and my cycling. She just given so much to the sport, and said, “yes we can do this we’re able to do this”…the same with Amber Neben. They were both able to come and ride with us and talk with us and say, “Ok, you’re having a little trouble how maybe we help.” Michael Engleman, who has helped Women’s Cycling by founding the USWCDP, is also a strong influence in my cycling.

Scott: Both Anthony and I also think that the most important pro in our cycling career right now is Dotsie.

Jet: I know they don’t need to say that about Dotsie, but if you saw her out there really putting in the effort, taking and seizing the moment. To seize the opportunity to be with kids is, to me, very powerful. What she does for us as our Athletic Director, I can’t thank her enough. She’s such an influence.

Do any of you have parents or family members who are into cycling?
Anthony: My dad has been riding bikes for a really long time. He’s the person who really got me into it and found the JETCycling program for me. I can’t thank him enough for that because I think JETCycling is really going to help me as a person and keep me on the right track.

Scott: No one in my family rides. I used to row, and got injured and the only training I could do was riding. I found Jet, and he found me, and hopefully he can help me to college and to the pros.

Jordan: I got into cycling because of my brother, and he got into it because of my uncle. I thought it was pretty fun and I wanted to get to the next level. I never really wanted to race. But when I went to Jet, he showed me racing and I really enjoyed it.

How long have you been involved with the program, and how long have you been racing?
Millie: I’ve been racing for 3 years now. As far as my experience, I was a state champion in California for time trialing and road racing and I just like to have fun out there.

Jordan: (left) I’ve been with JETCycling for 1 year. I started out mountain biking but never raced. It’s been a pretty good experience and its taught me a lot.

Shawn: I’m in the 15-16 and I’ve been racing for 6 to 8 months and been with JETCycling for as long. I started in the middle of last year, which was really tough. But I got better as the season went on and I’m hoping for a strong season.

Anthony: I race 17-18. I just started with JETCycling about a month ago. I started out mountain biking and then switched to road. It’s a really great program and I hope it takes me somewhere in the future. I’m looking to make progress and be better.

What’s your favorite part about cycling?
Anthony: Going fast and meeting new people. It’s just a fun sport in general. I think everyone could benefit from it.

Scott: Going fast and making new friends in the pack and the team camaraderie. During the race you really relying on each other, no one’s in charge. And I really like my sponsors.

Jordan: I really like being outdoors. I especially like the feeling after a ride. You just feel so good, so healthy. It’s a healthy sport, and with JETCycling you can ride with a lot of kids your own age and make some connection. I really like our sponsors, Team Duke because we get to learn about cancer and the USWCDP when they come down and mentor us. They give us encouragement and tips.

Millie: Being an ambassador. The sport is fun and going up to someone and saying, “Hey, I just did this cool thing. Why don’t you come out and try it.” I also like the wind in my hair and flying down hills now that I’ve gotten used to the speed.

What has been the most difficult thing to pick up in road cycling?
Millie: (left) One of the hardest things to adapt to was cornering so fast. There’s always the thought of what if there’s a tiny rock around the corner that I’m going to hit and going to fall. One of the hardest things to get used to is going around the corner fast and knowing that you’ll stay up and make it through…in riding with a pack and by yourself.

Scott: I think the hardest thing racing 15-16 was that there were 40 guys within 2 centimeters from each other and being able to go around the turns right off someone else. My first race I was lapped five times.

Jet: Learning to adjust to the speeds is definitely one of the most difficult things. When they’re first exposed to it they’re not sure quite what to expect. I try not set too high expectations because of the pace, which is definitely a lot different than what they’re used to from training rides. Going out there for the first time creates some uncertainty and because it is so fast paced being able to maneuver, getting boxed in or moving up in the pack becomes interesting. From a coaching perspective, it’s a challenge to teach those types of things, but it also things like how to take a feed bag or motor pace behind a scooter or a car, or take off your jacket. I think it’s different for everybody.

Jordan: This past season the hardest thing was to keep up. My whole goal was to keep up. Some days I did, some I didn’t. So this year it’s about keeping up and having fun.

What are your goals for the 2009 season?
Jet: I have pretty high expectations. I think every coach does when you look at your athletes that you’re training and working with on a day-to-day basis. My goals are pretty simple. From an overall perspective the number thing that they have to have is fun…enjoying the sport! There is a competitive nature to it, but whether you finish first or last that’s not the ultimate goal. To me, it’s whether you had fun and did you enjoy it. That’s the measure of success in cycling.

As a secondary goal, I look at cycling as a way for these kids to connect and hopefully be ambassadors of our sport so that we can grow it.

The main reason I started JETCycling, as you know, is to help these kids find a place to ride their bikes and learn how to be competitive in road cycling. They’ll also get that team feeling that sense of camaraderie.

We set both short term, medium range, and long term goals, and by the end of the season I hope to have a couple of state champions and national champions on hand! That would be awesome…over the top. If we were able to match what we did last year, 5 state championship wins as well as nine top ten finishes at nationals, it would be amazing.

Millie’s goal is 3-3-3. Third year racing, three state championship wins and three national championship wins. We hope to help her achieve her goals. She has the ability, now we have to put in the effort to achieve the success.

Jordan wants to be known as the spoiler. He wants to go out there and drive the pack, create chaos and help his teammates win. So my goal is to help him be fit enough to do those things.

Scott wants to win and be on the podium. My goal is to help him achieve that level, and he has a solid chance to do so.


Anthony wants to do the same, and he has set some short term goals to be successful. We are trying to set the right expectations, and give him the assistance he needs to do well.

So helping each child reach their individual potential is a goal that is important to me because that’s where you see success. If a child says to me that he doesn’t care if he finishes last as long as he can help his teammate win, and I can help that child achieve that goal then we feel that success. We reach that goal together.

What is your biggest challenge for this season?
Millie: My biggest challenge this year is the mental aspect. The body has it, the legs have it, the muscles have it, but do you believe in yourself…well that is the serious question. If you believe in yourself anything can happen. If you don’t believe in yourself you’re going to have a hard time trying to accomplish your goals, doing what you what to do. And in that split second when you believe in yourself, anything can happen.

Jordan: It’s definitely the mental aspect. It’s what Jet has been giving me a hard time, all the time, telling me that I’m the only one stopping me from doing what I want to do. I have to believe in what I am doing and why.

Scott: The hardest part is the mental aspect of not being intimidated by new competition. You don’t know who they are, they’re much bigger than you, but it doesn’t mean they’re faster.

Anthony: Since this is my first year, my biggest challenge is finding myself both mentally and physically.

What are your aspirations as a rider, do any of you envision going into the professional ranks?
Jet: When you look at our program we have three avenues to success. One is we want to get our athletes to college on a collegiate cycling team, secondly we hope to get them on a national team, and finally we hope to help them get to the pros.

Millie: I want to go to college, and race. Bring my team to collegiate nationals and win that. And then hopefully get on a national team and do well there. And then I want to go pro’s and get to the Tour de France and break the barrier into the men’s field. After that if I’m not too old, I want to get on the Olympic team and win the Olympics.

Jordan: My main goal…I don’t have a big interest in being a pro. I want to do other things and I definitely will take cycling with me for the rest of my life, but I don’t have a desire to go to college on cycling, it would be nice. But I don’t really want to be a pro.

Scott: I definitely want go to college for cycling and win at the collegiate level and hopefully get on a national team and race in Europe for a bit and then go pro and race for one of the top UCI teams.

Anthony: Basically I look at cycling as something else to get to college. When I get to college, if I go pro or have the opportunity that would be great, but I’m just looking at cycling as a way to get to college.

Jet: I think it’s common to all athletes, when you’re a kid and in cycling you dream and want to become a pro. What’s unique about our group is that they want to go to college and have that experience in college first before they make that leap. It’s like we’re a farm system that gets juniors in the right direction first. That way it gives them the skills to fall back on when cycling is not abailable.

How should the sport of cycling handle riders who used performance enhancements?
Dotsie: That’s perhaps an hour long conversation. I get out of competition testing so they are at my door whenever they feel like it and I have to show where I am every minute of every day. As a clean athlete you have to feel confident that they seem on top of it, but I don’t know. Too many athletes and girls that I’ve been on teams with before have come up positive just from taking approved supplements. Truthfully, the whole thing is frightening and a big mess.

I think a lot of the professional men are ahead of the curve with some of the stuff they’ve come up with. So I think the testers need to get ahead of the curve especially in the European peloton. I know in the women’s peloton it doesn’t run nearly as rampant.

The truth is I really don’t think about it as often. I’m clean and don’t have any desire to do it any other way. You can spend a whole lot of brain power and energy just thinking about it and it just doesn’t get you anywhere. The dopers are going to dope and the other aren’t. That’s just sport since the beginning of time. So what should they do to them…you’d like to say kick them out of the sport forever, but what about those athletes who have said that their supplements were tainted. If they are telling the truth then they shouldn’t be kicked out for one day. So you can’t have a no tolerance policy. What I wish was that they had foolproof tests. But we’re all fallible, we’re all human, labs can make a mistake. In a perfect world, I wish that weren’t the case because its not fair when an athlete has to serve even one day, of say a six month ban, when they didn’t do anything. I don’t think there is a single answer, but rather an ongoing process and conversation.

You’re not ever going to be able to stop the cheaters…that are just in their fiber, it’s what they’ve chosen to do, it’s the kind of people they are. There is no USADA, WADA or any other governing body that is going to stop every one. It’s how do we manage it so that is more fair is the question, because you’re not going to stop doping.

Jet: We all hope that everyone is racing clean. We’re trying to do everything we can to create a change in our sport, to change the perception of cyclist as dopers. I kind of look at it from a different standpoint in that I believe we should remove “doping” from our cycling vocabulary. We should call it “cheating” or “not playing by the rules” or “using performance enhancements,” but “doping” puts such a negative light on our sport and those who do it. As a word, it puts our sport in a negative light and gives juniors the vision of needles and drug addicts. The wrong impression! It is just one word.

Yes, there are some athletes that cheat and use performance enhancements to change their body makeup, but in no way, shape, or form do I support that. My goal here is to take that word out of the sport because we get equated with those who use heroin or other recreational drug and it’s not what our athletes in our sport are doing. Well, I at least hope not.

What have you learned from being a part of JETCycling?
Anthony: I learned things about cycling and about bikes, but also learned how to be a better person in general. That there a lot more things out there than just riding my bike. Riding my bike is fun, but there are lots more things that can help me be a better person.

Scott: The thing I’ve learned from JETCycling is to be humble and no matter what you do and to do your best. If you put the effort in, eat right, train right, you’ll definitely get rewarded.

Jordan: One of the big things I’ve learned at JETCycling is to really think about others and not just yourself and to be respectful and to just appreciate life. I work at a children’s hospital and when I look at others I’m just appreciative that I’m healthy and can ride my bike. [Jordan works at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. He works with children who are very sick. Along with his two dogs, a Great Dane and a St. Bernard, he spends time with the children or tries to cheer them up]

Millie: Patience. Just wait and it will happen. You have to do the right things. You have to eat right, you have to train right and get a certain amount of sleep. You just can’t go and play video games all night. You have to do all things to get where you want to be. You gonna have to get your hands dirty before anything happens.

What’s the most important thing that you’ve learned about working with juniors?
Dotsie: Personally, they have continually given more to me than I feel like I have given to them from the aspect of the energy and excitement they have about the sport. Once you are in something for a long time and have been in it for a while things get stale. They just keep me so pumped every time I ride with them. If I go to their practice and I’m in a grumpy mood from whatever went on that day, I’ll arrive home chipper. They are so invigorating; they are so happy and stoked to be on their bikes. Practice is always positive and we are always in hysterics the whole time. We are always laughing about something.


It’s fun to watch them develop. Recovery is a tough thing to teach them. It was hard at the end of last season to try and get them back down and relax and rest and not sprint for the sign or sprint to the top of every single hill like it was a KOM. It’s invigorating for me and fun to teach them all the parts of cycling that make it come full circle and make it successful. I’ve really learned that the recovery is one of the key aspects that are really difficult for them to grasp…and to make that a habit. Because it takes them about 10 minutes to recover for the next day [laughs]; their recovery is incredible, but it doesn’t stay that way. So it’s been good to share that with them. They definitely have given back more than I give to them.

Jet: The one thing that I like about his sport is that the age groups that we’re dealing with are really varied. We deal with athletes from 8 to 18 years of age, and each one is different. What’s interesting to me is looking at the makeup and the growth experience that they have. It’s not so much watching it, but coaching and learning how to coach each individual, and immediately watch them learn. I like watching them be successful and attain their goals and reach for the stars, and be good people. That’s where I draw the most satisfaction from and that’s where I learn the most as well. Each one of these children is an individual and they’re try to learn a sport, but it’s also about how can I help each to be a good person and do right by the community, and have a sense of community, team, and maintain their individuality at the same time. All are challenging things, and a lot of work, but I feel very, very grateful that I have an opportunity to do that.

If you could impart one bit of wisdom to your riders, what would it be?
Dotsie: Give Back.

Any closing comments?
Millie: We need more juniors in sports. No matter what your age or ability we need more kids to get out there. We just need more kids out there. Right now it’s small, but if we can get one person, can change it, and it can be huge. That’s what we need.

Scott: I just wanted to thank Jet and Dotsie again.

Jordan: I don’t think any of this would be possible without Jet. We basically started from nothing to where he has built it up to where we have sponsors. It would be impossible with JETCycling and all the sponsors that have supported us in the support way, or in the financial way. It’s really great that they support us.

In some areas of California and I don’t know where else, but a lot of kids go to school and then go home and sit on the couch and get fat. I know a lot of kids my age, around 14, and their parents aren’t home to tell them what’s right and they get into drugs. Biking is a good distraction from drugs, and not just drugs but bad things. A lot of kids are under a lot of pressure from society both academically and responsibility wise. Cycling is a great way to stay out of trouble and to get a good start on life.

Anthony: The sport is great. We need more juniors riding bikes. I think it’s important that we keep continue to do this whether it is for college, for health reasons, or just for the fun of it. I think it would be great for the cycling community.


Jet: We rings true to me is that we need to get more kids involved and more children out there. I know I’ve mentioned in the past, of growing this like and AYSO, or a Little League, or Pop Warner football league. If we could get more of these JETCycling groups popping up everywhere and being able to give the kids the opportunity to get on a bike. Did you know there are more kids on bikes than there are playing football, baseball, soccer, combined? If we get them out there racing and competing then that would be awesome.

On a final note we have some sponsors that have really stepped up to the plate with us. To me I couldn’t have done it without them. They have invested in JETCycling because of the outlook of having juniors get into this sport. Companies like A Road Bike 4 U, Gita Bikes, Giro, Northwave, Pactimo, Pinarello, Skins, Speedplay, hudz, Schwalbe, Kurt Kinetics, Sports Performance Institute, inhouseIT, Swiftwick, Vanderkitten, Hammer Nutrition and Smith Optics; these companies just believe in what we’re doing in helping grow this sport! They’ve invested in us, and we in turn, invest in them by helping them from a marketing perspective. We want to be able to pass their products, or information on to more kids or parents of children who are interested. Create a partnership and a team for success.

To follow that up we work with two non-profit organizations the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, Team Duke, to help raise awareness for skin cancer. We teamed up with them and they help us out financially to buy bikes. I really didn’t’ understand what their company was all about until they told me that skin cancer is created within the first sixteen years of a person’s life and that means as a child being out in the sun being exposed to the sun ends up as an adult turning into skin cancer…so what a perfect group to be working with us because our kids do presentations at schools to pass along that information. To me, that’s a way of us helping them. But also with the USWCDP, and Dotsie comes from that program to help mature our kids and support the team. Plus, Vanderkitten has stepped up to the plate to help us with our junior women and offer apparel for them. It’s huge, and that’s because of their belief in wanting to give back to the sport. I think it’s apropos when you asked Dotsie if there is one word of wisdom you could offer, she said “give back.” A lot of this sport is about that, giving back to the sponsors, giving back to the community, giving back to the people, and giving back to kids. That’s what our sponsors are doing for us and now we’re going to do it for them.

Photos: Courtesy JETCycling

Twice Is Nice, But Three Is Just Right - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 6


Solvang, CA - February 20, 2009 – As he crossed the finish line, two-time Amgen Tour of California Champion, Levi Leipheimer, held up three fingers to signify a third consecutive tour victory.

Although there are still 2 days remaining in the 2009 edition of the race, Leipheimer insured another overall victory by taking today's critical Stage 6 Individual Time Trial. Leipheimer bested four-time U.S. National Individual Time Trial Champion David Zabriskie (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream by eight seconds and third placed finisher, Gustav Larsson (Team Saxo Bank), a former Swedish National Champion in the discipline, by 17 seconds.

“This is the fourth year for the Amgen Tour of California and every year this stage is important,” said Leipheimer. “The overall race this year has been tougher. We’ve had one more day before the time trial and we’ve had some bad weather; the race is split up this year. Of course we have two hard days to come, but today has made the biggest difference.”

"Fans lined up ten deep in some places along the 15-mile individual time trial route in Solvang. With the start and finish lines located only one block apart, the individual time trial provided fans with an ideal opportunity to watch riders both start and finish the race. The route showcased the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, winding through quaint towns, vineyards, farms, and one short, but steep, climb up Ballard Canyon. The short, flat and fast time trial created a challenging test for the riders in a decisive day cycling."

Racing on a 15-mile course, Leipheimer rolled out of the start gate with confidence. Coming off a demanding and challenging stage on Thursday, most of the cyclists struggled to beat the 30-minute barrier. Of the early riders, Gustav Larsson (SWE) of Team Saxo Bank posted 30:57, which was good enough to keep the lead until Zabriskie and Leipheimer left the start house.


Zabriskie, the only American to win a stage of all three Grand Tours, whipped into the finish stretch and posted a seemingly untouchable 30:48.

“The course today for me, compared to last year, was much easier,” said Zabriskie. We had a rainy day before last year’s time trial, but today was a good day. It was the good kind of pain where you’re really enjoying it; it’s like energy, energy, energy. We had good weather, good people and good crowds. I had a good time.”


The most anticipated rider of the day, seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (USA) of Astana came in 14th today with a time of 31:56, which put him in sixth place overall going into tomorrow’s stage.

Leipheimer hit the tape to post an amazing time of 30:40. Despite wind, turns and hills, he had powered his bike nearly 30 mph for a half hour and crushed the competition at every time split.

“I think it gets more and more special,” added Leipheimer with regards to winning the individual time trial for the third consecutive year. “In fact, this win is the most important, the most special to me because it was so tight. There were only eight seconds separating us. Dave is the best time trialist in the world, in the history of American cycling really, and for him to show up and be in great shape and be so tight with me, it makes this the most special of three victories.”


Results
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
3. Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank
4. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
5. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
6. George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad
7. Tom Zirbel (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling
8. Jason McCartney (USA) Team Saxo Bank
9. Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank
10. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad

General Classification After Stage 6
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
3. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
4. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
5. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
6. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
7. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
8. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana
9. Christopher Horner (USA) Astana
10. Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Rock Racing

News and Noteworthy
- Amgen's Breakaway from Cancer™ jersey went to George Hincapie (USA) of Team Columbia-Highroad today at the awards ceremony. Actor Evan Handler (Californication; Sex in the City) was on hand to present Hincapie the jersey.


“I love nothing better than to spend a gorgeous Friday afternoon surrounded by people in better physical condition than me,” said Handler. “The Amgen Tour of California time trial in Solvang provided me with the non plus ultra of that experience. It was an awe-inspiring race, on an awesome day.”

- For those of you who haven't met David Zabriskie or heard him speak before, no printed quote can ever capture the true flavor of the man. He is a shy person who does not like to talk about himself, but his unique cadence and delivery while speaking makes him one of the more interesting interviews. All in all, he is an incredibly funny person whether he intends to be or not.

On his chances of winning the Tour of California this year: “It would take a lot of screwing up on their (Astana’s) part. With the experience that they have and the depth of the team, they know what they’re doing. Like I said, it would take a huge screw up.”

On teammate Tom Peterson's Stage 2 win: “Tom Peterson winning a stage in the Amgen Tour of California is a big moral booster for us. He’s a good kid...he reminds me a lot of myself...shy...if people want to speak with him, sometimes I tell them to defer to me...I was very happy to see him win.”

- Ivan Basso (Liquigas) was missing in action today; a victim of missing his start time and therefore is out of the tour.

- Bob Cullinan does a great job of going after the unique story or interview on race day for his CycleTo.com website. But today, Bob became the unique story.

Someone needs to remind Bob that the "toy" in toy dog does not mean inanimate. While interviewing Odessa Gunn Leipheimer after Levi's successful ride, the Leipheimer's dog took exception to one of Bob's questions.


Though bloodied, Bob is recovering nicely. A PayPal site has been set up to take donations to help Bob in his recovery.

Next: Santa Clarita to Pasadena (88.9 miles/143 km)
"On the final day of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, George Hincapie sprinted to victory from a small breakaway group that escaped during a rugged new route from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. This year, the peloton will face the same difficult, hilly and technical terrain on the penultimate day of the Tour. Stage 7, sponsored by Herbalife, opens with a gradual 25-mile climb out of Santa Clarita, through Acton, to the intersection of Angeles Forest Road. Showcasing the breathtaking beauty of the San Gabriel Mountains, the course continues uphill to the massive Millcreek Summit, which at 4906 feet is the second highest elevation ever reached in the Amgen Tour of California. What goes up must come down and the riders will scream down a 15-mile trek to Angeles Crest Highway before dropping precipitously to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Surrounded by mountains and the legendary stadium, the field will conclude the stage with five challenging circuits on a rolling five-mile circuit around the picturesque Rose Bowl."

Photos: Leonard Basobas (first-fourth); Kathleen King (fifth & close-up)

Bikes, Personalities, and Scenes - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 6


Photos: Leonard Basobas

Friday, February 20, 2009

On In Solvang - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 6

Solvang, CA - February, 20, 2009 - With current race leader Levi Leipheimer (Astana) already taking note of the two riders immediately behind him in the General Classification, the two-time defending Amgen Tour of California Champion should be hard to beat on the 24 km course with which he is all too familiar.

"It’s going to be a big showdown tomorrow,” said Leipheimer during yesterday's podium presentation. “You have the three-time World Champion Michael Rogers and Dave Zabriskie, the National Champion, so it will be special."

But if you're looking for a darkhorse to claim the stage, three immediately come to mind and each sits within a minute of Leipheimer's lead.

It's strange to refer to a seven-time Tour de France Champion as a darkhorse, but that is exactly what Lance Armstrong (Astana) will be today. During the first part of his cycling career, Armstrong would have been an easy favorite over such a fast and relatively flat course. And although he is riding in support of Leipheimer, anything goes in these races against the clock.

A bit further down the list sit Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Garmin-Slipstream's Tom Danielson. Both have had an extremely quite Tour of California, but each is fully capable of performing well in a time trial. Now whether you believe either is 42 seconds better than Leipheimer is a different story.

General Classification After Stage 5
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad 0.24
3. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0.28
4. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0.30
5. Christopher Horner (USA) Astana 0.34
6. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana 0.38
7. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
8. José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
10. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0.39
11. Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing
12. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0.40
13. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 0.42
14. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
15. Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quick Step 0.51
16. Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Rock Racing 0.53

At this time in the race, the start list is usually the reverse of the General Classification, but rather than having Astana teammates, in Horner and Armstrong, go back-to-back, Zabriskie and Armstrong have been flip-flopped in the order. Armstrong is now the second to last rider to go.

The temperatures are slated to reach 70 degrees and the weather is sunny and dry. The action kicks off at 12PM (PST).

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Het To Hushovd


After basking in the sunshine and warm temperatures of California last week, I was saddened and somewhat depressed with the prospect of heading back to the cold that awaited me back in the Midwest.

But as quickly as the chill began to penetrate my bones, a smile washed over my face in the realization that my favorite time of the cycling season was about to take place: the Classics.

Bring on the cold, the wet, the mud, and the slippery cobbles of the Northern Classics.

This year's Classics campaign began today with a clap of thunder as Norwegian Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) sprinted to victory in the 64th running of the Belgian semi-Classic Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, formerly known as Omloop Het Volk (the newspaper Het Volk was taken over by Het Nieuwsblad in 2008 and subsequently renamed). Kevyn Ista (Agritubel) and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) took second and third, respectively.

Hushovd's second win of 2009, his first on Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California (above), bodes well for the fledgling Cervelo Test Team. With seasoned cobbled race veterans such as Roger Hammond and Adreas Klier, who finished 7th, and sprinters Hushovd and Heinrich Haussler, who finished in 8th, the first year team should prove very formidable during the rest of the Classics season.

Full Coverage

Results
1. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team
2. Kevyn Ista (Bel) Agritubel
3. Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Rabobank
4. Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence-Lotto
5. Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia - Highroad
6. Frédéric Amorison (Bel) Landbouwkrediet - Colnago
7. Andreas Klier (Ger) Cervelo Test Team
8. Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervelo Test Team
9. Niki Terpstra (Ned) Team Milram
10. Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step

In the shorter women's verion of the race, 128km to the 203km covered by the men, 24-year-old Suzanne de Goede (Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung) of the Netherlands claimed her second Omloop Het Nieuwsblad title, having won her first in 2006 as a member of AA Drink. Noemi Cantele (Bigla) took second and Kelly Druyts (Topsport Vlaanderen-Thompson) rounded out the podium.

Full Coverage

Results
1. Suzanne de Goede (Ned) Equipe Nürnberger
2. Noemi Cantele (Ita) Bigla Cycling Team
3. Kelly Druyts (Bel) Topsport Vlaanderen-Thompson
4. Chantal Blaak (Ned) Leontien.nl
5. Sophie Creux (Fra) ESGL 93 - GSD Gestion
6. Adrie Visser (Ned) DSB Bank - LTO
7. Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Ned) Team Flexpoint
8. Andrea Bosman (Ned) Leontien.nl
9. Ludivine Henrion (Bel) Red Sun Cycling Team
10. Monique Van De Ree (Ned) Leontien.nl

Photo: Leonard Basobas (top)

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Wrapping Up The 2009 Amgen Tour of California

What He Said
For those of you who didn't think Lance Armstrong (Astana) could play second fiddle, you would be wrong. According to some accounts, he actually enjoyed it.

Although his cancer initiative, LIVESTRONG, seemed ubiquitous and his supporters out in full force during the Amgen Tour of California, the man strangely was not. You could even say he shied away from the spotlight.


During his lone podium presentation, after the Prologue, when he received the first Amgen Breakaway from Cancer Jersey, he quickly scuttled off the stage seemingly leaving it for those more deserving of the spotlight on that day.

Below are some of his post-Tour thoughts on a variety of subjects.

On his impression of the Amgen Tour of California:
“I was very impressed with the event, and I think I speak on behalf of the other riders in the field when I say that everybody enjoyed the race. Obviously, we would have liked the weather to be a little different in the beginning of the race, but you can’t control that.”

“All-in-all this is a really great race. It’s really good to be back racing again. I’ve been here before in a car but it doesn’t feel the same. Most of these boys came ready to go and they got better as the race went on. We ended up getting tired because we were riding off the front for most of the stage. Hats off to the organizers, the state, and the people who came out to watch this race. I think I can speak for everyone when I say that this was a great race. I’m excited to be back and I had a hell of a good time.”

“With Mt. Palomar, you have a climb that’s not exactly right down the street from people’s houses. It’s a remote climb and there were people camping out; it was very European-esque. The crowds all week have been amazing. From the start in Sacramento, to the finish of today’s stage in Escondido, I don’t think anyone can believe these crowds. It has been awesome.”

On the crowds during Stage 7:
“The crowds were simply amazing. Yesterday in Pasadena the crowds were really impressive. When we entered the circuit at the Rose Bowl, a legendary stadium, we saw hundreds of thousands of people lining the course.”

On the final day of the Amgen Tour of California:
“The final day of the Amgen Tour of California was tough. The Palomar Mountain climb was really tough; it is legit. It is twelve miles long with an elevation of 5,000 ft.; very similar to what we’d see in Europe. It’s steady, consistent. There aren’t a lot of climbs in the U.S. like that.”

On his performance in the Amgen Tour of California:
“I think there are a couple of factors that play into my performance. This only being my second race back is a factor. The team riding in the front for the entire race really takes a toll, and you can’t recover the same a rider who is sitting on someone else’s wheel. Having said that, being up front gives you the added advantage of being in a jersey, so the team morale goes up. I can’t complain. I wouldn’t say that I’m 100 percent, but I felt better today than I did yesterday. I’m glad we’re not racing tomorrow (laughing). The early weather made it hard for everyone to recover; it’s hard to prepare for bad weather.”

On the importance of athletes with interesting stories to help keep interest in cycling strong:
“Any time you want to create a movement, it needs to start with one person. You look at the personalities that we’ve had over the years, and the sport has ebbed and flowed with them. For athletes, it’s almost a part of our job. That is why we have to develop our young guys that can keep people interested in cycling. You have to have an interesting story, so that people will pay attention. People know Levi now, so they are going to go out and cheer for him. Ultimately, people will follow the story. If you don’t have people that have interesting stories, the sport will go away.”

“We have a history of having good races in the U.S., great events that get started and tons of people get involved, and then they just fall away. We can’t have that happen here. The momentum is too strong, and in four or five years, this race needs to be even bigger.”

On riding as a domestique for Levi Leipheimer:
“I saw Levi a couple of times this winter, and then of course at training camp, so I knew he was focused and motivated. Nobody came in here with any expectation to ride for Levi. As long as I can continue to achieve my goals from the cancer perspective, if I ride all year as a domestique, it’s still a win-win for me. It might be good for me personally too. I’ve spent 15 years sitting on people’s wheels, so it felt good to be up front and pulling weight. I was just excited to be here. We don’t mind working for Levi; there was no doubt in our minds that he was going to be strong.”

MASH Unit
During my time in the media room, I met Kristian Hansen of TrackStand. If you're not familiar with the term "track stand," its a technique often used by track cyclists in sprint events to balance themselves, with little to no movement, solely on their two wheels.

As single speed or fixed gear bicycles, often referred to as a "fixie," are popular with bicycle messengers and most urban cyclists and commuters, the term is also used when applying the balancing technique on the street.

Aside from following the tour down the coast, which was the "fun stuff" to Kristian, he was closely monitoring the exploits of the guys from MASH SF, who rode the entire 2009 Amgen Tour of California route on fixies (yes that includes the all the ascents and descents on a single speed bicycle with no brakes)!

Check out the images of their adventures, HERE.

Gallery Hopping
Speaking of beautiful Tour of California photos, the Boston Globe compiled a nice group of photos from the AP and Getty Images.

If you're a Lance Fan, your search for photos should begin and end with Elizabeth Kreutz. A nice subset of pre-Tour of California photos appeared recently in SI.com.

And who could forget the great Tim De Waele's (TDWsport.com) series of Lance versus Syringe Man on Stage 4.


April? How About June
Even before the conclusion of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California the speculation of further expansion and a new location on the racing calendar was already rampant. Some suggested a move to April as a Giro d'Italia warmup, but now there is momentum for a shift to June dates.

The Power of Social Media
For those of you who are not familiar with the power of social media, you need only review the case of the search for Microsoft Researcher, Jim Gray. Although the search for Dr. Gray was eventually abandoned, the mobility of social media made the effort to find a solo boat lost at sea that much easier.

As most of you already know, Lance Armstrong is on the social networking tool Twitter (and yes we are one of his 171,732, as of this posting, followers). When his one-of-a-kind time trial bike was stolen after the Amgen Tour of California Prologue in Sacramento, he enlisted the help of the "twitterati."

And in a matter of days, the bicycle was returned sans wheelset to the Sacramento police department.

I may be a bit biased because as bloggers we belong to this Web 2.0 phenomenon, but I can't help but feel that Armstrong's bike was recovered that much faster, and/or at all because of the speed with which social media/networking tools work.

Now comes the unfortunate news that Amgen Tour of California runner-up David Zabriskie's house was robbed during the race. A list of the stolen items can be found here and here. Get your Blackberry's, iPhone's, Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace accounts going and let's see if we can't help find DZ's stuff.

Anyone with any information on this burglary or the location of the items is asked to call the Tips for Cash line at (801) 799-INFO (4636). Please reference case #09-32767

I Wish I Had A Double Burger
The winner of our post-Stage 1 Triple Crankset T-Shirt giveaway was Frank, who answered both parts of the question correctly. The rider in the bottom photo is Chris Horner (Astana), and he was infamously known for heading to In-N-Out Burger for a Double-Double with onions, fries, coke and a milkshake after Stage 1.


Horner's caloric intake for that meal: 1,958.

For an elite level cyclist who just covered 173.1 kms at an average speed of 25.786 mph (distance and speed of Stage 1), Horner might have actually been short a few calories in replenishing what he burned off on that day.


Frank, send an email with your address, t-shirt size, and choice of t-shirt color
to thecrank@triplecrankset.com.

Long Wait
The 2009 edition of the Amgen Tour of California saw the incorporation of several new host cities to the race route. Folks from Merced, Clovis, and Visalia represented their communities well and signaled to the rest of California that cycling or the love of the sports isn’t solely reserved for their coastal counterparts.

On my way out of the town of Visalia after the start of Stage 5, I walked alongside a burly workman who sported a cap and his hair in a long ponytail. He was, at first glance, someone you might not consider a cycling fan or a cyclist. But as the conversation deepened, the joy and excitement that emanated from his voice was clearly palpatable.

Reggie has been a long time cyclist and cycling fan that grew up following the likes of Davis Phinney and Greg Lemond, among others. “I’ve lived in Visalia all of my life, and been following cycling since the Seventies,” he said. He had delayed the start of his workday to take in the race festivities. He added, “I still cycle and after 30 years, professional bike racing has finally come to my hometown, so I couldn’t miss it.”

Photos: Kathleen King (first); Leonard Basobas (second)

Monday, February 23, 2009

Schleck The Elder, Leipheimer The Overall - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 8


Escondido, CA - February 22, 2009 - On the newest stage of the Amgen Tour of California, a stage which had riders traverse the highest peak in the race's short history, it was only appropriate that a climber should win it.

Fränk Schleck provided the 2009 Amgen Tour of California with Team Saxo Bank bookends (teammate Fabian Cancellara won the Prologue) by taking the 155.8 km Stage 8 from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido. The elder Schleck brother beat fellow climber and breakaway companion Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) to the line, while George Hincapie (Team Columbia-Highroad) proved to be the best of the rest and rounded out the podium.

"Three days ago, the plan was to just to keep our energy early and just go for the last stage, said Schleck. "Yesterday, I was in the break, but it was a very technical race and I was a bit disappointed. The riding was furious today and I said I’m just going to go for it again. The whole Saxo Bank team did a great job; the way we played it was great. I was really impressed with my brother (Andy Schleck) and Jason (McCartney) who have done really, really hard jobs the whole week. We put them out there and then I attacked from behind and we caught up. Without those guys, it never would have worked out.”

“On Palomar, that is where I attacked and got up to Andy, and then he set a really hard pace, added the 28-year-old Luxembourger. "I wanted him to slow down (laughing). But, I stayed with him and when we got to the last climb, that is when Nibali (Vincenzo) sped up and then I just had to keep going very hard to hold on. Really, for a guy like me, it took a big effort for me today for sure. I’m looking forward to having some wine tonight.”

The final stage of America's most prestigious race featured another difficult course for the riders. In addition to two intermediate sprints, the peloton faced four King of the Mountains climbs, which included the mammoth climb of Palomar Mountain, the highest point ever reached at the Amgen Tour of California at 5,123 feet.

Floyd Landis (OUCH presented by Maxxis) previewed the climb up Palomar Mountain (where the ascent unfolds over 11.7 miles and possesses 21 switchbacks at an average gradient of 7%) yesterday.

“The climb is pretty consistent and it goes from a five or six percent grade to an eight percent grade,” said Landis. “It’s as hard of a climb as you’ll find anywhere, especially at this stage in the race. After a week-long stage race, a lot of guys are tired, so the peloton will probably split up easier.”

Floyd proved sage-like, as he was one of the major antagonists on the day.

Seemingly showing no ill effects from the previous 8 days, the riders began the stage at a feverish pitch when a break of 8, including Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank), Jason McCartney (Team Saxo Bank), Thomas Peterson (Garmin - Slipstream), Bauke Mollema (Rabobank), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Serge Pauwels (Cervélo TestTeam), Alexandre Moos (BMC Racing Team) and Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell Pro Cycling), headed up the road at the gun.

The break made it over the second KOM, Lake Wohlford Road (ascends from 733 feet to 1,566 feet over four miles with an average grade of 3.9 percent), with a 50 second gap to the peloton, but they only served as a harbinger to the fireworks behind when the riders began to tackle the Palomar.

Landis, Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing), Michael Rogers (Team Columbia-Highroad), and David Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream), among others gave it a go. A huge effort from Team Saxo Bank, led by Jens Voigt, shuffled and re-shuffledthe lead group several times.

Eventually, Fränk Schleck and Nibali would break free, accompanied later by Glen Chadwick (NZL) of Rock Racing and Bauke Mollema (Rabobank). The latter two; however, were unable to keep pace, leaving Schleck and Nibali in a two-up sprint that was won easily by the rider from Team Saxo Bank.

Levi Leipheimer (Astana), the overall race leader, found himself isolated from his Astana teammates at times during the mayhem up the final two climbs, but the Santa Rosa native ultimately kept his wits about him and crossed the line in ninth to officially claim his third consecutive Amgen Tour of California title.

“I’ve been trying to think about how to articulate this and it’s tough," said Leipheimer. "To win it once, that was huge. To win it twice, that was almost a little bit of a surprise and almost felt like luck. But now, to have won the Amgen Tour of California three times, it’s the sweetest victory of all. It’s hard to describe, but to keep a streak like that going is difficult. I told Lance (Armstrong) that I don’t know how he won the Tour de France seven times in a row, because the pressure builds with each win. The expectations are higher. I think we proved that we were the best team in the race. There is no question about that.”

David Zabriskie (USA) finished in second place overall at 36 seconds behind Leipheimer, and Michael Rogers (AUS) finished third at 45 seconds behind.

Results
1. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
3. George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad
4. Rory Sutherland (Aus) OUCH presented By Maxxis
5. Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank
6. José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
7. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Astana
8. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
9. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
10. Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale

Final General Classification
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA), Garmin-Slipstream
3. Michael Rogers (AUS), Team Columbia-High Road
4. Jens Voigt (GER), Team Saxo Bank
5. Thomas Lövkvist (SWE), Team Columbia-High Road
6. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
7. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
8. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
9. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
10. José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana

Final Jersey Awards
Amgen Race Leader Jersey- Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana
Herbalife Sprint Jersey- Mark Cavendish (GBR), Team Columbia-High Road
Rabobank Best Young Rider Jersey - Robert Gesink (NED), Rabobank
California Travel & Tourism Commission King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey- Jason McCartney (USA), Team Saxo Bank

News and Noteworthy
- The final Amgen's Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey went to Fränk Schleck (LUX) of Team Saxo Bank

- Speaking of Team Saxo Bank, it has previously been mentioned how race prepared the Bjarne Riis led team is, but it bares repeating. I cannot recall a race where the team was quiet; their riders are always at the forefront. To recap their time in California, Cancellara and Frank Schleck won stages, Jason McCartney won the KOM jersey by not only being a solid climber but by being in most of the breakaways during the race, Gustav Larsson almost took the Solvang ITT, and Jens Voigt finished in the top five of the GC.

- The final count showed that 2 million fans came out to watch the 2009 Amgen Tour of California. In addition to increased programming on VERSUS, the Amgen Tour of California web site saw a significant increase in traffic during the 2009 race. Total visitors to the Web site topped 1.3 million in the month of February, compared to 777,000 in February 2008, and total page impressions for this month exceeded 5.1 million.

Photo: Leonard Basobas

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Nocentini By A Whisker - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 7

Pasadena, CA - February 21, 2009 – The day after the General Classification was all but decided, the penultimate stage of the 2009 Amgen Tour of California offered up the same difficult, hilly and technical course that was used as the final stage of last year’s race.

With fans lining the demanding finishing circuit through the area surrounding the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA) of AG2R-La Mondiale edged out Hayden Roulston (NZL) of Cervelo Test Team in a photo finish, three-up sprint. Pieter Weening (NED) of Rabobank followed closely behind to take third.

The 31-year-old Italian, whose last major win came at the 2008 Gran Premio di Lugano had this to say after his victory. “We had two riders (of the 10) in the front group, so we are really happy how we played our tactics to our advantage. In the final sprint, I didn’t know the other two riders, but the way they played it was to my advantage. They set me up well for the finish that happened,” said Nocentini. “There was an initial attack by a Rabobank rider, but we worked together to keep the breakaway together in the last three kilometers. I was pretty confident I could win, but I didn’t know for sure. I’m very content with how it came out.”

“Stage 7 opened with a gradual 25-mile climb out of Santa Clarita, through Acton, to the intersection of Angeles Forest Road. Showcasing the breathtaking beauty of the San Gabriel Mountains, the course continued uphill to the massive Millcreek Summit, which at 4,906 ft. is the second-highest elevation ever reached in the race. The riders then headed down a 15-mile trek to Angeles Crest Highway before dropping precipitously to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Surrounded by mountains and the legendary stadium, the field concluded the stage with five challenging laps on a rolling five-mile circuit around the picturesque Rose Bowl.”

On the final day of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, George Hincapie (Team Columbia-Highroad) sprinted to victory from a small breakaway group on the same difficult route. And early on during the stage, it looked as if Hincapie had similar plans.

The day began with several attacks and counter-attacks. After an hour and a half into the stage, Hincapie, Saxo Bank rider Frank Schleck (LUX) and five were finally able to establish a break.

“As the riders approached the only King of the Mountain (KOM) of the stage Millcreek Summit, team managers were urged to warn their riders about the enormous crowds lining the turns on the descent. A similar warning was issued as the pack headed into the finishing circuits at the Rose Bowl, a testament to the huge crowds that have turned out to watch the race throughout the past eight days.”

At 48 miles into the race, a break of 10 strong led by Hincapie, included Chris Baldwin (USA) of Rock Racing, Addy Engels (NED) of Quick Step, Martin Elmiger (SUI) of AG2R-La Mondiale, Markus Zberg (SUI) of Team BMC, Christian Vande Velde (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream, Schleck, Weening, Roulston, and Nocentini.

After a series of attacks on the final two laps, Weening, Nocentini and Roulston opened up a gap that proved to be the winning move. The trio dueled to the finish. With Roulston taking out the sprint along the left rail and Nocentini and Weening on the right there was some doubt as to who actually crossed the line first. But for a few premature celebrations when someone relaxes for a split second and gets pipped at the line, the winner always knows who came across the line first.

Results
1. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
2. Hayden Roulston (NZl) Cervélo TestTeam
3. Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank
4. Markus Zberg (Swi) BMC Racing Team
5. Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
6. Chris Baldwin (USA) Rock Racing
7. George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad
8. Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
9. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
10. Addy Engels (Ned) Quick Step

Levi Leipheimer retained the overall lead with 36 seconds over David Zabriskie (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream heading in the final stage of the race tomorrow.

General Classification
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
3. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
4. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
5. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
6. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
7. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
8. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana
9. Christopher Horner (USA) Astana
10. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas

News and Noteworthy
- Levi Leipheimer (USA) of Astana retained the overall lead heading into the final stage of the race, which will take riders into San Diego County for the first time, as they race from Rancho Bernardo to Escondido tomorrow.

“This was a hard stage in the beginning,” said Leipheimer. “There were a lot of attacks with riders dangerous for the overall general classification. It took a while before there was a breakaway with which we could agree.” Added Leipheimer, “The Rose Bowl had a ton of people on the floor today,”. “When we rode in, there was so much noise from the crowd. All of the guys were really motivated by that.”

- Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer Most Courageous Rider Jersey went to Christian Vande Velde. On hand to present the jersey was actor Luke Wilson, who is an ambassador for Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer™ initiative and Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C).

Other celebrities included Ginnifer Goodwin, Greg Grunberg, and SU2C founder and producer Laura Ziskin; Goodwin presented the leader jersey to Leipheimer.

- Aside from Levi Leipheimer, the man of the race had to be Rock Racing’s Francisco Mancebo (ESP). From his improbable solo victory on Stage 1 to his standing atop every single rider classification, Mancebo was a daily fixture on the podium. But late in the race, the KOM leader crashed on a descent and had to abandon due to medical needs. Jason McCartney (USA) of Saxo Bank claimed the California Travel & Tourism Commission King of the Mountain (KOM) Jersey as a result.


Rock Racing Team Statement: “Following his unfortunate crash during today’s stage, Francisco Mancebo is currently receiving medical attention at Huntington Memorial hospital in Pasadena. While we are still awaiting confirmation, we believe he has suffered a concussion as well as a broken hand and elbow. The fact he is unable to continue the race does not in any way diminish his accomplishments or those of the team. Attrition took its toll and we lost two incredible riders in Paco today and Victor Hugo Pena after Stage 4, but that’s bike racing. This is such an exciting team and I am incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved this week.”

- Ivan Basso (Liquigas) missed his scheduled start time during yesterday's ITT in Solvang because of a knee injury.

Commented Basso, “I apologize for not commenting sooner, but it was very difficult to communicate what happened yesterday quickly because I got hurt early in the morning. I had been training earlier and I hit my knee on the handlebar of my bike. I started to feel bad during the warm-up; I couldn’t push the pedal...The medical staff was amazing. I had immediate attention yesterday, and they helped me last night and again this morning. I had an MRI to check on my knee and the doctor said that I could possibly do more damage if I continued to race, so it is best if I stop now. Small problems can sometimes turn into big problems, and as a cyclist, I need a clear mind to ride, and I just can’t continue knowing that I could do more damage. I have been given such great attention. I have raced many years as a professional and I can say that the level of the medical staff here is very high...I am very sad to leave here because this is a fantastic race. I did some of my best riding in the first three or four days; I was riding really well in front. I knew I didn’t have the legs to win the race, but my intention was to do my best. I want to thank everyone, including the fans, for their support. For me, I really enjoyed the first part of the week. It is a very important race, but it’s impossible to compete in a race like this with only one good leg....There is a really high level of competition and speed in this race, and you can’t race at only fifty percent. Also, continuing to race might make the injury worse, and in this race, there is really no time to recover. Every day there are sprint and King of the Mountain (KOM) competitions, and the level of competition here is really high. This is one of the best races in the world. All of the best riders are here, and even when people are only going at fifty percent, it’s still a fast race...In the first couple of days, a lot of interesting things were happening; everyone was going full gas the whole time. But in this situation, I can’t continue. I am very sad and I promise to come again next year and do well. I have received so much support from the race staff, the fans, everyone...Again, I want to say thank you to everyone for their support, and congratulations on such a great race. I also want to say thank you to my team and the sponsors for their support. It is a great feeling knowing everyone is there for me”

Next:
Stage 8 – Rancho Bernardo to Escondido (96.8 mi/155.8 km)
"Often major tours end with a largely ceremonial stage, but not the Amgen Tour of California. For the second consecutive year, the final stage will be a challenging point-to-point excursion that might produce a change in the overall leadership. In addition to two sprints, the peloton will face four King of the Mountains climbs that could force the KOM jersey to change hands as well. Amgen sponsors Stage 8, which includes the mammoth climb of Palomar Mountain, the highest point ever reached at the Amgen Tour of California at 5,123 feet. The ascent unfolds over 11.7 miles and 21 switchbacks at an average gradient of 7%. There is one last climb after Palomar Mountain on which two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer expects a bevy of frantic last gasp attacks to ensue in pursuit of the yellow jersey. It will be a thrilling fight to the finish as winning the final stage of a major race is a highly coveted honor."

Floyd Landis (USA) of Ouch presented by Maxxis trains on the mountain and provided a glimpse into what the riders can expect tomorrow.

“The climb is pretty consistent and it goes from a five or six percent grade to an eight percent grade,” said Landis. “It’s as hard of a climb as you’ll find anywhere, especially at this stage in the race. After a week-long stage race, a lot of guys are tired, so the peloton will probably split up easier.”

Photos: AP (first); Vero Image (second & third)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Raising The Future of Cycling

As the news broke of 18-year-old Taylor Phinney’s remarkable victories last weekend, setting a new American records and winning gold in both the individual 4 kilometer pursuit and in the 1 kilometer time trial, at cycling's Track World Cup Finals in Copenhagen, you couldn’t help but feel that the future of American cycling is indeed bright.

But, for every Taylor Phinney there are countless numbers of American children who are lost to other sports every year.

The bicycle is an integral part of childhood, as fundamental as the scraping of knees or getting in trouble, but few American children are ever exposed to the sport of cycling at their most impressionable time.

Enter JETCycling.

The Southern California based junior development program was founded by Jet Tanner, whose vision is to grow the sport of cycling in North America so that it may one day rival the numbers and opportunities of other youth club sports.

Recently, I had the unique opportunity to speak with a few of the JETCycling juniors, including Jet’s 11-year-old daughter, Millie “Milliegoat” Tanner, who recently graced the pages of the February issue of Sports Illustrated Kids, 15-year-old Jordan Hirschmann, 16-year-old Scott Stern, and 17-year-old Anthony Felix, as well as JETCycling’s Vice President of Athletic Development, Dotsie Bausch, and Jet Tanner to find out more about the junior development program and to get their perspectives on the sport of cycling.


As you'll soon discover, the challenges on the bike are similar for those starting out in the sport no matter what age, cycling should not preclude one from being a good person and a good student, not all junior programs are created equal, and maturity sometimes belies age.

What are some of the challenges working with Juniors?
Dotsie: It’s challenging because the kids are all working on different things and each has specific goals. One has the goal of racing Junior Nationals, but one of the requirements is that he needs to be a [Cat] 3 before he can race at Nationals, so he’s go to get through the 4’s by the time Junior Nationals rolls around. They all have different goals, and so dramatically different.

Each age is so different. From Millie’s 11 to Scott’s 15, it’s night and day as far as their development and what they’re ready for, what challenges they’re ready for, the miles, all of it. So we have to piece it together because if they all just trained the same together all of the time, Millie would just be in a hurt locker all of the time, 24/7, while the other kids might not be getting worked out. So you definitely have to massage it and do different things for different ones.

Its fun and they really seem to enjoy each other. It’s a good mix of kids and Jet really enforces that their grades and school come first; practice is second. We’re really trying to move junior cycling forward to the point of if they like it and stick with it, maybe going to a college with a good cycling team and possibly get recruited on that aspect as well as their academics…just getting them to be well-rounded, but with academics as their number one.

I don’t know if any junior programs out there are like that, maybe, but I don’t think so.

I’ve been at some events where the juniors are just thrown into a big field because they don’t have enough participants. What are the specific categories?
Dotsie: There are specific ages, 11-12, 13-14, 15-16, and 17-18. Locally, they just changed the women’s this year from 11-14, so it’s something that Millie is clearly freaking out about because she has to race against 14 year-olds. And I would be to. It’s a big jump from 11 to 14. The gaps are bigger than if you’re 25 racing against a 28 year-old; there’s really no difference there in the development.

But that’s a little unfortunate, but the guys will stay separate because there are enough of them. Scott went to the line a couple of times last year, he’s 15 1/2 now, and there were 50 in the field.

It’s about drawing kids in. One of our athletes came over from triathlon, and already had a love for riding her bike. A few of the kids, like Jordan, didn’t come from any other sports, but came in and really fell into it, took to it, and has some good talent. It’s about bring kids into the sport. You know what athletics does for kids and their confidence and their mind and their progress in the world and in society as they grow up. So it’s about bringing people into cycling, a sport that’s not very popular or stressed in high school.

It’s about moving the sport forward and bringing awareness to the sport, even if it means circulating thousands of flyers about JETCycling. There are so many cyclists in the area and a great many of them have kids, but they aren’t aware of junior programs like ours because not many outlets publicize it. Hopefully interviews like this can get the word out so that people know what’s out there and where to go and be part of the camaraderie.

It’s tough for kids, and even for me as a woman, to be riding with grown men all the time in group rides. It certainly is a different level, which is good, but it can also be debilitating to the spirit if you’re not ready for it. It can be a bummer when there are always people that are faster and always wanting to go hard, so to have kids your own age, and the camaraderie, and training and racing together with a team.

Have you incorporated any track work into the program? What is your experience out on the track?
Jet: Our program is focused on the road, but we do try to get them out to the track 2-3 times a year for the experience.

Dotsie: I would like to, but it’s a matter of time management. School comes first and on a good day the Home Depot Center is 45 to 50 minutes away. I’m hoping that we can get them out there during the summer when school is out and they have more time.

It would be so great for the kids and their bike handling skills and their tactile function to get out on the track. But we are primarily focused on road racing.

Anthony: (left) I have some experience on the track and it’s really fun and awesome. The steep angle is like riding up wall.

Scott: I have to say that I like road racing because I like sprinting, but I’ve gotten better at climbing and I think this year I’ll really love road racing and sprinting at the end.

Jordan: I’ve been to the track a couple of times and I like the track a lot. I would have to say I like road racing the best, knowing when it’s going to end, there are lots of people there, and you get to draft off of people. I don’t like time trialing so much.

Millie: I’ve been to the track and it didn’t work out so well. I kind of fell. But my favorite is the road race and the time trial because one of them is long distance and the other is all effort.

Do any of you have any cycling role models?
Dotsie: Not so much in cycling, no…not really. The obvious people have done great things, but the people I look up to most are the ones that have affected me personally rather than those that can go fast. Some of those fast people really aren’t that nice. They are usually off on their own and into their own deal; not really something to look up to. So I think it’s the people that I’ve been teammates with that have really inspired me daily, like Tina [Pic] who I have been teammates with for four years. I’ve always looked up to Sue Palmer-Komar…it’s the people that I’ve been teammates with and raced with not someone like an Eddy Merckx. I think he was just an amazing cyclist, but I never knew him. I’ve never been inspired by just pure athletic endeavors…you know it’s like you have talent and work hard and you can pull some races out, but it’s what you do with that, how you give that back to the world and that’s what matters more. Those girls are still racing, Iona [Wynter-Parks], the people who you’ve been in the trenches with who never give up and never give up on you.

Anthony: I would have to say…my dad. There are plenty of pros who people idolize but I would have to say my dad. He brought me to the sport and he’s my hero.

Scott: (left) One of the most important people in cycling who has taught me everything is Jet. He usually spends the time with me unlike many pros. The pros, yeah they’re really good, but how many take the time to make you better.

Jordan: The biggest cycling role model would definitely have to be Jet. He’s taken me to the next level and taught me so much. Even though I’m not a very competitive person I still enjoy cycling.

If I had to pick a pro, it would be Giddeon Massie. He’s just classy and talks with great care. Some would be like, “I just want to get rid of these kids.” Also, Dotsie, she has just taught me so much and when we’re out training she’s given me tips. They’re both amazing.

Millie: Dotsie Bausch is such a huge person who’s affected me and my cycling. She just given so much to the sport, and said, “yes we can do this we’re able to do this”…the same with Amber Neben. They were both able to come and ride with us and talk with us and say, “Ok, you’re having a little trouble how maybe we help.” Michael Engleman, who has helped Women’s Cycling by founding the USWCDP, is also a strong influence in my cycling.

Scott: Both Anthony and I also think that the most important pro in our cycling career right now is Dotsie.

Jet: I know they don’t need to say that about Dotsie, but if you saw her out there really putting in the effort, taking and seizing the moment. To seize the opportunity to be with kids is, to me, very powerful. What she does for us as our Athletic Director, I can’t thank her enough. She’s such an influence.

Do any of you have parents or family members who are into cycling?
Anthony: My dad has been riding bikes for a really long time. He’s the person who really got me into it and found the JETCycling program for me. I can’t thank him enough for that because I think JETCycling is really going to help me as a person and keep me on the right track.

Scott: No one in my family rides. I used to row, and got injured and the only training I could do was riding. I found Jet, and he found me, and hopefully he can help me to college and to the pros.

Jordan: I got into cycling because of my brother, and he got into it because of my uncle. I thought it was pretty fun and I wanted to get to the next level. I never really wanted to race. But when I went to Jet, he showed me racing and I really enjoyed it.

How long have you been involved with the program, and how long have you been racing?
Millie: I’ve been racing for 3 years now. As far as my experience, I was a state champion in California for time trialing and road racing and I just like to have fun out there.

Jordan: (left) I’ve been with JETCycling for 1 year. I started out mountain biking but never raced. It’s been a pretty good experience and its taught me a lot.

Shawn: I’m in the 15-16 and I’ve been racing for 6 to 8 months and been with JETCycling for as long. I started in the middle of last year, which was really tough. But I got better as the season went on and I’m hoping for a strong season.

Anthony: I race 17-18. I just started with JETCycling about a month ago. I started out mountain biking and then switched to road. It’s a really great program and I hope it takes me somewhere in the future. I’m looking to make progress and be better.

What’s your favorite part about cycling?
Anthony: Going fast and meeting new people. It’s just a fun sport in general. I think everyone could benefit from it.

Scott: Going fast and making new friends in the pack and the team camaraderie. During the race you really relying on each other, no one’s in charge. And I really like my sponsors.

Jordan: I really like being outdoors. I especially like the feeling after a ride. You just feel so good, so healthy. It’s a healthy sport, and with JETCycling you can ride with a lot of kids your own age and make some connection. I really like our sponsors, Team Duke because we get to learn about cancer and the USWCDP when they come down and mentor us. They give us encouragement and tips.

Millie: Being an ambassador. The sport is fun and going up to someone and saying, “Hey, I just did this cool thing. Why don’t you come out and try it.” I also like the wind in my hair and flying down hills now that I’ve gotten used to the speed.

What has been the most difficult thing to pick up in road cycling?
Millie: (left) One of the hardest things to adapt to was cornering so fast. There’s always the thought of what if there’s a tiny rock around the corner that I’m going to hit and going to fall. One of the hardest things to get used to is going around the corner fast and knowing that you’ll stay up and make it through…in riding with a pack and by yourself.

Scott: I think the hardest thing racing 15-16 was that there were 40 guys within 2 centimeters from each other and being able to go around the turns right off someone else. My first race I was lapped five times.

Jet: Learning to adjust to the speeds is definitely one of the most difficult things. When they’re first exposed to it they’re not sure quite what to expect. I try not set too high expectations because of the pace, which is definitely a lot different than what they’re used to from training rides. Going out there for the first time creates some uncertainty and because it is so fast paced being able to maneuver, getting boxed in or moving up in the pack becomes interesting. From a coaching perspective, it’s a challenge to teach those types of things, but it also things like how to take a feed bag or motor pace behind a scooter or a car, or take off your jacket. I think it’s different for everybody.

Jordan: This past season the hardest thing was to keep up. My whole goal was to keep up. Some days I did, some I didn’t. So this year it’s about keeping up and having fun.

What are your goals for the 2009 season?
Jet: I have pretty high expectations. I think every coach does when you look at your athletes that you’re training and working with on a day-to-day basis. My goals are pretty simple. From an overall perspective the number thing that they have to have is fun…enjoying the sport! There is a competitive nature to it, but whether you finish first or last that’s not the ultimate goal. To me, it’s whether you had fun and did you enjoy it. That’s the measure of success in cycling.

As a secondary goal, I look at cycling as a way for these kids to connect and hopefully be ambassadors of our sport so that we can grow it.

The main reason I started JETCycling, as you know, is to help these kids find a place to ride their bikes and learn how to be competitive in road cycling. They’ll also get that team feeling that sense of camaraderie.

We set both short term, medium range, and long term goals, and by the end of the season I hope to have a couple of state champions and national champions on hand! That would be awesome…over the top. If we were able to match what we did last year, 5 state championship wins as well as nine top ten finishes at nationals, it would be amazing.

Millie’s goal is 3-3-3. Third year racing, three state championship wins and three national championship wins. We hope to help her achieve her goals. She has the ability, now we have to put in the effort to achieve the success.

Jordan wants to be known as the spoiler. He wants to go out there and drive the pack, create chaos and help his teammates win. So my goal is to help him be fit enough to do those things.

Scott wants to win and be on the podium. My goal is to help him achieve that level, and he has a solid chance to do so.


Anthony wants to do the same, and he has set some short term goals to be successful. We are trying to set the right expectations, and give him the assistance he needs to do well.

So helping each child reach their individual potential is a goal that is important to me because that’s where you see success. If a child says to me that he doesn’t care if he finishes last as long as he can help his teammate win, and I can help that child achieve that goal then we feel that success. We reach that goal together.

What is your biggest challenge for this season?
Millie: My biggest challenge this year is the mental aspect. The body has it, the legs have it, the muscles have it, but do you believe in yourself…well that is the serious question. If you believe in yourself anything can happen. If you don’t believe in yourself you’re going to have a hard time trying to accomplish your goals, doing what you what to do. And in that split second when you believe in yourself, anything can happen.

Jordan: It’s definitely the mental aspect. It’s what Jet has been giving me a hard time, all the time, telling me that I’m the only one stopping me from doing what I want to do. I have to believe in what I am doing and why.

Scott: The hardest part is the mental aspect of not being intimidated by new competition. You don’t know who they are, they’re much bigger than you, but it doesn’t mean they’re faster.

Anthony: Since this is my first year, my biggest challenge is finding myself both mentally and physically.

What are your aspirations as a rider, do any of you envision going into the professional ranks?
Jet: When you look at our program we have three avenues to success. One is we want to get our athletes to college on a collegiate cycling team, secondly we hope to get them on a national team, and finally we hope to help them get to the pros.

Millie: I want to go to college, and race. Bring my team to collegiate nationals and win that. And then hopefully get on a national team and do well there. And then I want to go pro’s and get to the Tour de France and break the barrier into the men’s field. After that if I’m not too old, I want to get on the Olympic team and win the Olympics.

Jordan: My main goal…I don’t have a big interest in being a pro. I want to do other things and I definitely will take cycling with me for the rest of my life, but I don’t have a desire to go to college on cycling, it would be nice. But I don’t really want to be a pro.

Scott: I definitely want go to college for cycling and win at the collegiate level and hopefully get on a national team and race in Europe for a bit and then go pro and race for one of the top UCI teams.

Anthony: Basically I look at cycling as something else to get to college. When I get to college, if I go pro or have the opportunity that would be great, but I’m just looking at cycling as a way to get to college.

Jet: I think it’s common to all athletes, when you’re a kid and in cycling you dream and want to become a pro. What’s unique about our group is that they want to go to college and have that experience in college first before they make that leap. It’s like we’re a farm system that gets juniors in the right direction first. That way it gives them the skills to fall back on when cycling is not abailable.

How should the sport of cycling handle riders who used performance enhancements?
Dotsie: That’s perhaps an hour long conversation. I get out of competition testing so they are at my door whenever they feel like it and I have to show where I am every minute of every day. As a clean athlete you have to feel confident that they seem on top of it, but I don’t know. Too many athletes and girls that I’ve been on teams with before have come up positive just from taking approved supplements. Truthfully, the whole thing is frightening and a big mess.

I think a lot of the professional men are ahead of the curve with some of the stuff they’ve come up with. So I think the testers need to get ahead of the curve especially in the European peloton. I know in the women’s peloton it doesn’t run nearly as rampant.

The truth is I really don’t think about it as often. I’m clean and don’t have any desire to do it any other way. You can spend a whole lot of brain power and energy just thinking about it and it just doesn’t get you anywhere. The dopers are going to dope and the other aren’t. That’s just sport since the beginning of time. So what should they do to them…you’d like to say kick them out of the sport forever, but what about those athletes who have said that their supplements were tainted. If they are telling the truth then they shouldn’t be kicked out for one day. So you can’t have a no tolerance policy. What I wish was that they had foolproof tests. But we’re all fallible, we’re all human, labs can make a mistake. In a perfect world, I wish that weren’t the case because its not fair when an athlete has to serve even one day, of say a six month ban, when they didn’t do anything. I don’t think there is a single answer, but rather an ongoing process and conversation.

You’re not ever going to be able to stop the cheaters…that are just in their fiber, it’s what they’ve chosen to do, it’s the kind of people they are. There is no USADA, WADA or any other governing body that is going to stop every one. It’s how do we manage it so that is more fair is the question, because you’re not going to stop doping.

Jet: We all hope that everyone is racing clean. We’re trying to do everything we can to create a change in our sport, to change the perception of cyclist as dopers. I kind of look at it from a different standpoint in that I believe we should remove “doping” from our cycling vocabulary. We should call it “cheating” or “not playing by the rules” or “using performance enhancements,” but “doping” puts such a negative light on our sport and those who do it. As a word, it puts our sport in a negative light and gives juniors the vision of needles and drug addicts. The wrong impression! It is just one word.

Yes, there are some athletes that cheat and use performance enhancements to change their body makeup, but in no way, shape, or form do I support that. My goal here is to take that word out of the sport because we get equated with those who use heroin or other recreational drug and it’s not what our athletes in our sport are doing. Well, I at least hope not.

What have you learned from being a part of JETCycling?
Anthony: I learned things about cycling and about bikes, but also learned how to be a better person in general. That there a lot more things out there than just riding my bike. Riding my bike is fun, but there are lots more things that can help me be a better person.

Scott: The thing I’ve learned from JETCycling is to be humble and no matter what you do and to do your best. If you put the effort in, eat right, train right, you’ll definitely get rewarded.

Jordan: One of the big things I’ve learned at JETCycling is to really think about others and not just yourself and to be respectful and to just appreciate life. I work at a children’s hospital and when I look at others I’m just appreciative that I’m healthy and can ride my bike. [Jordan works at Children’s Hospital of Orange County. He works with children who are very sick. Along with his two dogs, a Great Dane and a St. Bernard, he spends time with the children or tries to cheer them up]

Millie: Patience. Just wait and it will happen. You have to do the right things. You have to eat right, you have to train right and get a certain amount of sleep. You just can’t go and play video games all night. You have to do all things to get where you want to be. You gonna have to get your hands dirty before anything happens.

What’s the most important thing that you’ve learned about working with juniors?
Dotsie: Personally, they have continually given more to me than I feel like I have given to them from the aspect of the energy and excitement they have about the sport. Once you are in something for a long time and have been in it for a while things get stale. They just keep me so pumped every time I ride with them. If I go to their practice and I’m in a grumpy mood from whatever went on that day, I’ll arrive home chipper. They are so invigorating; they are so happy and stoked to be on their bikes. Practice is always positive and we are always in hysterics the whole time. We are always laughing about something.


It’s fun to watch them develop. Recovery is a tough thing to teach them. It was hard at the end of last season to try and get them back down and relax and rest and not sprint for the sign or sprint to the top of every single hill like it was a KOM. It’s invigorating for me and fun to teach them all the parts of cycling that make it come full circle and make it successful. I’ve really learned that the recovery is one of the key aspects that are really difficult for them to grasp…and to make that a habit. Because it takes them about 10 minutes to recover for the next day [laughs]; their recovery is incredible, but it doesn’t stay that way. So it’s been good to share that with them. They definitely have given back more than I give to them.

Jet: The one thing that I like about his sport is that the age groups that we’re dealing with are really varied. We deal with athletes from 8 to 18 years of age, and each one is different. What’s interesting to me is looking at the makeup and the growth experience that they have. It’s not so much watching it, but coaching and learning how to coach each individual, and immediately watch them learn. I like watching them be successful and attain their goals and reach for the stars, and be good people. That’s where I draw the most satisfaction from and that’s where I learn the most as well. Each one of these children is an individual and they’re try to learn a sport, but it’s also about how can I help each to be a good person and do right by the community, and have a sense of community, team, and maintain their individuality at the same time. All are challenging things, and a lot of work, but I feel very, very grateful that I have an opportunity to do that.

If you could impart one bit of wisdom to your riders, what would it be?
Dotsie: Give Back.

Any closing comments?
Millie: We need more juniors in sports. No matter what your age or ability we need more kids to get out there. We just need more kids out there. Right now it’s small, but if we can get one person, can change it, and it can be huge. That’s what we need.

Scott: I just wanted to thank Jet and Dotsie again.

Jordan: I don’t think any of this would be possible without Jet. We basically started from nothing to where he has built it up to where we have sponsors. It would be impossible with JETCycling and all the sponsors that have supported us in the support way, or in the financial way. It’s really great that they support us.

In some areas of California and I don’t know where else, but a lot of kids go to school and then go home and sit on the couch and get fat. I know a lot of kids my age, around 14, and their parents aren’t home to tell them what’s right and they get into drugs. Biking is a good distraction from drugs, and not just drugs but bad things. A lot of kids are under a lot of pressure from society both academically and responsibility wise. Cycling is a great way to stay out of trouble and to get a good start on life.

Anthony: The sport is great. We need more juniors riding bikes. I think it’s important that we keep continue to do this whether it is for college, for health reasons, or just for the fun of it. I think it would be great for the cycling community.


Jet: We rings true to me is that we need to get more kids involved and more children out there. I know I’ve mentioned in the past, of growing this like and AYSO, or a Little League, or Pop Warner football league. If we could get more of these JETCycling groups popping up everywhere and being able to give the kids the opportunity to get on a bike. Did you know there are more kids on bikes than there are playing football, baseball, soccer, combined? If we get them out there racing and competing then that would be awesome.

On a final note we have some sponsors that have really stepped up to the plate with us. To me I couldn’t have done it without them. They have invested in JETCycling because of the outlook of having juniors get into this sport. Companies like A Road Bike 4 U, Gita Bikes, Giro, Northwave, Pactimo, Pinarello, Skins, Speedplay, hudz, Schwalbe, Kurt Kinetics, Sports Performance Institute, inhouseIT, Swiftwick, Vanderkitten, Hammer Nutrition and Smith Optics; these companies just believe in what we’re doing in helping grow this sport! They’ve invested in us, and we in turn, invest in them by helping them from a marketing perspective. We want to be able to pass their products, or information on to more kids or parents of children who are interested. Create a partnership and a team for success.

To follow that up we work with two non-profit organizations the John Wayne Cancer Foundation, Team Duke, to help raise awareness for skin cancer. We teamed up with them and they help us out financially to buy bikes. I really didn’t’ understand what their company was all about until they told me that skin cancer is created within the first sixteen years of a person’s life and that means as a child being out in the sun being exposed to the sun ends up as an adult turning into skin cancer…so what a perfect group to be working with us because our kids do presentations at schools to pass along that information. To me, that’s a way of us helping them. But also with the USWCDP, and Dotsie comes from that program to help mature our kids and support the team. Plus, Vanderkitten has stepped up to the plate to help us with our junior women and offer apparel for them. It’s huge, and that’s because of their belief in wanting to give back to the sport. I think it’s apropos when you asked Dotsie if there is one word of wisdom you could offer, she said “give back.” A lot of this sport is about that, giving back to the sponsors, giving back to the community, giving back to the people, and giving back to kids. That’s what our sponsors are doing for us and now we’re going to do it for them.

Photos: Courtesy JETCycling

Twice Is Nice, But Three Is Just Right - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 6


Solvang, CA - February 20, 2009 – As he crossed the finish line, two-time Amgen Tour of California Champion, Levi Leipheimer, held up three fingers to signify a third consecutive tour victory.

Although there are still 2 days remaining in the 2009 edition of the race, Leipheimer insured another overall victory by taking today's critical Stage 6 Individual Time Trial. Leipheimer bested four-time U.S. National Individual Time Trial Champion David Zabriskie (USA) of Garmin-Slipstream by eight seconds and third placed finisher, Gustav Larsson (Team Saxo Bank), a former Swedish National Champion in the discipline, by 17 seconds.

“This is the fourth year for the Amgen Tour of California and every year this stage is important,” said Leipheimer. “The overall race this year has been tougher. We’ve had one more day before the time trial and we’ve had some bad weather; the race is split up this year. Of course we have two hard days to come, but today has made the biggest difference.”

"Fans lined up ten deep in some places along the 15-mile individual time trial route in Solvang. With the start and finish lines located only one block apart, the individual time trial provided fans with an ideal opportunity to watch riders both start and finish the race. The route showcased the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley, winding through quaint towns, vineyards, farms, and one short, but steep, climb up Ballard Canyon. The short, flat and fast time trial created a challenging test for the riders in a decisive day cycling."

Racing on a 15-mile course, Leipheimer rolled out of the start gate with confidence. Coming off a demanding and challenging stage on Thursday, most of the cyclists struggled to beat the 30-minute barrier. Of the early riders, Gustav Larsson (SWE) of Team Saxo Bank posted 30:57, which was good enough to keep the lead until Zabriskie and Leipheimer left the start house.


Zabriskie, the only American to win a stage of all three Grand Tours, whipped into the finish stretch and posted a seemingly untouchable 30:48.

“The course today for me, compared to last year, was much easier,” said Zabriskie. We had a rainy day before last year’s time trial, but today was a good day. It was the good kind of pain where you’re really enjoying it; it’s like energy, energy, energy. We had good weather, good people and good crowds. I had a good time.”


The most anticipated rider of the day, seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (USA) of Astana came in 14th today with a time of 31:56, which put him in sixth place overall going into tomorrow’s stage.

Leipheimer hit the tape to post an amazing time of 30:40. Despite wind, turns and hills, he had powered his bike nearly 30 mph for a half hour and crushed the competition at every time split.

“I think it gets more and more special,” added Leipheimer with regards to winning the individual time trial for the third consecutive year. “In fact, this win is the most important, the most special to me because it was so tight. There were only eight seconds separating us. Dave is the best time trialist in the world, in the history of American cycling really, and for him to show up and be in great shape and be so tight with me, it makes this the most special of three victories.”


Results
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
3. Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank
4. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
5. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
6. George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia - Highroad
7. Tom Zirbel (USA) Bissell Pro Cycling
8. Jason McCartney (USA) Team Saxo Bank
9. Stef Clement (Ned) Rabobank
10. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad

General Classification After Stage 6
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
3. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad
4. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank
5. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
6. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
7. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
8. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana
9. Christopher Horner (USA) Astana
10. Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Rock Racing

News and Noteworthy
- Amgen's Breakaway from Cancer™ jersey went to George Hincapie (USA) of Team Columbia-Highroad today at the awards ceremony. Actor Evan Handler (Californication; Sex in the City) was on hand to present Hincapie the jersey.


“I love nothing better than to spend a gorgeous Friday afternoon surrounded by people in better physical condition than me,” said Handler. “The Amgen Tour of California time trial in Solvang provided me with the non plus ultra of that experience. It was an awe-inspiring race, on an awesome day.”

- For those of you who haven't met David Zabriskie or heard him speak before, no printed quote can ever capture the true flavor of the man. He is a shy person who does not like to talk about himself, but his unique cadence and delivery while speaking makes him one of the more interesting interviews. All in all, he is an incredibly funny person whether he intends to be or not.

On his chances of winning the Tour of California this year: “It would take a lot of screwing up on their (Astana’s) part. With the experience that they have and the depth of the team, they know what they’re doing. Like I said, it would take a huge screw up.”

On teammate Tom Peterson's Stage 2 win: “Tom Peterson winning a stage in the Amgen Tour of California is a big moral booster for us. He’s a good kid...he reminds me a lot of myself...shy...if people want to speak with him, sometimes I tell them to defer to me...I was very happy to see him win.”

- Ivan Basso (Liquigas) was missing in action today; a victim of missing his start time and therefore is out of the tour.

- Bob Cullinan does a great job of going after the unique story or interview on race day for his CycleTo.com website. But today, Bob became the unique story.

Someone needs to remind Bob that the "toy" in toy dog does not mean inanimate. While interviewing Odessa Gunn Leipheimer after Levi's successful ride, the Leipheimer's dog took exception to one of Bob's questions.


Though bloodied, Bob is recovering nicely. A PayPal site has been set up to take donations to help Bob in his recovery.

Next: Santa Clarita to Pasadena (88.9 miles/143 km)
"On the final day of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California, George Hincapie sprinted to victory from a small breakaway group that escaped during a rugged new route from Santa Clarita to Pasadena. This year, the peloton will face the same difficult, hilly and technical terrain on the penultimate day of the Tour. Stage 7, sponsored by Herbalife, opens with a gradual 25-mile climb out of Santa Clarita, through Acton, to the intersection of Angeles Forest Road. Showcasing the breathtaking beauty of the San Gabriel Mountains, the course continues uphill to the massive Millcreek Summit, which at 4906 feet is the second highest elevation ever reached in the Amgen Tour of California. What goes up must come down and the riders will scream down a 15-mile trek to Angeles Crest Highway before dropping precipitously to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Surrounded by mountains and the legendary stadium, the field will conclude the stage with five challenging circuits on a rolling five-mile circuit around the picturesque Rose Bowl."

Photos: Leonard Basobas (first-fourth); Kathleen King (fifth & close-up)

Bikes, Personalities, and Scenes - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 6


Photos: Leonard Basobas

Friday, February 20, 2009

On In Solvang - 2009 Amgen Tour of California Stage 6

Solvang, CA - February, 20, 2009 - With current race leader Levi Leipheimer (Astana) already taking note of the two riders immediately behind him in the General Classification, the two-time defending Amgen Tour of California Champion should be hard to beat on the 24 km course with which he is all too familiar.

"It’s going to be a big showdown tomorrow,” said Leipheimer during yesterday's podium presentation. “You have the three-time World Champion Michael Rogers and Dave Zabriskie, the National Champion, so it will be special."

But if you're looking for a darkhorse to claim the stage, three immediately come to mind and each sits within a minute of Leipheimer's lead.

It's strange to refer to a seven-time Tour de France Champion as a darkhorse, but that is exactly what Lance Armstrong (Astana) will be today. During the first part of his cycling career, Armstrong would have been an easy favorite over such a fast and relatively flat course. And although he is riding in support of Leipheimer, anything goes in these races against the clock.

A bit further down the list sit Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Garmin-Slipstream's Tom Danielson. Both have had an extremely quite Tour of California, but each is fully capable of performing well in a time trial. Now whether you believe either is 42 seconds better than Leipheimer is a different story.

General Classification After Stage 5
1. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
2. Michael Rogers (Aus) Team Columbia - Highroad 0.24
3. David Zabriskie (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0.28
4. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0.30
5. Christopher Horner (USA) Astana 0.34
6. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana 0.38
7. Thomas Lövkvist (Swe) Team Columbia - Highroad
8. José Luis Rubiera (Spa) Astana
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
10. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0.39
11. Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Rock Racing
12. Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0.40
13. Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas 0.42
14. Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
15. Kevin Seeldraeyers (Bel) Quick Step 0.51
16. Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Rock Racing 0.53

At this time in the race, the start list is usually the reverse of the General Classification, but rather than having Astana teammates, in Horner and Armstrong, go back-to-back, Zabriskie and Armstrong have been flip-flopped in the order. Armstrong is now the second to last rider to go.

The temperatures are slated to reach 70 degrees and the weather is sunny and dry. The action kicks off at 12PM (PST).