paris-nice
Although I had to work, I was able to catch the end of the final stage of Paris-Nice on OLN (I taped all of OLN’s ‘cyclism sunday’ and watched it later in the evening). I watched, alone in the breakroom, and yelled at the TV even though I already knew who won. I have several things to say about this race, but first I need to express my surprise at how much I’ve missed cycling. Watching PN I realized that I hadn’t seen cycling since the tour (I didn’t get OLN until the week of February 19th) and I never realized how much I missed it. I also realized that I live in the wrong part of the world because I really want to see live cycling — even if it’s just on TV.
Now, about the stage. I did not see any of the other stages (I sort of forgot OLN to tape/watch until yesterday), but I was of course cheering for Vino. What happened on Sunday really irritated me. Not just the way Vino road, but also Discovery. I don’t like them. Maybe I’m bitter about Lance or maybe I just don’t like the way Discovery behaves, but I’m not really sure. And the fact that they worked the peloton so hard yesterday, even though Popovych had only a slim chance of winning the stage, just bugged me. It was as if (as I was told before I saw the stage) Discovery decided that they didn’t want to let a T-Mobile rider win. At first I was irritated with Contador, but that was before I knew he’d been in a break for so long. The real culprits, of course, are Discovery.
That being said, I’m glad Vino made an effort and I’m proud of Contador for sticking to it so long. It’s just not fair that, in the end, it was for nothing (except now people know his name). On the other hand, we now have more evidence that Valverde will be (if he isn’t already) one of the top riders in the peloton. Even my sister (who cannot stand cycling) was impressed with the way he pulled out in front of everyone to take the stage. I have to admit that watching him win was a thing of beauty. He came from no where to take that win. It’s been said before, but he will do great things.
Next up on OLN? Milan San Remo. It is really too bad that they aren’t showing the other PT race, Tirreno-Adriatico. Because that’s where Matt’s racing. Speaking of T-A, here are the top seven of stage 6:
| 1 | Alessandro Petacchi | (Ita) | Fassa Bortolo | 3.53.40 | (41.084 km/h) |
| 2 | Oscar Freire Gomez | (Spa) | Rabobank | ||
| 3 | Robbie McEwen | (Aus) | Davitamon-Lotto | ||
| 4 | Paride Grillo | (Ita) | Panaria | ||
| 5 | Daniele Bennati | (Ita) | Lampre-Caffita | ||
| 6 | Baden Cooke | (Aus) | Francaise des Jeux | ||
| 7 | Mario Cipollini | (Ita) | Liquigas-Bianchi |
Anyone happen to know what win number this is for Petacchi? Oh, cool. Pictures.
FDJ riders at the start of stage five.
Snow on stage four.
Cyclingnews has great captions.
Zabel — I hope he rides the tour again.
