Wannabe Bike Girl

Sylvain Chavanel defended his win at the the Tour du Poitou Charentes et de la Vienne by winning the whole thing again. I watched the presentations online, it was lovely! I’m so proud of him. Here are the top ten GC after the final stage.

1 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 15.37.42
2 Rick Flens (Ned) Rabobank Continentale 0.24
3 Jussi Veikkanen (Fin) Francaise Des Jeux 1.34
4 Alberto José Martinez (Spa) Agritubel 1.36
5 Tyler Farrar (USA) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 1.51
6 Jean Marc Marino (Fra) Credit Agricole 2.00
7 Stefano Cavallari (Ita) Acqua Sapone – Caffe Mokambo 2.13
8 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Crédit Par Téléphone 2.18
9 Kilian Patour (Fra) Credit Agricole 2.27
10 Nicolas Rousseau (Fra) Ag2R Prévoyance 2.41

Full results can be found at cyclingnews.

Dear Discovery,

Quit whining (see: Jury decided over victory) and get over it. No one cares. These things happen. Life isn’t fair. And they’re right, you should have complained a week ago. So just stop being like Mourinho and shut up.

Bored already,
Sarah

In other news, I got to write a mostly fact-based preview of the Tour Down Under for Bicirace. It was my first one (I know, right?) and I’ve got a long way to go — but not bad for a first.

And that’s really all I’ve got, except that Philippe Gilbert won the final Eneco Tour stage (which I couldn’t follow at all) yesterday and we all know that that is the best thing ever.

I don’t always agree with the UCI and their ideas, but this one sounds pretty cool. Especially for someone who likes watching the young riders grow up.

The UCI has announced a new race series specifically for top-level male under 23 riders. The Cup of Nations will include around seven one-day and stage races which are known for the quality of their organisation and the high standard of competition. Organisers of Cup of Nations events will be obliged to invite the best national federations from each continent, who will be entitled to enter a team of six riders.

The UCI plans to announce full details at the world championships in Salzburg, Austria next month and to start the series in 2007.

The point of this blog is not to hate on Lance Armstrong, but sometimes it happens without me having to do much. This is one of those times. As if I needed more proof that Armstrong is nothing more than a self-centered [insert expletive here], but there you go.

“In this day and age, you’re not going to get a fair shake in the media,” said Armstrong, who rode his bike for charity Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“And the more you get out there and talk about it, I have to talk about it. The best is just to let the process play out and get out of the media. … I would have encouraged him just to lay low.”

I’m sorry, but if Armstrong want to voice his opinions on what Landis should do, he could have maybe left himself out of the whole situation. I don’t mean his opinion on the media is invalid (especially negative coverage) because he’s definitely had a fair share (though not always undeserved). But I’m really tired of his egotistical behavior. It’s one thing to suggest that Landis stop talking to the media because he’s doing his image more harm than good. Or because the media is biased, etc. But it’s a completely different thing to say that Landis should stop talking about it so that Armstrong doesn’t have to talk about it. It’s a pretty tasteless comment and I almost want Landis to keep talking to media and for the media to keep bothering Armstrong.

Obviously Armstrong believes the world revolves around him and Landis should believe it too. Because it’s clear that this is all about Armstrong and not Landis. Even though Landis is the one who stands accused. Even though Landis is under the pressure of the media. Even though Armstrong is nothing more than a former teammate of Landis’ and an “expert” on bike racing (because REALLY). If he doesn’t want to comment on the situation, he should just stop commenting. It’s not Landis’ fault Armstrong won the Tour seven times and is considered someone whose opinion is valued when it comes to cycling.

So, Armstrong, stop blaming other people for your problems. Although that’s nothing new, so I don’t expect it to change.

Apparently this blog is all about bad news. I originally got this from Podium Cafe.

Erik Dekker (Rabobank) has called time on his career after failing to recover from injuries sustained on stage 4 of the Tour, he announced at a news conference in Zwolle, The Netherlands, yesterday. The ‘Gouden Pijl’ criterium, raced later today in Emmen, will be Dekker’s last race. Dekker had planned to retire at the end of the season.

Dekker said that his injuries also made it difficult to find the motivation to return to the top level, “Besides the obvious physical injuries I sustained, it mainly became a mental struggle. I could not find the strength and will to continue on for just a couple more months. Whatever I do, I always want to give hundred percent, but my motivation was gone. There was nothing inside me that told me to continue,” Dekker said.

There’s more if you click the link and head over to cyclingnews. It’s really sad that he’s gone like this. I liked watching him race. But his crash was horrible and it’s easy to see why it was so hard to come back. He’s not that young (in cycling terms). It’s just really too bad.