Wannabe Bike Girl

One of my favorite cyclists (new-favorite) won a stage of the Jayco Tour of Tasmania today (technically yesterday). It pleases me greatly.

Stage 7 – October 27: Deloraine – Sheffield, 54.7 km

1 Kjell Carlström 1.34.49 (34.61 km/h)
2 Wesley Sulzberger
3 William Ford
4 Joshua Wilson
5 Scott Peoples 0.02
6 David Kemp 0.04
7 Kristian House
8 Mark O’Brien
9 Johnnie Walker
10 Hayden Josefski

A little bit of linkspam to start the day (well, to start it for me, much of the world has been up for hours).

Ullrich Cleared in Spanish Doping Investigation (Deutsche Welle)

he investigation into Germany’s former Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich by a Spanish doping probe will not continue, reports said on Wednesday. No further action will be taken against the German cyclist.

Cyclists riding a green wave (Jyllands-Posten)

A string of synchronised green lights promises to cut travel times on one of Europe’s busiest bike lanes

Tour reveals tough route for 2007 (BBC)

Next year’s Tour de France route will be dominated by mountain stages, race organisers revealed on Thursday.

The 2007 race, which begins in London on 7 July, features six mountain stages instead of five and a tough summit finish on the Col de l’Aubisque.

I’m not talking about the TdF controversy, if you want to read about it, Chris at Podium Cafe has written up a pretty decent summary of the events. I have my opinions, but I don’t necessarily know if it’s my place to share them — at least in this instance — since I don’t ride.

But anyway, the real point of this post. This is from cyclingnews

Frenchman Francis Mourey (fdjeux), the only challenger to the dominant Belgians, finished second in Kalmthout and climbed up from tenth to third in the rankings. Belgians Sven Vanthourenhout (Rabobank) and Bart Wellens (Fidea) round out the top five.

I don’t have to explain how happy this makes me. I am so proud of him!

Maybe I’m weird, but sometimes it’s fun to read stories about people who are just a little bit (or a lot) crazy. Sometimes the stories are sad in a depressing way and sometimes they’re pathetic. But more often than not, they’re a mix of a bunch of different emotions. And, uh, this story is one of them.

Refusing the Maillot Jaune

Nearly sixty years ago one rider refused to wear the yellow jersey and it was for natural reasons. In 1955, after taking the overall lead, Frenchman Louis Bobet almost turned the Tour de France sponsorship on its head. Les Woodland recalls why Bobet did not want to accept cycling’s coveted jersey.

Also, does anyone know why we always put Maillot Jaune in italics? I do it because cyclingnews does (not that I do everything cyclingnews does, mind you), but I never thought about why. My guess is because it’s not an English word. Ideas or the real reason are welcome.

For the first time in my life I got to watch cyclo-cross (thanks, cycling.tv). And, well, it’s official, I’m in love. It helped that Francis had possibly one of his best performances ever. I felt really lucky that I got to see it.

First of all, cyclo-cross is nothing like road cycling. Well, sure there are bits where you ride on a road, but it’s uphill (sort of) and cyclists do this thing where they carry their bikes. And I’ll just take a moment here and say that when the cyclists hop of their bike and then pick it up, it’s one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen, sports-wise. I know that’s really superficial and not the whole reason I watched, but damn. Also, it’s a hell of a lot faster than road cycling. These guys ride and run so incredibly fast. And, like, someone (Drew, maybe?) over at Podium Cafe said this morning, it’s like ballet. And it really is.

But, yeah. Sven Nijs is unbeatable and Francis Mourey is amazing. I am so proud of Francis and I cannot wait to see more races.

Cyclo-Cross World Cup #2

1 Sven Nijs (Bel) Rabobank 1.03.25
2 Francis Mourey (Fra) Française Des Jeux 0.16
3 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team 1.01
4 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) Rabobank
5 Kamil Ausbuher (Cze)
6 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) Rabobank
7 Steve Chainel (Fra)
8 Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team
9 Christian Heule (Swi) Stevens Racing Team
10 Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Fidea Cycling Team

I meant to post this when I found out, but school got in the way. I am so extremely proud of him and hopefully I’ll get to see him race on cycling.tv on Sunday, I think.

Int. Radquer Fehraltorf

1 Francis Mourey (Fra) ASPTT Mulhouse 1.01.54
2 Christian Heule (Swi) VC Gippingen
3 Florian Vogel (Swi) RC Gränichen
4 Simon Zahner (Swi) VC Meilen
5 Alexandre Moos (Swi) Cyclophile Sédunois
6 Jan Chrobak (Cze) 0.45
7 Ondrej Lukes (Cze) 1.06
8 Julien Taramarcaz (Swi) VC Rennaz
9 Lukas Flückiger (Swi) VC Bützberg 1.32
10 Thorsten Struch (Ger) RSV Stuttgart

There are photos here.

School and life gets in the way of my posted. The cyclo-cross season started and I wish I could watch the races, but I’ll never be that lucky. So, instead, I just check the updates on cyclingnews and sometimes the make me a happy girl.