Wannabe Bike Girl

Mourey out of ‘cross Worlds?

Francis Mourey, one of the dark horses for this year’s cyclo-cross World Championships, might not be able to make the start line. According to the Belgian press, the French winner of the World Cup race in Treviso was out to pre-ride the course on Friday when he crashed hard on his face. He was taken to the hospital, and while nothing serious was found, he will remain overnight for observation.

Teams.

Back when I first started being a cycling fan (not that long, but still), I was mostly rooting for CSC (Hamilton), US Postal (Armstrong), Cofidis (Millar) and then, later, FDJ (McGee, Cooke, and Wilson). But oh, how things change. As I entered my first full year of being a cycling fan, I picked up BLB (Chavanel, Geslin, and Hary), Quick Step (van Goolen and Boonen) and T-Mobile (Werner, Vinokourov, and Zabel). But things change again and I dropped FDJ (though I still like a few of their riders), Postal/Discovery (even though they picked up Savoldelli, Lowe, and van Goolen), and T-Mobile (when they dropped Werner in ‘05 and Giling in ‘06). And of course, when Vino and Zabel left, there was barely any reason for me to care about T-Mobile.

What’s a girl to do? I choose to follow Vino and Liberty Seguros became my team. Even though all of the drama of doping that plagued the team, I’m still hanging in there for Astana. But the other teams I love? Liquigas and Lampre (I also like Panaria, but they’re not a PT team). Why? I’m not really sure. I’ve dropped all of the teams listed in the first paragraph and only four of my ten ride for my favorite teams (Vino on Astana, Kjell Carlström on Liquigas, Damiano Cunego on Lampre and Pardie Grillo on Panaria). So it’s not really based, aside from Panaria, on favorite riders (I just keep following Vino, and Liberty became Astana).

I think maybe it’s the style of their racing. The whole underdog thing (to some extent) and maybe I just like Italians (though not necessarily Italian soccer players — aside from those who play for AC Milan). I don’t really have good reasons. Anyway, here’s the list of my teams:

Astana
Liquigas
Lampre
Panaria-Navigare

I said I’d post about my favorite teams and I will, just not today.

As for the doping stuff? It’s getting weird with all the confessions and anonymous (see cyclingnews) discussions. I don’t know what to think. I try to remain optimistic and ignore it, but that’s becoming harder and harder. I mean, obviously it’s easier for fans to ignore it because those of us who don’t ride (for whatever reason) aren’t faced with the reality of dopers. I’m going to do it for now, partly because it’s depressing and partly because in no way do I have an informed opinion.

Instead, I’m going to focus on the cyclo-cross World Championships which start on the 27th. We all know who I’ll be rooting for, he was third last year.

Well, it looks like Pereiro is innocent, which is good news. I’m still amused at the whole thing. Speaking of doping, there’s this whole thing in today’s news at cyclingnews about doping and Quick Step’s director, but it’s based on a news story in some paper so for now, I’m just ignoring it.

Also in that news cycle are a few interesting articles. There’s one about how the UCI is using the cyclocross WC rankings will effect the start at the world championships. I have no idea what this is about and, honestly, cyclingnews doesn’t even explain the impact. All they do is tell you what the rankings are and that they’ll have an impact. Important to note is that Francis is 5th, Vanthourenhout is 6th and John is 9th. That makes me happy.

And as a partial shout out to the boys over at Podium Cafe, I’m writing about my “favorite” cyclist, René Haselbacher. He joined Astana after not being able to ride in the tour at Gerolsteiner. And, well, joined a team where he still might not ride the tour. I don’t know why I’m even talking about this, expect that it’s kind of hilarious and I like Astana.

Which reminds me, maybe tomorrow I’ll post about my favorite cycling teams. I’m a big team-loving kind of girl, but cycling makes it hard to do. So, yeah. Tomorrow!

As a cycling fan, sometimes it’s hard to explain to people why you love the sport. Sure, as a girl it’s easy. The boys are sexy, well-built and attractive (for the most part). But if I go that route (which I have sometimes, but mostly for my own amusement), you’re branded as someone who only likes cycling (and more broadly, any sports) because athletes tend to be attractive (which is true). But that’s not the only reason (or the main reason) for liking sports, or in this case cycling. I was raised a fan of American football, baseball, tennis and basketball. I picked up European football/soccer when I played it as a young girl and then during the ‘02 World Cup, I became a fan and I’ve waffled a bit around. There is one sport I like that falls under the category of liking it because the men are hot and that’s golf (I know what you’re thinking, but I’m telling you that the new generation of golfers are pretty damn attarctive).

But back to cycling.

I love this sport for many reasons. Some of them relate to specific cyclists (and I don’t need to list them because it’s pretty obvious) but a lot of has to do with what the cyclists do on the bike. I once explained that it’s about the thrill of a sprint victory, the joy of watching a breakaway succeed and that nothing (not anything) compares to the excitement of watching cyclists climb a mountain and break (down and from each other) one by one.

But at the same time, it’s hard to justify watching a sport and loving it when so many of the athletes are suspected dopers. And yet here I am. I haven’t figured out how I get around the worry that my boys will be accused (and they have — Contador, Davis and two years ago, van Goolen among others) or the fear that one of them (or more) does dope. But I see it as a risk I have to take. It’s part of the game, it’s not good or fair or even smart, but it is part of the game.

So maybe that’s how I do it. Maybe it’s denial, maybe it’s pretending that it doesn’t exist, but I don’t think so. I think it’s just that I accept that it happens, I hate that it happens, and then I move on. Because I can’t (or won’t) dwell on it. There are good things about cycling and that’s what’s most important.

When I checked cyclingnews this morning, I didn’t think that I’d have much to write about and so I was planning to mention something about the Pereiro scandal. But then I clicked on the news link and discovered a bunch of interesting stories.

Source: First Edition Cycling News for January 20, 2007

Inquiring about Allan Davis’ possibilities of riding for a pro tour team again next year, his manager Paul De Geyter (Celio Sport & Image ) told Cyclingnews that Davis is in the last phase of his contract negotiations and that things should be wrapped up by the time the European season kicks off.

De Geyter said, “Indeed, I want Allan to have a clear situation by the beginning of February.”

As much as I don’t like Discovery (for various Armstrong-related reasons), I won’t complain if that’s where Davis goes (as the commenter suggests). I hope that everything is sorted in time for Davis to race.

According to Reuters, Millar’s Cofidis team tried to seek damages for what it viewed as harm to its image, but judge Ghislaine Polge threw out the request, saying “Through its involvement in professional cycling, its established knowledge of doping and the absence of significant measures to eliminate it, Cofidis could not have been unaware of the well-known doping phenomenon or of its magnitude.

It’s all interesting, but I’m tired of doping scandals. By now, when I run across them, all I do is just shake my head and sigh.

Philippe Gilbert of La Française des Jeux had a skin cancer removed from his thigh in an operation on Thursday in Liege, Belgium. The doctors removed a melanoma and ordered him to rest for 10 days, according to the AFP.

“It is a ‘beauty spot’ which had to be removed. The wound is serious, but not in a bad location. However, if I ride it will heal more slowly,” Gilbert said.

He must now delay the start of his season. “I was to start with the [GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise] on February 6,” he said, “but now it will undoubtedly be with the Volta ao Algarve on February 21.”

Probably if you read this blog on a regular basis (so to speak), you know that I am a huge fan of Gilbert’s. I really, really hope he recovers soon.

And last, CN has what could be an interesting feature on Vino. I haven’t read it yet, but I plan to later today. I hope both Vino and Astana do well next year.

Chasing the Tour: Vinokourov gets ready

Having won most of the races he wished to in his career, Alexandre Vinokourov is staking everything on the big one this year. The Tour de France is his sole target and he’s hoping that this time round, everything will come together. Shane Stokes of Cyclingnews reports from the Astana training camp in Mallorca, Spain.

I don’t expect there to be this much news I care about every day. In fact, I was surprised how many stories there were that caught my eye. Hopefully this season will be better (in some ways) than last.

Back when I firsts started liking cycling, I discovered this Australian cyclist, Baden Cooke (you may have heard of him, heh). He won the green jersey during the first tour I saw. It was pretty amazing. Since then I’ve moved on (as I do in most sports) until I’ve found my little niche (or the niche quits, I’m looking at you, Christian Werner). But I still get a thrill when I see that Cooke does well, and today is no exception.

After a shitty season, Baden Cooke finally came good (again). I’m pretty pleased.

9th Tour Down Under: Stage 3 – Friday, January 19: Stirling – Victor Harbor , 128km

Results
1 Baden Cooke (Aus) Unibet.com 2.37.55 (48.63 km/h)
2 Chris Jongewaard (Aus) Australia – UniSA 0.05
3 Matthew Goss (Aus) Team CSC 0.19
4 Josep Jufre Pou (Spa) Predictor – Lotto
5 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance
6 Gianpaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld
7 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC 0.41
8 Dimitri Champion (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 0.42
9 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Predictor – Lotto 1.28
10 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com 2.52

Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

I’m trying to get into the swing of blogging again. So, here’s some news that I care about.

Alberto Contador has signed with Discovery. And, much to my surprise, it appears Jurgen van Goolen remains on the team. What I can’t find out, though, is where Allan Davis is going (has gone).

Also, I do not approve of the Paris-Nice people refusing to allow Unibet to race. I think it’s self-centered and short-sighted. I also believe the organizers are abusing the riders for something that’s not really in their control.