Wannabe Bike Girl

In symbol and deed, German rider Haussler is an Australian at heart (brisbane times)

While Haussler hopes to register as an Australian at the world road titles in Geelong in October, his request remains stuck in a bureaucratic bottleneck, reportedly because the German federation does not want to lose him.

I know there’s cycling stuff going on, so I’ll talk about a little of it. First off, Cadel Evans. Totally made the right move. He didn’t get (though I don’t know why) GT support from Lotto. Maybe it was Evans, maybe it was the team, maybe it was something else completely, I don’t know. But, for whatever reason, it wasn’t working and I think he’s made completely the right choice. Why? Because, among other things, BMC has Hincapie and while I know some people freak out at the thought of George on a team without Lance again, I don’t care (obviously). I think that George will, if he goes to the Tour in ‘10 (which I think he will, now that Evans is there), he’ll bust his ass for Evans. I might not be a fan of Evans at all, but after his performance at Worlds ‘09, he deserves a fighting chance.

Second, Haussler and the whole riding for Germany vs riding for Australia. I think he should be allowed to do whatever he wants. I don’t know why people think it’s okay to just make shit up and post it as if the cyclists themselves have said it. Clearly Haussi hadn’t changed his mind and I think that’s fine. Why should it matter? I suppose because he’s one of the best cyclists Germany has right now (and whose fault is that? Not Haussi’s). I mean, good for Haussler. He knows what he wants and why should the German Federation think that they know better? It’s not like he’s breaking any rules. Haussi for Australia! Yeah, I almost did Haussi for Aussie, shoot me now.

Also, if you haven’t seen the most recent Bartape episode, it’s the TDF part 2, with Haussi’s stage win. It’s not the best (that’s Milan-San Remo), but it’s good.

Consider this your monthly fangirling session.

Haussler “shocked” by Rebellin positive (cyclingweekly)

Germany’s Heinrich Haussler has said that he was “shocked” to hear that his former Gerolsteiner team-mate Davide Rebellin had tested positive for CERA.

Haussler, who recently finished second at both Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders, told cyclingweekly.co.uk that he had no suspicions about Rebellin.

“I did not have one doubt about Rebellin. When I heard it, I was pretty shocked,” he said.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore Haussi, but come on. I’m not shocked that Rebellin tested positive. He’s of that generation, as we say. But come on, how are we surprised? I guess sometimes cycling is a big world of denial. Though from what I can tell, Rebellin’s in a lot of denial as well. Just don’t you test positive, Haussi.

Spanish rider Redondo suspended for doping (cyclingweekly)

Spanish rider Jose Antonio Redondo has been provisionally suspended by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) for failing an out-of-competition dope test taken in March.

This one was a bit more of a surprise, if only because I used to like this kid quite a bit during my Vino fangirl days. Therefore, I shouldn’t be surprised that he probably doped. But, ugh.

I got behind, and as anyone who follows me on either LJ and/or Twitter saw, yesterday was shit for me. From the moment I woke up until the moment I went to bed, it was total crap. But now it’s over. And here’s yesterday’s entry, today. Hopefully I’ll get another entry up for today later in, er, the day. But since I have no content right now, have two pictures from PR.

Paris - Roubaix 2009 - Heinrich Haussler by bram_souffreau @ flickr

Sylvain Chavanel -- Paris Roubaix by willboyes @ flickr

Chavanel and Haussler were 8th and 7th, respectively. I probably would have more to say on it, but it’s late and I’m sneaking this in at the last moment. Plus, I need more time to process the race, which I was not thrilled with.

But I am proud of my boys. I really am.

Sneaking this in just before it becomes day 12! Silly, I know, but whatever.

So, tomorrow is the big day, right? Paris-Roubaix beckons us all. Hopefully I’ll be able to catch some of the race (since I am staying up absurdly late watching Chivas USA/LA Galaxy) — and by hopefully, I mean I really want to. But who knows when I’ll wake up. Anyway. both of my boys (you know, the ones I want to win) will be “forced” to help their teammates instead of racing for themselves. I suppose I should have seen this coming, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to root for them (both, either or). I like Chavanel and Haussler and I want one of them to win and one to be second. I’d rather it be Sylvain on top of the podium, but I won’t complain if it’s Haussler.

To be honest, though, there are more people I don’t want to win than I want to win. This is okay, too. Because, like a friend of mine told me, it’s the same way in all sports, it’s just much more visible in cycling. She was right, but that doesn’t matter either. Because one of my boys might win, and for now, that’s enough.

I’m posting every day, isn’t that what counts? Today was a long ass day. My mother and I drove home from Ohio after packing her car to the limit and I didn’t even log onto the computer until about 3pm in the afternoon. Did I mention a long day? But when I finally made it over to cyclingnews, I was pleased to confirm that both Sylvain and Heinrich will definitely be racing PR on Sunday. But, as I imagined, Sylvain will be working in support of other people (disappointingly so), but hey, that’s cycling, right?

I mean, yeah, it is, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I know I’ve talked about the team sport of cycling, but it still pisses me off. Sylvain, based on the season he’s had, should be right up there as a contender and yet he’s not even one of the two team leaders. Boonen has (thankfully) sucked for much (though not all) of the beginning of the season, and yet they keep turning to him to lead the team. Though Boonen did say the following:

“There are three protected riders: Stijn [Devolder], Sylvain [Chavanel] and myself; there’s no pecking order. We’re teammates, not rivals. You can’t take away the right to have ambition to be a good rider” (source).

I’m not sure how that works and in fact, I can only foresee disaster for QS. We’ve seen how too many strong riders on one team (old school T-Mobile, for example) doesn’t do anyone favors. Hell, we’ve seen it on QS when a teammate of Boonen’s was supposedly leading him out and yet took the stage himself. I still feel that while Sylvain obviously believes he made the right decision, I’m not so sure. Of course, unless he doesn’t get picked for the Tour, he might be right. But I can’t imagine Boonen will accept anyone else winning unless he does it himself. 

Like I said yesterday, I hope that it’s Haussler or Chavanel who wins — though there are several other riders I wouldn’t complain about winning (see: Ghent and Edvald Boasson Hagen), but for the most part, those are my top two. But, it’s the Hell of the North and anything can happen (and usually does). You never know, it might be George Hincapie’s year after all — and I know plenty of people who’d be happy about that. Also, I mistakenly said Mark Cavendish and Adam Hansen would be there, and I was wrong. It’s good that he’s got a break, though. The kid needs to save his legs — he can’t go on trying to win everything every season (though I imagine he’d like to try!).