May 20, 2005
Team Discovery Not Mailing It In
As Lance Armstrong approaches the last dance on his dance card, his team , Discovery Channel, looks to the future on the back of some incredible talent. This month has had one big blow to the big Texan and his team in the loss of Eki, the amazing Russian cyclist who got the Bronze medal in our last summer Olympic games. But Discovery Channel isn't waiting around to find the next Lance Armstrong, they already have a few incredibly talented cyclist on board.
A few days ago Paolo Salvadelli was the only rider able to follow an incredible heart pumping, gear turning charge up the Dolomites by last years Tour de France podium finisher Ivan Basso, another incredible and well liked Italian cyclist.
This stage of the Giro d'Italia was won by Salvadelli, but the overall was taken by Basso. But that wasn't the only capper on the day for this pro team. This same day, on the only other Pro-Tour event on the calendar, Popo, Yaroslav Popovych, almost won the stage at the Volta a Catalonia, and ended up wearing the leaders jersey! Two huge wins in one day for a cycling team that has been tagged as one dimensional and critisized for years for being solely focused on the Tour de France.
What a day for this team that 7 years ago was a "B" contender. Now they have several riders capable of big tour ambitions. And what about Armstrong? He has one tour left in him and you can't argue with 7! Wow, it is hard for me to even imagine a single rider with 7 tour victories.
But looking forward, Johan Bruynell and the team at Discovery have made some awesome acquisitions in order to remain a hot contender for the years ahead. Popo, Salvadelli, Jose Azevedo, Rider Hesjedal and even Mike Creed. You are going to hear these guys' names in the years to come. And it looks like with Pop and Salvadelli, you are going to hear professional cycling and Team Discovery Channel quite a bit right away.
Watch out for Mike Creed. I've been following him for a while and he has talent. I remember saying the same thing when I saw Lance Armstrong's picture in Velonews the year before he won the World's title. He was sitting in his Texas home in front of a steer skull painted like the Texas flag. Creed is for real and will become a factor in the European peloton in the future. Remember his name. I'm not sure if he is a tour winner, but he will be heard. He has a similar cockiness like Armstrong.
One thing I would like to see is some solid support of George Hincapie. He is an amazing rider and surprising in the tour year after year. His concentration are the spring classics, but it never seems like the team gives him a strong enough roster to win the real big ones. What is amazing about him is he gives it all during the spring, and is able to deliver for Armstrong in July. He is just a machine.
Overall I am real happy with the moves Team Discovery Channel has made. Lance Armstrong has done a lot for the sport in America, just like his predecessor Greg Lemond, and it would be a shame for us not to have a competitive team to ride the tail of his success. But that doesn’t look like it will be a problem in the near term. Now all we need are more American riders, more clubs, more velodromes and more people paying attention to they guys in spandex on the side of the road!
Posted by Roger at 09:31 PM | Comments (0)
May 16, 2005
Tyler Hamilton - A hero embattled.
In the shadow of steroids in baseball and BALCO becoming a household name, one lone cyclist struggles to clear his name amid allegations of not steroid or drug use, but doping of another kind -blood transfuion. The idea of blood doping has been around for many years, but as far as this cycling fan is aware, this is the first positive test and the first suspension of its kind.
Tyler Hamilton's positive blood doping tests have been well publicised on the top cycling sites such as Velonews and even ESPN. Blood doping is essentially putting someone else's blood into your system to increase the red blood cell count and the amount of oxygen your blood can carry. That in turn increases the amount of work an athlete can do. Aside from the fact that this is probably pretty hard to do, how weird is the thought of putting someone else's blood into your system to do nothing but to increase the speed at which you can pedal a bike! I pass out when I see a needle, the thought of someone else's blood swimming around with mine, freaky weird.
Tyler was one of the most respected american athletes of our time. His work ethic was eclipsed by no one and his morals were unquestioned up until this time. I remember watching him ride into a fourth place finish in the Tour de France with a broken collar bone. He won a stage of that tour with a solo ride that would have made any of us cry to our mothers. As a fan you knew as much about he and his wife, thier dog and his family as you did the number of races he won. He has been an open book and never once gave anyone any reason to suspect anything. He has always been held up as someone with the highest moral fiber. As far as I can remember he has posted rather frank journal entries on his website, www.tylerhamilton.com allowing you to really see what he was about.
But now he sits on his bike, a suspension handed down to him and the end of his career looking like it is coming years ahead of what he ever imagined. His career was reaching its pinacle as he was looking as the rightful heir to Lance Armstrong's throne. This suspension following his best year as a cyclist and one of the best years in American cycling.
But he trains, every day, hoping that he gets a reprieve from a hell he never thought he would get in. I've looked up to him for years, when I rode I imagined I was him, and today, well, I rode like Tyler. I know he is innocent, maybe in time the world will know too.
Posted by Roger at 11:02 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack