Tu quoque, George, fili mi?

Rumor has it that big George Hincapie has joined the crowd accusing Lance of doping use. At least that is what the media are reporting. George for his part started tweeting like, well a twittering bird, to deny or at least contain these rumors.

George's first tweet, now 16 hours ago, read, "I can confirm to you I never spoke with "60 Minutes." I have no idea where they got their information." It is so nicely written with quotes and all, one might suspect that his PR guy did the tweeting.

The first tweet was soon followed by a second one, "As I've said in the past, I continue to be disappointed that people are talking about the past in cycling instead of the future."

And then, "As for the substance of anything in the "60 Minutes" story, I cannot comment on anything relating to the ongoing investigation." Now that one was written by his lawyer for sure.

Happier days in the past

Alberto Contador meanwhile continued to solidify his lead in the Giro. He was second in another mountain stage today. He rode to the top with Nibali, who is seen as his main competitor, although he dropped the Italian in the last 100 meters. Igor Anton (Euskatel) won de stage up the Zoncolan. He arrived solo at the top.

Nets and mattresses

There is a new sight along the Giro route this year: nets and mattresses line dangerous turns along the descents. Many riders, from Contador to Armstrong have pointed out how scary these descents can be. Pedro Horillo went over the edge and dropped 80 m on Stage 8 in 2008. He survived the crash and visited the site seven months later.

The new additions are supposed to not only add a sense of security, but also capture those unfortunate souls who would otherwise plunge to their death (or serious injury).

In California the mountains look more like winter now. Below is a shot from Tahoe where the temperatures were in the high seventies until Sunday. The bad weather continued and Monday's second stage was shortened and moved downhill to Nevada City. It was won by Ben Swift. 

Mark missile-man Cavendish won today's flat stage in the Giro.

Tahoe on Sunday

Bad weather is a tradition for the ATOC. It has been haunting the race practically since its inception and was one of the reasons organizers moved the event from February to May. In the past several years, the weather leading up to the race has been spectacular only to change dramatically for the worse as soon as the race takes off. Maybe the weather gods have it in for California and Amgen's tour?

Smoking volcanoes

Added at 2PM: Stage 1 of the ATOC was canceled due to adverse weather conditions.


Alberto Contador showed everyone who's the king of the mountains today. He left all but one rider behind to win the stage up the Etna and conquer the maglia rosa. Only Jose Rujano could stay with the Spaniard in the last five kilometers but even he ended up 3 seconds behind.

Denis Menchov lost 2'16, while Carlos Sastre lost 2'21. Stefano Garzelli was the first Italan at 50''; Jan Bakelants the first Belgian at 2'16.  Tomorrow is a rest day and on Tuesday there is a flat stage.

Romain Felliu meanwhile won Picardie. He was third in the last stage. Gert Steegmans was forced to leave the race due to a crash.

Lake Tahoe weather

The Tour of California starts today at Lake Tahoe. In line with what we have come to expect from that race, the weather turned ugly last night. The situation in the Sierra is dismal with snow, wind and freezing rain. It was below freezing at 9 AM this morning.

The start of Stage one has been delayed due to harsh and unsafe weather.

I am waiting to fill the last slot for the Ster. I have three good candidates who showed interest and so now it is a matter of seeing who will come through first.

Stay tuned!

Blogger was down all day yesterday so I could not post. Today I am pretty busy but I will post something later. In the meantime here is some more info on the Ster.

Stage 1 loop, map, elevation and fly-over.
Stage 2 morning TTT, map, elevation and fly-over.
Stage 3 afternoon race, map, elevation and fly-over.
Stage 4 small and large loop, map, elevation and fly-over.



Neo-pro Bart De Clercq won the first mountain stage in the Giro today. He finished ahead of the favorites despite struggling earlier on. Contador finished in 9th position. Menchov was 17th.

Yes it is active!

Also, for more fire works (quite literally that is), the Giro will climb Etna, an active volcano, this Sunday. As if we haven't had enough excitement there (crashes, unpaved roads, etc.).  So much so that Petacchi's legs froze a few centimeters from the finish line yesterday and Ventoso passed him for the win.

Jurgen Van den Broeck meanwhile is now on the UCI doping core list. Stay tuned for another high profile case.

Sempre con noi

Italian Federation Coach, and former Weylandts team-mate Paolo Bettini signed the start list for number 108 for the fifth stage of the Giro with the words, "sempre con noi," always with us.  108 was Wouter Weylandt's number. Tom Boonen meanwhile canceled his upcoming radio-show at StuBru.

The Leopard-Treks and Tyler Farrar did not start today, but apparently not everyone was happy with this decision. Young French rider Brice Felliu wanted to continue. He said he wanted "to give the best of myself to honor Wouter." Last year Brice, a promising young rider was denied entry in the Tour de France when his VacanSoleil team did not make the cut. Now pushed out of the Giro, he must feel things are not going his way. Brice did say however, that he is "in solidarity with his team-mates and that is the way it should be."

A bit too much?

Today's stage covered the infamous Strade Bianche, the unpaved roads of Tuscany. Pieter Weening gave the Dutch another victory, twelve years after Jeroen Blijlevens. He also took the maglia rosa. Pieter was so enthusiastic when he crossed the finish line that many spectators were upset and complained it was inappropriate. He then went on to dedicate his win to Wouter Weylandts. Another Dutch rider Tom-Jeite Siegter from the same Rabobank squad was taken to the hospital after a serious crash. He broke his clavicle and had a head wound, but according to the Rabobank doctor who stayed with him the whole time, he never lost consciousness.

Tyler-Leopard-Trek leave Giro after tribute

It is somewhat ironic that Wouter Weylandt won Stage 3 of the Giro last year. This year, Stage 3  ended his life. Today's stage was neutralized and became  a tribute to the rider who many remember as a friend and confidant. Tyler Farrar, Wouter's training partner rode over the finish line alongside the Leopard Trek team in a final tribute to the Belgian sprinter. Tomorrow neither Tyler nor the Leopard-Treks will start Stage 5. They are heading home.

Tyler and the Leopard-Treks in a final tribute to Wouter

2010 Stage 3 win

Controversy and rapture

Alessandro Petacchi won the sprint in the second stage of the Giro today. Man-missile Cavendish was upset and filed a complaint, but the overhead clearly shows that nothing fishy happened and Cav just made the wrong decision.

In Duinkerken, Kittel won another stage making it four, while French rider Thomas Voeckler grabbed the overall classification. Zdenek Stybar brought luster to his road debut by showing himself repeatedly and taking third overall.

Meanwhile, our next stage race, the Ster der Vlaamse Ardennen is filling up and I hope to finalize the team by the weekend. Everyone should get their deposit in by May 21 at 6 PM, because I heard the world will be ending then and we will experience rapture and big earthquake here in California. This will be followed by other earthquakes around the country. But perhaps more importantly, the organizer needs a filled out registration sheet by May 22, and rapture notwithstanding, I do not want to miss that date.

Please get your deposits in before the world ends

I am also looking into opportunities for 16-18 yr olds to go race in Belgium over the summer. No stage races or interclubs, but kermesse races galore.

I will be absent from the blog for the next two days, but hope to see you all again on Wednesday.

Above the law

Saying "UCI ignores all court rulings anyways," the Belgian Appellate Court withdrew its order to rescind Iljo Keisse's suspension. The immediate effect is that the embattled rider can no longer race in Belgium either and now has to wait until August 6 before he can race anywhere again.

The fact that Keisse's suspension is about to end did play a major role in the Court's decision, but the admission by a High Court that its rulings "would be ignored" and would thus be "senseless" did shock some people. In essence the justices did not want to intervene any longer but the way they put it seemed to imply that UCI was effectively above the law and could do as it saw fit. The news was largely ignored outside cycling circles and was no doubt welcomed in Switzerland, but it should give all citizens of the free world pause. If any organization can put itself above the law, then what exactly does the "rule of law mean?"

In the US meanwhile we have seen many similar "adjustments" albeit outside the world of sports. Here too, government lawyers and government officials feel emboldened to legalize any behavior they wish to engage in, be it revoking "habeas corpus," spying on citizens, illegal detainment and kidnapping, torture, pre-emptive strikes, or ignoring the sovereignty of nations.

It now appears neo-pro Marcel Kittel is going to win every single stage of the vierdaagse van Duinkerken. The cyclo-crossers who are using this race as their road debut are barely visible. Stybar did manage to get into a break-away yesterday but Sven Nys could do no more than avoid a major crash.

Marcel Kittel (R) here with Taylor Phinney at the U23 worlds

Tomorrow is the start of the Giro d'Italia. For you endurance racing fans, tomorrow is also the second running of Ironman St. George, considered by many the toughest race in the lower 48. And while we have seen pictures of snow-covered peaks for the former, the latter is going to be a scorcher with temperatures above 30C/ 88F.

And finally, a great shot of Hunter in the final stage of the Ster van Zuid-Limburg.

A safer place

Now that the world has become a safer place -except for team managers driving follow cars that is, as this photo from the Tour of Asturias clearly illustrates, we can all relax and enjoy the view.

Team Andalucia in the ditch. 

The view from the back of the caravan

Lots of exciting things are happening in the cycling world. But first I want to state for the record that I was able to run a 10K yesterday -despite the cold and coughing. It isn't exactly an endurance event but it felt like it. I have now been sick for more than a week and our house has turned into a mini-hospital with two more sick children. 

But back to cycling: on the eve of the Giro d'Italia, BMC put Alessandro Ballan on non-active and Contador is trying to sneak in another win before he will most certainly go non-active in summer. All that to prepare for the soon-to-be-oldest winner of the Tour day France.

The Australian invasion continues unabated. Rabobank is replacing its top rider Theo Bos, who is suffering from a respiratory infection, with Aussie Graeme Brown who ended third in Nokere Koerse earlier this year. And in Sint-Truiden I noticed other evidence of down-under, right before the start of the final stage in the Ster van Zuid-Limburg.

Home-made Australian Ice Cream in Sint-Truiden

Ironically enough, one of the Australian home-made flavors was speculoos.

Finally, for your continued enjoyment, more shots of Belgium and things Belgian.

Smurf display at BRU

Moots ready for the Koppenberg

Mementos from the Ster

Ster: Team Leader and Soigneur badges

View outside Bilzen

Erik in the laudromat Tongeren