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a weekly double-shot of road racing Wednesday 29th May 2013

rapha.ccissue 11

have you signed up to the # womens100?

SATURDAY

— Giro d’Italia S20SUNDAY

— Giro d’Italia S21MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

— Critérium du Dauphiné S1

giro opinion

A Call to ArmsInspired by a rallying cry from a leg-endary compatriot, the performanceof Colombia’s riders at this year’s Girod’Italia suggests the future is brightfor the next generation. By Klaus(cyclinginquisition.com)is year’s Giro has served as areintroduction, of sorts, to some ofthe most beloved riders in thepeloton: the Colombians. It had been 21 years since the last all-Colombianteam appeared at the Giro, so the fact 15 Colombian riders lined up at thestart of this year’s race, the state-sponsored Team Colombia among them,was significant.In 1988, Fabio Enrique Parra, a native of the country’s cycling-rich Boy-acá department, placed third overall at the Tour, one of many achieve-ments in cycling that have afforded him legendary status. A confidentbut reserved individual throughout his career, today Parra seldom speaksto the press. Which made his comments before stage 19 that much morepoignant, as the 53 year-old took to Twitter to cheer on his compatriots. “Seize the mountain!,” he tweeted, adding that, “[even] a partial victory,[like the kom] will require an alliance between all Colombians.” An al-liance across teams seemed unlikely but even without Parra’s words ofencouragement, Colombian riders demonstrated considerable fortitudeat the Giro. Despite the fact many were riding in their first grand tour,Team Colombia’s riders were present in numerous breaks and attacks, whileTeam Sky’s duo of Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Urán did more than sal-vage their team’s race after the unexpected departure of Bradley Wiggins. Urán took stage 10 and finished second overall, making him only thethird Colombian to stand on the podium at a grand tour. is puts himin mythical company among Colombia’s best. And yet Colombia’s talentdoesn’t stop at Sky’s riders, or its eponymous team. Arguably, the mostsignificant Colombian rider at this year’s Giro was ag2r’s Carlos Betan-cur, who finished fifth overall and earned the white jersey.During stage 20, on Tre Cime di Lavaredo, Team Colombia’s WilsonMarentes gave Betancur a push, while Urán, Fabio Duarte (also tc) andBetancur rode together for much of the final kilometre, the trio’s ascenthelping Urán up to second in the gc. It wasn’t just the press who lookedon with interest. Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, followed therace closely and after the stage placed a call to Duarte, relaying howemotional it had been to watch his countrymen working together. All ofwhich suggests that Fabio Parra isn’t an out-of-touch dreamer. Rather, anardent Colombian cycling fan who, just maybe, was right.e full version of this feature will be available on the Rapha blog from to-morrow, 30th May. To read it, visit: rapha.cc/blogs

WORST DOMESTIQUE:It turned out to be too good to be true:

Danilo DiLuca rode an unfalteringrace in aid of Mauro Santambrogio

but unfortunately Dirty Danny gotcaught with his hand in the

cookie jar, again

giro d’italia awards

MOST COMBATIVE KIT:Vincenzo Nibali raced up the Jafferau in shortsleeves, no gloves and just toe covers, whilst therest wore every piece of kit they had. Such panachepaid off as he finished first at thesummit (and ultimatelyin Brescia).

SERVICES TO THE CASQUETTE:Mark Cavendish demonstratedgreat sartorial form, as well assprinting class, by sporting a cycling cap each morning with the peak flipped up.

HONOURABLE BEARD MENTION: Brian Holm, debonair DanishDS for Omega Pharma-Quickstep, shows the pelotonhow to rock the pinnacle ofhipster fashions.

MOST IMAGINATIVECELEBRATION: Carlos Betancur (ag2r) on stage8 for dancing on the line as he tooksecond and not first place as he’dimagined. Fellow Colombian Jar-linson Pantano (Team Colombia,whom he overtook) tweeted after:“hahaha. I just said to myself, whatare you doing?”

a weekly double-shot of road racing Wednesday 29th May 2013

have you signed up to the # womens100?

dauphiné preview

Fishy BusinessDespite its name, the Critérium duDauphiné has always been a stage race – yetit can seem small compared with the behe-moth of the Tour de France, whose loom-ing presence a month hence will be bothoppressive and exciting for riders and fans alike.Nicknamed ‘the Dolphin’, the Dauphiné is an inter-esting excursion in its own right but is often seen as aprep race for the Tour, a place for careful calculationas the main contenders check their form – and that oftheir rivals – before holing up in a final pre-Tourtraining camp for last-minute strategising. at’s cer-tainly how it’s been used by greats including LouisonBobet, Bernard évenet and Greg LeMond, all ofwhom have won. In fact, the Dauphiné is the onlyother race that unites all the five-time Tour champi-ons – Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Indurain (and theTexan) – in victory. e pioneering Brian Robinson,first Brit to finish the Tour de France, also won herein 1961 and, while Sir Bradley Wiggins has won theprevious two editions, he almost certainly will notfeature in 2013. is year the Dauphiné offers eightstages (no prologue, one itt) of mountainous racingand starts for the first time in Switzerland. eDauphiné region covers some classic Tour territoryand extends as far south-west as Avignon. e highAlps, including Alpe d’Huez are firmly centre stage,and Mont Ventoux sometimes features. e Giant ofProvence is not on the agenda this time around butthe Alpe certainly is. at stage, on 8th June, will alsogive riders a first look at the Col de Sarenne above theAlpe and the dizzying, technical descent down theback to Freney d’Oisans, which will both feature inthe Tour’s double-Alpe stage in July. And it will be asecond look, we hope, at what may be this year’sdefining Tour de France battle: Alberto Contador vChris Froome…

Maillot rouge à pois blancse Tour climber’sjersey in negative, theDauphiné’s leadingclimber wears ‘redwith white peas’.

Maillot jaune à bande bleueFeaturing a blue bandacross the chest, themountainous parcoursmeans the gc winneris often a grimpeur.

maillots

Maillot vertCadel Evans is thecurrent holder of thepoints jersey, first introduced in 1955.

critérium du dauphiné this week

Sunday | STAGE 1 | 121km Champéry → Champéry e race warms up with aloop over medium mountainsjust south of Lake Léman.

Monday | STAGE 2 | 191kmChâtel → Oyonnaxis stage will show us who’sin control as the peloton movesfrom France to Switzerland.

Wednesday | STAGE 4 | 32.5km Villars-les-Dombes → OiseauxA platform for top gc riders to do their best impression of a runaway train.

Tuesday | STAGE 3 | 167kmAmbérieu-en-Bugey → TarareExpect some battles for supremacy between the gcteams before a sprint finish.

race type: 8-stage race | distance: 1,117km | region: Dauphiné

an post rás review

Cream of the County SetIreland’s premier stage race, the An Post Rás, wrapped upon Sunday. Renowned for pitching tough amateur ridersagainst visiting pro teams, Gerard Cromwell reports onthe county commuter who gave the big boys a fright.Roger Aiken has unwittingly carved his legend intoIreland’s historic stage race. After a stunning week-longperformance, and having ridden only a couple of prepraces this year due to a full-time job, he finished eighthoverall, notched a stage second, and claimed the countyrider jersey no less than three times. Part of a LouthPrague Charter team that included Rapha’s very ownUltan Coyle, Aiken finished just 51 seconds behindrace winner Marcin Bialoblocki (uk Youth) when therace wrapped up in Skerries on Sunday. And he knowsit could have been even closer. “I lost 22 seconds in acrash in Carlow,” Aikens said of a tussle with a round-about just outside the final 3km on stage six.en, onthe penultimate stage, Aikens put in a storming rideover the Wicklow Mountains to finish a very close sec-ond in Naas. He also finished 17th on the final stage,four minutes clear of his nearest rival in the county-rider standings. All of this, despite having ridden onlythe John Beggs Memorial ride and the Tour of Ulsterprior to the Rás, and using his daily commute as a keypart of his training. “I’ve been training hard on the bikeconsistently the last two years, mainly commuting inand out of work. All that was lacking was the speedfrom racing in the big bunch. We definitely had theriders to win it… I rode against Tony Martin in 2007and it’s good seeing him now, what he’s done.” Fornow though, Aiken has thrown off his superman capeand simply returned to work, resuming his Clark Kentrole – as a fitter for Northern Irish Railways. “I’m backto work tomorrow at 7.30,” he said on Sunday, “but Idon’t think I’ll cycle in.” is is an extract from Gerald’s original article, which firstappeared on the Irish cycling blog, stickybottle.com.