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Cap Fréhel, France

Tour de France Stage 5: Dangerous Day

Cadel Evans avoided a number of crashes that took down several overall contenders at the Tour de France Wednesday as the BMC Racing Team's leader held onto his second place overall.

Stayed In Front

Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard), Bradley Wiggins (Sky Pro Cycling) and Robert Gesink (Rabobank) each crashed, but all were able to get up and continue. Evans finished 11th as Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) won the uphill bunch sprint finish on the 164.5-kilometer stage. "It was really windy, with narrow, winding roads," Evans said. "We worked hard to stay in front all day. I just kept hearing on the radio over and over again, 'crash, crash, crash' and sort of kept going, and then I saw Gesink all covered in dirt. It was a dangerous day."

Good Guidance

Evans remains one second behind yellow jersey wearer Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) heading into the longest stage (226.5 km) of this year's race. The two-time Tour de France runner-up said he's appreciating the fine teamwork he has received, particularly from Manuel Quinziato and Marcus Burghardt. "They're used to riding the classics and riding in the front all day, and dodging traffic islands is their speciality," Evans said. "I'm very grateful to have them here for that as well as their role in the team."

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Telephone squad to travel on Wednesday to Vendée region in order to start in French grand tour, hope to keep the same impressive level showed throughout the 2011 season

 

The Telefónica Flagship Store in Madrid's Gran Vía street was the venue selected for the Movistar Team roster presentation as the squad travels on Wednesday evening to their appearance in the 98th Tour de France, starting on Saturday at the Passage du Gois. Under the sports direction by Yvon Ledanois and José Luis Arrieta, Andrey Amador (CRC), David Arroyo (ESP), Rui Costa (POR), Imanol Erviti (ESP), Iván Gutiérrez (ESP), Beñat Intxausti (ESP), Vasil Kiryienka (BLR), Fran Ventoso (ESP) and current Spanish road champion José Joaquín Rojas will be the nine riders from teht telephone squad in the French grandtour.

At the presentation, attended by Arroyo, Intxausti, Gutiérrez, Ventoso and Rojas, the media and VIPs were able to enjoy the premiere of the documentary "Cycling from inside", broadcasted by TV station CANAL+ tonight (22.00 CET) into the programme Informe Robinson and where the reality of a cycling team in a competition, with footage from Movistar Team from the recent Giro d'Italia, is showne. After the premiere, Movistar Team's general manager Eusebio Unzué valued the winning chances from his group towards the upcoming Grande Boucle: "We're coming here with a squad that aspires to win in all terrains, coming with the same goal every squad has: taking a stage victory. Ventoso has already shown he might do well within the top sprinters, contesting victories in big races; besides, Rojas is also a really fast man, and showed in the Spanish championships on Sunday what his fitness level is. On the other hand, we have allrounders like Amador, Erviti, Iván or Rui Costa, who are capable giving us some success in any kind of stage. For the mountains, as well Intxausti as Arroyo or Kiryienka have the quality needed to ride on front. It will be up to the race itself to see if we can make it to the wins we're looking for”

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The BMC Racing Team will look to Italians Mauro Santambrogio and Ivan Santaromita in Sunday's Giro della Toscana, a one-day race close to the home of Assistant Director Max Sciandri.

Motivated Squad

The 196-kilometer race begins in the province of Florence and finishes with circuits in Arezzo. Seven of the last eight winners of this race have been Italians. "Mauro and Ivan will figure prominently and they're really focused and up for it," Sciandri said. Although he is not familiar with the race, Danilo Wyss said he is ready for his first outing since completing the Giro d'Italia. "I think I've recovered well from the Giro," Wyss said. "We have a good team here so it will be a nice race."

BMC Racing Team Giro della Toscana Roster (June 19):

Yannick Eijssen (BEL), Martin Kohler (SUI), Karsten Kroon (NED), Mauro Santambrogio (ITA), Ivan Santaromita (ITA), Danilo Wyss (SUI), Simon Zahner (SUI).

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A long long time ago I decided that being a bike rider was the coolest thing to be.

It wasn’t riding my own old rusty BMX bike through the backyard of our farm which made me enjoy riding.  But it was seeing the pro’s riding when I fell in love and became mentally obsessed with it. It might have been pro’s, it might have been tourists. I’m not sure. But what I’m sure of is they all had those shiny bikes, tanned muscles, bright catchy kits moving fast and smooth through corners and over hills. It all got me started. 

Started, not with training but with acting. Acting on the bike with friends like we were the real deal. Acting the ideal cyclist wasn’t easy. There was (and still is) a whole list of steps to take, making you not look like just any old hubbard but like a pro from television!

For me being infected with the European offset of the cycling virus back in the nineties the ten commandments for acting like the ideal cyclist should have been as followed:

*To start, put your bars lower than low. But for sure lower than your saddle aiming for the holy  Michele Bartoli position.

*Second, because you dropped your bars probably way too low at step one, move your brake and (if your real cool) shift levers up again to look like Frank Vandenbroucke and make it possible to touch your bars. Forget about riding down on the drops, the bike has to look good.

*Third, wear white socks OVER your shoes like Micheal Boogerd. This covers your old worn-out shoes but also makes your legs look more tanned and your ankles skinnier like a climber! I wonder though why I thought dirty grey socks with holes everywhere still had the same effect?

*Fourth, train or at least ACT like you got the quads of Jan Ullrich.

*Fifth, put on as big as possible time trial bars on your normal race bike which make it look like you’re the pilot in the cockpit of your special, Miguel Indurain –Banesto, time trial bike! It doesn’t matter that your using the same bike with time trial bars and the next moment for acting like your climbing a mountain stage or La Redoute.

*Sixth, when climbing, or when riding an archway, when your from the north of Holland like me, wear your bandana like Marco Pantani. If you don’t have one just use a big old nose-rag folded pirate-wise. After all, you’re acting like “Il Pirata”.

*Seventh, get tanned like “The Black from Brakel” Peter van Petegem. Okay you’re probably not riding as much, or racing in sunny countries as the pro’s do but you have to keep up! The only solution is riding without leg warmers all year long, which can be challenging in Holland…  

*Eight, shiny legs. It doesn’t matter if you got hair on your legs yet or not. Just shave it, its part of the job! After you’ve done this you need to oil the legs for every ride. It doesn’t matter you don’t have professional products. Just use cheap body milk or massage oil. I remember being jealous of a cyclist friend because he had massage oil which was way shinier than my bodymilk…

*Ninth. Spinergy 4-spoke wheels.  Okay this one is for the upper-class of the coolest, but nothing tops those, limb chopping, carbon wheels used by Salvatore Commesso -SAECO

*Tenth but maybe most important. Without Sunnies, you’re not cool.  Back in the days, if you had money, you had two options: The Mario Chipollini  Briko-Lucifer or the Lance Armstrong Oakley M-frame. If you didn’t have the money it was simple. The bigger and more reflective the better.

Committing my life to these ten commandments, I became a on licence racing Junior, Espoir, Amateur and finally Pro. It has been a while and the heroes may have changed a bit. I won’t win the Tour the France and I won’t call myself a hero but it would be nice if I could, while riding my Giant bike with my Aussie tanned legs and DRAPAC kit, influence a little boy somewhere on the side of the road.

He might be the next Eddy Merckx,…

 

Floris Goesinnen

DRAPAC professional cycling team

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Two weeks of hard racing in the heat and wind in the Arabian Peninsula have prepared the BMC Racing Team for the opening weekend of spring classics.

Burghardt, Van Avermaet Impressive
BMC Racing Team Directeur Sportif John Lelangue said he is impressed with the form of Greg Van Avermaet and Marcus Burghardt heading into Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Saturday) and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Sunday). Van Avermaet was in 10th overall until a crash on the final day of the Tour of Oman. Burghardt finished ninth overall at the Tour of Qatar and was in breakaways of 195 and 140 kilometers in the Tour of Oman. "Those breakaways were good preparation and training for this weekend," Burghardt said.



Good Teamwork
Lelangue said he is pleased with the BMC Racing Team's spirit of teamwork. "It was a bit difficult in the first stages of Qatar but in the second part of the race and all through the Tour of Oman, the guys were really riding well together and working well as a team," he said. The BMC Racing Team will field different rosters for the two races.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Roster (Feb. 26):
Marcus Burghardt (GER), Karsten Kroon (NED), John Murphy (USA), Manuel Quinziato (ITA), Michael Schär (SUI), Greg Van Avermaet (ITA), Danilo Wyss (SUI), Simon Zahner (SUI).

Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne Roster (Feb. 27):
Karsten Kroon (NED), Jeff Louder (USA), John Murphy (USA), Manuel Quinziato (ITA), Michael Schär (SUI), Greg Van Avermaet (ITA), Danilo Wyss (SUI), Simon Zahner (SUI).

Sport Directors:
John Lelangue (BEL), Michael Sayers (USA).

Staff:
Doctor: Dario Spinelli (ITA). Mechanics: Ian Sherburne (USA), Nick Vandecauter (BEL). Soigneurs: Chris De Vos (BEL), Trudi Rebsamen (USA), Freddy Viaene (BEL). Bus Driver: Danny Debuck (BEL).

By Jarrod Patridge

Q. George, thanks for taking the time to have a chat with us, how are you recovering from your Tour of Utah injuries?