It's as if Tyler's reading my blog

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Well I'm chuffed that he has bagged his 2nd Grand Tour stage but just as I proclaim him to be a better prospect as a Classics rider he goes to win. It was a messy stage today and with a combination of luck, raw speed and continued confidence he won by a good bike length. Nice, enjoy a beer tonight.

I've decided I'll be writing on Simon's blog through the Giro, so if you want to keep up with my ramblings on this head over to la gazzetta della bici. Anything none Giro related is likely to be on here.

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Julian Dean - Gent-Wevelgem

Julian Dean - Gent-Wevelgem
Originally uploaded by Garmin-Transitions Pro Cycling Team

Ouch! This seems not an uncommon site for the veteran roadie. I always think that the power that he has would transfer well to the Classic's but he's there as a 'Super Domestique'.

Hope it's nothing too serious and that we will see him at the big one next weekend. Hope it's only a few bumps and bruises and nothing more serious.

Julian Dean, Robbie Hunter - Gent-Wevelgem
Originally uploaded by Garmin-Transitions Pro Cycling Tea

One of the few riders to buck the Garmin trend of using Shimano SPD-SL pedals. Julian has been on Speedplay for a few years and began using them while at Credit Agricole, which must have made Look smart. 

Cozza's back

Steven Cozza - Volta a Catalunya, stage 3
Originally uploaded by Garmin-Transitions Pro Cycling Team

Get in, I'm so pleased to see Steve back in the saddle. Most importantly the MO is back also. This bodes well and I hope that he gets a place on the Flanders Team. Maybe it's a little too early but his passion for the tough cobbled races runs through his viens like Primus at the Gent Six Days.

If you've never checked out his website do so it's a great read and his passion for the sport and the future of the sport is inspiring.


Steve Cozza, the man and the MO

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad - The Cobbled Season Begins

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Are we seeing a new formular to this race? New Team wants to make a big impression on the peloton, New Team wins race, everybody writes lots of column inches and ASO take notice. Job done? Well the pressures on Cervelo Test Team and those upon the SKY Team are slightly different. CTT being Pro Continental and, in many ways, had nothing to prove and in so winning and hitting the podium regularly last year managed the year to be a stomping success. SKY on the other hand are playing in the big boys leauge, and winning this race has great importance as it shows their massive intent for the year ahead. To dominate the Cobbled Classics will take all of the combined brain power and energy of both the riders and the DS's on the day.

 

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I was pretty chuffed to see SKY win, mainly for two reasons. 1. Juan Antonio Flechca, so often the bridesmaid and never the bride. Well thankfully that is over. Over the last 5 or 6 years he has been the most consistent none Northern European rider in all of those races. Hers's my thoughts on the rest of the Cobbled season, podium at the Ronde and Winner at Paris-Roubaix. If SKY choose to run the big powerhouses in the Team, I'm not sure that even the mighty Quick Step will be able to beat them, but that's my punt. 2. Scott Sunderland. He has had a very tough year. With both setting up a whole new structure and all the elements that go with it. Combined with the fact that one of his boys, Tristan, has not been very well provides a whole other bunch of stress and worry. As a parent I take my hats off to them (the Sunderlands), they are great people I love the fact the whole family is enjoying the success. He has always been friendly to this over excited cycling fan and I can't thank him enough for giving me some of his precious time.



Okay to the Race. I only came in with 59km to go. Swimming and a bit of shopping with the family took care of the first 150km so I can only comment on what I saw. Being the first Cobbled Race of the year many of the riders are testing each others form as this year the warmer races in Australia and the Middle East provided a very much needed burn up for the riders who have struggled to get the same quality training in the bag while being based in Northern Europe.

 

image kristof ramon 

At 52km to go Boonen powers up the climb, riding away easierly from the other riders. I really think Boonen wanted to win today as it is one race missing from his palmares. Looking at how light and strong he is I'd suspect that the Ronde is first on his list, losing that extra 5kg will help him in this years edition for sure. With that surge in pace the gap to the leaders dropped to 1:25. Boonen pedals on but then realises that the group is catching up, knowing that there is strength in numbers he soft taps until they breach the gap to him.

A group of 20 or so riders bridge the 30 second gap to Boonen. His (Boonen) power looks to have remained intact even though he's lost the weight, a scary prospect for any other rider. The classic tactic of firing off a rider one at a time is deployed, this rarely works out with so far to go, but the process wittles down the selection of riders. Gilbet and Roelandts look strong and with Cadel Evan's gone they now can concentrate on being a good Classics Team again.

Sieberg goes at around kilometre 37 to go. At first I thought it might succeed but there was no way Boonen was going to let it go, he really wanted this. Boonen has a puncture at 27km to go which effectively takes him out of the race as he had to swap wheels with a Team mate, which didn't go as quickly or smoothly as it does when a Team mechanic does the job. Maybe next year Tom.

 

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A group of six riders make the break. Noteable mentions have to go to two time winner Gilbert who had Team mate Roelandts with him (for the record I think Roelandts will bag a Northern Semi Classic this year) and Flecha. Sitting at home shouting at the screen only Gilbert or Flecha have the real chance of winning. Flecha goes at 19km to go. A long way out but winning can come from a bold move like this, it reminds me of Devolders attacks in Flanders over the last two years, maybe a dry run for this years addition for Flecha.

 

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Gilbert seems unable to respond and having a Team mate there seems to be doing nothing in bridging the gap. Flecha must have gone deep into the hurt locker as the gap kept opening up. Sunderland manages to get along side him in the Team car and offer words of advice and encouragement. The Spanaird keeps going and the lead continues to build, he's gained 30 secs in 4km. Flecha has 12km to go and with only one sector of pave left (700m long) he has to keep going and not look back.

 

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At this point Cervelo hit the front of the chasing peloton, Hammond and Hunt giving it big potatos to bring Haussler up into contention. Quick Step seem to be asleep today and the Lotto boys have had a much better race on a whole. With 6km to go Haussler hits the front of the chasing group, his left knee heavily strapped after his crash. I think he is using a product called Rock Tape, pop over to their site for the full skinny on this product.

With 3km to go all Flecha has to do is stay upright and not puncture. There's been lots of punctures today, with riders choosing to run regular tyres rather than some of the pave specials that are brought out in a few weeks. Rabobank have had more than thier fair share today, and although SKY are sposnored by Vittoria the tyres they are riding look like the reported pave prototypes that CTT were testing on Thursday. It may be those or maybe SKY has chosen to have some specials made by either Dugast or FMB. Flecha holds on for the win beating Haussler by 18 seconds and Farrar coming in third by a narrow margin. Oh and for the record, Boonen predicted Flecha's win today. I think a great career as a commentator beckons once he hangs up his bike.

 

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K-B-K is today. I think that although the conditions will be less favourable I'd expect that the Quick Step and Lotto team will be in the mix. Not having a Belgian on the podium yesterday no doubt would hurt Flemish pride and I would bet that this will be adjusted today.

Steve Cozza's training loop

Steven Cozza's home training loop

Sorry it's a link as I don't know how to embed it into the page. This is a piece he did for Cyclingnews and it is absolutely visually stunning. Listening to Steve talking its clear he's as much a bike rider as he is a bike racer. I reckon he'd be great company on a ride, I especially like it why he talks about why he doesn't use music on this loop.

I am wishing him all the best as he recovers from his broken collar bone. I hope he's back for Flanders as he seems to love these tough races.For more on Steve go to his website here. If you do Twitter you can follow him here.

 

Above is a stunning image from Kristof Ramon and you can view more on his flickr page. He has a very unique style and captures the riders in a earthy real tone.

Pedro's Green Fizz - IMO

At a recent bike show I was given some of this to use. Being that the weather is pretty crap at the moment it's a great time to be trying out a cleaning product. To quote Pedro’s: Green Fizz - Pedro's developed this environmentally benign bike wash to work on the entire bike. With special foaming action, the surfactants of Green Fizz coat the bike and help wash away all the troubles from the toughest of rides. Pedro's created this product for use in the sloppiest of conditions without harming the flora or fauna. And Green Fizz can be used without water.

Pedro’s have been around for a long time and celebrated twenty years in the business last year. Like many they started off being unconcerned about the environment and have moved with the times and now all their products have environmental concerns taken into account. Firstly I may have made some assumptions on how this product would work, compared to other brands that are on the market. My road bike was about as shitty as I would have ever wanted to get it. The recent conditions have left the roads covered in crap and no matter how much rain there has been it hasn't cleared the asphalt.

I was expecting that the Foaming wash would foam a little more than it did. There was a small amount of bubbles on contact, but in my head I think I was expecting something visually more spectacular. On regular grime thrown up from the road it performed perfectly well. I used a bucket of hot water to rinse off. Compared to my usual products the bike lacked that lustre that I had become used to. So on this front it performed well, but not stellar.

The area where I was left a little more disappointed was that the cleaner seemed to lack any real power to remove stubborn grime or grease (I feel like a washing liquid advert!). The main active ingredient is Sodium Tripolyphosphate (STPP). The United States Food and Drug Administration lists STPP as "generally recognized as safe", along with salt, vinegar and baking powder. It is also used in many other cleaning product and foods. 


What I failed to take into account when I first used this product was how American and UK companies view bike cleaning. Muc-Off popularised the 'Spray and Go' method which nearly all UK companies have adopted. Other notable brands such as Pedro's, Finish Line and Morgan Blue all take the approach of using a whole range of products to get the job done. This is pretty important to note as it influenced my initial outcome as I had been originally sold the idea that Green Fizz was using the UK model for bike cleaning.

 

So in summary the product works, but it lacked the lustre that I had come to expect from using other products. This may be a good thing as the product is trying to one job and not two or three. Greasy cassettes, chains and to some extent rims where a major hurdle for this product so a proper degreaser would have to be called in. My end question is on the 'environmental aspect', when you have to use more of a product to clean the dirt away, when does it become a series of diminishing returns? My thoughts are mixed and I'd give it a 7/10 if we are doing ratings for performance and 9/10 for making me feel better about the environment.

Give it a try as one man’s poison is another man’s pleasure and what works, or doesn't, for me might not result in the same experience for you. For the 2010 Road Season Pedro’s continue to supply products to the Garmin Transitions team.

Farrar - in Green

 

Farrar is in Green at Oman. Damn he looks good in that colour. For the full report skip on over to slipstreamsports website to get the full skinny. There is something I like about Tyler Farrar and here is my list.

• He lives in G(h)ent. Unlike many US Pro's he favours the tough playground that is Flanders. Who'd bet against him winning one of the Classic or Semi Classic races that criss cross his training roads. Gent-Wevelgem must be close to his heart and he has just a good a chance of winning it as Cavendish.
• He's a big sprinting unit who is developing at a very nice rate, maturing like a fine wine.
• On the bike he has a great position. I know this is really sad but having fitted many riders over the years I really enjoy observing someone who sits well on a bike. I know it's geeky.
• As a fellow red head I have that affinity that you can only have if you have it.

I hope he has a great year and thankfully in the cyclesport arena you don't have to be Nationalisitc about which riders you like. He's on my to bag list, I reckon he'd make for a good interview and for some reason even though he has had some great late season success last year he is largely left alone by the press. Not sure why, but if I was in their position I'd try to grab some of his time.

So Good Luck Tyler, hope you have a great season and maybe one day you can exchange the Green Jersey of Oman for the one in France.

Garmin Transitions