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Well worth checking out this link to a behind the scenes interview with Kelly about this years Paris – Nice.
Thanks to Rene van Dam of Visit Nenagh cycling team for recommending it.
http://s.nos.nl/swf/embed/nos_video_embed.swf?tcmid=tcm-5-1215399
Barry
Today saw some fantastic bike handling and some dramatic crashes . Luckily none of the riders were too seriously injured . Simon Gerrans tweeted afterwards ‘Today was probably the hardest Paris Nice stage I’ve ever raced ‘
Barry
It is often said that you can’t make a race horse out of a Donkey . Talent will always shine through . Yesterday one Astana rider showed that he was no Donkey .
Alberto Contador or ‘Bertie’ as he is known , laid down a marker for the upcoming season . By winning the opening time trial of Paris – Nice seven seconds ahead of Bradley Wiggins he has shown that he means business . The triple Grand Tour winner is probably the best climber in the World at present . He can time trial with the best of them , and he can recover well enough to win multiple three week tours . He is physically the best Tour rider in the world at present .
Cycling is not all just physical however , the psychological aspect is just as important and this is where ‘Bertie’ has some serious opposition . Mainly from wthin his own team . He is the quiet , unassuming country boy whereas his team-mate and former seven time Tour champion Lance Armstrong is a one man publicity machine.
Lance is from Texas , and I once sat between two engineers who were talking about boilers . One was from rural Ireland whilst the other was from Texas . The Irish guy was telling the Texan about a great big huge boiler that he had worked on that was almost as big as a small house when the Texan replied that they would use that for heating a chicken coop . He worked on boilers back home so big that they used to drive a JCB around inside of them and they were six storeys high .
Bertie is like the Irish guy when it comes to his off the bike persona . Lance is Texan , and he has that big boiler profile . He is bigger than any bike race or even cycling itself . He is a global political and celebrity figure . Eurosport have a programme called ‘Planet Lance ‘ and it is pretty close to the mark in it’s title .
The season long battle of will’s between both team-mates will be an interesting one to watch . Lance will be psyching Bertie out of it and how Bertie responds will decide who will wear yellow in Paris in July .
During yesterday’s time trial Bradley Wiggins held the lead until Bertie crossed the line . Afterwards he was inconsolable at the loss . At one point during the TT Wiggins began gesticulating at a TV helicopter that he felt was flying too close to him . As soon as he raised his hand from the bars he was playing with fire . For the helicopter to annoy him that much meant that he was not fully focused on the job in hand . Time trials are just about pain and suffering . You have to get into a zone where you concentrate on the pain and only the pain . Everything else around you has to be blocked out . The physical act of waving at the helicopter did not cost him seven seconds , but the break in his concentration easily did .
Bertie held his nerve when the helicoptors decended upon him , lets hope he can do the same with planet lance !
Barry
The traditional first big pro race of the season , Paris-Nice got underway under blustery conditions yesterday . The blustery conditions were in evidence both on and off the bikes .
Last week the stand off between cycling’s governing body , the UCI and the ASO who organise some of the top french races including Paris – Nice and the Tour de France came to a head . The UCI want the ASO to conform to the same rules that all other pro-tour races follow regarding teams participating etc. whilst the ASO want to run things their own way .
The UCI are trying to please WADA , the IOC and also trying to keep sponsors in the sport , whilst the ASO run what is effectively a major french commercial industry .
Last week the UCI threatened to suspend and sanction riders and teams who took part in Paris-Nice but the riders voted with their legs and 160 of the worlds’ top riders turned out for yesterdays prologue , including Irelands’ Philip Deignan .
There will be a meeting between the riders representatives and the UCI at the finish next Sunday but Ireland’s Pat McQuaid really seems to have inherited a poison chalice from his predecessor Hein Verbruggen .
As things stand the Astana team including last years tour winner , Alberto Contador and favourites Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloden will be excluded from the tour . Whilst this looks good from an anti doping point of view , they should use the same rule across the board which would mean that only teams with absolutely no connection with any doping controversy whatsoever could participate . This could well mean a spot on the july start line in Paris for Comeragh cc or Dan Morrisey Carrick Wheelers !
On a different note regarding Paris – Nice , Sean Kelly won the race seven times . He was the worlds best rider at the time and this was always the seasons big opener for the pros . How did he train for it ? Well he used to do the normal Ballymac spin with the group and then maybe a lap of Glenbower or Fiddown afterwards . His longest spin during the winter was Ballymac then up the back road to Kilsheelan and then up Kearneys road and back to Carrick . The intensity was always high but not excessively so . Now many Irish amateurs do this training for C races . If things keep going like this , in 10 years time guys will be leaving home on January Sundays at 8.30 am and not returning home until 4.30 pm in order to get over Sliabh Mish in Tralee in the bunch !
Barry
