Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
Who was good today?
Alberto Contador. It seemed that Disco was the only team that could execute a strategy. Contador stormed up the Galibier to meet up with his team mate Yaroslav Popovych who rode 1 and 2 towards Briancon. If the finish had not been so far from the summit of the Galibier Disco’s move might have paid off better.
Cadel Evans was hanging tough on the final climb and, for a moment, I actually saw him stick his nose in the wind for a few hundred meters.
Kloden’s butt must not be so bad for him to finish in the top 10 today. Vino on the other hand…not good.
Did you see Chris Horner climbing with the second group today? Holy crap, I did not know he could climb that well.
Moreau was suffering on the Galibier but rode within himself to limit his losses and rode back to the first group on the decent. The French have to be going ape shit at the thought he could win the Tour.
Who lost the Tour today? Vino. Frank Schleck. Denis Menchov.
Posted by Smithers at 9:45 pm in Pro Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 17th, 2007
The whole concept of Club and Team in the racing community has been brutally brought to light in recent days. Let’s explore this phenomenon a bit.
There are numerous racing clubs in the Minnesota Cycling Federation. Some of these clubs have elected to have a “team” of riders within the club. The team is a select group of riders who receive extra benefits from the club in the way of race fee reimbursement, discounted or free bikes, discounted or free clothing, travel expense reimbursement, etc etc., basically stuff that joe-average cat 3 masters bike racer who walks in off the street would never get. Not that I am jealous mind you.
I am aware of 3 clubs that also have a distinct racing team: Minneapolis Bicycle Racing Club (Flanders), Silver Cycling (Hollywood Cycles) and St. Paul Bicycle Racing Club (Grand Performance). There may be more.
What is unique about these 3 clubs? All are associated with a bike shop that is owned by an active member of the racing community. Is it a coincidence that these 3 clubs have racing teams that include the owner of the shop?
While some might say that the owner of the shop is looking to isolate themselves from the rest of the schloobheimers on the club by forming an elite squad within the club, I think it might be more the case that the owner of the shop sees a value in being involved in the sport at the highest possible local level. The shop owner, being actively involved in racing, wants riders associated with their shop to be the ones winning the local races. This creates a pseudo-market for top racers in the local cycling community and, in order to lure these top racers, they have to be offered some special benefit to move from one club to another. Thus, the team is formed to distinguish this upper echelon of racers and the special benefits that these racers receive.
My feeling on this? Whatever. Having been involved in the organization of clubs on and off for the past decade I have decided that elite bike racers are usually more trouble than they are worth. But if the shop owners and their clubs wants to be the ones winning the races then they are doing what they have to do. So long as those joining the club clearly know what their status is in the organization then I don’t really see any problem with this. The only problem that may come up is when a rider sees them self as being worthy of being on the “team” as opposed to being on the “club”, but in reality the market for that individual riders skills will determine their value to the club/team.
Are there any clubs out there that operate differently? How do you determine who gets to be on the team versus the club? Are team members really worth their perceived value? Your thoughts…
Posted by Smithers at 1:14 pm in Local Cycling | Permalink | No Comments »
