Leading off this week, some more Canadian cycling news. The World Mountain Biking Championships are on this week in Italy, and Canada is bringing it! Well, sort of. The first 3 races this week - the U23 Women, the Junior Women, and the Team Relay, Canada finished 6th, 6th, and 6th. Congrats to Bianca Adolf (JR) and Emiliy Batty (U23, picture below) for doing us proud. I just found out that in the men's U23 race, Canadian Raphael Gagne let me down and finished 7th. The Elite Men's and Women's Races are on Sunday. Updates next week! Go Canada.
One more Canadian cycling note - Canadian Cycling named our Olympic Team this week. Ryder Hesjedal (from Team Slipstream-Chipotle) will ride the time trial and the road race, and will get help from Michael Barry and Svein Tuft. The women's team only had 2 members - Leigh Hobson and Alex Wrubleski. Our teams are smaller than some countries (US, France, Germany) that have 5 men and 5 women. Too bad Dominique Rollin hasn't made the Olympic team after his epic performace at the Tour of California. The men's road race is 260km in Beijing by the way...crazy long day in the smog/pollution!
Hesjedal also leaked on his web site that he is part of Slipstream's training camp for the Tour de France. Although nothing is official, he is very close to becoming the first Canadian to race the Tour since 1997!
More Slipstream team news. First off, the team will not be named Slipstream-Chipotle but rather will be called Garmin-Chipotle next year. Hope they stick with the argyle though! Second, their bike sponsor Felt has brought out brand-new aero road bikes just in time for the tour. With an aero down-tube, head tube, and an aero wheelwell (normally only seen on tri/TT bikes), the designers think the new bike can be up to a minute faster over a one hour ride. They actually did the wind tunnel testing to prove it. I always laugh when i see a picture of a bike in a wind tunnel and there is no rider on the bike. Ummm, doesnt the rider impact about 99% of the aerodynamics? Anyhow, I like the look of the bike...stay tuned!
Cool new products this week...Leading off, we've finally seen the unveiling of our first 11-speed gruppo. Campagnolo has unveiled that its top 3 lines (Super Record, Record, and Chorus) will all be 11-speed in 2009. Especially nice (and probably super expensive) is the Super Record line, which is made of ceramic, titanium, and carbon fibre. Very nice.
And here is a gel holder that makes taping gels with electrical tape a thing of the past. Ok, on first glance this might be a gimmick, but at least it looks cleaner than many of the bikes we see in an Ironman transition zone.
And a big weekend ahead! Bacteria levels are down in the Iowa lake where the big money (and US Olympic Qualifier) Hy-Vee Triathlon is supposed to take place on Sunday. But outside of the US Olympic Trials, I'm looking to see if one of our Canadians can collect a big payday ($200,000 for the win). According to the ITU website, there are 11 US women in the 31 person field, plus some big names like Emma Snowsill, Lauren Groves, Hollie Avil, and World Champ Helen Tucker. Should be great women's race. The men's race could be even better, with huge names like Greg Bennett, Bevan Docherty, Tim Don, Alistair Brownlee, Peter Robertson, last year's winner Rasmus Henning, and the entire Canadian team (Whitfield, Jenkins, Tichelaar, Jones, and McMahon). As usual, you can watch live on triathlon.org on Sunday.
As well, we have Ironman Japan, Ironman France, and Ironman Coeur d'Alene. CDA will be followed most closely, as Desiree Ficker takes on Heather Gollnick and Calgary's (Ok, Penticton's) Sara Gross in the women's pro race. Should be a good battle.
Have a good weekend everyone!
1 comment:
1) That is a great pic of Emily Batty. The mud-caked look of determination is classic.
2) Super Record? I feel bad for all the chumps who bought bikes that were "only" equipped with Record!
3) That Felt is one badass bike!
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