Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
70.3 Worlds...Caster and the BladeRunner...and Contador...
Hi All,
Let's start our weekly recap with last weekend's Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida. Let's just say - it was fast. Very fast. How fast? According to triathlonranking.com, in the 33 70.3 events in 2009, there was one man who broke 3:45 over the 70.3 distance - Marino Van Hoenacker at Antwerp 70.3 (3:41:46). That time would not have earned Van Hoenacker a place in the Top 10 at Clearwater last weekend. Unreal. The winner, Michael Raelert, posted remarkable splits of a 21:58 swim, a 1:59:35 ride, and a ridiculous 69:05 run to win the world title by 2-and-a-half minutes in a record-shattering 3:34:04! Raelert, a relative unknown (he has one Top 10 finish in a 70.3 race this season as he raced mostly non-drafting Olympic distance this season) who might be confused with his older brother Andreas, who was 2nd in last year's 70.3 Worlds before making the huge leap to finish 3rd at Ironman Worlds in Kona this year.
Raelert was not the only surprise in the men's race. It was expected to be a battle between Americans Tim O'Donnell, Greg Bennett, and Matt Reed, but O'Donnell got one of the few drafting penalties on the day and finished 12th. Bennett faded badly and finished outside the Top 30. Last year's winner Terenzo Bozzone didn't have enough run speed after finishing Kona a month ago and finished well back. Matt Reed did have a great race but could only hold on to 3rd. Italian Daniel Fontana was 2nd. Top Canadian was Brent McMahon, but he finished 25th place, over 10 minutes behind Raelert.
The women's race went a little more according to plan, with Julie Dibens underlining her pre-race favorite status by blowing away the field on the bike to take a 4 minute lead into T2. From there, she held on easily to win her second world title in a month (she won Xterra Worlds in October). Her finishing time of 3:59:33 was the first time a woman has broken the 4-hour barrier and left her with a 4 minute victory. Mary Beth Ellis (another ITU veteran) finished 2nd for the second year in a row. In a breakthrough performace, Canada's Magali Tisseyre finished 3rd after a race-best run 1:20:31 run split. She might be the next great Canadian Iron-threat, as she will hopefully follow Sam McGlone into the Ironman distance in the near future. Congrats Magali!
Regardless, Michael Raelert's and Julie Dibens' day were the best among a record-breaking day in Clearwater. 5 men broke the 3:40 barrier (which had never been done before), 14 men biked the 56 miles in less than 2 hours, and 25 men finished the race before 3:45 had passed. It is interesting that we are seeing more and more fast athletes coming up thru the ITU and 70.3 disciplines, and that those times are steadily improving (Brownlee's 29 minute 10K speed comes to mind) but that some of the sport's Ironman records have stood for 15 or 20 years. Mark Allen's run record at Kona has stood since 1988 and the Top 6 men's finishing times at Kona are all at least 13 years old. True, Chrissie Wellington did break the women's course record and Mirinda Carfrae the run record in 2009, but the women's bike record has stood since 1993. Will we see more records broken in the future?
Let's change gears and update you on some of the most famous male and female track athletes. Not Usain Bolt and Yelena Isinbayeva, who might be the most consistent male and female athlete, but Caster Semenya and Oscar Pistorius, both from South Africa. Semenya is famous for winning the Women's 800m at Worlds this summer, then undergoing a public blitzing about her gender identity. It was assumed that once these tests were finished, the IAAF would make some decision about her eligibility for future races, whether she could keep her medal, etc. However, her South Africa Federation announced this week that they had reached agreement with the IAAF that Semenya will keep her gold medal, regardless of the outcomes of her tests, which now will not be known until early 2010. However, there will be no official public announcement about the results of the tests will be made public, as this is will be treated as "a confidential matter between a doctor and a patient". So we might never know the full truth...
Oscar Pistorius also made headlines this week, when a study was released that shows that his carbon-fibre lower legs might make him 10 seconds faster over a 400m race. Ten seconds in a 45 second race is a lot! Anyhow, this is making news since Pistorius did win a court case (in the Court of Arbitration for Sport) in 2008 that "allows" him to compete against able-bodied athletes. This trial stated that "at the moment, not enough is known scientifically to be able to prove that Mr Pistorius obtains an advantage from the use of the prostheses. Consequently, it has cleared him to run". Does this new study change the ruling? A complicating factor is that the scientists/authors who made this "10 seconds faster" claim were actually scientific advisors that helped Pistorius win his court case in 2008. So obviously they have changed their mind, and the future of Pistorius being able to compete is going to have to be re-decided...lots more good editorial content here.
Alberto Contador and Team Astana are staying together. Today, it was announced that Alberto Contador will remain with Astana for the final year of his contract. This had been the cycling hot-stove topic for the past three months, but Contador will stay with Astana if they get their ProTour license approved for 2010. If not, Contador will be free to sign with any ProTour team (he has been linked to almost every team except for RadioShack). However, Friday is only a soft deadline, and it might take some time for all the documents to be signed. It is expected that Astana will do their part, get their license approved, and be ready to defend their Tour title in 2009. We'll see...
In other Contador news, he has signed a $1 million dollar endorsement contract with Specialized bikes for 2010. Does this mean that Astana has signed a deal to ride Specialized too? I guess we'll find out when and if their ProTour license gets approved. This article also mentions the possibility that Ivan Basso might join Contador at Astana next season as well. Interesting...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Worlds 70.3 and Canadian Content
Hi All,
Tomorrow bright and early in Clearwater, Florida, the 70.3 racers have their chance at winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. It's an interesting race, short enough for ITU athletes to use their superior speed, while long enough that Ironman pros and non-drafting athletes can use their biking abilities to speed ahead. But in reality, it appears that this event is a precursor to greatness at the Ironman distance. The winners in 2006 were Craig Alexander and Sam McGlone (who both finished 2nd at Kona the next year); in 2007 it was Mirinda Carfrae (2nd at Kona this year) and Andy Potts (twice top 10 in Kona since); in 2008, the top two guys (Terrenzo Bozzone and Andreas Raelert) both made top 11 at Kona. So if history holds, we might be looking at the next up-and-comers to make the jump at Clearwater...
Ok, so who's racing? The entire pro list is pretty lengthy. But a few names do stick out as the favorites..the men's field is loaded. I consider the race to have 3 main favorites: Matt Reed, Tim O'Donnell, and last year's champ Terenzo Bozzone. We might ordinarily discount Bozzone after just finishing Kona about 5 weeks ago, but he has the speed and youth to recover and reload to defend his title. Both Slowtwitch and Triathlete Magazine picked Matt Reed to win, based on his very good season so far. But I think something will go wrong and he'll be unable to stay away for the entire bike ride, leaving the race open to a foot race. And here I'll pick Tim O'Donnell, who has won almost everything this year, and who looks as though he is still peaking (won the ITU Long Distance title in October). I think it's his time to shine, he's 29 and ready to make the next step.
For my long shot special, I like Joe Gambles (from Australia) as a guy ready to fight for the podium with the big names. Other names to watch include Philip Graves (20 years old!)and Fraser Cartmell. Canada has 7 pro men (!) in the field, led by Brent McMahon, who has had a decent season in 2009 (unlike his rock-solid finish to 2008). It started off with a bang when he beat Craig Alexander in April at 70.3 New Orleans, but after an uneventful summer racing ITU, I'm not sure if he's ready to go all out in Clearwater. He's our best shot for a Top 5 finish.
Last year's women's race was a USA three-peat (Joanna Zeiger over Mary Beth Ellis and Becky Lavelle). This year could be a Great Britain three-peat. They have 4 very fast females in the field including Leanda Cave, Julie Dibens, Catriona Morrison, and Jodie Swallow. Dibens and Swallow have won world titles in the past month in Xterra and ITU Long Distance events, while Cave and Morrison are veterans who know how to show up at big events. It will be interesting to watch the British and the American go head to head. Zeiger and Ellis are back again in 2009, joined by very fast Rebaccah Wassner, Sarah Groff, and the veteran Laura Bennett. It should be a nice battle...
Triathlete Magazine likes Dibens-Swallow-Bennett-Zeiger while Slowtwitch likes Dibens-Swallow-Bennett-Groff-Zeiger (yikes, eerily similar). As much as I want to pick against Julie Dibens (who beat Chrissie Wellington at a half-Ironman this summer), I don't think I can. Let's go with Dibens-Bennett (Laura can always run with the best) with Canada's Magali Tisseyre in third. Yep, a complete homer pick but she's fast and might be ready to run herself onto the podium. A couple of dark horses could be Sam Warriner (shows up in big races) and Lucie Zelenkova (another TBB athlete who is really strong swim-bike). And yes, a Great Britain sweep will result in another "The Brits are coming" post...
Whole race is live on Ironman.com Saturday morning!\
And full recap to come next week...check back...
Tomorrow bright and early in Clearwater, Florida, the 70.3 racers have their chance at winning the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. It's an interesting race, short enough for ITU athletes to use their superior speed, while long enough that Ironman pros and non-drafting athletes can use their biking abilities to speed ahead. But in reality, it appears that this event is a precursor to greatness at the Ironman distance. The winners in 2006 were Craig Alexander and Sam McGlone (who both finished 2nd at Kona the next year); in 2007 it was Mirinda Carfrae (2nd at Kona this year) and Andy Potts (twice top 10 in Kona since); in 2008, the top two guys (Terrenzo Bozzone and Andreas Raelert) both made top 11 at Kona. So if history holds, we might be looking at the next up-and-comers to make the jump at Clearwater...
Ok, so who's racing? The entire pro list is pretty lengthy. But a few names do stick out as the favorites..the men's field is loaded. I consider the race to have 3 main favorites: Matt Reed, Tim O'Donnell, and last year's champ Terenzo Bozzone. We might ordinarily discount Bozzone after just finishing Kona about 5 weeks ago, but he has the speed and youth to recover and reload to defend his title. Both Slowtwitch and Triathlete Magazine picked Matt Reed to win, based on his very good season so far. But I think something will go wrong and he'll be unable to stay away for the entire bike ride, leaving the race open to a foot race. And here I'll pick Tim O'Donnell, who has won almost everything this year, and who looks as though he is still peaking (won the ITU Long Distance title in October). I think it's his time to shine, he's 29 and ready to make the next step.
For my long shot special, I like Joe Gambles (from Australia) as a guy ready to fight for the podium with the big names. Other names to watch include Philip Graves (20 years old!)and Fraser Cartmell. Canada has 7 pro men (!) in the field, led by Brent McMahon, who has had a decent season in 2009 (unlike his rock-solid finish to 2008). It started off with a bang when he beat Craig Alexander in April at 70.3 New Orleans, but after an uneventful summer racing ITU, I'm not sure if he's ready to go all out in Clearwater. He's our best shot for a Top 5 finish.
Last year's women's race was a USA three-peat (Joanna Zeiger over Mary Beth Ellis and Becky Lavelle). This year could be a Great Britain three-peat. They have 4 very fast females in the field including Leanda Cave, Julie Dibens, Catriona Morrison, and Jodie Swallow. Dibens and Swallow have won world titles in the past month in Xterra and ITU Long Distance events, while Cave and Morrison are veterans who know how to show up at big events. It will be interesting to watch the British and the American go head to head. Zeiger and Ellis are back again in 2009, joined by very fast Rebaccah Wassner, Sarah Groff, and the veteran Laura Bennett. It should be a nice battle...
Triathlete Magazine likes Dibens-Swallow-Bennett-Zeiger while Slowtwitch likes Dibens-Swallow-Bennett-Groff-Zeiger (yikes, eerily similar). As much as I want to pick against Julie Dibens (who beat Chrissie Wellington at a half-Ironman this summer), I don't think I can. Let's go with Dibens-Bennett (Laura can always run with the best) with Canada's Magali Tisseyre in third. Yep, a complete homer pick but she's fast and might be ready to run herself onto the podium. A couple of dark horses could be Sam Warriner (shows up in big races) and Lucie Zelenkova (another TBB athlete who is really strong swim-bike). And yes, a Great Britain sweep will result in another "The Brits are coming" post...
Whole race is live on Ironman.com Saturday morning!\
And full recap to come next week...check back...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Where will they end up?
Hi All,
I have lots (LOTS!) to get to over the next few days, with lots of triathlon news, running news, etc, so feel free to come back in the next couple, but wanted to try and sort out the biggest story in Pro Cycling (and remarkably, has been since September) and that is the whole Who-will-Alberto-be-riding-with-in-2010?
If you don't know the whole story - here goes. Alberto Contador signed a 3-year contract with Team Astana for the 2008 thru 2010 seasons. Then Astana got blackballed (thank you Alex Vinokourov) for the 2008 Tour, so he just won the Giro and the Vuelta that year. Then Lance comes back in 2009, Alberto and Lance try to play nice, end up sniping thru the summer, Alberto wins the Tour as Lance tries to upstage him, then Lance leaves Astana to start his own team and takes most of the key Astana riders with him. Then Vinokourov comes back from his suspension to rejoin Team Astana (which was essentially created to support him) and Contador wants out. Problem is that he still has a contract and Astana really doesn't want to let him leave. So he's stuck...
The last few months have been full of rumours. At least 5 big ProTour teams have been rumored to be interested in signing Contador if they could work out a deal with him and Team Astana. Once it became apparent that Team Astana was not going to just release him from his contract to save his reported €2 million per year. But Astana insisted he would ride with them for 2010. However, Astana still haven't secured their ProTour license for 2010, which needs to be completed or Contador could walk away and become a very big free agent cyclist.
That is not nearly the end of the story. In the past week, all of these stories have been posted.
1. Last week, it was reported that Contador was re-negotiating a new contract with Astana for upwards of €4 million per year. However, his new contract would contain a provision that if anyone on Astana tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, he would be free to leave the team.
2. Then came news that Astana has offered Contador a new contract for 4 more years, at a reported €8 million per season. Wow. It appears that Astana wants to simply offer Contador more money than anyone else to keep him. This is twice as much money as they offered him in late July on a similar 4-year deal.
3. Contador's brother and manager is now trying to clear up some of the confusion, saying that Alberto would only remain at Astana for one more year at most. Is this a strategy to maximize the amount of money he can get out of Team Astana? Or are they seriously looking at leaving €32 million on the table?
With all these stories, it might be evident that Contador will be riding in the teal of Astana in 2010. Well, maybe not...
A story today suggested that Team Quick Step has offered Contador a €20 million contract over 4 years. So maybe that explains why Astana upped their offer so much. So they are betting that Contador doesn't re-sign with Astana and that they lose their ProTour status in 2010. Very interesting...
Contador is not only the big name still out there...Bradley Wiggins also has a contract for 2010 (with Garmin) but continues to be rumored to be moving to Team Sky (the new British ProTour team). Team Sky was supposed to announce their entire 2010 team at a media event last month, but delayed the event for unknown reasons. Similar to Quick Step, Team Sky is very vocal in their pursuit of Wiggins. Plus the Contador-to-Garmin-if-Wiggins-leaves-Garmin-for-Sky circle has been rumored for months as well.
So while we are about 2 months from the beginning of 2010, we are still waiting for the last few cycling dominoes to fall? It should be all done by the end of November, but we were assuming that it would all be done by the end of September. Once these two cyclists find homes, then we will sort of the rest of the questions for 2010...but let's deal with those later...
More to come this week - including a preview of Ironman 70.3 Worlds...see you soon!
I have lots (LOTS!) to get to over the next few days, with lots of triathlon news, running news, etc, so feel free to come back in the next couple, but wanted to try and sort out the biggest story in Pro Cycling (and remarkably, has been since September) and that is the whole Who-will-Alberto-be-riding-with-in-2010?
If you don't know the whole story - here goes. Alberto Contador signed a 3-year contract with Team Astana for the 2008 thru 2010 seasons. Then Astana got blackballed (thank you Alex Vinokourov) for the 2008 Tour, so he just won the Giro and the Vuelta that year. Then Lance comes back in 2009, Alberto and Lance try to play nice, end up sniping thru the summer, Alberto wins the Tour as Lance tries to upstage him, then Lance leaves Astana to start his own team and takes most of the key Astana riders with him. Then Vinokourov comes back from his suspension to rejoin Team Astana (which was essentially created to support him) and Contador wants out. Problem is that he still has a contract and Astana really doesn't want to let him leave. So he's stuck...
The last few months have been full of rumours. At least 5 big ProTour teams have been rumored to be interested in signing Contador if they could work out a deal with him and Team Astana. Once it became apparent that Team Astana was not going to just release him from his contract to save his reported €2 million per year. But Astana insisted he would ride with them for 2010. However, Astana still haven't secured their ProTour license for 2010, which needs to be completed or Contador could walk away and become a very big free agent cyclist.
That is not nearly the end of the story. In the past week, all of these stories have been posted.
1. Last week, it was reported that Contador was re-negotiating a new contract with Astana for upwards of €4 million per year. However, his new contract would contain a provision that if anyone on Astana tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, he would be free to leave the team.
2. Then came news that Astana has offered Contador a new contract for 4 more years, at a reported €8 million per season. Wow. It appears that Astana wants to simply offer Contador more money than anyone else to keep him. This is twice as much money as they offered him in late July on a similar 4-year deal.
3. Contador's brother and manager is now trying to clear up some of the confusion, saying that Alberto would only remain at Astana for one more year at most. Is this a strategy to maximize the amount of money he can get out of Team Astana? Or are they seriously looking at leaving €32 million on the table?
With all these stories, it might be evident that Contador will be riding in the teal of Astana in 2010. Well, maybe not...
A story today suggested that Team Quick Step has offered Contador a €20 million contract over 4 years. So maybe that explains why Astana upped their offer so much. So they are betting that Contador doesn't re-sign with Astana and that they lose their ProTour status in 2010. Very interesting...
Contador is not only the big name still out there...Bradley Wiggins also has a contract for 2010 (with Garmin) but continues to be rumored to be moving to Team Sky (the new British ProTour team). Team Sky was supposed to announce their entire 2010 team at a media event last month, but delayed the event for unknown reasons. Similar to Quick Step, Team Sky is very vocal in their pursuit of Wiggins. Plus the Contador-to-Garmin-if-Wiggins-leaves-Garmin-for-Sky circle has been rumored for months as well.
So while we are about 2 months from the beginning of 2010, we are still waiting for the last few cycling dominoes to fall? It should be all done by the end of November, but we were assuming that it would all be done by the end of September. Once these two cyclists find homes, then we will sort of the rest of the questions for 2010...but let's deal with those later...
More to come this week - including a preview of Ironman 70.3 Worlds...see you soon!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Cadel on the move...
Hi All,
Some late-breaking pro cycling news this weekend concerning our current World Champion Cadel Evans. Normally late-breaking news about a pro cyclist would involve a positive doping violation but not this time...
Cadel Evans surprised a lot of people in the cycling world on Saturday by exercising an out in his contract with Silence-Lotto and deciding to leave the team with whom he has twice finished second and once third in the Tour de France in the past 4 seasons. There had been speculation that Evans was dissatisfied with his team over they years for not surrounding him with strong enough helpers to help his ascent of the TDF podium. Evans had been with Silence-Lotto since 2005, and finally broke thru with the biggest win of his career when he solo'ed away to win the World Championship Road Race in September.
Of course, with a GC rider of Evans stature on the free agent market, the rumor mills were very busy yesterday. Would Evans go to Team Sky to be their leader in 2010? Would he join Vinokourov on Astana? Perhaps Garmin would grab another GC contender? However, the discussion were short-lived when it was announced on Sunday that Evans would be joining BMC Racing Team for 2010 and beyond. This gives BMC - who are making the jump from a continental team to a pro-continental team, a giant extra reason for race directors to invite them to prestigious races in 2010, including Grand Tours like the Tour de France. Evans joins 2008 World Champion Alessandro Ballan and American George Hincapie on BMC in 2010, which has gone from a "Who?" team to a solid race contender with the addition of those 3 racers, plus a couple of other veteran riders.
So in 2010, we will perhaps have 3 more brand new teams in the Tour. We have the Lance-lead Team RadioShack, the mostly British Team Sky, and now Team BMC. It is already shaping up to be a very good 2010.
Of course, Evans' defection does mean that Silence-Lotto will lost out on the chance of having the rainbow jersey on one of their riders in 2010. But perhaps the extra money this frees up could help them attract a certain Spanish rider who still might need a new team in 2010...as always, stay tuned...
Some late-breaking pro cycling news this weekend concerning our current World Champion Cadel Evans. Normally late-breaking news about a pro cyclist would involve a positive doping violation but not this time...
Cadel Evans surprised a lot of people in the cycling world on Saturday by exercising an out in his contract with Silence-Lotto and deciding to leave the team with whom he has twice finished second and once third in the Tour de France in the past 4 seasons. There had been speculation that Evans was dissatisfied with his team over they years for not surrounding him with strong enough helpers to help his ascent of the TDF podium. Evans had been with Silence-Lotto since 2005, and finally broke thru with the biggest win of his career when he solo'ed away to win the World Championship Road Race in September.
Of course, with a GC rider of Evans stature on the free agent market, the rumor mills were very busy yesterday. Would Evans go to Team Sky to be their leader in 2010? Would he join Vinokourov on Astana? Perhaps Garmin would grab another GC contender? However, the discussion were short-lived when it was announced on Sunday that Evans would be joining BMC Racing Team for 2010 and beyond. This gives BMC - who are making the jump from a continental team to a pro-continental team, a giant extra reason for race directors to invite them to prestigious races in 2010, including Grand Tours like the Tour de France. Evans joins 2008 World Champion Alessandro Ballan and American George Hincapie on BMC in 2010, which has gone from a "Who?" team to a solid race contender with the addition of those 3 racers, plus a couple of other veteran riders.
So in 2010, we will perhaps have 3 more brand new teams in the Tour. We have the Lance-lead Team RadioShack, the mostly British Team Sky, and now Team BMC. It is already shaping up to be a very good 2010.
Of course, Evans' defection does mean that Silence-Lotto will lost out on the chance of having the rainbow jersey on one of their riders in 2010. But perhaps the extra money this frees up could help them attract a certain Spanish rider who still might need a new team in 2010...as always, stay tuned...
Friday, October 30, 2009
100% Non BikeY...
Hi All,
Bikey is taking a day off, as we are two days away from the end of the 2009 Elite Marathon season, with Sunday's New York City Marathon on the agenda. So no bike or triathlon news right now, it's all running this week...
The New York City Marathon doesn't have the history of Boston (117 years vs 40 for NYC) or the uber-fast times of Chicago (where 4 marathon world records have been set, including Paula Radcliffe's 2:17 in 2002) but it seems to have an aura about it. It helps that it can afford to attract a great elite field year after year. Paula Radcliffe has won this race 3 times, and is going for number 4 in her return to the marathon. She hasn't run one since NYC a year ago, but has always performed great at this race. She runs from the front, dares the other women to hold on, and outkicks any one who remains near the end. This year she doesn't have too many rivals to worry about, because there have been 5 major female pro withdrawals, so Radcliffe goes into Sunday's race as an overwhelming favorite. Radcliffe has only 2 main competitors including 2009 Boston winner Salina Kosgei. However, Radcliffe has stated that her 2009 win includes breaking the women's race record of 2:22:31. We shall see...
The men's race is noteworthy as well since Ryan Hall is making his NYC marathon debut. He did run 2:09 two years ago in New York City while at the US Olympic Trials but that was a modified Central Park course. So he will be the people's favorite but will be challenged by a very strong mens field. Ryan Hall has a PB and US record of 2:06:17, but that is only the 4th fastest PB in the field, and those other guys have all run faster than that in 2009. Check out this list:
* Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) - ran 2:05 in London this year, silver in Beijing Olympics, 2-time World Marathon Champion
* James Kwambai (Kenya) - ran 2:04:27 in Rotterdam (and finished second!) which makes him the 3rd fastest man all-time, has ran a 59:08 half-marathon less than 2 months ago
* Patrick Makau (Kenya) - ran 2:06 in his marathon debut in April in Rotterdam, is the second fastest half-marathoner of all time (58:52)
There are many other elite men in the race - you can check out the list here. Who will win? Since Ryan Hall has often run well in his major marathons but ultimately has a bad mile or two and falls off the pace, I can't pick him to win. Let's go with Kwambai, who'll use his experience to outlast Makau and Hall. Of course, that means Gharib will win going away...
I didn't talk at all about this month's very frigid Chicago Marathon, which was run about three weeks ago. It included a new course record (and a North American marathon record) of 2:05:41 by Sammy Wanjiru, which is a whole 1 second faster than the previous record. That 1 second was worth an extra $100,000 to Wanjiru, who is widely regarded as the best marathoner in the world today. He won Beijing last year, London this spring, now Chicago in the fall. He also owns the half-marathon world record and has run 2:05 twice this year. Wanjiru also moves to the top of the World Marathon Majors for 2008-09, which will be worth another cool $500,000 for him. It's so sad that he won't run against Gebrselassie (or vice versa) one time so we can see what they could do running against each other. The next step for Wanjiru appears to be a shot at the world record...stay tuned!
The women's winner in Chicago was not pre-race favorite Irina Mikitenko, but a Russian track star, Liliya Shobukhova, hammered the last 2.2 km (apparently running that split in 6:36, faster than Wanjiru did!) to beat Mikitenko by 35 seconds. Apparently, the combination of her track speed (she had world indoor record in the 3000m) and her huge training (regularly runs 250 km a week!) has honed Shobukhova into a future marathon star. Mikitenko can be consoled by her second place finish with the knowledge that she has already won the half-million for the World Marathon Majors for 2008-09 (she also won the 2007-08 segment and leads the 2009-10 segment as well).
I could depress you with some stories about the recent "rash" of marathon deaths that the media likes to discuss, but instead will leave you with a couple of stories to think about. One is a Globe and Mail story about the combination of drinking and running (includes the BeerMile) and the others are from the NY Times (caution: you may need to create a free account to read them). One is about the rash of "slow" runners who are now participating in the marathon. They make a case that 44% of runners in last year's Honolulu Marathon took longer than 6 hours to finish the race, and that keeping roads closed and volunteers out on the course creates headaches and extra costs for race directors. An interesting read. The other one is a fascinating look back at the NYC Marathon in the 1970's where 8- and 9-year-old children ran the marathon in 3-and-a-half hours or less! One of them later ran a 2:38 when he was 15! Ahhh - the days before Nintendo and Xbox, when all kids could do is go outside and run...
That's it for now...
Bikey is taking a day off, as we are two days away from the end of the 2009 Elite Marathon season, with Sunday's New York City Marathon on the agenda. So no bike or triathlon news right now, it's all running this week...
The New York City Marathon doesn't have the history of Boston (117 years vs 40 for NYC) or the uber-fast times of Chicago (where 4 marathon world records have been set, including Paula Radcliffe's 2:17 in 2002) but it seems to have an aura about it. It helps that it can afford to attract a great elite field year after year. Paula Radcliffe has won this race 3 times, and is going for number 4 in her return to the marathon. She hasn't run one since NYC a year ago, but has always performed great at this race. She runs from the front, dares the other women to hold on, and outkicks any one who remains near the end. This year she doesn't have too many rivals to worry about, because there have been 5 major female pro withdrawals, so Radcliffe goes into Sunday's race as an overwhelming favorite. Radcliffe has only 2 main competitors including 2009 Boston winner Salina Kosgei. However, Radcliffe has stated that her 2009 win includes breaking the women's race record of 2:22:31. We shall see...
The men's race is noteworthy as well since Ryan Hall is making his NYC marathon debut. He did run 2:09 two years ago in New York City while at the US Olympic Trials but that was a modified Central Park course. So he will be the people's favorite but will be challenged by a very strong mens field. Ryan Hall has a PB and US record of 2:06:17, but that is only the 4th fastest PB in the field, and those other guys have all run faster than that in 2009. Check out this list:
* Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) - ran 2:05 in London this year, silver in Beijing Olympics, 2-time World Marathon Champion
* James Kwambai (Kenya) - ran 2:04:27 in Rotterdam (and finished second!) which makes him the 3rd fastest man all-time, has ran a 59:08 half-marathon less than 2 months ago
* Patrick Makau (Kenya) - ran 2:06 in his marathon debut in April in Rotterdam, is the second fastest half-marathoner of all time (58:52)
There are many other elite men in the race - you can check out the list here. Who will win? Since Ryan Hall has often run well in his major marathons but ultimately has a bad mile or two and falls off the pace, I can't pick him to win. Let's go with Kwambai, who'll use his experience to outlast Makau and Hall. Of course, that means Gharib will win going away...
I didn't talk at all about this month's very frigid Chicago Marathon, which was run about three weeks ago. It included a new course record (and a North American marathon record) of 2:05:41 by Sammy Wanjiru, which is a whole 1 second faster than the previous record. That 1 second was worth an extra $100,000 to Wanjiru, who is widely regarded as the best marathoner in the world today. He won Beijing last year, London this spring, now Chicago in the fall. He also owns the half-marathon world record and has run 2:05 twice this year. Wanjiru also moves to the top of the World Marathon Majors for 2008-09, which will be worth another cool $500,000 for him. It's so sad that he won't run against Gebrselassie (or vice versa) one time so we can see what they could do running against each other. The next step for Wanjiru appears to be a shot at the world record...stay tuned!
The women's winner in Chicago was not pre-race favorite Irina Mikitenko, but a Russian track star, Liliya Shobukhova, hammered the last 2.2 km (apparently running that split in 6:36, faster than Wanjiru did!) to beat Mikitenko by 35 seconds. Apparently, the combination of her track speed (she had world indoor record in the 3000m) and her huge training (regularly runs 250 km a week!) has honed Shobukhova into a future marathon star. Mikitenko can be consoled by her second place finish with the knowledge that she has already won the half-million for the World Marathon Majors for 2008-09 (she also won the 2007-08 segment and leads the 2009-10 segment as well).
I could depress you with some stories about the recent "rash" of marathon deaths that the media likes to discuss, but instead will leave you with a couple of stories to think about. One is a Globe and Mail story about the combination of drinking and running (includes the BeerMile) and the others are from the NY Times (caution: you may need to create a free account to read them). One is about the rash of "slow" runners who are now participating in the marathon. They make a case that 44% of runners in last year's Honolulu Marathon took longer than 6 hours to finish the race, and that keeping roads closed and volunteers out on the course creates headaches and extra costs for race directors. An interesting read. The other one is a fascinating look back at the NYC Marathon in the 1970's where 8- and 9-year-old children ran the marathon in 3-and-a-half hours or less! One of them later ran a 2:38 when he was 15! Ahhh - the days before Nintendo and Xbox, when all kids could do is go outside and run...
That's it for now...
Sunday, October 25, 2009
The Brits are Coming...
Hi All,
2008 was known as the "Year of the Spaniards" with dominant years by Alberto Contador (Giro and Vuelta champion), Carlos Sastre (Tour de France champ), Samuel Sanchez (Olympic champion), a second place finish at Ironman by Eneko Llanos and a dominant year by Javier Gomez in ITU triathlon (who won everything but the Olympics). Add in Rafel Nadal's amazing summer of 2008, and it seemed that Spain owned everything sporting in 2008.
2009 can now definitely be called the "Year of the Brits". As if great seasons by Mark Cavendish (did he ever lose a sprint?), Alistair Brownlee (perfect in ITU championship races), and Chrissie Wellington (she never loses either) are not enough, this weekend included more of the same.
Two follow-up races to Kona are the Xterra Worlds, held every year a week after Kona in Maui. A few Ironman pros attempt the Kona-Xterra double, but mainly this is the weekend for those offroad triathletes to get their time in the spotlight. For multiple time world champions like Conrad Stoltz, Jamie Whitmore, and Canadian Melanie McQuaid, this is the one race that can define a career. With a unique 1500m swim, 30 km mountain bike, and 11 km trail run distance, this event has even been won by short-course specialists like Michellie Jones and Hamish Carter.
As you might have guessed from the introduction, the Brits did come to play in Xterra today. Julie Dibens, the 2007 and 2008 Xterra champion, quickly broke away on the bike to open up a huge lead over the rest of the women's field. She had over a 4 minute lead off the bike over Melanie McQuaid (a 3 time winner herself) and would not be challenged as she won by almost 8 minutes over Lesley Peterson, who is, yup, from Great Britain. McQuaid did finish third for her 7th career podium finish at Xterra Worlds. She's the Peter Reid of Xterra! So congrats to Dibens and to Melanie McQuaid for representing Canada so well again.
A quick note on the men's race. Before he was known as an Ironman threat, Eneko Llanos of Spain had won Xterra worlds twice (2003 and 2004). However, today, just 15 days after Kona where he had finished 14th overall, he outran fulltime Xterra pros Nicolas Lebrun, Olivier Marceau, and Conrad Stoltz to win his third Xterra world title. He joins McQuaid, Stoltz, and Dibens as a three time champ.
Quick Canadian content update - McQuaid was joined by two other Canadian women in the top 10 - Danelle Kabush was 7th and Christine Jeffrey was 8th. Our men weren't quite as fortunate as we were last year, when Brent McMahon and Mike Vine finished 3-4. This year, Vine was 12th and Kelly Guest was 16th. Also congrats to Calgary athletes Cal Zaryski and Sheri Foster for becoming world champs in their respective age groups.
One more for your Great Britain fans. As if having world champs in ITU racing, Ironman racing, and Xterra racing was not enough, you can add one more. The ITU Long Course world championships were also held this weekend in Perth, Australia. the 3k-8-k-20k format means that both short-course and long-course athletes can try for an ITU world title. This race actually used to be a 4k-120k-30k format until 2007, and Ironman athletes like Greg Welch, Simon Lessing, Luc Van Lierde, Torbjorn Sindballe, Eneko Llanos and Chrissie Wellington have all previously won this event. Now, with it's close-to-70.3 distance, but without the Ironman brand, and with a spot on the calendar between Kona and Clearwater, it sort of loses a bit of prestige since many pros regularly skip it. The 2009 event was supposed to be a nice post-Kona showdown between the dominant 70.3 champion Tim O'Donnell and Kona champion Craig Alexander, but Alexander decided to skip the race at the last minute. This left O'Donnell as the clear fave, and he won by a minute to show the rest of the world that he might be the best middle-distance racer in the world.
On the women's side, it was yet another dominant win by Great Britain. Jodie Swallow, who races ITU short-course mainly, absolutely dominated and won by over 10 minutes over hometown fave Rebekah Keat, who was hoping for some vindication after getting disqualified at Kona. But Swallow was first out of the water, lead by 8 minutes off the bike, and cruised to an 11 minute win. What can't the Great Britain athletes win? I guess Joel Filliol is doing an okay job over there...
More coming real soon...lots of racing news still to cover!
2008 was known as the "Year of the Spaniards" with dominant years by Alberto Contador (Giro and Vuelta champion), Carlos Sastre (Tour de France champ), Samuel Sanchez (Olympic champion), a second place finish at Ironman by Eneko Llanos and a dominant year by Javier Gomez in ITU triathlon (who won everything but the Olympics). Add in Rafel Nadal's amazing summer of 2008, and it seemed that Spain owned everything sporting in 2008.
2009 can now definitely be called the "Year of the Brits". As if great seasons by Mark Cavendish (did he ever lose a sprint?), Alistair Brownlee (perfect in ITU championship races), and Chrissie Wellington (she never loses either) are not enough, this weekend included more of the same.
Two follow-up races to Kona are the Xterra Worlds, held every year a week after Kona in Maui. A few Ironman pros attempt the Kona-Xterra double, but mainly this is the weekend for those offroad triathletes to get their time in the spotlight. For multiple time world champions like Conrad Stoltz, Jamie Whitmore, and Canadian Melanie McQuaid, this is the one race that can define a career. With a unique 1500m swim, 30 km mountain bike, and 11 km trail run distance, this event has even been won by short-course specialists like Michellie Jones and Hamish Carter.
As you might have guessed from the introduction, the Brits did come to play in Xterra today. Julie Dibens, the 2007 and 2008 Xterra champion, quickly broke away on the bike to open up a huge lead over the rest of the women's field. She had over a 4 minute lead off the bike over Melanie McQuaid (a 3 time winner herself) and would not be challenged as she won by almost 8 minutes over Lesley Peterson, who is, yup, from Great Britain. McQuaid did finish third for her 7th career podium finish at Xterra Worlds. She's the Peter Reid of Xterra! So congrats to Dibens and to Melanie McQuaid for representing Canada so well again.
A quick note on the men's race. Before he was known as an Ironman threat, Eneko Llanos of Spain had won Xterra worlds twice (2003 and 2004). However, today, just 15 days after Kona where he had finished 14th overall, he outran fulltime Xterra pros Nicolas Lebrun, Olivier Marceau, and Conrad Stoltz to win his third Xterra world title. He joins McQuaid, Stoltz, and Dibens as a three time champ.
Quick Canadian content update - McQuaid was joined by two other Canadian women in the top 10 - Danelle Kabush was 7th and Christine Jeffrey was 8th. Our men weren't quite as fortunate as we were last year, when Brent McMahon and Mike Vine finished 3-4. This year, Vine was 12th and Kelly Guest was 16th. Also congrats to Calgary athletes Cal Zaryski and Sheri Foster for becoming world champs in their respective age groups.
One more for your Great Britain fans. As if having world champs in ITU racing, Ironman racing, and Xterra racing was not enough, you can add one more. The ITU Long Course world championships were also held this weekend in Perth, Australia. the 3k-8-k-20k format means that both short-course and long-course athletes can try for an ITU world title. This race actually used to be a 4k-120k-30k format until 2007, and Ironman athletes like Greg Welch, Simon Lessing, Luc Van Lierde, Torbjorn Sindballe, Eneko Llanos and Chrissie Wellington have all previously won this event. Now, with it's close-to-70.3 distance, but without the Ironman brand, and with a spot on the calendar between Kona and Clearwater, it sort of loses a bit of prestige since many pros regularly skip it. The 2009 event was supposed to be a nice post-Kona showdown between the dominant 70.3 champion Tim O'Donnell and Kona champion Craig Alexander, but Alexander decided to skip the race at the last minute. This left O'Donnell as the clear fave, and he won by a minute to show the rest of the world that he might be the best middle-distance racer in the world.
On the women's side, it was yet another dominant win by Great Britain. Jodie Swallow, who races ITU short-course mainly, absolutely dominated and won by over 10 minutes over hometown fave Rebekah Keat, who was hoping for some vindication after getting disqualified at Kona. But Swallow was first out of the water, lead by 8 minutes off the bike, and cruised to an 11 minute win. What can't the Great Britain athletes win? I guess Joel Filliol is doing an okay job over there...
More coming real soon...lots of racing news still to cover!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Big Bikey News...
Hi All,
Some just-breaking news tonight, when it was announced by the UCI that Alberto Contador can leave his contract with Astana due to Astana missing a key administration deadline this week. Essentially, teams have until mid-November to submit to the UCI a budget, a list of riders, sponsorship contracts, etc. However, any team that didn't have this information submitted by the 20th of October (a month before the actual deadline) does open a loophole where riders under contract can leave their contracts without penalty. A number of pro teams did miss this deadline, including Astana, thereby allowing Contador the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere.
Anyhow, if Contador does leave Astana, it is still expected that 3 or 4 other ProTour teams will seek to sign him. Quick Step, Caisse D'Epargne, and Garmin-Slipstream have all expressed interest, and it will be interesting to see what team can provide both the financial backing for Contador as well as providing him a team that can help him win his 3rd Tour de France. Or the Giro d'Italia. Or both.
Quick Step has traditionally been built around Tom Boonen and his preference for one-day race success (Paris-Roubaix, etc) or his desire to compete for the Green Jersey at the Tour de France. They have never been a real Yellow Jersey contender and are not built to support a rider like Contador. However, they are a stable, well-run team.
Garmin-Slipstream is a team that needs Contador. They have been trying to develop a Grand Tour winning team for the past two years, with three stage wins in the Vuelta to show along with a whole bunch of second places. They have been successful in protecting their GC guys the last two Tours, as both Vande Velde in 2008 and Wiggins in 2009 being fairly well-protected by their teammates. Add in Tyler Farrar (who might be the second best sprinter in the world) and Garmin could be a threat on every Grand Tour stage next year with the addition of Contador. Hmmm...
However, the favorite right now might be Caisse d'Epargne. Despite being sponsored by a French bank, this team is filled with Spanish riders such as Alejandro Valverde and Luis Leon Sanchez. For 2010, the team has already signed Christophe Moreau and Mauricio Soler (Polka Dot jersey winner in 2007 Tour) to bolster their lineup. With Contador in the fold, they could field a Grand Tour team that rivals that of Astana in the 2009 Tour (with Contador, Armstrong, Leipheimer, and Kloden). This might be the most appealing option for Contador.
Who knows? Maybe he decides to stay with Astana for one more year. They have really bolstered their team for 2010 lately too, with Gilberto Simoni the latest to join Vinokourov's group for next season. Only Alberto knows right now...we'll keep you posted...
Some just-breaking news tonight, when it was announced by the UCI that Alberto Contador can leave his contract with Astana due to Astana missing a key administration deadline this week. Essentially, teams have until mid-November to submit to the UCI a budget, a list of riders, sponsorship contracts, etc. However, any team that didn't have this information submitted by the 20th of October (a month before the actual deadline) does open a loophole where riders under contract can leave their contracts without penalty. A number of pro teams did miss this deadline, including Astana, thereby allowing Contador the opportunity to seek employment elsewhere.
Anyhow, if Contador does leave Astana, it is still expected that 3 or 4 other ProTour teams will seek to sign him. Quick Step, Caisse D'Epargne, and Garmin-Slipstream have all expressed interest, and it will be interesting to see what team can provide both the financial backing for Contador as well as providing him a team that can help him win his 3rd Tour de France. Or the Giro d'Italia. Or both.
Quick Step has traditionally been built around Tom Boonen and his preference for one-day race success (Paris-Roubaix, etc) or his desire to compete for the Green Jersey at the Tour de France. They have never been a real Yellow Jersey contender and are not built to support a rider like Contador. However, they are a stable, well-run team.
Garmin-Slipstream is a team that needs Contador. They have been trying to develop a Grand Tour winning team for the past two years, with three stage wins in the Vuelta to show along with a whole bunch of second places. They have been successful in protecting their GC guys the last two Tours, as both Vande Velde in 2008 and Wiggins in 2009 being fairly well-protected by their teammates. Add in Tyler Farrar (who might be the second best sprinter in the world) and Garmin could be a threat on every Grand Tour stage next year with the addition of Contador. Hmmm...
However, the favorite right now might be Caisse d'Epargne. Despite being sponsored by a French bank, this team is filled with Spanish riders such as Alejandro Valverde and Luis Leon Sanchez. For 2010, the team has already signed Christophe Moreau and Mauricio Soler (Polka Dot jersey winner in 2007 Tour) to bolster their lineup. With Contador in the fold, they could field a Grand Tour team that rivals that of Astana in the 2009 Tour (with Contador, Armstrong, Leipheimer, and Kloden). This might be the most appealing option for Contador.
Who knows? Maybe he decides to stay with Astana for one more year. They have really bolstered their team for 2010 lately too, with Gilberto Simoni the latest to join Vinokourov's group for next season. Only Alberto knows right now...we'll keep you posted...
Friday, October 16, 2009
Cycling tidbits..
Hi All,
Rather than trying to talk about 19 items every Friday, I might try and break it into smaller chunks for the next while to discuss all things Bikey...starting this week with a bunch of news on the Pro Cycling world.
2010 Team News - Team Astana finally let 3 key riders and their director out of their 2010 contracts so they could ride with other teams. Gregory Rast, Andreas Kloden, and Yaroslav Popovych, along with team director Johan Bruyneel all were allowed to leave Team Astana and all 4 of them have joined Lance, Levi, and Team RadioShack. Unfortunately for most of the cycling fans outside Kazakhstan, Astana did not release Alberto Contador. So it appears that Team Astana 2010 will include both Alberto Contador and Alexander Vinokourov, as well as Haimar Zubeldia, who Contador was allowed to keep as his personal domestique.
Team RadioShack also got some more great news this week as they were awarded a ProTour license, which essentially grants them entry into all the prestigious races for next season. Some traditional cycling teams like Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis have lost their ProTour status for next year, so for a first year team like RadioShack to be assured entry without needing wildcard status will be a relief for Lance and his crew.
Wednesday was the official unveiling of the 2010 Tour de France route. Starting with the prologue in the Netherlands, the route goes clockwise thru France towards the Pyrenees with several tough mountain stages before the traditional finish in Paris. Here is a cool Google maps view of the route.
View 2010 Tour de France in a larger map
Unfortunately, the Tour is skipping both a team time trial and a trip up Alpe D'Huez for a second year in a row, but will try and reward fans with 2 trips up the giant Tourmalet. The riders climb Tourmalet as part of a 4 mountain day in Stage 15 before finishing on top of the same hill in Stage 18. This is the highest road in the Pyrenees and will surely factor in the final podium - the road averages over 7% over the 17+ km length! Also new for 2010 is an early couple of stages that include cobblestone sections (up to 30km!) which may take a contender or two out - that's what cobblestones seem to do best. There are also 6 days in the high mountains, including 4 of the last 6 stages before Paris. You can read more on the route here...
Kona recap 2009 coming this weekend...cheers!
Rather than trying to talk about 19 items every Friday, I might try and break it into smaller chunks for the next while to discuss all things Bikey...starting this week with a bunch of news on the Pro Cycling world.
2010 Team News - Team Astana finally let 3 key riders and their director out of their 2010 contracts so they could ride with other teams. Gregory Rast, Andreas Kloden, and Yaroslav Popovych, along with team director Johan Bruyneel all were allowed to leave Team Astana and all 4 of them have joined Lance, Levi, and Team RadioShack. Unfortunately for most of the cycling fans outside Kazakhstan, Astana did not release Alberto Contador. So it appears that Team Astana 2010 will include both Alberto Contador and Alexander Vinokourov, as well as Haimar Zubeldia, who Contador was allowed to keep as his personal domestique.
Team RadioShack also got some more great news this week as they were awarded a ProTour license, which essentially grants them entry into all the prestigious races for next season. Some traditional cycling teams like Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis have lost their ProTour status for next year, so for a first year team like RadioShack to be assured entry without needing wildcard status will be a relief for Lance and his crew.
Wednesday was the official unveiling of the 2010 Tour de France route. Starting with the prologue in the Netherlands, the route goes clockwise thru France towards the Pyrenees with several tough mountain stages before the traditional finish in Paris. Here is a cool Google maps view of the route.
View 2010 Tour de France in a larger map
Unfortunately, the Tour is skipping both a team time trial and a trip up Alpe D'Huez for a second year in a row, but will try and reward fans with 2 trips up the giant Tourmalet. The riders climb Tourmalet as part of a 4 mountain day in Stage 15 before finishing on top of the same hill in Stage 18. This is the highest road in the Pyrenees and will surely factor in the final podium - the road averages over 7% over the 17+ km length! Also new for 2010 is an early couple of stages that include cobblestone sections (up to 30km!) which may take a contender or two out - that's what cobblestones seem to do best. There are also 6 days in the high mountains, including 4 of the last 6 stages before Paris. You can read more on the route here...
Kona recap 2009 coming this weekend...cheers!
Friday, October 9, 2009
My Kona Picks...
Hi All,
Just to be for the record, here are my late-breaking Kona Top 10 Predictions. They are guaranteed to be 100% inaccurate!
The Men
1. Craig Alexander - repeat. He'll be invisible as the top cyclists go nuts on the bike but will run everybody down. Again.
2. Gut tells me Eneko Llanos, but he won't be second again. So instead I'll pick Timo Bracht as breakthrough German of the year.
3. Marino Vanhoenacker - some one off the radar for the final podium spot.
4. Rasmus Henning - uber talent can run a ton, and hopefully he doesnt lose his chance for top 10 with a bad swim after breaking his hand about a month ago.
5. Chris McCormack - I think he doesn't have the blazing speed anymore to hang out near the top of the race in the end.
6. Chris Lieto - i anticipate a huge bike, and then a decent start to the run before the very fast runners come flying by.
7. Eneko Llanos - so consistent, but not this year. I think.
8. Terrenzo Bozzone - future of the sport. I expect him to lead at some point on Saturday - just not when it matters.
9. Matthias Hecht - another under-the-radar German who will consistently hang out with big guns.
10. Patrick Vernay - one last top-10 for him
Notable omissions from top 10 that make up the next 10 (although a few DNFs will be in this group): Andy Potts, Cam Brown, Norman Stadler (this one pains me), Faris Al-Sultan, Ronnie Schildknecht, Andreas Raelert, Tim Deboom,Philip Graves, Mike Lovato and Reinaldo Colucci.
The Women
1. Chrissie. #1 fave until she gets beaten. And that might not happen for a long time.
2. Rebekah Keat- the new Aussie star.
3. Yvonne Van Vlerken - second last year, will come from way back to end up third this year.
4. Mirinda Carfrae - 4th in her Ironman debut? Has the speed on the bike and run to mirror Chrissie, but can she last 140.6 miles?
5. Bella Comerford Bayliss - could be her breakthrough year into the top 5.
6. Cat Morrison - might be a nice battle between her and Bayliss for 2nd best GBR finish. Morrison might need 1 practice run at Kona before becoming a podium threat next year.
7. Kate Major - always seems to be in the mix in Kona
8. Tereza Macel - two summer Ironman victories will take a bit out of her legs, but she'll still be around for much of the day
9. Sandra Wallenhorst- No reason she can't finish 3rd again, but I think she'll slide a bit in 09.
10. Sam McGlone - an injury plagued couple of years will end with her second top 10 in Kona.
Notable omissions : Erika Csomor, Belinda Granger, Michellie Jones, Natasha Badmann, Gina Ferguson, Jo Lawn, Leanda Cave, and Linsey Corbin. The women's field is loaded...
Just to be for the record, here are my late-breaking Kona Top 10 Predictions. They are guaranteed to be 100% inaccurate!
The Men
1. Craig Alexander - repeat. He'll be invisible as the top cyclists go nuts on the bike but will run everybody down. Again.
2. Gut tells me Eneko Llanos, but he won't be second again. So instead I'll pick Timo Bracht as breakthrough German of the year.
3. Marino Vanhoenacker - some one off the radar for the final podium spot.
4. Rasmus Henning - uber talent can run a ton, and hopefully he doesnt lose his chance for top 10 with a bad swim after breaking his hand about a month ago.
5. Chris McCormack - I think he doesn't have the blazing speed anymore to hang out near the top of the race in the end.
6. Chris Lieto - i anticipate a huge bike, and then a decent start to the run before the very fast runners come flying by.
7. Eneko Llanos - so consistent, but not this year. I think.
8. Terrenzo Bozzone - future of the sport. I expect him to lead at some point on Saturday - just not when it matters.
9. Matthias Hecht - another under-the-radar German who will consistently hang out with big guns.
10. Patrick Vernay - one last top-10 for him
Notable omissions from top 10 that make up the next 10 (although a few DNFs will be in this group): Andy Potts, Cam Brown, Norman Stadler (this one pains me), Faris Al-Sultan, Ronnie Schildknecht, Andreas Raelert, Tim Deboom,Philip Graves, Mike Lovato and Reinaldo Colucci.
The Women
1. Chrissie. #1 fave until she gets beaten. And that might not happen for a long time.
2. Rebekah Keat- the new Aussie star.
3. Yvonne Van Vlerken - second last year, will come from way back to end up third this year.
4. Mirinda Carfrae - 4th in her Ironman debut? Has the speed on the bike and run to mirror Chrissie, but can she last 140.6 miles?
5. Bella Comerford Bayliss - could be her breakthrough year into the top 5.
6. Cat Morrison - might be a nice battle between her and Bayliss for 2nd best GBR finish. Morrison might need 1 practice run at Kona before becoming a podium threat next year.
7. Kate Major - always seems to be in the mix in Kona
8. Tereza Macel - two summer Ironman victories will take a bit out of her legs, but she'll still be around for much of the day
9. Sandra Wallenhorst- No reason she can't finish 3rd again, but I think she'll slide a bit in 09.
10. Sam McGlone - an injury plagued couple of years will end with her second top 10 in Kona.
Notable omissions : Erika Csomor, Belinda Granger, Michellie Jones, Natasha Badmann, Gina Ferguson, Jo Lawn, Leanda Cave, and Linsey Corbin. The women's field is loaded...
T minus 2 years...
Hi All,
In what could be the most talked about comeback since Brett Favre, the return of Lance Armstrong to his triathlon roots appears inevitable. And if you can believe his coach, Chris Carmichael, Lance has his eye on a particular race in 2011...
Yep, Lance in Kona in 2011...let the speculation begin!
In what could be the most talked about comeback since Brett Favre, the return of Lance Armstrong to his triathlon roots appears inevitable. And if you can believe his coach, Chris Carmichael, Lance has his eye on a particular race in 2011...
Yep, Lance in Kona in 2011...let the speculation begin!
Friday, October 2, 2009
A quick update...
Hi All,
With only 8 days until Kona 09, most people would expect a slew of stories and predictions. However, with my flight to Kona early next week, I would expect that there might be multiple posts next week on the biggest race of the year.
Ok, I fold. The good folks at Slowtwitch have come up with a list of odds for the favorites for Kona. There is a list of male pros and one for female pros. Of course, betting on Chrissie W might be the triathlon equivalent of betting on a 18-0 New England Patriots team from a few years ago (and we all know how that turned out). She's never lost an Ironman race (never really been pushed actually) but that "you never know" factor will keep us all watching on October 10.
Moving along, the Pro Cycling world (UCI) wrapped up the important part of their 2009 season with the Worlds Road Race last week. This is the race where World Champions are made, and forever become part of cycling lore. Past champions include Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond, and even a very young Lance Armstrong way back in 1993. Recent chamions include Oscar Friere (3 times), Tom Boonen, Paolo Bettini, and last year's champ Alessandro Ballan. This race is different than most since it becomes a country-vs-country race, with Italians competing against Spaniards and the like, with each national team trying to set up their big names for the finish. This year's race involved 19 laps and 38 monster climbs over 262 km, and the difficult course in Switzerland really did let the world's best cyclists come to the front.
Here is a 10 minute video of the last few km, and you can see that the final select group includes Alejandro Valverde (winner of the Vuelta), Sammy Sanchez (Beijing gold medal), Fabian Cancellera (Beijing TT Gold Medal, Worlds TT Champion, Home Town Favorite), Damiano Cunego (who excels in one day races) and Cadel Evans (Mr Almost-Win-The-Big-Race) among a group of 9. Earlier in the last lap, names like Tom Boonen and Alexander Vinokourov (in an epic solo attack that ended with him getting pulled back on the first of 2 climbs on the final lap) also made appearances at the front of the race. This truly was an epic grouping.
As you can see, Cadel Evans made the decisive move, and powered away to the biggest win of his career. The last 5 or 6 years are full of close calls in big races (2 second overall finishes in the Tour de France, plus a 4th place finish, also a 3rd and a 4th in the Vuelta D'Espana) so to see the Aussie finally get the proverbial kangaroo-off-his-back was nice to see.
By the way, kudos to Michael Barry, who finished 18th overall at the Worlds Road Race and was both top Canadian and top North American finisher. Both other Canadians did not finish (Ryder Hesjedal and Svein Tuft) but they had plenty of company as over half the field did not finish.
Come back later for more...but here's a funny poster...
With only 8 days until Kona 09, most people would expect a slew of stories and predictions. However, with my flight to Kona early next week, I would expect that there might be multiple posts next week on the biggest race of the year.
Ok, I fold. The good folks at Slowtwitch have come up with a list of odds for the favorites for Kona. There is a list of male pros and one for female pros. Of course, betting on Chrissie W might be the triathlon equivalent of betting on a 18-0 New England Patriots team from a few years ago (and we all know how that turned out). She's never lost an Ironman race (never really been pushed actually) but that "you never know" factor will keep us all watching on October 10.
Moving along, the Pro Cycling world (UCI) wrapped up the important part of their 2009 season with the Worlds Road Race last week. This is the race where World Champions are made, and forever become part of cycling lore. Past champions include Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond, and even a very young Lance Armstrong way back in 1993. Recent chamions include Oscar Friere (3 times), Tom Boonen, Paolo Bettini, and last year's champ Alessandro Ballan. This race is different than most since it becomes a country-vs-country race, with Italians competing against Spaniards and the like, with each national team trying to set up their big names for the finish. This year's race involved 19 laps and 38 monster climbs over 262 km, and the difficult course in Switzerland really did let the world's best cyclists come to the front.
Here is a 10 minute video of the last few km, and you can see that the final select group includes Alejandro Valverde (winner of the Vuelta), Sammy Sanchez (Beijing gold medal), Fabian Cancellera (Beijing TT Gold Medal, Worlds TT Champion, Home Town Favorite), Damiano Cunego (who excels in one day races) and Cadel Evans (Mr Almost-Win-The-Big-Race) among a group of 9. Earlier in the last lap, names like Tom Boonen and Alexander Vinokourov (in an epic solo attack that ended with him getting pulled back on the first of 2 climbs on the final lap) also made appearances at the front of the race. This truly was an epic grouping.
As you can see, Cadel Evans made the decisive move, and powered away to the biggest win of his career. The last 5 or 6 years are full of close calls in big races (2 second overall finishes in the Tour de France, plus a 4th place finish, also a 3rd and a 4th in the Vuelta D'Espana) so to see the Aussie finally get the proverbial kangaroo-off-his-back was nice to see.
By the way, kudos to Michael Barry, who finished 18th overall at the Worlds Road Race and was both top Canadian and top North American finisher. Both other Canadians did not finish (Ryder Hesjedal and Svein Tuft) but they had plenty of company as over half the field did not finish.
Come back later for more...but here's a funny poster...
Friday, September 18, 2009
The End of the Vuelta nears...
Hi All,
I guess the fact that I didn't post on Sunday or Monday of last week would hint that our Canadian men and women did not come home from the ITU Worlds Finale with a great showing or two. This week, I will also touch on the transfer of a few key cyclists, and get you ready for the weekend ahead.
Okay, last week ITU Worlds began with a bang for Canada (Paula Findlay's bronze in the U23 race) but ended without much noise for our pro teams. In Saturday's male race, the 4 Canadian men all made frequent television appearances during the bike portion but not much on the run portion. Paul Tichelaar was a beast on the bike, as he made multiple attempts to escape from the 40+ man peloton on the bike leg. Ultimately, he ended the bike slightly ahead of the main field, closely grouped with 3 other strong cyclists, but couldn't hold off the sport's strong runners for the 10k run. He was actually still in 2nd place at 2.5k but faded down the stretch to finish in 20th. Simon Whitfield got into T2 in good shape, but an immediate acceleration by Alistair Brownlee, Jan Frodeno, Javier Gomez, and Maik Petzold left Whitfield in a 2nd chase pack. He ultimately finished in 8th place, 10 seconds behind the third place runner. But the real drama occurred at the front of the pack, where Brownlee-Gomez-Frodeno just kept surging, trying to break each other. It was actually riveting to watch, as Gomez tried again and again to drop Brownlee. On the final lap, Brownlee surged again and broke Gomez, giving him a 7 second victory. His final run time was 29:04 on a course that was measured exactly (supposedly). That's ridiculous...Gomez held on for second, and Frodeno was third after getting dropped about the 5k mark. A great race (or a least a great run) where 3rd place thru 20th place were decided by only 72 seconds. Congrats to Brownlee for a perfect ITU series (5 for 5 for the 21-year old!) and now everyone knows who the man to beat in 2010 will be. Brownlee also took home $85000 for his win in Australia and his overall World Series championship.
After the great race on the men's side, I was excited to see what the women's race would provide. It was a much closer Series, with Lisa Norden having a great chance to overtake Emma Moffatt in the final race. It was also a much more open competition, without Emma Snowsill and Vanessa Fernandes both being injured going into this race (Fernandes ended up not finishing, Snowsill never started). Anyhow, the women's race was much more tactical, as a group of 7 escaped early on the bike, eventually gaining over a minute from a chase pack of 10. Those two groups of cyclists contained zero Canadians and that was it for the Canuck presence. The lead group of cyclists got out of the water between 21:30 and 21:49 and the second group swam 21:47 to 22:08. The two Canadians (Tremblay and Groves) swam 22:17 and 22:14 and those few seconds were enough to eliminate them from contention. By the way, Kirsten Sweetland was a late scratch as she was still not 100% healthy. The race at the front contained the big names (Moffatt, Luxford, Jenkins, Norden, Haskins) and they worked well together to earn a 45 second head start at T2. The race actually came down to a head-to-head race between the 2 main contenders for the jackpot (Norden and Moffatt) but lost a little drama since Norden had to beat Moffatt by 2 spots to win the title. It was funny that Norden kept turning around waiting to see if someone else would bridge up to help her win the overall title. However, it did not matter in the end as Moffatt made a late surge to win the race and the overall World Title. Lisa Norden finished 2nd in the race and 2nd overall...top Canadian was Lauren Groves who ended up way back in 19th place.
Some big news came down last night as it was announced that Bradley Wiggins (Team Garmin - 4th at Tour de France) had arranged a buyout of a his 2010 Garmin contract and would be moving to the new UK-based Team Sky as their team leader. This had been rumored for a while as Wiggins is a UK citizen and would provide a nice boost for the first year team. Team Sky has been very busy since September 1st, as they have also added Simon Gerrans (ex-Cervelo rider who has won stages this year in the the Giro and the Vuelta) and rising superstar Edvard Boasson Hagen (Team Columbia) to their roster for 2010 to go with other notables like Juan Antonio Flecha and Kurt Asle Arvesen. The other news in this article is that the buyout of Wiggins from his Garmin contract was 2 million British pounds, money that Garmin would then use to buy out to Alberto Contador from his Team Astana contract. So it was essentially a win-win-win deal where Astana would get some money, Garmin would be getting Contador in exchange for Wiggins, and Team Sky would be getting the hometown star. However, Garmin's director, Jonathan Vaughters, claimed on Friday morning that "there is no agreement like this" for Wiggins and that Wiggins will continue to ride for Garmin in 2010. I'm predicting that this might be some legal posturing, and would be very surprised if this deal did not go through sometime this fall.
In a related and not surprising move, Alberto Contador re-iterated today that Garmin would be a great option for him in 2010 if he can get out of his Astana contract. I'm not surprised at all since it appears Contador would be happier anywhere but with Astana, especially since a lot of his teammates have already left for greener pastures in 2010.
There have been a number of notable transfers so far this month, with Levi Leipheimer joning Lance at RadioShack, but surprisingly his old buddy George Hincapie did not, opting to sign with BMC Racing. Who? They are a second-tier team (not ProTour but an American based UCI Continental team -like Cervelo and Skil-Shimano this year) who are hoping to take the next step with riders like Hincapie and current world champion Alessanro Ballan.
The weekend ahead includes the final 3 stages of the 2009 Vuelta (Valverde still leads Robert Gesink by 32 seconds with Samuel Sanchez, Ivan Basso, and Cadel Evans 3-4-5) and Ironman 70.3 Cancun. I will talk more about the Ironman world next week...so enjoy the Vuelta and the nice weather!
I guess the fact that I didn't post on Sunday or Monday of last week would hint that our Canadian men and women did not come home from the ITU Worlds Finale with a great showing or two. This week, I will also touch on the transfer of a few key cyclists, and get you ready for the weekend ahead.
Okay, last week ITU Worlds began with a bang for Canada (Paula Findlay's bronze in the U23 race) but ended without much noise for our pro teams. In Saturday's male race, the 4 Canadian men all made frequent television appearances during the bike portion but not much on the run portion. Paul Tichelaar was a beast on the bike, as he made multiple attempts to escape from the 40+ man peloton on the bike leg. Ultimately, he ended the bike slightly ahead of the main field, closely grouped with 3 other strong cyclists, but couldn't hold off the sport's strong runners for the 10k run. He was actually still in 2nd place at 2.5k but faded down the stretch to finish in 20th. Simon Whitfield got into T2 in good shape, but an immediate acceleration by Alistair Brownlee, Jan Frodeno, Javier Gomez, and Maik Petzold left Whitfield in a 2nd chase pack. He ultimately finished in 8th place, 10 seconds behind the third place runner. But the real drama occurred at the front of the pack, where Brownlee-Gomez-Frodeno just kept surging, trying to break each other. It was actually riveting to watch, as Gomez tried again and again to drop Brownlee. On the final lap, Brownlee surged again and broke Gomez, giving him a 7 second victory. His final run time was 29:04 on a course that was measured exactly (supposedly). That's ridiculous...Gomez held on for second, and Frodeno was third after getting dropped about the 5k mark. A great race (or a least a great run) where 3rd place thru 20th place were decided by only 72 seconds. Congrats to Brownlee for a perfect ITU series (5 for 5 for the 21-year old!) and now everyone knows who the man to beat in 2010 will be. Brownlee also took home $85000 for his win in Australia and his overall World Series championship.
After the great race on the men's side, I was excited to see what the women's race would provide. It was a much closer Series, with Lisa Norden having a great chance to overtake Emma Moffatt in the final race. It was also a much more open competition, without Emma Snowsill and Vanessa Fernandes both being injured going into this race (Fernandes ended up not finishing, Snowsill never started). Anyhow, the women's race was much more tactical, as a group of 7 escaped early on the bike, eventually gaining over a minute from a chase pack of 10. Those two groups of cyclists contained zero Canadians and that was it for the Canuck presence. The lead group of cyclists got out of the water between 21:30 and 21:49 and the second group swam 21:47 to 22:08. The two Canadians (Tremblay and Groves) swam 22:17 and 22:14 and those few seconds were enough to eliminate them from contention. By the way, Kirsten Sweetland was a late scratch as she was still not 100% healthy. The race at the front contained the big names (Moffatt, Luxford, Jenkins, Norden, Haskins) and they worked well together to earn a 45 second head start at T2. The race actually came down to a head-to-head race between the 2 main contenders for the jackpot (Norden and Moffatt) but lost a little drama since Norden had to beat Moffatt by 2 spots to win the title. It was funny that Norden kept turning around waiting to see if someone else would bridge up to help her win the overall title. However, it did not matter in the end as Moffatt made a late surge to win the race and the overall World Title. Lisa Norden finished 2nd in the race and 2nd overall...top Canadian was Lauren Groves who ended up way back in 19th place.
Some big news came down last night as it was announced that Bradley Wiggins (Team Garmin - 4th at Tour de France) had arranged a buyout of a his 2010 Garmin contract and would be moving to the new UK-based Team Sky as their team leader. This had been rumored for a while as Wiggins is a UK citizen and would provide a nice boost for the first year team. Team Sky has been very busy since September 1st, as they have also added Simon Gerrans (ex-Cervelo rider who has won stages this year in the the Giro and the Vuelta) and rising superstar Edvard Boasson Hagen (Team Columbia) to their roster for 2010 to go with other notables like Juan Antonio Flecha and Kurt Asle Arvesen. The other news in this article is that the buyout of Wiggins from his Garmin contract was 2 million British pounds, money that Garmin would then use to buy out to Alberto Contador from his Team Astana contract. So it was essentially a win-win-win deal where Astana would get some money, Garmin would be getting Contador in exchange for Wiggins, and Team Sky would be getting the hometown star. However, Garmin's director, Jonathan Vaughters, claimed on Friday morning that "there is no agreement like this" for Wiggins and that Wiggins will continue to ride for Garmin in 2010. I'm predicting that this might be some legal posturing, and would be very surprised if this deal did not go through sometime this fall.
In a related and not surprising move, Alberto Contador re-iterated today that Garmin would be a great option for him in 2010 if he can get out of his Astana contract. I'm not surprised at all since it appears Contador would be happier anywhere but with Astana, especially since a lot of his teammates have already left for greener pastures in 2010.
There have been a number of notable transfers so far this month, with Levi Leipheimer joning Lance at RadioShack, but surprisingly his old buddy George Hincapie did not, opting to sign with BMC Racing. Who? They are a second-tier team (not ProTour but an American based UCI Continental team -like Cervelo and Skil-Shimano this year) who are hoping to take the next step with riders like Hincapie and current world champion Alessanro Ballan.
The weekend ahead includes the final 3 stages of the 2009 Vuelta (Valverde still leads Robert Gesink by 32 seconds with Samuel Sanchez, Ivan Basso, and Cadel Evans 3-4-5) and Ironman 70.3 Cancun. I will talk more about the Ironman world next week...so enjoy the Vuelta and the nice weather!
Friday, September 11, 2009
ITU Worlds
Hi All,
Got a lot caught up watching Ryder in his bid for some Vuelta history this morning, so I apologize for not getting this up earlier.
Very late tonight (Saturday am actually) the ITU Triathlon World Championship Series wraps up with the Finale event on Australia's Gold Coast. The 2009 season has seen some definite improvements in field quality by deciding their world champions thru a series format (as opposed to the one race winner takes all approach in the past). Unfortunately for the ITU, the domination of young Alistair Brownlee has removed much of the suspense for tonight's men's race. Brownlee has won all 4 of his starts in the WCS series this year, so even if Series #2 Javier Gomez wins tonight, Brownlee needs to only finish in the Top 6 to become the 2009 World Champion. So unless a disaster strikes Brownlee, he should be home and cooled as the victor.
The men's race will be very competitive, even with some of the drama removed. It could be among the deepest races in recent history, with over 50 males competing, including a 4 pack of Canadians (Whitfield, McMahon, Jones, and Tichelaar). The rest of the field includes names like Tim Don, Matt Reed, Jan Frodeno, Kris Gemmell, Brad Kahlefeldt, and American Jarrad Shoemaker. Look for a battle for the podium tonight.
The women's race and the race to the World Championship Series is much more competitive. The 2009 series was expected to be a battle between Vanessa Fernandes and Emma Snowsill, but a multitude of injuries have wrecked their seasons. The other Emma, Emma Moffatt, looked to have the series locked up after 3 wins and a 2nd place in the first 5 races of the 8 race WCS. A plantar fascia injury then put Moffatt on the shelf, and Sweden's Lisa Norden took advantage with a win and a 2nd place finish in the last two races. So now there are two women with a great chance to win (one scenario: If Norden wins on Sunday, Moffatt must finish 2nd to win the overall title). There are also many other women with a chance to upset the Moffatt/Norden tandem, including Daniela Ryf, Andrea Hewitt, Sarah Haskins, and a trio of Canadians including Kathy Tremblay, Lauren Groves, and racing for the first time in half a year, Kirsten Sweetland. Good luck ladies.
Team Canada often sends 4 athletes to these types of international events, but our 4th female, Edmonton's Paula Findlay, raced instead in the U23 World Championship which was held yesterday. She finished third and won a bronze medal, behind a pair of Great Britain athletes. Guess the poaching of Canadian coaches is working well for Great Britain. But congrats to Paula for winning a medal in an international world championship. The future looks bright for you and the rest of the ladies!
Got a lot caught up watching Ryder in his bid for some Vuelta history this morning, so I apologize for not getting this up earlier.
Very late tonight (Saturday am actually) the ITU Triathlon World Championship Series wraps up with the Finale event on Australia's Gold Coast. The 2009 season has seen some definite improvements in field quality by deciding their world champions thru a series format (as opposed to the one race winner takes all approach in the past). Unfortunately for the ITU, the domination of young Alistair Brownlee has removed much of the suspense for tonight's men's race. Brownlee has won all 4 of his starts in the WCS series this year, so even if Series #2 Javier Gomez wins tonight, Brownlee needs to only finish in the Top 6 to become the 2009 World Champion. So unless a disaster strikes Brownlee, he should be home and cooled as the victor.
The men's race will be very competitive, even with some of the drama removed. It could be among the deepest races in recent history, with over 50 males competing, including a 4 pack of Canadians (Whitfield, McMahon, Jones, and Tichelaar). The rest of the field includes names like Tim Don, Matt Reed, Jan Frodeno, Kris Gemmell, Brad Kahlefeldt, and American Jarrad Shoemaker. Look for a battle for the podium tonight.
The women's race and the race to the World Championship Series is much more competitive. The 2009 series was expected to be a battle between Vanessa Fernandes and Emma Snowsill, but a multitude of injuries have wrecked their seasons. The other Emma, Emma Moffatt, looked to have the series locked up after 3 wins and a 2nd place in the first 5 races of the 8 race WCS. A plantar fascia injury then put Moffatt on the shelf, and Sweden's Lisa Norden took advantage with a win and a 2nd place finish in the last two races. So now there are two women with a great chance to win (one scenario: If Norden wins on Sunday, Moffatt must finish 2nd to win the overall title). There are also many other women with a chance to upset the Moffatt/Norden tandem, including Daniela Ryf, Andrea Hewitt, Sarah Haskins, and a trio of Canadians including Kathy Tremblay, Lauren Groves, and racing for the first time in half a year, Kirsten Sweetland. Good luck ladies.
Team Canada often sends 4 athletes to these types of international events, but our 4th female, Edmonton's Paula Findlay, raced instead in the U23 World Championship which was held yesterday. She finished third and won a bronze medal, behind a pair of Great Britain athletes. Guess the poaching of Canadian coaches is working well for Great Britain. But congrats to Paula for winning a medal in an international world championship. The future looks bright for you and the rest of the ladies!
Ryder does it!
Hi All,
I thought my pseudo-reverse jinx of mentioning how Team Garmin always finishes 2nd in Grand Tour stages worked nicely when Tyler Farrar won Stage 11 of the Vuelta D'Espana on Wednesday morning. This came about 12 hours after my comment. But the unbelievable happened again today in Stage 12, when Canadian Ryder Hesjedal once again got in a breakaway, and this time managed to hold on for the stage win!
Today's Stage 12 was the first of a trio of mountain stages expected to really break open this year's Vuelta. It was a difficult day, with three Category 1 climbs. Hesjedal got into the breakaway today, and managed to just barely stay away from the main peloton as the last hill of the day, a 13 km finishing climb, greatly reduced their lead. But Hesjedal outmanoeuvred his opponent with a late surge, and won his first Grand Tour stage. It was also the first ever win for a Canadian at the Vuelta D'Espana and the first Grand Tour stage win for a Canadian since Steve Bauer in the 1988 Tour de France.
Quite a dry spell for Team Garmin (0 Stage wins in Grand Tours the last two years) is now definitely over after back to back stage wins. And the Canadian drought is also over. Quite a day in Spain today...
I was actually planning on posting this Velonews story on Ryder that appeared on Thursday (they called him Mr September) as a nice feature in today's Bikey, but now it needs to be edited to include Stage Winner!
Great job Ryder!
More coming in a bit...triathlon Worlds start soon!
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
A Bike-Y Holiday...
Hi All,
Something about the dog days of summer, the annual pilgrimage to Penticton, and a new job have left me short the required hours to really delve into a weekly Bikey offering. Anyhow, we're back, and ready for a big fall (Vuelta, the Worlds, Kona, the fall marathon season, ITU Worlds Finale, etc)...time to go get updated and watch some videos
So where are we? The World Championships in Athletics came and went, and other than another Usain Bolt show, I'm not really sure what the normal sports fan will remember from the 2009 Worlds. Hmmm, let's recap.
*The marathons really weren't great. Without a lot of huge names, they weren't super exciting to watch but congrats to China's Bai Xue and a lesser-known Kenyan male Abel Kirui. Too bad that Kara Goucher had a miserable day since it makes marathons more enjoyable to watch with her in the front group.
* The pole vault competitions provided lots of drama. Unbelievably, Yelena Isinbayeva no-heighted at 4.75m (her opening height, a full 30 cm lower than her world record). Isinbayeva had not been beaten in almost 6 years until earlier this year, but was still the overwhelming favorite to win. Ironically, the winner cleared only 4.75m, so one clean vault would have won the gold for Isinbayeva. The men's pole vault was won by Australia's Steve Hooker, who cleared only one height but it was high enough (5.90m) to win the gold. Awesome. Even better since he was injured and not even sure he could compete. And he has great hair...
* With Isinbayeva out of the spotlight, the Golden Girl of the Games was undeniably Blanka Vlasic, the Croatian high jumper. She won a fierce battle for Gold and also entertained with her antics and her post-jump dancing. Check out the video...
* Sharing the men's spotlight with Usain Bolt was Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, who is cementing his legacy as the greatest distance runner of all time. Check out this list of results...
2009 World Track Champion 5,000 m, Berlin
2009 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Berlin
2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Athletics 5,000 m, Beijing
2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Athletics 10,000 m, Beijing
2008 World Cross Country Championships (12K), Edinburgh
2007 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Osaka
2006 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Fukuoka
2006 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Fukuoka
2006 World Indoor Track Champion 3,000 m, Moscow
2005 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Saint-Étienne
2005 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Saint-Étienne
2005 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Helsinki
2004 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Brussels
2004 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Brussels
2004 Olympic Champion 10,000 m, Athens
2003 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Avenches
2003 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Avenches
2003 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Paris
2002 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Dublin
2002 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Dublin
Let's see...three Olympic gold medals, has won the 10,000m at Worlds in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009, went five years at XC Worlds without losing either the short-course or long-course events, and the last two years has won both the 5000m and 10,000m crowns in Beijing and in Berlin. Oh yeah, he also owns the 5000m and 10,000m World Records. He is the best. Now to see him in action, check out the way he wins...
The 10,000m race was vintage Bekele. Zersenay Tadese set the pace for 9600m, destroyed the whole pack, but Bekele just sat on his shoulder before sprinting the last lap.
The 5000m showed his versatility and his ability to win in other ways. One lap to go, the whole pack still there, he got challenged by American Bernard Lagat down the home stretch but still found his top speed to win.
I don't have the time to comment on the ongoing Caster Semenya controversy until it gets resolved. If you want to read more, check out this story first and then some good updates here and here...I'll hold off until we know more...
Oh yeah. The one Canadian highlight!
For more on the Worlds, check out letsrun.com's recap page here...
Okay, enough track news for now (even though I have more news), off to Pro Cycling...
The Vuelta is off to a rip-roaring start, with the first week including two time trials (can you say Cancellara?), a bunch of sprint finishes (can you say Team Columbia?), and some big names near the top after a couple of mountain finishes. Cancellara won the stage 1 time trial (4.5 km) and the stage 7 30 km time trial, while Andre Greipel (Team Columbia's other sprinter) won Stage 4 and Stage 5. The stage 4 win occured after an amazing crash...
The real GC race started in stage 8 which resulted in an uphill victory by Damiano Cunego. However, Cadel Evans joined a very elite club after stage 8 when he took the lead of the race and was awarded the Golden Jersey, which he adds to his previously worn Yellow Jersey and Maglia Rosa, meaning he has now led all 3 Grand Tours. I guess Alberto Contador has done this as well since he has won all three races, but not too many other cyclists can claim this honour.
Evans didn't get to enjoy it too much, as a time bonus in stage 9 gave Alejandro Valverde the race lead. But this might only serve to highlight the race for second overall? Why? Because Valverde is still under suspicion of past doping offenses, and might be days away from a worldwide cycling ban. After today's Stage 10, there are still a ton of top contenders within a minute or so of Valverde, including Cadel Evans, Robert Gesink, Ivan Basso, and Samuel Sanchez. But no Andy Schleck, who dropped out in Stage 8 with stomach cramps. Too bad.
Some Canadian news - Ryder Hesjedal almost broke Garmin's two-year Grand Tour shutout with a great effort in Stage 10 today. But he lost by less than a bike length to Cervelo's Simon Gerrans at the end of the stage after being in a day-long breakaway along with Astana's Alexander Vinokourov. Too bad, a Canadian hasn't won a Grand Tour stage since Steve Bauer back in 1988. Ryder is way back in GC (54th place) so he might get another chance for a stage result. After all their near misses (Tyler Farrar, Dave Zabriskie, TTT, David Millar, now Hesjedal) isn't their time coming?
Lots more to come later this week, including some 2010 bikes and a look ahead at this weekend's ITU World Championship Series Finale in Australia...see you Friday!
Something about the dog days of summer, the annual pilgrimage to Penticton, and a new job have left me short the required hours to really delve into a weekly Bikey offering. Anyhow, we're back, and ready for a big fall (Vuelta, the Worlds, Kona, the fall marathon season, ITU Worlds Finale, etc)...time to go get updated and watch some videos
So where are we? The World Championships in Athletics came and went, and other than another Usain Bolt show, I'm not really sure what the normal sports fan will remember from the 2009 Worlds. Hmmm, let's recap.
*The marathons really weren't great. Without a lot of huge names, they weren't super exciting to watch but congrats to China's Bai Xue and a lesser-known Kenyan male Abel Kirui. Too bad that Kara Goucher had a miserable day since it makes marathons more enjoyable to watch with her in the front group.
* The pole vault competitions provided lots of drama. Unbelievably, Yelena Isinbayeva no-heighted at 4.75m (her opening height, a full 30 cm lower than her world record). Isinbayeva had not been beaten in almost 6 years until earlier this year, but was still the overwhelming favorite to win. Ironically, the winner cleared only 4.75m, so one clean vault would have won the gold for Isinbayeva. The men's pole vault was won by Australia's Steve Hooker, who cleared only one height but it was high enough (5.90m) to win the gold. Awesome. Even better since he was injured and not even sure he could compete. And he has great hair...
* With Isinbayeva out of the spotlight, the Golden Girl of the Games was undeniably Blanka Vlasic, the Croatian high jumper. She won a fierce battle for Gold and also entertained with her antics and her post-jump dancing. Check out the video...
* Sharing the men's spotlight with Usain Bolt was Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, who is cementing his legacy as the greatest distance runner of all time. Check out this list of results...
2009 World Track Champion 5,000 m, Berlin
2009 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Berlin
2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Athletics 5,000 m, Beijing
2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Athletics 10,000 m, Beijing
2008 World Cross Country Championships (12K), Edinburgh
2007 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Osaka
2006 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Fukuoka
2006 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Fukuoka
2006 World Indoor Track Champion 3,000 m, Moscow
2005 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Saint-Étienne
2005 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Saint-Étienne
2005 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Helsinki
2004 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Brussels
2004 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Brussels
2004 Olympic Champion 10,000 m, Athens
2003 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Avenches
2003 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Avenches
2003 World Track Champion 10,000 m, Paris
2002 World Cross Country Champion in short race (4K), Dublin
2002 World Cross Country Champion in long race (12K), Dublin
Let's see...three Olympic gold medals, has won the 10,000m at Worlds in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009, went five years at XC Worlds without losing either the short-course or long-course events, and the last two years has won both the 5000m and 10,000m crowns in Beijing and in Berlin. Oh yeah, he also owns the 5000m and 10,000m World Records. He is the best. Now to see him in action, check out the way he wins...
The 10,000m race was vintage Bekele. Zersenay Tadese set the pace for 9600m, destroyed the whole pack, but Bekele just sat on his shoulder before sprinting the last lap.
The 5000m showed his versatility and his ability to win in other ways. One lap to go, the whole pack still there, he got challenged by American Bernard Lagat down the home stretch but still found his top speed to win.
I don't have the time to comment on the ongoing Caster Semenya controversy until it gets resolved. If you want to read more, check out this story first and then some good updates here and here...I'll hold off until we know more...
Oh yeah. The one Canadian highlight!
For more on the Worlds, check out letsrun.com's recap page here...
Okay, enough track news for now (even though I have more news), off to Pro Cycling...
The Vuelta is off to a rip-roaring start, with the first week including two time trials (can you say Cancellara?), a bunch of sprint finishes (can you say Team Columbia?), and some big names near the top after a couple of mountain finishes. Cancellara won the stage 1 time trial (4.5 km) and the stage 7 30 km time trial, while Andre Greipel (Team Columbia's other sprinter) won Stage 4 and Stage 5. The stage 4 win occured after an amazing crash...
The real GC race started in stage 8 which resulted in an uphill victory by Damiano Cunego. However, Cadel Evans joined a very elite club after stage 8 when he took the lead of the race and was awarded the Golden Jersey, which he adds to his previously worn Yellow Jersey and Maglia Rosa, meaning he has now led all 3 Grand Tours. I guess Alberto Contador has done this as well since he has won all three races, but not too many other cyclists can claim this honour.
Evans didn't get to enjoy it too much, as a time bonus in stage 9 gave Alejandro Valverde the race lead. But this might only serve to highlight the race for second overall? Why? Because Valverde is still under suspicion of past doping offenses, and might be days away from a worldwide cycling ban. After today's Stage 10, there are still a ton of top contenders within a minute or so of Valverde, including Cadel Evans, Robert Gesink, Ivan Basso, and Samuel Sanchez. But no Andy Schleck, who dropped out in Stage 8 with stomach cramps. Too bad.
Some Canadian news - Ryder Hesjedal almost broke Garmin's two-year Grand Tour shutout with a great effort in Stage 10 today. But he lost by less than a bike length to Cervelo's Simon Gerrans at the end of the stage after being in a day-long breakaway along with Astana's Alexander Vinokourov. Too bad, a Canadian hasn't won a Grand Tour stage since Steve Bauer back in 1988. Ryder is way back in GC (54th place) so he might get another chance for a stage result. After all their near misses (Tyler Farrar, Dave Zabriskie, TTT, David Millar, now Hesjedal) isn't their time coming?
Lots more to come later this week, including some 2010 bikes and a look ahead at this weekend's ITU World Championship Series Finale in Australia...see you Friday!
Saturday, August 15, 2009
15 things after 15 days...
Hi All,
My laptop-less vacation cost me a post last week, but with swimming, track, Ironman, ITU, and pro cycling all pretty much taking a deep breath before getting on with more big competitions, starting this week. So in honour of my first post in 15 days, here's 15 things you might want to know...
1. We'll lead off with the biggest event currently going on anywhere on the planet. The IAAF World Championships in Athletics got underway today in Berlin. And while they offer an action packed 9 days, the marquee events haven't really been decided yet. The sprinters got started today, and going into Sunday's final, all 3 marquee guys are still on a collision course. Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell, and Usain Bolt all cruised thru the second round into the semi-finals tomorrow morning. And Sunday night in Berlin (Sunday afternoon in North America) the final will see who will take the title of the "World's Fastest Human" for the next two years, and to see if Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay can try and lower the World Record. Should be great theatre...you can watch live coverage on the weekends on CBC and NBC, or online all week long on CBC's website.
2. Later on this week, the women's 100m final (Monday night), and the men's (Saturday morning) and women's marathon (Sunday morning) should be highlights. The one problem with both the men's and women's marathons is that a large group of top contenders are NOT racing, saving themselves for the big money fall marathon series. So we are not going to be treated to seeing Gebrselassie, Wanjiru, Ryan Hall, and a few other big names in Berlin this week. But the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place guys from Beijing are all back to compete, and should battle for the win along with a slew of top Kenyans and Moroccans. I'm going to pick Deriba Merga, who has already won Boston this spring, and set World's Best times at 8K and 15K this year. I'll have more on the marathons next Friday..
3. Canada's team at the World Championships is only 31 athletes strong, and is not expecting to win too many medals at this year's event. Team Canada is hoping for 2 medals, but truthfully we only have 4 or 5 chances to medal. And one of those, shot putter Dylan Armstrong, who missed an Olympic medal by a single centimetre, didn't even make the final of the shot put today. Oops. So now we have Perdita and Priscilla in the women's 100m hurdles, perhaps Gary Reed in the 800m, and maybe the 4X100m relay team (assuming the USA drop the baton as often happens) as medal hopefuls. It's not out of the realm of possibility for Perdita and Priscilla to both make the podium, and to have neither of them get a medal would be a major blow to Team Canada.
4. There is one more big road race this week, and it takes place in New York City. The NYRR Half Marathon takes place on Sunday, and most of the big names who aren't in Berlin are here. Ryan Hall, Deena Kastor, Catherine Ndereba, and the great Paula Radcliffe are all racing in New York as a fitness check before fall marathon season. But Radcliffe is using the race as a fitness check, as she is still considering racing next week's Berlin's marathon. You rarely hear about pros racing on a back-to-back weekends (especially across an ocean) but Radcliffe has stated that she wants to win NYC to gain confidence before next week's foray into Berlin. It is Radcliffe's first race since last year's New York City Marathon, and after bunion surgery and a broken toe, she is trying to rescue her 2009 season. She is also hoping for a fall marathon (perhaps NYC again?) but it will depend on the results of tomorrow's race and perhaps Berlin next weekend. Here's hoping that Radcliffe can make it to Berlin since she is the biggest female marathon star in the world.
5. Moving to the triathlon world, the ITU crowd stepped into London for today's race in the heart of London. Unfortunately for Canadian fans, Triathlon Canada sent a grand total of zero racers for the 6th event of the World Championship Series. It's too bad that our best athletes don't get a chance to compete in every race. With the Series leader Emma Moffatt skipping the race, it left the race wide open. Swiss star Nicola Spirig won today's race, with Lisa Norden of Sweden finishing second for the third time in her last 4 World Cup races. This moves Norden into second place overall in the Series standings, and now Canadians Kathy Tremblay and Lauren Groves fall back into 6th and 8th place overall.
The men's race was also today, and hometown fave Alistair Brownlee won his 4th race in a row! (Did i mention he's only 21?) This kid is the fastest runner in the sport, and continues to simply run away from his challengers. Barring an injury or setback, he's already the favorite for every race in the next three years, including the Olympic games in London. A bike crash eliminated Javier Gomez today, and since he was the only guy to defeat Brownlee this year, it set up an easy 8 second win for the Londoner. Steffen Justus from Germany continues his strong season, finishing second today and moves into third in the overall standings. Canada now has zero athletes in the Top 20, but with Whitfield, Tichelaar, and McMahon we do have strong contenders in the Series finale in Australia in September. Can Simon win the big one? Stay tuned...
6. A couple noteworthy triathlons in the last couple of weekends. Calgary 70.3 was held two weekends ago, and did showcase a few of the biggest 70.3 stars on the planet. The very under-the-radar Tim O'Donnell continued his amazing 2009 with a dominant 7 minute win (he now has two wins, a second, and a third in his four 70.3 races this year). He will go to Clearwater as a definite favorite to win the 70.3 World title. As dominant as O'Donnell was on the men's side, Aussie Mirinda Carfrae was more so in the women's race, as she beat a great field by a full 10 minutes. Her run split of 1:19 was only 2 minutes slower than O'Donnell's! Canada's rising star Magali Tisseyre held off the very fast Catriona Morrison by 20 seconds for second place. Overall, it was a great race, even if Craig Alexander was a late no-show for the event, claiming he had to "focus on his training".
Two more races to report on from last weekend - Tim O'Donnell continued to dominate, breaking the course record at the 5430 Triathlon in Boulder. He didn't really beat anybody, but the race is noteworthy for the women's race. Chrissie Wellington actually got beat by another female, as Julie Dibens beat her by 75 seconds over the half-Ironman distance. This is her first loss in a half-Ironman since September 2007, and perhaps takes a wee bit of her invincibility heading into Kona. She's still the overwhelming fave, but perhaps the other girls will take notice and not settle for second place. The other race that made headlines was Ironman UK, where a 20-year old Brit, Philip Graves, became the youngest Ironman winner ever. He did defeat defending champion Stephen Bayliss, so it's not like there was no one else in the field. Graves won with a blistering 4:57 bike split, and mentions in this Slowtwitch interview that he perhaps might be interested in a career in pro cycling down the road. I guess that you can dream when you are already an Ironman champion at the age of 20!
7. Chrissie Wellington also made news last week when she and her 2009 coach, Simon Lessing, decided to part ways. This makes three ex-coaches for Chrissie since her Kona victory last October. She says that she will be "coaching herself for the foreseeable future". Is this another potential problem for Chrissie, or will she continue her undefeated Iron-streak by herself?
8. Okay, changing gears to swimming. Although FINA has now decided to ban the fancy polyurethane suits on January 1, 2010 (after a threat of a boycott by Michael Phelps), the records continue to fall. Good news for Canada, since the Canadians are having perhaps their best year in the pool since the 1996 Olympics (three medals). After the World Championships that resulted in three medals (two by Ryan Cochrane, one by Annamay Pierce - to go with her World Record in the 200m breaststroke) and 13 Canadians making various finals, Canada then moved on to the short-course pool in Great Britain where they set 4 more short-course world records (3 by relay teams, one by Annamay Pierce). Canada has now set 5 short-course world records in 2009, more than any other country. Annamay Pierce has 3 world records this year (out of 87 set this year), and is most definitely the greatest Canadian swimmer of 2009.
9. Speaking of setting world records, Michael Phelps has now set 5 more this year. He ended the Rome World Championships by defeating his trash-talking rival Milos Cavic in the final of the 100m butterfly. Their rivalry reached epic proportions when Phelps out-touched Cavic by 1/100th of a second during the Beijing final.
Then came the swimsuit controversy, when Cavic volunteered to provide Phelps with a "fast" suit before their final in the 100m butterfly to even the playing field. Here's the link to the video from the final. It is an amazing race to watch
As you can see, Phelps had the last laugh, winning the final (after being behind for 90+m) and becoming the first man ever to finish under 50 seconds (although Cavic also went sub-50 in defeat). Phelps leaves Rome with 5 gold medals and a silver, and is now aiming squarely at the London Olympics in less than 3 years!
10. For every great Phelps success story, there seems to be some minor (or major) controversy. This week he was in a minor traffic accident and got cited for driving without a license. This follows up on his DUI from 2004 and his college party/bong controversy that resulted in his 6 month vacation last winter. He is a very rich young man and occasionally gets a bit too hung up on his "unwinding" from his ridiculous training schedule. Anyhow, perhaps this makes him more likable as he does have some warts to go with his Greatest Swimmer Ever title.
11. Okay, no more swimming stories for a while. I promise. From Michael Phelps, American Superstar, to Lance Armstrong, American Superstar. Lance today showed his strength by returning to the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race and easily winning and breaking the course record. Lance, second to the legendary Dave Wiens in 2008, grabbed control of the race about mid-way through and solo'd for almost 60 miles to win by a half-hour! He also broke the course record by almost 17 minutes! Obviously, Lance is still planning to compete at the 2010 Tour, and it's nice to see that he enters the winter this season so far ahead of where he was last year.
12. Lance made news of a different type this week, when details of a new Outside Magazine interview came out. Just read the following quote:
Are you going back to triathlon? Should we look for you at Kona?
I trained at Kona before the Tour Down Under. I was there. I’d like to go back and try some Ironman events. Not just Kona.
What? Multiple Ironmans? Lance, we need more information! Can you imagine how cool it would be for us amateur athletes to toe the start line against Lance?
Oops, these Saturday posts have some advantages...not only can I report on Saturday's races (ITU, Leadville, and the IAAF Saturday events), but sometimes you luck into other stuff. Here's Lance talking about swimming and running to go with his biking in the near future. Video is from a post-Leadville press conference.
13. The Vuelta is still 2 weeks ago, but the provisional start list for the third and final Grand Tour of 2009 was released this week. And great news for Canada, as we have 3 riders on the provisional start list for the Vuelta d'Espana, including first time Grand Tour riders Svein Tuft (Team Garmin) and Dominique Rollin (Team Cervelo). Ryder Hesjedal is also expected to start, and he is aiming at a high GC ranking in this race. He has also signed a 2-year extension with Team Garmin thru 2011, and will be representing Canada at the World Championships in late September. A busy year for Ryder!
The main contenders for this year's Vuelta include Alejandro Valverde, the Schleck brothers, Ivan Basso, Samuel Sanchez, Roman Kreuziger, and even Andreas Kloden.
14. Speaking of Canadians on pro teams, 2008 Canadian Road Champion Christian Meier has also been busy as a domestique for Team Garmin in 2009. This 24-year old from New Brunswick is even being considered for Garmin's Vuelta roster, but regardless of his participation, it has been an eye-opening year for Meier in Europe this year. Here is a great interview with Meier, and you can also check out his website that he shares with fellow Garminite and Canadian Svein Tuft...www.bikingbros.com
15. September 1st is the official start of the silly season for cycling, when riders and teams can announce their 2010 contracts. The new RadioShack team is awash in rumours (Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie are rumoured to have already signed, Chris Horner is still thought to be deciding) but the biggest name in play is obviously Alberto Contador. This week, Contador spoke openly about his desire to join Caisse D'Epargne, although it is expected that Quick Step, Garmin, and some other teams may attempt to sign Contador. However, he is still under contract to Astana in 2010, and today Astana confirms that Contador will remain on their roster for 2010. Of course, contracts are written to be broken, and perhaps some new team could financially induce Astana to release Contador. However, this bears watching...and who wants a rider who doesn't want to ride for them? Even if he is the best rider of his generation? Time will tell...
Next week, lots on the IAAF World Champs, and maybe some news about Alexander Vinokourov...
My laptop-less vacation cost me a post last week, but with swimming, track, Ironman, ITU, and pro cycling all pretty much taking a deep breath before getting on with more big competitions, starting this week. So in honour of my first post in 15 days, here's 15 things you might want to know...
1. We'll lead off with the biggest event currently going on anywhere on the planet. The IAAF World Championships in Athletics got underway today in Berlin. And while they offer an action packed 9 days, the marquee events haven't really been decided yet. The sprinters got started today, and going into Sunday's final, all 3 marquee guys are still on a collision course. Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell, and Usain Bolt all cruised thru the second round into the semi-finals tomorrow morning. And Sunday night in Berlin (Sunday afternoon in North America) the final will see who will take the title of the "World's Fastest Human" for the next two years, and to see if Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay can try and lower the World Record. Should be great theatre...you can watch live coverage on the weekends on CBC and NBC, or online all week long on CBC's website.
2. Later on this week, the women's 100m final (Monday night), and the men's (Saturday morning) and women's marathon (Sunday morning) should be highlights. The one problem with both the men's and women's marathons is that a large group of top contenders are NOT racing, saving themselves for the big money fall marathon series. So we are not going to be treated to seeing Gebrselassie, Wanjiru, Ryan Hall, and a few other big names in Berlin this week. But the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place guys from Beijing are all back to compete, and should battle for the win along with a slew of top Kenyans and Moroccans. I'm going to pick Deriba Merga, who has already won Boston this spring, and set World's Best times at 8K and 15K this year. I'll have more on the marathons next Friday..
3. Canada's team at the World Championships is only 31 athletes strong, and is not expecting to win too many medals at this year's event. Team Canada is hoping for 2 medals, but truthfully we only have 4 or 5 chances to medal. And one of those, shot putter Dylan Armstrong, who missed an Olympic medal by a single centimetre, didn't even make the final of the shot put today. Oops. So now we have Perdita and Priscilla in the women's 100m hurdles, perhaps Gary Reed in the 800m, and maybe the 4X100m relay team (assuming the USA drop the baton as often happens) as medal hopefuls. It's not out of the realm of possibility for Perdita and Priscilla to both make the podium, and to have neither of them get a medal would be a major blow to Team Canada.
4. There is one more big road race this week, and it takes place in New York City. The NYRR Half Marathon takes place on Sunday, and most of the big names who aren't in Berlin are here. Ryan Hall, Deena Kastor, Catherine Ndereba, and the great Paula Radcliffe are all racing in New York as a fitness check before fall marathon season. But Radcliffe is using the race as a fitness check, as she is still considering racing next week's Berlin's marathon. You rarely hear about pros racing on a back-to-back weekends (especially across an ocean) but Radcliffe has stated that she wants to win NYC to gain confidence before next week's foray into Berlin. It is Radcliffe's first race since last year's New York City Marathon, and after bunion surgery and a broken toe, she is trying to rescue her 2009 season. She is also hoping for a fall marathon (perhaps NYC again?) but it will depend on the results of tomorrow's race and perhaps Berlin next weekend. Here's hoping that Radcliffe can make it to Berlin since she is the biggest female marathon star in the world.
5. Moving to the triathlon world, the ITU crowd stepped into London for today's race in the heart of London. Unfortunately for Canadian fans, Triathlon Canada sent a grand total of zero racers for the 6th event of the World Championship Series. It's too bad that our best athletes don't get a chance to compete in every race. With the Series leader Emma Moffatt skipping the race, it left the race wide open. Swiss star Nicola Spirig won today's race, with Lisa Norden of Sweden finishing second for the third time in her last 4 World Cup races. This moves Norden into second place overall in the Series standings, and now Canadians Kathy Tremblay and Lauren Groves fall back into 6th and 8th place overall.
The men's race was also today, and hometown fave Alistair Brownlee won his 4th race in a row! (Did i mention he's only 21?) This kid is the fastest runner in the sport, and continues to simply run away from his challengers. Barring an injury or setback, he's already the favorite for every race in the next three years, including the Olympic games in London. A bike crash eliminated Javier Gomez today, and since he was the only guy to defeat Brownlee this year, it set up an easy 8 second win for the Londoner. Steffen Justus from Germany continues his strong season, finishing second today and moves into third in the overall standings. Canada now has zero athletes in the Top 20, but with Whitfield, Tichelaar, and McMahon we do have strong contenders in the Series finale in Australia in September. Can Simon win the big one? Stay tuned...
6. A couple noteworthy triathlons in the last couple of weekends. Calgary 70.3 was held two weekends ago, and did showcase a few of the biggest 70.3 stars on the planet. The very under-the-radar Tim O'Donnell continued his amazing 2009 with a dominant 7 minute win (he now has two wins, a second, and a third in his four 70.3 races this year). He will go to Clearwater as a definite favorite to win the 70.3 World title. As dominant as O'Donnell was on the men's side, Aussie Mirinda Carfrae was more so in the women's race, as she beat a great field by a full 10 minutes. Her run split of 1:19 was only 2 minutes slower than O'Donnell's! Canada's rising star Magali Tisseyre held off the very fast Catriona Morrison by 20 seconds for second place. Overall, it was a great race, even if Craig Alexander was a late no-show for the event, claiming he had to "focus on his training".
Two more races to report on from last weekend - Tim O'Donnell continued to dominate, breaking the course record at the 5430 Triathlon in Boulder. He didn't really beat anybody, but the race is noteworthy for the women's race. Chrissie Wellington actually got beat by another female, as Julie Dibens beat her by 75 seconds over the half-Ironman distance. This is her first loss in a half-Ironman since September 2007, and perhaps takes a wee bit of her invincibility heading into Kona. She's still the overwhelming fave, but perhaps the other girls will take notice and not settle for second place. The other race that made headlines was Ironman UK, where a 20-year old Brit, Philip Graves, became the youngest Ironman winner ever. He did defeat defending champion Stephen Bayliss, so it's not like there was no one else in the field. Graves won with a blistering 4:57 bike split, and mentions in this Slowtwitch interview that he perhaps might be interested in a career in pro cycling down the road. I guess that you can dream when you are already an Ironman champion at the age of 20!
7. Chrissie Wellington also made news last week when she and her 2009 coach, Simon Lessing, decided to part ways. This makes three ex-coaches for Chrissie since her Kona victory last October. She says that she will be "coaching herself for the foreseeable future". Is this another potential problem for Chrissie, or will she continue her undefeated Iron-streak by herself?
8. Okay, changing gears to swimming. Although FINA has now decided to ban the fancy polyurethane suits on January 1, 2010 (after a threat of a boycott by Michael Phelps), the records continue to fall. Good news for Canada, since the Canadians are having perhaps their best year in the pool since the 1996 Olympics (three medals). After the World Championships that resulted in three medals (two by Ryan Cochrane, one by Annamay Pierce - to go with her World Record in the 200m breaststroke) and 13 Canadians making various finals, Canada then moved on to the short-course pool in Great Britain where they set 4 more short-course world records (3 by relay teams, one by Annamay Pierce). Canada has now set 5 short-course world records in 2009, more than any other country. Annamay Pierce has 3 world records this year (out of 87 set this year), and is most definitely the greatest Canadian swimmer of 2009.
9. Speaking of setting world records, Michael Phelps has now set 5 more this year. He ended the Rome World Championships by defeating his trash-talking rival Milos Cavic in the final of the 100m butterfly. Their rivalry reached epic proportions when Phelps out-touched Cavic by 1/100th of a second during the Beijing final.
Then came the swimsuit controversy, when Cavic volunteered to provide Phelps with a "fast" suit before their final in the 100m butterfly to even the playing field. Here's the link to the video from the final. It is an amazing race to watch
As you can see, Phelps had the last laugh, winning the final (after being behind for 90+m) and becoming the first man ever to finish under 50 seconds (although Cavic also went sub-50 in defeat). Phelps leaves Rome with 5 gold medals and a silver, and is now aiming squarely at the London Olympics in less than 3 years!
10. For every great Phelps success story, there seems to be some minor (or major) controversy. This week he was in a minor traffic accident and got cited for driving without a license. This follows up on his DUI from 2004 and his college party/bong controversy that resulted in his 6 month vacation last winter. He is a very rich young man and occasionally gets a bit too hung up on his "unwinding" from his ridiculous training schedule. Anyhow, perhaps this makes him more likable as he does have some warts to go with his Greatest Swimmer Ever title.
11. Okay, no more swimming stories for a while. I promise. From Michael Phelps, American Superstar, to Lance Armstrong, American Superstar. Lance today showed his strength by returning to the Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race and easily winning and breaking the course record. Lance, second to the legendary Dave Wiens in 2008, grabbed control of the race about mid-way through and solo'd for almost 60 miles to win by a half-hour! He also broke the course record by almost 17 minutes! Obviously, Lance is still planning to compete at the 2010 Tour, and it's nice to see that he enters the winter this season so far ahead of where he was last year.
12. Lance made news of a different type this week, when details of a new Outside Magazine interview came out. Just read the following quote:
Are you going back to triathlon? Should we look for you at Kona?
I trained at Kona before the Tour Down Under. I was there. I’d like to go back and try some Ironman events. Not just Kona.
What? Multiple Ironmans? Lance, we need more information! Can you imagine how cool it would be for us amateur athletes to toe the start line against Lance?
Oops, these Saturday posts have some advantages...not only can I report on Saturday's races (ITU, Leadville, and the IAAF Saturday events), but sometimes you luck into other stuff. Here's Lance talking about swimming and running to go with his biking in the near future. Video is from a post-Leadville press conference.
13. The Vuelta is still 2 weeks ago, but the provisional start list for the third and final Grand Tour of 2009 was released this week. And great news for Canada, as we have 3 riders on the provisional start list for the Vuelta d'Espana, including first time Grand Tour riders Svein Tuft (Team Garmin) and Dominique Rollin (Team Cervelo). Ryder Hesjedal is also expected to start, and he is aiming at a high GC ranking in this race. He has also signed a 2-year extension with Team Garmin thru 2011, and will be representing Canada at the World Championships in late September. A busy year for Ryder!
The main contenders for this year's Vuelta include Alejandro Valverde, the Schleck brothers, Ivan Basso, Samuel Sanchez, Roman Kreuziger, and even Andreas Kloden.
14. Speaking of Canadians on pro teams, 2008 Canadian Road Champion Christian Meier has also been busy as a domestique for Team Garmin in 2009. This 24-year old from New Brunswick is even being considered for Garmin's Vuelta roster, but regardless of his participation, it has been an eye-opening year for Meier in Europe this year. Here is a great interview with Meier, and you can also check out his website that he shares with fellow Garminite and Canadian Svein Tuft...www.bikingbros.com
15. September 1st is the official start of the silly season for cycling, when riders and teams can announce their 2010 contracts. The new RadioShack team is awash in rumours (Levi Leipheimer and George Hincapie are rumoured to have already signed, Chris Horner is still thought to be deciding) but the biggest name in play is obviously Alberto Contador. This week, Contador spoke openly about his desire to join Caisse D'Epargne, although it is expected that Quick Step, Garmin, and some other teams may attempt to sign Contador. However, he is still under contract to Astana in 2010, and today Astana confirms that Contador will remain on their roster for 2010. Of course, contracts are written to be broken, and perhaps some new team could financially induce Astana to release Contador. However, this bears watching...and who wants a rider who doesn't want to ride for them? Even if he is the best rider of his generation? Time will tell...
Next week, lots on the IAAF World Champs, and maybe some news about Alexander Vinokourov...
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