Last week was all about cycling and the many events that are going on in Europe, but this week's headlines were mostly all about one person, Alberto Contador. He started off Paris-Nice by winning the prologue on Sunday, which was shocking only because it was assumed that prologue specialists like David Millar or Bradley Wiggins would dominate the 9.3 km distance. He then defended his lead until Tuesday, when Sylvain Chavanel won Stage 3 and took the leader's jersey. However, Team Astana didn't seem too concerned since today's Stage 6 and tomorrow's Stage 7 both have multiple climbs and uphill finishes. And Contador didn't disappoint, attacking on the last big climb, leaving the whole race and all the other contenders in his wake. Only Frank Schleck and Luis-Leon Sanchez could stay within a minute of Contador, with other GC contenders like Cadel Evans, Sammy Sanchez, and Christophe Moreau farther back down the mountain. Today's stage was so difficult that only 22 riders finished within 4 minutes of Contador. Barring a complete collapse tomorrow, Contador will win Paris-Nice for a second time and re-affirm his position as the best stage racer on the planet. I'm sure Lance is paying attention...
Meanwhile, in Italy, an elite group of sprinters is preparing for the season at the Tirreno-Adriatico. With Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish, Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen, Thor Hushovd and a few other big name sprinters in the field, this race seems designed to let the sprinters test their legs in bunch sprints. This race is also grabbing my attention since Canadians Hesjedal, Tuft, and Rollin are all participating. The sprinters were outwitted in Stage 1, when a breakaway of 2 managed to stay away and win by 11 seconds. The Italian Petacchi, who was probably the most feared sprinter in the world a couple of years ago, won Stage 2 by holding off the field. Today's Stage 3 also resulted in a sprint finish, and Mark Cavendish got passed at the line by Garmin's Tyler Farrar ( a great picture from Graham Watson is below). Anyhow, Boonen, McEwen, and the rest of the big names now have to climb some mountains and do a time trial over the next 3 days before getting another sprint chance on Tuesday's final stage. Currently, Hesjedal is the top Canadian in 18th place, but expect the GC to be messed up by the end of Monday's epic (and hilly) 235 km stage! Go Canada!
The week's biggest running news comes from the Netherlands where Haile Gebrselassie is racing for a new world record in the half marathon on Saturday morning. He needs to beat the 58:33 that his arch-rival Sammy Wanjiru set 2 years ago in this same race. The organizers of the Pier City Pier Half Marathon in the Hague have made this course world-record friendly, removing any tough corners from the course and even ensuring runners do not have to run into the wind. Wanjiru first set the world record in 2005 before Geb broke it in 2006. Then Wanjiru set it twice in 2007 to lower the record to its current 58:33. Geb also will have 3 pacesetters to try and get him as far into the race as possible before he will have to run by himself. Geb also has announced that he will be trying to better his world record in the One Hour event on June 1 this year.
Triathlon news...and for us fans of ITU racing it's a good news - bad news situation. The 2009 season's first World Championship Series event, which was to be held on May 10th in Singapore, has been cancelled due to "economic reasons". Oops. Anyhow, the good news is that Tongyeong, Korea has stepped up and will host the event on May 2nd and May 3rd. So we actually get earlier racing...but the fact that the economy is affecting the marquee events is not a good sign for 2009 and beyond.
I must admit that I forgot to preview last week's Ironman New Zealand. One of 23 Ironman events in 2009, last week's race was notable since Cameron Brown and Joanna Lawn have owned this event for a long time. Brown (with 7 wins in a row) and Lawn (6 wins in a row) have dominated the event, but this year they were expected to be challenged by other Kiwis such as Kieren Doe, Terrenzo Bozzone, and Gina Ferguson. Doe actually had to drop out at the last minute due to illness, but Bozzone was an interesting challenger. He had never raced an Ironman, but dominated 70.3 racing in 2008, easily winning the World Champs in November. Saturday, Cam Brown did indeed to his part to continue the streak, breaking the course record with a time of 8:18. Brown really doesn't get the respect for his amazing consistency, as he has finished 2nd in Kona twice and in the Top 5 there 5 times in the past 8 years. Bozzone had a great debut, finishing second in 8:25 and will be a force in Ironman racing for years to come. The women's race did include a mild upset, as Gina Ferguson won her first title in New Zealand (and 5th overall) by finishing 5 minutes ahead of Jo Lawn in 9:18. More Ironman racing coming in the first week in April...
That's it for now...see you next Friday!
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