March Madness
Screw college basketball. This past week and a half is fantastic for a cycling fan. Paris-Nice to start last week. Followed up by Tirreno-Adriatico in the middle of last week and finishing tomorrow.
Paris-Nice seems more famous but, honestly, the racing was only average. Thomas Voeckler was kicking butt and racing to two wins as French champion. But, when it came down to the last couple stages after the individual time trial, the teams in 2nd and 3rd seemed reluctant to attack. On the last day, Radio Shack and Sky had HTC outnumbered on the final climbs of the Col de Turbie and the Col d'Eze and failed to do anything. Anything....
I race and understand that you can't always do what is needed but, as a spectator, watching two teams outnumbering the team with the race leader and doing essentially nothing to challenge the race leadership is so frustrating. I don't care if it is not successful. At least, put in a little effort and make me think that you are trying to win instead of settling for 2nd or 3rd place. Take out your damn race radios and race dammit! Screw 2nd place Mr Kloden. Screw 3rd place Mr Wiggins. Attack at least a little bit. You'll gain ten times the fans for a least trying.
Alas, we'll have to wait for another race for you to attack.
Tirreno-Adriatico has been incredible. Sprint finishes for the first couple days made for some good racing. The last couple days have been full of crazy, insanely steep uphill finishes through smally Italian towns. God, I love it! No better way to finish off 200+ km than a brutal, nasty uphill of a kilometer or two to provide racing excitement.
Seriously, how can you beat these last few km's
Paris-Nice seems more famous but, honestly, the racing was only average. Thomas Voeckler was kicking butt and racing to two wins as French champion. But, when it came down to the last couple stages after the individual time trial, the teams in 2nd and 3rd seemed reluctant to attack. On the last day, Radio Shack and Sky had HTC outnumbered on the final climbs of the Col de Turbie and the Col d'Eze and failed to do anything. Anything....
I race and understand that you can't always do what is needed but, as a spectator, watching two teams outnumbering the team with the race leader and doing essentially nothing to challenge the race leadership is so frustrating. I don't care if it is not successful. At least, put in a little effort and make me think that you are trying to win instead of settling for 2nd or 3rd place. Take out your damn race radios and race dammit! Screw 2nd place Mr Kloden. Screw 3rd place Mr Wiggins. Attack at least a little bit. You'll gain ten times the fans for a least trying.
Alas, we'll have to wait for another race for you to attack.
Tirreno-Adriatico has been incredible. Sprint finishes for the first couple days made for some good racing. The last couple days have been full of crazy, insanely steep uphill finishes through smally Italian towns. God, I love it! No better way to finish off 200+ km than a brutal, nasty uphill of a kilometer or two to provide racing excitement.
Seriously, how can you beat these last few km's
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