Cycling Commentary

Carlos Sastre: 2006 Pro Cyclist of the Year

Tom Boonen did the World Champion's jersey proud this year with a series of spectacular early season wins including the Tour of Flanders, a repeat from 2005. His teammate, Paulo Bettini, rode powerfully all year and came on particularly strong at the end of the season by winning the World Champion's road jersey and following up with the Tour of Lombardy. And Floyd Landis had a magnificent season logging wins at the Tour of California, Paris Nice, the Tour of Georgia and the Tour de France. Were it not for his tarnished Tour de France performance, Floyd would probably have received the nod for the 2006 Cyclist of the Year.

In my view, however, Carlos Sastre of Team CSC wins the prize for the 2006 Cyclist of the Year. Sastre road all three Grand Tours this year. He helped Basso win the Giro d'Italia by setting a blistering pace in the mountains, finishing in 43rd place. With Basso evicted from the Tour unexpectedly, Sastre became the de factor team leader for the Tour de France. He did his team proud by finishing 4th overall in the GC. And if that was not enough, he went on to race the Vuelta a Espagna, his third gruelling 3-week stage race of the season. He just missed the podium with another 4th place finish.

Sastre's consistent results in all three Grand Tours, his selfless effort to work for a team beset by difficulty and his mental and physical toughness to compete, finish and perform well in all three Grand Tours make Sastre my choice for the 2006 Pro Cyclist of the Year.

Vaughters and the Vuelta

Jonathan Vaughters and the Vuelta a Espagna were both in the news today. Seemingly unrelated, comments made by Vaughters reflect directly on proposed changes being made to the Vuelta in 2008.

Vaughters was quoted in CN today as saying that fans, races organizers and teams ask too much of riders. "Managers, fans, press, everyone needs to look at what they ask of riders. Think about it," he asks. "You loved Tyler Hamilton getting fourth in the Tour and winning a stage with a broken collarbone. Think about that. What message does that send? He got the job done. He didn't let anyone down."

And Vaughters is not alone in suggesting that cycling asks too much of its riders. Over the past several months, we have heard from the likes of Tom Boonen who claims that the Grand Tours are just too hard. And as a result, so the reasoning goes, riders are turning to PEDs to get them through three weeks of difficult racing.

And apparently, the UCI is listening. Today, VN reported that the UCI is warning Spanish race organizers that the Vuelta, a three-week race through Spain in the month of September, might be shortened in 2008. Adding insult to injury, the UCI is reported to have indicated that the Vuelta may have to share the month of September with the Tour of Germany, a 10-day race usually conducted in August. Both races are on the Pro Tour calendar, and arguably the Tour of Germany gets as much attention as the Vuelta these days.

How much of this change is being driven by cyclists complaining about the pressures of racing and how much is driven by public interest and sponsorship dollars is unknown. Nonetheless, it is interesting to note that it is the Vuelta, not the Tour or the Giro, being singled out for reduced racing days.

The Grand Tours are cycling traditions that go back decades. The number of racing days is not the issue. The issue may be closer to Vaughters' point: We simply expect too much from our heroes. Let's lower our expectations and keep the Grand Tours in tact.

Vino and Astana at Risk

How is it that Alexandre Vinokourov, the winner of the 2006 Vuelta a Espagne, finds himself in a situation where his team, Astana, may not be selected as a Pro Tour Team in 2007?

CN reports that Astana, Barloworld and Unibet are all vying for the final available Pro Tour license. All have submitted the required financial information, and on November 28, each team will learn preliminarily of their fate. But wait, wasn't Astana a Pro Tour team in 2006? And if so, shouldn't it be a simple matter of renewing their existing Pro Tour license?

Come to find out, Activebay.com and Manolo Saiz actually hold that license. Saiz was initially implicated in the Operacion Puerto affair, and his team, Liberty Seguros Würth, disbanded when lead sponsor Liberty Seguros pulled the plug when widespread doping practices were reported among the team. Alexandre Vinokourov scrambled to pull together a new sponsor in advance of the Tour de France with five Kazakh companies rising to the challenge. The newly formed team was named Astana Würth and then simply Astana when Würth pulled out after four of the 9 starters for the Tour were implicated just before the Grand Boucle began, and the team was disqualified.

All of Vino's efforts appeared not to be in vain as Astana triumphed in the last grand tour of the year. The team garnered a total of five stage wins and two podium positions in the Vuelta with Vinokourov in first and Kashechkin in third. Earlier this fall, Astana added to its cache as a Pro Tour Team when T-Mobile's Andreas Klöden and Matthias Kessler signed for the team, and Il Falco, Paolo Savoldelli was rumored to have signed.

In an ironic twist of fate, Saiz has been "cleared" of wrongdoing in the Operacion Puerto affair, and Activebay's Pro Tour license has been renewed. That cruel turn of events means that Astana is left to battle it out with Barloworld and Unibet for the final Pro Tour slot. Rumor has it that Unibet will obtain the final license, and Astana will be forced to obtain a Continental license. Most likely, Astana will still be invited to participate in all the Grand Tours as a wild-card team, but this seems woefully inappropriate given the status and prestige of Astana and its individual team members. Hopefully, good sense will prevail, and Astana will receive the remaining Pro Tour license. It's the right thing to do.

Tyler Hamilton Confirms with Tinkoff

Well, it's official. Tyler Hamilton has reportedly inked a two-year deal with Tinkoff Credit Systems. Having recently completed a 112-mile TT as part of an Iron Man team in 4 hrs and 30 minutes, Hamilton appears to be ready to race.

The announcement itself is somewhat anti-climatic as it has been speculated for two weeks that Hamilton would be joining Tinkoff. What's more interesting about Hamilton's official announcement is his possible admission of past wrongdoing. In referring to his two-year suspension for homoglobous blood transfusions, Hamilton is quoted as saying, "I have made a mistake and I paid a very high price for it." While he continues to vehemently deny any connection with Dr. Fuentes and the now-tabled Operacion Puerto investigation in Spain, this statement seems to suggest that he has acknowledged the offence for which he was accused.

On the Mount Washington Hill Climb this year, many of Tyler's supporters were wearing Tyler Hamilton Foundation cycling jerseys that read, "Believe" – believe that Tyler is telling the truth when he denies blood doping allegations. Some of his more ardent supporters even wore jerseys that read, "Puck Found," which when re-arranging the first two letters of each word revealed its true meaning - fans were expressing dismay with WADA chief, Dick Pound.

With this simple statement, Hamilton may have undone two+ year’s worth of public relations efforts and undermined his professional credibility. If true, it's awfully difficult to remain a fan.

Landis and Heras Maintain Innocence

Prior to Alexandre Vinokorov's victory in the 2006 Vuelta a Espagne, all three of the preceding Grand Tours had been blemished with the winners involved or allegedly involved with the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Roberto Heras lost his title to the 2005 Vuelta victory. Ivan Basso retains his title to the 2006 Giro d'Italia, but his subsequent entanglement with Operacion Puerto and eviction from the Tour de France before it began puts his title claim in question. And Floyd Landis, the chronological winner of the 2006 Tour de France, remains embroiled in an investigation about his alleged use of exogenous testosterone during his brilliant stage win at Morzine.

Tuesday evening, Floyd Landis continued the public relations defense of his title by appearing on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. Landis claimed that while tempted to use performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) during times when he was not performing so well, he had never done so. He even suggested that he had never seen or had first hand knowledge of other cyclist's using PEDs. "What I have actually physically seen is nothing," said Landis to Gumble. "What you are insinuating is that everybody is doing it and only a few are getting caught - that is not the case." It seems hard to image that Landis has no first hand knowledge of PED use, given that a large number of his Phonak teammates had been found to have done so. And who could blame him for using PEDs in the first place? Think of it. Given 10 athletes of comparable ability and fitness and only one of those athletes begins an EPO and Growth Hormone regimen, that one athlete suddenly has an enormous advantage (estimated at 15%) over the competition. To be competitive, the other athletes simply would have to follow suit. Landis maintains his innocence, asserts that the tests are inaccurate and politically motivated and insists he will be found to have raced clean. As a cycling fan, I definitely want to believe him.

I also want to believe Roberto Heras. Heras was in the news yesterday, as well, insisting upon his innocence. Found guilty of using EPO during the final TT of the penultimate stage of the 2005 Vuelta, Heras was stripped of his crown. He tells the press that while he and his attorneys were provided with detailed information about his positive A sample, the Spanish authorities have yet to turn over information about his B sample, despite four requests and a pending fifth request. In another year, Heras will be able to race again for a professional team, but not for a Pro Tour team as he is banned from racing for an additional two years. When contemplating Heras' and Landis' cases, one has to wonder what the political motivations are that have ruined the reputations of these champions. Are they dopers as alleged, or has the testing system been corrupted as both have maintained?

Food for thought on this Thanksgiving Day.

Tinkoff Makes a Splash

Tyler Hamilton. Francisco Mancebo. Jan Ullrich. All of these "tarnished" professional bicycle riders have signed or are rumored to have signed for Tinkoff Credit Systems, a new continental European cycling team. In doing so, Tinkoff has made a huge splash in the world of European professional cycling - at least from a branding point of view.

Prior to the last four weeks, who had ever heard of Tinkoff Credit Systems or its predecessor, Tinkoff Brewery? The latter describes itself as a "team of young and audacious professionals who evangelize success via cutting-edge business practices." Certainly, Tinkoff has assembled a group of young audacious professionals, and in doing so, have made a name for themselves.

Tinkoff is immediately the "bad guy" of European Cycling. A band of misfits and accused PED users have come together to build an outlaw brand, the stuff of legend. And in so doing, Tinkoff Credit Systems has arisen from obscurity to international prominence, at least among those of us who follow professional cycling.

Hats off to Tinkoff for making things interesting and giving the "bad boys" of European Cycling another chance. Bravo!

Ivan Basso - Good for the Sport?

Jens Voigt, winner of the 2006 Tour of Germany and former teammate of Ivan Basso, has called Basso's return to the pro peloton as "not good for our image."

In an article published at http://www.eurosport.com/cycling/sport_sto1008519.shtml, Voigt goes on to say that he and other riders in the peloton are "eager to ensure the sport has a good image." But what kind of sport is it that precludes athletes from racing based upon the mere suspicion of wrongdoing?

Like Jan Ullrich, Basso was implicated in the Operacion Puerto scandal this summer. As a result, Basso was not able to race in the Tour de France, and he missed the balance of the 2006 pro cycling season. When the Spanish authorities dropped the case against Basso this fall for lack of evidence and the Italian authorities followed suit, Basso was free and clear to race. No case. No guilty verdict. No sanctions. No nothing. Just accusation and innuendo remained.

So why is it that a former teammate like Voigt has the nerve to suggest that Basso hang up his bike for good? It appears that the professional peloton has forgotten not only about the basic tenets of justice - innocent until proven guilty - but has gone even further to presume as guilty those that have simply been accused of wrongdoing. Ivan Basso is free and clear to race. Discovery Channel was wise to pick him up. Basso's contractual commitment to undergo a DNA test if requested by a national investigation should be good enough for everyone to realize that Basso intends to race clean.

If, like Basso, the rest of the peloton commits to DNA testing in the event of a national investigation, the sport's image will improve by leaps and bounds. Baseless witch-hunts, however, do nothing to improve the sport. Let's move on, boys. Let those with the strongest legs rise to the top.

Jan Ullrich - Guilty until Proven Innocent?

Discovery Channel Director Sportif Johann Bruyneel is profound. In justifying the recent hire of Ivan Basso, a coup by any measure, the Belgian said, "We believe that even an athlete is innocent until proven guilty."

That's pretty novel - even an athlete is innocent until proven guilty. Too bad that standard does not apply to one of the other cycling greats, Jan Ullrich. Ullrich finds himself in a bizarre state of legal limbo. The Spanish authorities have dropped their Operacion Puerto case against him citing insufficient evidence to prosecute, yet the Swiss Cycling authorities refuse to act - neither initiating nor discontinuing the threat disciplinary of action against Ullrich.

In the absence of actionable evidence against Ullrich, big Jan should be allowed to race and sign for a Pro Tour team. Yet, the Pro Tour, lead by the UCI, seems to think that even the light stench of alleged wrongdoing is reason enough to ruin a man's career.

Cyclists around the world, including the Pro Peloton, should urge the UCI and the Swiss Cycling Federation to either initiate a legitimate disciplinary action or let Jan Ullrich race.