Cycling Commentary

Gilbert Wins Liège-Bastogne-Liège 2011

Philippe Gilbert Completes the Ardennes Classics Hat Trick Winning the 2011 Editions of Amstel Gold, Flèche-Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Philipe Gilbert, the Omega-Lotto Classics specialist from the Wallonne region of Belgium, survived a double attack from Andy and Frank Schleck on the Roche aux Faucons, the penultimate climb of the 255km hilly race through the Belgian countryside to win the 2011 edition of Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Gilbert hung onto until the end of the race, sandwiched between the Schleck brothers, who seemed unable or unwilling to attack, to win the race easily in the final sprint. Frank Schleck finished second, followed by brother Andy.

Earlier this week, Gilbert won the mid-week Classic, la Flèche-Wallonne frustrating an on-form Frank Schleck. And on Sunday, August 17, 2011, Glibert caught Andy Schleck, the lone escapee, to win the Amstel Gold Race.

This amazing cycling performance - winning all three Ardennes Classics – was last accomplished in 2004 by Italian cyclist, Davide Rebellin. Rebellin's accomplishments were subsequently discredited when he was found to have used CERA, a form of EPO, in 2009.

Full race report.

 

 

Juan Pelota - Who is this 'Juan Pelota'

Juan Pelota appears to be making a splash on the triathlon scene with regular tweets about how he is getting his ass kicked by the Miami high school swim team or by swim elites like Aaron Perisol and Ian Crocker. In just three weeks, his twitter followers have grown to over 8,500. The other day, Juan Pelota shared a super funny ironman training video.

But just who is this Jaun Pelota?

Apparently, Pelota is Spanish for the word 'ball.' And Juan is sounds much like the English word 'one,' such that when put together in English, the name Juan Pelota becomes 'one ball.'

Today, Juan Pelota tweeted, "Badass swim workout w/ @engine2diet, Kemp, @jamesbonney, Foley, etc. Swimming 'pelota out'. At least I was. They were, uh, pelotas out."

Or, in other words, Juan Pelota was swimming 'ball out' while his companions swam 'balls out,' meaning fast.

Any guesses as to who this Juan Pelota might be?

Well, his friends have also referred to him as Mellow Johnny for his frequent wearing of the mailiot jaunne during the Tour de France. He owns a bike shop by the same name. Has five kids. Maintains homes in Austin, TX and Aspen, CO, and apparently, Juan Pelota has only one testicle due to Cancer back in 1996. Yes, that's right. Juan Pelota = Lance Armstrong.

 

 

 

 

Mayo the Next Casualty in War on Doping

Iban Mayo of Suanier Duval has reportedly tested positive for EPO use during the rest day of the Tour de France. Mayo is but another casualty in the war on doping proclaimed by the UCI and the ASO.

Vinokourov's B-sample was also confirmed as positive for a homologous blood transfusion, and he was sacked from his Astana team.

How Mayo, Vino and Moreni thought they could get away with such infractions escapes the editor of Cycling Commentary.

Contador Hangs On! Leipheimer Wins

What an incredible time trial! Leipheimer put in the best time and almost edged Cadel out of 2nd place overall on general classification. He won the stage, but he almost won the Tour de France with an amazing time trial performance where he averaged 51.3kph or 32.92 miles per hour - the 3rd fastest Tour time trial.

Meanwhile, Contador hung on by 20 seconds to his lead, losing 1:30 to the Aussie, Cadel Evans.

Now only 30 second separates the first, second and third place on the GC. Amazing!

What lies in store tomorrow?

Contador vs. Evans, The Final Showdown

Alberto Contador of Discovery Channel and Cadel Evans of Predictor Lotto will battle it out for the honor of wearing the Tour de France yellow jersey in the penultimate stage of the Tour, the individual time trial from Cognac to Angoulême. Covering 55.5km (34.46 miles), the individual time trial will be one of the most exciting time trials since Lemond beat Fignon in 1989 or when Lance beat Ullrich in 2003.

Presently, Contador has a 1:50 minute advantage over evans. Evans was savvy enough to pick up three seconds at the finish in today's race, when a small gap occured in the peloton. That three seconds could prove vital in Contador's battle to keep the maillot jaune.

Cycling Commentary looked back at the last two times Contador and Evans went head to head in an individual time trial. In the Tour of Romandie this past April, Evans beat Contador by 51 seconds over a 20.4km course. At that rate, Evans could expect to take a total of 2:18 out of Contador, and he would win the Tour by 28 seconds!

However, the recent Tour de France individual time trial in Albi is probably more instructive. Over 54Kkm, Evans beat Contator by a total of 1:04. At that rate, Contador could expect retain his yellow jersy and win the Tour de France by 44 to 45 seconds. Contador will have the added benefit of wearing the maillot jaune, which always seems to give it's wearer the more power than he would otherwise have.

In any event, the final time trial is sure to be a nail biter!

Lemond Fingers Contador

Greg Lemond is out of line - way out of line.

In an interview featured on cyclingnews.com, Lemond "insisted that the riders know very well who dopes and who doesn't, suggesting that 'it's obvious there are still dopers in the peloton.' He explained that Contador weighs the same as Rasmussen, and both climbed at the same speed as Pantani. 'That's sufficient for the red flag to come up.' He also reminded us that Contador's name came up in connection with Operación Puerto, but was cleared after the 2006 Tour. 'I am not pointing the finger at him [Contador]. I am simply saying if Rasmussen got caught then we also need to have a very close look at his competitors.'"

What about Cadel Evans? He went up the mountains almost as fast as the others and he weighs 10 kilograms more than Contador and Rasmussen? So, Cadel's power to weight ratio is likely the same or higher than Contador's and Rasmussen's. Yet, "everyone knows" that Cadel is clean. So what gives?

How can this guy impunge the yellow jersey with impunity and get away with it? Likely a doper himself, Lemond appears to be after anyone and everyone who is a better athlete that he was. He should be slapped with a slander suit and told to shut-up forever.

Rasmussen Dropped from Tour de France, Sacked by Rabobank

Cycling Commentary was about to post an entry about how Michael Rasmussen deserved to win the Tour de France after his amazing victory atop the Col D'Aubisque. Rasmussen showed himself to be the strongest man, surviving repeated attacks from Discovery Channel's Levi Leipheimer and Alberto Contador.

And then, Cyclingnews.com announed that Michael Rasmussen had been dropped from the Tour de France and sacked from his Rabobank team. To quote Phil Liggett, the English voice of cycling around the world from 2003, "What is this Tour de France?"

Apparently, this Tour de France is scandal-ridden as the UCI and race organizer ASO bump up their all out war on doping. First, T-Mobile's Sinkewitz was sacked for an out of competition positive test for exogenous testosterone. Then, yesterday, Vinokourov was booted for a positive test result for homologous blood transfusions. The entire Astana team was booted from the Tour along with Vino. Today, Moreni and his Cofidis team packed their bags as the result of Moreni's positive test for testosterone usage.

And now, Rasmussen has been sacked by his team for lying to them about his whereabouts during the month of June. Apparently, he was in Italy. He told them Mexico. Good-bye Michael Rasmussen. Good-bye yellow jersey.

What a shame! Cycling Commentary was just starting to warm-up to the guy, or at least respect him for his courage and strength in the mountains.

For a complete news report visit Velonews.com

Vinokourov Out of Tour

Alexander Vinokourov of Team Astana amazed us with his victory in the Albi time trial on Saturday. He amazed us again yesterday with his victory in Loudenvielle.

Bandaged and bloody, Vino apparently had a little help in the form of an autoglobous blood transfusion. Team Astana has pulled out of the Tour, and the Tour is in an uproar with yet another protaganist testing positive for doping.

Links to the tragic news can be found here at CyclingNews.com and VeloNews.

Cycling Commentary shares David Millar's sentiments:
"What timing, huh? This is just fucking great."

He continued:
"I'm gutted. I really feel like crying right now."

From Phil Liggett:
"Paul, Bob and I are, for once, speechless. We are all very upset and such a stupid action at a time the sport looked to be putting its own house in order. It is incomprehensible that Vinokourov could do such a thing when he must have known he was under suspicion because of his dealing with disgraced doctor Michele Ferrari in Italy. He must have known he would be tested at every opportunity and the time trial was the perfect occasion."

Cycling cannot take much more of this nonsense.

Classic Vino

Alexander Vinokourov just completed a classic win on Stage 15 of the Tour de France, going out front with an escape group, then attacking forcefully and repeatedly on the final climb up the Peyresourde to drop his counterparts, before descending rapidly Loudenvielle for his second stage win. His win is similar to his victory in Gap in 2003 and Briancon in 2005. Classic Vino!

Meanwhile, Contador is teaching Rasmussen what it means to have the yellow jersey by attacking him viciously on the climb of the Peyresourde and on the decent to Loudenvielle. Great racing!

Contador and Discovery Animate Plateau-de-Beille

Alberto Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Yaroslav Popovych of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team did Lance Armstrong proud today. Popovych lead an elite group of top GC contenders up the Plateau-de-Beille, dropping Kloden and then Kasheiken before Leipheimer and Contador put the hammer down to drop all but the race leader, Michael Rasmussen, and King of the Mountains wannabe, Maurice Soler.

Contador's attacking style was impressive, so impressive that he put over 2 minutes into Cadel Evans. Contador won the stage and took over Evans second place on GC.

In the process, Discovery won the team competition for the day. Discovery now leads the overall team competition, and they have three men in the top 10 - Contador in 2nd, Leipheimer in 3rd and Popovych in 10th. Impressive, to say the least.

Tomorrow's massive mountain stage finishing in Loudenvielle presents an opportunity for Discovery to gain more time. However, given Vino's on again, off again performance, we may see the Kazak animate the stage as well.