Tour Talk

   After finishing up so many projects in the shop recently, I’m taking a bit of a break before getting back into the Pinarello Treviso work. I will be attempting to fill some of the pitting on the frame with Bondo before I take it over to my airbrush artist friend to start the painting process. The folks at VeloCals had been on summer vacation for a few weeks, but now that they are back in business, I plan to order the vintage Pinarello decals soon.

   In the meantime I wanted to talk a bit about the pro racing scene, now that the Tour de France has concluded. Not that anybody really wants to watch a race to see who finishes in second, but the last few days were intriguing as the final two podium spots were hotly contested. French fans were going crazy with the prospect that not one, but two of their countrymen could finish on the podium!

   It’s hard to believe that the last Frenchmen to win the Tour was Bernard Hinault in 1985, but Richard Virenque’s 1997 second place to Jan Ulrich was the most recent occasion that one of their countrymen  had even finished in the top three in Paris! Jean-Christophe Péraud, the amazing 37-year-old whose pro career began just five years ago, and young Thibaut Pinot held off the challenge of Alejandro Valverde, who trailed them by only fifteen seconds going into the final time trial.

   Valverde, the Spanish national champion in the time trial, had a decent shot at overtaking them, but his form appeared to be fading in the last couple of mountain stages. His Movistar team was one of the strongest squads in this year’s race, and set up their captain for success, but he had little left to challenge in what may have been his best chance at a top three Tour finish, particularly when such strong favorites as Chris Froome and Alberto Contador had crashed out.

   There was some discussion about the possible final results had the two big guns been there for the full three weeks, but Vincenzo Nibali (pictured above winning Stage Two) looked incredibly strong. He won four stages in total, including the amazing “Roubaix Stage”, when he took a big chunk of time out of the favorites. His team was constantly in control at the front during the Tour, and I don’t think he showed any weakness. I doubt anyone was going to come back to overtake the Italian champion – Complimenti!

   Valverde (photo right) pushed aside the harsh criticism of his failures at the Tour de France by winning the San Sebastian Classic on Saturday. It is hard to hold top form for a whole season, but the Spaniard has tried his best, claiming his tenth win this year, taking the top point spot in the World Tour. Valverde has often been the victim of his own reputation when attempting to get into a winning break, with rivals refusing to work, knowing that he will just beat them to the line with superior finishing speed. With a few miles left in San Sebastian, Valverde jumped clear, leaving his four breakaway companions behind to fight out the final placings.

   I was thinking of the frustration Peter Sagan must have felt stuck in the same situation so many times at the Tour. The Slovak star, who claimed the green points jersey for the third straight year, incredibly finished top five in each of the first SEVEN stages of this year’s race without winning any. He was constantly the marked man, and many times at the line, it was a case of Sagan missing just that little extra finishing kick because he had been the one chasing down moves.

   When watching races, my wife offers up these phrases that she has heard me say many times: 1) You have to accept the chance that you might lose in order to take that big shot at winning, and 2) even if your rivals know you are the strongest, you have to let your them know that you aren't going to do all the work. Sagan has to be willing to sit back occasionally and say, "If you don't help, you aren't going to win either.” It seemed he did just that during Stage 11, when the Cannondale star powered away from the peloton on a descent with a handful of breakaway mates in tow.

   In the closing miles to the finish line, Frenchmen Tony Gallopin got a small gap, and the race was pretty much over, particularly because Michal Kwiatkowski was one of the remaining riders in this group. The talented Polish rider had previously taken advantage of Sagan’s willingness to drive the break during this year’s Strade Bianchi and jumped clear late to win the race. When Kwiatkowski took up the familiar position behind Sagan, waiting for him to chase down Gallopin, a frustrated Sagan seemed to say to himself, “I remember this, and it's not going to happen again," and completely backed off. Indeed he didn't win, but neither did Kwiatkowski!

   Sagan has always been the main man at Cannondale, and it will be interesting to see, with his apparent move to the Tinkoff-Saxo team next season, if the talented rider will have better chances to win with some talented teammates to back him up. With some options in their squad to lead the attack, it may be harder for teams to simply focus on Sagan as a threat.