What are they doing next?

It's easy to look at those riders moving teams, but what about those that are retiring. Why and what are they doing after? I'm going to try and look at those retiring this season. (There will be some I miss but hey I'm trying to cover most of them!)

Bingen Fernandez:- The 36 year old Spanish Cofidis rider is retiring and got a great reception at the Vuelta a Espana; his last major race. He was allowed to ride ahead of the bunch on the last stage into Madrid and his team even had cute banners for him. After turning professional in 1996 he rode for Euskadi until 2001 when he joined the French team Cofidis. The last I heard he was to be going to Garmin to become a sporting director!

Simone Masciarelli:- The 29 year old Acqua and Sapone rider is retiring after 9 years as a professional. He's pretty young to be retiring and I can't actually find the reason why so if anyone can help me out, I'd appreciate it.

Stephane Goubert:- The 39 year old AG2R La Mondiale rider is retiring after 15 years as a professional. You might remember him killing himself during the Tour this year for Nocentini. His former teams include Festina and Cofidis and he's been with AG2R since 2004, so is a faithful lieutenant. He hasn't actually announced his plans as of yet.

AG2R also have another rider retiring, the 24 year old Jean-Charles Senac who's only been a pro for a year! Apparently AG2R chose not to renew him and so he's retiring. Very odd.

Nicolas Jalabert:- The 36 year old Agritubel rider is calling it quits. Probably influenced by the closure of Agritubel, the 12 year pro is finishing. Will he head into commentary like his brother?

Patrick Calcagni:- With the closure of Barloworld, the 32 year old Calcagni is also calling it quits. After 9 years as a pro. He's heading into the land of journalism, commentary and tv. He has twitter if you want to follow him.

Marcus Zberg:- At 35 years of age he's calling it quits having been a pro for 14 years and ridden for teams such as Rabobank, Gerolsteiner and BMC. His is less optional as he has some pretty nasty injuries. These include breaking part of his pelvis and a rib. The last article I saw he was underwaiting results to see whether there was anything more serious. He's not sure what he'll do yet.

Nicolas Portal? He's 30 years of age and has been a pro since 2002, riding for AG2R before joining Caisse d'Epargne in 2006. This man's future is still under question. His season was hampered by a heart condition that meant his heart had an irregular rhythm whilst doing sports. He's been resting and took the required six months off but whether he'll retire or not is still hanging in the balance.

The same goes for Oscar Pereiro, though it is looking much more likely that he'll continue, presumably with Xacebeo Galicia, though Quick Step and Radio Shack have been rumoured.

David Canada:- The 33 year old favourite rider of mine who's currently at Footon-Servetto has had to work as a DS this year while he recovers from mellanoma (skin cancer). It seems likely that he'll officially retire and carry on his role as a staff member.

Will Frischkorn:- Again, another surprise one. This Garmin man is 28 and turned professional in 2000. He's going to be continuing with Garmin but not on the racing side of things. He'll instead work with the sponsorship management side. He says he really enjoyed his time racing but felt he needed something new and the chance to remain in Girona and continue with the team is a fantastic oppurtunity.

Steven De Jongh:- The 35 year old Quick Step man was probably the first to announce his retirement. He's been a pro since 1995. It's not clear but the main reasons he's stated seem to be because he wants to spend more time with his family, particularly his kids. He would like to remain somehow involved but he isn't sure how he'll do this yet.

Ronny Scholz:- Yep, the 31 year old Milram rider has been pro since 2001 but calls it quits. I'm unsure of the reasons, but I hear he wants to remain involved with Milram somehow.

Martin Muller:- Scholz's 35 year old team mate is also retiring after 13 years a professional. He says Milram didn't offer him a contract and that he wouldn't get another due to age and nationality. Thus he will look for work outside of cycling.

Marcus Ljungqvist:- Riding for Saxo Bank this year the 35 year old Swede is calling a time on his riding career after 12 years. But he'll still be heavily involved because he's heading to Team Sky to become a DS. Good for them, a bit of a loss for Saxo Bank.

The picture below is of my favourite retiree, David Canada in happier days.
What are they doing next?
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# Posté le dimanche 08 novembre 2009 14:33

Modifié le lundi 09 novembre 2009 06:29

The Weekend's Racing-EDITED

A frustrating day at the football yesterday for me, but what's been happening in the world of cycling? (HEY- So I don't have enough info or pics to fill a new entry so I've just edited this one)

Amstel Curacao:- Everyone's favourite dolphin filled race (ok there's no actual dolphins in the race but tell me you don't automatically see cyclists playing with dolphins when someone says Curacao) was yesterday and perhaps unsurprisingly the winner was a certain Tour de France winner, Alberto Contador. He beat Thor Hushovd and Koos Moerenhout having attacked them during their breakaway efforts. Winning the Jan Thiel criterium was everyone's favourite new Dutchman Kenny Van Hummel; beating Johnny Hoogerland and Brice Feillu.

For photos I recommend Cor Vos' site currently. Tim de Waele should be getting them up soon and he already has a few on the official race website which are worth a look. (I'm still hunting for more pics!)

ACP Crit today:- This hasn't finished yet so once it has I'll update with the results and hopefully photos but just so you know the teams in it are:-
Caisse d'Epargne: Alejandro Valverde, Iván Gutiérrez, Luis León Sánchez.
Andalucía-Cajasur: Jesús Rosendo, Javier Ramírez Abeja, Francisco José Martínez
Euskaltel-Euskadi: Samuel Sánchez, Koldo Fernández, Rubén Pérez
Contentpolis-Murcia: Manuel Vázquez, Javier Etxarri, José Herrada
Cervélo Test Team: Carlos Sastre, Iñigo Cuesta, Xavier Florencio.
Fuji-Servetto: Juanjo Cobo, David de la Fuente, Josep Jufré
Xacobeo-Galicia: Ezequiel Mosqueera, Carlos Castaño, David Herrero
Astana: Dani Navarro, José Luis Rubiera, Benjamín Noval.

SO WHAT HAPPENED:-
Carlos Sastre won it overall (see photo below alll of this text).
Xacebeo Galicia won the team time-trial, narrowly beating Caisse d'Epargne. Sanchez took the road race, holding off Sastre and Valverde. Sastre also won the elimination race, thus capturing him the ACP win this year. Yay! Sanchez and Valverde rounded off the podium.

Overall it looked like this...
1. Carlos Sastre (Cervélo), 3 puntos
2. Samuel Sánchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), 4
3. Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), 5
4. Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d'Epargne), 14
5. Luis Pasamontes (Caisse d'Epargne), 20
6. Iván Gutiérrez (Caisse d'Epargne), 22
7. David de la Fuente (Fuji-Servetto), 23
8. Diego Gallego (Burgos Monumental), 24
9. Jesús Rosendo (Andalucía-Cajasur), 26
10. Javier Etxarri (Contentpolis-Murcia), 27.

The charity football match the day before must have been great to watch as it finished 8-8! Here's a picture of the ex-sportsman team featuring Indurain, Llaneras and Delgado. Then there was the current athletes' team featuring Valverde, Sanchez, Sastre, Guttierez, De la Fuente, Pereiro, Barredo, Sobrino and more. I'm still waiting for more pics of this.

Cross!:- Yes, there's also more action from the Cyclo-cross world cup today. We're in France, Nommay, where Albert is hoping to capitalise on his brilliant form of late and win. Must admit I quite fancy Stybar for an upset today, but Mourey (and the other Frenchman) will be highly motivated given it's his home country.

WHAT HAPPENED? My tip nearly came off, Stybar and Albert went head to head in a sprint but Albert just took it. All exciting stuff! Those two now have a very healthy gap over Mourey and the others overall. Here's what the overall standings look like...

1) Niels Albert (Bel) BKCP - Powerplus 240 pts
2) Zdenek ¦tybar (Cze) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 205
3) Francis Mourey (Fra) Française des Jeux 165
4) Kevin Pauwels (Bel) Telenet-Fidea Cycling Team 156
5) Klaas Vantornout (Bel) Sunweb-Projob 154
6) Christian Heule (Swi) Rendementhypo Cycling Team 138
7) Sven Nys (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago 135
8) Gerben de Knegt (Ned) Rabobank 132
9) Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas 128
10) Martin Zlámalík (Cze) Prodoli Racing Team 120
The Weekend's Racing-EDITED
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# Posté le dimanche 08 novembre 2009 07:34

Modifié le dimanche 08 novembre 2009 18:44

Bartape.net documentaries

I'm guessing you've seen all the bartape.net videos (if not....why?!) and the latest one, the first installment from the Tour de France is oh so not a disappointment. Wonderful video and lots of time for boys like Brett Lancaster and Hayden Roulston which pleases me very much.

And since I love to screen cap things...I went slightly crazy...made a lot, narrowed it down to like 30, so how shall I categorise them and which one gets to be the title image?! I decided to do them by rider and the title image is... the one below, enjoy ;)

Staff members:- Not so many of these, but worth it. Alex Sans Vega is one of their DS' and he's pretty lovely. No?

The team manager and the nutritionist celebrating Thor's win is a lovely scene. They go loopy!

Carlos Sastre:- It's hard to dislike the Spaniard even if you're not a fan. Particularly the treatment when it came to not giving him a yellow skinsuit for Monaco. And he pulls cute faces and says funny things if his riding alone can't win you over. My favourite bit in the video? Him telling it about Lance (via press conference) how it is.

Brett Lancaster:- Yes, the cheeky Aussie. He was all for getting Thor a win and is experienced and pretty cool. It's nice to see him taking on a different role with Cervelo. He got his legs out for the camera, how generous. I like his style on the bike too. Plus he has excellence choice in Oakleys. That's always a plus.

Thor Hushovd:- Because everyone needs some of this highly underrated Norwegian around. Plus while I don't love Oakley Jawbones, he does suit them. Though that does mean hiding eyes to die for. Takes attention to detail in the form of routes (p.s There's half naked Haussler in that screen cap, ooh err!) and planning.

Hayden Roulston:- I have a slight thing for this Kiwi at the moment and I'm pretty excited (and equally disappointed) that he's leaving Cervelo for Columbia. Though he really shouldn't bite his nails, tut tut. He indulges viewers in tongue porn (the art of licking your lips and generally getting your tongue out a lot). I learnt that fiddling with things is a speciality of his. Who's he mocking during this press conference? Heinrich maybe...or Brett, they're both opposite him.

Heinrich Haussler:- Oh yes, everyone's favourite Barbie lookylikey. Man of dazzling eyes and dangerously lush eyelashes. To please ladies he spends a good portion of the video topless. Though Brett is trying to protect his chest discreetly with his elbows pretending to change. He pouts. He devises plans to beat Cavendish and grins about them. And he also has issues with a radio from time to time. Ohh and pulls cool, thoughtful faces.

Andreas Klier:- I love this dude; he has more experience than so many others. He sports Roubaix style hair here. Oh and pulls 'Judgement Andreas' face. Hehe.

Group shots:- The press pose with the Aussie, the Norwegian and the Kiwi. More press shots, but i approve. There's tan lines galore in this clip where Brett is going through the route in a shared room with Haussler AND Roulston? Three in a room? Hmmm! And you get sleepy Hayden so one shouldn't complain.

Random shot:- Fran Contador pops up in one shot!

I'm currently working my way through screen capping the best bits from all videos to provide a nice directory of where to look for your fave Cervelo riders. Perhaps I do have muchos time on my hands, but hell I enjoy these documentaries so much. They're so beautifully made and just fascinating. Shame my lecturer didn't quite agree!! (Then again she appears to hate sports in general).
Bartape.net documentaries
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# Posté le jeudi 05 novembre 2009 19:05

Modifié le vendredi 06 novembre 2009 10:22

The Helsy33 End of Season Awards

Yes, because I'm opinionated and it's the end of the season. Forgive me some of the more obscure or gender-biased categories. P.s I'm all serious at the beginning and it gets less serious towards the end just to warn you.

Rider of the year:- Torn between Alberto Contador and Mark Cavendish. Due to slight rider biased I'll give it to Contador.

Notes:- Honourable mentions to Cancellara, Boasson Hagen and I discuss a few more here. This one was tough. If you look at sheer number of wins then it has to be Mark Cavendish because he took so much, but he had such an amazing team around him. So I looked at other factors, I mean like him or not (and you know I'm not a giant lover) you have to give credit to riders like Gilbert and Evans since Silence-Lotto was a tough place to be. However, for me, the real rider of the year is Contador. He never once failed to excite me and attack despite the politics and the mind games and lord knows what else going on at Astana. He kept a professional head during the racing and let his legs speak in the most exciting way - what's not to love?

Most improved rider of the year?:- I thought a lot about this and it's another toughie. I ended up thinking most about Tony Martin and Heinrich Haussler. The latter won, congrats Heiny!

Notes:- Haussler has really held his own and made a name for himself. Not that he was crap last year or before, but he's really made the step up and his win at the Tour was one of my favourites because he so deserved it. Honourable mentions to T-Dog (Martin) because given how much he had to work for others he still showed incredible performances and plus when I met him at ToB he won me over as a person too. Also Taaramae and Wiggins impressed me, though the latter I have a problem putting in here as I tend to think of improved as young riders.

Most Disappointing Rider of The Year?:- Stijn Devolder and Robert Gesink for two different reasons.

Notes:- Devolder's Flanders win was amazing, exciting to watch and admirable. But he's done nothing since, such a waste in some ways. Though i understand he isn't exactly mr. happy at the moment with Quick Step. Then Gesink...it's not his fault but he's been so disappointing because due to many crashes and injuries we never saw his full potential. To next year! Honourable mentions to Linus Gerdemann (sorry lovely) and Gerald Ciolek (though the Vuelta win did help). Oh and not forgetting 95% of the Silence-Lotto squad, thank the lord they have Gilbert.

Domestique of the year:- A dual award to the ever awesome Sylvester Szmyd of Liquigas and my very underrated Caisse d'Epargne boy Imanol Erviti. Mostly because Szmyd is your mountain guy and Erviti covers the flats and wind. With them two you have the full domestique package.

Team of the year:- There's no way I couldn't give this to Columbia. Their set of riders, their wins and the sheer number of them. Not to mention the way they bulldozed things in the Tour on Stage 3, or even at Tour of Britain.

Notes:- It was an easy choice. But a serious honourable mention to Cervelo. For their first year they did superbly well and lit up a few races with their riders. Also mentions to Skil-Shimano (for the Tour) and Vacansoleil (for the Vuelta) for giving us new heroes in the form of Van Hummel and Hoogerland respectively.

Race of the year? Either one day or a stage from a week race or GT:- The choices! My personal favourite? Luis Leon Sanchez's Paris-Nice win, the entire race really....

Notes:- Paris-Nice was full on crazy every stage and there weren't any disappointments. From Contadors' superb solo attack to Chavanel never giving in and Luis' demon descending to take the stage and then wrap up the win. It's the first one I think of. Honourable mentions to Paris-Roubaix. Drama much?! The Vuelta a Espana, Stage 18 (Deignan baby!) and also the thing as an overall because obviously my favourite rider won it. And who can forget the Giro Stage 21 with Menchov's epic fall and comeback?!

Crash of the year:- Nothing will beat Bbox Bouygues Telecom's tandem falling from the Tour de France Stage 4 TTT. Though Menchov sure as hell tried not only in the Giro, but in the same stage as the Bweeg boys.

Dope of the year:- Can I give this award jointly to myself and jointly to the company of Di Luca and Bosisio. Particularly the latter. I was really rooting for them both. Ugh.

Kit of the year?:- Cervelo. Simply because they produced two kits and both were equally gorgeous. I didn't even think I liked the white one at first, but yep. Sold.

Bike of the year? A team one and individual:- Team one goes to Milram, I seriously love those Focus' with the white spokes that were white with a swipe of blue they used in the Tour. This one, i mean. Mmm! Best custom bike? I like the various ones Contador sported. His regular Trek madone with the colours. So simple and classy.

Honourable mentions to Pinarello for their gorgeous Princes. Oh and custom one, tough choice between Cancellara's and Contador's. Cancellara's red and white one was gorgeous. Had the pleasure of seeing it up close at Cycle show. Wow.

Accessory of the year:- Those anti-freeze green Oakleys. Every time.

Photo of the year? So many to choose from. I adore the Ventoux ones Tim de Waele shot in the Dauphine. Not sure I can be pressed to pick just one from this year...there's been some gorgeous ones from Joel Saget as well as Cor Vos and so, so many other photographers.

Onto The Less Serious Ones.... Best Hair:- Step up for a second award Heinrich Haussler. Yes, you beat off stiff competition from Lovkvist and Cancellara but you've made such an improvement from the frosting that there's no-one more worthy. My particular favourite? This one. Oh yes.

Best eyes:- I'm a sucker for eyes and this decision was not made lightly. It ended up being a toss-up between two Cervelo boys...Haussler and Deignan. And Haussler's already picked up one award so why not Deignan?! They are beautiful. Here's probably the
of them.

Smile of the year:- Congratulations Luis Leon Sanchez, you dazzled your way to this award. A favourite shot of this smile? Umm.... this one, yep.

Arms of the year:- Tom Boonen. They never cease to appeal to me.

Torso of the year:- Oh yes, this one definitely goes to Fabian Cancellara. No arguments, surely? (Minus the pic i was going to use i can't find!)

Thighs of the year:- Thomas Lovkvist because they just looked superb the entire time at Tour of Britain. Sorry Ben Swift and Thomas de Gendt, you just lost out, maybe next year...

Best overall body:- I could get like firebombed for not going with Fabian Cancellara here. But like last year this award is heading for Alejandro Valverde. It's just perfect. And a third view.

Pose of the year:- No-one can possibly top the shot I got of from Tour of Britain of Martin Mortensen. Yep, official he is a poser.

Have I missed anything? Feel free to drop me a comment, I'll tell you what I think. Also tell me what you think. Am i right, wrong, deranged? Anything goes :) Oscar Pujol wants to thank you for reading this.
The Helsy33 End of Season Awards
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# Posté le mercredi 04 novembre 2009 18:01

Modifié le jeudi 05 novembre 2009 09:07

I'm back!

As you know, due to various things I haven't blogged since errm..this time last month? And I'm very sorry for that. But anyway, we have the internet back and I think with the right kind of rationing I can balance my uni work and still have time to blog.

So my first entry back? What do I want to talk about? Well I've been thinking now that the season is actually over I should do a wrap. You know, my favourite win of the year, race, best rider. All things my opinion. So I'll get that finished and typed up ready for tomorrow.

Probably the biggest thing that's been going on through my time of not blogging is the transfers. Not that I'm one much for rumours anyway. And if you'd have asked me in July if I'd have thought that the Contador deal would be sorted then I would have said yes. But hey, apparently that contract issue just isn't that simple. And for the record, Evans leaving Silence-Lotto wasn't a surprise. But i can't get excited about his move either, though I would have jumped ship too having said that.

Talking of teams that I'm quietly impressed with - Andalucia-Cajasur. They've stolen Manuel Vazquez (man of many moves to teams) and also taken Cervelo's Gomez Marchante. Their squad is coming along nicely, particularly if Javi Moreno can remain uninjured this next season.

Things I might have read that you should know about? Erm well normally I do a piece on the Leon Sanchez memorial bike ride, but that came during my lack of internet. So here it goes now. As per usual Luis Leon Sanchez and family held their bike ride in Murica to honour Leon. I'm sure by now you know that Luis' elder brother Leon was tragically killed in a motorbike accident in 2006. What was really great was they actually had Indurain there this year, which is an honour and fantastic. It looked like the event went well and Sanchez was in good company from several of his Caisse d'Epargne team mates, most notably Rojas. I swear those two are getting inseperable. Oh and naturally, Luis' family. The far right is Pedro, the footballing brother I saw in August. Anyway, the event is great, it gets all the families and kids out and honours his brother perfectly.

What am I excited about? This weekend is jam packed with good stuff. Obviously Saturday is Amstel Curacao race, hopefully there'll be lots of photos! I am slightly disturbed by the low number of them so far! But I'm not worried...yet. For now if you need pics go to Cor Vos' site. He has some veeery nice ones of Lars Boom right now. Pssst, there's also some on the official site from TDW.

Saturday is also the ACP charity football match which Alejandro Valverde is definitely doing among current other sportsman and former ones. As are most of the big Spanish names so I'm told. This is a really great cause, all proceeds go to children survival as part of UNICEF's campaign 'Drops for Niger'. Hopefully I'll be able to get pics from this.

Sunday should also be great. Alejandro Valverde, Sammy Sanchez, Carlos Sastre and Luis Leon Sanchez (among others) will be doing the ACP Championship. The championship come crit consists of three races:- a team time trial, a road race and an elimination race. And the best part? The event will be broadcast on TV on Teledeporte, on the International Channel and on the local channel of Castilla y León. Now don't quote me but if I remember rightly, this can be acessed online for free. Fingers crossed! I sure am deprived of road racing lately. If it is expect a lot of screen caps ;)

I can't blame Tim de Waele for not having more Curacao pics thus far because he does have a gallery of Columbia's squad next year up! I'd almost forgotten that they'd snagged the Velits twins. Of course I hadn't forgotten that they've also got this man, the lovely Hayden Roulston. I'm on a total Hayden kick currently. I blame the Tour de France bartape.net video (which by the way I have plenty of screen caps to come, either in a post tomorrow, or Friday. Depends when I get the time to upload them.)

Also, two pretty cool things to report my end. I'll be attending Revolution on the 14th of this month to watch the big track names go head to head. The line-up is stellar, check out the teams and riders here. Also I have 100% decided that I am going to follow every stage of the Tour of Britain next year to watch the race and be on my stalking...err..photographing mission at the starts and finishes. The route hasn't been announced but I'm already excited because I had so much fun following just three stages this year.

By the way...this Giro d'Italia maybe starting in Washington thing?! Are they crazy. Riders didn't like the Vuelta transfer from Liege which is a hell of a lot less! The things money controls these days.

The picture below is Rojas and Sanchez at the memorial, with some very cool kids on bikes. Maybe future champions? Who knows.
I'm back!

# Posté le mercredi 04 novembre 2009 16:36

Modifié le mercredi 04 novembre 2009 17:40

Internet fail

I'm once again using the university library to post this, as our internet is now in the second week of failage. I promise i'll be back soon. I miss doing cycling blogs, arghh!

# Posté le mercredi 21 octobre 2009 07:57

A bad week

I'm having the week from hell. Not only am I super busy (and having my ideas stolen for the second time in class) but our internet has also gone down the pan, meaning I can only get online at university for like ten minutes in between lectures, so I am unable to update this again. Which is especially annoying given I have things to update. Arghhh. Normal service will resume, i promise. If you want to make it come faster then hassle Virgin Media for me, ask why the internet in postcode area LE3 isn't working and why they still haven't fixed it. Boo.

# Posté le mercredi 14 octobre 2009 09:12