Weekly Rap - October 10, 2008
By Rick ScottWelcome back to The Weekly Rap. Two one-day classics loom on the horizon while we’ve got news for your head and your…caboose. Read on to find out what we’re rapping about this week.
The Beat
While many riders are already enjoying well-deserved off-season breaks, others are sharpening their legs in fall mini-classics ahead of the two remaining…well…classics: Paris-Tours (October 12) and Giro di Lombardia (October 18). Team Columbia has again proven to be one of the best-rounded squads as they have scored wins all season from a wide variety of riders. Bernhard Eisel won from a long escape at the Paris-Bourges Classic on French soil after out-dueling four Frenchmen.
From the “Try, try again” file comes the first victory for Juan Antonio Flecha in three seasons with Rabobank at the four-stage Circuit Franco-Belge in miserable weather conditions.
With the LPR Brakes team of last year’s Paris-Tours champion Alessandro Petacchi benched, Amgen Tour of California stage winner Tom Boonen is one of the favorites at the French classic this year for Quick Step-Innergetic. The peloton will cover 252-kilometers on primarily flat roads with a long, straight finish, which is why the race is known as “the sprinter’s classic.” A cadre of speedsters gunning for victory will take the start include Robbie McEwen (Silence-Lotto), Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Daniele Bennati (Lampre) and retiring legend Erik Zabel (Team Milram).
There is a Beverly Hills Chihuahua yapping in U.S. movie theatres and down in Mexico, the week-long Vuelta a Chihuahua International stage race is underway. Garmin-Chipotle has a pair – Thomas Peterson (3rd) and Jason Donald (9th) – in the top 10 after three stages.
Last week (October 2-5) on the oval at the ADT Center near Los Angeles, the 2008 USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships were held. Boy Wonder a.k.a. Taylor Phinney dropped knowledge en route to winning his second consecutive men’s 4,000-meter individual pursuit title in a new U.S. record time (4:23:514). Next season, the Garmin-Chipotle rider will be leading a new U23 team launched by Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong and Trek. Other track stars included the evergreen Colby Pearce, who won stars & stripes jerseys in the points race and Madison, and Cari Higgins, winner of three national championships (keirin, match sprint and 500-meter time trial).
The Flow
Mazel tov to Jonathan Vaughters’ Garmin-Chipotle unit, which earned a trip to the ProTour next season. Joining them for the ride from Team Columbia will be Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins…
The mind of a champion…ever since Levi Leipheimer started listening to the Ultimate Cyclist (www.ultimatecyclist.com) relaxation, focus and positive affirmation CD, he’s finished on the final podium of two Grand Tours while winning three time trial stages (one at the Tour de France and two stages of the Vuelta a Espana), claimed the bronze medal at the Olympic Time Trial, won the USPRO National Road Race Championship and won the Amgen Tour of California twice. Coincidence? I don’t know, but those are some serious results that are tough to argue with…
From your head to…well…your bum…when I spoke to David Zabriskie back in January, he told me that he was going to launch a new chamois cream called DZ Nutz. Knowing his warped sense of humor, I thought he was messing with me so I didn’t give him any ink. Then I walked into my local bike shop and saw DZ Nutz on the shelf. Sorry, Dave. Protect your…er…um…bottom end with DZ Nutz…
Next June will mark the 25th Anniversary of the Philadelphia International Championship. The biggest one-day pro road race in the U.S. and the longest at 156 miles attracts almost a half-million partying spectators on the sweltering streets in the City of Brotherly Love where winners over the years have included Armstrong, George Hincapie, Fred Rodriguez (three times!) and five-time Amgen Tour of California stage winner Juan Jose Haedo…
After a year off, returning next season will be the U.S. Open Cycling Championship, which will be held in Providence, Rhode Island in late May. The inaugural race staged last year in epic weather conditions in Richmond, Virginia, unfolded in front of a live national television audience on NBC, rare spotlight coverage for our beloved sport…
New for next season is talk of a Tour of New York, a multi-day stage race spawned from the one-day race previously held in Rochester…
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Rick Scott is president of Great Scott P.R.oductions, an entertainment and sports public relations, marketing and management boutique. He can be contacted through www.greatscottpr.com
