Rick Scott's Weekly Rap: The Rap is back!
By Rick ScottAs Rakim would say, it’s been a long time since I’ve left you, but I’m back, I could not forget you. Welcome back to The Weekly Rap. Have you recovered from the best Amgen Tour of California yet? The 2009 season has only just begun. Let’s catch up and take a peak behind the curtain.
The Beat
The ProTour season got underway in January at the Tour Down Under in Australia. Home boy Allan Davis (Quick Step) strutted his way to a few sprint stage victories and won his first overall title in Adelaide in eleven tries. While Davis was becoming a national hero, an American named Lance commanded international headlines with his return to professional cycling.The following week, Qatar held an oasis for sprint lovers. With nary a bump on the road, the only true obstacle to challenge the riders during the Tour of Qatar were fierce winds and the lightning fast legs of the sprinters, including a marquee match-up between Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step). The Brit out-dueled the Belgian with a score of two stage victories to one, but Boonen popped the cork as the overall victor. Amazingly the new Cervelo TestTeam placed four riders in the top 5. Sadness marred the event with the premature passing of 21-year-old Frederiek Nolf (Topsport Vlaanderen), who died in his sleep prior to the start of Stage 5. The stage was ridden uncontested by the grief-stricken riders, many of whom were in shock.
Big Norwegian Thor Hushovd put the form he gained racing in the Golden State to good use by winning the season’s curtain raising Classic in Belgium, the Omloop Het Niesuwsblad. It was a mess of a sprint that saw one of the favorites, Filippo Pozzato (Katusha), crash at full speed, which nearly took down Boonen. Hushovd’s Cervelo TestTeam teammate, Heinrich Haussler, was away in a two-man escape that was caught in the final few hundred meters. Once the catch was made, Hushovd, who won Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California into Modesto, dashed clear to collect the brass ring unimpeded.
Boonen, a stage winner at last year’s Amgen Tour of California, dialed it in correctly the following day in Belgium at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. He bested Columbia-Highroad’s Bernhard Eisel and Cervelo TestTeam’s Jeremy Hunt after being escorted to the finish by a pair of teammates in the winning 13-man move.
The Flow
Remember in Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California when yellow jersey Levi Leipheimer hit the asphalt hard after touching wheels with Astana teammate Lance Armstrong? It turns out the race’s three-peat champion was injured after all. He fractured his sacrum, a bone in his lower back. Talk about riding tough…After finishing 2nd overall at the Amgen Tour of California, Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream) returned to his home in Salt Lake City to find it had been cleaned out by criminals, including both cars and 12 bicycles. Police are hot on the trail in pursuit of both the looters and their ill-gotten booty…
After last year’s Amgen Tour of California, I gave you a detailed account of how we cover the race for you. This year, things were very different and more complicated as we were now essentially bringing you three live broadcasts: our online Tour Tracker broadcast from stage start to finish, an international feed that went to over 200 countries, and the broadcast in the U.S. on the Versus network. Our crew bulked up and we faced incredibly difficult challenges during the three consecutive days of rain that pelted the peloton. When weather grounded the helicopters and airplane that fly above the race to serve as a broadcast satellite for video cameras and race radio, that meant no one had any visuals or race radio to keep track of the race. We were literally flying blindly during those times. Thankfully AEG head honchos Andrew Messick and Scott Hanley would text us updates from the race caravan. Messick and Hanley were also very concerned whenever a rider was injured. They personally followed up with chief race doctor Ramin Modabber. Talk about hands on bosses…
Speaking of a hands on boss, Cervelo’s Phil White was on the scene daily signing posters at the Cervelo TestTeam bus and graciously helped us line-up rider interviews. He was clearly having a great time with the new squad…
During post-stage interviews, which will soon be available for viewing on this website, I asked a few of the race protagonists their picks for the Academy Awards. Chris Baldwin (Rock Racing) went for the obvious with a nod for Slumdog Millionaire. Garmin-Slipstream director Jonathan Vaughters revealed that he’s got an 8-year-old at home and doesn’t get out much. His pick was Madagascar 2. Sorry, Jonathan, but it wasn’t a Best Picture nominee. Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank) gave us the best answer of the bunch. After casting his ballot for Slumdog Millionaire, Voigt said if it were up to him, he’d give Angelina Jolie an Oscar every year. Brother, we couldn’t agree more…
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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.
