ToC Hangover

by schmalz

back to business

Now that the Tour of California is over and we’ve had a chance to peek ahead and see how the upcoming season may turn out. Astana! Astana everywhere! 

Which brings up a flurry of questions. Are you excited to see the return of the Postal/Discovery corporate style of stage racing? Is it back to the good old boring days? Was Astana’s race saved not by Johan’s barking into his radio earpieces but by Horner’s savvy on-course race reading? Did you enjoy the tactical chess match of the Rose Bowl finish or were you distracted by the endless VS PR stream? Has Thor supplanted the Boner as the second best sprinter behind Cavendish? 

Should race coverage just go online? There was GPS tracking, live stats of the break and the main field, 2 camera choices, picture in picture, and Frankie Andreu instead of Paul and Phil. You see the race from neutral rollout to podium presentation, and when Bob Roll’s on camera there’s no audio! Oh, no comedians, either. About the only edge TV has is the ability to record and watch later. Granted, I will miss Phil’s live reads for the upcoming episodes of “The Beaver Shooter Chronicles”.

This ToC might be remembered as the dawn of the Twitter age of bike racing as racers, fans, and journalists all tweeted their butts off. Who doesn’t want to hear about media shy bike racer’s meals in excruciating detail? And with the cycling press so docile, is it necessary to go around the ‘media filter’ to get your propaganda out?

 

34 Comments

Anonymous

that pic of syringe man gives new meaning to the name ARMstrong…

classic!

that fat ass was in the middle of the road when peloton going uphill. he deserved to be shoved off to the side on the ground, no matter what his message was/is.

Anonymous

what kind of moron dresses up like that, on his own, to do such a thing? really. he’s gotta be paid by someone to do it. or, maybe there was a lull in star trek conventions that week.

Anonymous

Frankie did the best he could with his limited intelligence and strong knowledge of bike stuff. Heck, I would have listened to attacking chimps if it would guarantee me the ability to see the race from start to finish.

And anyone who thinks that Lance’s knocking down of SyringeMan was fueled by a desire to keep himself and his fellow bike riders out of harm’s way is as nuts as someone who would travel to a windtunnel in Connecticut for $475 an hour.

Pharmstrong was just being his usual bullying self. The cool thing about the live feed was the ability to see the anti-Lance stuff that was written on the road.

Anonymous

$475/hr? Hey, that’s cheaper than my therapist counseling me on my untold grief on finishing 27th in my last Cat 5 crit. I was hoping for top 17.

Anonymous

Whatever your belief about LA’s past, motivation, etc. those roadside idiots are kind of amusing to see, but obnoxious as hell when they run their fat asses way too close to the riders. I like the pics in the sequence where riders in the back of the frame (Horner?) are laughing as he gets pushed down.

If Big Hair Fan or Moose Antler Guy were bumping me while going up some 8-10% grade in a pack, I’d totally think about “Cinzano’ing” their ass…

Andy

A kid literally ran across Jason McCartney’s front wheel when he was on the attack. Amazing he didn’t go down. And the guy who shook his baby at the racers oughta be shot.

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Anonymous

Awww, c’mon. I miss those shots of the Angel dwarfing Levi and Bettini – looked like Glenda the Good Witch posing with the munchkins.

Although I guess having the Brothers Schleck ride your logo off the front all day does much more for your brand image.

Anonymous

1. Chris Horner is from San Diego and grew up riding on all of those roads the last stage went through. Hell a regular Saturday group rides goes through some of those, he knows them like the back of his hand.

2. Floyd moved there and lives within riding distance from home (for a Pro) so he’s also been on those roads many times and on the same weekly Saturday Ride as Horner. (the ride is Swami’s)

3. Race coverage is on line! Cycling.tv All TV is headed to be on via the web, the classic scheduled canned programing BS is a dead product.

Anonymous

So no one catched Sherwen calling Levi “The Queen Bee” as he crossed the line yesterday.

Levi “The Queen Bee”

Gotta love it!

Anonymous

The Baby Shaker was awesome… “someone is trying to give their baby away” said Ligget, who then went on to miss id Michael Rogers as Hincapie and Zabriskie as Danielson

Anonymous

Andy,

If this guys identifies himself (he may since he’s obviously gone viral by now) Will you do an interview with him? I challenge NYVC to do “10 Questions with the Live clean devil”

Ex: Question 1: How much of you apt. does your Lance Doping Shrine take up?

Niko

Anonymous

It’s possibly going to be another boring year of Lance-pants teamwork. But it was interesting to see Saxo and Garmin put the hurt on Team Borat on Palomar. Only Levi got with the group.

Then again, they’ll have Contador at the Giro and Tour, and no one’s dropping him.

Anonymous

VERSUS

LIVESTRONG

TOC: ya think Phil, Paul, Bob, will talk about how Levi “s, c, w’da” won the Vuelta with team work like that???

LIVE CLEAN, by far the best peloton mascot ever!

Lance is a bully and the 2nd biggest “hyper”crit” from Texas! I can’t wait to see the push back he gets at the next race he does in Frants or Eye-tally…I betchu Ullrich or Simeoni is calling Mr. LiveClean to borrow that suit!

Basso-vida
Li’er-Tyler
Floid-roid
Valverde-sangue
are next!!!

Levi…you should Wrangle and Diesel, if only Rock Racing survives long enough, the Maillot Jaune from the OP Contador/Armstrong Mafia…

Back to my “Sex, Lies, and Handlebar Tape” book about Anquetil…now that guy could party!
A regular Caligula on 2 wheels!

Anonymous

The Cadence Cup Series in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park starts this Saturday, February 28. The weather forecast calls for mild temperatures so it looks like it’s going to be a great day for the first race of the season.

There is a very good chance the fields will fill up again as they have in previous races so please pre-register online to reserve your spot.

For more info and to register online go to:

http://www.bikereg.com/events/Register.asp?EventID=7645

Charlie Issendorf
Race Director
Kissena Cycling Club

Anonymous

Beautiful summary. With everything favoring the future of the TOC, there is but one big problem: In 10 days there was ONE G.C. attack. On stage 2. One attack does not a stage race make. If you don’t mind, I’ll quote you, ‘corporate racing’ at it’s finest.
Rob Belfoss

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