Leipheimer on Tour of California: “I don’t have a crystal ball.” Uh, we do.
Yes, we’re feeling mystical.
Asked to predict his chances of winning this year’s Tour of California, Levi Leipheimer had this admission: “I don’t have a crystal ball so it’s hard for me to tell…”
This is where Twisted Spoke comes to the rescue — because we have six crystal balls — which give us the definitive answer on how Leipheimer, a three time winner, will fare in the Cali tour that kicks off May 16th.
A ball with better news.
The crystal ball at astrocenter.com was extremely confident about Levi’s chances. When posed the question, the answer from the cloudy orb was a clear: “definitely.”
At the horoscopes and astrology site, the Leipheimer query meet with a generally positive response. “It will happen soon.” Vague but reassuming for the Radio Shack stage racer with the shiny head.
However, it was bad news for the Santa Rosa rider from the crystal ball over at the Portrait Corner. “Don’t count on it” was the gloomy assessment.
Not so good, Levi.
The odds looked equally bleak at e-tarocchi.com where the gypsy woman and her glowing bowling ball said “expectations may not be met.” Sounds like a deal breaker to us –why bother even showing up when the situation is that psychically hopeless.
We had to respect the honesty of the crystal ball at onlinecrystalball which took a long minute to answer. The ball apparently ran all the variables and hypothetical situations and came back with “I can not answer that yet.” We plan to check with that ball in a few months because we appreciate the ball feeling that its powers were not up to the task of predicting a ProTour race.
Then we asked the crystal ball oracle at Grandpasgeneral and the mystic oracle gave the immediate thumbs down on poor Levi: “The mystic says no.” Whoa, we thought Phil Liggett was the mystic.
And finally, as we round out the chances of Levi to hop onto the top step of the podium, we put the question to mistichouse. Rosy was the response, a solid “outlook is good.” That should make the training rides just a little easier for Levi — “Johan and the crystal ball are behind me! More hill intervals, baby.”
An honest ball.
Too often we put our faith in so-called experts, prognosticators who lean on logic and reason and the smoke-screen of science.
Yet cycling is a profound mystery that opens us to the other doors of perception. The magical universe beyond cycling journalists and those who grovel before fact and numerical data.
We seek the spiritual channel to the other world that reveals all possibility.
In other words, we have Levi running about 50-50 on the repeat.
The Belgian sheik strikes. Boonen takes stage three of Tour of Qatar.
Tom "The Sheik" Boonen.
Welcome back to the Tour of Qatar, the cycling crazy Arab emirate sometimes called the Belgium of the desert. Such is their love of the two wheeled contraption.
The camel may be a quaint and enduring romantic image but the reality is that bicycle racing is what enflames the passion of this Persian hotbed of cycling.
During the Tour of Qatar, visitors to the capital city of Doha are sure to see hundreds of arab fans in head-dress and wearing the team jersey of their favorite squad. And make no mistake, Qatar is Quick Step country and Tom Boonen is considered an honorary Qatari.
So it was with much joy and celebration that today’s 136 kilometer stage from Dukhan to Mesaieed was won by the Belgian classics star. He is the master of the cobbles and the sand dunes. Boonen went into hyper-drive to beat Heinrich (pusher man) Haussler (Cervélo TestTeam) and Baden Cooke (Saxo Bank) in a crash-filled finale.
“That’s really fast! The highest I’ve ever done was against [Alessandro] Petacchi but that was with a tailwind,” said Boonen, happy to have his first win of the season.
A young Boonen fan.
Yes, this petroleum rich country with the third largest gas reserves in the world just can’t get enough of guys in lycra racing their bikes.
Perhaps this accounts for the always crowed bike shops around Shara Kharaba, the old part of town. It’s hard to keep those Marco Pantani posters in stock when every kid wants one.
Crazy things happen everyday in the land of Q and Mesaieed was the scene of an unfortunate pile-up. Gerald Ciolek (Milram) joined Kurt Asle-Arvesen (Team Sky) and Steven Cozza (Garmin) in the broken collarbone competition.
But the day belonged to the man the locals call El Tommeke, the Sheik. Chapeau — or as they say in Qatar, keffiyeh.
Hoohak pipe at Tour of Qatar. No, this is not doping.
WADA? Hookah?
No, this is not confiscated equipment from one of the teams in the Tour of Qatar.
Nobody is under arrest, thrown in some squalid jail or incurring the wrath of anti-drug priestess Anne Gripper.
No worries here in the land of Q. Yes, at first glance it could be some sort of weird arabian centrifuge or illegal doping contraption.
The uninformed and overly suspicious may wrongly assume the worst if they found this gadget in a rider’s room.
However, we can all rest easy and the Tour of Qatar is still doping free. This is simply the classic hookah pipe or shisha and no cause for UCI-quality alarm.
The sharing of the hookah pipe in cycling-mad Qatar, the Italy of the Middle East, is just a custom among cycling fans here. No need to panic or jump to conclusions.
Tour of Qatar. Mystery, intrigue, camels that refuse to carry Mavic wheels.
Neutral support camel out of operation.
Strange doings down in the desert, the Land of Q, the Arabian cycling hotbed that is Qatar. Some people call Qatar the Italy of the Arabian peninsula. Some, not the majority.
First, Belgian classic specialist Tom Boonen of Quick Step disguised himself in an arab headdress and long flowing white robe, then borrowed a local bike to pre-ride the course. The droves of paparazzi in Q were disappointed.
Then, in the hotly contested (hey, it’s the Middle East) stage one team time trial, Team Cervelo was hit with a one minute penalty after Heinrich Haussler pushed teammate Gabriel Rasch. At least according to judge Jinshan Zhao of China.
First Qatar question; what is a judge from China doing in Qatar making calls on a ProTour race. This is sort of like the Jamaican judge calling the shots in a Scandinavian cross country ski championship. Sure, it’s a global sport but silly, too.
Strangely enough Chief judge Enrique Gonzalez Martinez agreed with Zhao and despite the short distance of the stage, enforced the International Cycling Union (UCI) rule which mandates a one-minute penalty for pushing. Which is pretty much goodbye for Cervelo in the overall unless they push back really hard.
Wait, is this on the race route?
Then things got even stranger in Qatar, which like Nim’s Island or the parallel universe of The Golden Compass, is always unpredictable. Stage two began on a camel racetrack and that’s where the trouble begin. Several teams complained when the neutral service camel carrying the spare wheels decided to take a nap and refused to move despite a vigorous beating.
Then Geert Steurs (Topsport Vlaanderen) and Wouter Mol (Vacansoleil) attacked just two kilometers into the race, leaving everyone in their dust. Literally. Halfway through the course, the road disappeared into a sand dune. The peloton came to screeching half as an army of dust blowers cleared the road. But by then, it was too late as Steurs took the win. The tour of Q is Quazy.
Dumoulin wins bug-infested Etoile de Besseges.
Samuel Dumoulin, Little Big Man on the podium.
Sometimes in stage racing, it’s a bugs life.
A stomach big (or perhaps some funky energy bars) took out 25 riders before the final stage of this years’ Etoile de Besseges.
Unfortunately, the sick list included overall leader Arnaud Molmy (Roubaix Lille Metropole). Yesterday Samuel Dumoulin lost the stage and jersey to Molmy after cutting the course but won back the title based on the stronger immune system. Allez Sammy, your intestinal tract is formidable!
Niko Eeckhout (An Post-Sean Kelly) took advantage of a top notch lead-out from his team to claim the fifth stage of the shiny 2010 Etoile de Bessèges. Niko beat out Kazakh Valentin Iglinsky (Astana) and Dutchman Hans Dekkers (Landbouwkrediet) to take his first win of the season.
The overall win goes to the mini-Frenchman, Dumoulin. He beat Borut Bozic in a sprint to win stage three and then triumphed over Molmy and an aggressive stomach bug to win the Etoile.
You see, mes amis, if you want to win a bike race, you must train the legs and the lungs but do not forget the intestines.
Dumoulin wins stage four in Etoile de Besseges, then un-wins it.
Dumoulin wins 71st place!
The Twisted Spoke crystal ball, the one we got a wanderinggygpy.com, is proving highly effective.
After citing Samuel Dumoulin’s aggressive riding style in his stage three win, the micro Frenchman was back in action the next day in the Etoile de Besseges. However, the small rider for Cofidis Credit en Ligne made a big mistake this time around.
You can cut corners to win a race, but not literally, mes amis. Sammy, fait attention! Despite beating Arnaud Molmy (Team Roubaix-Lille Métropole) across the line in the 140k run around Gran Prix d’Ales en Cevennes, the race commissaries decided Little D was a tricheur, a cheat, for having cut the course in the final kilometer.
How, exactly, Dumoulin accomplished this trickery was not revealed — secret back alley, unfair use of sidewalk, cutting though neighborhood bakery? The upshot was Arnaud landed in first place and Dumoulin was relegated to cycling Siberia. “Dumoulin wins 71st place” doesn’t grab much attention in the Le Monde sports page.
Adding insult to injustice (perhaps) Molmy also inherited the overall race lead from Borut Bozic, who started the day with a 16 second advantage over Niko Eeckhout (An Post – Sean Kelly) and the two wily Frenchman.
Sammy D, no more hanky-panky, mon ami. Just because you are small and sneaky, do not think the judges will miss your little games. It you are Mark Cavendish, perhaps they cut you some slack. But Dumoulin, bah non.
Tom Boonen in Arab disguise before start of Tour of Qatar.
Boonen -- is that you?
Tom Boonen is a pretty famous guy — even in the middle of the desert. While the arab state of Qatar may not have the same Boonen-mania as back in Belgium, the star was taking no chances.
Apparently Boonen donned a traditional headdress and long white robe and then borrowed a local man’s old bike to check out the opening team time trial incognito. He rode the entire course in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, without anyone noticing this was the man who conquered Paris-Roubiax and the Tour of Flanders.
Twisted Spoke has now exposed this elaborate ruse: we know that’s you, Tom of Arabia.
Micro-Frenchman Dumoulin wins stage three of Etoile de Besseges.
The mini-man of the moment.
Samuel Dumoulin is a pint sized pit-pull.
The diminutive rider is like the kid that never gets to ride the roller coaster because he’s still too small. At the ProTour races, Samuel appears out of place, a junior rider that crashed the party and hopes nobody notices he snuck in with the adults.
But give the micro- Frenchman who rides for Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne his due. In the uphill bunch sprint at stage three of the Etoile de Besseges, it was Dumoulin who knocked off Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) and Dutchman Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano).
The French police probably have a file on Dumoulin because he’s always on the attack. In the 2008 Tour de France he wonstage three from a small break. What he might lack in size or horsepower he seems to get back in race smarts and aggressive riding.
The 148-kilometre stage from Gran Prix du CC Rhone to Ceze-Languedoc was Samuel’s kind of race. Constant attacks from the gun. A 13 rider move went clear; when that failed, nine men launched another attack, failure again.
Finally, Sandy Casar (Francaise Des Jeux), Christophe Kern (Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne), Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur – Sojasun) and Sander Armee (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator) made a move that stuck. Succes, mes amis!
Then, with one finishing circuit of Ceze-Languedoc remaining, the peloton vac’d up the break and little Sammy began to think big.
Skil-Shimano and Borut Bozic’s Vancansoleil team fired up the locomotives but Dumoulin was the rider in charge. Uphill finish? That’s nothing, a man this size is always having to look up.
One thing is for certain, you Dumoulin looks significantly taller when he stands on a winners podium.
Bozic has deja vu all over again, wins stage 2 of Etoile de Besseges.
Two for Mr. B.
Eh bah, c’est deju vu, mon vieux.
How do you say groundhog day in French? Borut Bozic of the Sunny Vactionioners team (Vancasoliel) wore the same jersey, rode the same bike and got the same result, beating the same two guys in the sprint to St. Ambroix. This is his kind of vacation and the 40th edition of the Etoile de Besseges stage race is shaping up to be a Bozic favorite.
Who’s the big etoile? The star is slovenian Bozic who continues to impress fans and depress the other fast men. Two first place wins, two bottles of champagne and already, so early in the season, four podium girls, flowers and kisses.
Between Bozic and last year’s revelation Johnny Hoogerland, things look bright for the Sunny Vacationers. Directeur sportif Hilaire Van Der Schueren was obviously pleased the team executed his orders to the letter.
“All eight rode a perfect race and we were in control. The sprint train of Marco Marcato, Alberto Ongarato and Borut Bozic is having a great start of the season and they practice well to stay in front when competition grows in the upcoming weeks.”
The 29 year sprinter has the leader’s jersey, with time bonuses giving hims a 10-second advantage over Molmy and Eeckhout on general classification.
The race was aggressive from the start but nobody blew doors until the French duo of Laurent Lefevre from the B-b-beat box Bouygues Telecom team and Benoît Vaugrenard managed to jump clear after 40 kilometers — but a 2 minute gap was all they accomplished.
The chasers made the catch on the first of six 7.3-kilometre finishing circuits in St. Ambroix. Francaise Des Jeux’s Anthony Geslin and Yoann Offredo took solo shots at glory and were almost immediately slapped silly. They promised not to do that again in the near future.
The teams of the sprinters took firm control for the final three circuits and then it was replay, deja vu, double your pleasure time for Borut Bozic. Should he win tomorrow, somebody’s going to claim he’s ready to beat Mark Cavendish. A least in France in early February in the Etoile.
Etoile de Besseges. Borut Bozic and Vacansoleil shine in stage 1.
Bozic busts loose.
Score one for the Sunny Vacationers.
The team sponsored by the vacation company (Vancan, short for vacation, soliel, sun in French) won the first stage of the Etoile de Besseges. Slovenian Borut Bozic, operating on tired legs, still sprinted to the win over An Post-Sean Kelly team’s Niko Eeckhout and Frenchman Arnaud Molmy.
“It was more than perfect how the team rode today. It’s unbelievable that I already win right now, my teammates convinced me to participate in the sprint, as in my opinion I wasn’t good enough to do a sprint,” said Bozic.
Julien Loubet (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Floris Goesinnen (Skil-Shimano) executed the break of the day at kilometer 18 and were soon in another time zone, gaining almost 10 minutes before the chase group got the wake-up call.
Française des Jeux and Vacansoleil ramped up the speed and made an earlier than expected catch with two circuits of 19.5 kilometers to go. Even the late arrival of guest Johan Coenen (Topsport Vlaanderen) only postponed the inevitable. Au revoir, Julien and Floris, you got your airtime on France 2 — see you at the bar at La Casqille.
Yes, it was all work for the Sunny Vacationers but the sun was in fact shining for the 146km race from Aigues Mortes to Le Grau du Roi. In the bunch sprint, Bozic put a stop to the FdJ train and its sprinter Sébastien Chavanel — who experienced the meager thrill of fourth place.
“This is surely not our last victory in the coming weeks. The leader jersey is a good support and I will see what is going to happen day by day,” said Bozic. Okay, big fella, rest up, vacation time now.
