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Monday, February 16, 2015

Weekend Roundup: Here at last!

While it is currently single digits in central Pennsylvania, the racing in continental Europe has finally started in earnest and the riders are coming out of hibernation after a long off-season of riding a lot and not eating much. Lots of French races plus a little bit more.

Gogl hangs on for GP Laguna win
With 40 kilometers to go, Michael Gogl was nearly 5 minutes up the road with breakaway companions Seid Lizde and Simone Petilli over a group of 23. While the gap might have appeared to seem dramatic, it was about to plummet and become a nail biter. The chasing group was stacked with 5 of Gogl's Felbermayr-Simplon Wels teammates, 3 from Petilli's Unieuro-Wilier Trevigiani and 2 from Lizde's Colpack team.

The details are scarce because Croatian races simply do not believe in live updates but the race got tight as Adria Mobil, who had 4 in the chasing group including ex-World Tour rider Marko Kump. A 5 minute gap was just mere seconds by the finish but Gogl, who was 4th in a stage of the Tour de l'Avenir last year on the way to 15th overall, was able to easily out-sprint Lizde and Petilli for the win. Just 10 seconds behind Gogl was a flying Marko Kump, who beat out Gogl's teammate Daniel Biedermann and Lizde's teammates Davide Martinelli and Damiano Cima. Martinelli is further proving my hypothesis that he will see more success as a sprinter than as a time trialist.

 Tour de l'Ardeche Meridionale

Down in South Central France, Chambery CF got their season off to a splendid start in the two day Tour de l'Ardeche Meridionale, which took place along the scenic Ardeche river and river valley. When I mean splendid, I really mean that it was about as close to perfect as possible.
Day 1, aka the GP du Domaine Lou Capitelle, saw Chambery CF take 5 riders off the front of a 150 man peloton and go 1-2-3-4-5 with Nans Peters taking the solo win ahead of Nico Denz (Germany), Benoit Cosnefroy, Francois Bidard and Freddy Ovett (Australia). Now, this isn't the first time this has happened like Baden Cooke exclaimed as Armée de Terre did this multiple times over the last couple of seasons but it was an impressive display.
Day 2, aka the GP d'Aubenas, was a repeat for Peters, who once again took a rain-soaked solo win. Chambery didn't do the quintet but put 3 in the top 10. Peters, who was 3rd in the French U23 TT last year, beat out Bruno Chardon (ASPTT) and Simon Buttner.


Circuit des Plages Vendeennes

Coop-Osterhus, disguised as the the Norwegian National Team, went down to the Vendee region and so far, has gone 2 for 2 in the 6 stage Circuit des Plages Vendeenes (think Mallorca Challenge of Central France). On stage one, Oscar Landa and Lilian Calmejane (Vendee U) went off the front of a group of 10 late in the race. Calmejane didn't have much impetus to work with Landa as he had multiple teammates in the breakaway including sprinter Romain Cardis. The two-man move didn't come back and it was Landa, who rides for Coop-Osterhus, that outsprinted Calmejane for the win. 14 seconds back, it was Haavard Blikra (Norway taking the sprint for 3rd over Fabian Grellier (Vendee U) and Clement Mary (Sojasun Espoirs).
On stage 2, August Jensen, who won the KOM in the Arctic Tour of Norway, won after taking a solo flyer. Have a mentioned that results sheets for French amateur races suck because it shows that there was no time gap behind Jensen but obviously there was no one for a while since there is no one in the photo. Anyways, the action in the Vendee continues on Tuesday.

l'Essor Basque

Speaking of Mallorca Challenge look alikes, the l'Essor Basque takes place down in the French Basque country (and surrounding areas) with some short races to warm the legs up for a long year. While usually much better weather, the first stage, the Boucles de l'Essor, was a rain-soaked affair that was dominated by the home team, GSC Blagnac. Yoann Verardo lept away from 7 others to take a wet solo win while his Blagnac teammate Romain Campistrous took out the sprint for 2nd.

In the Circuit de l'Essor, former Ag2r pro Julien Loubet made the race defining breakaway and dropped everyone to take a solo win for his new team, Marseille 13 KTM (former La Pomme Marseille). Ex-pro Erwann Corbel won the sprint for 2nd with teammate Cyrille Patoux following in 3rd.

In other races...

-Remi Cavagna, a 2nd year U23 with Pro Immo Nicolas Roux, took a solo win in the Tour du Centre Var. Cavagna was 2nd in the French U23 TT last year and was a standout time trialist as a junior.

-Axeon Cycling's Dan Eaton won the Valley of the Sun time trial. Fabrizio Von Nacher, who hails from Southern California and rides for the KHS-Maxxis-JLVelo team, rode a fairly consistent race with 3rd in the TT and 2nd in the criterium to finish as best U23 and 4th overall in the race behind winner Heath Blackgrove.

-David Edwards, who had been riding for Chambery CF in France up until this year, won the U23 crown in the Oceania Continental RR after being apart of an early breakaway of 6 and being the U23 present in the group. Edwards has had a trying two years in France but looks to be on good form to bounce back with CharterMason.

Anything else present that you think is missing and deserves immediate attention? See me @Vlaanderen90 on twitter
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Sunday, February 15, 2015

Ronde de l'Isard stages announced

The Ronde de l'Isard, which is one of the classic stage races for U23 racers every year, has announced the stages for the 2015 edition and legs have already begun to ache at the impending climbing. For those new to this, let's review a little. The race takes place, for the most part in the Ariège, which is a department deep in Southwest France in the Pyrenees that remains to be one of the relatively untouched gems of France.

Cow at Soulcem
The first stage starts in Mirepoix, the namesake of the holy trinity of celery, onions and carrots, and goes up to the dam at Etang de Soulcem, which is just a stone's throw away from Andorra. There are not many details on the stage but looking at the area, it should be a fairly easy ride to the climb up to Soulcem but the climb itself is going to be quite painful. The climb up to the hydroelectric dam, which was built in the 1980s, hits touches of 14-15% gradient over the course of 12 kilometers with an average of nearly 7%.

Steep hairpin on Plateau de Beille (Photo: via @cyclingalps and his cycling-challenge website)

The next stage will be no easier as there will be a mythic finish on Plateau du Beille. Used 5 times in the Tour de France, the climb is coming back for the first time since 2009 where Romain Sicard outpaced Alexandre Geniez and Yoann Barbas. The climb goes on for nearly 16 kilometers for an average of 7.9% with a maximum of nearly 11%. It is going to be the premier stage and could be one of the best races of the year.

The final two stages are ones that I don't know too much about as of right now but with two heavy days in the mountains behind them, there will be some tired riders.

The 3rd stage is going to Boulogne-sur-Gesse, which should be a rolling stage that ends with a reduced bunch sprint or a breakaway. Stage 4 heads to Saint-Girons, which is the typical finish for the race, and should finish in some sort of solo breakaway with the winner gaining GC time back to possibly get onto the final podium.

Expect to see more in the coming months but you will be excited to see this race. Teams already announced include Chambery CF, Vendée U, La Pomme Marseille, Lotto-Soudal U23 and Unieuro-Wilier, among others.
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Saturday, February 14, 2015

African Continental Championships: Julius wins U23 race

To finish up the Continental Champs down in Wartburg, South Africa, it was the home nation that dominated the race with 5 out of the top 7 being from the Rainbow Nation. The Elite and U23 races ran together and with both South Africa and MTN-Qhubeka having a juggernaut in the race, it turned out to be a fairly boring affair.
Louis Meintjes did his attacking thing and went off the front while there was no real impetus to chase from those behind him including Jay Robert Thompson, Jacques & Reinart Janse van Rensburg (no relations) and MTN-Qhubeka amateur riders Jayde Julius and Hendrik Kruger. The chasing group also included a trio of Eritreans riding for MTN-Qhubeka including Daniel Teklehaimanot, Natnael Berhane and Merhawi Kudus, Ethiopian Tsgabu Grmay and some riders from the Maghreb like Azzedine Lagab (Algeria), Rafaa Chtioui (Tunisia) and Adil Jelloul (Morocco).

Meintjes was plowing ahead up front on the tough course while the riders were falling off in droves. In terms of the U23 race, it was a two man race between Julius and Kudus once Valens Ndayisenga (Rwanda) and Temesgen Buru (Ethiopia) fell off the pace. Julius, who rode for a Belgian team as a junior, rode for Team Bonitas last year but got a ride in France last summer with Team Martigues SC and was 5th in the GP Nice.

Julius and Kudus were together for the final sprint with Julius taking it to win the U23 RR crown. Buru rode in around a minute later to take 3rd place while Mauro Silveira (Sao Tome and Principe) and Ndayisenga rolled in a couple minutes later.

Julius and Ndayisenga are heading up to the Tropicale Amissa Bongo with the South African and Rwandan National Teams respectively.
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Thursday, February 12, 2015

African Continental Champs: Kudus wins U23 TT; Ndayisenga 2nd

The African Continental Championships are in full flight down in South Africa with the time trials currently happening in the wilds of Wartburg with the individual trials happening today. The continental championships are always a stark reminder of the haves and have-nots in African cycling with nations such as South Africa, Eritrea and Rwanda on really good equipment with riders in their cycling infancy such as Tanzania and Botswana riding stuff from the mid-00's.
In the U23 TT, it was no surprise to see Eritrean Merhawi Kudus take the title as a) he is super talented and b) he has a big support machine behind him in MTN-Qhubeka. Kudus finished the Vuelta last year and is a professional so it is kind of cheap to see him able to take a U23 crown. (Yes, I am aware pro continental riders can ride U23 races but it annoys the hell out of me.) Who I was excited about was Rwandan rider Valens Ndayisenga, who I think could be the next Rwandan rider to make a name for himself and the first to ride on a strong level in Europe. Adrien Niyonshuti paved the way for Rwandan riders and I think that Ndayisenga, who trained at the UCI World Cycling Center last summer, could bust through. Yeah, Kudus beat him by 2 minutes but this isn't even Ndayisenga's specialty.

Also, Ndayisenga doesn't ride for MTN. He is still riding the the Rwandan National Team with Jock Boyer and they aren't exactly swimming in the money. Call me sentimental but seeing a kid that was just a baby during the genocide rise up and get a silver medal in the African Continentals...that is inspiring.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

FDJ's Not so Odd Watchlist

FDJ, one of the mainstays of professional French cycling, has announced a list of riders that they are currently developing and/or targeting for the future. Mainly they are French riders of varying levels of success but the one that was a bit interesting was Odd Christian Eiking. From the article on procycling.no, FDJ has their eyes on the Norwegian talent after his great performance in the Giro della Valle d'Aosta.

Eiking seems to be in the eyes of the Madiot brothers and FDJ trainer Fred Grappe, who has noted Eiking's high lactate threshold as a possible key to develop Eiking in a possible puncheur rider for the future and a rider that has a very balanced profile. Eiking, who CULT Energy tried unsuccessfully to sign this past off-season, is currently with Team Joker, who is turning out to be one of the best development teams in the world with alumni such as Edvald Boasson Hagen, Lars Petter Nordhaug, Alexander Kristoff, Vegard Stake Laengen and Kristoffer Skjerping.

Look for Eiking to sign a stagiaire ride with FDJ later this year. His numbers are going to be analyzed by FDJ trainers and they will probably be giving him training advice as well.

The Norwegian-French connection is fairly established with teams like Credit Agricole, Bretagne-Seche Environment and even FDJ when they signed Gabi Rasch.

The team is also looking at 8 other riders. 6 riders are in a program with the FDJ foundation including Elie Gesbert, Clément Barbeau, David Gaudu, Jules Roueil, Romain Seigle and Pierre Idjouadiene. Gesbert is a former French junior TT champ and Barbeau won the Bernaudeau Juniors in 2013. Seigle is a former MTB rider that was the European Junior champ in 2012 and has dabbled in cyclocross this past year.

The other two that are being watched by the team are Jeremy Maison and Damien Touze. Maison, who rides for CC Etupes, is a skinny climber type who was top 10 in l'Avenir that definitely could have a shot at top 5 this year. Touze is more of a classics type that is just coming into his first U23 year.

So transfer rumors already but always interesting to see what goes on in the transfer and development process. But if you believe Dom Rollin then FDJ is a team full of directors that are old racers just trying to stay in sport and are basically a shit show of a team.
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Saturday, February 7, 2015

Theuns going for it down in Besseges

If you haven't read this blog ever (which you would be insane not to) then let me remind you of Edward Theuns. Now I know that he isn't a U23 right now but this year, I've been venturing out side of the espoirs realm a bit. When I was coming into cycling, the U23 names at that time included Wilco Kelderman, Taylor Phinney, John Degenkolb and many other now professionals.

Theuns over Bol, Phinney and Degenkolb
In 2010, these guys along with Jetse Bol were ripping it up in Triptyque Monts et Chateaux including on the final stage to Tournai. Coming into the sprint, Phinney, Bol and Degenkolb looked to be battling it out but from seemingly out of nowhere, Edward Theuns came up the inside and held on to take a spectacular win. At the time, he was a college kid riding for a Belgian amateur team and he upset three golden boys. How can you not like that? Theuns stuck with college while in the U23s but was rewarded with a contract with Topsport Vlaanderen.
As of stage 4 of Etoille de Besseges, Theuns has an average placing this year of 4.8. He has used bonus seconds to his advantage to take the lead from Kris Boeckmans on stage 3. He has a time trial in his legs but it will be a big ask against the likes of Bob Jungels, who sits just 30 seconds back.

You have at least one person from America cheering you on.
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Thursday, February 5, 2015

Unheralded U23 to Watch in 2015: Dylan Page

These early season shit races always provide a nice preview about who has been training hard over the winter and looking to get some early season scalps. There always are some U23s that show up at the Challenge Mallorca that want blood and this season, unheralded Dylan Page got his nose into some sprints, which is enough for me to recognize him.
Joining the newly professional Roth-Skoda, Page had a few sprints last year that showed some potential. He won a bunch sprint for lower places in the Giro della Regione Friuli; he was 13th in the Ruota d'Or, which won the bunch sprint and he was 8th in the Paris-Tours Espoirs, which was 2nd in the bunch sprint.

Page signaled his sprint intentions for the new year with a 12th and 9th place in the Trofeo Santanyi and Trofeo Playa de Palma, respectively. Roth-Skoda will be going all over Italy, Switzerland and France and Page should get many of chances to show off his sprint.

Page, who hails from Aigle, hasn't done much on the road especially internationally. He only had raced the Tour of Cameroon internationally before last year and he raced some cyclocross over the past few years. Page is a bit of an enigma but I am excited to see what he can do.
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