I posted last week that Chrissie Wellington was racing Challenge Roth in Germany this weekend, but I had no idea that Chrissie would do what she did today. Her 50 minute swim, 4:40 bike, and 2:57 run got her to the finish in 8:31:59. This is simply ridiculous when you realize that until last year the best ever Iron-distance time by a female was Paula Newby-Fraser's 8:50:53 in 1994. Then last year, on this same Challenge Roth course, Yvonne Van Vlerken smashed that record by 5 minutes. Today, though, that record was annhilated by Wellington, who lowered it by 14 minutes!!
Congrats also go out to Rebekah Keat from Australia, who also broke the old record by going 8:39 today. Keat is best known for rescuing Chrissie last year at Kona by handing her a CO2 cartridge when Chrissie was stranded with a flat tire.
I promise to post after Friday's 1st Mountain Stage at the Tour, where Lance and Alberto and the rest of the peloton finally will hit some big hills. But this post will be all about triathlon, running, swimming, and non-Tour de France stories...and I'll try to keep all the points to 3 sentences or less!
Okay, first off, a young Canadian is becoming the new face of Canadian swimming. Amanda Reason, only 15 years old, broke the 50m breaststroke world record by .08 seconds this week, becoming the first Canadian swimmer in 21 years to break a long-course (50m pool) world record. In doing so, she joins her fellow breaststroker Annamay Pierce (who earlier this year set the world record in the 100m short course) as the new stars of Canadian swimming! Great job Amanda! Did i mention she's only 15? In other swimming news, Michael Phelps is proving that his little break from swimming this past winter is not really affecting his 2009 season. On Wednesday he won both the 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly at the US Swimming Nationals but was disappointed to not better his world records in either event (although he did swim the best time in the world for both events). On Thursday, he finally did break a world record, lowering the world record in the 100m freestyle to 50.22 seconds. Unreal. Okay, enough swimming talk. Let's move on to some quick Athletics highlights. Watch this video...
Ok, Usain Bolt ran the 4th fastest 200m ever. In the rain. And simply destroyed the field that included 3 Olympic medalists. He is the Chrissie Wellington of sprinting. Can anyone ever push him?
More Athletics news...and it's all bad. First it was Tyler Christopher pulling up lame during the 400m event at Canadian Nationals. Then it was his coach quitting to take a new job with UK Athletics (his first coach also left for UK Athletics last year). That makes at least 4 top-notch Canadian coaches to have left Canada for Great Britain in the past year. Brutal. Tyler Christopher was the 2008 World Indoor Champion in the 400m and is now in tough to even get to the 2009 Worlds.
Oh yeah, congrats to Perdita Felicien for winning the 100m Hurdles title at the Canadian champs in Toronto in June. She finally beat her new rival Priscilla Lopes-Schliep in the final and appears back to the shape that made her world champion way back in 2003. And hopefully Perdita and Priscilla can share the podium in Berlin next month at Worlds. Some breaking month-and-a-half-old news that I forgot to post. Deriba Merga, who won Boston Marathon in April, came to Ottawa in May to try and challenge the World 10K Record. He missed the record (27:01 for anyone who wants to try it) by 23 seconds. However, he did set a world record for the 8K distance, as he covered it in 21 minutes and 48 seconds (which makes his average km go by in 2 minutes and 43 seconds). I thought it warranted a mention!
Triathlon season is flying by, and so many races to report on. But first, we have one less guy wearing gloves and white tights to cheer on at Kona. Torbjorn Sindballe, the uber-biking Dane, has been forced to retire due to a heart condition. He has a moderate leak of his aortic valve, and the risk of serious injury was too high to continue his racing career. So we say goodbye to "Thunder Bear" and wish him well. Okay, Ironman races have been happening around the world. The biggest mid-season races occur in Germany every summer, with Ironman Germany having happened last weekend and Challenge Roth coming up this weekend. Ironman Germany had a showdown between Chris McCormack and Eneka Llanos upstaged by Timo Bracht, who broke the course record to beat Llanos by a 50 seconds. On the women's side, it was Sandra Wallenhorst who broke 9 hours and defeated Yvonne Van Vlerken by 4 minutes. Very impressive wins by both Germans! This weekend in Roth we see Chrissie Wellington try to keep her undefeated streak alive (she's at 6 Ironman wins in a row) in Roth against a women's field that includes Belinda Granger and Erika Csomor, while Normann Stadler leads the men's field in his first Iron-distance race since Kona. The other mid-year Ironman races in Japan, France, and Austria didn't really have super-competitive fields.
This weekend in triathlon features two huge races, on opposite sides of the Atlantic. On Saturday, most of the top North American athletes will be racing at the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis. With $20,000 to the winner, the men's field is pretty deep, with Greg Bennett, Andy Potts, Matt Reed, and Craig Alexander all competing in the non-drafting race. Unfortunately, I think Canada is sitting out this race.
The other big race (actually it's much bigger) this weekend takes place in Kitzbuhel, Austria. It's race #4 in the ITU World Championship Series, and most of the global stars are taking part. The men's race goes on Saturday and includes Alistair Brownlee (going for win #3 in a row in the WC Series), Javier Gomez, Jan Frodeno, Brad Kahlefeldt, Bevan Docherty, etc. The start list also includes Canadian men Brent McMahon and Paul Tichelaar, who might be making his 2009 ITU debut.
The women's race takes place on Sunday in Kitzbuhel includes Vanessa Fernandes, Hollie Avil, Lauren Groves of Canada, and Emma Moffatt. Vanessa Fernandes started her 2009 season last week at the European Championships, where she finished third. It was the first time in 6 years that she didn't win! The other Emma, Emma Snowsill, has a bit of an injury and is sitting out. Too bad, we have yet to see Snowsill and Fernandes in the same race yet this year. Also notable in the women's race is Edmonton's Paula Findlay racing her first ITU World Championship Event. Good luck to all!
I know that some people might have interests outside of the ongoing Tour de France, but you people are out of luck. Actually, this Friday's Bikey might have something for you. So check back then. But for the rest of you...
This year's Tour is shaping up to be the dogfight that we expected it to be. But rather than the Contador vs Lance vs Cadel vs Schleck vs Sastre Tour that we all thought we might be seeing in the high mountains that start on Friday's Stage 7, the Tour so far has revolved around the question "Who is leading Team Astana?"
Let's recap quickly - rather predictably, Fabian Cancellara won the Stage 1 Time Trial to jump into yellow. Team Astana put four guys into the top 10 (including Contador in second and Lance in 10th) and the Tour settled into its predictable rhythm with a first week full of flat stages where the sprinters make headlines and the race faves settle into the background until the road goes up. Except after Stage 2 where Mark Cavendish easily took the sprint win, Stage 3 turned the race upside down. A freak crosswind broke the peloton apart with 25 km to go, and Lance Armstrong took full advantage. He tucked into the lead group that was driven by Team Columbia (ultimately resulting in another stage win for Cavendish), and gained 40 seconds on the trailing peloton that contained all the top GC riders, including Lance's teammate and Astana's supposed team leader Alberto Contador. This vaulted Lance from 10th into 3rd in the overall , ahead of Contador and the rest of the of the top riders after Stage 3.
This put Astana in the enviable position of having their two top riders near the top of the standings (Contador is 4th overall, 19 seconds back of Lance) but the unenviable position of having to decide which rider might be their true leader. This has been the question since Lance came back from retirement - who is the alpha male for Astana - but finally it appears that it is close to the time where we all find out the answer. This is more than a simple decision - Contador has won 3 straight Grand Tours while Lance won 7 straight Tour de Frances before retiring in 2005. And despite Lance, Alberto, and Johan Bruyneel (the team director for Astana) all trying to say the politically correct things, the fact remains that neither Lance nor Alberto seem to be 100% sold on the idea of sharing the top billing. This story from mid-June shows that Contador was in active talks with at least two teams (Garmin and Caisse d'Epargne) to join them if Astana folded before the Tour started (it was in financial turmoil until days before the Tour started). So obviously Contador is not 100% happy being Lance's teammate, there is bound to be friction. But friction is still a long way from jeopardizing the team's goal of a Yellow Jersey in Paris in two-and-a-half-weeks...
With a time lead over Contador heading into Tuesday's team time trial, Astana was in great position to try and take the Yellow Jersey from Cancellara if they could win the stage by 40 seconds. In a performance reminiscent of the Blue Train that Lance's USPS team of the early 2000's was famous for, Team Astana won the stage by exactly those 40 seconds, and tonight Lance sits in a virtual tie for the race lead. He is not the official leader (Cancellara still leads by less than half a second) but is in the driver's seat to seize the race lead once the mountains begin on Friday. All Lance needs to do is to finish alongside Contador and he will probably go to bed on Friday evening as the race leader. Of course, another twist could switch this up, but right now, Lance might be chuckling to himself at how well this is playing out for him.
What will happen in the days to come? Lance needs a couple more good breaks like the one that happened yesterday to stay ahead of the younger (and potentially stronger) cyclists who are out to dethrone the 7-time champ. I'd still wager that Contador will win the race. But cheering for Lance these last four days is like cheering for a back-from-retirement Michael Jordan in 1996 or watching Jack Nicklaus climb up the leaderboard at the Masters in 1986. It's great to see Lance back being relevant at the Tour. Let's keep hoping...
With the Tour now less than 24 hours away, I wanted to preview what is shaping up as an epic 3-week bike ride around France. It actually starts tomorrow (Saturday) with a fairly technical individual time trial in Monaco. Although only 15.5 km, it is tough enough for the general classification contenders (i'll get to them in a second) to put some time on each other.
So a little background on this year's event. It starts in Monaco, winds its way thru the south of France into Spain, then goes back thru the Alps into Switzerland before finishing (as always) in Paris. The first week includes four fairly flat stages (perfect for sprint finishes), a team time trial (Stage 4) and only on Friday we will see the big mountains become a factor. So week 1 is all about the sprint finishes, although the big names will want to be somewhat competitive on the first individual time trial and the team time trial.
Okay, so who's going to win? Well, if I had to bet my house, I would probably bet on Astana's Alberto Contador. He has had a great year so far, rides for the strongest team, and has won his last 3 Grand Tours. Is he a sure shot? He is also the overwhelming betting favorite, at pretty close to even odds (you would have to bet a dollar to win a dollar), whereas Lance and the rest of the peloton is at least 5 to 1 odds (bet a dollar to win 5).
There are reasons why Contador might not win though. His three Grand Tours victories have all come against lesser fields than this year's Tour. As well, one of his teammates is Lance Armstrong, who may try to make some headlines of his own and possible usurp his own teammate. There are lots of rumblings about Team Astana being split with some riders being pro-Armstrong and some being pro-Contador. Lance has always targeted the Tour de France as his race, and it appears that he is finally in climbing shape to compete with the rest of the GC guys. He has lost weight, has trained at altitude, and appears ready to put his stamp on the 2009 Tour. Lance hasn't not won a Tour de France that he has competed in since 1996, and that was pre-cancer Lance. So can Lance win? Sure he can. Anyone who counts Lance out right now is a fool, since Lance has made a career out of doing things that people tell him can't be done. Come back from cancer to win the Tour? Impossible. Win it a second time? Win it 5 times in a row? Six? Seven? Check. Lance has always done the impossible in France, and it appears that he will be giving it all he has again this year. Truthfully, a lot of us will be watching his time trial tomorrow to see if "old Lance" makes an appearance.... Ok, if not for the Astana boys (remember, they also have Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer riding with Alberto and Lance too), who else could win? It's a pretty short list in 2009. There are really only 4 other main contenders who have the pedigree to challenge up front...
1. Carlos Sastre - Last year's winner is back. And while he showed amazing climbing fitness during the Giro when he simply left everyone else in his wake, he probably doesn't time trial well enough to stay close to the rest of the contenders. Add in the fact that his team (Cervelo TestTeam) is considerably weaker than his team of 2008 (where he had the Schlecks as helpers), and it's doubtful that Sastre will successfully defend his title. If he can stay close through the first two weeks, he could be a factor in week 3. He does seem to embrace his underdog role in 2009...
2. Andy Schleck - Now that Carlos Sastre has left to Team Cervelo, Andy Schleck is the main guy on Saxo Bank. His brother Frank, who lead the Tour for a few days last year before Carlos Sastre took over on Alpe D'Huez. Frank has not a great year in 2009, but younger brother Andy (who won the white jersey last year as best rider under 26 years old) has had a breakthrough year. He won Liege-Bastogne-Liege this year, and is the winner-in-waiting for La Fleche Wallone this year (where Davide Rebellin won but is now in a doping scandal). Andy proved he could hang with the big boys last year, but now that he is the main man for Saxo Bank, he will be expected to contend and be a key factor in the last week. 3. Cadel Evans - the Aussie who has finished 2nd in 2007 and 2008 is back in 2009 to try and move up to the top spot on the podium. The biggest question with Evans is his team (Silence-Lotto) since they don't have a great rider to stay with Evans near the end of the big mountain stages. Evans might have to do a lot of the work at the front by himself defending against all the rest of the top contenders, which might be tough with all the key helpers from Astana and Saxo Bank that can climb and help out their team leaders. Anyhow, Evans does have the experience, the climbing fitness (he actually beat Contador in the Dauphine Libere) and the time trial consistency to be factor. Evans and Silence-Lotto also sustained a pretty good body blow this week, when teammate Thomas Dekker was excluded from the Tour after the UCI released the results of his biological passport. A test from December 2007 tested positive for EPO, so he is now suspended (and likely banned for two years). Dekker has been suspected for some time, with his 2008 team Rabobank actually keeping him from the 2008 Tour de France due to some "abnormal blood values". He was never suspended, and joined Rabobank at the end of 2008.
4. Denis Menchov - Just won the Giro by being the fastest time trialist of the real mountain climbers, and stayed near to his closest contenders on every climb to ensure that no one could make up the time gaps. But can he can go back to back? The last man to win both the Giro and the Tour in the same year was Marco Pantani in 1998. Can Menchov do it? I think he could. He's now won three Grand Tours, but he will have to attack way more in the Tour since it's unlikely that he will make up enough time in the time trials. He does have Robert Gesink as his key teammate in this year's Tour, and Menchov himself thinks he can win... Personally, Contador looks almost unbeatable. But if he slips up once or twice, there will be a large group of contenders ready to take advantage. I'll pick Contador with Menchov and Lance rounding out the podium. Of the big names, I think Sastre might struggle a bit in 2009. I know he can climb, but i think he might lose too much time in the time trials to stay at the top. Here's a preview by VeloNews...
Lots more to come, including a look at possible winners of the Green and Polka-dot jerseys...stay tuned...
