Friday, July 25, 2008

Ups and downs

Being a cycling fan is hard; you mostly get disappointed. I was shattered when Egoi missed out on what would, and should, have been a very deserved win here the other day. That's cycling, that's just so cruel. He was obviously the strongest, Gerrans gave him his word on not attacking him, Pate disgraced himself and his team by not pulling at all... It was so unfair, but there's nothing I can do about it, except trying to forget it... Samu's been brilliant this last week, and he must be left thinking what might have been had he started the race a bit stronger. He always seems to get stronger as the races unfold, no exception. But he's been magnificent, hats off to him! The neverending quest for a stage-win continues tomorrow in what is likely to be the team's last chance of winning a stage. I expect an "all-out" approach from the team; it's now or never.

The team's been competing in the Vuelta a Madrid as well where, disappointingly, the team didn't manage to clock up a win. Koldo came second on the last stage though, while Josu showed strength in the ITT, Iñigo looked good in 6th overall and Javier was "best young rider". Not a bad return, but a win would be nice.

The team will field Josu, Lander, Dioni, Jon, Iñigo, the Aitors, Igor, Javier and Iván in the Prueba Villafranca-Clásica de Ordizia tomorrow. My main hope for success is Iñigo due to his good showing in Madrid.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Samu was wonderful yesterday. I felt so sad for Egoi, it was just so disheartening. I have hopes for tomorrow.

Anything more from Zubeldia's website? I thought he'd have at least one good ride but, alas, no. He was in the lead group on Tuesday for the first climb, I think, and then all of a sudden he was finishing 20 mins behind. Very disappointing. But we should have two riders finish in the top 15.

Alex

Anonymous said...

Zubeldia has been a major disappointment, but Egoi not winning was worse, devastating. A bit like when Anton didn't win against Capecchi.

Anonymous said...

Even worse, as this is the Tour. And it even was his own mistake. If he kept a higher pace the last kilometers he would've won it :(

And today is not the last chance, we still have Isasi for the Champs :P :D

Magnus said...

Yeah, reminded me of Igor's miss in the Euskal Bizikleta as well. Though, to be honest, Igor's miss hurt perhaps even more, at least for me, as he also lost the overall. Add that to Alán's miss in the Giro... Tough times:p

Magnus said...

Yeah, reminded me of Igor's miss in the Euskal Bizikleta as well. Though, to be honest, Igor's miss hurt perhaps even more, at least for me, as he also lost the overall. Add that to Alán's miss in the Giro... Tough times:p

CaliRado Cyclist said...

Pate disgraced himself and his team? Really?

That's an interesting comment because I could have sworn that he pulled nearly equally all day long and probably rode too aggressively on the last climb after he had already struggled earlier. In fact, I know JV and Whitey told him as much afterward.

If Egoi was the strongest, he should have dropped them. Period. In an uphill finish, what more do you want? Gerrans was off the back and Pate was barely hanging on. Thinking they would give him the stage is ridiculous and being mad about it later is even worse.

It's the biggest race in the world man. No gifts. No promises. No whining.

 

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