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Basso returns home as Giro victorAfter securing a dominant win in this year's Giro d'Italia, CSC's Ivan Basso has returned to his home in Cassano Magnago as Giro victor and father to a new son, Santiago. While Basso celebrated his triumph in the loop of Italy, it was also his first opportunity to see his baby son, who was born during the last week of the race. Basso saluted Santiago by displaying

slacker posting

I've been really slacking on posting. The Giro should have changed that, but I was too distracted by that and work and other things. So to make up for it, here's my take on a few things that have happened recently. Doping and Liberty SegurosEver since Vino announced he was moving teams and his team of choice was Liberty Seguros, I made it a point to care about them. And somehow I managed to fall

Race news

While people were busy hyping, and then later racing and discussing, the 41st Amstel Gold Race, there were other races going on. Here are a few results from some races.

» 47th Tour du Loir-et-Cher: April 12-16, France

Final general classification
1 Jacob Moe Rasmussen (Den) Team GLS
2 Mariusz Wiesiak (Pol) Polish National Team
3 Jérôme Bonnace (Fra) UC Chateauroux
4 Morten Christiansen (Den) Glud & Marstrand Horsens
5 Cédric Drouet (Fra) UC Chateauroux

» Tour du Finistère: April 15, France

Results - 188 km
1 Sergey Kolesnikov (Rus) Dynamo Moscow
2 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telcom
3 Gastanaga (Spa) ATOM
4 Mirko Allegrini (Ita) Panaria
5 Yuriy Trofimov (Rus) Dynamo Moscow

» 23rd Tro Bro Léon: April 16, Lannilis, France

1 Mark Renshaw (Aus) Crédit Agricole)
2 Alexandre Usov (Blr) Ag2R Prevoyance
3 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance
4 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance
5 Lilian Jegou (Fra) Française Des Jeux

» 24th Giro d'Oro: April 16, Italy

1 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
2 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
3 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
4 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone
5 Przemyslaw Niemiec (Pol) Miche

While none of these are major races, they all have some significance to me. The first one, of course, is just to highlight the future of a few Danish cyclists. As a fan of Frank Høj, I find myself following Danish cyclists and it's nice when there are familiar names who do well. And it's nice when a young one, such as Morten Christiansen does as well as his elder compatriot, Jacob Moe Rasmussen.

The other two races involve ProTour riders doing well in smaller races. It's really very nice to see the former FDJ rider, Mark Renshaw, win a race with his two team. I hope that he continues to do well. I'm glad that CA is turning out to be the perfect fit. And, of course, it's nice to see Damiano Cunego in good form. Hopefully he'll be keeping it up through the Giro, which is next month.

For good, in depth, Amstel Gold coverage, check out Podium Cafe.

94th Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen

And the winner is: wait for it ... Tom Boonen, of course. World domination by Boonen (and QS), one race at a time.

I wrote a bit on it here. Not that I'm overly surprised that Boonen win (he could win almost anything, save a GT), but at the same time, it's almost as if no one had a chance. Whoever was writing the CN commentary said:

16:03 CEST 197.5km/2.5km to go
Suddenly, the pace lifts as they exit the canal. Brown has Boonen's wheel, with Eeckhout behind him. Steegmans is trying to move up and has Brown's wheel. Cooke is also there - they're all fighting for Boonen's wheel. There looks to be only one result in that case.

And they have a point. I don't know if there are many people who can beat Boonen, especially like that. And he has the train to lead him out. They know what to do and they don't hesitate. Boonen will become (if he's not already) the next dominant cyclist. I fear (though I am not entirely sure if this is a completely bad thing or good thing) that cycling is continuing down the path of one-cyclist dominance.

Unlike other sports, I don't know if there's anyway to curb this -- or even if they want to. Now that Armstrong's gone, cycling needs (in theory) another 'name' and I know people (mostly Europeans) who have mentioned Tom Boonen and I am shocked that they even know who he is, because even last year most people (who love sports, but not cycling) didn't know his name. But now people who aren't interested in cycling do. If he wins the Green Jersey at the Tour this year, I'll believe that he's a dominant star and here to stay.

Results:

1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic
2 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic
3 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Davitamon-Lotto
4 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
5 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank
6 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas
7 Jens Renders (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen
8 Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Skil-Shimano
9 Jeremy Hunt (GBr) Unibet.com
10 René Weissinger (Ger) Skil-Shimano

Saul Raisin and race news

A good list of links, including one about his good day yesterday, found here (tdfblog).

Raisin apparently squeezed his parents' hands yesterday and can move his fingers and toes. I really hope that he improves. As TCWriter said on Podium Cafe, "Setting the stage for one of the great cycling comebacks of all time..." How true I hope that is.

Also today? 94th Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen in Belgium. There's a good preview here (podium cafe). You can follow the live coverage now on cyclingnews.

bad news and then race news

My heart goes out to Saul and his family, as well as all of CA. You can leave messages for Saul in the guestbook on his official site.

» Cycling: Grim American in coma

[Dr. Joël Mênard] said privately that it was uncertain, if Raisin recovered, whether he would regain his full physical and mental capabilities. There has been "some damage to the brain," Mênard reported.

Race news.

Everyone already knows about Paris-Roubaix. But there were other races today, including the Paris-Roubaix Juniors. Here are the top five:

1 Raymond Kreder (Ned) DCM Voorselaar
2 Dries Ingels (Bel) Bodysol Lotto CT Menen
3 Sven Vandousselaere (Bel) Balen Bicycle Club CT
4 Gasper Mulej (Slo) Slovenian National Team
5 Giorgio Brambilla (Ita) US Biassono Lesco

In Spain, the Klasika Primavera:

1 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC
2 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital
3 Joaquín Rodríguez Oliver (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears
4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Wurth
5 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears

Good job for one of my boys, Alberto Contador. More information from the Liberty Seguros site.

robbie

Anyone who has read this blog for any period of time knows how I feel about Robbie McEwen. And, well, in the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen today, he struck again. This is from cyclingnews.

Andreas Klier (T-Mobile) was in the early break, then in the chase with Van Petegem, but they had to admit that Ballan and Boonen were the stronger duo: "I tried to win today, but on the Paterberg, another rider made a big error, and because of that I couldn't follow," he said, referring to (but not wishing to name) McEwen's dramatic slowing down while in front with Klier on his wheel.

Sometimes that's the way things go. But with McEwen? I don't know. I mean, I'm sure he wasn't thinking "hmm, I'll make Andreas Klier's life miserable today" but of course, he probably didn't think either. I'd stop ragging on him if he started racing with respect.

new layout

I know I'm cheating using one of Blogger's, but I was tired of the old one. And, honestly, I don't have time to create a new one from scratch.

Good things: Vino won a race, Kai Reus won a stage and QS screwed up once (but not today).

Bad things: Unibet riders getting raided (among others) and Petter (also a Unibet rider) getting hit by a car.

I promise to try to update more later.

Things that are irritating and Rory Sutherland

My feelings for Paolo Bettini are similar to my feelings for Robbie McEwen: great cyclist, not necessarily a great guy. Or something like that (I'm talking on the bike, I have no knowledge of their off the bike personalities). Last year Bettini put Baden Cooke into a barrier and then basically blamed Cooke and didn't seem to care. As people who read my blog know, I tend to care deeply for athletes I like and I get defensive when bad things happen to them (especially bad things that completely screw them over). In addition, I harbor resentment toward QuickStep for their treatment of Jurgen van Goolen. So, Bettini just loses all around in my book. When I read there was a chance that Bettini wouldn't race MSR, I was pretty please. Of course, I go and check my feed reader only to discover Velonews (I know, shut up) has posted that "Bettini [will] start MSR." And cyclingnews pretty much has the same thing on their site.

My predictions? I think Boonen will win, but there are several other cyclists who I think might have a chance. Petacchni could give Boonen a run for his money and I think that Allan Davis, barring any crashes, might be able to do something. Ideally, I'd want Davis, Zabel or Paride Grillo as the winner. Or any combination of the three of them. Grillo is probably the least likely, although he's been second and third to Boonen and Petacchni, I think.

And, one last thing from cyclingnews.

» An interview with Rory Sutherland, March 14, 2006

Rory's Story

With a number of high profile doping cases recently being awarded, including that of former Phonak rider Tyler Hamilton, the cycling public - and public in general - may be starting to assume an convicted cyclist is guilty until proven otherwise. However, as the case of young Australian rider Rory Sutherland demonstrates, these lines are not so clear cut.

Although advised not to engage with the media, the 24 year-old from Canberra chose to respond to an invitation from Cyclingnews' Anthony Tan to hear his story.