Velo Magazine - March 2015

2015 WORLDTOUR PREVIEW ISSUE USE YOUR COMMUTE
AS SECRET TRAINING
DATA-DRIVEN Speed
The calculations that are
revolutionizing pro cycling
AMERICAN
Rivalry
Tejay van Garderen
and Andrew Talansky
are on a collision
course for supremacy
GENERATION
NEXT
MICHAL KWIATKOWSKI, Peter Sagan,
Nairo Quintana, and Taylor Phinney are among pro
cycling’s class of 1990, taking the sport by storm
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MARCH 2015
2015 SEASON PREVIEW
VELONOTES THE CLASS OF 1990 CLASSICS COUNTRY
HOUSE OF CARDS
22 They are young; they are talented.
Sagan, Quintana, Phinney, and
Kwiatkowski, among others, have rapidly
44 The spring classics just might offer
up the best racing of the year. We
highlight the five things you can’t miss in
11 As the ruble flounders, Russian-

financed teams face a grim prospect.
Their plight is nothing new, and epitomizes
taken the sport by storm before their 25th
birthday.
2015, from Cancellara to Wiggins, Flanders to
Sanremo.
the fragile state of the cycling economy.

OUT OF AFRICA THE GRAND STAGE
RETRO MODERN 32 Dreams do come true. The revamped
MTN-Qhubeka will become the first 48 The grand tours — there’s nothing
like the stepwise unfurling of cycling’s
18 The upturned brim of a cycling cap.

It doesn’t seem like much, but the
look is symbolic of cycling’s gaze over the
African-based team to ride the Tour de France. most dramatic narratives. We break down the
most important stages of the three grandest
shoulder to elements of its rich history. The

THE TWO AMERICANS races of the year.
peloton is looking backward for inspiration

on a new trajectory.
36 Andrew Talansky and Tejay van
Garderen are similiarly aged, with CALCULATED COMPETITION
SITTING IN
similiar strengths, and similiar goals. They
say they don't have a rivalry; others say it's just
a matter of time.
54 The speed is in the data. As science
comes to the fore in cycling, novel
ways of calculating how to make a bike go
20 Now is the time that Greg Van

Avermaet must strike. After several
seasons of close encounters with glory, the
faster are making the sport lightning quick.
Belgian is on the cusp of his most important

season.
ON THE COVER: Michal Kwiatkowski

PHOTO: Tim de Waele
THIS PAGE: Ivan Basso, Peter Sagan,

and Alberto Contador
PHOTO: Cor Vos
Velo (ISSN 0161-1798) (USPS 017-730), a publication of Competitor Group, Inc., 9477 Waples Street, Suite 150, San Diego, CA 92121, is published monthly, plus 2 special issues (published in January and May) for a total of 14
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2 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

OFF THE FRONT
AUSTIN POWERS
Jeremy Powers (Rapha-Focus) won a
third national cyclocross championship
in January in Austin, Texas, overcoming
one of the deepest men’s fields in recent
memory, a heavy mud course, and a last-
minute race postponement that rocked the
January 7-11 event.
Controversy nearly overwhelmed the elite
races, when pressure from the Austin Heritage
Tree Foundation prompted the cancellation
on Sunday morning by the Austin Parks and
Recreation Department of the remaining
national title races. USA Cycling scrambled
to negotiate with Parks and Rec staff, but not
before the races had to be postponed; the
course was modified slightly to accommodate
for the roots of historic trees in the city’s
Zilker Park, and the races were back on for
Monday afternoon.
Powers and Jonathan Page (Fuji-Spy)
quickly moved off the front of the elite
men’s race as Zach McDonald (Cyclocross
Project 2015) chased alone. The defending
champion’s advantage over Page was
quickly out to 10 seconds. Then, Page had
an untimely puncture. “I flatted directly
out of the pit,” said Page. “That was the
race.”
The gap hovered between 15 and 20
seconds for the remainder of the race;
still, given the treacherous conditions, any
mistake by Powers would have left the door
wide open for Page. Instead, Powers rode
flawlessly to victory.
“I was definitely blown,” Powers said. “I
can’t believe I actually won. I was looking
at this and thinking it was going to be very
hard to win. These are unique conditions and
something I’ve always struggled with to win.”
In the women’s race, the indomitable
Katie Compton (Trek Factory Racing) started
slowly, but quickly rode away from the field.
It has been a difficult season for the two-time
World Cup champion, as she has struggled
with allergy issues throughout the year.
“Honestly I just had to be a lot more
conservative today,” Compton said. “I wasn’t
feeling awesome, wasn’t sure if I went out too
hard if it would come back to get me. I knew I
couldn’t go too deep too soon.”
Compton held off Kaitie Antonneau
(Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) for her
unprecedented eleventh title.
PHOTO BY WIL MATTHEWS
5
SIGN IN
A view of things to come

I
n the Editor’s Note of the Febru-
ary issue of Velo, which focused on
professional cycling at a crossroads,
I wrote that change is constant, that it’s
relentless, and that as long as it’s chan-
neled properly, it’s a positive thing.
And now, as we close our March is-
sue, a 2015 WorldTour season preview,
it’s only fitting that I provide a view of
things to come within the VeloNews
editorial team, and explain how a few
changes will, ultimately, be a good
thing.
As of March 1, I’ll be stepping
down from my post as Editor in Chief
to join Global Cycling Network (GCN)
as its first North American contribu-
tor. I’ll be a Presenter on The GCN
Show, using skills developed scripting
and hosting the VeloCenter news show
in 2009 and 2010. It’s not a decision
I made lightly, and if pressed to pro-
vide a reason, I’d answer simply that,
after 13 years working full-time with
VeloNews, I’m ready for new opportu-
nities and challenges.
What this is not, however, is a good-
bye. I’ve been a part of the VeloNews
brand for too long, and I enjoy the pro-
cess of writing too much, to step away
from either entirely. After March 1, I will continue on as Editor at Large, transitioning away from gear, and toward race reporting. Caley is a fantastic
contributing to both Velo magazine and VeloNews.com. I won’t be working writer, and I look forward to reading his big-picture view of the sport, as well
in the office, but I will be attending weekly meetings, and I will continue to as his inside look at what takes place in the pro peloton. To fill his shoes,
be active in editorial planning and direction. In fact, it’s likely you’ll be see- we’re looking for someone who is equally adept at wrenching, riding, and
ing my byline more than you have in recent years. writing.
So, in 2015, I will continue to attend major races, domestic and abroad, Both positions are based in Boulder, Colorado. If you think you’re right
reporting both on camera and in print. GCN and VeloNews have an estab- for the job, or if you know someone who might be, please be in touch — my
lished, mutually beneficial partnership, and this dual role is a perfect sce- email address is at the bottom of this note.
nario for me. And while there will be a transition period for the VeloNews As it has for almost 45 years, the VeloNews editorial team continues to
edit team, I’ll be available to make it as seamless as possible, working closely evolve. Just as pro cycling teams shuffle their rosters from season to season
with Velo Managing Editor Chris Case, VeloNews.com Editor Spencer Pow- — recent examples are well documented in our 2015 season preview issue
lison, and the new Editor in Chief. — turnover within an editorial staff isn’t just common, it’s necessary. It will
My objective is that you, our reader, won’t notice a thing. Whether on- be refreshing to have new energy at the top of the Velo masthead, just as it
line or in print, you’ll still enjoy quality content from our reliable stable of will be good to have new voices in our race reporting and tech coverage. I’m
contributors such as Andrew Hood, Lennard Zinn, Gregor Brown, Dan very proud of the quality work our team produced during my time as Editor
Seaton, Dan Wuori, Ryan Newill, Steve Maxwell, and Trevor Connor. We’ll in Chief, but I’m also looking forward to seeing what comes next.
continue to provide firsthand insight from pro racers Phil Gaimon, Chad And no, you can’t have any of my old VeloNews jerseys, so don’t ask. I’ll
Haga, Carmen Small, and Julian Kyer. And there will no change to our beau- still be wearing them, proudly.
tiful race photography from the lenses of Tim de Waele, Casey B. Gibson,
JOHN PIERCE/PHOTOSPORT INTERNATIONAL
and Jim Fryer and Iri Greco at BrakeThrough Media.

I have a few more names I hope to add to this list, which I expect to
announce soon.
In addition to seeking a new Editor in Chief — someone with extensive
print and digital media experience and a deep understanding of pro cycling
— VeloNews has another staff opening. — NEAL ROGERS
I’m happy to announce that our current Technical Editor, Caley Fretz, is [email protected]

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WHO WILL BE THE REVELATION OF THE 2015 SEASON?
Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Garmin)

E d itor i a l Caleb Ewan (Orica-GreenEdge)
Editor-in-Chief NEAL ROGERS
Matt
Managing Editor CHRIS CASE
Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) VeloNews.com Editor SPENCER POWLISON
Technical Editor CALEY FRETZ
European Correspondent ANDREW HOOD
Fitzgerald Technical Writers LOGAN VONBOKEL, LENNARD ZINN

Contributors DAN WUORI, RYAN NEWILL, STEVE MA XWELL, DAN SEATON
Mathieu van der Poel
(BKCP-Powerplus)
Elite Endurance Ar t
Campbell Flakemore (BMC) Art Director MIKE REISEL Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quick-Step)
Coach & Sports Photo Director BRAD K AMINSKI
Nutritionist Associate Art Director HEIDI CARCELL A
Contributing Artists & Photographers
DAVID BRINTON, CASEY B. GIBSON, TIM DE WAELE, BRAKETHROUGH MEDIA
Ci rc u l at ion & P ro duct ion

Production Manager MEGHAN MCELRAV Y
Audience Development Manager CASSIE CHAVEZ
Digital Services
Director, Web Development SCOTT KIRKOWSKI
Director, SEO/Analytics JOHNNY YEIP
When I’m on the go, I like to Web Developers GRACE CUPAT, JOSEPH HERNANDEZ
Web Designers JAMES LONGHINI, MATTHEW MCALEX ANDER, THOMAS PHAN, JUSTIN WILSON
carry small portions of System Administrator BRUNO BREVE
trail mix made Senior Video Producer STEVE GODWIN
Advertising
with dried tart SVP, Media Sales DOUG K APL AN, 312-421-1551, [email protected]
SVP, Partnership Sales MARK BUNTZ, 858-768-6460, [email protected]
VP, Partnership Sales MOLLY QUINN, 858-768-6468, [email protected]
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VP, Media Sales GORDON SELKIRK, 858-768-6767, [email protected]
It’s a satisfying and nutrient- VP, Media Sales TODD WIENKE, 414-517-7457, [email protected]
Director, Media Sales ALEX JARMAN, 858-768-6769, [email protected]
packed snack that keeps me Manager, Media Sales TOM BORDA, 312-421-1125, [email protected]
Manager, Media Sales JENN POHL AD, 858-228-3761, [email protected]
energized throughout the day. Manager, Media Sales MATT STEINBERG, 303-525-6702, [email protected]
Manager, Media Sales DAVE RAGSDALE, 561-838-9060, [email protected]
Pa r t nersh ip M a rket i ng
Davide Formolo Vice President SEAN CLOTTU
(Cannondale-Garmin) Director JENNIFER SUGARMAN
Managers ERIN REAM, CARSON MCGRATH
Coordinators LIZ CENTENO-VERA, CHRISTINA MCGREGOR
Finance
Controller GRETCHEN ALT
SVP, Group Publisher KURT HOY
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VELONOTES
The inside line on the world of competitive cycling
House of cards
Russian sanctions threaten Tinkoff, Katusha teams By Andrew Hood
I will not, and I will shut down the team.”
As this issue went to print, it appeared Tinkoff-
Saxo was secure for the 2015 season, but as Tinkoff
Bank’s stock price plummeted from $15 a share to
less than $3, team CEO Stefano Feltrin admitted
that the future looked grim.
“The team is fine for 2015. We are ready to go,”
T
inoff-Saxo team owner Oleg Tinkov shoots lose his team. Feltrin told Velo. “We are subject to the global
from the hip. “If the sanctions deteriorate the Russian econ- situation, the global economy. It’s definitely not a
Beholden to no man, Tinkov’s wealth omy, and share prices decline even more … then problem for 2015. It’s more of a long-term worry.”
offers him a license to speak his mind. So, after the Tinkoff bank starts to suffer, then I stop my It was an unexpected twist from a man who has
months of outrageous messages on Twitter, and sponsorship,” he said bluntly on Bloomberg TV. “I been boasting of bottomless pockets, and dreams
offering up a one-million euro bounty to anyone don’t know as owner of the team if I will be able to of building the world’s best team, since buying out
who could win all three grand tours in one year, it find a substitution sponsor in Europe. Most likely, Bjarne Riis in 2013. Having brought in Peter Sagan
was somewhat of a shock to see a subdued Tinkov on a three-year deal worth $5 million per season,
in a sit-down interview with Bloomberg TV in coupled with his GC superstar Alberto Contador,
December. Tinkov seemed firmly in control.
The 48-year-old Russian is, by his own admis-
sion, no billionaire oligarch. Even though he
walked away with an estimated $200
million in the Tinkoff Bank IPO in ON TOP, FOR NOW
2013, Tinkov’s resources — and that Tinkov (left) pays the
salaries of star riders
of his bank — were being squeezed like Alberto Contador
by dropping oil prices, the tanking (right) and Peter Sagan,
Russian ruble, rising interest rates, but that could change
if Russian currency
and ever-tougher international sanc- continues to struggle.
tions due to Russia’s involvement
in Ukraine.
And he dropped a bombshell:
if the Russian economy continued
to spiral out of control, he could
COR VOS
VELONEWS.COM MARCH 2015 VELO 11

VELONOTES
Team Katusha may also be in jeopardy. OIL PRICES such tarnished riders as Tyler Hamilton, Santiago
(dollars per barrel)
Russian magnate and powerbroker Igor Botero, and Oscar Sevilla in 2008 and 2009. Ball,
NASDAQ.COM
Makarov, who is deeply invested in natural gas, who was involved in countless lawsuits due to
and whose personal fortune is worth a reported his “bad boy” behavior, could not sustain the cost
$2 billion, is the primary moneyman behind the of the team, and it ultimately imploded; Ball has
team. Makarov grew a personal fortune worth since filed for bankruptcy.
billions after cornering a good chunk of the Rus- Stories of riders not receiving salaries, and cases
sian national gas market in the 1990s, having of phantom sponsors, have prompted the UCI to
founded the ITERA natural gas company. Despite tighten its rules and review process for team bud-
falling oil prices, Makarov seems secure with the gets. Now teams must secure a bank guarantee
majority of his fortune in natural gas, with prices covering one-third of its entire budget to cover
staying stable over the past 12 months. salaries of riders and staff if sponsors vanish. The
Makarov, who is also president of the Russian UCI license commission is also much stricter with
cycling federation, is a key powerbroker within its audits than ever before, but it isn’t a perfect
Russian sport, and single-handedly helped spawn system. Riders from Team Colombia received late
the Katusha cycling empire, which includes the payments in 2014, and Europcar was locked out
WorldTour team as well as a Professional Conti- of a WorldTour license for 2015 because it couldn’t
nental team, Rusvelo, a development team, and meet the strict UCI financial requirements.
infrastructure investments in velodromes and The hunt for sponsorship is a perpetual
track racing. headache for team owners. Jonathan Vaughters’
The Katusha project was born in late 2008, Slipstream organization had seen a parade of
with ambitions of reviving Russian cycling, which EXCHANGE RATE, secondary sponsors before Garmin stepped up in
had lost its luster and support following the col- RUBLE TO DOLLAR 2008 to give the team stability. The merger with
As of Jan. 15, 2015
lapse of the Soviet Union. BLOOMBERG.COM Cannondale for 2015 reconfirmed that team own-
Despite ambitions to develop new Russian tal- ers must constantly be on their toes to keep their
ent, most of Katusha’s successes have come from projects above water.
foreign riders, most notably Spaniard Joaquim “We don’t make money as a racing team.
Rodríguez and Norwegian Alexander Kristoff. Basically, everything we get in sponsorship goes
Efforts to create a Russian stage race have also right back out the door in terms of expenses
stalled. and salaries,” said Cannondale-Garmin CEO
Makarov said ITERA spends in excess of $65 Vaughters. “There are a lot of different ideas on
million annually on all cycling projects, a sum how to monetize a sponsorship deal. It’s difficult
that he hinted might be too much to carry without to change minds, and it’s the teams that have to
more support from the Russian government. carry the costs.”
“At the moment, the Russian Ministry of Sport That kind of financial uncertainty is one of
only partly finances Russian cycling, and most of symptomatic of how thin the air is becoming at the driving forces behind Velon, a new commer-
the costs are covered by ITERA,” Makarov said in a the top of the cycling pyramid. cial venture backed by 11 major teams that was
recent interview in Russian media. “This amounts A major team, with million-dollar salaries for introduced in late 2014. Its backers hope to create
to about 50 million euros per year … one company GC stars and classics riders, as well as budget to new funding sources for teams that would allow
alone cannot carry such a financial burden. I can- cover support staff, travel, and infrastructure, runs owners to not have to rely on sponsorship to pay
not predict this will continue in 2016.” upwards of $20 million per year. Despite increas- nearly all of their operating budgets. The teams
In the same interview, Makarov also suggested ing budgets, and more professionalism, dozens of still would like a slice of TV rights, which currently
he would reconsider the Katusha project based on teams have come and gone over the past decade go to race promoters, such as ASO and RCS Sport,
results in the 2015 season, when the team’s current including Belkin, Vacansoleil, and Euskaltel. but they’re already looking at new ideas. Merchan-
WorldTour license expires. Doping scandals have jettisoned more than a dizing and capturing images from in-race video,
“A lot depends on the 2015 season,” Makarov few major sponsors over the past few decades, in- which would be owned and sold via Velon, are just
said. “A decision on applying for license renewal cluding T-Mobile, Liberty Seguros, and Rabobank. a few first steps the group is taking.
in the WorldTour will be made on the basis of the Other projects were little more than mirages. Change comes slow, and several major teams
performance of Katusha in the first half of 2015. PinoRoad in Chile, a Continental team in South are balking on Velon including Movistar (which
The same goes for Rusvelo.” America, was built out of matchsticks, and more had a conflict over digital rights with its sponsor)
than a dozen riders were caught out without jobs as well as Katusha, Astana, and all of the major
in early 2014. The Pegasus project, which was French teams. That can only mean that teams
A PERPETUAL HEADACHE supposed to be Australia’s first WorldTour team, will continue to be caught out, either by the kind
The Russian quandaries reveal just how tenuous fizzled before it could get out of the start gate in of international intrigue laying waste to Tinkov’s
sponsorships can be for major teams, and marks 2011. Perhaps the most notorious was a project dynastic plans, or by the simple fact that a sponsor
another chapter in a long history of teams coming in 2005, linked to legendary Italian director decides to change its marketing budget.
and going in the night in the sport of professional Giancarlo Ferretti, with the promise of major Cycling has always been akin to a moving
cycling. sponsor from Sony Ericsson. That turned out to be circus, but some insiders don’t like the freak-show
Going into 2015, the WorldTour league had an elaborate shell game, and the company publicly aspect of the business. Creating stability at the top
shrunk to just 17 teams. The closure of Cannon- announced it had no intention, and never had any won’t come easy, or cheap. It is the owners of the
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM (2)
dale (which merged with Garmin-Sharp), and discussions about sponsoring a bike team. Tour de France, ASO, that holds the purse strings.
Europcar’s demotion to second-tier Professional Another infamous team was Rock Racing, It makes money every July, with or without the
Continental status due to budget shortfalls, is backed by self-promoter Michael Ball, who signed likes of Oleg Tinkov.

VELONOTES » RACE RADIO
“I could say, ‘When Froome won the Tour,

Contador was not at his usual level, and
I didn’t ride. Who did he have to beat? No
one!’ Or ‘Quintana won this year’s Giro
because he attacked on a descent while
the red flag was out.’ But I don’t do that.
Each race has its own history. Basta!”
— Vincenzo Nibali, growing tired of
questions about the legitimacy of his 2014
Tour de France victory, in an interview
with Sport/Voetbalmagazine
“This is the
best day of
my life.”
— Heinrich Haussler (IAM Cycling),
after winning the Australian national
road title
“I think Bradley Wiggins

has the power, endurance,
“Valverde, he “The Tour de and the track skills for
France podium the Hour Record. If he
never attacks. and the world prepares right for it, I’m
He always hides championship sure he’ll smash it. I’ve got
in the bunch — rainbow jersey respect for the riders who
are the two main
but he’s still very objectives; I will
have broken the record
so far, but Wiggins is on a
hard to beat.” go on hunting for different level.”
— Philippe Gilbert (BMC Racing),
on classics rival Alejandro Valverde them until I retire.” — Former Hour Record holder
(Movistar) — Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) Francesco Moser
“I don’t see myself doing many more years

of this. Cycling demands a lot of sacrifices,
and my friends and family are very
important to me. At the maximum, I will
TDWSPORT.COM (2); TIM DE WAELE; JAIME REINA/GETTY IMAGES
have one more contract…. My intention

is to retire at the top level, winning my
last race. And I am not talking about some
small race, but rather something much
bigger. Specifically, the Tour.”
— Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo), all but confirming he will
retire by the end of the 2017 season, if not before

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VELONOTES
Ask a Pro Deep philosophical advice from

a roadie sage by Phil Gaimon
I’m a collector. Can you send me a signed

jersey or bottle?
I understand that fans want swag and souvenirs, but
I don’t have the stamps to cover it, even if I had the
extra gear. If you can find your way to a race, teams of-
ten have things to give away at the bus, so if you’re in
the right place at the right time, you get to fight with
other fans over our discarded, dirty bottles. Maybe it’s
easier to buy it from team websites (or signed books
from philthethrill.net).
Sending emails or messages to random pros has
never worked, as far as I know. It’s worse if the note
is in marginal English, and if you include a picture of
your massive cycling swag collection and candid photos
you’ve taken of me over the years, not only will you not
get a bottle, but I might file for a restraining order. That
said, if you’d like to contribute to my money collection,
perhaps we could work something out.
Should ex-dopers be allowed to attend charity

rides and gran fondos?
If a guy is banned or suspended, of course he
shouldn’t race, but as Moses chiseled into the Bill of
Rights, “Thou shalt not disallow any man from riding
a bike with friends.”
The problem is that any time you get a pack of
cyclists together for a ride, someone makes it a “race.”
I read a few angry internet posts about Levi Leiphe-
imer winning an event called “Crusher in the Tushar”
over the summer, how he was taking prize money
and opportunities away from clean riders. It’s always
frustrating to lose, but I’m pretty sure that whatever
prize money Levi won wouldn’t buy him a bottle of
scalp aftershave, and no one’s getting contracts from
winning unsanctioned dirt road races, even if they do
have catchy, rhyming names. If anything, Levi’s at-
tendance might help an aspiring pro. No matter how
hard the event is, beating a pack of weekend warriors
doesn’t impress anybody. But if you can beat Levi,
sponsors might notice.
I do wonder why events invite those guys. They
TIM DE WAELE; ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE REISEL
might bring media attention, but having Lance show

up to your benefit ride would be like inviting the D.C.
Pro cyclists are in different countries almost every week. What do you do for a phone Sniper to an NRA event. Sure, he’s a good shot and
plan? Do teams provide cell phones? he’s famous, but that’s probably not the image you
I hear that Sky riders get cell phones and laptops, but I think they’re the only ones. The rest of us want. On the other hand, if Lance invites himself to
have to handle our own, and some do it better than others. I won’t tell you who, but one friend your ride, well, now it depends on your interpretation
claims to have paid over 100,000 euros in fees to Vodafone over the last three years. Others carry of Moses. And try to have a catchy, rhyming name.
multiple phones, or an envelope full of SIM cards, like skinny spies with shaved legs and bad tans. I
opted for one phone with unlimited international data and texting, so it’s great as long as you don’t Phil Gaimon races for Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies.
want to actually call anyone, and who calls anyone these days? Sky riders, I suppose. His website is philthethrill.net.

The new Free Aero Race Bibshort.
The best just got better.
CASTELLI-CYCLING.COM
VELONOTES » RACING THIS MONTH
Pro cycling’s new look takes

Retro modern cues from decades past By Ryan Newill
I
f there was a single moment of the 2014 sea- Grand Prix des Nations and Bordeaux-Paris suc- plifies the renewed sense of adventure at the top
son that captured cycling’s retro undercurrent, cumbed to the focus on big tours and classics. of the sport. Already a pursuit legend, Wiggins
it was Niki Terpstra standing atop the podium But today, even as cycling looks to establish a stretched himself from four-kilometer specialist to
at Paris-Roubaix. In the old track’s center, he held more sustainable business model, embrace new Tour de France winner. For an encore, he turned
the coveted cobblestone aloft, his head adorned by technology like on-bike cameras, and reconcile the his attention to the spring and rode to a tactically
a traditional cycling cap, brim turned up, rather poor choices of its past, it is returning to the more savvy ninth place in the 2014 Roubaix, going wheel
than an embroidered baseball cap. favorable aspects of previous decades. to wheel with the reigning kings of the cobbles. He
For nearly two solid decades, the cap had finished the season with his first world TT title.
been absent from podiums, due to fashion THE RETURN OF VERSATILITY This season, Wiggins will take a final run at the
trends, and absent from roads due to manda- To start, the multi-disciplinary rider is back. Rid- stones with Sky before targeting the hour record,
tory helmet rules, relegated to training rides ers like Post, Merckx, and De Vlaeminck once joining his eponymous Continental squad, and re-
and the wettest and coldest of races. But here it topped summers on the road with winters in the focusing on the track for the Rio Olympics. While
was again, honor restored. velodrome or the mud, but the practice has largely the order of their achievements varies, it’s a career
Terpstra’s win was more than a sartorial wink at been anathema to WorldTour riders who find it profile that Moser — Roubaix and Giro d’Italia
cycling history, though; the sport’s old ways were neither financially necessary nor physiologically winner, world pursuit champion, and former
buried in his preparation as well. On his road to optimal. Recently, though, more top-flight riders Hour Record holder — could see his reflection in.
Roubaix, Terpstra took a page from the playbook are revisiting disciplines they pursued as ama-
of countryman and 1964 Roubaix winner, Peter teurs or young pros. GREATEST HITS OF THE 1980S
Post; before tackling the cobbles, he hit the boards. Mark Cavendish returned to the boards over While Wiggins has reached the pinnacle of a
Partnered with track-specialist-turned-road-racer the winter, pairing with Keisse to ride to a close surprising range of disciplines, nobody in men’s
Iljo Keisse, Terpstra won his second straight Zes- second place at the Zesdaagse Vlaanderen-Gent
daagse van Rotterdam on the track in January be- in November. For Cavendish, a two-time Madison
fore settling into his classics season. world champion and a self-described student of
For Terpstra, it proved a winning formula, and the sport, Gent’s creaky, history-laden t’ Kuipke
by October, he was back on the track, winning velodrome was a logical choice for his first six-day
the Zesdaagse van Amsterdam with Yoeri Havik foray. While the men of Etixx-Quick-Step favor the
before riding to defend his Rotterdam title at the track, others, like Frenchmen Sylvain Chavanel
dawn of 2015. All in all, Terpstra’s is a typical win- and Arnold Jeannson, drop into the occasional
ter schedule for a classics rider — from 1975. cyclocross race to face riders like Francis Mourey
and Steve Chainel, who tilt their road/cross bal-
ROOTS REPRISE ance in the other direction.
In the mid-1990s, as Miguel Indurain rode to- Though he doesn’t typically combine disci-
ward his five consecutive Tour de France wins, plines in a single season, Bradley Wiggins exem-
cycling, long static, finally began to shift. Salaries
increased, as did specialization. The talent pool
deepened, and the Tour de France came to domi-
nate the international cycling calendar. Stagnant
for decades, road cycling technology began evolv-
ing as the mountain bike boom pumped money
and new thinking into two-wheeled sport.
Over 20 years, pro cycling
grew, modernized, and global-
ized, but it lost something
in the process. The season
lengthened, but the biggest
stars raced fewer days as fo-
cused, power-based training
replaced the old practice of
racing into shape. The cost of
potential injury rose, the days
when grand tour contend-
ers showed up in Belgium in
March faded, and the era of the all-
TIM DE WAELE
rounder — men like Merckx, Moser, and

Hinault — drew to a close. Unique events like the

cycling can match the versatility on display in the
women’s peloton, where phenom Marianne Vos
and reigning world champion Pauline Ferrand-
Prévot both ride at the highest level across road,
land, and, in the process, demonstrating how cy-
cling’s storied past could mingle with its future. To
his attempt at cycling’s transgenerational measur-
ing stick — the domain of immortals like Coppi,
WINNING
mountain, and cyclocross. If all goes according to Anquetil, and Merckx — Voigt’s team brought live TREE
plan, though, their throwback skillsets won’t be streaming internet coverage, custom graphics, HUGGERS
the only parallel to the 1980s in women’s racing. and a playlist tailored to the phases of the effort. Tree
Following the success of La Course, the wom- Interest followed, and traffic for the event on Ve- conservationists
en’s circuit race held on the Champs-Élysées at the loNews.com rivaled that of a Tour de France stage.
successfully
postpone final
2014 Tour, ASO chairman Jean-Etienne Amaury With the gauntlet thrown down, IAM’s Mathias day of cyclocross
revealed to Bloomberg News that the organization Brändle topped Voigt’s mark just six weeks later, nationals in Austin
was actively seeking sponsors for a more extensive and Rohan Dennis and Jack Bobridge quickly stat-
women’s Tour. It is an event that has been lack- ed their intent to ride for the record in 2015. Both GRAND AMBITION
ing on paper since 2005, when the withered, four- men have solid track credentials and present cred- Contador going for the Giro-Tour double
day Grande Boucle Féminine finally died. But in ible threats to Brändle’s mark. Alex Dowsett, Alex
reality, there has been nothing resembling a true Rasmussen, and Thomas Dekker have thrown
KFC!
Compton extends national CX title streak to an
women’s Tour de France since the late 1980s. their hats in the ring as well, but of those who have unbelievable 11
Running concurrently with the men’s Tour, expressed interest, one stands above: Wiggins. A
the inaugural 1984 Tour de France Féminine new mark by the world time trial champion could
comprised the same 21 stages, including every be impressive in its own right, but it could also
mountain pass, but trimmed opening kilometers draw out Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellara, who
DIVERSE
to meet UCI rules restricting women’s distances. has expressed interest but also grumbled over the
AMBITION
Wiggins to go
It was an ambitious and ultimately unsustainable currently low bar. The result could be an all-out out in blaze of
model, but should ASO throw its weight and ex- assault on the record by the sport’s most capable cobblestone glory
perience behind a substantial new women’s Tour, time trialists, yielding distances approaching before focusing
on track
it could give the same boost to today’s women’s those reached with the controversial “Superman”
cycling as that groundbreaking 1984 race did, and and “Egg” positions of the 1990s.
instantly lend increased credibility, visibility, and Across disciplines, genders, and continents, top RIDING IN CIRCLES
prestige to cycling’s most underrated property. flight cycling, for so long driven by a pursuit of Four legitimate attempts on the Hour Record in
The 1980s echo through the men’s Tour, as what’s next, is again drawing on some of the better
the next two months
well, as revitalized connections between Colom- aspects of its past. Why the change? Is it the levity
bian and European racing have created opportuni- that comes with a tentative emergence from some
ties for a new generation of Colombians to build of cycling’s darkest days? Is it an acknowledge-
on the work of their pioneering countrymen. In ment that what fans love about cycling amounts to
1987, Lucho Herrera’s Vuelta a España win put more than faster climbing and repeat victories? Is
Colombia firmly on the world cycling map, and a it that something in the spirit of the sport was lost,
year later, Fabio Parra became the first Colombian but not irretrievably so? Whatever the reason, the
to stand on the Tour podium. Twenty-five years season ahead will see more flashes of the sport’s
later, Nairo Quintana did Parra one better, finish- past, some more easily recognizable than others. SAME AS IT EVER WAS
ing second to Froome at the 2013 Tour and follow- Dutch phenom Mathieu van der Poel will UCI granting Astana’s WorldTour license feels
a lot like toothless governance
ing in Herrera and Parra’s footsteps, respectively, likely see firsthand how cycling evolves over the
by capturing the polka dot and white jerseys. He next two decades. The scion of a cycling fam-
followed up by adding the 2014 Giro d’Italia to ily that includes father Adri van der Poel, one
THE RUSSIAN RUBLE
Tinkoff Credit Systems on the brink of
Herrera’s Vuelta title, with countryman Rigoberto of the last great all-rounders, and grandfather implosion; team dominance may not last long
Urán following in second place. Both men are like- Raymond Poulidor, a Tour legend, 19-year-old
ly to return to the Tour this year, with countrymen Mathieu owns a pair of junior world ’cross titles,
including Darwin Atapuma, Sergio Henao, and to which he added the junior world road crown
Carlos Betancur hoping to match their successes. in 2013. He has already claimed elite ’cross victo-
WIL MATTHEWS; TIM DE WAELE; FABRICE COFFRINI/GETTY IMAGES; ISTOCKPHOTO.COM; CHRIS CASE
ries over riders like Sven Nys, Kevin Pauwels, and

NUOVO RECORD Lars van der Haar. Will he ultimately choose the
If images of road stars on the track recall the road, as young ’cross achievers like Lars Boom
1970s, and Colombians electrifying the Tour evoke and Zdenek Stybar have, commit himself fully
the 1980s, then the return of the Hour Record will to ’cross, like Nys, or will he split time between
bring a taste of the 1990s to 2015. the disciplines like his father, hanging national
Resuscitated by recent rule changes that traded and world ’cross champion’s jerseys alongside NATIONALS DISASTER
anachronistic technical restrictions and multiple trophies from Flanders and Liège? USA Cycling ultimately
records for contemporary standards and a uni- That decision likely remains years away. But responsible for executing
due diligence in venue
fied title, the Hour has reached prominence un- whichever route he chooses, it seems that the time selection, organization,
seen since the 1990s, when Graeme Obree, Chris for the Van der Poel name has come again, just as and issue mitigation of
Boardman, Indurain, and Tony Rominger upped it has for the all-rounder, the Tour Féminine, the any event it promotes
the mark seven times in just over three years. Colombians, the impossible Hour, and the lowly
Retiring headbanger and fan favorite Jens Voigt cycling cap.
stepped up to set the first mark under the new
rule, riding 51.11 kilometers in Grenchen, Switzer- Follow Ryan Newill on Twitter @SC_Cycling.
LOSING
19
VELONOTES
In 2014, you came close to winning in major races, but never quite did it. Do you look back
Sitting In with at your season with pride or frustration?

I was very happy with how things went. I was always close to the victory, all season long, so
Greg Van Avermaet that shows I am at a new level. I was always making important progressions. The gap is get-
ting smaller and smaller to come close to winning a big classic. For sure, I want to beat those
By Andrew Hood guys, and I am closer than ever.
W
ill Greg Van Avermaet be cycling’s nearly man?
Or will the BMC Racing star finally break out What do you need to do to get that What are your biggest goals for 2015?
for that elusive major victory in 2015? This big win? The worlds will be another good chance for me.
season could prove decisive in the trajectory of the 29-year- Well, keep working, keep trying, and I just missed the podium in Ponferrada [fifth],
old Belgian. maybe [get] a little luck. I lost a few and I think Richmond will be a course for my
His 2014 season certainly wasn’t bad. Van Avermaet races perhaps due to my sprint, so I can characteristics. The Tour de France also looks
won three races, good enough to earn him the best rider work on that a little bit this season. I good for me. Again, I was close to winning a
from Flanders prize. But it was what he didn’t win that know I have a lot of power at the end of stage last year, so I would like to be there for
caused some to wonder if Van Avermaet will ever win a big a long, hard race. I am still only 29, and what looks like a very interesting first week.
one. He was second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad in Febru- the best years for a classics rider come The Tour of Flanders is the big goal. That’s one
ary to Ian Stannard (Sky), and second in stage 2 of the Tour in your 30s. I think I can still improve. that I really want to win.
de France, losing to the attacking Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
He took a heartbreaking second place at the Ronde van Your team gave you captain status during 2014. How important was that for you?
Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders), when he was clearly the I was always winning races as a U23 and early in my career, but I think I was losing that edge. I
strongest rider in the race; the losses could forever haunt know I still have that killer instinct, and it helped a lot that the team put their confidence in me
him. Yet Van Avermaet insists that those close calls only last season. I think I reacted well. I showed to the team I have the ability to attack and make the
fuel his ambition going into 2015, when he believes he will race. It gives me even more confidence going into 2015. There is pressure that comes with that,
finally win when it matters most. but it’s what I want.
We saw Philippe Gilbert do a lot of work for you

during the world championship as part of the
Belgian national team. Do you have any con-
flicts when you race together at BMC Racing?
Not really, because we are on different programs,
with me for the northern classics, and Phil for the
Ardennes. And the races where we might be to-
gether, such as Milano-Sanremo, it’s also better to
have two options.
Would you be happy with your career if you

never won a race like Flanders?
I’ve had a good career, I’ve won my fair share of
races, but I’ve missed out on a few as well. I’ve
never won a stage in the Tour, or a big classic. I
really want that big win. I’ve been waiting pretty
long for it.
COR VOS

GENERATION S
ometimes major changes don’t happen
in one dramatic, singular event. Instead,
NEXT
transformation can often come like drops
of water that go unnoticed until suddenly turning
into a torrent, washing everything away.
That’s what’s been quietly happening inside
the peloton over the past few years. Riders such
as Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Fabian
Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) might still be at
the top of their respective games, but by their own
admission, their time is short for the pro ranks.
The tide is changing, and a new generation of
riders is poised to step front and center. And 2015
could well be the tipping point.
Younger riders are entering the peloton more
‘Class of 1990’ poised to than ever, and many are having unprecedented
success at a very young age. A surprisingly high
number of those rising stars belong to what’s
dominate this season BY ANDREW HOOD

called, at least in Europe, the “Class of 1990.” Un-
like Americans, who link generations to a gradu-
ation year, Europeans tend to cluster athletes
around the year they were born. And 1990 was
a very good year indeed, at least when it came to
producing world-class cyclists.
The list is impressive by any measure. Here are
just a few of the top names in the Class of 1990:
Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), Nairo Quintana (Mo-
vistar), Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Taylor Phinney
(BMC Racing), Moreno Moser (Cannondale-Gar-
min), Fabio Aru (Astana), and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ).
It’s not that this generation is arriving; it’s
already here. In 2014, Quintana won the Giro
d’Italia, Pinot punched onto the Tour de France
podium, and Sagan claimed his third consecutive
green jersey. To put an exclamation point on his
peers’ success, Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-Quick-
Step) won the world title in Ponferrada, Spain,
becoming the youngest world champion since
Óscar Freire of Spain won in 1999 at 23.
“It’s nice to see us young guys winning at the
pro level,” said Kwiatkowski. “I’ve been racing
against Sagan since I was a teenager. Now we’re
both at the top. That says a lot.”
But what does it say, exactly? Lumping together
riders by their birth date, and calling it a genera-
tional shift, seems arbitrary at best. Riders born
the previous year, in 1989, such as Matteo Trentin
(Etixx-Quick-Step) or Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo),
ISTOCKPHOTO.COM (3); TIM DE WAELE (3); ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD KAMINSKI

or the year after, in 1991, such as Joe Dombrows- The idea behind that argument is that older, to dope.”
ki (Cannondale-Garmin) and Warren Barguil more experienced riders, and their bodies, can Unfortunately for Phinney, who broke his
(Giant-Alpecin), have also earned big results. better handle the rigors of doping, and racing leg in a crash during U.S. nationals in May,
And had Sagan, the leader of this new band of while doped, than younger, cleaner riders. Take his ability to fulfill his potential as one of the
riders, been born a few weeks earlier, he would away the doping, and the natural talent and shining lights of his generation is a question
have been lumped together with the “Class of explosiveness that comes with youth has a better mark. He might be able to come back from his
’89”. chance to shine. complicated injury, but whether or not he will be
Yet they do stand above. Anecdotal or not, Of course, young riders still cheat today, as bashing elbows with Sagan across the cobbles at
the much-hyped Class of 1990 means a lot, evidenced by the rash of doping cases inside Paris-Roubaix remains to be seen.
not only for their quality results, but for what it the Astana development squad last year, but it
represents for the sport of professional cycling. is widely believed that today’s younger riders
Not only have these riders become the cyclists of have not had doping practices pushed on them YOUTH MARKETING
reference inside the peloton, with Sagan in the to the same degree as the previous generations. Another undeniable trend, and one that favors
classics, Quintana in the grand tours, and Bou- Phinney, one of the marquee names of the Class the Class of 1990, is the push by teams to sign
hanni or Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEdge) of 1990, said he’s never had to deal with the dop- younger riders. Part of it goes back to the doping
in the sprints, they also represent a fresh start ing question in his career. issue. Riders with questionable pasts, or those
for a sport desperate to turn the page on its “If I could get second place in the worlds who are coming back from racing bans, are find-
tainted past. time trial [2012], and two fourth places in the ing it more difficult to find a contract. Of course,
“The fact that young riders are winning big 2012 Olympics, and considering that I am 100 there are exceptions, such as Alejandro Valverde,
races right now says a lot about the peloton, and percent ‘pan y agua,’ then that says a lot about who slotted right back in with Movistar after his
how it’s changed,” said Cannondale-Garmin where the sport is right now,” Phinney said in an two-year ban from links to Operación Puerto.
CEO Jonathan Vaughters. “In a cleaner peloton, earlier interview with Velo. “All the younger rid- But teams are more likely to sign younger, un-
younger riders have a bigger chance of winning ers I know, we’ve never been told about doping, tainted riders than potentially risk losing their
than when everyone is doped up.” or told to dope. Today, the teams do not want us sponsorship on dodgy riders.
23
THE CLASS OF 1990 - MOST LIKELY TO WIN A...
Another key component of today’s youth
movement is economic. Younger riders come
cheap. And with top-tier pros, such as Contador
STAGE RACE or Chris Froome (Sky) earning upwards of $5
million per year, teams still need warm bod-
ies to fill out their rosters. Rather than spend
NAIRO QUINTANA $200,000 on a 30-year-old pro who’s solid, but
(Colombia), perhaps never wins, teams are more apt to sign
Movistar, two or perhaps three promising riders on the
February 4 same money, and give them a chance. That’s
true across almost every major team. Quintana,
FABIO ARU (Italy), for example, had an annual salary of $65,000
Astana, July 3 when he finished second to Froome at the 2013
Tour. He’s since been bumped into a two-year
THIBAUT PINOT deal reportedly worth $4 million.
(France), FDJ, “We like to sign young riders, and develop
May 29 their talent. I think that’s a big change from
when I turned pro,” said Matt White, sport
director at Orica-GreenEdge. “Back in the day,
teams wanted established pros, and it was quite
hard to get on a big team as a rookie. Now we
want to sign them young, build them up within
our system, and then see what they can do.”
Instead of signing a big-money GC rider,
Orica-GreenEdge is tapping another promis-
ing rider of the Class of 1990 — Colombian
Esteban Chaves — to develop him into a
grand tour rider. White is also hoping to see
big things from the twin Yates brothers, who
CLASSIC TIME TRIAL FIELD SPRINT were born in 1991.
Teams are also dedicating resources on devel-
PETER SAGAN TAYLOR PHINNEY opment and scouting more than ever before. Not
(Slovakia), Tinkoff- (USA), BMC Racing, only does the UCI encourage teams to sign neo-
Saxo, January 26 June 27 pros, the competition between the top teams to
find promising, talented riders is more intense
MICHAL than ever. Top teams like BMC Racing, Sky, and
KWIATKOWSKI Tinkoff-Saxo assign their respective sport direc-
(Poland), Etixx-Quick- tors and coaches to watch prescribed parts of the
Step, June 2 world, just to keep an eye out for the next Sagan
or Quintana. The bidding wars for young riders
can ramp up, and highly touted young pros are
receiving huge money for races they haven’t won
yet, just because teams are loathe to see a young
NACER BOUHANNI rider go to a rival squad.
ROHAN DENNIS (France), Cofidis, BMC, for example, has thrown its lot into
(Australia), BMC July 25 young talent for 2015. Longtime captain Ca-
Racing, May 28 del Evans retired after the Santos Tour Down
Under in January, and other veterans, such
as Thor Hushovd, Samuel Sánchez, and Ales-
sandro Ballan, are no longer on the team.
MORENO MOSER Rather than pay millions for an established
(Italy), Cannondale- star to fill that void, they’re investing in
Garmin, December 25 youth. First, by backing Tejay van Garderen
(born in 1988) for the Tour, and behind that,
JESUS giving such riders as Rohan Dennis (another
HERRADA member of the Class of 1990) and the even
TIM DE WAELE (9); TDWSPORT.COM (4)
(Spain), younger Rick Zabel (1993) a chance to shine.

Movistar, “With Rick, it goes back to the question of
July 26 TOM DUMOULIN MICHAEL MATTHEWS when it’s right to turn pro. If we didn’t take him,
(The Netherlands), (Australia), someone else would have. He’s got the talent,
Giant-Alpecin, Orica-GreenEdge, it’s up to us to nurse him along,” said BMC
November 11 September 26 sporting manager Allan Peiper. “Rohan Dennis

is an exciting prospect. He’s got the pedigree MOST LIKELY TO BE MOST LIKELY TO WIN
to ride grand tours. You can see that he has the
qualities of what we call ‘la grande classe.’ We
A ROULEUR A SUMMIT FINISH
think he could go far, but we won’t know that for LUKE ROWE ESTEBAN CHAVES (Colombia),
a few years.” (Great Britain), Orica-GreenEdge, January 17
Perhaps coincidentally, there was a wave Sky, March 10
of retirements in 2014. Riders such as Evans,
Hushovd, Andy Schleck, and David Millar are SONNY
among a few of the top riders who’ve moved on. COLBRELLI
Jens Voigt, the oldest rider in the peloton over (Italy)
the past four seasons, finally walked away after Bardiani-CSF,
nearly 20 years in the sport. May 17
“I knew it was time for me to leave when the
only guys I knew in the peloton were the sport
directors,” said the charismatic Voigt, who
retired at the end of 2014. “Some of these guys
were just babies when I started to race!”
Voigt was not exaggerating. In 2014, Voigt
was 42, while such riders as Caleb Ewan (Orica-
GreenEdge) and Zabel were barely 20, certainly
not of drinking age, at least not during the
Amgen Tour of California. ROMAIN BARDET (France),
There is also a sense of destiny among many Ag2r La Mondiale, November 9
young riders in the peloton, who sense their
time has come. The Class of 1990 will be turn- FABIO FELLINE (Italy), Trek Factory
ing 25 during the 2015 season, meaning they’re Racing, March 29
entering the best years of their careers.
ANDREW FENN
GENERATION CLASH (Great Britain),
Today’s established superstars are already sens- Sky, July 1
ing that these young bucks are nipping at their
heels. Sagan’s move to Tinkoff-Saxo, where he
will likely see more support both on and off the
bike than he did at Cannondale, hasn’t gone un-
noticed by his rivals.
“We will see how Sagan improves with
Tinkoff. He’s already pretty good!” said BMC’s
Philippe Gilbert. “He’s been three years at the
top already. I hope he doesn’t improve much
more, because it would be very hard to beat him.” become a star much bigger than cycling. His That’s a lot of burden to put on the shoulders
Another thing that stands out about the riders agent, Giovanni Lombardi, compared Sagan to of young men. Not only is the future of the sport
of the Class of 1990 is their quality. Kwiatkowski MotoGP pilot Valentino Rossi, a personality who hanging on their shoulders, they have massive
already owns the rainbow stripes. Sagan is king can reach beyond the cycling core, and capture pressure to meet and surpass expectations.
of green. And Quintana will be taking aim at the imagination of the mainstream public. They are expected to win the sport’s biggest
the Tour de France, with hopes of becoming the “We hope that Peter can really grow into a races, and at the same time, do it in a credible
first Latin American winner of the yellow jersey. bigger star than just cycling,” Lombardi said. and believable way, acting as media-savvy public
“Riders like Nairo only come once in a genera- “Of course, it’s only if he wants it, but he has ambassadors.
tion,” said Movistar general manager Eusebio the quality and charisma to be someone who They seem to be up to the task. The likes
Unzué, who’s worked with such riders as excites the public. That would be very important of Sagan, Kwiatkowski, Quintana, and Phin-
Miguel Indurain, Pedro Delgado, and Valverde. for cycling, to have a high-profile personality to ney are certainly not lacking confidence.
“There are racers who broke the mold, who carry the sport forward.” That’s one of advantage of being young.
are simply born to be great bike riders. No one First, Sagan has to win a monument or two, There’s a sense of brashness, self-assurance,
knows why. It’s a mystery. We are fortunate to something Tinkoff-Saxo believes the Slovakian and youthful exuberance that inevitably
have Nairo with us, and I believe he has the ca- can do. Ex-pro Bobby Julich will lead Tinkoff’s melts away with the passing of years, disap-
pacity to become one of the greats of the sport.” new coaching staff, and will personally work pointment, injury, and betrayal.
The stakes are unquestionably huge going with Sagan. “It’s a very exciting time in cycling right now,”
into 2015. Today’s marquee names, such as Con- “Peter will have the support of the team, he BMC’s Peiper said. “I’ve never seen so many
tador, Cancellara, Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick- will have the best coaching, the best equipment, good, young riders coming into the peloton.
Step), and Bradley Wiggins (Sky), have already and he’s targeting the big races with us,” said I think we’re going to have some great racing
confirmed they’ll likely be retired within a year Tinkoff CEO Stefano Feltrin. “We believe Peter ahead of us in the next few years.”
or two. The sport needs new dynamic, exciting, can win many important races. We’re hoping to The old guard still might have a thing or two
legitimate stars to drive fan and media interest. help him reach his full potential. He’s already so to say about that. And the inevitable clash of gen-
Tinkoff-Saxo has high hopes that Sagan can good. It seems to be simply a question of time.” erations could make 2015 one of the best ever.
25
Set to
SHINE
Australian Michael “Bling”
Matthews looks to continue
his rise and give Orica-
GreenEdge another crack at
the world title in Richmond
By Aaron S. Lee
M ichael Matthews is living proof that, sometimes,

what you see is not necessarily what you get.
come as a surprise to learn that the most memo-
rable moment in the young career of the 2009
Oceania road and time trial champion came on
When the gold-plated, diamond-encrusted he is appreciative. the opening stage of this year’s Giro, in Belfast,
24-year-old Aussie rolls up to his multi-million “We are very lucky in Australia to receive the after he and eight other GreenEdge riders won
dollar two-bedroom apartment in Monaco in his support we get from the government, the [In- the team time trial. The team agreed to gift
six-figure Porsche Cayenne GTS, with personal- stitute of Sport], and the public also,” Matthews Canadian Svein Tuft with the maglia rosa on a
ized plates bearing his nickname, “Bling,” it told Velo in December, during a pre-season day when he not only crossed the line first, but
would be easy to assume that such excess at a training camp in Switzerland with 11 of his also celebrated his 37th birthday.
young age meant Matthews was either spoiled teammates. “It all goes a long way in helping us “We nailed the team time trial; we were going
or narcissistic — or both. perform at our best and live out our dreams.” into that race with a really good group and pretty
That is until the Canberra native sits down Winning bike races and fulfilling expecta- confident of our chances, considering we are so
and speaks. tions are nothing new for the 2010 under-23 strong in that discipline,” admitted Matthews.
The articulate Orica-GreenEdge rider never world road champion. Matthews has 17 World- “In retrospect, wearing the pink jersey at the
seems to use the word ‘I’ and subconsciously Tour wins to his credit in his five-year career, Giro was great, and getting a pink bike from
opts for the word ‘we’ instead. Matthews is which started at age 18 with Jayco Skins, before Scott was pretty cool, too.
quick to point out that while all that glitters may moving on to Rabobank (2011-12) and then “But when we took the win, it was pretty
indeed be gold, he is also the first to admit that GreenEdge in 2013. But four of those victories emotional for me personally, because I had
he has received a lot of assistance on his way to are much more special: Matthews has picked never won a team time trial at that sort of
collecting his riches. Whether from teammates, up three individual stage wins at the Vuelta a level with such an amazing group of guys.
his fiancée Katrina, his coach Brian Stephens, España and one at the Giro d’Italia. The best part was that we all agreed before
his mentor Baden Cooke, his childhood hero In total, Matthews has already worn the the race that Svein would take the jersey on
Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo), or his fans, Mat- leader’s jersey at two of pro cycling’s three his birthday, which was so special because
thews is openly grateful. grand tours, including three days in red at he does so much work for us and each race
TIM DE WAELE (2)
Indeed, even the Australian government the Vuelta and six days in pink at the Giro. he puts everything on the line and doesn’t
gets a nod as Matthews lists those for which With so much individual success, it might always get the attention he deserves. But at

Matthews said. “I am planning my year
around the world championships also, as this
is one year that suits me really well. But there
are riders with the same characteristics as
me, so I will have to be in 110-percent shape
to achieve that goal, and hopefully I’ll have
the support I’m looking for in the team to
help me win that race.”
One potential pre-race favorite for worlds,
who boasts similar traits, is 26-year-old John
Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin). The German
finished a close second to Matthews at the U23
world championships in Geelong, Australia, in
2010. While Matthews agreed Degenkolb is a
threat moving forward, the confident Australian
claims the two riders are heading in opposite
directions in terms of style.
“We are slowly adapting into different riders,”
Matthews said. “Degenkolb is slowly becoming
a Paris-Roubaix or Flanders sort of rider, while I
believe I am becoming more of an Amstel Gold,
Milano-Sanremo, Flèche Wallonne type of rider.
“I’m sure we will be butting heads in future
THE 2015 SEASON WILL BE A SUCCESS IF… grand tour stages or at the worlds, but when
Matthews wins Milano-Sanremo and/or a stage of the it comes down to smaller bunch sprints, he
Tour de France will normally come out on top. He is a really
good guy and competitor and I love racing him
whether I come first or second; it’s always the
THE 2015 SEASON WILL BE A FAILURE IF… Matthews best man wins.”
crashes and is again unable to start the Tour de France
the end of the day it was really nice to give Orica-GreenEdge sports director Matt White WHAT’S NEXT FOR MATTHEWS?
him the pink jersey because he was the stron- spoke with Velo on the day of Gerrans’ surgery, There is still one grand tour leader’s jersey Mat-
gest rider on the team that day, and I know it saying he had tentatively ruled out the notion thews hasn’t worn, and it’s golden yellow. An
made for one of the highlights of his career.” of bringing Matthews to Australia from his inaugural Tour de France start eluded him last
Matthews’ acknowledgment and appreciation home base in Monaco as a replacement for the year after he was injured in a training accident
of Tuft’s selflessness offers a glimpse into the reigning two-time national road champion and just days prior to the start. But according to
culture and bonds that permeate the Orica- three-time Tour Down Under winner. Matthews, claiming the maillot jaune is not a
GreenEdge organization, including its riders, “We will be leaving Michael on his original priority anytime soon.
soigneurs, sports directors, and staff. program, which is him starting his season at “I had a few crashes and made a few mistakes
“Teamwork runs pretty deep between the Paris-Nice,” said White. “He has been preparing in some races in 2014, but we still had some
riders at GreenEdge; the way the guys put to start his season in March, and bringing his good results which is really nice after such a
their own race on the line for the good of season forward by seven weeks isn’t fair on him hard year,” he said. “But next year we are looking
others is like no other team you will see in and could then change his plans for Richmond.” to step up even more.
the WorldTour peloton,” said Matthews, who Matthews’ calculated program is intended to “[I’m] not focusing too much on the yellow
struggled on Rabobank for two years due, in keep his legs fresh for a shot at the road worlds jersey, but if the yellow jersey comes, it comes.
large part, to language and cultural barriers. in September. But it’s not my top goal at the moment.”
“We have a job at the start of the race and However, White also admitted that the With a new year rolling over, Matthews is
whoever is the best rider on the day, that’s delayed start for Gerrans could mean the 2014 trying to enjoy the moment while still looking
who we work for.” silver medalist may now target next year’s forward to what lies ahead.
However, that camaraderie could be put course in Virginia as well. “It’s sort of difficult to get my head around
to the test in 2015, after teammate and fellow “Simon wasn’t going to put as much focus what we actually achieved this year at the age
puncheur Simon Gerrans suffered a broken on the worlds,” said White. “With the program of 23,” said Matthews, who turned 24 in late
collarbone while on a training ride aboard a we were running with him, he would have been September. “I think I just need to pinch myself
mountain bike in December. lucky to not be running on fumes by the time he a few times. Every time I wake up, I go into our
With the 34-year-old Victorian expecting got to Richmond. But now he’s not going to start second bedroom and check all the pink jerseys
to miss the first six weeks of the new year, racing until mid-March. around the house and it’s becoming true to me
including his title defenses at both the Aus- “Gerrans obviously has a lot more experience and starting to soak in.
tralian national championship and the Tour on that level, but Michael Matthews is on a very “I think next year is another year and we just
Down Under, the 2014 UCI road worlds silver steep learning curve at the moment when it keep moving forward, and hopefully for me it’s
medalist will join Matthews in a mid-March comes to big championship events,” White said. not the end of my winning streak.”
start. And, perhaps, Gerrans will enter the Regardless of Gerrans’ injury and delayed
season with like-minded aspirations for the start, Matthews is unfazed. Aaron S. Lee is a cycling and triathlon columnist
worlds title in Richmond come September. “Richmond is looking pretty good so far,” for Eurosport Australia and a contributor to Velo.
27
Soul
SURVIVOR
Movistar’s
Eusebio Unzué
rediscovers
the magic with
Nairo Quintana
By Andrew Hood
PAMPLONA, Spain
QUINTANA
COURTESY MOVISTAR (2)

A
four-day pre-season Movistar team camp was
winding down in the foothills of the Pyrenees, on the
outskirts of Pamplona, a town forever linked to Ernest
Hemingway and the Running of the Bulls. It was late
UNZUÉ
November, with a hint of winter in the air, but the mood was festive.
Spain’s last great cycling team had just come 15 years, and he has absolutely no ego,” Unzué
off another banner season, winning the presti- shakes his head in admiration and disbelief.
gious WorldTour team prize for the second year “I’ve never seen anyone like him in cycling.”
running, capped by the consecration of its latest The last to approach Unzué is Quintana,
and perhaps greatest jewel, with Nairo Quintana with his younger brother, Dayer, in tow. The
winning the Giro d’Italia. Colombian sensation hardly looks like a rider
Riders and staff dug into thin slices of jamón who could shake the sport to its foundation, but
serrano and nursed glasses of ochre-red rioja Unzué is convinced Quintana could be the Eddy
wine. Holding court was Eusebio Unzué, the Merckx of Latin America. Quintana is heading
flamboyant team manager who has thrived to Monaco, where he recently established his
and survived across the arc of Spain’s cycling new European base, before circling back to Co-
highs and lows dating back 35 years. From lombia until his season debut at the Tour de San
Spain’s golden age of Pedro Delgado and Miguel Luís in January. He likely won’t see Unzué again
Indurain in the 1980s and 1990s, through the until February or March.
turbulence of the EPO era, to today’s generation, “It’s an honor to race with a team with so the 1980s, and now is Unzué’s main confidante
personified by plucky Colombian climber Quin- much history, and to have riders like Alejandro and top sport director.
tana, Unzué has seen it all. At 59, his trademark committed to helping me,” Quintana said. “This “Eusebio has his own style. He’s very relaxed
floppy bang still sweeps low across his forehead, team has supported me when no one knew who and patient, but also very organized and driven
and entering his fourth decade on the front lines I was, and I hope to pay them back with some to succeed,” Jaimerena said. “You saw that last
of the sport, his childlike enthusiasm for cycling important victories.” year with his decision not to take Nairo to the
remains undeniably intact. Unzué is certainly hoping so. After his contro- Tour. Just about every other team would have,
“I haven’t been this excited for a coming versial decision to keep Quintana out of the 2014 but Unzué knew that for Nairo’s long-term
season in a long time,” Unzué told Velo. “Nairo Tour de France, Movistar will ride into July with future, it was more prudent not to.”
Quintana is the most talented rider I’ve seen the full intention of winning the yellow jersey. Unzué certainly has the virtue of being able
since Indurain, and we’re going to the Tour de It’s just like old times for Unzué, and he’s to take the long view. Perhaps no one in the
France this year to try to win. That energizes the clearly relishing the moment. contemporary peloton, except Patrick Lefevere at
entire organization.” Quick-Step or Marc Sergeant at Lotto, has lasted
Unzué’s bubbling optimism was visibly as long.
contagious. The room was abuzz with possibil- UPS AND DOWNS Unzué is the first to admit that it hasn’t been
ity. And after four days of meetings, riders and Rory Sutherland, one of four new arrivals for easy. His first touch with cycling came after his
staffers would soon be heading home to be 2015, cannot believe his luck. In 2013, Bjarne attempts to become a professional sputtered,
with family and friends. With a long season in Riis signed him to come back to Europe, but and he signed on as a sport director for a small
the history books, and a new one looming on the Australian couldn’t quite find his place in amateur team in Navarro in 1974. Little did
the horizon, riders came up to Unzué almost Bjarne’s Army. Rather than race to support he know then that those first steps would be a
single-file to bid farewell, to pay respects, and Alberto Contador in the 2014 Tour, Sutherland journey of a lifetime.
give thanks. Unzué runs a tight ship, but he’s no didn’t even start a grand tour last year. He “Times have certainly changed. I remember
Mafioso don who operates on fear. Instead, he’s jumped at the chance to come to Movistar in a our first team budget was 70,000 euros for the
a father-like figure who watches proudly over his two-year deal, and after four days of meetings entire operation,” Unzué said. “Today, team
growing brood. with his new boss, he was sure he made the budgets are more than 20 million euros. It’s
In line was Beñat Intxausti, the rider who right choice. incredibly more professional and sophisticated
many expected to be Spain’s next great GC “This is unlike any team I’ve been on. It’s than it was in the 1980s, and all for the better.”
contender, but hasn’t quite delivered. Unzué, more like a family, with everyone working to- Led by legendary Spanish team manager
however, continues to believe, and will bring gether,” Sutherland told Velo. “If you look at the José Maria Echavarri, Unzué was the lead sport
him to the Giro to lead the team. Next are the roster, these riders have been here for decades. director when the team turned professional in
Izagirre twins, who do everything in unison. Pablo Lastras has been riding here 17 years. 1984 under the Reynolds banner. The team’s
Fran Ventoso, to whom Unzué gave a lifeline Riders don’t go somewhere else. If they’re good first major coups came with Pedro Delgado, who
just the week before to keep him on the team enough, they stay here because it’s a good place won the 1988 Tour and the 1989 Vuelta a Es-
for 2015, was nearly tearful in his appreciation. to be. It’s very much a family environment, and paña. In 1990, the Spanish bank Banesto signed
Alejandro Valverde, who recently signed a three- they hold the group together.” on as title sponsor, and the team found its future
year contract extension that will keep him with Sutherland’s observation is true. José Luis Ar- in a quiet rider just down the road from team
“los blues” through 2017, slapped Unzué on rieta and Chente García both began their careers headquarters in Pamplona: Miguel Indurain.
the back with a smile, and said, “Nos veremos as “gregarios” at the tail end of Indurain’s run, Indurain’s five consecutive Tour victories
pronto.” See you soon. and now they’re sport directors. Both have been from 1991 to 1995 captured the essence of mod-
“Alejandro is so humble for such a great with Unzué since they were teenagers. José Luis ern Spain that was transitioning out of the stu-
champion. He’s been at the top of the sport for Jaimerena even more so; he raced with Unzué in por that came under four decades of the Franco
29
THE 2015 SEASON WILL BE A
SUCCESS IF…
Nairo Quintana wins the Tour
de France.
THE 2015 SEASON WILL BE A

FAILURE IF… the team cannot
reach the podium at grand
tours as well as major classics.
VALVERDE
dictatorship and the rebirth of a nation. The Without blatantly saying it, Unzué admitted the the page,” Unzué said. “Then a few things hap-
1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, and Indurain’s entire sport was overwhelmed by a culture of pened. The sport was making the right changes,
summertime dominance of the Tour, electrified permissiveness that knew no bounds. and Movistar came along to give us the support
an entire nation. “The sport made a lot of mistakes, and we’ve we needed to become a great team again.”
“It was a magical time with Miguel,” Unzué come into a much better place,” Unzué said dip- And something else happened. Late in 2010,
remembered. “It went far beyond cycling. It lomatically. “Things were out of control, there when he was negotiating with international
was as if the entire nation breathed cycling for was an excess that engulfed the sport. Things telecommunications giant Movistar to take over
the month of July. We knew it was something had to change, and thankfully, they did.” the title sponsorship, Unzué received a phone
special, something that we will probably never Unzué’s fortunes were forever linked to Echa- call from former nemesis Vicente Belda, who
live again.” varri, who decided to retire in 2008, giving Un- was working with a small Colombian team.
After that came the hard times. Other Span- zué full ownership of the team. With Spanish “He said, ‘Ojo Eusebio, hay un chaval quien
ish riders tried in vain to fill Indurain’s shoes, cycling still roiling from the Operación Puerto tiene mucha clase,’” Unzué recalled. Check it
riders such as Abraham Olano or the tortured doping scandal, Unzué fought to stay afloat in out, there’s a kid with a lot of class. “That was the
soul of José Maria “El Chava” Jiménez. Instead, the choppy waters. Long accustomed to winning first time I heard the name Nairo Quintana.”
that void was filled by a Texan named Lance grand tours, Unzué and the team struggled to
Armstrong. find a new Indurain. After title sponsor Caisse
Unzué’s been in the front row of modern d’Epargne announced it would not continue its A NEW START WITH NAIRO
Spanish cycling history, through the good and sponsorship beyond the 2010 season, Unzué Unzué’s extended cycling family pedals into
the bad. And he’s the first to admit there was thought his run was over. the 2015 season at the top of its game. With Mo-
plenty of bad. From the Festina Affair in 1998 “I seriously thought about walking away in vistar’s solid financial backing, Unzué has the
TIM DE WAELE
to Operación Puerto in 2006, the Spanish 2010. The sport seemed stuck in a bad place, and purse strings to create a world-class infrastruc-
peloton has been decimated by doping scandals. I thought it would be a good moment to turn ture to compete at the highest level of the sport.

In 2014, Movistar won more
than 30 races, its first grand
tour with Quintana’s Giro since
Valverde won the Vuelta in 2009,
and captured its second straight
WorldTour team prize. Unzué had
no reason to be envious.
“I think Sky taught everyone
a few lessons in 2011 and 2012.
We were among others who had
to play a little game of catch-up,”
Unzué said. “Now every team has
changed how they operate. We
have more specialists working
with the riders. The approach is
more modern, more scientific, yet
still just as interesting. It’s part of
the evolution of the sport.”
Even more important for Unzué
is the arrival of Quintana as a
legitimate grand tour contender.
Movistar knew they had a diamond-
in-the-rough when they signed
Quintana in 2012, but even they
were caught by surprise by his me-
teoric rise in his Tour debut in 2013,
when he rode to second overall,
winning a stage as well as captur-
ing the climber’s and best young
rider’s jerseys en route to South
America’s best Tour finish.
Perhaps as a testament to Un-
zué’s presence and respect, Quin-
tana eventually accepted the team’s
somewhat controversial decision
to keep him out of the 2014 Tour.
Unzué had seen enough in his
long career to know that the time
was not right for Quintana to take
on the full weight of the Tour. SUTHERLAND
“They would have eaten him
alive if we had taken him to the
Tour this year,” Unzué explained.
“Nairo was angry; he wanted to go
to the Tour, and I appreciate that. That shows his me to win the Tour,” Valverde said. “We will both could never quite align our interests,” Unzué said
ambition, but he finally saw our point of view. We go to the Tour, first to ride for Nairo. If he has with a tinge of regret. “Now we have Nairo, who is
told him, ‘Nairo, go to the Giro to win, because some problems, I can be there to help out, but we just starting to truly flower. He can be one of the
the Tour will be more complicated in 2014.’ And will go with Nairo as the leader.” great ones, and it’s our responsibility to do it the
we were right.” Unzué also revealed that Quintana is much right way.”
Quintana grudgingly admits it as well. He not more fiery and emotional behind the scenes than Cyrille Guimard, the legendary French director
only took home South America’s first pink jersey, he reveals in public, where the young Colombian of Bernard Hinault, Laurent Fignon, and Greg
but he gained a level of confidence that should pay hides behind a mask of humility and respect. LeMond in the 1980s, is Unzué’s only rival when
dividends in the coming years. “He wants to win every race on the calendar, it comes to depth and quality of palmares.
“I learned what it took to win a grand tour. It and he wants to do it now,” Unzué said. “He Unzué is cycling’s ultimate survivor. Back in
was never easy in the Giro, and we had to over- is still very young, and like a youngster of his the boom days of the 1980s and 1990s, Spain
come a lot. With the team’s support, I was able to age, he doesn’t like to be patient. But make no boasted dozens of professional and amateur
win this beautiful race,” Quintana said. “Now I mistake, he is a huge talent. He is a rider who can teams. A devastating economic crisis, coupled
have that experience that will help me to confront mask his age.” with a string of equally devastating doping scan-
the challenge of the Tour.” Quintana, who recently signed a two-year dals, has left the Spanish peloton in ruins. Going
For 2015, Unzué will bring both Valverde and contract extension with Movistar through 2016, into 2015, Unzué’s Movistar is Spain’s only elite
Quintana to the Tour, but Valverde will be more swiftly put Unzué right back on the front lines of team still standing.
COURTESY MOVISTAR
of an insurance policy than an outright co-cap- the peloton after nearly two decades on its fringe. And with Quintana, Unzué once again has
tain, something Valverde readily admitted. “I’ve been lucky to have had them all — Perico, open road all the way to Paris. No wonder he was
“I am a realist. Nairo has a better chance than Miguel, Alejandro — but never Contador. We all smiles as winter descended on Pamplona.
31
T
he vastness and
variety of Africa is
often lost on anyone
who has never set
foot on the world’s second-
largest continent. It stretches
from the Mediterranean Sea
to the Cape of Good Hope, and
is home to more than 1 billion
people. Some 54 nations splay
across an awe-inspiring blend of
deserts, savannahs, jungles, and
A Dream mountains that make much of

the rest of the world look tame.
FULFILLED With regard to cycling, Africa is truly the

sport’s final frontier. Although the continent has
delivered more than a handful of top pros, and
Revamped even a Tour de France champion in Kenyan-

born Chris Froome, in terms of development,
infrastructure, support, and depth, Africa is
MTN-Qhubeka light years behind the rest of the peloton.
Out of that enormity, a small band of dream-
earns its spot ers from South Africa will, on July 4, line up at
the start of the Tour de France.
at the Tour de MTN-Qhubeka, which made history in 2014
when it became the first African team to race a
France grand tour at the Vuelta a España, is raising the
bar in dramatic fashion this season. Signing a
pack of established WorldTour pros with some-
thing to prove, and combining them on a squad
By Andrew Hood with the raw talent of the existing African riders,
team principal Douglas Ryder is hoping to break
cycling’s final barrier.
Receiving an invitation from Tour de France
organizers ASO on January 14 was the culmina-
tion of an audacious dream that would have
seemed all but impossible just a few years ago;
an African team, backed by African sponsors
and riders, racing at the pinnacle of the sport.
Some will draw comparisons to other
groundbreaking moments in cycling history,
such as when Greg LeMond became the first
non-European to win the Tour in 1986, or when
UK-based Team Sky won back-to-back yellow
jerseys in 2012 and 2013. Both achievements
were considered nearly unimaginable just a few
years prior.
COURTESY MTN-QHUBEKA/ANDREW KING
The challenges facing Africa are radi-

cally different compared to cycling’s other
pioneers, however. The continent is packed
with talent, but the sport is in its nascent
stages. As cycling’s seasoned elites push the
envelope of performance through incremen-

tal gains and space-age science, the majority “These guys want to race. I want to give them the freedom to race
of African nations are still struggling to put
how they want to. Racing at the Tour de France is going to be huge
athletes on bikes, give them proper coach-
ing and nutrition, and introduce them to the for African cycling. It will be a landmark event.”
basics of racing and tactics. — Brian Smith, general manager
In much of Africa, it’s not a question of
having a gluten-free diet or using an SRM, but
rather having a bicycle suitable for racing, and
enough food to eat to burn through the thou- Africans can deliver these new guys to victory, It’s that spirit of breaking new ground that
sands of calories demanded by a bike race. that gives them confidence,” Smith said. “They motivates everyone inside the organization. The
To span that chasm, Ryder and general will see that these riders are just like them, and team is also expanding its support staff in 2015,
manager Brian Smith have built a team for the more they get to know them, the more belief adding new sport directors, mechanics, and
2015 that they hope will serve as a bridge and confidence they will have.” soigneurs to bolster a more ambitious racing
between the promise of Africa, and the elite The new-look MTN-Qhubeka team fits into program.
of the European peloton. the mold of a modern, elite professional team, “These guys want to race. I want to give them
“The Tour is the big event in our sport, without losing its unique African feel. At least the freedom to race how they want to,” Smith
and that’s what we are going for,” Smith told that’s what Ryder is banking on. Last season, said of the new riders. “Racing at the Tour de
Velo contributor Gregor Brown. “If you had 19 of the 27 riders were African. For 2015, the France is going to be huge for African cycling. It
to only have 25 Africans, it’d be hard to make team has trimmed that to 13 African riders on will be a landmark event.”
it into the Tour de France. We are thinking the team’s roster; still nearly half. Just rubbing Team brass is promising that at least two
big, but [by racing at the Tour de France], it’s shoulders with established pros like Goss, Far- of the nine riders on the Tour squad will be
going to help the Africans.” rar, and Boasson Hagen will pay huge dividends African. First in line would be Daniel Tekle-
From Ryder’s base in South Africa, the dream for the Africans on the team. haimanot, the Eritrean climber who has already
quickly grew into reality. Formed in 2007, the “Team Sky didn’t bring a 100-percent Brit- raced for three seasons in Europe; next would
team has steadily grown, earning Africa’s first ish team to the Tour, nor Orica-GreenEdge be Natnael Berhane, another Eritrean who rode
Professional Continental license, before making a 100-percent Australian team,” Ryder said. the past two seasons with Europcar, finishing
history at the Vuelta last year. “You have to remember that Africa is a lot second in the 2013 Tour of Turkey, and winning
MTN-Qhubeka won 10 races in 2014, but only further behind those two countries. We want the 2014 Tropicale Amissa Bongo in Gabon,
one in Europe — a stage with German sprinter to grow African cycling, and for it to be sus- beating such riders as Luis León Sánchez and
Gerald Ciolek at the Ruta del Sol — and scored tainable, it is important we build the talent Linus Gerdemann.
podiums in other races such as the Tour of Brit- first. Our international riders have proven The team’s backstory may have proven the
ain, Tour of Denmark, and Tour of Luxembourg. how invaluable experience and mentorship is tipping point when it came time to dole out wild-
It also saw Sergio Pardilla finish 17th in the in cycling. Their involvement in the team has card invitations. Tour boss Christian Prudhom-
Vuelta; all promising and encouraging results, fast-tracked us forward.” me, a former TV journalist, loves a good story.
but hardly the caliber of performances that “[MTN’s] participation in the Tour will help
excite Tour organizers. accelerate the progression of African cycling.
The team knew that if it wanted a Tour de ALL ABOARD The team has reinforced its youngsters with
France invitation it needed Tour de France pedi- The team held a training camp in December, experienced riders to continue its progress,”
gree riders, which meant a major makeover go- with the new members integrating into the Prudhomme said. “In recent years, people have
ing into 2015. The arrival of Cérvelo as the bike squad. As with anything in Africa, things were said of Boasson Hagen that he would dominate
sponsor helped give the team the extra cash it a bit different. Not only did the squad do the world cycling. As for Bos, Farrar, and Goss,
needed, and Smith became the most active GM typical cycling team activities in the challeng- they’re very good sprinters.”
on the transfer market going into 2015, signing ing hill country near Cape Town, South Africa, Team Barloworld may have come first, but
eight new riders. but the members went into the bush, meeting it was a team that was African in name only.
Among the big-name arrivals are Tour de with locals, many of whom remain subsistence The sponsor was South African, but the team
France stage winner Tyler Farrar (from Garmin- farmers. was registered in Ireland, and run by Europe-
Sharp), Milano-Sanremo winner Matthew Goss The chance to race with the uniquely African ans. MTN-Qhubeka is much more African in
(from Orica-GreenEdge), Edvald Boasson Hagen team made the move all the more interesting for look and feel.
(from Sky), Theo Bos (from Belkin), Steve Cum- Farrar, who saw it as an opportunity to kick-start “People used to laugh it off when we
mings (from BMC Racing), and Serge Pauwels his career after seven seasons with Slipstream, started working on this project 10 years ago,”
(from Omega Pharma-Quick Step). and a chance to open new horizons in the sport. said Ryder, a former racer who knocked
Those riders give the team instant credibil- “I am pretty pumped for it. It’s a cool pro- around Europe for a few seasons. “We’ve
ity, and team officials insist the influx of more gram, with some neat ideas. We went back and slowly gotten people to buy into the idea. Now
European talent doesn’t dilute their mission of forth on my goals and theirs, and things lined the riders and staff believe it’s possible.”
developing African cycling. Ryder and Smith in- up nicely. It felt like a good move right from
sist they are only being realistic and pragmatic. the start,” Farrar told Velo. “It’s not a new team,
The level of racing and experience simply isn’t but they’re obviously taking a big step up. It’s BIKE POWER
there yet for an all-African squad to compete at a program that’s super ambitious, with a lot of Another key component of the team’s story is
the Tour. They realize the best way to nurture room to grow. I am excited to be a part of this Qhubeka, a charity aimed at helping put Afri-
homegrown, African talent is to surround them development, helping the younger guys on the cans on bikes — not to race them, but to give
with established pros and support staff that can team, and helping the African guys who are new them a means of cheap, reliable transportation,
share their collective knowledge. to European racing. I’ve been racing a long time, allowing them to get to schools, hospitals, and
“The confidence isn’t there yet, but if the and I think I can help those guys.” jobs. The charity is at the core of the team’s mis-
33
sion, and represents the gulf that exists between THE 2015 SEASON WILL BE A SUCCESS IF…
Africa and the rest of the developed world. In MTN-Qhubeka can win a stage at the Tour de France.
Africa, any bike, no matter how rudimentary, is
considered a luxury. THE 2015 SEASON WILL BE A FAILURE IF…
“I want them to understand Qhubeka, which
is much bigger than racing a bike,” Smith said.
they fail to notch at least a few major wins.
“We are racing bikes for people who are planting
trees or collecting bottles, just to have a bike to
use for living. That’s a strong message... The
team is different, and the Qhubeka foundation
makes a difference, that’s why I took the job on. in South Africa, provides coaching and stipends “The advances in the past decade are star-
When I stood in front of them at the team camp to athletes from across the continent, with the tling. Things have come so far since I did my
in South Africa, I told them that I’d help them top riders earning trips to the UCI’s World Cy- first African championships in 2005 to today.
reach their goal. cling Centre in Switzerland. War-torn Eritrea is There is an African wave coming,” Craven
“The Tour de France invitation … It’s emo- a hotspot for cycling, thanks in part to its Italian told Velo. “Despite the problems, the corrup-
tional. I shed tears realizing that this team is colonial roots. tion, the barriers, the desire is there. There is
coming along.” “These young Eritrean riders are the grand- a groundswell that continues to grow. It’s at a
If MTN-Qhubeka manages to win a stage at children of Coppi and Bartali,” said Prudhom- tipping point.”
the Tour, it could well be one of those moments me, referring to legendary Italians Fausto Coppi Over the past four decades, the Tour de
that changes everything. Everyone working and Gino Bartali, and to the more than 50 years France has slowly opened its doors to the world.
in cycling in Africa knows the talent is there of Italian occupation of the country that ended First, it was the British, then the Americans
— just look at the quality of the continent’s during World War II. and Australians, followed by the Colombians.
long-distance runners — but building a cycling South Africa, where the sport is most In 2014, Ji Cheng (Giant-Shimano) became the
tradition doesn’t happen overnight. developed, has delivered such talent as Robbie first Chinese rider to start the Tour. This season
The sport is starting to take root across the Hunter, Daryl Impey, and, of course, 2013 Tour could very well be the year of the Africans.
continent. Jock Boyer, who was the first Ameri- winner Froome, who raced in South Africa as a “I am convinced the cycling world will look
can to race the Tour in 1981, has done tremen- teenager. Riders such as Dan Craven, from Na- very different in 10 years’ time,” Ryder said.
dous work developing the sport in Rwanda. The mibia, have fought their way into the top level, “The Americans had their time, and now the
COR VOS
UCI-backed World Cycling Centre Africa, based joining Europcar in 2014. Brits are having theirs. Africa is coming.”

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The TWO AMERICANS
Talansky and Tejay’s course for collision
By Matthew Beaudin

N
either man would tell you straight up. They’d Joey Rosskopf (BMC Racing) is going to do.”
play it down, pretend it wasn’t there at all. Not exactly fighting words.
And maybe the full-blown rivalry isn’t here As far as real-world drama, there is but one instance that
— at least not yet. comes to mind between the two, and it involves Talansky
But for Andrew Talansky and Tejay van yelling in the general direction of the BMC Racing bus, at
Garderen, it’s coming. It has to. The two are similarly aged the 2013 USA Pro Cycling Challenge.
American stars in a sports culture and media that gorges Erroneous reporting of the results from the Vail Pass
itself on drama. time trial led to a confrontation between runner-up Talansky
The two are comparably talented contemporaries and have (Garmin-Sharp) and BMC team staff; due to an apparent
been tracing athletic arcs that will further intersect for years, misunderstanding in the broadcast booth, Talansky was
on Tour de France climbs and Colorado dirt roads. identified as the day’s winner for a short time, even after van
Rivalries are born through competition and heritage, Garderen had clocked in at 25:01. Talansky’s time was four
media pot-stirring, and outright disdain. It doesn’t take all seconds slower.
the ingredients, but only a few. Rivalries can define careers Though the mistake was corrected, it triggered what
— think Magic Johnson versus Larry Bird, the Boston Red several described as a profanity-laced tirade directed at BMC
Sox versus the New York Yankees, or Mohammed Ali versus staff, including Kate Ochowicz-Hogan, daughter of team
Joe Frazier. manager Jim Ochowicz.
So what of this, men? “I was sitting there watching with some friends and
“It’s not Tejay who I have to worry about. It’s Chris following the results on my phone,” said Ochowicz-Hogan,
Froome, it’s Vincenzo Nibali, it’s Alberto Contador, it’s Joa- BMC’s marketing director. “Talansky came [off the bus] sort
quim Rodríguez. There’s a laundry list of people,” Talansky of raving and waving his arms around, cursing and accusing
has told Velo in the past. “It’s not, ‘Oh, I just want to be our team of some wrongdoings [related to race timing].”
better than the next American.’ It’s, ‘I’d like to be the best of That instance aside, the public moments between the two
everybody out there.’ And when you look at it that way, Tejay have been comparable to most other riders, it seems.
just kind of falls into however he’s riding in a given race.”
Van Garderen has been quiet on the subject as well.
“I get along well with [Talansky], I am happy to see other COUNTERBALANCE IS KEY
Americans do well — I think we complement each other. He Talansky has two major wins to his name. He won the 2012
raises the bar for me, and I raise the bar for him. We’re com- Tour de l’Ain, as well as the 2014 Critérium du Dauphiné,
petitive, but it’s healthy ... it means our sport is getting stron- which he brilliantly stole from ALberto Contador on a final-
ger,” van Garderen told Velo. “I still think Joe Dombrowski stage breakaway. Talansky has two grand tour top 10s to his
(Cannondale-Garmin) has a lot of potential, we haven’t seen credit as well: 10th at the 2013 Tour de France, and seventh at
the best of him, now that he’s over his injuries; I think we the 2012 Vuelta a España.
can see a big year from him. And I am curious to see what Van Garderen’s palmares is a bit longer. He won the 2013
SAME COUNTRY, SIMILIAR GOALS, SIMILAR STRENGTHS

Talansky was the surprise winner at the
2014 Dauphiné, while van Garderen went
on to finish fifth at the Tour de France.
COURTESY CANNONDALE GARMIN/JAKE HAMM; TDWSPORT.COM; TIM DE WAELE
37
VOLTA A CATALUNYA CRITERIUM TOUR DE
March 23-29 DU DAUPHINÉ FRANCE
June 7-14 July 4-26
PARIS-NICE VUELTA AL
March 8-15 PAÍS VASCO
April 6-11
USA PRO
TOUR OF OMAN FLÈCHE WALLONE CHALLENGE
February 17-22 April 22 August 17-23
LIÈGE-
BASTOGNE-
LIÈGE
April 26
FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST
COLLISION COURSE? Talansky and van Garderen have very similar 2015 race schedules, and will
compete at four stage races before the Tour de France in July.
Amgen Tour of California and the USA Pro cool... we haven’t seen it quite boil up yet.” think any country that has two riders of the
Cycling Challenge in Colorado, now two Vaughters, though, likes his guy in a cage same generation going for the same races al-
years running. He’s finished fifth at the Tour fight. “Andrew would kill him. But that’s ways makes for interesting stories and inter-
de France twice, and won a white jersey as its because Andrew would, like, bite his ear off. esting races,” Cannondale-Garmin director
best young rider in 2012. Still, he lacks, for Tear his fucking nuts off. Andrew — yeah.” Charly Wegelius told Velo. “I think it’s pretty
now, that European stage race win — some- How rivalries affect different athletes var- personal on the riders. A lot of those guys,
thing Talansky has done twice. ies. Some are pushed to greater performance, maybe they raced against each other in the
Coincidentally, both men have finished while others may suffer from a sort of tunnel junior races and so on, and there can be a lot
second overall at the prestigious Tour de vision; beat the rival, but suffer in the long of history to it. In Europe, especially in Italy,
l’Avenir — van Garderen in 2009, behind game. Think about Alejandro Valverde (Mo- they love it. They go out of their way to create
Romain Sicard, and Talansky in 2010, behind vistar) and Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) at a polémica. And so long as it’s done respect-
Nairo Quintana. the 2013 world road championships, or at the fully, I think it’s great for the sport.”
“In terms of the competitive side of each of 2014 Vuelta a España. How many times did A key ingredient in a rivalry is the dif-
them and where they’re headed, they’re both they attack one another in the Vuelta, only ferences between the parties. In the Red
heading in similar directions,” BMC Racing to lose time to Alberto Contador and Chris Sox-Yankees, the general unkemptness of the
president Jim Ochowicz told Velo. “They’re Froome by failing to work together? Boston squad contrasts beautifully with the
both on two good teams with a lot of support, A 2010 paper entitled “The Psychology of clean-shaven and trimmed Yankees. Coun-
and have been given leadership positions, Rivalry,” by Gavin Kilduff, pointed out that terbalance is key.
here and there. They are still very much in sometimes actors in a rivalry are more likely “Someone asked me that last year, about
the learning curve. Where they end up in a to take risks than those without the pressure the differences between them; Tejay has got
year or two, three, four, I don’t know. But I of increased competition. “In other words, in the motor and talent; and not that Talansky
know that Tejay will be up there. And I don’t the language of social value orientation work, doesn’t, but Talansky has that raw determina-
work with Talansky so I can’t give you per- rivalry should lead to more competitive orien- tion, that’s why he has been called the ‘pit
sonal opinions. I know he’s a great athlete, a tations — in which relative gains are favored bull’; when he sets his sights on something,
good competitor, on a good team.” over absolute gains,” he wrote. he wont let go,” said Peter Stetina, van Gard-
Talansky’s manager at Cannondale-Garmin, The effect on competition can be negligible. eren’s BMC teammate and longtime friend.
Jonathan Vaughters, said much of the same. There is no denying the fact that rivalries, For the U.S. fans of the sport, the fact that
“At some point in time, might be [in 2015], however, are just plain fun. “Frazier is so ugly these two are part of the larger discussion
might be three years, it might be a Tour de that he should donate his face to the U.S. Bu- means the sport is in good shape in the States.
France, or maybe [Colorado], who knows what reau of Wildlife,” Muhammad Ali once said. “Americans are fortunate to have two
race, where it’s just going to be this nasty Larry Bird said the first thing he’d do each legitimate GC contenders to lead the sport
drag-out, punch-down. It’ll happen. It’ll even- morning was check box scores to see what into this next generation … they are similar
tually happen. There’s no doubt in my mind. Magic Johnson had done the night prior. in a lot of ways, but they are also uniquely
Those two guys at some point, some race, American cycling, at least lately, hasn’t seen their own person,” BMC’s Brent Bookwalter
those guys are going to hit a huge rivalry,” he anything close to a full-blown rivalry. Lance said. “But when you see them in the heat of
said. “I think that would actually draw a lot of Armstrong seemed to be rivals with everyone; the moment, each of them turn into trained
new fans into the sport. And just reinvigorate Greg LeMond had his greatest rival on his own killers, they both want to succeed, but each
people’s passion. Maybe people who are a little team in Frenchman Bernard Hinault. Ameri- has their own ways to get there.”
CASEY B. GIBSON
burnt on the Lance thing, or whatever. That can cycling actually needs this. Indeed, they do. And each man’s way is
would really draw them back into something “For all the teams and public and so on, I through the other.

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10 THINGS
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PHOTO CREDIT

ASTANA’S WORLDTOUR STATUS
When the UCI granted Astana its 2015 WorldTour license in December, the federation did so reluctantly
— and with caveats. The team is on probation, and any further revelations of doping, either past or
present, could well see the squad of Tour de France champion Vincenzo Nibali lose its spot in the sport’s
biggest events. With Italian investigators yet to turn their Padova case file over to the UCI — which,
reportedly incriminates several Astana riders — and with the UCI’s CIRC investigation set to wrap up in
February, there’s ample opportunity for the Kazakhstani team to lose its license. And though that would
mean a demotion to Pro Continental status, where the possibility of wildcard invitations to major events
still exists, the list of infractions would also be in violation of terms for the voluntary group the Mouve-
ment Pour un Cyclisme Crédible (MPCC). The sport’s top race promoters have agreed to first grant
wildcard invites to those teams in good standing with MPCC, meaning the house of cards could come
falling down around Astana.
MULTIPLE ATTEMPTS THE CIRC ANNOUNCEMENT

ON THE HOUR RECORD With an expected completion date of late February, the UCI’s Cycling Independent Reform Commis-
The UCI’s decision last year to relax sion (CIRC) could well have significant impact on the pro peloton in 2015. Asking anyone involved in the
its long-standing hour-record equip- sport to come forward with knowledge of doping that has taken place since 1998, and promising sanc-
ment restrictions have rejuvenated tions for those who do not, this is the UCI’s attempt to clear the slate on what took place in the past. It’s
one of the sport’s hallowed titles. In unclear what the commission will recommend. Will names be revealed? Will it include salacious details
2014, we saw Jens Voigt break the re- that made USADA’s report on Lance Armstrong and the U.S. Postal Service team so compelling? Or will
cord, followed quickly by Swiss rider it simply paint a broad stroke and focus on remedies rather than casting blame? Armstrong has stated
Matthias Brändle. By the time you’re that he spoke with the panel. Danish web site Feltet.dk has stated that sources close to the investigation
reading this, the new Hour Record believe that Tinkoff-Saxo team manager Bjarne Riis “will not have a future in cycling” once the report is
holder will likely be an Australian published.
— either Jack Bobridge, who is Cookson said in an interview with VeloNews.com that the effort would pay dividends, and that the
attempting the record in Melbourne CIRC findings could serve as a lever to push unrepentant riders and staffers out of the sport for good.
on January 31, or Rohan Dennis, who “All of the information that comes out of that will be helpful going forward. We need to have a mecha-
will make an attempt in Grenchen, nism that can look at the sport and decide who can stay in the sport and who needs to be thrown out,”
Switzerland, on February 8. Alex Cookson told VeloNews.com. “And when we have that mechanism, it needs to be robust and sustainable
Dowsett planned to give it a go in in court. I can guarantee that if we excluded someone from their main source of income, that they’ll
London in late February but, after challenge it. So we need to make sure that what we do is truly defensible.”
breaking his collarbone in January,
his plans became less clear. Dutch-
man Thomas Dekker is also giving it MAJOR EVENTS ADDING WOMEN’S RACES
a go, in Mexico City, in late February. World road champion Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, living legend Marianne Vos, and the rest of the women’s
Bradley Wiggins’ attempt is provi- pro peloton will converge on North American soil several times during the 2015 season, as major events
sionally penciled in for the end of are either adding women’s races or upgrading their UCI ranking. Domestically, the Amgen Tour of
June. Wiggins will almost certainly California, USA Pro Challenge, and Tour of Utah are each holding women’s events in conjunction with
smash whatever record is set before their UCI stage races. (Abroad, La Course, the one-day race held in Paris on the final day of the Tour
him, likely drawing in former world de France, will return; however, a planned event in conjunction of the Vuelta a España may ultimately
TT champions Fabian Cancellara be cancelled.) The long-running one-day race in Philadelphia, twice won by American Evelyn Stevens,
and Tony Martin. Watching a cyclist returns in 2015 as part of the women’s UCI World Cup. Add in the world road championships in Rich-
ride in circles for an hour has never mond, and the best riders of the women’s peloton could end up spending a good chunk of their season in
been so exciting. the U.S.
CONTADOR’S GIRO-TOUR DOUBLE

You can be forgiven if the thought of a GC contender winning the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the
same season gives you pause for concern. The last man to do it was Marco Pantani, in 1998, during the
heyday of the EPO era. Yet Spaniard Alberto Contador has stated that he will attempt to win both races in
2015. A multi-time winner of all three of the sport’s grand tours — though he was stripped of his second
Giro victory, in 2011, due to a drug suspension — Contador, 32, is showing no signs of slowing down.
CLIVE ROSE /GETTY IMAGES
Contador will be the pre-race favorite at the Giro in May, up against contenders like Rigoberto Urán and
Fabio Aru. In France in July, Contador will need to beat Chris Froome, Nairo Quintana, and Vincenzo
Nibali, all whom should be fresh. The odds aren’t in his favor to win them both, but as he showed with
his Vuelta victory in September, coming off a tibia fracture at the Tour, Contador is often capable of pull-
ing off the unimaginable.
41
TAYLOR PHINNEY’S
RETURN
The question surrounding Phinney’s
comeback from a devastating injury last
May is not “will he, or won’t he?” — the
national TT champion has been back
on the bike for months now, and will
return to racing this spring. Rather, the
question is “how much strength can he
regain — and how quickly?” Horrific
scars hint at the damage of a compound
leg fracture and, even worse, a severed
patella tendon; it’s the kind of injury
SPRINT RIVALRIES that takes years to recover from. Even
In a discipline that rewards courage, team strength, and, above all, raw, unadulterated speed, it’s not uncommon at 95 percent, Phinney, one of the most
that a new sprinter emerges every few years to take the honors as the sport’s fastest man. In 2014, it was Marcel promising riders of his generation,
Kittel, who in 2013 brought an end to Mark Cavendish’s five-year reign. Before Cavendish it was Alessandro would be capable of keeping up with the
Petacchi; before that it was Robbie McEwen; before that it was Mario Cipollini. What is uncommon in 2015 is pro peloton. But he isn’t paid to simply
how long the list of sprinters who are capable of winning on any given day has grown. Kittel (Giant-Alpecin) and ride in the bunch, and furthermore, he
Cavendish (Etixx-Quick-Step) are still the big favorites, but just behind them are German Andre Greipel (Lotto- wouldn’t be content with it. At 24, he’s a
Soudal), and Frenchmen Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis), Arnaud Démare (FDJ.fr), and Bryan Coquard (Europcar). former world pursuit champion, a two-
The MTN-Qhubeka squad has a roster full of B-list sprinters, such as Matthew Goss, Tyler Farrar, Edvald Boas- time Olympian, and a two-time national
son Hagen, and Theo Bos, which should keep the sprint trains on their toes. And while they’re not pure sprint- TT champion, with eyes on classics like
ers, strongmen Alexander Kristoff (Katusha), Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), and John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) Milano-Sanremo, the Tour of Flanders,
are also fully capable of crossing the finish line first. and Paris-Roubaix. Those races will
likely come a bit early for him this year,
but if Phinney can reach the podium of
KRISTIN ARMSTRONG’S COMEBACK a major time trial by season’s end, that
When American Kristin Armstrong returned from retirement in 2012, at age 39, to win a second Olym- should be a sign that he’s back on track.
pic gold medal, she established herself as the undisputed queen of the time trial. After two years of a
second retirement, speculation of her quest for a third gold medal, at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio
de Janeiro, appears to have solid footing. Asked point blank in September if she would be coming back RICHMOND WORLDS
to race with her former team — named, appropriately, Twenty16 — Armstrong would neither confirm All eyes will be on the United States
nor deny the rumor. Asked again in January, she said she had no news. Should she mount a comeback, from September 19 through 27, as
Armstrong’s biggest rival would likely be Father Time; she will turn 43 on August 11, 2016, one day after Richmond, Virginia, plays host to
the Olympic TT in Rio. Look for Armstrong to try to earn a spot on the national team for the world cham- the UCI world road championships,
pionships in Richmond, Virginia. From there, it’s anyone’s guess. the first time the U.S. has hosted
the event since it was in Colorado
Springs in 1986. The road course is
ROMAN KREUZIGER’S BIO-PASSPORT CASE fast — not flat, but not hilly — with
Doping within the peloton has been greatly reduced since 2008, not necessarily due to a sea change some tricky sections through the city
within the mentality of professional athletes, but because of the UCI’s biological passport program. The and a tough cobbled climb close to the
bio-passport looks not only for banned substances but also for abnormalities in blood values detected finish line. It’s not likely a day for the
through long-term testing, particularly when those abnormalities occur in conjunction with surprising pure climbers or the pure sprinters;
performances. During the 2011 and 2012 seasons, while riding for Astana, Czech rider Roman Kreuz- instead, expect the stars of the one-day
iger delivered blood profiles that triggered the UCI’s computerized Athlete Passport Management Unit classics — Sagan, Degenkolb, Gilbert,
(APMU) software; he was notified of a provisional suspension in June 2014, just prior to the Tour de Valverde, Gerrans — to battle for the
France. A member of Tinkoff-Saxo since 2013, and with the backing of wealthy team boss Oleg Tinkov, rainbow jersey. The TT course is more
Kreuziger may be the first rider to truly have the resources to contest the bio-passport system; he is straightforward — long, flat, and fast
appealing his suspension to the Court of Arbitration For Sport (CAS), with no date yet announced for — and will favor those with the largest
a hearing. If Kreuizger is able to convince CAS of his innocence, it would throw the entire bio-passport engine. Regardless of the winners, for
system into doubt, potentially prompting lawsuits from those riders that have already been suspended, a week in September, the best riders
TIM DE WAELE (2)
and perhaps forcing the entire peloton to reevaluate its fear of the most comprehensive anti-doping in the sport will be fighting for the
system that currently exists. rainbow jersey on U.S. soil.

Classics The spring classics
span the course of eight
COUNTRY
weeks, offer up a range
of terrains from bergs to
troughs, and bring a glut
of drama like no other
season.
By Chris Case
T
here are the cobblestones and the
pavé — blocks of rock that make
riding a bike over them seem like a
ludicrous proposition, until you see the pros
glide across their crowns at speed. Then, it
simply elicits awe.
Then there are the bergs and côtes of
the Ardennes — a climber’s paradise. Up
and down for countless farmland miles, on
course profiles that resemble a serrated blade,
often with a punch-to-the-gut final ascent
that brings the race to a mighty climax.
Over two months, from Omloop Het Nieu-
wsblad to Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the spring
classics transform from races famous for
their gritty, chaotic façades, to those punctu-
ated by their relentless ascents. Without fail,
they prove to be some of the most absorbing
competitions of the year.
Here are five things you won’t want to
miss this spring:
1 IF IT AIN’T BROKE, DON’T FIX IT.

The Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of
Flanders) won’t change much, and that’s a
good thing. The closing 150 kilometers will
be the same as the 2014 race, which saw the
culling of long, flat sections in the final 100
kilometers. The race won’t go more than
12 kilometers in the final 150km without a
cobbled section or climb, making for tense
racing in the closing hours.
De Ronde will again roll out of the stun-
ning city of Bruges, and hit the finish town
of Oudenaarde for the first time after 100km.
Two hills have been added for 2015 — the
Tiegemberg is new to the race and will be the
first climb, and Berendries, back after two
years’ absence, is the eighth crest.
The main attraction will be the infamous
Koppenberg, which is the beginning of the
crux of the race. The short, narrow, steep
TIM DE WAELE
climb is more about the struggle for posi-

tion than anything, as a stressed peloton
45
squeezes down and begins to think about selection. From there, it’s 45km to the finish, with the
Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg combo at the likely center of the winning move. The field will hit
the Kwaremont three times and the Paterberg twice, in total.
4 WE’RE ALL WAITING, PETER.
Perhaps undue, Peter Sagan faces the
epitome of performance pressure in 2015. The
Last year, Fabian Cancellara won a harsh race blasted with wind and peppered with crashes in still-young Slovenian, who turned 25 in Janu-
the final 100 kilometers. It helped him keep alive his streak of 12 consecutive podiums at the sport’s ary, begins a new chapter this season when
Monuments. Can he do it again, to make it four Flanders wins — tying the record? He’ll face the he will suit up in a different jersey for the first
utmost pressure from the usual suspects, including the ever-consistent Greg Van Avermaet (BMC time since turning pro in 2010 with Liquigas-
Racing), Sep Vanmarcke (Lotto NL-Jumbo), Tom Boonen (Etixx-Quick-Step), John Degenkolb (Giant- Cannondale.
Alpecin), and Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), among a handful of others. The Tinkoff-Saxo star has emphatically stated
that a “big win” is the top priority in his move.
“The objective will be the classics. For me, the
2 WATCH FABIAN CANCELLARA TAKE ANOTHER CRACK AT THE SPRING CLASSICS.

After what he described as a season full of “ups and downs,” the veteran Swiss rider hopes to
improve upon what would be a stellar classics campaign for nearly anyone else. For the first time in
most important will be Sanremo, Flanders, and
Roubaix. After that, we’ll see what the team
wants,” Sagan said. He will look to new coach
four years, his team’s manager and sponsor stay the same, a welcome respite from the tumult that Bobby Julich to help him deliver that win.
hampered the Leopard-RadioShack-Nissan-Trek squads in previous seasons. The addition of Belgian But can Julich do what others haven’t been
classics veteran Gert Steegmans, who comes over from Omega Pharma-Quick Step, is another positive. able to? It will be interesting to see how the
Cancellara, 33, was once again a force to be reckoned with at the classics last season, winning the former GC rider will translate his experiences in
Ronde van Vlaanderen and notching podiums at Milano-Sanremo (second) and Paris-Roubaix (third). the pro peloton, which ended in 2008, into suc-
He has indicated that he will retire at the end of the 2016 season, meaning fans will have limited op- cess for the young rider with classics ambitions
portunities to witness the ferocity of his attacks over the cobbles of northern Europe. and all the talent in the world.
“It doesn’t make me scared, more it makes me think,” Cancellara said of his looming retirement. Equally exciting will be waiting to see whether
“I just want to enjoy every moment. What I won, I have, and nobody can take that away. I don’t feel the move, and the heaps of money that came
any pressure.” with it, can finally propel Sagan to victory.
The career of one of the greats has reached its twilight years. But without pressure, the Swiss Time
Machine could go back to the future and do it all over again, one more time.
3 THE CHAMELEON RETURNS FOR ONE MORE SHOT AT IMMORTALITY.

Yes, Brad Wiggins is ready to head back to his roots, on the track, in preparation for a run at gold at
the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. But first, he has a date with pavé.
On April 12, the world and Olympic TT champion will attempt one last road race, perhaps the
hardest of them all, across the north of France, hoping to go even better than he did last year when he
garnered ninth place at Paris-Roubaix.
“Paris-Roubaix is a special race for me and I’m determined to give it another go in Team Sky colors,”
Wiggins said. “It’s one of the toughest races in the calendar and my aim is to improve on my ninth-
place finish. After that, I can focus fully on preparing for the Rio Olympics in 2016.”

5 PHILIPPE GILBERT (BMC RACING) IS STICKING TO WHAT
HE KNOWS BEST. The Belgian will steer clear of the cobblestones in
2015, despite rumors that the former world champion was poised to tackle
the northern classics, where he’s twice finished third at De Ronde. Gilbert
will instead return to his roots, the Ardennes, and some unsettled business
with Milano-Sanremo — where he’s also twice finished third. The cobbles
can wait.
“I said I would like to go back to the pavé before I retire, but not in 2015. I
am not finishing my career next year,” Gilbert said. “My best choices now are
doing the explosive races, like Lombardia, Sanremo, and Liège.
“My dream is to win Liège another time, but I will always do better at
Amstel Gold Race. I love the Cauberg. It’s my favorite climb in the world,”
Gilbert said of the finishing climb at Amstel Gold. “If the finish was still in
Maastricht, I would have never won it. You can take the Cauberg with the big
ring, with big power, and high speed. It’s perfect for my characteristics.”
Now 32, Gilbert is also looking anxiously to the return of the classic course
at Milano-Sanremo. Organizers removed the climb up La Maniè last year,
and, despite talk of adding the Pompeiana climb, moved the finish line back
to the Via Roma, in what’s a return to the traditional course for the first time
since 2007.
“I would like to do well in Sanremo, now that they’ve ‘fixed’ the parcours
to the one I like the most,” he said. “It’s a better race when we go faster.
When there were more climbs, everyone was waiting. A faster race is harder.
And without the La Maniè, it’s harder because the group really has to chase
to bring back the breakaway.”
TIM DE WAELE (3)
47
the Le Tour. Il Giro. La Vuelta.
Each name evokes ageless
GRAND images of cycling passion and

performance. For 2015, the three
STAND grand tours will not disappoint.

By Chris Case

B
y May, you’ve waited a long time for
this. The season’s first grand tour,
the Giro d’Italia, always seems to
offer that fascinating blend of drama,
controversy, staggering performance and
breathtaking vista, all wrapped in a pretty pink
package. The first grand tour of the year can’t
come soon enough for aficionados of the sport.
The 98th Giro d’Italia route was unveiled in early October, and according
to organizer RCS Sport, the philosophy behind the race route was one of bal-
ance, with fewer transfers and an approach “geared up for modern cycling.”
The race kicks off in Riviera dei Fiori in Liguria on May 9, finishing in
Milan on May 31. Along the way, there will be a team time trial, one long
individual time trial — a rarity for the Italian race — seven flat stages, eight
medium-mountain stages, and four high-mountain stages. The iconic
Alpine stages have come to define the Italian masterpiece.
The names of the climbs featured this year, as they do every year, dance
on your tongue: Mortirolo, Cervinia, and Colle delle Finestre, all in the final
week of racing. Summit finishes at Abetone, Aprica, Cervinia, and Sestriere,
in addition to Madonna di Campiglio. Legends, all of them. And whoever
conquers them, a legend himself.
The 98th Giro d’Italia by the numbers
1 National border
crossing (Switzerland)
76.8
Kilometers of time trials (17.6km
Riviera dei Fiori team time trial;
59.2km individual time trial from
Treviso to Valdobbiadene)
FOUR
High-mountain stages
Medium-
mountain
stages 8 29
Overall Giro
d’Italia wins by
non-Italians
68
Overall Giro d’Italia wins by Italians
7
Uphill finishes
1,854
Altitude, in meters, of the Mortirolo, the
3,481.8
Total length of the Giro,
[Abetone, Campitello Matese,
Vicenza (Monte Berico),
Madonna di Campiglio,
Montagna Pantani in the 2015 Giro Aprica, Cervinia, Sestriere]
in kilometers
43,000
263
Kilometers in the longest stage
KM SEVEN
Sprint stages
Vertical meters climbed
during the 2015 Giro
TIM DE WAELE; BRAKETHROUGH MEDIA
2,178
2
Length of the
Altitude, in meters, of the Colle delle

Finestre, the Cima Coppi in the 2015 Giro
136 two shortest
road stages, in
kilometers
Rest days
(May 18 and May 25)
49
HIGH
JULY

Key stages of the
2015
TOUR DE FRANCE
STAGE 2: Utrecht to
Zeeland, 166km
This is one of two stages where the weather
could play a decisive role in determining the out-
come, not just of the stage, but the entire Tour.
Along with the sixth stage from Abbeville to Le
Havre, in which there will be 100km of racing
along the cliffs of Normandy, this stage across
the Zeeland Delta in the Netherlands is at severe
G
risk of high winds. The favorites will need to be
on high alert.
olden rows of sundrenched flowers. Searing black tarmac,
snaking high into the lush gardens of Alpine summer. Rabid STAGE 4: Seraing to
fans, the parting sea of which makes your heart beat quicker Cambrai, 221km
At the 2014 Tour, we saw what cobbles can
than even the ferocity of the sprint finales.
do on a stage, as Vincenzo Nibali laid down
a stunning performance, taking more than
These are the images of France in July. It’s this is a Tour that will require fresh legs at the two minutes out of his major rivals. Watch for
Tour time. There is no other circus of sweat end, but also you need to start in good shape, the contenders to try and stick to Nibali’s rear
and heat and carbon fiber like it on earth. After because it is very demanding at first.” wheel.
more than 100 years, the challenge is making Simple: Come with good form, and keep it
the next edition of the world’s most famous
race a unique experience, for racer and fan
for three grueling weeks.
Can Nibali crush the cobbles again? The
STAGE 10: Tarbes to La
alike. ASO always gives it a try. Italian excelled last year, finishing third on Pierre Saint-Martin, 167km
For the first time in Tour history, the that stage. He will undoubtedly look forward The first day in the Pyrenees will be crucial,
legendary Alpe d’Huez will be climbed on the to stage 4 in 2015, the longest of the race at not just because the final 15.3km climb has an
penultimate stage before the final procession 221km, in which there will be seven cobbled average gradient of 7.4 percent. Though not
in Paris. sections totaling 13.3km — with six of those the hardest climb, nor the toughest stage on
After the captivating stage 5 over the slick- coming in the final 45km. paper, this testing mountain stage comes after
ened cobbles in 2014 — in which defending “The alchemy of the Tour is to use every a rest day and is the first mountaintop fin-
champion Chris Froome (Sky) crashed out with possible terrain,” said Prudhomme of the ish. Those two factors could catch out riders
a broken hand and wrist, and Vincenzo Nibali perilous cobbles. whose bodies have yet to adapt to the intensity
(Astana) displayed a deftness rarely seen in a The day before that, the third stage will also of the high mountains.
grand tour contender — the cobbles return for play homage to another one-day classic, La
a second consecutive year.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the lack of
Flèche Wallonne, with a finish on the brutally
steep Mur de Huy.
STAGE 20: Modane to
time trial kilometers, in the one grand tour that Less interesting perhaps, but just as Alpe d’Huez, 110km
seemed to utilize them to their dramatic best. important as any stage profile, is the return The penultimate stage of the Tour is tailor-
It will be a showdown, with one of the best of bonus seconds for the top three finishers made for attacks and explosions. At 110km, it
matchups in recent memory vying for the — for the first time since 2007 — aimed at is short for a mountain stage, especially con-
golden tunic. Contador vs. Froome vs. Nibali animating the early part of the race, according sidering it includes three brutal climbs; it will
vs. Quintana. to Prudhomme. be a battle between the contenders from the
The 2015 Tour began the moment Marcel Three days in the Pyrenees and four in the start. The Col du Telegraphe is 11.9km long at
Kittel crossed the line in Paris in late July. Alps, including five summit finishes in total, an average gradient of 7.1 percent, followed by
“This year, the recovery from all these efforts await the peloton. the highest point of the 2015 edition, the Col
will be very important. The last week in the “Four consecutive stages in the Alps; that du Galibier — 17.7km at 6.9 percent. Then,
Alps will be very complicated in case you have hasn’t happened for a long time,” said Prudhom- the crown jewel, the climb that has become
to defend the lead, although they give many me, who hopes that the penultimate stage up synonymous with the Tour: Alpe d’Huez. Its
tactical possibilities in case you have to attack,” Alpe d’Huez, having earlier scaled the mighty 21 hairpins and 13.8-kilometer, 8.1 percent av-
TIM DE WAELE (2)
Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) said at the route an- Col du Galibier, at 2,645 meters, will keep the erage gradient ensure that this edition of the
nouncement in Paris in October. “In general, maillot jaune in play right to the end. Tour won’t be settled until the last switchback.
51
the
SPANISH
STAGE
TIM DE WAELE (2)

9 key stages of the
S
ince the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) took over the Vuelta
a España in 2008, the Spanish tour has enjoyed a renaissance.
And in 2015, the 70th edition of the Vuelta will yet again live
up to its billing as a climber’s paradise.
“We have our own personality,” said

Vuelta director Javier Guillén. “Explosive
Costa del Sol with a team time trial in
Marbella near Puerto Banus, the haunt of
2015
Vuelta a España
finals, shorter stages, new climbs, original Europe’s filthy rich, and will trace across
stage starts. We have an important identity sunny Andalucía for the opening week. A SATURDAY, AUGUST 22ND
as a race.” few transition stages through Murcia and Va-
There will be no less than five summit lencia bring the Vuelta to its first rest day, on STAGE 1
finishes in the opening nine days of racing, September 1, in Andorra. Heat will certainly 7.4km: Puerto Banús to Marbella TTT
forcing GC riders and stage hunters alike to be a factor in the first half of the race. (team time trial)
be on their toes from the gun. A hard moun- The course then skips across northern
tain stage across Andorra in stage 11, followed Spain before three decisive stages in Astur-
by three consecutive climbing stages across ias, with the second rest day at Burgos on SUNDAY, AUGUST 23RD
the rugged mountains of northern Spain in September 8, a day ahead of a 39km time STAGE 2
stages 14, 15, and 16 should prove decisive. trial on stage 17. The race concludes with 165km: Alhaurín de la Torre to
“The stage 11 in Andorra is rough. It has three transition stages, including one hard, Caminito del Rey (first summit finish)
no rest. It’s not long but the climbs will be mountainous penultimate stage on the
terrible. It will go up and down all day,” Nairo outskirts of Madrid in Cercedilla, before the
Quintana told Spanish website Biciciclismo, traditional parade through the boulevards of TUESDAY, AUGUST 25TH
after the route presentation in January.
“Then come the stages in the north. I
the capital on the final Sunday.
Last year’s winner, Alberto Contador, is
STAGE 4
203km: Estepona to Vejer de la Frontera
climbed the Fuente del Chivo in the Circuito unlikely to try and defend his title as the
(second summit finish)
Montañes, although it has been six years so Spaniard has prioritized the Giro d’Italia and
I don’t remember much. It will be a stage to Tour de France in 2015, while Sky’s Chris
take care, with demanding terrain. Later we Froome has yet to commit to the race after
SUNDAY, AUGUST 30TH
will go through the summit finish of Sotres his second-place finish in 2014. Therefore,
and finally the Ermita del Alba stage with Movistar teammates Alejandro Valverde and STAGE 9
very broken terrain and two very important Quintana are among the favorites to battle 168.3km: Torrevieja to Cumbre del Sol
final climbs.” for the general classification, along with (fifth summit finish)
The race opens August 22 along Spain’s Katusha’s Joaquim Rodríguez.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND
STAGE 11
138km: Andorra to Cortals d’Encamp
(sixth summit finish)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6TH
STAGE 15
175km: Comillas to Sotres. Cabrales
(eighth summit finish)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH
STAGE 16
184km: Luarca to Ermita del Alba
(ninth and final summit finish)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH
STAGE 17
39km: Burgos (individual time trial) TT
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH
STAGE 20
181km: San Lorenzo de El Escorial to Cercedilla
53
Calculated
COMPETITION
Computational innovation is taking its
place in the pantheon of sports science
By Caley Fretz

P
atxi Vila likes this car. It makes his Top riders no longer receive the usual
riders faster. pacing instructions — “go harder on the
The Specialized performance di- uphills, save some on the way down” — but
rector is driving a mobile lab, mapping every instead a detailed run sheet for the entire
MONTHS OUT: inch of this 36.7-kilometer time trial course, course. They’ll have power targets for each
PREPARATION the longest of the 2014 Vuelta a España. pitch, each straight, and each descent, based
Wind tunnel testing Vila’s marquee rider, Alberto Contador, off speculative power output, wind conditions,
of riders in multiple sits three seconds behind Nairo Quintana, road grade, and road surface. They know their
positions and with five seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde, projected finish time on a given course, ac-
multiple equipment and, more alarming, only 25 seconds up on curate down to seconds, well before stepping
setups, noting power Chris Froome and his time trial pedigree. The into the start house.
loss or gain as position stages ahead flow over the sharp Pyrenees, They know, too, which helmet to use, which
changes and every second will count. front wheel to select, whether to perform a
On the dash sits an inclinometer, gather- bike change at the base of the climb, or at the
Initial course recon; ing slope data from each climb and descent. top of it, or not at all; they know where to put
inspection of weather Jutting out from the side window like an the pressure on and where to recover. Data,
station data and course insect’s antenna is a wind probe, detecting and math, have not entirely replaced instinct
profile wind direction and speed in real time. A GPS and experience, but they certainly instruct it.
device maps the course down to the meter. On
Early calculations are a notepad, Vila takes careful notes.
made, informing which Time trials are no longer just the race of THE PROCESS
equipment options truth. They are races of math, of recon, of Algorithms require inputs. Optimizing
should be available on algorithms and aerodynamics. For today’s top something like a time trial necessitates a few
race day riders, the time trial is a race of optimization. numbers on the rider’s side — power output
Pedaling is just the final step in a long march. over an array of durations, weight, aerody-
After all the preparation is done, all the namic drag — and environmental data like
PRE-RACE: DATA training completed, all the nutrition dialed, wind speed and direction, the slope of climbs
GATHERING the rider is a constant. He is as good as he and descents, and accurate GPS mapping.
Final course recon using is, as he can be. There can be no more watts More data leads to more accuracy. That’s
instrument-laden car squeezed out of those quads. But precisely why Vila drives his instrument-equipped car,
how and where those watts are laid onto the developed by a former Formula 1 telemetrist.
Precise measurement of road can make all the difference. He is in charge of the environmental side of
climatic conditions and the algorithm, and the more quality data he
slope of every climb can collect, the better. That means setting out
THE GAINS on course when conditions are likely to match
Recalculate optimal In a time trial like the one tackled on stage those of race day.
equipment, position, and 10 of the Vuelta, relatively long with a single “If the race is super important he’ll drive
pacing using new data climb and a long downhill, the difference months beforehand, then try to drive the
between an optimized ride and a poorly paced same time of day, a couple days beforehand,
Brief riders, directors, one could be over a minute. or even the morning of,” said Mark Cote, an
and mechanics That’s why Vila is in this car, 24 hours aerodynamicist at Specialized in charge of
before any rider will roll up, clip in, and crunching the numbers Vila sends back.
storm out of the Vuelta’s deep red start ramp. Pre-driving with an instrument-laden car
RACE DAY He’s one part of a team, which also includes isn’t always possible. Weather stations, histori-
Rider provides feedback a couple of math whizzes and wind-tunnel cal wind data, and accurate maps are used
on the day’s sensations technicians thousands of miles away in Mor- when on-site collection is not feasible.
gan Hill, California, tasked with eking every Of the rider inputs, power is the easiest
Execute pacing possible second out of the legs of Specialized- to procure. Most pros train with power, and
notes provided by sponsored riders. have a frequently updated power profile de-
optimization calculation, Other technology-driven teams, like Sky, tailing their maximal outputs over various
with adjustments made Trek Factory Racing, Cannondale-Garmin, durations. There is some art to changing
for fatigue and BMC Racing, are doing similar calcula- these profiles to reflect the fatigue that may
tions before every important stage. be present in the middle of a grand tour,
“I think some of the teams are still a bit old and that’s “where knowing the riders well
hat,” said Ryan Cooper, founder of Best Bike is very helpful,” said Cote.
Split and an optimization consultant with Power data, specifically the power pro-
Trek Factory Racing. “But what Sky does, and files, are used to create pacing profiles. If a
what Trek does, and what some other teams rider has a larger anaerobic engine, and is
are doing, they’re starting to come around to able to overshoot his aerobic threshold and
the fact that there’s more science that you can recover well, the algorithms will recom-
TIM DE WAELE
put behind this, especially in time trials, or mend higher spikes in power for short
team time trials.” climbs or coming out of sharp corners. For
55
COMPUTATIONAL CONSULTATION
The Specialized
team talks with
Alberto Contador
at their wind
tunnel facility
in Morgan Hill,
California.
the diesel types — big aerobic engines that may not recover well from an anaerobic OPTIMIZE YOURSELF
effort — steadier pacing is suggested. Ryan Cooper, the founder of Best Bike Split, has
“We’ll plot out instantaneous speed at each part of the course and also how much built a suite of optimization tools available to
time is spent on each part of the course,” said Cote. “It all depends on how severe the any amateur, ranging from simple cheat sheets
climb is, and on the rider. That’s why we try to get as many power durations as pos- based on common course profiles to detailed,
sible, so you have power profile for all durations.” custom pacing profiles.
Gathering aerodynamic drag figures, the other important rider-data input, requires “On the amateur level, extremely large gains
wind-tunnel testing, velodrome testing, or a combination of the two. Specialized has its are possible,” Cooper said. “That’s because they
own wind tunnel, and has tested most of its top riders at least once. “The GC guys are don’t tend to pace themselves very well, or don’t
particularly important, and the time trialists,” said Cote. “But we’ve had [Mark] Cavendish know how to pace themselves in certain condi-
come through, and [Niki] Terpstra, [Tom] Boonen, and [Michal] Kwiatkowski.” tions very well. In terms of what gains you’re
Other teams hire out wind tunnels to gain data on their marquee riders. Velodrome looking at given optimal pacing, in a shorter time
testing, performed indoors, is a common and highly accurate method of ascertaining total trial it’s in the 10- to 20-seconds range.”
drag, and has the advantage of having riders put out race-day power during testing. Best Bike Split will produce a file that can be
With power data, drag data, and environmental data gathered, it’s the algorithm’s loaded into a Garmin Edge device that runs as a
turn in the spotlight. Given the data set, it can provide equipment recommendations and course, providing power prompts as various parts
detailed pacing instructions tailored to each rider based on the demands of a particular of the course are reached.
course. “It’s pretty simple. If you’re feeling good then
Optimization is not limited to time trials. Tom Boonen’s swap from wide 46cm handle- you’re going to target this [power], and when you
bars to narrow 40cm bars was the direct result of velodrome testing prior to the 2013 hit this point you’re going to go 20 [watts harder],
COURTESY OF SPECIALIZED/CARSON BLUME
season that showed significant aerodynamic improvements at 30 miles per hour — the sort and when you get to this next point you’re going
of speeds he will hit in the final of Paris-Roubaix. Boonen’s move to Zipp 303 wheels for to go down 40 watts,” Cooper said.
the classics in 2012 was informed by wind-tunnel data. Currently in the works is a feature that will
Even breakaways are analyzed. “Given the people in the break, does it make sense allow post-race analysis, allowing riders to
to attack? What is the probability that they can hold off the peloton? These are the compare their actual ride with the optimized
questions we are trying to answer now,” said Cooper. “These are the questions we ride and see how much time they could have
can answer, with the right data.” gained.

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PRINT &
DIGITAL
FOR ONE
LOW PRICE
MORTAL IN A PRO
TIME TRIAL
Specialized’s Mark Cote ran a simula-
tion with my power numbers, posi-
tion, weight, and size over the Vuelta a
España’s first time trial, a 36.7 kilometer
affair that sent riders uphill for 11 kilo-
meters before rolling in for the final 25.
If I had raced that time trial, I would
have finished in 162nd out of 194 riders,
wedged between Orica’s Sam Bewley
and Movistar’s Jonathan Castroviejo,
with a time of 52 minutes and 58 sec-
onds, according to Cote’s calculations.
Back with the domestiques saving en-
ergy and simply trying to make the time
cut, in other words.
First, my figures. I weigh 140 pounds,
or 63.5kg, and would ride a 7kg bike
with about 2kg worth of clothing, hel-
met, and shoes. I’m built very similarly
to Vincenzo Nibali, so Cote used his drag
figures, measured at Specialized’s wind
tunnel last year. We assumed I would
have ridden for Omega Pharma-Quick
Step (I await Patrick Lefevere’s call), and
GETTING IT WRONG ALL THE ANSWERS would therefore ride the same S-Works
The most infamous case of a poorly optimized Cycling is still a sport of athletes, not algo- Shiv time trial frame as Nibali but with
time trial came in 1989. Laurent Fignon ceded rithms. It always will be. There is no math SRAM components and Zipp wheels.
the Tour de France’s yellow jersey to Greg LeM- that can turn a donkey into a racehorse, no I gave Cote power figures nabbed
ond over the course of 25 kilometers. Fignon’s way to fool the clock or the competition. And from a ride a few weeks earlier — 329
flying ponytail contrasted against LeMond’s in a sport as complicated and tactical as bike watts for 20 minutes, 319 watts for 30
Giro aero helmet; the Frenchman’s bullhorn racing, a perfect prediction inside a computer minutes, 315 watts for 40 minutes, 305
handlebars set him up like a sail compared to is impossible. watts for an hour. That’s about 4.8 watts
the American’s long, narrow, aero bars. But the search for perfection is endless. In per kilogram, about right for my “retired”
According to wind-tunnel testing performed recent decades, there has been an acceleration racer legs these days.
shortly after that race by Bicycling Magazine, the of technological advancement and invention More interesting than my time and
helmet alone likely cost Fignon the Tour victory. in sport, and the arc of mechanical innovation placement, though, were the vast time
The ’89 Tour is an extreme case. It came early has begun to slide toward a plateau, frequently differences between different equip-
in the sport’s understanding of aerodynamics. running up against the technical rules put in ment setups and pacing styles.
Today, the gains, and losses, are much smaller. place by cycling’s governing body, the UCI. The Once he found the optimal equipment
But even experienced pros can get it wrong, massive gains made by LeMond in 1989 have setup (which was no surprise, really),
particularly on tricky courses, like the Vail time been replaced by the marginal gains made by Cote added pacing optimization, and
trial featured in the USA Pro Challenge. That Contador and Froome. dropped my time down a further 31
course is flat early on, often with a tailwind, Optimization and computerized marginal seconds. That is, the difference between
before it hits the long climb up Vail Pass. There gains are the next frontier. steady pacing, targeting 310 watts over
is more time to be gained, and lost, on the climb, Are the minds behind the latest mathematical the whole course, and optimized pacing,
but pacing on the flats, with fresh legs, can be innovations simply 21st century versions of Tulio targeting 330 watts for the first 11km of
difficult. Campagnolo and his quick releases, or Paul de climbing and 298 watts over the final
“In the Pro Challenge, we followed Mat- Vivie and his two-speed derailleur? Not quite. 15km, was 31 seconds in favor of the
thew Busche. He did the opposite of what the Their impact is subtler. But innovation’s march optimized pacing.
strategy was,” said Cooper. “In that case, there has undeniably expanded beyond the material Cote’s final recommendation was to
was a huge tailwind on the flat early and he world and entered one that is computational. use the Shiv TT bike, S-Works TT hel-
went faster on the first half than the model There is a vital similarity between the old and met, Zipp 808 front wheel, Zipp Super9
had him by about five seconds, but that’s the new ways, of course: Cycling can be made rear wheel, no bike swap (which would
COURTESY OF SPECIALIZED/CARSON BLUME
because he pushed 30 watts higher. And then faster and more efficient, but no technology has cost 27 seconds), with a pacing target of
on the second half his power stayed steady and ever made racing any easier. 10 to 20 more watts on the uphill and 10
then dwindled off. As you’re climbing that hill Cycling is embracing science, but romance to 12 watts less on the downhill.
you start to lose all that time, time starts to and panache need not be given the cold shoul- Compared to a non-optimized ride,
come back really quickly. So that six seconds der. The math may inform performance, but it these recommendations saved me 49
you gained up front turned into losing a min- cannot replace it. seconds. A pro contract, sadly, would
ute on the back of the course.” Pedaling is still the hardest part. require quite a bit more than that.

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TECH & TRAINING » TRAINING
TRAINING…TO WORK How to use a bike commute as part

of your training plan by Trevor Connor
arly on, I thought I had found the secret. My training tool. Some of us commute because time The second issue is endurance work. Abbott
E friend, who decimated us every week at the

races, revealed to me his training weapon.
Each day he commuted 20 to 30 minutes from
is limited and it’s a great way to get a few extra
hours. Others have no choice.
For former U.S. national road champion and
feels that even a 20-minute commute helps
the weekly volume, but if you’re looking for an
endurance ride, a commute doesn’t really count.
his house, which sat on top of the toughest climb pro rider Mara Abbott, it’s a bit of both. The fact is, two 90-minute rides in a day are not
in the area. So I ditched the car and started Cycling is her job, but since she doesn’t own a equivalent to one three-hour ride.
riding everywhere. Unfortunately, what I hadn’t car, it’s also how she does her grocery shopping There are physiological adaptations that only
considered was the years of base miles he had in and gets around town. She admits that some- occur during longer sustained training. One is a
his legs, the long rides he did on the weekends, times her coach gives her a hard time, but he slow depletion of your muscle glycogen reserves
and the fact that he barely pedaled during his ride works it into her plan. over time, which causes you to “recruit fiber that
to work. My poorly planned commute was a big “It’s not a question of whether bike commut- isn’t normally recruited because of fatigue or
reason why by April he was still decimating us ing is good for training or bad for training,” fuel source,” Golich said. For any accomplished
and I was simply decimated. Abbott said. “It’s more a question of integrating it cyclist, that adapation doesn’t happen during a
There’s more than one reason why many of us into your training.” 90-minute ride.
buy a pannier and turn the bike into more than a Commuting by bike can be your secret weapon Another important adaptation is an increase
for a dominant season — or it can be a season- in our natural antioxidant levels to handle the
killer. It’s just a matter of knowing how to make greater oxidative stress of training. In a study at
it a beneficial part of your training and, more Wilfrid Laurier University, where participants
importantly, to know the pitfalls. trained no more than 35 minutes per day for eight
Dean Golich, a premier coach at Carmichael weeks, their fitness and oxidative stress both
Training Systems who has worked with many top increased, but their natural antioxidants didn’t
pros, including Abbott, said there are two issues compensate.
with using a commute for training. Finally, it’s important to remember that our
The first, and most important, is recovery. aerobic energy systems are very slow to kick into
“There’s no problem doing intensity, there’s gear. It can take 10 to 15 minutes before the aero-
no problem doing threshold work and splitting it bic pathway is fully activated. This means that in
up throughout the day,” Golich said. “It’s trying a 20-minute commute, you may only get five to 10
to get the recovery on the easy days so you get an minutes of quality training.
adaptation from the work you’re doing.” Fortunately, Golich feels that we can still race
successfully without top endurance, especially if
we only race for a few hours on the weekends.
If a rider is going to get dropped in a race,
Golich said, “it’s because of intensity, so it’s
really not necessarily endurance that’s the
problem.”
And while a commute may not be condu-
cive to endurance training, Golich was quick to
point out that it can be used very effectively
when you are focusing on threshold
or VO2 work.
Abbott offered another
positive spin for time-
crunched athletes,
since a commute kills
two birds with one
stone. “You’re double
counting it as your
commute and as
your bike ride,” Ab-
bott said. “Everybody
loves multi-tasking!”
BRAD KAMINSKI

TECH & TRAINING » TRAINING
COMMUTING IN
THE FAST LANE
Here are some tips to maximize your commute
WORK IT INTO THE PLAN THE 15-MINUTE RULE

According to Mara Abbott, treating your training plan and commute If your commute is short — under 15 minutes — and you can’t add time
as two separate things is a mistake. “You look at your week and you to it, then Golich recommends keeping it very easy and not counting it in
say, ‘What are the workouts that I need to do?’” Then plan your com- your training. This is what he does with Abbott, who said she just moseys.
mute accordingly. That 45-minute trip between work and home could “Sometimes, I commute slower than my mother does,” she said.
be a great opportunity to throw on the shoes and bibs and get in your
planned intervals. MAKE IT A LITTLE HARDER
To mimic the effects of endurance rides, you can cheat a little by riding 10
SPLIT THE DAY UNEVENLY to 15 watts harder than normal. It’s going to deplete your glycogen reserves
There’s nothing to say that you have to do the same amount of riding at faster and “recruit muscle fibers that are predominantly for power and
the same intensity on both ends of your day. “The strategy we’ve used train them to be a little more fatigue resistant,” Golich said.
in the past is to try to make the morning commute as easy as possible,”
Golich said. Then, they add time to the trip home to make it two or TRAIN GLYCOGEN DEPLETED — BUT BE WARNED
even three hours. Another strategy to mimic endurance rides is to do the morning commute on
no food, so glycogen reserves are already depleted. Golich recommends keeping
MORE TIME FOR THE ENDURANCE RIDE the intensity up to get more bang for the buck. There is some recent research to
Getting that endurance ride is the hard part of commuting, said Golich. back this strategy, but Golich still sees it as a risky technique.
One way is to add time to one end of the commute, but you can also take
advantage of the commute to do your shorter interval work so you can free DON’T SIT LIKE A HIPSTER
up your weekend for the long ride. Abbott commutes on a ’cross bike. “I have it setup to the exact same
measurements as my road bike,” she said. You can do intervals and qual-
MAKE IT A RECOVERY RIDE ity work on even the cheapest commuter, as long as it is setup like your
“If you’ve got a recovery day,” Abbott said, “commuting is perfect.” She often race bike.
runs errands by bike for her recovery rides.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE PERCENT OF TOTAL TRAINING
ANDREW ERRINGTON/GETTY IMAGES
RECOVERY CAN ALSO MEAN NOT COMMUTING Abbott pointed out that if you’re regularly putting in three- or four-hour
“To be honest,” Golich said, “sometimes you’ve just got to not do it.” The rides, a 15- to 30-minute commute really isn’t going to affect you. But if you
issue is still recovery, and if it’s meant to be a rest day, you may just have to feel that your commute is too long, “you can ride part way, then hop on a
hop in the carpool. If you have absolutely no choice, Abbott recommends bus. Or, if you have a friend who lives nearby, you could do something like
riding as slowly as possible. ride to work one day and get a ride home.”

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VELONEWS.COM MARCH 2015 VELO 63
AT THE BACK with Dan Wuori
Trust Fall
I
f you work in a team environment, whether athletic or otherwise,
chances are good that you’ve participated in at least one painfully
awkward team-building exercise. You know, the kind of thing where
you take a day away from the office to “establish rapport” and “strengthen
communication” by learning to pop balloons without your hands and feet,
while pretending to tolerate Randy from sales. Don’t even get me started
on that prick.
Over the winter months, big-budget professional cycling teams often
take time away from the bike to conduct slightly more elaborate versions
of the same. Just as in your workplace, the idea is to build camaraderie
among new teammates — many of whom have been rivals in years past.
In early November the members of Tinkoff-Saxo climbed to the summit
of Africa’s storied Mount Kilimanjaro. Others have undertaken similarly
perilous activities involving everything from wilderness survival and
paramilitary training to swimming with dolphins. (It’s possible that some
team camps cultivate killer instinct more effectively than others.)
Despite these efforts to promote unity, it’s still not uncommon to see
intra-team rivalries emerge in cycling. There have been many over the
years — think LeMond-Hinault, Riis-Ulrich, and Armstrong-Contador,
to name a few. If you thought the recent infighting between Team Sky’s
Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome would be the final word on sibling
rivalry within the sport, then you haven’t been paying much attention.
Indeed, hints of tension are already emerging for 2015.
Take Astana, for example, where 2014 Tour de France winner Vincenzo
Nibali may soon be challenged for leadership by his up-and-coming coun-
tryman Fabio Aru, who landed top-five finishes in both the 2014 Giro
d’Italia and Vuelta a España. Or Movistar, where 2014 Giro champion
Nairo Quintana and Velo’s 2014 International Male Cyclist of the Year,
Alejandro Valverde, have cheerily announced plans to “share leadership”
at both the 2015 Tour and Vuelta.
The family rivalry of the year may be in the women’s peloton, where the
Rabo-Liv team employs both multi-time world champion Marianne Vos
and her seeming heir apparent, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, who outkicked
her star teammate to take 2014’s rainbow jersey in Ponferrada, Spain. I
don’t know about you, but I’d imagine the atmosphere at that camp might
have been a little chillier this winter — something Ferrand-Prévot inti-
mated to the French daily L’Equipe in early January. Somebody better get
these girls to a ropes course. And quick.
As a team sport with individual results, some level of intra-team rivalry ited resources, the team’s top squads increasingly threaten to monopolize
will always exist within cycling. But the sport’s broken structure may also the field by snatching up the bulk of its top riders. As this trend acceler-
be contributing to an uptick in its incidence. It’s hard to overlook the in- ates, fans are likely to see more and more intra-team strife. Perhaps more
fluence of the sport’s big-budget, super teams as one considers both these troubling is the prospect of less and less interesting racing, as riders who
individual rivalries and the frustrations inherent in competing team pri- might otherwise compete head-to-head are relegated to supporting roles
orities. within a handful of the sport’s wealthiest franchises.
With big dollar teams like Sky, BMC Racing, and Tinkoff-Saxo collect- Don’t get me wrong. I love a little family competition — just ask my sis-
ing the sport’s marquee riders like butterflies to be pinned under glass, ters. But when cycling’s family dramas begin to overshadow the rivalries
ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID BRINTON WWW.BRINTONI.COM
one can only imagine the trouble ahead. I mean, it’s great that Peter Sa- between its teams, then the time has come to make a change. Team build-
gan got a big payday by signing with Tinkoff, but wait until the three-time ing camps are all well and good, but maybe the problem isn’t that we need
Tour de France green jersey winner — now anticipated to focus primarily better cooperation among the sport’s top contenders, but rather a system
upon the classics in 2015 — finds himself schlepping bottles for Alberto where they can more reliably face off as rivals.
Contador come July, just as Mark Cavendish did for Wiggins. You’ll recall A salary cap would be a great place to start. On that, even Randy and I
the fit was less than ideal, and may now threaten Sagan’s career trajectory can agree.
in the same way it did Cav’s.
Is it possible that the absence of a salary cap in cycling is resulting in a Dan Wuori can pop balloons using only his mind.
dangerous redistribution of talent within its ranks? With almost unlim- Follow him on Twitter at @dwuori.

RIDE.
RIDE FOR YOU.
RIDE FOR PRIDE.
RIDE FOR BRAGGING RIGHTS.
FOR COURAGE.
FOR THE CRITICS.
FOR HISTORY.
FOR SELF-CONFIDENCE.
FOR A BUCKET LIST.
FOR SOMEONE.
FOR NO ONE.
RIDE BECAUSE IT’S THERE.
BECAUSE IF YOU RIDE IT ONCE,
YOU WILL NEVER BE THE SAME RIDER AGAIN.
RIDE L’ETAPE DU TOUR
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2015 WORLDTOUR PREVIEW ISSUE USE YOUR COMMUTE

The hottest bikes

THE BEST IN WOMEN’S GEA

START YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TODAY AT VELONEWS.COM / DIGITAL

s of 2015 2014 OFFICIAL GUIDE

125 new products

2015 SEASON PREVIEW

VELONOTES THE CLASS OF 1990 CLASSICS COUNTRY

11 As the ruble ﬂounders, Russian-

the fragile state of the cycling economy.

18 The upturned brim of a cycling cap.

shoulder to elements of its rich history. The

peloton is looking backward for inspiration

20 Now is the time that Greg Van

Belgian is on the cusp of his most important

ON THE COVER: Michal Kwiatkowski

THIS PAGE: Ivan Basso, Peter Sagan,

2 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

PHOTO BY WIL MATTHEWS

A view of things to come

and Jim Fryer and Iri Greco at BrakeThrough Media.

6 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

Davide Formolo (Cannondale-Garmin)

Fitzgerald Technical Writers LOGAN VONBOKEL, LENNARD ZINN

Ci rc u l at ion & P ro duct ion

trail mix made Senior Video Producer STEVE GODWIN

SVP, Group Publisher KURT HOY

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER DAVID N. ABELES

8 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

Fuel your muscle recovery with the power of TART CHERRIES.

See why science says Red Means Go at choosecherries.com.

VELONEWS.COM MARCH 2015 VELO 11

12 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

“I could say, ‘When Froome won the Tour,

“I think Bradley Wiggins

“I don’t see myself doing many more years

have one more contract…. My intention

14 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

BIANCHI’S INNOVATIVE SOLUTION TO CANCEL VIBRATION

BIANCHI TECHNICAL PARTNERS:

Ask a Pro Deep philosophical advice from

I’m a collector. Can you send me a signed

Should ex-dopers be allowed to attend charity

might bring media attention, but having Lance show

16 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

Pro cycling’s new look takes

rounder — men like Merckx, Moser, and

18 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

ries over riders like Sven Nys, Kevin Pauwels, and

Sitting In with at your season with pride or frustration?

We saw Philippe Gilbert do a lot of work for you

Would you be happy with your career if you

20 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

dominate this season BY ANDREW HOOD

ISTOCKPHOTO.COM (3); TIM DE WAELE (3); ILLUSTRATION BY BRAD KAMINSKI

22 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

(Spain), younger Rick Zabel (1993) a chance to shine.

24 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM

M ichael Matthews is living proof that, sometimes,

26 VELO MARCH 2015 VELONEWS.COM