Bicycle Racing News and Opinion,
Tuesday, March 1, 2022
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2021 Tour de France | 2021 Giro d'Italia
If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right. - Henry Ford
Plato's dialogue Phaedo is available as an audiobook here. For the Kindle eBook version, just click on the Amazon link on the right.
Current racing:
- March 1: Le Samyn
Upcoming racing:
- March 2: Trofeo Laigueglia
- March 5: Strade Bianche
Latest completed racing:
- Feb 27: Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne
- Feb 27: Royal Bernard Drôme Classic
- Feb 20 - 26: UAE Tour
- Feb 26: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
- Feb 26: Faun Ardèche Classic
- Feb 16 - 20: Vuelta Cicista Andalucia - Ruta del Sol
- Feb 16 - 20: Volta ao Algarve
- Feb 18 - 20: Tour des Alpes
Here’s the team’s update:
Le Samyn is not part of the World Tour calendar, but it always ends up being one of the most spectacular races of the season. The 209 km-long course between Quaregnon and Dour has everything you could wish for from a one-day race: cobblestones, hills, and small and narrow roads – all coming in quick succession and all ingredients for an exciting day in Belgium.
Fabio Jakobsen (shown winning Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne) will be on the Le Samyn start line. Sirotti photo
Fresh off his impressive victory at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, where he delivered the team’s 44th win in a cobbled Classic, Fabio Jakobsen will be again in action. The Dutchman, who sits on five victories so far this season, will be joined by Czech ITT Champion Josef Cerny, Stijn Steels, Jannik Steimle, Bert Van Lerberghe, and neo-pros Stan Van Tricht and Ethan Vernon.
“All eyes will be on us Tuesday, as we have Fabio at the start, but at the same time we have some young or new guys who lack a bit of experience in the race, like Stan, Josef and Ethan. But we are confident, as we can count also on Bert, Stijn and Jannik, all making for a solid team, which will try to go for a good result. The course is the one we know, with some intense local circuits comprising short hills and cobblestones, but also some wind that could play an important role. The motivation is there and we will try our best”, said Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl sports director Rik Van Slycke.
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The team sent me this schedule:
Strade Bianche, MAR 5
Matt Winston - Team DSM coach
"We're excited for Strade Bianche which is a unique race in a beautiful part of Italy. With several rolling climbs combined with short and punchy efforts, plus the numerous gravel sections, it is always a hard day out in the saddle for the peloton. We go to the race with a team looking for opportunities, where we will ride together as a unit and race aggressively, aiming to bring our key riders into the front for the crucial moments so that we can save as much energy for the hard final back to Siena."
Romain Bardet (shown having a good day at the 2021 Vuelta) is scheduled to ride the Strade Bianche. Sirotti photo
Line-up:
Romain Bardet (FRA)
Marco Brenner (GER)
Romain Combaud (FRA)
Chris Hamilton (AUS)
Leon Heinschke (GER)
Joris Nieuwenhuis (NED)
Martijn Tusveld (NED)
Strade Bianche Donne, MAR 5
Huub Duijn - Team DSM coach
"Strade Bianche is a special race and although it hasn't been on the calendar for that long, it is already a classic. Next to the short and steep Tuscan climbs there are the challenging white gravel roads, which make for a tough afternoon of racing. To go well here you need a bit of luck, but even more so good teamwork is important, so that you're in the right position for the difficult moments. Like in other classics, we want to use our strength in depth, as we have multiple riders that we think can do well here. We also want to race aggressively and through that stay out of trouble, creating numbers in the front coming into the final of the race."
Leah Kirchmann (shown at the 2021 Olympics) is headed to the white roads of Tuscany. Sirotti photo
Line-up:
Léa Curinier (FRA)
Leah Kirchmann (CAN)
Franziksa Koch (GER)
Juliette Labous (FRA)
Liane Lippert (GER)
Floortje Mackaij (NED)
Grote prijs Jean - Pierre Monseré, MAR 6
Bennie Lambregts - Team DSM coach
"The route for GP Monseré has changed this year to a real classic Flemish course, with narrow roads, cobblestones and four climbs in the 50 kilometre circuit that will be completed four times. We start the race with a mixed team made up of our Men's and Development program riders, with Pavel and Casper [van Uden] getting the chance to gain experience in what we expect to be a tough race. We want to race offensively in order to get to the final so we can then play multiple cards. It's a good race in which the younger riders can learn how to position and fight for their place in peloton, and from this process we go for a good performance and result as a group."
Line-up:
Pavel Bittner (CZE)
Jonas Iversby Hvideberg (NOR)
Marius Mayrhofer (GER)
Tim Naberman (NED)
Casper Pedersen (DEN)
Casper van Uden (NED)
Sam Welsford (AUS)
Bloeizone Elfsteden Fryslan, MAR 6
Boris Zimine - Team DSM coach
"After our two good Team Camps during the winter, everybody is excited put a jersey back on and start racing together again. We expect it to be a nervous race with lot of open roads and changes in direction and if there is wind the it can be a really brutal day. If the weather conditions are more calm, then it can end in a sprint but with it being the first race of the year, we still expect it to be a hard and aggressive race. Our goal for the day is to focus on learning to stay together and work well as a team, which will be the priority. This kind of race is really interesting for the development of the guys and with some good teamwork, we hope to show ourselves well at the front."
Line-up:
Patrick Eddy (AUS)
Bart Hordijk (NED)
Lorenzo Milesi (ITA)
Oscar Onley (GBR)
Joris Reinderink (NED)
Pepijn Reinderink (NED)
Hannes Wilksch (GER)
Paris-Nice, MAR 6-13
Phil West - Team DSM coach
"Stage racing continues for us at Paris-Nice and we are looking forward to getting stuck in. It's a race that offers a varied parcours over the eight stages; with days for the sprinters, a time trial, plus also stages for the puncheurs and climbers. As in previous years, we need to be attentive and switched on in the opening stages as the weather conditions can often split the race up. We will take it day-by-day with our approach, looking for stage results through attacking and offensive racing, whilst also working with our sprint block on the flatter days, with Cees as our finisher for them. We want to continue with our good style of racing and show our Team DSM jersey at the head of the race."
Line-up:
Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
Cees Bol (NED)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Nico Denz (GER)
Nils Eekhoff (NED)
Andreas Leknessund (NOR)
Kevin Vermaerke (USA)
Tirreno-Adriatico, MAR 7-13
Matt Winston - Team DSM coach
"We're looking forward to continue our Italian block of racing at Tirreno-Adriatico. The race provides something for everyone with time trials, days for the sprinters and stages in the hills, some of which include typically hard Tirreno-Adriatico 'muros'. We will focus on the sprint days with Alberto as our finisher there, while in the climbing stages we will look to protect Romain. We have a team that has come out of their first races of the season in good condition and we're looking forward to being part of some exciting racing throughout the week."
Line-up:
Thymen Arensman (NED)
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Romain Bardet (FRA)
Alberto Dainese (ITA)
Chris Hamilton (AUS)
Joris Nieuwenhuis (NED)
Florian Stork (GER)
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Drizners’ Lotto Soudal team sent me this:
Jarrad Drizners has had a successful surgery on the injuries he sustained at a crash in the sixth stage of the UAE Tour. He suffered an abdominal trauma due to the crash. There were concerns about possible additional injuries, but the surgery ruled that out. Drizners will further recover in the hospital in the United Arabic Emirates until he can travel home. A doctor of Lotto Soudal and a doctor of the UAE Tour are with him at the hospital.
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Bicycle Retailer & Industry News sent me this:
DAYTON, Ohio (BRAIN) — When Matthew Tepper enters Dayton’s West Third Street Historic District, he looks for a two-story brick building as a waypoint. If it’s demolished, he says, its absence would completely alter the neighborhood’s cornerstone and historical context.
“It adds to the neighborhood’s character,” said Tepper, president of the nonprofit, volunteer-run Bicycles For All and a trustee for Preservation Dayton, Inc. “To purposely let something go and demolish it always needs to be a big decision.”
The building at 1005 West Third Street is of historic cycling significance because Wilber and Orville Wright brothers ran their first bike shop at the site for six months in 1892. According to the Dayton Aviation Heritage Historical Park, however, “Little, if any, of the structure (the bike shop) occupied is extant.”
However, other historians say the current building, called the Gem City Ice Cream Building, was built around the building that housed the shop. The building remains a stop on a guided historical tour of the district and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It also is one of Preservations Dayton’s “Top Ten Most Endangered Properties” in the city.
In November, Dayton’s zoning appeals board approved the city’s request for demolition of the building. But on Jan. 13, the city said it released a request for proposal, or RFQ, to attract a developer to either rehabilitate the building or raze it for new construction. Veronica Morris, the site’s project manager, said the city has owned the property since 2005 and it has been in disrepair since 1993. Plywood covers the windows. Caution tape lines the perimeter.
“The city wants to encourage historic preservation,” Morris said. “However, as keepers of the public trust, we have to make sure our residents can walk down the street and don’t have to deal with nuisance properties, and that we can bring some type of civic and community pride to our neighborhoods.”
Much of the Wright brothers’ history is preserved locally by the Wright Family Foundation, Wright Brothers National Museum, and Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, which is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.
You can read the entire story here.
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