The moment the race was won… and the moment it was lost.
Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) celebrates as he wins Milan-Sanremo whilst Peter Sagan looks at his rival Fabian Cancellara. Full story at inrng.com
A 45 minute document on Milan-Sanremo by Wilfried de Jong. It was on Dutch TV last night.
It’s in Dutch but if you don’t understand, don’t worry, it’s worth it for the images and archive video. Don’t turn the sound off as there’s English audio from interviews and the Italians add to the atmosphere too.
A French parliamentarian says he met a drunk Andy Schleck in a lift.
Here’s my translation of Pierre-Yves Le Borgn’:
Late check in at a Munich airport hotel. A well-soaked guy enters the lift with difficulty and tries without succeeding to press the button. I recognized a great cycling champion, twice second in the Tour in recent years. Depressing.
It was Andy Schleck. He was wearing the jacket of his old Leopard-Trek team. He couldn’t stand up straight. I pressed the button for his floor. I found the situation very sad. He had abandoned an Italian race they day before and hasn’t finished a single race since spring 2012. His brother Frank is suspended for a year for doping. I got the impression that I saw a young man on the slide, drunk and alone at night in a hotel airport.
There’s been a lot of snow in Northern Europe causing delays and it’s possible Schleck had to wait at Munich airport for a flight home on his way back from Tirreno. Munich is a busy transport hub for flights in Europe.
It’s not healthy but it’s not the first time a rider’s had too much to drink during the season. Here’s hoping this is nothing more than a boring night in an airport hotel and that his head wasn’t too sore the next day.
- Hat tip to Twitter’s @VamosAlberto who pointed out the story.
Warszawa-Berlin-Praha 1954
D.
Warsaw Berlin Prague… but better known as the Peace Race
Paperwork.
The top card is from a Tweet by Greg Henderson, it dates from 2010 when he was with Team Sky. The team produce laminated cards for riders with a schedule so they know what to do in the hours and minutes leading up to a time trial.
Below is Vacansoeil-DCM’s sticky version for Lieuwe Westra ahead of this Sunday’s Col d’Eze time trial in Nice.
Both achieve the same thing and Vacansoleil-DCM would probably laminate their plans if the team’s budget was doubled too.
Richie Porte won the stage in Paris-Nice today but he’s not the first Australian to shine in the race. Here is Phil Anderson winning a stage in 1981.
