le grimpeur

Fignon: jeune et insouciant4
Guy WR posted in Climbers on January 25th, 2010

Ah, mais je vous reconnais: vous êtes celui qui a perdu le Tour de huit secondes!

-Non, Monsieur, je suis celui qui en a gagné deux.

Good news indeed that William Fotheringham has taken on the task of translating Laurent Fignon’s book Nous etions jeunes et insouciants, We were young and carefree. Seemingly the epitome of Parisian haughtiness and hardened professional during his career, the excerpts available from the published French version suggest – like the title itself – that Fignon has taken a very nostalgic view of his career and racing days. (more…)

Défaillance, part 3: les hommes forts7
Guy WR posted in Climbers, Doping on October 29th, 2009

The 1992 season for Greg LeMond was the beginning of his slow descent. But what we can now see with hindsight was not so evident at the time. “I can’t believe that a rider of his quality is finished at 31,” his director, Roger Legeay, had said.

Before looking in detail at LeMond’s disastrous seasons in 1993 and 1994, it is worth pausing to comment on the adversaries that he was up against in those years and the performance shift that was underway in professional cycling.

At the press conference after the 1991 Tour, where LeMond finished 7th, Miguel Indurain – the winner – sat down next to him. “L’homme fort,” LeMond said, according to Samuel Abt (Indurain did not speak French, nor did he understand it when LeMond repeated it in English, Abt noted).

But it was not just Indurain ‘the strong man’ that LeMond had to worry about. (more…)

Hemingway revisted0
Guy WR posted in Climbers on June 20th, 2009

This blog has already written on Ernest Hemingway’s interest in cycling, particularly the Italian riders Ottavio Bottecchia and Bartolomeo Aymo.

“I have started many stories about bicycle racing but have never written one that is as good as the races are both on the indoor and outdoor tracks and on the roads,” he wrote in A Moveable Feast. (more…)

3′ 10″2
Guy WR posted in Classic Stages, Climbers on May 7th, 2009

The remarkable aspect of the Grand Tours in cycling is that despite covering hundreds of kilometres over several weeks, the margins of victory are often very small. Seconds and minutes are lost relentlessly as small time differences on insignificant stages can have the same effect as larger margins on key days.

Such was the 1958 Tour de France when Italian racer Vito Favero lost the overall race to Charly Gaul by 3 minutes and 10 seconds. It was not the smallest margin in the history of the race – see 1989 – but for Favero it was the difference between a secured place at the forefront of Tour history as the vanquisher of the great Charly Gaul or a footnote as a great rider but not a great champion. (more…)

The grimpeur of the pavé0
Guy WR posted in Climbers on April 29th, 2009

With his third win in Paris-Roubaix this year, Tom Boonen joined some illustrious company in the three-time winner club, including Rik van Looy, Eddy Merckx, and Francesco Moser. He is now only one victory short of equalling ‘Mr Paris-Roubaix’ himself, Roger De Vlaeminck, but perhaps five wins is beyond even ‘Tornado Tom’.

The first three-time winner, though, was Octave Lapize who won in 1909, 1910, and 1911. Defying the idea that maturity and experience are essential on the cobbles, his win in 1909 was in his first race and he was aged just 21 years. (more…)

René Vietto – Part 3: the return of the king2
Guy WR posted in Classic Stages, Climbers on February 12th, 2009

The 1939 Tour de France concluded just before Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939. The threat of Fascism an outright aggression from Germany and Italy had been building during the 1930s and France – mindful of the horrors of a European war just two decades previously – took a defensive position both politically and militarily.

Unfortunately for France, this position proved a disaster. Nazi Germany under Hitler became bolder and when the attack on France finally came in May 1940, France’s famous Maginot Line of defence proved to be illusory. Germany moved its mobile forces through the supposedly impenetrable Ardennes and French armies, on paper quite strong, were hopelessly out of position. With British and French forces fleeing for safer shores from Dunkirk, it was all over for France by June. (more…)

Grimpeur of the year & happy holidays!0
Guy WR posted in Climbers on December 14th, 2008

Last year, your author touted Leonardo Piepoli for le grimpeur de l’année. Noted as the only black spot on his record of outstanding climbing was his ‘positive’ doping test at that year’s Giro. This year, of course, it would seem that the farmer caught up with the old fox and Piepoli was ejected from the Tour for using the third-generation EPO drug CERA.

We may never know how long Piepoli had been doping as many unanswered questions remain about CERA (such as how long it has been available) and indeed about Piepoli himself. Once again, outstanding performances in the current season – and perhaps previous seasons as well – were thrown into doubt by the revelations of cheating. A shame. (more…)

The anti-grimpeur returns1
Guy WR posted in Climbers on November 21st, 2008

It’s in some ways surprising that Magnus Backstedt didn’t end up in the second row of the forward pack of a Welsh rugby team. At 1.93 metres, or 6′4″, and a handy 210 pounds, Backstedt has plenty of physical presence and clearly the endurance for a high work load. And, of course, he lives in Wales and is a supporter of the game.

But the Swedish hard-man chose cycling. Never likely to win in the mountains (unless he can pull out an Eros Poli performance), Backstedt has nonetheless proved his mettle in the sport, notably winning Paris-Roubaix in 2004 and become a confirmed legend.

Your author recently spoke to the man himself for Pez Cycling News to catch up on what has been (another) tough season and, most importantly, to find out whether Julian Dean was able to help him improve his haka.

Follow the link here to read the full story.

Alpe d’Huez revisited4
Guy WR posted in Classic Climbs, Climbers, Doping on October 2nd, 2008

The iconic climb of Alpe d’Huez featured again at the Tour de France this year and proved to be decisive in the outcome of the race. Le grimpeur has already discussed this climb on several occasions (see here, for example), but the publication of a new book on l’Alpe, as well as questions arising from this year’s stage suggests that further discussion is of interest.

In his excellent new book, ‘The Tour is Won on the Alpe’, French journalist Jean-Paul Vespini lays to rest the long debate over the fastest ascent of the Alpe d’Huez climb at the Tour de France. Controversy has surrounded this question given that times have been recorded for different distances. For example, for the 14.5 kilometre distance, which was used for official timings since 1990, Marco Pantani holds the record of 37′35″, set in 1997, which is typically cited as the fastest ascent of the climb in numerous sources and articles. (more…)

The yellow jersey1
Guy WR posted in Classic Stages, Climbers on September 15th, 2008

That the Tour de France was even held in 1919 seems like a small miracle, attributable to the incorrigible belligerence of Henri Desgrange to return the race to the roads of France.

La der des ders, World War I, had concluded less than 12 months prior to the start of the 1919 Tour and the race got underway on June 29, the day after the armistice was finally signed with Germany. The main protagonists at the Tour, France and Belgium, had suffered grievously on the Western Front. Belgium and northern France were the battlefields and Belgium suffered close to 500,000 military casualties and well as its economy devastated.

The numbers for France in World War I were worse: 1.4 million dead and around 3 million wounded (one-third permanently disabled), according to sources. Two-thirds of soldiers were from rural occupations and lists of the dead can still be seen on monuments in even the smallest villages all over France. In northern France, estimates put the devastation of farmland at 2.5 million hectares, with 62,000 kilometres of roads and 5,000 kilometres of railway lines needing rebuilding.

Remarkably, cycle racing had not stopped entirely during the war and Paris-Tours was run in 1917 and 1918. Paris-Roubaix returned in 1919 over roads so terrible and in weather so desperate that a journalist from L’Auto christened the race with its famous name. (more…)

Test your Tour knowledge!3
Guy WR posted in Climbers on August 6th, 2008

In 1977, Geoffrey Nicholson’s book The Great Bike Race was published, a report on the 1976 Tour de France and one of the early works in a developing tradition of British writing on cycling that continues today. Nicholson is perhaps the doyen of this tradition, having opened up the reporting and literary possibilities of European cycling for English readers.

Many have followed in his footsteps, and pen strokes, to uphold the tradition and discerning readers still look to the UK for serious cycling writing. A few honourable mentions aside, such as Owen Mulholland and Samuel Abt, American writers on the European cycling have yet to establish a body of literature comparable to what Nicholson helped get underway. (more…)

Show us what you can do…3
Guy WR posted in Climbers on July 7th, 2008

“Simplement montrer ce que je sais faire dans la montagne…,” said French climber Rémy Di Grégorio when asked in his interview in the official Tour de France programme what his goals were for the race.

Injury blunted his ambitions for showing us what he could do in last year’s edition but an absence of Grand Tour stage wins and results has not kept the young, up-and-coming rider from capturing the limelight. In recent times we’ve had a feature article in Cycle Sport and now the two page spread in the official programme. His profile has rivaled that of more accomplished riders such as Sylvain Chavanel, David Moncoutie, or Christophe Moreau. (more…)

The real René Vietto – part 1: The Myth0
Guy WR posted in Classic Stages, Climbers on July 1st, 2008

Like many sports, cycling has its founding myths: the great heroic struggles of the riders, their giant shoulders broad enough for the current peloton to stand on. Henri Desgrange’s express intention when starting the Tour de France was a race more difficult than all the others, longer and more arduous. His ideal was a route so tough that only one rider would finish.

Desgrange enforced his conception of what the Tour and bike racing should be with a will and rod of iron. While his rules were constantly evolving, they were always punitive. Restrictions on equipment, support and food and water, rules against drafting, against mass sprints, even bad language. In 1913, with riders banned from receiving any mechanical help, Eugene Christophe – in one of the most storied events of the Tour – was forced to repair his own forks at a local blacksmiths, even incurring an additional time penalty. We remember Christophe’s dedication rather than Desgrange’s ridiculous regulations. (more…)

Souffrance: Contador’s revenge?2
Guy WR posted in Climbers, Doping on May 10th, 2008

After a last-minute change of heart, prompted by a spirited Kazakh intervention, reports suggested, the organizers of this year’s Giro invited the Astana team to join the field.

As is well known, the season was looking a little sparse for the team, having been very roundly and decisively snubbed by the ASO, owners of the Tour de France. The team will now have the chance to show its colours in Italy, and perhaps last year’s Tour winner will be able to show his capabilities at the highest level.

This year’s Tour will, though, be the second in a row where the defending champion has been excluded. For the ASO, it seems like Alberto Contador ran afoul of an informal ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule. First, he was linked to the Operacion Puerto Spanish doping scandal and had been part of the Liberty Seguros team under Manolo Saiz, who was central to the doping network; second, his new team for 2008 was Astana, disgraced by Alexandre Vinokourov’s positive doping tests (with other teammates also implicated); thirdly, the manager of the team for the season would be Johan Bruyneel, who presided over – it the eyes of the ASO, it must be assumed – Le Mensonge Armstrong. (more…)

Coeur de grimpeur – part 4 – ride of redemption2
Guy WR posted in Classic Climbs, Classic Stages, Climbers on April 3rd, 2008

With 20 kilometres to go, at the base of the ascent of Mont Ventoux on the Bedoin side, the 11-man group had around 7 minutes over the peloton. The group looked comfortable together, but as the pace lifted it started to break up. With 11 kilometres to go, there were only two of the eleven left, the Russian rider on Ag2r, Alexander Botcharov, and Richard Virenque.

Finally, 1 kilometre later, Virenque stood and lifted the pace and Botcharov had no answer. His Domo-Farm Frites jersey agape, unzipped, Virenque had five minutes over the chase group, led by Lance Armstrong in yellow, ONCE riders Jose Azevedo (before he joined Armstrong’s team) and Joseba Beloki, the notorious doper Raimondas Rumsas, and white-jersey wearer Ivan Basso (before his own doping fall from grace).

Nominally the team leader, Virenque had so far been quiet in the 2000 Tour de France, perhaps conserving his strength for the latter stages, or perhaps riding in deference to Laurent Jalabert, who was looking to claim the KOM title for the second year in a row in his final year of a glorious, if controversial, career.

Riding alone, however, seemed ironic. In his tenth year as a professional, disgraced for doping, suspended for much of the 2001 season, one had to wonder what he had left to prove at, or even contribute to, the race. Was his lonely ride a metaphor for his isolation, with no offers to ride for French teams, now apparently notoriously suspicious of journalists, buoyed only with his die-hard fans, and now his stature eclipsed by exciting young French riders like David Moncoutie. (more…)