May 6, 2009 - I’m not sure if I should be previewing the up-coming Giro d’Italia, or reviewing the excellent Tour de Romandie that ended last Sunday – so maybe a bit of each then? Each April I drive off to Switzerland at the end of a hectic and sometimes stressful season of Classics in Belgium, in need of a quiet week’s racing. The Tour de Romandie gives me this and a whole lot more, as it has been doing every year since 1997. Late starts, short stages, superb scenery, fabulous racing and wonderful hosts, make the Tour de Romandie a must on my season schedule – I wouldn’t know what to do if this great race wasn’t around any more!

This is a very innovative organization that is not scared to try a new formula if it means better racing and greater media interest. Yet at first glance, I thought the organizers had got it completely wrong in 2009, for a too-short prologue of three-kilometers and a meaningless 14-kilometres team time trial meant the mountains have better be pretty damn good. Well, they didn’t appear too spectacular on paper, that’s for sure, with all climbing taking place in the Jura region in the north-west of Switzerland instead of using some of the ski-resort terrain down the road a bit in the Valais Alps. How wrong could I have been, for this became one of the greatest editions of the race!

A short Prologue meant miniscule time gains, and therefore a dynamic stage one, despite it being shortened by the bad weather hanging above Lake Geneva. Bad weather at altitude in April means snow, and it was that lovely white stuff that illuminated much of my imagery from that first full day – as did the cruel, cobbled ascent in the centre of medieval Fribourg. A dynamic stage one meant the rolling hills that proliferated stage two would leave some pretty tired cyclists to cope with the TTT on stage three. But first came yet more mouth-watering scenery as stage two comprised three different circuits on the Jura plateaux around La-Chaux-de-Fonds, to where the race would return for its showdown stage two days later. It was mighty chilly spending all day at around 1,000 metres, but the lakes and forests and patches of snow up there made it more than worthwhile.

The Swiss being great engineers, stage three’s route in and around Yverdon-les-Bains was intricate to the point of being utterly insane. Teams had to race in ‘waves’ of three, with the first team from the next wave not starting until the last team of the previous wave had finished. This was because the race used the same roads into and out of the town that were too narrow to accommodate teams racing head-on at each other. Still, it meant the chance to photograph each team on the main climb before cutting across country to shoot the same teams as they came back down into Yverdon, knowing you’d not miss the next teams to start. This was a brutal course made all the harder by a strong wind, so little surprise that the combined talents of Team Columbia won the day and that Frantisek Rabon got another spell as race-leader, albeit it for just 24 hours.

Few photographers ever get to Romandie, and I cannot say I mind that at all. They’ll never experience the beauty of this part of the world, just as summer starts to make its presence felt on a land covered in snow for most of the winter and spring. Those absent photographers won’t know what it is like to see a full peloton leave the start at 60-kilometres-per-hour and then turn up to begin a 15-kilometre mountain ascent before their legs and lungs have had a real chance to warm up. They’ll never appreciate the joy of seeing highly-talented cyclists puffing and panting and dropping back as the burgeoning horror of their day begins to sink in. They certainly won’t realize the satisfaction I accrue as yet more mountain scenery adds another ingredient to my already glowing archive of Romandie. And most definitely, they’ll never get to enjoy the absorbing, compelling, way in which professional teams go against each other in the cause of money and fame. On a day that saw so many attacks, chases and new attacks, it was impossible to know who was racing for whom, regardless of which colors they wore…

Remember the name Roman Kreuziger – you are going to hear a lot of him in the coming years. Kreuziger was the man who destroyed the ambitions of Cadel Evans, Alejandro Valverde and Denis Menchov on the monstrous ascent of Mauborget, and who then managed to time trial away to victory over the ensuing 15-kilometres of rolling terrain - despite being chased by the equally talented Rein Taamarae. Kreuziger is tall, skinny but very powerful, and can therefore time trial as well as he can climb, making him a highly potent force when he gains more experience. When Kreuziger attacked, only Taamarae could go with him, and it was as if I was witnessing a change of generations, with more famous men helpless to pursue this younger force. It will be a few years before we can know if Kreuziger made this Tour de Romandie the success it was – or if the race has helped shape the sport’s future star. All I know is I can go to the Giro knowing I’ve seen the best stage-racing of the season so far, even if I expect the Giro to surpass such pleasure.

I must be excited about the 2009 Giro more than usual, for I’m writing this blog five full days before the race begins! It wouldn’t have anything to do with the presence of Lance Armstrong in the race, would it? Yes, it would… Imagine all the years we saw and enjoyed the American’s domination of the Tour de France, yet only saw him training on such iconic Giro climbs as the Stelvio, Mortirolo and Gavia passes. Lance used to ride away from his pre-Tour base in St Moritz and cross into Italy, using the attraction of these ascents to manufacture massively-long training rides. Never did anyone dare think he would one day come back to the sport to actually race in the Giro, to race on climbs similar to those adjoining the Swiss border, albeit it a bit further south towards the heart of the country. The climax of the 2005 Giro came on the Passo Stelvio, but that day’s cycling news in Italy’s sports papers was all about Lance’s training ride up the Mortirolo – the man was big news then, and it’s only ever got bigger…

Just how Lance will fit into this Giro is a tough one to call, given his comeback to the sport and then subsequent injury in Spain in mid-March. Had he not crashed in Spain, and had the French AFLD anti-doping agency not already succumbed to logic and granted him the freedom to race in the Tour de France, I am sure I’d be predicting an assault for overall victory in the Giro. As it is, Lance is now more likely to use the Italian race as a superb training ground for the Tour, possibly targeting a few stages in which to push himself to his very limit before reverting to a self-assumed role of helping Levi Leipheimer win the Giro. Yes, I did say that: Levi Leipheimer will try and win the Giro. Think about it: Leipheimer is in tip-top condition, he can climb with Alberto Contador at his best, and he can absolutely demolish his opponents in the long time trial in Cinque Terre, the 61-kilometre marathon that climbs as much as it twists and turns on its way back to the Mediterranean sea. There might be some truth to the theory that the organizers deliberately put this TT in to help Armstrong win the Centenary Giro – but back then no-one knew Lance would injure himself, nor that Leipheimer would race the Giro as well…

Just who are the rivals in this race? Threat No1 is Carlos Sastre – although the best the Spaniard can hope for is a 2nd or 3rd place on the final podium. Sastre is like a diesel engine, starting steadily and building up a head of steam for a later stage in the race. He won’t lose too much in the opening climbing stages, if anything at all, but that TT on stage 12 is going to hurt, no matter how hilly and suitable it appears to be for the 2008 Tour winner. And Sastre no longer has the benefit of the crafty CSC team that hindered all chasing of him at Alpe d’Huez last July, a year when Leipheimer and Astana were absent and when Garmin’s Vande Velde was unable to shake off the Schleck brothers single-handedly and really chase Sastre down. Cervelo Test Team is not CSC, and although the last week suits Sastre with three uphill finishes, he’ll need a stronger team to combat the power of Astana, as well as the Italians, Dutch and Spanish.

Threat No2 is probably Denis Menchov, the Russian who can time trial mightily well and out-climb some of the best in the business. Menchov rode the Tour de Romandie with great conviction, doing his best to race hard without showing his true condition. This man will start the Giro’s early climbs in perfect shape, time trial his way to a top position on stage 12, then save something for that final week. But Menchov lacks the extra turn of speed in the mountains that Leipheimer and Sastre enjoy, and his Rabobank team has never been a strong Giro challenger, although they come this time with Laurens Ten Dam and Maurico Ardila. Just as Sastre might need the help of some of his fellow Spaniards on other teams, Menchov can bully or persuade some of the many Russians in the Giro to help him if the going gets tough. Both Leipheimer, Sastre and Menchov will know all too well how the Italians will race against them, regardless of which teams they are on…

If there is one clear Italian threat, it has to be Ivan Basso, despite his two-year absence from the sport. Basso is a natural talent who won’t have lost too much of his ability in this cleaner form of professional cycling. He can time trial fairly well, and has a powerful grace in the mountains that defies his true strength on the climbs. He is also a friend of Armstrong, and the two men and two teams might expect to work a bit together to shake off their enemies, with Basso just happy to get himself on that final podium in Rome. The Italian equation in the Giro is always a hard one to call - and this Giro is even harder, for it seems that unlike in the past, the Italians are more divided than ever. Basso and Cunego are sworn enemies, as are Simoni and Cunego, with DiLuca and Garzelli by-standers to the bigger fight yet able to play a major role in the race’s outcome. We must also consider Marzio Bruseghin, one of Italy’s greater all-rounders who has to contend with having Cunego as his team leader…

American interest spreads far and wide in this Giro, and not just because of the Leipheimer-Lance axis. It may not have gone unnoticed that another American’s profile rose in the post-Armstrong period – Christian Vande Velde. The Garmin leader got a wear of the Maglia Rosa in last year’s race and wants more this time around. If he progressed his career by winning the first leader’s jersey in 2008, Vande Velde went even further by taking 5th overall at the Tour de France: a similar performance is within his reach in Italy. If Garmin succeeds in winning the opening team time trial in Venice, we might well see Vande Velde hanging on to that jersey a bit longer this time, as the lower-Dolomite climbs suit his style of climbing that bit more. Not so bad against the clock (!), Vande Velde can make up time in Cinque Terre and look to a top-five finish in the last week, especially if his Garmin team falls into step with Astana early-on and he can then benefit from a return of favors later. It’s inevitable that Garmin’s posse of American/Canadian riders will at some stage work with Levi and Lance – it’s a natural solidarity mirrored in other teams and that always brings results.

Garmin’s Tyler Farrar adds a sprinting edge to the American presence in the Giro – and who is to say this powerful individual won’t snatch at least one stage-win along the way..? Farrar’s task is that much harder because of the presence of two great sprinters, Mark Cavendish and Alessandro Petacchi, who have never raced against each other in the Giro and are therefore likely to be extremely competitive! Petacchi was once the crown-prince of Giro sprinters, whereas that mantle now lies in Cavendish’s name – and stretches far beyond the Giro. Petacchi’s LPR team is not of the caliber of his former squads, Milram or Fassa Bortolo, for his 2009 team includes DiLuca and a support crew that deflects from the sprinter’s ambitions. Cavendish has a more dedicated band of warriors at Team Columbia, where time triallists like Rogers, Pinotti and Lovkvist will act like the train that Petacchi once had in his lead-outs. Throw in stout men like Renshaw, Boasson Hagen and Possoni for the final punch-up, and you’ll see why Cavendish should win at least five of the nine sprinting stages.

About Lance? Hmm, difficult to call... With the knowledge that he can race the Tour, Lance is free to win a three-weeks-long toning-up in the Giro – but we know that won’t be enough to appease this athlete. He’ll enjoy whipping his Astana team into shape as the race unfolds from Venice, and I can already picture him setting a brisk pace at the front of the peloton on those climbs of stages four and five. I can see him setting a tougher pace with Jani Brajkovic, making sure Levi gets all the protection he needs on the summit finishes. But at some stage Lance will want to put in a big ride himself, and I suppose we might see that coming to Monte Petrano, Block Haus or even Mount Vesuvius – if not in the final time trial in Rome. All I know is that the 37-year-old will not spend too much time in the second half of the peloton – he tried that once in Spain recently, and didn’t like the result. Yes, I am looking forward to this Giro immensely, but not just because of Lance. There’s a whole culture to embrace and enjoy in Italy, and the Giro d’Italia is just a small part of it – really!

Previous 2009 Views:
January 19
February 12
March 7
April 15