Bike Noob

If you’re an addicted Tour de France watcher, as I am, you’ve probably seen Jens Voigt eat the pavement on the downhill run from Petit St. Bernard during Stage 16 in the 2009 Tour de France.

If not, here it is.

He broke a cheekbone and had a concussion, but his injuries are not life-threatening. How would you handle a crash like that? Would it mean the end of biking for you?

I know he gets paid to do this, and he is among the elite of the elite in cycling. But a crash like this would send me to the swimming pool, or the badminton net, and I’d put my bike up for sale.

I was playing around this morning in the “downhill tuck” position, where I scrunched down over the top tube with my hands in the drops. It really works. Even on a gentle downhill, I pulled away from my wife, and she was concerned about my ability  to hold my balance. But that was at a blistering speed of about 17 mph. At 40+ mph, no thanks.

It’s like watching baseball. I’ve played a lot of ball in my life, but when you face a 95 mph fastball, and the best you can throw is 55 mph, you know you’re in a different league. I’ll continue to watch and marvel at these guys, but I’ll never entertain fantasies that I can ever approach what they do.

Addendum  July 31, 2009: Here’s a YouTube clip of Jens speaking from his hospital bed. Recorded July 26.

A look at the second ten teams in the 2009 Tour de France. The first ten were featured in yesterday’s post.

Garmin-Slipstream — United States — Garmin, the GPS company, is the sole main commercial sponsor this year. Chipotle is no longer a name sponsor. Slipstream is the sports marketing and development company that headed up the creation of this team last year. The pale blue and orange argyle is a distinctive look. The team’s leader, Christian Vande Velde, suffered multiple fractures in a crash at the Giro d’Italia. He’s back on the bike now, but might not contend in the Tour. American Dave Zabriskie is one of their top riders, as are Bradley Wiggins and sprinter Tyler Farrar.

Team Katusha — Russia — Formerly Tinkhoff Credit Systems. Organized by the Russian Global Cycling Project foundation, which itself is funded by Russian businesses such as Gazprom, Itera and Rostechnologii. The team spent a bundle of money to attract top international stars like Italian Filippo Pozzato, and Russian Vladimir Karpets. Riders who fail doping tests must pay five times their salary back to the team. Belgian star Gert Steegmans refused to sign the agreement, and was left off the Tour de France team.

Lampre-NGC — Italy — Lampre has been an active supporter of cycling since 1991. They are a manufacturer of prefinished steel sheet materials. NGC is a manufacturer and distributor of medical devices. Last year’s secondary sponsor, Fondital, is out. Most of the team are Italians, with Damiano Cunego and Alessandro Ballan the team’s top riders.

Liquigas — Italy — As its name implies, Liquigas is a provider of liquified gas products in Italy. The team’s lime green jerseys stand out in the peloton. Liquigas is a strong team, featuring Ivan Basso, who is back in pro cycling after a two year doping suspension; Daniele Bennati, who will be Mark Cavendish’s main sprint competition; Roman Kreuziger won the Tour de Suisse in 2008 and is expected to be in the Tour’s top ten this year, along with Vincenzo Nibali.

Team Milram — Germany — Milram is the European brand of the Bremen-based Nordmilch, Germany’s largest dairy company. Milk, butter, and cheese. Their 2009 jerseys emphasize the dairy connection, with a cow pattern that reminds me of the old Gateway computers motif. Milram is the only remaining German team in the tour, with the departure of Gerolsteiner, and this year, they’ll be riding a German bike: the Focus Izalco. Linus Gerdmann and Gerald Ciolek lead the team.

Quick Step — Belgium — Quick Step is a Belgian laminate floor covering company. Secondary sponsor Innergetic is Europe’s leading manufacturer of latex foam mattresses, toppers and pillows for the bedding industry. Their top rider is Belgian star Tom Boonen. It looked like he would be kept out of the Tour for the second year in a row, after admitting to recreational cocaine use, but on Friday, July 3, his appeal was upheld, and he will ride.  Two-time Tour of Flanders winner Stijn Devolder is another top Quick Step rider, and watch French star Sylvain Chavanel, who joined the team this year.

Rabobank — The Netherlands — Rabobank is a Dutch cooperative bank, mostly in agribusiness. They’re set up as a federation of credit unions. Their top man is Russian Denis Menchov, who won the Giro d’Italia this year. Menchov’s goal is to podium in the Tour. Other strong riders include Oscar Freire, who won the points jersey in the 2008 Tour, and Juan Antonio Flecha. In an effort to be transparent regarding drug tests, Rabobank is posting on its team web site a regularly updated list of all the doping checks made of team members.

Saxo Bank — Denmark — Saxo Bank is an online investment bank. It took over sole sponsorship this year of the former CSC team. They’ve got a strong roster, including the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, both of whom could be contenders for the overall win; time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara; and probable stage win contender Jens Voigt. Missing is last year’s winner, Carlos Sastre, who jumped to Cervelo. Saxo Bank will ride Specialized bikes this year.

Silence-Lotto — Belgium — Lotto is the Belgian lottery. Silence is a brand name used by Omega Pharma, a Belgian pharmaceutical company. Previous team names of Davitamon and Predictor were also brand names of Omega Pharma. The team’s big gun is Australian Cadel Evans, who has finished second in the Tour each of the last two years. He’s expected to get more support from the team this year. Philippe Gilbert won the Ster Elektrotoer, a five-day stage race in Holland last month.

Skil-Shimano — The Netherlands — Skil manufactures small power tools, and everyone knows Shimano, the Japanese maker of bike components, fishing tackle, and snowboarding equipment. This continental racing team won a wild card invitation to the Tour this year. It features Fumiyuki Beppu, a Japanese cyclist.

Pick your favorites — the Tour starts Saturday!

The Tour de France is just around the corner, and it’s time to revive the post about bike team names. This year, some new teams have come on the scene, and some old ones have dropped out of pro cycling. So let’s find who’s behind those continental-sounding corporate names, and learn a little about the teams that will compete in the Tour.

Ag2r-La Mondiale — France — Ag2r Group is a French-based interprofessional insurance and supplementary retirement fund group. The La Mondiale Group is a French-based international group for supplementary pension and estate planning insurance. The company has announced it will sponsor the team for two more years, and they’re rolling out a new jersey, white with light blue and brown splotches. While that might be a very contemporary color combination, most of the chatter I’ve seen online about it has been less than charitable. Top riders: Cyril Dessel and Vladimir Efemkin.

Agritubel — France — Worldwide provider and manufacturer of tubular metal products for cattle, livestock and farming. This will be the team’s last Tour. The company feels it has met its goals of increasing brand awareness. Eight of the nine riders are French. Team leader Christophe Moreau, at age 38, is also riding in his last Tour. He’ll chase a stage win or even challenge for the King of the Mountains. Another hope for the team is Romaine Feillu, who wore the yellow jersey during last year’s Tour.

Astana — Kazakhstan — Sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Managed by Johan Bruyneel, who ran the Discovery Channel team when Lance Armstrong was winning Tours, the team includes former Discovery riders Levi Leipheimer and 2007 Tour winner Alberto Contador, along with Armstrong, who is riding without a salary this year. The team has had financial trouble, and couldn’t pay its riders for awhile, and Armstrong and Contador are not best buddies.

Bbox Bouygues Telecom – France — Bouygues is a mobile telephone company. This year, they’ve added Bbox to the team name. Bbox is the bundled Internet, TV, and telephone package offered to Bouygues customers. Thomas Voeckler has won a stage at the Tour in the past, and is the team’s best rider. Yukiya Arashiro says he wants to be the first Japanese cyclist to finish the Tour. Realistically, this team is not expected to be a contender.

Caisse d’Epargne — Spain — The team is registered to Spain, but the sponsor is the fourth-largest French banking company. Caisse was the top pro tour team in 2008, and their star, Alejandro Valverde, was the top pro tour rider. But Valverde has been caught up in the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, and is banned from riding by the Italian Olympic Committee. Since the Tour has a stage in Italy this year, Valverde will not be racing. Oscar Pereiro, who won the Tour in 2006, says he’s healthy again after being badly hurt in a fall during last year’s Tour.

Cervelo Test Team — Switzerland — The Tour was won on a Cervelo bike last year, but the team that rode them — CSC Saxo Bank — jumped to Specialized bikes this year. What was Cervelo to do? They started their own team, and started with a bang, by signing last year’s Tour winner, Carlos Sastre. Then they claimed Norwegian sprinter Thor Hushovd, who was orphaned when Credit Agricole dropped out of pro cycling. The team petitioned to the UCI for permission to wear a mostly white jersey, when they realized their black jerseys would be too uncomfortable in France’s summertime weather.

Cofidis, Le Credit En Ligne — France — Consumer Credit. Offers customized consumer loans either by phone or over the Internet. They seem to be emphasizing their online (en ligne) business this year, because previously, they were Le Credit Par Telephone. The company has been sponsoring a team since 1997, but was talking about getting out, because they do business in only a few European countries. However, they’ve now said they’ll be around through the 2010 season. Expect Cofidis to attack in the mountains, led by climber David Moncoutie, although sprinter Samuel Dumoulin could be a factor in the flat stages.

Columbia-HTC — United States — The team is owned by Highroad Sports, and sportswear manufacturer Columbia took on the main title sponsorship last year. Just last week, HTC, Taiwanese maker of mobile devices, such as the T-Mobile G1 that uses the open source Android operating system, joined as the second title sponsor. The team was hugely successful last year, its first in pro tour competition. Sprinter Mark Cavendish is its big gun, and the team also features American George Hincapie. The new jersey with HTC name has less yellow than the Columbia-Highroad version, which I like, because I think yellow should be reserved for the Tour leader.  The white is supposed to represent transparency, as in the team’s rigorous independent drug testing procedures.

Euskaltel-Euskadi — Spain (Basque) — Basque telephone company. Euskadi is the Basque word for Basque. The Basque Country is an autonomous region in the north of Spain. Basques are ethnically different from Spaniards, and there’s been some separation sentiment for years. Euskaltel is the unofficial national team of the Basques. They pass out t-shirts in their trademark bright orange when the Tour goes through the Pyrenees, and hordes of fans come out to cheer them on. Mikel Astarloza is the team’s climbing star, but in my opinion, the coolest name goes to Amets Txurruka, who won the “most aggressive” prize in the 2007 Tour.

Francaise de Jeux — France — The French national lottery. This is another French team that began in 1997. Most of the riders are French, but they do have some foreigners on the team. Team leader Sandy Casar won a Tour stage in 2007, after crashing into a dog that ran onto the road. Remy de Gregorio and Wesley Sulzberger are young riders who are expected to make their mark in the Tour. The team’s blue and red shamrock is easily identifiable during the race.

Tomorrow, a rundown of the remaining ten teams in the Tour.