Irish Weather cycling, poor old Dan Martin and a belated Giro preview

My poor Ribble suffering this weekend in the Irish like weather of the Sussex Downs

A fascinating weekend of racing at the Giro with a huge amount of disappointment for Irish cycling fans with the retirement of Dan Martin to a broken collar bone.   Dan’s had a great amount of success over the last couple of seasons and seems to have consistently built his form and his Palmares too.  Success at last year’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Volta a Catalunya with a 2^nd at Fleche-Wallone recently combined with support from a very strong Garmin team (comprising previous Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal) meant this could be the year Dan made everyone aware of his Grand tour potential.  Such a shame for Dan especially with the recent crash out in the 2014 L-B-L when in a winning position on the final bend, now to suffer misfortune in Ireland…..well best wishes to you Dan.  I hope the surgery today goes well.

May the luck of the panda be with you!!

Another Irishman Nico Roche is still in with a great chance of a good GC placing/ win in the Giro. Deignan from team sky is also showing signs of being a quality rider too so hopefully we’re going into a period of further success for Irish cycling over the next few years.

I did wonder if by moving to Tinkoff-Saxo team whether Roche was making the best move- he’d obviously had limited success previously with Ag2R with good additions to his palmares in La Vuelta and great results in the shorter stage races of Paris-Nice.  I assumed he’d be over-shadowed by Contador and Kreuziger, so I’m chuffed he’s got the backing to show what he’s capable of this Giro and hopefully other stage races too.

As for the overall result in the Giro, I think you’d be crazy to bet against Nairo Quintana, seemingly in a rich vein of form and with a strong support team based around a core group of climbers. I really think the stronger climbing ability of Team Movistar will give Nairo the advantage over Evans, Uran-Uran and Basso who have teams comprising of sprinters and rouleurs too.  I think Quintana will shine on the final TT which looks to be a real uphill test.   However I do have a feeling the Dario Cataldo of Team Sky has something in his pocket; indeed I got him at 150-1….. each way!

Although Kittel has won the first 2 sprint stages I think he’s could be susceptible to losing the overall points jersey to Elia Viviani, who similarly to Sagan, can pick up points at a number of different stages in the race, not just the big bunch sprints.  

Anyway here’s to a great Giro now they’ve battled the infamous Irish weather let’s hope it hot’s up further on the road to Trieste!

p.s Big congratulations to Marianne Vos – another great win this weekend.  Further proof she is the best cyclist in the world at the moment!

An Addiction to History - Why we do it?

So here it is my first blog post! I'm going to write a few more over the course of the summer but for now I wanted to share my thoughts on why so many have such a passion for the sport.

And what a time to begin writing, the start of a long summer comprising of: my 30^th birthday, my first ride up a French mountain and hopefully lot’s of sunny coffee fueled rides with my usual riding buddies.  Moving from the classics of the spring to the Grand tours of the summer has got me thinking about why the sport of ‘Le Peleton’ becomes such an encapsulating, dramatic and inspiring spectacle?

© Ben O'Meara - Taken at the 2012 TDF on the Peyresourde - Basso, Nibali, Wiggins & Froome

Today is the start of the Giro D’Italia, a race which although unequal to my pure un-adulterated passion and excitement for the Tour de France is a close second (well maybe joint second with Paris-Roubaix).  Little by little I’m being exposed to the history of the likes of Bartali & Coppi then to the Mercx and Hinault era on to the sad story of Pantani through various books/ magazines I’m seemingly constantly buried in.  I’m gradually beginning to get sucked in to the Giro just like I was with ‘Le Tour’ just prior to my first visit to see ‘le Grand Boucle’ in 2012 on the Col-de-Peyresourde (also the start of my love hate relationship with ‘Monsieur Bradlee Weeggans’, something for later...).  This similarity lets me understand why fans of cycling are caught in a loop of perpetual self-generation of their own passion for the sport.

You see cycling becomes an obsession; playing on the pitch at Wembley stadium, kicking a drop goal a Twickenham, feeling the roar as Mayweather enters the arena in Vegas – all of these are landmark events few  ever experience- in cycling the road is the stadium!  Each year thousands cycle up Europe’s various mountains getting closer to understanding the pain, dedication, elation and disappointment the male and female pro-cyclists put themselves through to write either their teammates or themselves into cycling legend.

© Ben O'Meara - taken at the 2012 TDF Mark Cavendish giving me evils from the center of the autobus!

It’s only through a combination of understanding this legend and continuously challenging yourself to push your own limits that you generate and addictive a passion for the sport of cycling that for me is incomparable with other sports.  It’s a feeling you enjoy watching cycling which is comparable to the feeling you get when riding; when everything is perfect, when you feel like you can ride for 35kmh for ever – I've heard this called 'equilibrium’ before and is something I’ll write about in my next blog post!

I’m still on the upward curve of this journey of understanding but I know this summer when I reach the top of Le Tourmalet, I’ll only experience a fraction of the emotions the likes of Froome & Contador will feel only a few hours later, maybe this time next year I’ll experience the same feeling as I inch up ‘La Passa del Stelvio’ shortly before spectating from the Coliseum of the Italian road side.

That feeling (accomplishment?), that’s why we do it!