Favorites for Tour of Qatar

Let's take a quick look at the favorites for Tour of Qatar. Mark Cavendish seems to be out of the picture after picking up a flue on his way to Doha.

Tom Boonen
I have said it many times before and I won't mind saying it again. Tom Boonen will have a great 2012-season! He showed in Argentina he is in good shape already and is normally very good on the windy stages in Qatar. Boonen won the first stage last year and could very well do that again this year. If you gamble, put some money on Tornado Tom to win the race overall.

Mark Renshaw
I'm sure Mark Renshaw is a little bit disappointed by his results in Tour Down Under. He came in good shape with high ambitions but he didn't stand a chance against Andre Greipel. Still he ended off nicely with a second place on the last stage and as defending champion in Qatar there are no doubts he will be extremely motivated. Renshaw was great last year and even though the team time trial may not be in his favor he should be among the three fastest guys in the race. 

Fabian Cancellara
The team time trial is definitely in his favor. RadioShack-Trek has a very strong team for that disciplin and usually Cancellara doesn't get dropped in the wind either. He might not have a chance against the fast guys in the sprints but if Cancellara is in the top5 and eyes an oppotunity to attack, I'm sure he will take it. I don't think he will win the race but a podium spot is in reach I would say.

As outsiders for the overall classification I would like to point out Daniel Oss, Taylor Phinney and John Degenkolb as the best picks.

Unstoppable Alberto Contador

Alberto Contador aka El Pistolero.

Alberto Contador has been levels way above his opponents for last 3 years but according to Bjarne Riis and Contador's trainers there is still a lot to improve on the Spaniards performances. Not a little - A LOT, they say...

One of these improvements is Alberto Contador's time trial abilities. Contador has already won short as well as and long time trials in the Grand Tours, beating Fabian Cancellara in the Tour de France back in 2009, so imagine the machine he will become if he even has room for improvement in this discipline. One of the things Contador and his staff are working on is the position on the saddle, where an adjustment of only a couple of centimeters should be able to give Contador a better aerodynamic position and thereby win extra seconds.

Bjarne Riis has always been a perfectionist down to the smallest detail and helping Alberto Contador to a better position on the bike seems to open new doors for El Pistolero. I talk about the Olympics, where Contador already has pointed out he wants to aim at the time trial. With guys like Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins & Tony Martin you would expect Alberto Contador to pass on the challenge so close after the end of the Tour, but according to Contador himself he aims big on the Olympic time trial. It's going to be very interesting to see how that ends up...

Contador was unable to shake off
Rasmussen in the Tour 2007.

May I remind you that only one rider ever has been able to follow - and beat - Alberto Contador in the mountains, when Contador is on top of his game, and that was Michael Rasmussen back in 2007. Since that only Andy Schleck came close in 2010, but without a solid time trial performance Andy Schleck will never win the Tour. In 2012 there is almost 100 km of time trialing on the Tour-menu and when Alberto Contador is close to unbeatable in the mountains and takes time on all his main rivals (Wiggins and Martin don't stand a chance in the high mountains in my opinion) in the ITTs - who is going to beat him?

Last year Alberto Contador didn't start out preparing for the Tour, only the Giro, and see what happened. I too hope for a close run in the Tour de France this year, but I must be honest and say that I have absolutely no doubts that Alberto Contador, without crashes and incidents, will win his 4th Tour title in July this year.

Interview - Caroline Wozniacki talks cycling & anti-doping tests

Caroline Wozniacki - Number 1 in the world.

Caroline Wozniacki is the number one female tennis player in the world and knows what it takes to get to the top. I thought it would be interesting to get another view on cycling from an outstanding athlete of another sport. Therefore I made this quick, little interview with the Danish tennis darling.

Caroline, to start off, how much cycling do you watch?
Do be honest I don’t watch that much, but I do watch some of the stages of the Tour de France when it’s on. I think that the riders’ endurance is incredible and what they manage to do during the Tour is simply outstanding.

Do you have a favorite rider?
I remember I cheered for Bjarne Riis when he was in the Tour de France, but now I just support the Danish team [Team Saxo Bank].

Any specific cycling moments you remember?
Well, not a specific moment, more all of the things Lance Armstrong did in his career.

As number one in the world, you are used to the enormous pressure on your shoulders. How do you cope with that and do you see any parallels between tennis and cycling in that direction?
First of all you have to be mentally very strong to reach the top. It requires a lot mentally to be able to keep on pushing yourself in the difficult times. For what concerns me, I try to take it easy now. I know that I have already achieved a lot of great things, so I just try to enjoy every second of it. I have already achieved more than I have ever dreamed of! Now I just try to improve every day and see where it takes me.

To change the subject a little. It’s no secret that cycling is the sport with the most anti-doping tests per year. A rider like Fabian Cancellara had almost 60 tests last year. How many anti-doping tests did you have this season?
Actually I think it’s more than 30. So even though it’s not as many as in cycling, I still think that we are getting tested a lot. I don’t think it’s easier to cheat here since we are getting tested in every tournament we participate in.

Thanks to Caroline Wozniacki for taking time. I think it’s very interesting to notice the amount of anti-doping tests that Caroline, as number one in the world, had this season. People usually claims that big money sports like tennis and football don’t have the same amount of tests as cycling, and even though the number isn’t 60 like in the extreme case with Cancellara, I must say that 30 is a lot higher than I expected. Glad to be proven wrong. What concerns football, well, nothing has changed. According to UEFA, Barcelona had only 3 unexpected anti-doping controls last season.

"3rd place is also nice"

Remember what I said about Luke Durbridge earlier this week? About that look he had in his eyes on his way to the start. Well, Tony Martin had that exact look as well today. From the very point he stepped out of the car a couple of hours before he should start all the way to the countdown session on the ramp.

He absolutely killed it from the first split time to aprox. 3-4 km from the finish when the German “now was sure that I would become World Champion”, as he stated on the press conference afterwards before adding, while looking at Fabian Cancellara, “but 3rd place is also nice”. One moment of silence occurred and then the whole room cracked up laughing, including Cancellara, while Tony Martin desperately tried to explain his way out of that comment.

Fabian Cancellara was obviously very disappointed and said that even though he was feeling good in the beginning of the course, he never managed to find his rhythm and therefore lost some mental points which caused he couldn’t give what was needed to take fifth gold medal.

For more comments and pictures of the Elite Men Time Trial please check my Twitter account at www.twitter.com/mrconde- thanks.

More updates later, stay tuned!

Ciao.

Elite Men Time Trial - Preview

Okay, so now it's time for the final time trial at this year's World Champions; the Elite Men, and that is with two major favorites in Tony Martin & Fabian Cancellara. It seems almost unthinkable that any other rider will win, but we still have the fight for the 3rd place to look forward to with a lot on excitement! 

Among those riders I would like to point out my own personal favorite Taylor Phinney and another youngster Jesse Sergent. I don't think that Bradley Wiggins or David Millar have what it takes to get that 3rd place this time, but look out for Richie Porte, who very well could take another medal for Australia!

Unfortunately Denmark doesn't have any podium candidates this time, since Alex Rasmussen got suspended. Michael Mørkøv and Jakob Fuglsang will be motivated as ever, no doubt about that, but against the riders I just mentioned I don't give them many chances. Top10 would be great, so let's hope for that!

Interview - Sacha Modolo (Colnago - CSF Inox)

For quite some time Sacha Modolo has been on my list of potential future supersprinters. Last year he surprised many with his 4th place in Milano-San Remo, and even though this season didn't start out as great as last year, Modolo really took revenge in especially August and September. Winning Coppa Agostoni and 2 stage wins in both Post Danmark Rundt, Settimana Lombarda & Giro di Padania earned him a spot on the Italian national team for the World Champions in Copenhagen.




Sacha, great final part of the season for you! How do you feel right now about a week away from the World Champs?
I feel fine. Very relaxed. I am still young and have a lot to learn.

Italy is bringing a very strong team to Denmark, how do you see the team’s strength?
Our squad is young and hungry and we really want to do well. That it something we use. We will be escorted and protected by two outstanding riders like Paolini and Tosatto who will take care of us in the best possible way. Bennati has a lot of experience and we youngsters will have the opportunity to learn from them.

Bettini says that Italy needs to be represented in the all the breakaways and not just sit and wait for bunch sprint. What do you think will be the perfect scenario in order to bring the rainbow jersey to Italy?
Well, we are all very good for a sprint in a small group and I think that will be the ideal scenario for us. At the World Champions only the first place counts, but of course for me, with only 24 years, the podium would be a good result.

Talking about the other nations, which teams do you see as the strongest ones for the race?
First of all Spain and Australia. I’m also sure that the Belgian team will try to make the race as hard as possible while Great Britain needs to keep it all together for Mark Cavendish for a mass sprint.

And to put some names on riders who will fight for the title?
Hushovd, Freire, Gilbert, Goss and hopefully some of ours as well! Also look out for Cancellara. They don’t talk much about him, but I think he will be hiding and then be there in the end.

If you had to pick a “dark horse” for the win, who would that be?
Peter Sagan. He is young but he is monster! Good uphill and very fast in a sprint. He is a complete rider and actually much more a favorite than an outsider I would say.

Vuelta Expert Preview: Stage 10

David Etxebarria:

I see two big favorites today. Bradley Wiggins because of his recent performances and of course Fabian Cancellara. Cancellara is the specialist and he has been thinking about this time trial the whole week. It’s also a very important day for all the climbers in this Vuelta. We will see who manage to minimize the loss the best and who need to take risks later on.

The Experts' Tour Picks - Stage 20

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Thomas Löfkvist : Fabian Cancellara

Mauro Gianetti : Fabian Cancellara

David Etxebarria : Cadel Evans

Laura Meseguer : Cadel Evans

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Bookmaker's favorite : Fabian Cancellara

Beautiful national colors in France this summer!

The world’s biggest sports event this year will be attended by the world’s best riders – in their home colors! That’s the result after the weekend’s national championships where riders like Bradley Wiggins, Fabian Cancellara, Fränk Schleck & Philippe Gilbert ended on top of the podiums.

A quick look at the results gives us the following national road champions ready for the Tour de France starting this Saturday.

British champ: Bradley Wiggins
Luxembourg champ: Fränk Schleck
Spanish champ: José Joaquin Rojas
Belgian champ: Philippe Gilbert
Danish champ: Nicki Sørensen
French champ: Sylvain Chavanel
Suisse champ: Fabian Cancellara
Slovenian champ: Grega Bole
Russian champ: Pavel Brutt


While most of these riders were pre-selected by their teams for the Tour already, Pavel Brutt really did shoot the parrot. His Russian Katusha team had earlier announced that only Russian riders would be selected for the Tour this time and with 7 riders pre-selected, Pavel Brutt was just one  outof six riders fighting for the last two spots. A spot I feel pretty sure he will get now after taking the jersey. Can’t really see a Russian government supported team with 100 % Russian riders not picking their new national champion, you?

Only question now is for long we will actually see Philippe Gilbert’s Belgian jersey in the Tour-peloton. I have a feeling that it will be rather yellow the first week…