True champions warm up under an umbrella

As I wrote earlier today the weather had been great ever since Monday morning, but when the second group of the Elite Women started, the first rain drops started to fall. It never went too hard, but still enough to make the roads wet. That meant that all the late starters had to warm up in wet condition, well make that everyone except one. Because while her teammate Ina Teutenberg warmed up in the rain, future World Champion Judith Arndt found a way to warm up in a dry way - see my tweets for the picture!

That turned out to be a good idea when Judith Arndt later on set the best time and that even without knowing how the other riders had been doing. “I didn’t even know my own time. I had no radio, I don’t really like riding with that. I want to concentrate fully on my own race without any outside contact”, she said on the press conference afterwards. Indeed a great tactic on the day!

It also turned out to be another great race for Denmark as we got the second medal on the day, or to be fair we didn’t really officially get it, but everybody knows Linda Villumsen is Danish despite her representing New Zealand nowadays. Linda did a great race and took silver, a medal she describe to be 50% Danish and 50% New Zealand on the press conference.

On third place Emma Pooley switched out her rainbow jersey from last year with a bronze medal and she was actually very content with the day. “I hoped to make the top10 so I am very satisfied even though it’s a shame no longer to be the World Champion. Denmark is just too flat for me”, Pooley pointed out afterwards.
Now we only one thing left to do in the city centre of Copenhagen and that is the Elite Men Time Trial tomorrow. Germany showed the way today with Judith Arndt and according to the bookmakers, Tony Martin is now the favorite for the gold medal.

Check back soon for more World Champions updates and remember to follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/mrconde) for live-updates, pictures and comments.

Ciao!

Danish gold!

It’s kind of amazing I must say… Last Thursday both Danish hopes for the Elite Road Race (Matti Breschel & Alex Rasmussen) were out and the weather forecast said “rain, rain rain”. Now it’s Thuesday and we two Danish medals and absolutely no sign of the rain!

The Danish gold went to young Mads Wurtz Schmidt who won the Men Junior’s time trial and really seemed surprised at the press conference. “Well, to be honest this is a huge surprise for me”, he said. “My goal this morning was top10 so ending up with the rainbow jersey is just simply amazing”.

In a little less than an hour the Elite Women start their time trial and this could very well be the first time during this World Champions that we don’t get an Australian rider on the podium. The big favorites are Judith Arndt, Emma Pooley, Amber Neben, Marianne Vos and Danish Linda Villumsen (who know rides for New Zealand) so it really requires some extra from Taryn Heather if she wants to continue to Aussie dominance…

Come back later for more info!

Kangaroo attack!

While everybody was fearing - and expecting - it to be a rainy first day of the World Champions in Copenhagen it turned out to be surprisingly sunny and we even got a Danish silver medal in the Men U-23 time trial with Rasmus Quaade! Awesome!

Still I’m sure that the Australian team is celebrating even more than us Danes tonight. Three medals in two disciplines! Jessica Allen started out taking the gold in the Women Junior time trial and after that Luke Durbridge and Michael Hepburn sandwiched up Rasmus Quaade by taking 1st and 3rd.

I’ve have all day long – especially on Twitter – pointed out that I saw Luke Durbridge as the favorite for today and on his way to the start I got it confirmed. Durbridge almost crashed into me and it was easy to see that he hadn’t eye for anything else than that gold medal. I won’t forget that look in his eye anytime soon. So focused and so motivated!

Rasmus Quaade said, on the press conference after the race, that he didn’t ‘lose the rainbow jersey’, but instead ‘won a silver medal’ and that seems like a fair assumption. Nobody stood a chance against Luke Durbridge today. In fact it seems like the only one who wasn’t sure of him winning the gold medal was Durbridge’s girlfriend, waiting with the Australian team near the finishing line. First when Durbridge crossed the line she started to jump and shout and ran to congratulate her boyfriend in a tornado of cameras. I’m sure you all saw the pictures…

So that’s it for today folks. It’s been a great first day of the World Champions and I just hope and pray that the weather will stay the same all week.

Don’t forget to check my Twitter account for photos and live updates every day during this week! Find it at http://www.twitter.com/mrconde

Pancake atmosphere

The UCI World Champions in Copenhagen has finally started. Weather forecast threatened with rainy days, but this Monday has been all sunshine so far. Perfect!

First gold medal of the day went to young Australian Jessica Allen in the Women Junior time trial and as I have been saying a couple of times already today I am pretty sure the Kangaroo country will take another gold medal later today. First of all because Australia probably have THE biggest favorite in Luke Durbridge and second because they even have the second or third favorite as well in Michael Hepburn. Being Danish and everything of course I hope our own podium favorite Rasmus Quaade can do well, but against Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Yoann Paillot, Matteo Mammini and Anton Vorobyev I think he should be happy if he makes the podium!

The press center for the time trial is hosted in the Town Hall of Copenhagen on the second floor in the ballroom where the Mayor is known for serving pancakes to his visitors. Impressive surroundings that I fear the sports hall near the road race will have big problems matching in the weekend…

Anyway the the World Champions is now in-play and I will report back later. Stay tuned!

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.

World Champions 2011 - Very interesting route!

As promised I went to check out the route for the up-coming World Champions Road Race in Denmark. But let’s make something clear, it’s not really IN Copenhagen. It’s about half and hour outside of the city…Anyway here is how it went down.

Starting on top of the finishing line it’s downhill from the beginning before you turn right and continue straight out (not really uphill as the route profile says…) after around 2 km you take a left turn and this is where the steepest part of the route is. I wanted to take a quick photo with my iPhone while riding, but by mistake it started out as a video so I decided to continue all the way to the top (meaning riding with one hand not able to change gear, not optimal!..). See the video below:

On top of this little hill you go right and later on left where the next little hill is placed.  Not very hard at all, but perfect placed in the middle of the fields and I’m sure it will be of the places with the best atmosphere on the route!

One of the most beautiful parts of the route. I expect it to be

packed like crazy with fans!

From this point on it’s straight out all the way to the last turn where you go right. Now you can see the finishing line on the top of the hill and even though it might look a little steep it’s really not…You hit in high speed and I can’t imagine it crossing Cavendish’s chances of a rainbow jersey.

Finishing line on top of the "hill"...

That being said Mark Cavendish is no longer my number one favorite for the title. Seeing the actually route my grand favorite is now young-gun Peter Sagan! If the race doesn’t turn out to be too long for Sagan and he still is in the pack in the end, I can’t see any other (maaaybe Oscar Freie on a super day) than Sagan taking the jersey. There...I said it!

I will be present at the World Champions all week, so stay tuned for more info from the inside track ;) 

Congratulation Juanjo Cobo!

For many years I have waited for the day when Juanjo Cobo would take his first big win and yesterday it finally happened. Being one of the very underdogs before the Vuelta started, Cobo turned out to be the strongest in the mountains and his stage win on Angliru pretty much speaks for itself.

Denis Menchov lost valuable time in the first couple of days – without that he would probably have won the Vuelta – but still showed his class by helping Cobo in the last week. Even one-captain-only Carlos Sastre was up pulling the peloton for Cobo. It really was an outstanding performance by the whole GEOX team who rightfully could be celebrated as the best team during the race.

So once again; Congratulation Juanjo Cobo and congratulation Team Geox for this spectacular Vuelta!