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.

More spectacular 'rampas' in the Vuelta

On next Wednesday, the 11th of January, this year's Vuelta España route will be presented in Pamplona but before knowing everything we have already at least two stages to look forward to. The last couple of years stage finishes like the one in Valdepeñas de Jaén - and especially last year's found in San Lorenzo El Escorial - have given us great drama on the final kilometers and that seems to continue in 2012.

The finish in El Escorial last year -28% !

I'm talking about stage 6 (to el Fuerte de Rapitán in Huesca) and stage 12 (to el Mirador de Ézaro in A Coruña). Especially the stage in Galicia to el Mirador de Ézaro looks frightening with 'rampas' up to 30% and 12,7% in average on the last 2 km - 14% on the final kilometer. A lot like what we saw in El Escorial last year I suppose.

The finish on stage 6 to el Fuerte Rapitán is 2,8 km long with 7,5% in average and comes right after the Cat3 climb Puerto de Oroel, which according to former top climber Fernando Escartin, isn't very difficult, but has a very fast downhill with a lot of corners. "Therefore it's very important to be positioned in the front already on Puerto de Oroel if you want to have a chance to win the stage", Escartin points out in today's AS.

We will know a lot more about these two stages and the rest of the Vuelta course next Wednesday, but it sure seems like we - and riders like Purito, Valverde, Antón & Gilbert - have a lot to look forward to!

Real cyclists eat honey

In a week where we learned that Cadel Evans and his wife have decided to adopt an Ethiopian boy I thought it might interest a few to know what honey can do to a cyclist.

New Iranian studies shows that men who ate honey before training had lower levels of free radicals (which may indicate cell damage) in their semen after 8 weeks. 39 men aged 18-28 years participated in this study where half of them were given 70 g of honey 1½ hours before training.

According to the author of the study Behzad Hajizadeh Maleki, M.Sc.; “it may be possible that the honey supplementation following long-term intensive cycling training would be effective in attenuating the probable aggravating effects of intensive cycling training on spermatogenesis and fertility capacity in the road cyclists”.

On a site note, I can add that Alberto Contador will be given his own weight in honey on January 7 next year for winning the Spanish award "Su Peso en Miel”. And not only that, Contador will also be weighted with the six bikes on which he won his biggest victories.

The Spanish Giro, Tour and Vuelta-winner got married about a month ago but according to Contador he is not thinking about starting a family just yet. “Right now I don’t think about kids, I just concentrate on riding my bike”, he told me at the team presentation in November.

Well, at least he shouldn’t have any problems when he changes his mind if the “honey effect” really works…

Merry Christmas

I just want to take the time and wish everybody reading this blog a Very Merry Christmas! I truely appreciate your support and I promise to make an effort in making every article better than the last one.

Enjoy Christmas with your friends and family.

See you soon...

Mikkel

$30.000 for 4th place - Zero for the victory

Lance Armstrong on his way to 4th place and $30.000.

Yesterday ESPN wrote this article about the details of U.S. Postal’s sponsorship deal with Lance Armstrong’s team. Here it says that Lance Armstrong got paid $1,47 million in bonuses for his stage wins, yellow jerseys and overall victory in the Tour de France 2001.

On the statement showing how the $1,47 million are divided we can see that Lance Armstrong got $75.000 for each stage win and then $15.000 for keeping the yellow jersey after every stage. What I like to point out though is that Lance Armstrong apparently got $30.000 from U.S. Postal for taking 4th place on stage to Luz Ardiden. $30.000 and he didn’t even entered the top3.

May I remind you that in 2001 the American Dollar was higher than the Euro has even been...

The stage was won by Roberto Laiseka, first Tour de France stage win in the history of the Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi team, and how much do you think Laiseka got paid in bonuses for this historical stage win?

The answer is zero. No bonus but the glory.

 Laiseka wins on Luz Ardiden.

“At Euskaltel-Euskadi there are no bonuses for winning stages. The riders have their regular payments and that’s what they earn. Of course such a win can be used when negotiating a new contract, but for the stage win itself there is no bonus” , press officer of Euskalte-Euskaldi, Jesus Aizkorbe, explains to me.

You can argue that for Roberto Laiseka winning on Luz Ardiden in Basque territory in the orange colors of Euskaltel-Euskadi no bonus could probably top that feeling, but I’m sure he would have appreciated having a deal just giving him half of what Lance Armstrong got for taking 4th place on the very same stage.

Update - After reading this article Roberto Laiseka sent me the following message on Twitter:

CAV4SPOTY - The odds are on his side

UPDATE 22/12 @ 23:00 - Mark Cavendish won!

Tonight it’s time for the BBC Sports Personality 2011 show and the big favorite for the award is no other than cycling’s very own Mark Cavendish. Winning two stages in the Giro, five in the Tour plus the green jersey and taking the World Champion title in September, Mark Cavendish finally seems to be rewarded for his amazing talent.

At the world’s biggest betting community, Betfair, Mark Cavendish is the number one favorite for the Spoty award at odds 1,40. In fact Mark Cavendish is such a big favorite that Betfair has made an extra market called “winner without Cavendish”. So far €700.000 has been matched on the BBC Sports Personality 2011 market - €280.000 of these on Mark Cavendish to win and that makes Cavendish check up on his rivals.

"He [Cavendish] is regularly checking the odds for him to win Sports Personality of the Year with the bookies and looking at what his main rivals are up to", Bradley Wiggins told cyclingnews last week.

On Twitter the CAV4SPOTY campaign has been going on for a long time and it seems like it will happen tonight. I sure hope he wins - wouldn’t it be great to end the year with some positive cycling news?...

Jakob Fuglsang ready to fly solo

Jakob Fuglsang now finally seems ready to lead his team in one of the three Grand Tours. Giro d’Italia next year starts in Denmark and after spending the last couple of years working for other riders Jakob Fuglsang now wants to be the sole team leader in the Italian GT.

Fuglsang did get the chance as captain in the Vuelta last year, but after his injury in the Tour a month earlier he didn’t managed to stay with the best riders on the steep parts in the mountains, despite getting the Red jersey right from the beginning of the race. The Danish climber admits he didn’t have the best preparation but that will change next year with the Giro on the menu.

“I’m sure that if I do what is needed and I do it down to the smallest detail, I will be able to be right up there with the best rider”, Fulgsang explained about a month ago.

One of the things Jakob Fuglsang needs to get under control is his weight. According to his Danish manager Kim Andersen; “he must lose two per cent of body fat. Otherwise he can’t make it all the way up the steep mountains. If he loses the weight and is in good shape, then he can be right up there," Andersen told Danish television TV2.

Another important thing for Jakob Fuglsang is the change of mentality. As I said he has been supporting team leaders the last couple of years, simply because he needed experience in the races and wasn’t ready yet. Frank and Andy Schleck have been very grateful for that support, but now it looks like they won’t have their Danish sidekick to help them in the Tour de France next year. Something has changed.

Fuglsang leading the Vuelta 2011.

“After the Giro I want to focus on the Olympics, the Vuelta and the World Champions. The World Champions route is definitely not bad for me. I rather want the opportunity to get some results myself instead just helping other riders in the Tour”, Fuglsang told feltet.dk.

Earlier Jakob Fuglsang has been happy to help his two good friends, but it sure seems like the Dane is now ready to fly solo. Of course the Giro-start in Denmark is an extra motivation and if he could take the jersey while the race is still on Danish ground it would be an amazing start for him. The ambitions are definitely there and even though he is up against riders like Ivan Basso, José Rujano, Roman Kreuziger and Michele Scarponi he believes the podium is within his reach.

“I aim for the podium and I think that’s realistic. It's obviously a possibility to grab the pink jersey in Denmark and I will do everything I can to do it”.

I personally don’t believe Jakob Fuglsang can win the Giro d’Italia but I do think top5 is possible and hopefully even more. If he gets that weight a bit down he can do better in the steep selective parts and that will be crucial for stepping on the podium in Milano. I think he will end 3-5 in the GC.