racing Archives - Page 6 of 7 - Tailwind Coaching

2013 Tour of the Battenkill Route Released

While I've long talked about riding dirt roads and getting out into the back roads of east rural nowhere (all in an attempt to find your inner child and just plain enjoy riding your bike) there's something special about racing on dirt. There's a modicum of uncertainty as the tires slip, the increased resistance ratchets up the pain meter and your face cakes with dust (or mud, depending) and sweat. It's a thrill like nothing else, unless you're heading over for the Tour of Flanders or Paris Roubaix. Since most of us aren't pros, and we don't generally have the time to fly to Europe just for a sportive….

Enter Tour of the Battenkill. The toughest one day race in America. America's Queen of the Classics. America's answer to the Hell of the North.

It's 63 miles of pain, 5,000 feet of grinding elevation, and about 25% dirt, gravel or broken up, nasty roads. Combine that with an early April race day, and you could have anything from a beautiful sunny day to a greasy, nasty, gritty fight for survival.

Oh what a race it is!

It's no secret that this week was the release of the 2013 route, which you can see below:

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Tags: battenkill, classics, Coaching, racing, road bike, training|

Tour de France Prologue

Wiggins was the big winner

WARNING: SPOILERS

With the Tour de France starting today in Leige with a short prologue time trial, arguably the most important race of the year is underway. 6.4 km isn't much, but it has already given us an early indication of who's ready and who's not. Surprisingly, it might not be who you think.

Spoilers after the jump:

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Tags: news, pro cycling, racing|

2012 ProTeam Jerseys – Part 2

MOVISTAR

After Caisse d'Epargne departed last year, we were treated to the lime and navy kit accented with white. A little more white appears along the opposite side panel of the jersey, but otherwise little has changed from last year.

The personnel changes are more intriguing than the kit changes. Vuelta champion J.J. Cobo has come aboard after the dissolution of Geox-TMC and Alejandro Valverde has returned from a 2 year suspension imposed by the Court for Arbitration for Sport.

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Tags: cycling, jersey, pro cycling, racing|

2012 ProTeam Kits – Part 1

2012 is here, and with the turn of the new year, contracts in the pro ranks renew and riders are free to present their new team kits for the coming season. Let's take a look at some of the team kits that have been revealed thus far:

Astana pro cycling team

Pro Team Astana is sporting a look that is very similar to their kits from last year. There is a lot of pastel/aqua/electric blue paired with bright yellow and white. Of course, these colors intimately mimic the flag of the sponsoring nation. Everyone will know that the team is the brainchild of Alexander Vinokourov, and is designed to fly the colors of (make glorious power of wonderful nation) Kazakstan.

The kit itself would benefit from some darker colors to separate the pastels from one another, but we've become used to seeing this design (it's basically unchanged from last year) so it's not a big deal.

Shrewd in the transfer market, you can look for Vinokourov to be flanked by Janez Brajkovic, Borut Bozic and Roman Kreuziger.

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Tags: cycling, jersey, pro cycling, racing|

Rest In Peace Wouter Weylandt

Giro stage three should have been a mundane day for the peloton. A cat 3 climb summiting with about 39K to go, then descending down to a cat 4 climb with 9K to the finish. Easy day, right?

Sadly, tragedy struck on the descent of that Cat 3. Wouter Weylendt, Belgian fast man racing for Leopard Trek, crashed due to, what race officials said “his left pedal got stuck in a wall at the side of the road, forcing Weylandt to tumble around 60 meters to the ground below.)” He was attended to by race doctors, but died on the scene from the injuries sustained in the crash. It's a terribly sad event that overshadowed a great stage of racing, and will no doubt cast a pallor over the next few days of the race.

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