Tour of Langkawi
Day 7
Kuala Rompin - Kuatan 188k
&
Amgen Tour of California
Day 2
Davis - Santa Rosa 173k
“Unwarranted and without Merit, that was their conclusion”
I stood at the top of the concrete steps. I was dressed in a black polo shirt bearing the team Initials in gold lettering. The shirt was tucked into a pair of tan slacks. I had both my hands in the pockets as I stood their talking to the reporters that had gathered.
“Do you feel justice has been served?”
I frowned.
“Do I feel justice has been served….no. I do not. What I feel is victimized and violated, that’s how I feel. The fact that anyone would make up such a story…much less that I would have to come explain myself, is a shame. What has happened is a travesty. Both Ms. Hatch and myself have had are names dragged thru the mud and our reputations tarnished…. So you tell me where is the justice in that? Where is the justice in the fact that anyone in this day can take a few pictures and sell them to some rag with some cock and bull story…and the facts aren’t even verified?”
“Do you feel that the commission was over zealous in their actions?”
I turned towards the reporter, squinting in the sun.
“I can understand from a point where they were coming from. Recent doping discoveries has cast a shadow upon the sport. They are busy trying to clean up both the sport and the image. So I can understand partially where they are coming from. This story breaks, a married team owner and a female rider…. Sure they were afraid of the damage such a scandal could do. I understand their reasoning, but do not applaud how they chose to handle it. They should have gathered more of the facts before holding a hearing.”
“And what exactly what were the facts?”
At this point I began to make my way down the stairs, forcing the reports to carefully walk backwards as I made my way.
“The facts are exactly what I said they were in there. Ms. Hatch is a very intelligent woman. What transpired between her and I was nothing more then a shared interest in the sport we both love, and the exchanging of ideas. She had some very unique ideas upon strategy as well as training… I learned from her experiences, and shared some of mine with her.”
“Is that what their calling it now….Sharing….”
I paused in step a moment as I stared at the reporter whom had addressed me.
“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response..”
“So you’re saying that not only did you not have sex with Ms. Hatch, you didn’t even in the slightest way want to?”
Boy I thought to myself, this jerk just won’t let up.
“ Listen just because you drool at night over her Maxim shoot, doesn’t mean the rest of the world does.”
“So basically she shot you down”
I began walking down the steps again.
“ If that helps you sleep at night, you go ahead and think that.”
Has this had any negative affect on your marriage and your home life.
I stopped as I reached the awaiting vehicle. I turned to face the female reporter whom had asked.. Flashing her my trademark smile.
“No it has not. Luckily for me my wife knows me well enough that I’m not going to run off with the first California girl or bleach Blond bimbo I run into. You ask anyone and they will tell you I am an extremely dedicated husband and family man. Now if you‘ll excuse me, I would like to go celebrate today’s win with my team…”
I smiled as I hit the mute button on the remote, well I’d sure told them …hadn’t I. I was just glad to have the whole thing done and over with. I felt relieved, and I was…well that is I was until I turned on the lap top to check and see how our team down in Langkawi had done, and noticed the days tabloid headline
THAT BLEACH BLOND BIMBO SHOT ME DOWN… WHAT A ^@$#@
A loud groan escaped from my lips. Looked like I was going to have to make even a few more calls, starting of course with Liz. You had to just LOVE California and it’s press. You could say just about anything and they would twist it to their delight. This time according to the article, I was an obsessed fan of Liz’s. One whom had been pining away for her and drooling over her since she appeared in Maxim. Only to have my advances and wandering hands on her body shot down…The sickening twisting of my words made the bile in my stomach rise…. I clicked away from the article.. Unable to read another word of it.
Entering my mail box, I found a bit of good news awaiting me for a change. During our scouting in Italy, we had come across a young hopeful by the name of Leandro Panozzo. His potential looked promising. And he had agreed to sign on with us for the start of next season to an exclusive 3 year contract. Another piece of good news came in the email right after. We had finally broke even in Langkawi. Making enough to at least cover the entry fee we had paid. That along with the decent sized bonus we had received for our stage win in California, was shedding some very positive light upon our financial situation. This was followed by a very positive email from our Sponsor American Express. That eased my mind considerably, considering it was beginning to feel that their confidence was on shaky ground lately. Before clicking upon the email from Elias that would fill me in on day7 of Langkawi, I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. I found myself hoping he had followed my directions for day 7. They hadn’t been hard directions. Actually I had given him one very simple goal for the remainder of that tour…..finish in the pack. Finish in the group…no more embarrassing last place finishes for the whole team. No more super bravado moves in attempts to gain time. Just ride the race and finish in the group….that wasn’t too much to ask was it. Opening my eyes I released the breathe as I clicked onto his report.
Lee,
Before I begin and before either of us become to harsh upon these guys in regards to their placement over the last couple of days, I think we need to remind ourselves that this in fact our rookie squad, and should keep that in mind when reviewing their results. This has been a grueling week for these guys, whom most aren’t used to more then a couple of days in a row worth of racing. Nothing we have done in the past month, could really prepare them for what they were to encounter here. I don’t feel any of them could have truly been prepared for the nine days awaiting them. There have been good points that can be built on.
I do agree with you regarding Janorschke, Lansing and House. Their performances have been dismal. I also agree with you that if improvement isn’t seen as the season progresses, we’ll seriously need to take a look at cutting them loose.
As for the race. The boys are tired. There is no doubting that. Today’s heat would take even more out of them I’m afraid. Luckily the wind wasn’t to much of a factor today, blowing only at most around 8k. The good news of the day was Janorschke and Harold manage to earn time for the first sprint. That however is about the only good news I have to share with you today. Though I will admit they handled the steepness of the second mountain stage very well and continued to stay with Traskel through ¾ of the race. Unfortunately the hills leading up to the final mountain stage were brutal. Ranging from 1% to 5 % climbs…they just started to run out of gas. 50k from the finish Janorschke, Lansing and house fell back. 30k it was Bonafanti and Harold. 24k out claimed Hatanaka and Chodroff. That left only Chedhomme and it was evident by 15k he was struggling and several kilometers later even he fell back. Here are the current results and standings.
Stage Standings
1) M. Khalilov FLM
2) B. Traskel VAC
3) K. Szcawinski MIE
4) M. Mirenda ISD
5) R. Haselbacher VBG
6) B. Cooke VAC
7) R. Weissinger VBG
8) A. Van Groen VAC
9) J. Guarnieri LIQ
10) R. Ferrari LPR
124) M Chedhomme TMR
132) J. Chodroff TMR
133) Y. Hatanaka TMR
134) C. Bonfanti TMR
135) C. Harold TMR
136) C. House TMR
137) G. Janorschke TMR
138) C. Lansing TMR
Current Standings
1) B. Traksel VAC
2) R. Ferrari LPR 46”
3) J. Benitez MCO 50”
4) R. Haselbacher VBG 1‘06”
5) J. Guarnieri LIQ 1‘22”
6) G. East TLS 1‘41”
7) A. Gufler VBG 1‘51”
8) A. Humbert DPC 1’51”
9) W. Mol VAC 2’50”
10) F. Willems LIQ
114) M. Chedhomme TMR 16‘05”
123) J. Chodroff TMR 18‘31”
133) Y. Hatanaka TMR 27‘20”
134) C. Bonfanti TMR 3211”
135) C. Harold TMR 37‘18”
137) C. House TMR 47‘58”
138) G. Janorschke TMR 52‘31”
139) C. Lansing TMR 56‘48”
Like I said Lee, Don’t be too hard on them….. They’re young and learning.
Elia
I groaned as I rubbed my temple. 6 of my riders in next to last place…great, just great. Luckily the alarm on my cell phone went off, telling me it was time to get ready for Amgen.
Luckily by the time I reached the race, I had gotten a hold of Liz. Luckily she was understanding regarding the latest headline and thought the whole thing rather funny. With that taken care of, I could finally turn my attention to where it needed to be, on the race.
As usual right from the get go, several riders attempted to break away. However the Pelaton was running extremely tight. It was quick paced and not allowing anyone to gain much advantage in any lead. In fact these early breakaways early on would pretty much be the only few to happen during the course of the race. The Pelaton and all the riders were of an apparent mind of keeping this race close. Team Martenson I had to admit was looking good and strong. All our riders well rested from the night before. I had planned on having the riders simply just ride and save their energy. However as they neared the first sprint, the riders would see an opening and go immediately on the attack.
This would allow Ballan, Leipheimer and Evans to take the first sprint. With that done, I expected the riders to settle down. Yet 12K later when they came upon the first Mountain stage, they again saw an opening and charged forward. They had a little competition this time around and TMR would only go to Ballan and Leipheimer, with F. Wemann wedge in between them.
“All right guys…enough horsing around.”
There was chuckling over the mic
“Ah you just like ruining all our fun don’t you Lee.”
Despite myself I couldn’t help but smile.
“Yeah, well don’t take my advice Levi and we’ll see who’s laughing when you reach that 8% grade ahead of you and are so tired you have to push your bike up it.”
“Good point. All right, Dually noted chief”
They settled back in with the Pelaton. The second mountain stage… That was my biggest worry of the race. With it’s 8% incline, I couldn’t help but worry. I hoped that the boy’s little shenanigans didn’t backfire on them. It was a steep, long climb. The Pelaton continued to stick together as they began the climb. It was at this time the team chose to initiate an interesting tactic. As the climbed, the gradually drew towards the front of the Pelaton. Climbing upwards, they were content to ride behind three other riders. Then about three kilometers out, they increased their pace, just slightly. Just enough to put them in front of the other riders.
With just about two kilometers left, they made no move, no dash…no sprint. The just continued their pace…. Just daring the other riders to waste their energy by charging up the remainder of the mountain top. Their little tactic worked as they forced F. Wegmann, F. Pazzatto and J. Rodriguez to charge forward in order to take the second mountain stage. Our riders would hang back, resting up and saving their legs as F. Wigmann, B. Scheirlinchx and J. Vanlandschoot took the final sprint. They would continue to do this as F. Bouyer, G. Verheyen and F. Wegmann took the final mountain. I watched and was impressed with our young rider Barnes. Despite falling slightly back, he fought his way back to the Pelaton. However I knew as the finish line that the true moment of truth was coming. I watched as our riders made went on the attack, and made a decent break for it….especially Ballan whom seemed full of energy…. All I could do was hold my breath, and wait…
Stage results
1) A. Ballan TMR
2) D. Napolitano KAT
3) T. Vaitkus AST
4) G. Ciolek MRM
5) I. Isasi EUS
6) F. Amorison LAN
7) W. Bonnet BBO
8) F. Pozzato KAT
9) M. Maaskant GRM
10) J. Van Emden RAB
15) L. Armstrong TMR
16) C. Evans TMR
22) L. Leipheimer TMR
63) C Meyer TMR
108) J. Barnes TMR
113) M. Ockley TMR
114) M. Spencer TMR
Current Standings
1) L. Leipheimer TMR
2) A. Ballan TMR 1”
3) T. Vaitkus AST 3”
4) L. Armstrong TMR 4”
5) C Evans TMR 9”
6) J. Van Emden RAB 11”
7) Y. Trofimov BBO 11”
8) C. Horner 11“”
9) S. Matveyev ISD 11”
10) D. Menchov RAB 11”
23) C Meyer TMR 12”
110) J. Barnes TMR 5‘30”
113) M. Spencer TMR 7‘13”
115) M. Ockley TMR 7‘21”
