The story of Hugo's ascent from such meagre beginnings to become one of Switzerland's most successful, and tragic, cyclists inspired Remo. For his 15th birthday Remo's uncle took the boy to the Velobörse in Zürich, where one can buy and sell second-, third-, fourth- and more-hand bikes. With his uncle's help Remo found a frame in good condition that, with a bit of fixing up and a few new components, would make a good first bike to test his new passion.
And what a passion it turned out to be! Whilst his cousins were busy on the velodrome in the summer, Remo was venturing into the foothills of the alps.
Such was Remo's passion for cycling that, for his sixteenth birthday, he received from his parents a brand new BMC bike and from his uncle membership of the local cycling club: Veloclub Zürich Affoltern.
By the time he turned 17, Remo had progressed from club rides to racing and a few promising early outings had even lead to a couple of wins in local races with uphill finishes. Remo was developing into the type of rider that had first inspired him - a climber.
After completing his studies and continuing to impress in age-range races in both the Zürich area and in the wider German-speaking part of the country, Remo has now signed a contract with the COM Cycling U23 team.
19 year old Remo Vaucher has just taken his first steps in a professional cycling career. His aim is to emulate his idol: Hugo Koblet.
In 1950 Hugo Koblet won the Giro d'Italia, winning two stages on the way and also claiming the mountains classification. In subsequent years Hugo went on to win another five stages of the Giro on his way to two second place finishes in the General Classification and three further top ten placings.
In 1951 Hugo won five stages on his way to winning the Tour de France.
All of these achievements occurred in a six year period from 1950 to 1956 after Hugo's career went into a gradual, and unexplained, decline following a visit to Mexico after his 1951 Tour de France win.
To emulate his idol, Remo aims to win both World Tour races in Switzerland, the Tour of Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, as well as to wear the famous Swiss cross as national champion. He furthermore aims to win stages in each of the Grand Tours and, of course, to win the Corsa Rosa and le Tour. Further podiums and the mountain classification at the Giro round out Remo's ambition, although a year in the rainbow bands would not go amiss.
And so Remo Vaucher, Swiss climber of the COM Cycling U23 team sets out on his first season as a pro. Hope of conquering the Stelvio and Ventoux are but misty dreams. For now...
Hugo Kolbet cheered on by children at the Tour of Switzerland in 1947
[image from https://bikeracein...om/]
[Hugo Koblet's palmares highlights sourced from Wikipedia]
Edited by indigo_stone on 23-06-2015 21:02
As Season 1 of Remo Vaucher's career begins, his expectations and ambitions are modest. At 19 years of age and with a average attribute value of significantly under 70, Remo is under no illusions that this is a year for learning and, ultimately, for at least earning a new contract for next season.
After riding the three Cyanide Cup races, Remo will not see racing action again until the beginning of April as there are no races on offer from the team.
In April, Remo will start to build his racing form with the aim of achieving a good overall placing at the Ronde de l'Isard with its uphill finishes. To prepare for this target, Remo will ride Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux, the Giro Belvedere, La Cote Picardie and Rund um den Finanzplatz U23. The final build up will be the Tour du Rhone-Alpes Isere.
To finish the first half of the season, Remo will ride the Course de la Paix.
After a couple of weeks away from racing, the second half of the season will build to the Tour de l'Avenir with appearances at the Tour des Pays de Savoie, Giro della Valle d'Aosta and the Route d'Alsace.
Hopefully, with a good placing at the Tour de l'Avenir and a new contract in his pocket, Remo will wind down the 2015 season in Friuli and Lombardia before a final race for the year at the Paris - Tours Espoirs.
Compared to the race schedules of some of the French U23 teams, Remo is pleased with the number of mountainous stage races on offer and the opportunity to test himself against the older U23 riders as he progresses in his first season as a pro...
A few weeks into the season and Remo Vaucher can reflect on his experiences of professional racing at the Cyanide Cup.
In the first race he just wanted to test himself against the peleton and gauge his level in comparison to riders such as the eventual winner, Columbia rider Leonardo Duque and former pink jersey wearer David Arroyo of Caja Rural. Despite driving rain and winds blowing at 40 to 50 kph, Remo kept pace with the peloton until the final ramp of the final climb of the day. Wet through but satisfied with his first professional outing, Remo finished in 34th place albeit off the pace. Looking back it was the effort spent to stay with the bunch between the climbs that led to dropping out the back of the peloton on the last climb. Food for thought in training.
Come the second race of the cup and Remo was faced with a choice. Sit in the peleton all day on a parcours not suited to his relative strengths or preferences. Or get in the break and do something more interesting. Despite weather conditions that felt like a continuation from the previous race, Remo attacked from the gun but was soon reeled in by the peleton. Unable to react to the counter-attack, Remo did not make it into the break that went away in the early stages of the race. However, after recovering and reaching his favoured terrain, Remo attacked again on the only climb of the day and rode away from the peloton to make the junction with the break on the descent. Despite a lot of effort expended, Remo managed to hold onto the coat tails of the main bunch after being caught to finish in 97th place but on the same time as bunch sprint victor Liam Bertazzo of Southeast.
As he rolled out at the start of the third and final race of the Cyanide Cup Remo was feeling optimistic: a more challenging route with several decent climbs and an uphill finish. Fun at least, especially with dry if overcast conditions with barely a breeze blowing. However, optimism soon led to disappointment as a crash within the first kilometers left Remo over two mintues behind a peloton in the midst of attempting and catching breaks. Luckily the break escaped quickly and he regained the back of the main field on the first climb of the day. After hiding in the bunch for the majority of the race, Remo was still amongst the leading chasers as rain began to fall on the last climb of the day. Remo maintained his position in the group and managed to parlay a luckless start to the race into a creditable 14th place finish sandwiched between Enrico Battaglin and Sonny Colbrelli and 14 seconds behind lone finisher Prades Eduard of Caja Rural.
Results Summary:
CYA Cup 1: 34th at 4m19
CYA Cup 2: 97th at 0m00
CYA Cup 3: 14th at 0m14
To start the season Remo trained for stage races as the Ronde de l'Isard and Tour de l'Avenir are his main targets for the season. Having achieved the Level Up from 7 to 8 with this training the need for a switch was obvious based on his experiences at the CYA Cup.
Although most of the other races on his schedule this year are against U23 competitors only, a base level of athleticism is missing from Remo's armoury. Until the next Level Up (8 to 9), he will train as a Baroudeur to focus on building stamina and to improve his ability to stay well positioned in the peleton on the flat.
With no races scheduled until April, Remo will now work on keeping a base level of fitness around 70% before building back up for Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux.
Update:
Even without racing, the training from the end of January through to late March was enough to level up. And, despite the slowdown in the patch the progression is still pretty impressive!
Remo's first stage race: Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux
As cobbles season came to a close for the World Tour peleton, Remo Vaucher got his first taste of racing in Belgium at his first stage race in the professional ranks. Designated as team leader by the DS on a parcours without any climbs, Remo decided to take a watchful approach to the four part triptych.
Stage 1: Lapping a circuit with a single category 3 climb, Remo sat in the bunch for the majority of the race. The team rode for two other riders despite the lack of a designated sprinter, which confused Remo. Feeling piqued and a little bored, he attacked on the last climb of the day just to see if he could catch the peloton napping as it mopped up the lone member of the break of the day. Remo did not get clear of the pack but did collect four points for the mountain classification before finishing safely in the main field behind stage winner Tim Ariesen of Cyclingteam Jo Piels.
Stage 2: The day began under gloomy skies and the peloton set off in the rain. The damp mood continued as not a single rider attempted to break from the pack. Remo diligently rode in the first thirty riders to avoid incident as the sprinter's teams threatened to contest the intermediate sprints but did not. Yawn. In an effort to relieve the tedium and to warm the muscles, Remo attacked on the lumpier last third of the course.
He took the first mountains points of the day as he built a lead of a minute over the pack. The second mountain sprint followed as Remo secured his first podium appearance and at least a day in the mountains jersey. With 14km remaining, Remo's recent focus on Barouder training was put to the test as he tried to hold of the peloton and its win-hungry sprinters. Almost inevitably the Lotto U23 team swept up Remo inside the last ten km. Tired but pleased, Remo got caught out by a split in the peloton as the final dash for the line crested a small rise, finishing over a minute behind Tim Ariesen winning his second stage.
Stage 3: Resplendent in the polka dot jersey but with a slim four point lead, Remo started the day hoping to defend his lead in the mountains classidication from Roman Lohky of the WT Blueway team, who had claimed the jersey with a solo break on stage 1. With the two categorised climbs of the day in the first third of the race, Remo prepared to mark the breaks rather than attack from the off. With no early attacks in the rain, Remo decided to chance his arm to gain some experience of breakaway riding and, hopefully, to sew up the mountains classification for a restful final stage. With a deficit of nearly two minutes to the race leader, Remo easily escaped the bunch and soon had an advantage on the day of over two minutes. No other rider joined him out front and he was able to set an easy pace to mop up 12 points in the mountains classification and secure the jersey - his first! Riding alone at half effort and with the polka dots on his back, Remo dreamed of the future and the past, of Hugo Koblet and of wearing the polka dots and the Tour de France. Anything to help him through the lonely, miserably wet solo ride. Caught again by a charging peloton just inside the 10km banner, Remo's long breakaway told in his legs as he shot out the back of the bunch to finish 3m28 in arrears on a good day for the COM U23 team as Thery Schor took out the bunch kick.
Stage 4: With an unassailable lead in the mountains classification, Remo started the final day of his first stage race intent on a disciplined and careful ride so as to finish safely in the bunch and take home his first classification victory. On another gloomy and damp day, Remo set up camp in the first thirty riders to stay out of trouble. The first half of the race passed uneventfully, again without a single attempt to form a break. Remo nestled in the pack; only showing his jersey towards the front on the final mountains classification of the race. Approaching the pan flat finale to the race, Remo's mind was cast back to his struggles in the CYA Tour when the peloton was riding full gas on open flat terrain. Hopefully his recent training and the different level of his fellow competitors would reduce the effort needed to maintain his position. With the sprinters' teams again drilling the pace, Remo had to ride hard to stay in the trailing third of a strung-out peleton but he managed to finish on the same time as Jaap De Man of Team 3M, who won the final stage.
After collecting his polka dot jersey and a quick shower, Remo was whisked off to the airport to catch a flight to Italy and the next day's Giro Belvedere di Villa di Cordignano. Tired but excited in the back of the car, Remo enjoyed the congratulations of the DS and reflected on his first tastes of podiums, stage raced and Belgian racing conditions. All in all a positive experience thought Remo as he quietly hoped for sunny conditions south of the Alps.
Results Summary: Polka dot jersey - who cares about the stage placings? :-)
Edited by indigo_stone on 25-06-2015 19:55
Following on from the success of his first stage race, Remo Vaucher flew south to Italy to ride the Giro Belvedere di Villa di Cordignano. With a mostly flat profile but a couple of lumps towards the end, Remo wasn't sure what to expect from the race. Most of all though, Remo was delighted to be riding under blue skies with a few little fluffy clouds instead of the gloom of Belgium. It was also his first taste of riding in Italy - a country with which he hopes to develop a great affinity in the future. As the attacks attempted to form the break of the day, Remo sat in the pack to wait, see how the race would develop and savour the pleasant racing conditions. As the bunch ascended the climb outside Cordignagno for the first time, Remo followed a couple of small attacks and grinned to himself at the prospect of putting in a big attack on the second and final ascent close to the finish. Sure enough, on the lower ramps of the climb Remo attacked and thrust clear of the peloton. At the top of the climb he had gained 36 seconds on the main field and had caught the leading rider from the break of the day, Ariesen of Cycling Jo Piels. He had also dragged J-A Curnevali of the Lotto U23 team with him. With under 10km to the finish and the peleton shredding in their wake, Remo took a moment to let the pumping blood clear from his head and to try to assess his situation tactically, as his uncle had taught him to do. In a three-up sprint he was sure to lose to Ariesen, who had won two stages of the Monts et Chateaux, but with little left in the tank, attacking the other two was unlikely to yield much. With four km remaining, a group of four riders caught Remo's leading trio. It was time to gather what energy he had left and hope for the best in the finale against three riders from the Joker team. Unable to follow the strong men as they led out the sprint, Remo pushed hard for the line to finish seventh; empty, dejected and a minute down on the winner, D. Hoelgaard of the Joker team.
After the race, the DS congratulated Remo on his first top-ten placing and for his incisive attack that broke the race up. He pointed out that without his attack, Remo would not have placed in the top ten in a bunch kick so he should be pleased with the result. It made Remo feel a little better but, as he rested in a hotel looking forward to flying home to rest, train and see his family, he felt the need to take stock and think again about his training plan leading up to his first big target of the season: the Ronde de l'Isard at the end of May.
Training update: Reflections on Spring races and preparation for the season's first goal
Landing at Zürich airport, Remo was met by his father and uncle, who congratulated him on his successes during his first week of stage racing and whisked him off to the racing club for an apero. At the club was a surprise welcome and Remo celebrated with his friends and former competitors with a deci of prosecco. Talking to his uncle about his upcoming training, Remo decided that once he had completed the level 9 training as a Baroudeur, he would focus again on his strengths to put him in the best possible position at the Ronde de l'Isard and, later in the season, at the Tour de l'Avenir. As his uncle pointed out, he had been competitive at the U23 level and could again focus on his abilities on the flat after a block of training as a climber, puncheur or stage racing. Which of those he could decide a little later. Before leaving for a well-earned long rest, Remo bumped into a former classmate who wanted to ask him a few questions for an interview that he hoped his editor at the local paper would publish. His father beamed with pride at Remo on the way to the car - success on the road and his first bit of attention from the press. All in the first months of his career.
I agree that more pictures and fewer words would be better - writing the story started to get in the way of enjoying the game! I think I'll start again with a new story once the major updates are finished.
