July 23, 2011

Last gasp Tour update

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Filed under: Random blog posts — Tags: , , , , — Illinia @ 9:02 pm

Last gasp because I am going to do the pianoing and then fall into bed. And it’s only just after supper as I am starting this.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

Firstly:

(image created with Wikipedia and Google)

Word from the Aussies is apparently “YELL FOR CADEL” which is awesome and I have proceeded to do so.

I saw Tony Martin shake his hand afterwards (probably after a huge sigh of relief that he was safe as the stage winner) and hey we saw Ryder shake Tony Martin’s hand before that! : D  Very happy to see that. Although apparently there have been horrible random shootings in Norway and the 2.5 Norweigians and all their friends are very upset about that… :( Thor and Eddie Boassen-Hagen had black armbands.

Anyway, Cadel has thanked everyone ever involved in his career (literally, down to the fans who wave inflatable kangaroos at the cameras, although perhaps not by name) and called the BMC squad his heroes. I think that is a great thing to say. This win really cannot be compared to his 2008 TT under nominally similar circumstances when Sastre won. On the Tour official site there was an interview in which he said that he was injured and sick and tired in that  2008 TT so he was not surprised that he did not gap 1′ or whatever it was to Sastre. But this time he was still in excellent condition and not nearly so tired – and part of that is his great team, a team on par with all the other major contenders’ teams. He’s finally gotten his chance to shine and he’s shining brilliantly. Congrats Cadel! (Now I can cheer for Andy without feeling guilty, hahahaha! But seriously, you’re a true champion and you deserve it all.)

Secondly: Jens was slightly drunk when he wrote his blog, but he is seriously considering returning for next year. DO IT WE LOVE YOU

Thirdly: Andy <3! He was very gracious to Cadel over Twitter, and y’know, his year will come sooner or later! Hopefully next year! And having both Schlecks on the podium is great, because they’ve wanted that ever since Andy started racing pro, I would guess.

Also Andy mentioned the other day in passing that he has a girlfriend (as far as I know he was single this time last year, so that’s new) and I caught a quick glimpse of Frank’s wife and daughter (hee! cute little girl!) and Andy and Frank’s dad has been there to support them for at least a few days so it’s a really nice family affair.

They showed Ryder starting, since he’s in 17th overall, but not finishing. There was a commercial break. But he came in 62nd, between Xabier Zandio (Spain, Sky) and Tony Gallopin (France, Cofidis) Also 7″ behind George Hincapie (58th)! : D And a little behind Stuart O’Grady (55th)!

I’m pretty happy for Pierre Rolland! And Thomas Voeckler – well, we didn’t see so much of him today. But he got a huuuuge cheer when he rolled out, which is fabulous! Phil and Paul are saying that the future of French cycling is looking up, because there were a lot of young French riders distinguishing themselves this year.

Man, it used to be that Thomas Voeckler was ‘that guy we all like but he’s not very important – oh look, he won a stage, yay, congratulations’. Now he’s the star of the show! Hahaha. Of course, if I was old enough, I would know better just how much he is ‘that guy we all like’, because he’s pulled a 10-day stunt in yellow before – when he was a nobody, a beginning youngster, against Lance Armweirdo. (Lance does respect Voeckler, and I approve of that, at least.) And apparently it was just the same, with Voeckler fighting tenaciously and valiantly through every stage he could until finally there was just one mountain too many. But this year Phil and Paul were saying that he’s matured a lot since he was ‘that kid who came out of nowhere to wear yellow for 10 days’, and that his performance this year was even better; he could deal with it all even better than the first time. I don’t know for certain. I’m just presenting my impressions based on what I’ve absorbed (by osmosis, you know) from the media this Tour.

Who’s gonna win tomorrow? I note that Cavendish was waaaaay down in the stage rankings for today – he almost finished last! So that means that he’s saving himself for tomorrow. Gonna cheer for Tyler, though. A win for Tyler would be cool. Also Greipel would probably like another stage win. Also there are a ton of other sprinters who keep mixing it up and not getting anything – Ciolek is the first who comes to mind – I barely know who he is! Apparently he’s under 25, though, because I check the standings for the under-25s and his name was in there. And Petacchi has not been so fortunate this year. And… yeah, there are a few sprinters who will try to take tomorrow as their own. But, HTC-Highroad are specialists at winning, especially on the final lap in Paris.

P.S. You may have noticed I decided to write my planned art down the side. (You may also note that most of it is fanart.) Checklists!

Til tomorrow!

Pre-Penultimate Tour Day

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Filed under: Random blog posts — Tags: , , , , — Illinia @ 1:28 am

Wah! Hard climb today. Watched a great deal by myself, which was nice because my annoying uptight brother wasn’t there so I could shout GO RYDER GO, GO RYDER GO, GOGOGOGOGO at the TV all I wanted! Except we all watched the finish together. Not so much fun with him there. >_> Grrrr…

>Anyway yeah! Ryder was active! Present and correct and attacking! Finished in 10th again, so he is now up into 17th! Hey, they should protect this guy. I’m sure he’d have a great ‘week in yellow’, like Thor did, kind of thing. I don’t think Garmin’s strong enough to protect a yellow jersey to the finish. Anyway, maybe Ryder can’t climb like Contador but I bet he would be almost as good in yellow as poor Tommy Voeckler, who rode like a lunatic today. Man, when he saw he wasn’t bridging that gap on the Galibier, he really should have sat up, because Cadel etc. did catch him… But he’s determined! Yesterday when he was so mad (I guess?) at his manager for, what, probably telling him not to go so hard and that he wasn’t going to keep yellow, that he ripped his earphones out so he wouldn’t have to listen to that anymore, it payed off. He kept going, and he kept yellow. But today… maybe one fight too far? Maybe he was still mad at his manager or something and didn’t want to believe him or listen to him. Maybe I’m making stooff up. Well, I don’t think he’ll get a podium finish because even if he’s a good time trialist and Frank is not, I’m not sure he can make up that deficit. But he’ll definitely finish in 4th which is pretty awesome! The highest a Canadian has ever placed is 4th! And I’m sure the French are still estatic with his ride, I’m sure that he in the end is/will be very proud of himself (with very good reason) and YAY HE IS SO CUTE AND AMAZING I LUFF HIM SO MUCH

His Tour is done for the year, although there are still two days left to go, but what a Tour it was. Congratulations x1000, Thomas Voeckler!!!

He just came out of nowhere, really, although Cadel says he did recognize the danger early on. I’m sure the Tour officials are glad they invited Team Europcar! (most teams, like Leopard/BMC/Garmin/HTC etc. get automatically invited, but they leave a few slots to fill with extra teams (usually French and FDJ is always in there – why not issue them an auto-invite too?) and Europcar just happened to be one. Probably due to what I hear was a very successful pre-Tour season for Voeckler. 10 pre-Tour wins this year? Pretty nice!)

Well, Phil and Paul are saying that even if Voeckler never has another chance at yellow (he does have a collection of 20 to hang in the closet now which is pretty good, you know!) the guy who won today’s stage, Pierre Rolland, is only 24 and could have a very decent chance at winning the Tour de France for the French in upcoming years. Huzzah for the future! Cadel did say in his blog ‘all these kids they’re saying are the future, like (for instance) Boassen-Hagen, they’re the now. They’re here!’ or something like that. Like, don’t wait to see what they’re developing into. They’re winning now too!

>But first, I hope Cadel wins tomorrow. It would be a bitter disappointment for my hero Andy… and I would be sad for him… buuuuut Cadel has worked just as hard for this. He’s waited so long… I would be really sad for him too! I’m gonna be happy and sad no matter which way it works out.

But really, I don’t know who to cheer for! I know I just said I ultimately support Cadel, but then Andy comes out and smiles for the camera and I don’t know what to do. And his win yesterday was awe-inspiring. And today he followed everything like a champ. Both of them are awesome.

>Also, good on Contador for attacking so much (lol) (and in the normal way too). He’s hurting from all kinds of angles but he can still fly when he tells himself to. Of course if he hadn’t, it would have been nicer for Voeckler, but what ya gonna do… Can’t win anything if you don’t try. So he tried. Like Andy said yesterday, ‘no guts, no glory’. Which was a perfect place to use that line; I was thinking of it myself, yesterday. So Contador almost got to steal it today. And he still proved that he is not a pushover just because he’s sick or whatever. His form’s been up and down but he’s still got it, ultimately. (Also I hear he won the Giro by a landslide or something so hey he still has that. I’m sure if he doesn’t get banned in two weeks he’ll try to win the Vuelta at the end of August, too.)

>Nice to see the Canada flags out there today! Not so nice to see a couple Canada-flag-waving fans behaving like lunatics, but anyway I’m sure Ryder was happy to see all the others. It’s like all the Norweigians following Thor and Eddie.

>Tomorrow I hope to see Cancellara fly. He’s been pretty quiet this tour, really. Just riding in the bunch, looking out for his captains. Actually there have been a lot of quiet guys. It was a surprising Tour for that, but I guess that’s with the amazing teamwork protecting the lead for Thor and Voeckler, so it’s always been people like either Dave Zabriskie or Yohann Gene. Except when Leopard comes to the front to put the hammer down (Stuey! Monfort! Gerdemann! Jens! <3 )

>What was with Frank today? He kept sitting back. It didn’t look like he was matching his performance in the Pyranees. Perhaps he is saving something still, or he spent it all when I wasn’t looking, but it doesn’t seem like he’s Andy’s equal at this exact point in the race. Very strange.

>An old interview (a few days old) with Cadel. What a nice guy! I can’t believe that a few years ago he had a reputation for being grumpy. Maybe it’s the awesomeness of having veteran George Hincapie and the solidity of BMC to help out? Phil and Paul hinted at that last year. They also hinted that winning the World Champion’s Road Race jersey helped too. But whatever it was, he’s so very generous.

>Other cyclists who are totally cute, looking at their profile pics on the official Tour site – Chavanel, Gerdemann. XD (I believe these were taken at that team presentation thing that I have not been able to catch more than glimpses of, but there are no profile pics for anyone on Team Sky or Omega Pharma-Lotto. Although I didn’t check everybody.)

>All right. I am soooooo tired still. Wore shoes that hurt all day. New shoes; half price; very nice looking but not quite as comfortable as I thought they would be. Also I hate the piano recitals of 5-year olds. Or maybe I’m just immature for my age… and restless from lack of sleep and mental stimulation. I am going to sleep in to noon tomorrow. Do I have any appointments tomorrow? I hope not because I am beat.

>Man, the time trial starts in a couple hours. Shoo, me!

July 10, 2011

J’aime le Tour

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Filed under: Other fanart,Photoshop — Tags: , , , , , — Illinia @ 9:03 pm

J’aime le Tour

drawn July 10, ’11

(753)

Mwahahaha, behold my powers of fangirling. : P

The guy in front is supposed to be Ryder Hesjedal; following him is one of the Schleck brothers (pick your favourite ;) ) and last but definitely not least is Cadel Evans. …And then there’s me.

My first time drawing a bicycle. : P Yus, I copy/pasted. Whatever. IT’S ALL FOR THE KAWAII.

Wow. Just wow. So many crashes today, and bad ones, too. I am shocked. I feel so bad for Hoogerland… I bet he pulls out. And poor Vino! He made such a great effort yesterday, and I was still looking forward to seeing him ride on. Phil and Paul say that with a broken pelvis, his cycling career is pretty much over; he was planning on making this his last Tour anyway, but it’s really sad to crash out (even dramatically). And then everyone else who went down… sending them hopes that they heal quickly!

BUT. Thomas Voeckler is the most adorasquee cyclist in the business. Andy’s cute, but Voeckler… wow. Did you see how happy he was?!?

Adorable griffon alert, if you haven’t already seen it.

Mmmmmm, cointreau-soaked strawberries and creme fraiche. Mmmmmmmmm.

July 16, 2010

J’aime le Tour, Part 1

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Filed under: Random blog posts — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Illinia @ 9:09 pm

Hello all! Some of you may have been confused by my recent social networking pictures and statuses, if you keep track of that kind of thing. You will have noted I’m cheering for people you’ve never heard of in a sport you can’t identify without it being named. Well, I have decided to change that. Here is the concept of le Tour.

Le Tour was started in 1903 or thereabouts by a man named Desgrange, who owned a sport newsletter. Sales were low, and a common thing to boost them was to start and advertise races; then people would buy papers to find out what happened. Desgrange had the brilliant idea of beginning a race that circumnavigated all of France; such a race would be the most epic in the world – and sell a lot of papers.

In those days, the Tour was hard. Stages of over 500 km over poorly paved or unpaved roads were common, although mountains were not introduced until 1905 sometime (to make things more interesting). Degrange had the ideal of lone men, suffering over great stretches, lone heros out to prove their worth against the elements and each other. So he made a bunch of despotic rules: No assisting each other; You must carry all of your equipment, food, and water for each day yourself; If your bike breaks, you must fix it yourself without assistance or withdraw. This led to one contestant, Eugene Christophe (nicknamed The Old Gaul) twice in two years breaking the front fork of his bike and walking for miles over the mountains to find a blacksmith shop where he could repair it. (He never won, but he had a lot of sympathetic fans.)

The race has changed a lot since then. Desgrange would not have liked it, but it is more popular than ever. Now, teams of up to nine riders each (200 max contestants) ride courses between 150 and 225 km long over the course of three weeks of July, with two rest days. They begin in various places in and around the country (this year beginning in Rotterdam), go over at least a little of each of the Alps and the Pyrenees, and since 1975 have ended with 8 laps on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. There are one or two riders on each team who are team captain, depending on the goals of the team; all the other riders are ‘domestiques’, there to help their captains through the stages without incident and to help them race faster. The domestiques may try to grab some glory in a stage win but their goal is not finish the race with the fastest overall time. That is the domain of the GC (Grand Competition?) contestants, men like Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador, or Lance Armstrong, the last having won each year between 1999 and 2005 (this is why he is famous – and he beat cancer first). (If there is a rider who is a champion in his own right, but who is working for another member of the team, he is called a ‘superdomestique’, like Fabian Cancellara or George Hincapie.)

Some technical notes – riding behind another cyclist is called drafting, and it can let a rider save up to 30% of his energy. The leader’s team will often set the pace, keeping their leader near the front where he is protected from crashes, which has the bonus effect of keeping him highly visible to the media. In flat stages with no mountains, the sprinters’ teams will take the lead in the last 5-10 km of a race (see below, after mountains).

The mountains and time trials are where the race is decided. The Prologue is usually a time trial, and for the last few years, Fabian Cancellara, “the Swiss Time Machine” (also nicknamed “Spartacus”), has won and gotten to wear the leader’s yellow jersey, the Maillot Jaune, for a few days. (There is also a white jersey for the fastest rider aged 25 and under.) This sorts all the cyclists into places, to see where they all stand in relation to each other. But it is the mountains that are really explosive. The strongest climbers go up the mountains like they were flying, while the rest flounder and struggle. Cancellara is not a strong climber, though he does his best, but the smaller riders like Schleck, Evans, or Contador have less weight and more drive.

There is also an award for the man who goes over the top of the most mountains first; the polka-dot (white with red dots) jersey. Most GC contenders aren’t interested in it; the yellow prize is bigger.

The sprinters, usually big men with big legs, struggle hugely on the mountains. Usually on the first climb, they fall off the peloton (as the main group of riders is called) and form a group called the autobus in order to make it over the climbs at their own pace. By the final stage, they will be as much as two or three hours behind the leaders. But they don’t care. Their goal is to win individual flat stages – and the coveted green points jersey. Points are awarded to the rider who crosses the finish line first, with decreasing numbers for the riders coming after them. The flat stages are thus kept interesting while letting the climbers conserve and regain their energy. The sprints are a work of art to watch; the ‘lead out train’ of each team jockeys for position in the kilometre leading up to the finish line – two or three riders in front of their main sprinter, letting him draft and pick up speed on the way to the line. As they tire, they will peel off, letting the man behind go even faster, until at last the final man shoots away at speeds up up to 75km an hour. Other sprinters without lead-out trains will follow the sprinter with a lead-out train, hoping to pass him in the last few metres. Currently, the ‘fastest man in the world’ is Mark Cavendish, the “Manx Missile” on the team HTC-Columbia. Once he goes, no one can get in front of him.

About crashes: they happen. They happen sometimes frequently. But unless a rider actually breaks his leg or his collarbone, they will usually continue, fighting against huge pain to complete the race, just to say they’ve done it, even if before they were a good contender for a top prize.

And of course no Tour is complete without watching it with the commentary of Phil Liggett, “the Voice of Cycling”, commentating since 1975, and his partner Paul Sherwen.

The Tour is an amazing sporting event, full of intense drama, beautiful scenery, exciting finishes, interesting personalities, clever tactics, and brilliant stories. I do not know if I’ve given it justice, but rest assured, this is only labelled Part 1, so anything I’ve forgotten can go in Part 2!

Cheers!

July 13, 2010

Andy is cutest Yellow Jersey ever?

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Filed under: Random blog posts — Tags: , , , , — Illinia @ 5:44 pm

More thoughts on today’s craaaaazy stage through the Alps…

The Tour headed through the region of Savoy, which, as Cedric is proud to point out, his family used to rule several centuries ago. (However, he still hates the name enough to change it to Spry. Why? I do not know. Cedric is a strange animal.)

Cadel was riding with a broken arm; he fell off the leaders rather early on the last climb of the day, the terrifying Col de la Madeleine. I still think he can win, or at least come in third, but it will take some grit. Fortunately, he’s an Australian ex-mountain biker, so he is not lacking in that. I bet he’s in pain though, and I hope that he gets a chance to heal and recover through the next few stages that are a bit flatter. His team was really super today, though I was also surprised to see George Hincapie going backwards even sooner than Cadel. However, he’s not called Big George for nothing; the big guys find mountains hard. The climbers – Cadel, Andy, Contador – they’re all between 140 and 155 lbs.

I still hope Cadel can be the first Australian to win the Tour – maybe not this year, but just you wait! He was looking awesome in the first week, and it was only a silly little crash two days ago that did him in. He still has a special jersey, though, the World Champion’s rainbow jersey, which he totally deserves. I have heard that he has been in the past somewhat irritable, but he seems really nice to me! Phil and Paul say that he’s more relaxed now. He was so upset at the end of the stage… He really is a nice guy. He has all my support, and I don’t think he did anything wrong at all; he doesn’t have to apologise for anything. He just had a bad couple of days, which can happen to anyone – look at the Armstrong for the most media-centric example.

Also kudos to Ryder Hesjedal! He’s not in the top bunch anymore, but he still gave a really strong showing today on one of the hardest stages - and he’s also a big guy.

On the other hand, Andy is the cutest cyclist in the world and I also really hope he wins this year! He’s definitely going to win white, hands down – barring some freak accident or something. He’s riding strong, and he can probably beat Contador in mountains – they say Contador is going to improve, but Andy is going to improve too. Of course he’s missing Frank, but he showed today that he is really strong all by himself (also I can’t believe Jens Voigt – he kills himself EVERY DAY for SaxoBank. It’s ridiculous!!). The only thing he needs to improve is his time trial, (he was a minute behind teammate Cancellara, world time trialing champ, (nicknamed the Swiss Time Machine) in the prologue this year) and maybe he will do that thing where, you know, when they smell the yellow jersey in Paris waiting for them, it’s like suddenly their feet are on fire. We saw that last year with Contador when he beat Cancellara in the final time trial. So either Andy will gain enough time in the Pyrenees to win outright, or else he might just suddenly ride a fabulous time trial. Either way, he’s going to win a Tour in the next few years. It’s just a matter of which one.

And of course he is the cutest cyclist in the Tour – tall and lanky and with a narrow face that lights up when he smiles, and that surprisingly deep voice – and of course, because he is a cyclist, very nice legs. …Dad says that he looks like a rabbit, but I don’t know what he’s talking about.

No, I don’t have a fancrush on him, why do you ask? 8)

<3

<3

This picture is from this article randomly searched on Google Images…
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