This weekend, SLU Cycling embarked upon it’s first Collegiate Cycling Weekend of the new 2009 season. Race weekend #1, Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky. Things started out well early in the week, as forecasts were calling for low 50’s to high 40’s. As the team’s resident meteorologist, I knew not much stock could be placed in that forecast. How quickly things began to change. As Thursday approached, things were looking grim. We arrived in Murray, KY, on Friday evening to brisk temperatures in the high 30’s with windy conditions. A storm was brewing.

Saturday morning broke with dreary conditions out the hotel window, a luxurious Super 8. Clouds blanketed the sky and the flags were flapping wildly. The vans got packed and we headed out towards the course. To Murray State’s credit, everything went smoothly. Registration was a breeze. The Men’s C, Women’s B, and Men’s D were the first races off. SLU had a representative in each. I, Austin Gibbons, toed the line in the C’s. Aimee Warnke, our new freshman triathlete (Woo Triathletes!), stepped up in the Women’s B in her first road race. And Peter Ehrhard lined up in the Men’s D. Conditions were not ideal. As the first three races went off the skies opened with a light drizzle that picked up to a steady rain throughout the early races. The rain, in concert with, the temperatures, which were holding steady in the low 30’s made for some very serious Hard Man conditions.  I can say, due to my past crashing reputation, I began the season racing quite scared. I sat off the back of the pack, as there was much yo-yo’ing in the pack. This was not wise, as with a rolling opening few miles, I got popped off the back on a longer descent. I dangled off the back for most of the first lap staying within the field’s sights, but never able to pull it back. Sadly, I felt great, and ended up TT’ing (my specialty) through half the field that had also gotten popped off, to finish middle of the pack. Aimee, also new to mass start racing, started out a bit uncomfortably, but hung tough with the lead pack for the entire 2 lap, 32 mile race, which had a couple good climbing efforts in there. She was however, unaware the finish line was where it was, understandably, and didn’t sprint, but garnered a very solid 9th. Peter hung in there in a tough race in the Men’s D, as the Wisconsin team held to tradition and gunned it from the start. He finished strong and quickly changed into dry clothes.

The second grouping contained the Men’s A, Women’s A, and Men’s B fields. SLU had two representatives in the Men’s B field, in Matt Favoino and Rory King. This was not a spectator’s course, thus the details will be limited, but it sounds like it was quite a race. The first lap went pretty according to plan, and the field passed by the first lap intact. The fireworks began on lap 2, as the course meandered north into a very strong 25-30 mph headwind. Near the end of the northward trek into the wind, a fairly taxing climb, about 1/4 mile long layed in front. This time around, a couple riders made it off the front. Matt, however, was poorly positioned and had to really fire it up the climb. He weaved through a few riders and pushed to the front and the break was under way. The break was very well organized and very well represented. It contained a Marian, Indiana, Depaul, Southern Illinois, and SLU rider. They pace-lined to a substantial lead after the remainder of lap 2. They came through the finish line with 1 to go with a substantial margin of near 2 minutes. As the field came through, Rory was working well with Indiana at blocking the field, allowing the break to build its advantage. As they came through lap 2, the weather started to turn for the worse. Now we had a fine mix of precipitation coming down. Rain, Sleet, and Snow pelted the riders along with dropping temperatures to the upper 2o’s. Epic conditions they were. Finally (I was cold), they came through and the break of attrition was left to who had something left, after dropping the Marian rider well back, the four breakers assaulted the line. Matt came in a bike length of the lead and tire width ahead of third for a solid 2nd place showing. Rory came in with the field and sprinted to a mid-pack finish. All in all, an epic day of racing.

Sunday came around full swing. The threat of snow overnight left the team wondering what Sunday would hold. We awoke to an inch or so on the ground, but the road surfaces did not accumulate any snow and had actually dried out from the high winds. Thus, the criterium was on. We arrived at the course. It was, interesting, to say the least. A parking lot crit was on the menu, with 12 turns in a 0.5 mile lap. Needless to say, it was technical and had ice and salt on the course, leading to wet conditions as it melted. Marian actually protested the course and took all of its riders home.

The races nonetheless went forward. Men’s D started off and Peter had some bad luck and flatted on the first lap. He didn’t have a backup rear wheel, thus his race was over. Crashes galore ensued as rider after rider went down on the technical turns. Things were looking ominous for the day. A Wisconsin rider then preceded to eliminate basically the entire field by lapping them one by one, and on the final lap, only 6 other riders remained of 30 starters. Aimee had another solid showing, holding on for a 10th place finish in the crit. She also got a flat, but luckily this was her front tire, and we throw on a spare wheel and she got back into the race and fought back in for a couple spots. She raced hard for her first crit, and held up well, rubber side down for the whole race.

The Men’s B came upon us and Matt and Rory toed the line. The field was smaller, about only 15-20 riders started. But Rory was feeling aggressive and he and a SIU rider went off the front, and built a good lead while working well together. Matt tried to quell any chasers, but on the technical course, it didn’t work to well. Rory and his break companion held a steady lead about 1o minutes into the race until he hit a wet patch on a 180 degree turn and slid out. He took his free lap and jumped back into the break, but a lap later, with his rear wheel out of true and rubbing the break, his day was over. Matt had to get on the attack and moved to the front. A Depaul rider went off the front and built a lead, and Matt followed trying to get on his wheel. He dangled off his wheel for 10-15 minutes before officially bridging up. They worked together to pull away from the field. The last lap came through with Matt on the front. He attacked into the wind on the hardest part of the course, built a small gap and kicked it into the final turns. Coming out of the last corner, Matt was out front, but at the line the Depaul rider came around and pipped him by about half a wheel. Another day, another second place for Matt. However, two second places on the weekend in the Men’s B was a quality start to the season.

A quick stop into Tom’s Pizza for 3 14″ pizzas, and a fuel up, and the first weekend was over. No serious incidents, and some good success. Next up comes Depauw University. And with trips to Indiana and I-70 come dinner stops to El Rancherito. Oh yes, nothing like an irritable bowel the morning of race. Stay tuned for more SLU Cycling results.

Attacks started at about 30km to go, but all were reigned in. Today came to a sprint finish with Gert Steegmans (QuickStep) winning the final stage of the 2008 Tour de France.

Here is your 2008 top ten finishers in GC:

1 Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxobank)
2 Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto)
3 Bernhard Kohl (Gerolsteiner)
4 Dennis Menchov (Rabobank) 
5 Christian Vande Velde (Garmin)
6 Frank Schleck (CSC-Saxobank)
7 Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel)
8 Kim Kirchen (Columbia)
9 Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne)
10 Tadej Valjavec (Ag2R)

Green Jersey Winner: Oscar Freire (Rabobank)

KOM Jersey Winner: Bernhard Kohl (Gerolsteiner)

Young Rider Jersey Winner: Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxobank)

Team Award: CSC-Saxobank

Congrats to Carlos Sastre and all the riders of the 2008 Tour.

Matt and I would like to thank all the readers on this site for reading and commenting on our coverage. Talk to you all next Tour de France. And to the team members reading, see you in the fall.

I cannot really do play by play for a TT, so I will list the stage top 10 and then the GC top ten. On the stage is: 

1 Schumacher 1:03:50
2 Cancellara @ :21
3 Kim Kirchen @ 1:01
4 Vande Velde @ 1:05
5 Millar @ 1:37
6 Menchov @ 1:55
7 Evans @ 2:05
8 Lang @ 2:19
9 Kohl @ 2:21
10 Hincapie @ 2:28

Congrats to Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) on the win, his second this tour, both coming from the ITTs.

The GC is:

1 Sastre
2 Evans @ 1:05
3 Kohl @ 1:20
4 Menchov @ 2:00
5 Vande Velde @ 3:12
6 Schleck @ 4:28
7 Samuel Sanchez @ 6:32
8 Kim Kirchen @ 7:02
9 Alejandro Valverde @ 7:26
10 Tadej Valjavec @ 9:12

Congrats to CSC as well, it seems that they have won three competitions in the 2008 Tour de France. Look in tomorrow for the last stage of the Tour, riding into Paris via the Champs Elysees.

Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Pierrick Fedrigo (Bouygues Telecom), Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), and Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) went in an early break today on the first cat. 3 climb. They were caught a little later in the stage, and didn’t manage to stay out for even half the stage. Liquigas took on the chase to catch them.

Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) and Francaise des Jeux’s Jeremy Roy attack the main group and get a gap. At 33km to go the break had over four minutes.

The break sticks today and Chavenel is the winner of stage 19. No changes in jerseys or GC today. Tune in tomorrow to see if CSC can defend its leads in the team, young rider, and GC classifications. Tomorrow’s stage is the ITT, and the last chance for Cadel Evans to take the lead. CSC truely has been dominate this Tour.

Towards the end of the stage is a small climb and the breaks are still away. It seems that they will stick today.

The breaks have mini attacks and breaks and the duo sprint for the finish. Marcus Burghardt (Columbia) wins, the fifth stage win for team Columbia. Barredo comes in second. All jerseys stayed the same.

Although everyone was thinking about the famous climb at the end of the stage today, the peleton had to worry about a few other obstacles first. The Col du Galibier and the Col de la Croix de Fer stood in front of the riders when the day began. The aggression started very early with Ruben Perez (Euskaltel), Remy Di Gregorio (FdJeux), Peter Velits (Team Milram), and Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) getting a gap to tackle the climbs on their own. Schumacher has been in the spotlight quite a bit throughout this year’s Tour.

The breakaway never was given a huge leash, especially with CSC-Saxobank lining up their boys and just drilling it for much of the stage. On the Col de la Croix, Velits was the only member of the breakaway to go over the top still in front of the hard-charging field. CSC had the group moving at a furious pace, but they couldn’t quite crack any of the yellow jersey contenders. Jerome Pineau (Bouygues Telecom) left the lead group to join Velits after descending, only to be eaten up before the base of the dreaded final climb.

All of the GC contenders were there when Alp d’Huez was right before their eyes. Carlos Sastre (CSC-Saxobank) was really the first to attack and took Denis Menchov (Rabobank) with him. The gap was closed fairly quickly, but soon enough, Sastre was on the attack again. This time the group had no answer. He had both Schleck brothers back in the group and making sure to cover anyone that would try to bridge up to him. Once Sastre got a gap, he was gone for good. All of the GC guys gathered around Frank Schleck (CSC-Saxobank) to climb around the yellow jersey. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) was forced to do most of the pace-making and he continued to look like he was about to collapse (like he always does when he climbs). Sastre would roll over the line by himself, taking the glory of an Alp d’Huez stage win along with the yellow jersey.

The GC guys continued to fight it out to gain some time on each other. Samuel Sanchez (Euskatel) put in an attack that was covered by Andy Schleck (CSC-Saxobank) and those two would come in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The rest of the GC guys came in at about the same time.

So here goes the new GC…

1. Carlos Sastre

2. Frank Schleck 1.24

3. Bernhard Kohl 1.33

4. Cadel Evans 1.34

5. Denis Menchov 2.39

6. Christian Vande Velde 4.41

With Sastre’s extremely questionable TT ability, I can’t see him running into Paris in yellow. As much as I hate to say it, I think Evans will wrap this thing up in the TT and win over Frank Schleck and Menchov by less than a minute. Hopefully I’m wrong…

Several attacks and counters went off early in the stage until a true break was established about 40km into the race. The break contained over 20 men before it broke up into smaller groups. Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) took off by himself to get over the Col de Lombarde first. The first chase group was back a few minutes and the yellow jersey group, led by CSC-Saxobank, sat at about 10 minutes back.

On the 2nd HC climb of the day, the break began to shrink as riders fell off the pace and the yellow jersey group kept a steady pace. CSC riders wasted themselves for their leader and popped Christian Vandevelde (Garmin-Chipotle) off the back. When the lead riders went over the top, Schumacher had been caught by Yaroslav Popovych (Silence Lotto), Kanstantin Sivtsou (Columbia), John-Lee Augustyn (Barloworld), Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r), George Hincapie (Columbia), Cyril Dessel (Ag2r), Sandy Casar (FdJeux), and David Arroyo (Caisse d’Epargne). At the end of the climb and on the fast and technical descent, Popovych, Dessel, Casar, and Arroyo got a gap that would stick for the rest of the race. Dessel took the victory at the bottom of the descent, which is a big one for the French on such a difficult stage.

The yellow jersey group went over the top and a few rider fell off the pace on the descent. The biggest loser aside from Vandevelde was Denis Menchov (Rabobank) who would lose 30 seconds to Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto).

Top 5 GC looks like this…

1. Frank Schleck (Lux, CSC-Saxo Bank, 68:30:16
2. Bernhard Kohl (A), Gerolsteiner, at 0:07
3. Cadel Evans (Aus), Silence-Lotto, at 0:08
4. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC-Saxo Bank, at 0:49
5. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, at 1:13

If Cadel can stay within a minute or so of the yellow jersey after tomorrow’s stage I think he has a great shot at winning the whole race with a good TT performance. Bernhard Kohl should definitely be one to watch during tomorrow’s stage up the treacherous Alp d’Huez.

The race was in the rain today, as a breakaway containing Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), Jose Luis Arrieta (Agr2), Simon Gerrans (Credit Agricole) and Danny Pate (Garmin) gained up to 13 minutes on the field.

Stijn Devolder of Quick Step retired from the race as the main group goes over the first climb of the day.

Caisse d’Epargne’s Oscar Pereiro went over the guard rail on a descent, and has broken his collarbone.

Large crash by a roundabout on the flat between the big climbs. CSC is on the front pushing the pace.

There is just 28k to go and the break still has a 14:30 advantage.

Many attacks and counters on the final climb, and the break’s lead is falling…

The break sticks! Simon Gerrans (Credit Agricole) wins the stage. Frank Schleck (CSC) is the yellow jersey leader now, Bernhard Kohl (Gerolsteiner) is the new KOM leader. Lots of great racing today.

Today was hot and sunny, and as usual a break had formed. Today was a little uneventful, but I will give you the rundown.

At 50km to go the break had a little over two minutes in advantage.

Milram and Liquigas (who recently signed Ivan Basso) pick up the chase.

There are some attacks on the small climb going to the finish, but none stick.

There is a mass sprint finish, and Oscar Freire (Rabobank) wins.

No change in jerseys or GC.