Photo of the Day: Frfuggitivi in Ft. Langley

Our mini Nirvana

photo: Richard Lee

One of the pleasanter aspects of riding is stopping for a chat and coffee. 

Our Sunday Frfuggitivi group fought back some unexpected rain and arrived at a picturesque coffee shop in Ft. Langley. It was our turnaround point before heading back to New Westminster. A total of 70kms of scenic riding.

Tour du Suisse: In the Hot Seat

"Waiting in the hot seat"

via Shimanoroad

The cycling gods were looking after Cameron Meyer on stage 1 of the Tour du Suisse.

An early departure, part of the first group of riders and favorable weather was key to help guide the young Aussie to the fastest time of 9'40 over the 8.1 km course. 

DS Lorenzo Lapage said, " Any day there is a first stage time trial, the team can choose in which order it wants to race it's riders. We knew there was a big chance of rain in the afternoon, so we purposefully put Cam early. Most teams put their GC guys in the last wave as a general rule. We did something different today and it paid dividends. It was a little bit of luck and some good planning combined with a super, super ride."

Enjoy this Backstage Pass and well-timed for Cameron Meyer!

1	Cameron MEYER	AUS	OGE	9:39
2	Niki TERPSTRA	NED	OPQ	+10
3	Heinrich HAUSSLER	AUS	IAM	+14
4	Alex RASMUSSEN	DEN	GRS	+15
5	Gorka VERDUGO MARCOTEGUI	ESP	EUS	+16
6	Reto HOLLENSTEIN	SUI	IAM	+16
7	Michel KOCH	GER	CAN	+18
8	Peter VELITS	SVK	OPQ	+19
9	Ryder HESJEDAL	CAN	GRS	+19
10	Matteo TOSATTO	ITA	TST	+19
11	Giovanni VISCONTI	ITA	MOV	+20
12	Mathias FRANK	SUI	BMC	+21
13	Cyril LEMOINE	FRA	SOJ	+22
14	Alexsandr DYACHENKO	KAZ	AST	+22
15	Philippe GILBERT	BEL	BMC	+22
16	Fabian CANCELLARA	SUI	RLT	+22
17	Arnaud DEMARE	FRA	FDJ	+25
18	Maxime MONFORT	BEL	RLT	+25
19	Grégory RAST	SUI	RLT	+27
20	Amaël MOINARD	FRA	BMC	+27

Ryder Hesjedal, "It's not the end of the world."

photo Fabio Ferrari

Set back continues for Ryder Hesjedal.

Yesterday's ITT to Saltara was a worrisome blip on the Giro radar for our defending champion. He dropped from third to sixth overall. Today's hilly stage 9 on the final climb up the Fiesole, he looked strained and lost 66 seconds to race leader Vincenzo Nibali. Unfortunately, he plunges to 11th by 3:11.

Hesjedal shared his post-stage thoughts with Neal Rogers of Velonews and attributed his problems to...

"TT butt."

"The day after a TT, your glutes and piriformis are just destroyed. It just kind of shuts down the lower part of your body. It's not the end of the world, I just had a bad moment. If it had happened on a 10km climb to the finish, my Giro would be over."

Jonathan Vaughters on Twitter...

"Well, on to plan B in the Giro, Rest on the rest day, then figure out how to liven up the race for the second half."

Hesjedal said, "I'm still less than two minutes off the podium. This is the Giro. It's been nine brutal days. I'm here to race and give it my best. I hope we're not forgetting who won the race last year. By no means is it an easy feat to pull that off again, but I'm here. I'm trying. I will try to rebound from today, and rely on the fact that I know I have my best performances in the latter part of a three-week race. There are still two weeks to race. There is plenty of opportunity to climb back."


A rest day is welcome to help heal a tired body. Early days still plus the weight of the nation is... behind him!

photo: Cyclingart

Giro d'ltalia: Mountain Madness

I discovered this interesting image off Twitter and it pretty much sums up the wintry racing of this Spring.

This is the fantastic image of stage 4, Tour of Romandie. It reminds me of the epic and iconic image of
Andy Hampsten climbing the Gavia in a blizzard. The skiers and the wall of snow put it in context.

As we get ready for the 96th Giro d'ltalia, there will be seven monster mountain top finishes. Here's a few that would scare any rider...

What's French will be Italian (for a day), Stage 15 (149km) will tackle the Col du Télégraphe finishing on top of the Col du Galibier. Is there snow? In the 1996 Tour, the Galibier stage was rerouted due to snow.

Stage 19 (139km): will include the famous Passo Gavia, Passo dello Stelvio (Cima Coppi) and the finish on top of the Val Martello. Is snow in the Spring forecast? You can't bet against it. Have a look at the Stelvio snow cam here and start shivering.

Stage 20 (203km): And if it wasn't hard enough, the riders will see if their legs are still with them on the Queen stage, the tough Passo Giau then the finish on the steep Tre Cime di Lavaredo.

Maglia Azzurra,

King of the Mountains jersey

Liège-Bastogne-Liège... Priceless!

PRICELESS!

-Doug Ellis, Chairman Slipstream Sports

Paris Roubaix: 'A Bit Like Fun'.

All Photos: Velonews

If all can be said about this Paris-Roubaix is that it was a mixture of pain and pleasure. Follow Orica GreenEDGE as Backstage Pass honors plenty of pain with very little pleasure. Sebastian Langeveld finished seventh and best Orica rider, a good day for him but for many a terrible experience. Watching Yoann Offredo's nasty accident with a traffic sign made me shudder.

Enjoy the amazing images and sit back and enjoy an entertaining Backstage Pass!

Orica GreenEDGE Backstage Pass...

Good things will come soon!

Tyler Farrar

Juan Antonio Flecha's new 

Bianchi Infinito CV... 

Countervail vibration cancelling technology to reduce vibrations

while increasing frame rigidity. 27mm Tubs, FSA crankset 53/45 special for Flecha,

San Marco Regal saddle, 40mm medium profile carbon wheels, Campy SuperRecord mechanical groupset.

Taylor Phinney's new Giro kicks.

French revelation:

Damien Gaudin (5th place)

via Colnago official page

Paris-Roubaix 2013 Results
SUI  1  CANCELLARA, Fabian (RADIOSHACK LEOPARD)            5:45:33
BEL  2  VANMARCKE, Sep (BLANCO PRO CYCLING)                
NED  3  TERPSTRA, Niki (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)         +    31
BEL  4  VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING)                    
FRA  5  GAUDIN, Damien (EUROPCAR)                          
CZE  6  STYBAR, Zdenek (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)         +    39
NED  7  LANGEVELD, Sebastian (ORICA GREENEDGE)             
ESP  8  FLECHA GIANNONI, Juan Antonio (VACANSOLEIL-DCM)    
NOR  9  KRISTOFF, Alexander (KATUSHA)                      +    50
FRA  10 TURGOT, Sébastien (EUROPCAR)                       
AUS  11 HAUSSLER, Heinrich (IAM CYCLING)                   
AUT  12 EISEL, Bernhard (SKY PROCYCLING)                   
BEL  13 WYNANTS, Maarten (BLANCO PRO CYCLING)              
NED  14 BOOM, Lars (BLANCO PRO CYCLING)                    
DEN  15 BRESCHEL, Matti (SAXO-TINKOFF)                     
BEL  16 LEUKEMANS, Björn (VACANSOLEIL-DCM)                 
FRA  17 CHAINEL, Steve (AG2R LA MONDIALE)                  
NED  18 TJALLINGII, Maarten (BLANCO PRO CYCLING)           
FRA  19 CHAVANEL, Sylvain (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)      
BEL  20 VANDENBERGH, Stijn (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)     
ITA  21 PAOLINI, Luca (KATUSHA)                            +  1:00
ITA  22 POZZATO, Filippo (LAMPRE-MERIDA)                   +  2:52
USA  23 PHINNEY, Taylor (BMC RACING)                       +  3:13
GER  24 SIEBERG, Marcel (LOTTO BELISOL)                    
NED  25 SINKELDAM, Ramon (ARGOS-SHIMANO)                   
FRA  26 LE BON, Johan (FDJ)                                +  3:17
FRA  27 MONDORY, Lloyd (AG2R LA MONDIALE)                  
GER  28 DEGENKOLB, John (ARGOS-SHIMANO)                    +  3:29
FRA  29 PETIT, Adrien (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS)         
GER  30 WAGNER, Robert (BLANCO PRO CYCLING)                
ITA  31 GUARNIERI, Jacopo (ASTANA PRO TEAM)                
ITA  32 SABATINI, Fabio (CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING)           
GER  33 KLUGE, Roger (NETAPP - ENDURA)                     
SUI  34 SCHÄR, Michael (BMC RACING)                        
NOR  35 HUSHOVD, Thor (BMC RACING)                         
NED  36 VEELERS, Tom (ARGOS-SHIMANO)                       
ESP  37 VENTOSO ALBERDI, Francisco José (MOVISTAR TEAM)    
BEL  38 KEISSE, Iljo (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)           
ITA  39 BANDIERA, Marco (IAM CYCLING)                      
FRA  40 MALACARNE, Gael (BRETAGNE - SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT)   
SUI  41 ELMIGER, Martin (IAM CYCLING)                      
FRA  42 HINAULT, Sébastien (IAM CYCLING)                   
BEL  43 ROELANDTS, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL)                  
BEL  44 DE BACKER, Bert (ARGOS-SHIMANO)                    
FRA  45 MINARD, Sébastien (AG2R LA MONDIALE)               
BEL  46 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (ORICA GREENEDGE)                 
NOR  47 BOASSON HAGEN, Edvald (SKY PROCYCLING)             
GER  48 THURAU, Bjorn (EUROPCAR)                           
RUS  49 GUSEV, Vladimir (KATUSHA)                          +  3:32
BEL  50 VAN SUMMEREN, Johan (GARMIN SHARP)                 
GBR  51 STANNARD, Ian (SKY PROCYCLING)                     
AUS  52 HAYMAN, Mathew (SKY PROCYCLING)                    
NZL  53 ROULSTON, Hayden (RADIOSHACK LEOPARD)              +  6:07
BEL  54 DEVOLDER, Stijn (RADIOSHACK LEOPARD)               +  6:11
BEL  55 STEEGMANS, Gert (OMEGA PHARMA - QUICK-STEP)        
POL  56 BODNAR, Maciej (CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING)            
BEL  57 BOECKMANS, Kris (VACANSOLEIL-DCM)                  
USA  58 FARRAR, Tyler (GARMIN SHARP)                       +  8:37
ESP  59 ROJAS GIL, Jose Joaquin (MOVISTAR TEAM)            + 10:27
GRE  60 TAMOURIDIS, Ioannis (EUSKALTEL EUSKADI)            

Frfuggitivi: Belgian Beer Day, Paris-Roubaix & Croquettes aux crevettes

It's Belgian Beer Day!

All Photos: Mario Bartel

This past Saturday evening our Frfuggitivi squad officially launched the start of the 2013 season; enjoying Belgian Beer Day, talking Paris-Roubaix, meeting new riders and having a good time at Spud Shack in New Westminster.

The discussion was mainly about our upcoming season, new routes and Sunday's Classic. In my opinion, one Belgian beer stood out... Tripel Karmeliet. A yeasty fruity Belgian that smacked with 8.4% goodness. The lovely hostess behind the bar mentioned with every purchase of this tasty malty beer a special glass is included. What an incentive!

Prost!

John asked me a Paris-Roubaix question that I had difficulty answering. No, I had not started to drink the Belgian bombshell beer, so I was clear of mind when he asked me, he goes...


'Peter Van Petegem and Johan Museeuw both wore the Domo jerseys to victory, who was the third rider, of the same team, to win Roubaix?'


I didn't know, even Guy couldn't answer the question. I'll let you our faithful reader ponder this, I won't reveal the answer yet... I'll give you a chance. Now, no looking it up online!


The Spudshack crew deserves our Thanks for their hospitality, great beers and tasty Kroketten/croquettes. I looked it up online afterwards and it's Belgian filled with shrimp - garnaalkroketten/croquettes aux crevettes.  Our Frfuggitivi squad are planning a summit ride in the Northshore mountains and that means I better get in shape.

Before this happens, it's time for another beer... Prost!




Ok, give up? Here's the answer.

Richard