Blogs I follow that are (more or less) about cycling.
If you type “jonathan tiernan locke doping” into Google my blog comes out near the top of the first page. This is because on my Home Page there are two posts that mention Jonathan Tiernan-Locke and one that discusses Jan Ulrich’s recent two-year ban. The Ulrich post talks about doping.
I just want to make it clear that I do not suspect Jonathan Tiernan-Locke of doping.
Turns out I was wrong.
Last weekend Jonathan Tiernan-Locke, won two stages and the overall at Tour Méditerranéen. There was a suspicion that he was slightly lucky and that the shortened stages (due to snow) had somehow helped him. This weekend was the Tour du Haut Var a two-day stage race held in the hills above Cannes and St-Tropez. The stage lengths are around the 200km mark and some of the bigger boys came out to play as well.
A breakaway dominated Stage 1 from Draguignan – La Croix Valmer (189.2 km). Two of them held on to the finish. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (JT-L from now on to save typing) jumped clear of the peleton on the finishing climb to finish in third place, six seconds behind, and set himself up for today.
Stage 2 from Fréjus – Fayence (205.4 km) was a bit of a brute. Five cols and a viciously steep final kilometre.
The early part of the race had the inevitable breakaway, but JT-L’s team Endura Racing and the Bretagne-Schuller (who had the race lead) with a bit of help from Garmin-Barracuda and BMC rode tempo until it all came back together at the penultimate climb. JT-L started to attack at this point, not full throttle as it was too far out, but hard enough to thin the peleton out and get a feel for who had the legs. This caused a break to form of about ten riders and that is the point at which the video starts.
Three things stood out on the video, when an attack went from the break he didn’t panic, he just settled in, recovered and made sure that he was ready for the final climb, the second thing was just how fast he comes up the hill, The third was that he was going so quickly he almost overcooked an uphill hairpin bend.
The Haut Var website has a video of most of Stage 2 and a full review of Stage 1. Commentary is (obviously) in French. If you have a couple of hours to waste, watch it. Near the beginning of the video the presenter interviewed the great French cyclist Raymond Poulidor. Even though my French is not that great, I understood enough to know that he thinks that JT-L is the real thing. Stephen Roche is also convinced. See this from his Twitter feed.
I know that Philippe Gilbert is probably saving his uphill sprinting for the Fléche Wallon and Liege-Bastionge-Leige, and similarly with some of the other big names in the field, but it is still a very impressive start to the season. It should also get Endura invites to some bigger races. I for one would like to see what they can do in some of the hillier classics.
Robert Marchand has just broken the World (age-group) Record for the distance cycled in one hour.
The full story can be read here. Yesterday (Feb 17th) he rode 24.251km in the hour on the track at Aigle in Switzerland. He celebrated his 100th birthday on Nov 26 last year.
After completing the ride he said:
“For the last five years I have decided not to go for rides of more than 100km,” he went on, adding with supreme understatement, “There is no point going overboard. I want to keep cycling for some time yet.”
On second thoughts maybe I won’t try breaking the record. I’m not all that sure I could beat it now and am half his age.
The final act of the tragedy that became the farce known as “Jan and Operacion Puerto” , concluded a few days ago. The drama began with Jan Ulrich being thrown off the 2006 Tour de France. It ended with the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) giving him a meaningless (he retired in 2007) two-year ban running from August 2011. It also annulled all his results from May 2005 until his retirement. Cancelling his third place in the 2005 tour means that Francesco Mancebo is the rider who moves up a place. Richard Moore has a bit to say about this:
Whatever: it seems a bit rich of the UCI, cycling’s governing body, to have pursued Ullrich with such vengeance when they presided over — and, through their initial inaction, must take some responsibility for — an era so blighted by EPO. Why go after Ullrich and ignore others?
It is a farce that is confirmed by a study of the updated results of the 2005 Tour. With Ullrich’s third-place finish now airbrushed from history, Francisco Mancebo steps up to the podium. That’s the same Mancebo who, like Ullrich, was forced out of the 2006 Tour when his name was linked to Operacion Puerto. In fact, of the revised top ten, eight riders have either tested positive, served a ban or been under investigation for doping.
This leads to one conclusion. The problem was not Jan Ullrich.
The full article is here:Opinion: Richard Moore On The Career Of Jan Ullrich | Cyclingnews.com.
It is not clear how far Ullrich’s confessions as to the use of performance enhancing substances went but he has admitted to being involved with Dr Eufemiano Fuentes who ran the Madrid clinic associated with the Operacion Puerto blood doping investigation. He has described his actions as “being a mistake”. Every athlete caught doping describes their actions as being a “mistake”, usually they mean the mistake was in being caught, but he went on to apologise:
“I would like to sincerely apologise for this behaviour – I’m very sorry.”
“In retrospect I would act differently in some situations during my career.”
I have no idea if Jan Ullrich doped throughout his career. His introduction to cycling was through the old East German sports system, so it is quite possible. Having said that, he was not the only cyclist of that era to use performance enhancers. Jonathan Vaughters, now Garmin-Barracuda’s general manager, raced during the same period as Ullrich. He responded to the news with a series of tweets:
Ullrich was a classy rider and probably should have won more than he did, but he ran into Lance Armstrong, who might have been the better rider. Armstrong was certainly much more focused. If Armstrong had worn Adidas kit, as Ulrich did for much of his career, there would never have been any jokes about how far apart the stripes were in the early season races. Armstrong also probably had better support than Ullrich.
His only Tour de France Victory came in 1997, and it is from that tour that I take my abiding memory of Jan Ullrich the rider. His first day in the Yellow Jersey came on Stage 10 from Luchon to Andorra Arcalis. Bjarne Riis, the previous year’s winner, was the leader of the Telekom team, but was not going particularly well. Ullrich dropped back to the team car to ask if he could attack, permission was given, so he did, dropping every one, including climbers Richard Virenque and Marco Pantani. At one point (about 15:30) on the video you will see him looking around to admire the scenery, like a tourist out on a day ride. (He was probably looking across a bend to see how much distance he had put into Virenque and Pantani). That is my memory of him as a rider, just how easy he made it look that day.
I think I am correct in saying that the first eight riders to finish this stage have either been convicted of or admitted to doping. As Richard Moore said the problem was not Jan Ullrich.
Update 30/10/2012
As everyone now knows Armstrong was definitely ‘better prepared’ than Ulrich.
The new cycling season is barely a week old and British cyclists have so far recorded five wins, and only two of them from Mark Cavendish. Let’s list them:
We have come to expect Mark Cavendish to win most of the sprints that he contests,as he tweeted @MarkCavendish:
Well, that’s 2 wins from 2 contested sprints with @TeamSky. The lads were incredible at keeping me at the front of a hectic peloton. Thanks
Andy Fenn has just moved up to the ProTour level, joining Omega-Pharma Quickstep in the close season, and the Challenge Majorca races were I think his first ever races at this level, so it is a pretty good way to start. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke is still riding for a Pro-Continetal squad (Endura Racing), but he showed what he could do at last year’s Tour of Britain, when he won the King of the Mountains competition. His win came from a bold attack about two kilometres from the finish and managed to hold off the sprinters to hang on (just) for the win. In addition Adam Blythe (BMC) has been going well at the Tour of Qatar, picking up minor places.
So far it is looking good.
Update 12/02/2012 @ 17:30
Looking even better.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke has won the final stage and the overall at the Tour Méditerranéen.
Below is a video of his 1st stage victory.
Video of J T-L’s stage four victory. The stage had to be shortened because Mont Faron was closed due to snow. I don’t know if that helped him or not, but you can only win the race that you are competing in.
I know that the Tour Méditerranéen isn’t the biggest race in the world, but it is a significant step up from the Premier Calendar. This could be the beginning of something big. Don’t forget his team Endura Racing are British and have won more stage races this year than Sky.
This is the last Sunday in January, and I know that, in London at least, the temperature will probably drop below zero for the first time since about this time last year. The signs that spring is on the way are unmistakable though.
The Belgian sorry, World Cyclo-cross Championships have just taken place. In the cycling world this means that winter is almost past.
More to the point though, to-day was also the day that Le Grand Prix Cycliste La Marseillaise (L’Ouverture) took place. (The report and results link is in French.) For me, this marks the start of the cycling season and therefore the beginning of Spring.
Soon it will be Paris-Nice, Milan-San Remo, De Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Le Tour de France, all leading up to the Olympic Road Race in my back yard, on the roads that I ride week in, week out. Can’t wait.
Team Type 1 (See previous post) have some photos from the race on their Facebook page
Update: 20:10
Note: The domination by the Belgians (that’s a phrase that isn’t used too often) who took the first seven places, was only in the men’s championships. The women shared the honours around a bit more evenly, but even then, first and second were Dutch.
Further update 30/12/2011 16:30
GP d’Ouverture La Marseillaise 2012 – Highlights from France3
(h/t to Team Type 1)
I found this video on the Garmin Cycle Team’s website. I like the team’s ethos, especially the strong anti-doping stance. I like the way that are a team and not a bunch of riders who happen to wear the same jersey. I am also a great admirer of Jonathan Vaughters’ side burns.
Admittedly it is a bit of a puff piece, but I think it is worth watching.
There are no maps or elevation profiles for today’s journey. There was also very little cycling involved.
I needed to be at Heathrow by 11 o’clock on Sunday the 11th to collect Mrs johnm55 after her trip to Canada. (I also needed to be back at work at 8 o’clock on Monday the 12th). Cycling back home to Wallington unfortunately wasn’t an option. I could have probably thought up an excuse for not being back at work, but not picking Mrs johnm55 up at the airport…. I don’t like to think of the possible consequences.
As I had stayed the night with my sister and her husband, we loaded the bike back into the pick-up for the trip back to Duns to say cheerio to mum. My sister then took me down to Berwick to catch the train back to London. I put the bike in the guard’s van and settled down to make the return journey in fewer hours than it had taken me days to cycle up.
The East Coast Mainline follows roughly the same route as my bike trip, so as we flashed past various places I had been on the bike I took some photos through the window of the train.
The Tyne Bridges
The Angel of the North
York Minster – it is there honest
Having ate, drank and dozed my way back to London, I wheeled the bike out of King’s Cross Station onto the Euston Road ready to ride back home to Wallington. But… after a week of cycling on quiet back roads with about three cars per hour passing me, I decided that dicing with death and London traffic could wait for another day. So I wheeled the bike back to the station and onto the Thameslink train to East Croydon
The Galaxy on the train
I did have to cycle back from East Croydon, but I was up to that by the time I arrived.
The next morning I was up bright and early to make sure that I was at Heathrow in time to pick up a jet-lagged wife back from Toronto. We both had a good week.
Friday morning dawned bright and clear over Wooler. After a breakfast of porridge and toast I set off on the last leg of the trek to Duns (and what should have been last night’s evening meal). I was now back in the part of the world that I grew up in, on roads that I cycled long ago.
It was an easy day, just under thirty miles to ride and while it wasn’t flat there were no serious hills or wind to contend with. I decided to take the back road via Ford and Etal crossing the Tweed into Scotland at Norham. 
For the first part of the journey (as far as Norham) I followed National Cycle Route 68 although I ignored the off-road bits. Once you climb out of the valley of the River Till there are spectacular views across to the Cheviot Hills. Just over half way I crossed the Tweed into Scotland.
Writing about the Tweed and the Till reminded me of a dark little poem that I learned at school. The Battle of Flodden was fought near here and I think that the poem has its origin in the aftermath of battle.
Says Tweed tae Till,
“Why dae ye rin sae still?”
Says Till tae Tweed,
“Though ye rin wi’ speed,
whaer ye droon ae man
A droon twa”.
I was now in Scotland and took a photo of my bike to prove it
I forgot to take a picture of Norham Castle, so you will have to make do with Turner’s take on the scene.
After just over an hour’s ride through the rolling Berwickshire countryside I had reached my destination
By the time I had finished my shower and changed out of my cycling gear, Mum had lunch ready for me. It was a satisfying feeling to sit down to lunch knowing that I had cycled all the way from London to eat it. Later on my sister turned up with the pick-up to take Mum and I down to her house for dinner. I could have cycled there, it’s not much more than fifteen miles, but I was back wearing my normal clothes and I had done what I set out to do, so I put the bike in the back of the pick-up. Later on my brother and his wife turned up and we had a bit of a family reunion over my sister’s excellent food and probably a wee bit too much wine.
The Moorcock Inn does a very good breakfast, but it also lies about its location. If you click-through to their website you will see its address given as Hilltop, Egglestone. This is a lie, it is nowhere near the top of the hill. Well, I suppose the road does go down slightly for the first half mile or so, but then it goes up and keeps going up, sometimes alarmingly steeply for a long, long time.
On top of that my nemesis of a couple of days ago, the wind, was back with a vengeance. The first ten miles from “Hilltop” over the real top of the hill and down to Stanhope took well over an hour. It was so windy I was having to pedal going down a 10% slope to keep my speed up. The scenery was spectacular, and I had plenty of time to appreciate it, especially on the way up.
I made an executive decision in Stanhope and abandoned my original route over the hills via Hexham and Rothbury and took the wind and incline assisted route down the Wear valley which would eventually take me to Newcastle. It helped for a while. Going down the valley with the wind behind me I probably averaged over 30 km/hour for the first half-hour or so, but eventually I had to get out of the Wear Valley and into the Tyne. That meant more hills, though not as long and steep and more wind in my face, though not as strong.
My route now took me into Newcastle. The last time I had been to Newcastle was back in my days as an Engineer Cadet at South Shields Marine and Technical College. That was about thirty years ago. I would probably have saved myself about five or six miles if I had crossed the Tyne at one of the up river bridges. I decided that having made this detour through Newcastle that I might as well make a further detour and cross the Tyne on the Millennium Cycle Bridge.
Newcastle has changed a bit since my student days. The Quayside area which was derelict coal staithes and warehouses is now all smarted up and trendy. The roads also seem to have altered. It took me a while to find a way out that didn’t involve an urban motorway, but I eventually made it onto the back roads from Ponteland to Morpeth.
At this point my intention was still to make it to Duns today, but time was getting on and I still had over fifty miles to go. I decided that going straight up the main road from Morpeth to Coldstream would be quicker than the back roads. The A697 isn’t usually too busy because most of the north bound traffic goes up the A1.
There was one memorable point on the journey. I was descending in to a valley,I think it was the Coquet, and I looked across and thought to my self, the climb out the other side can’t be as steep as it looks, it must be foreshortening. The I looked down at my computer and saw it reading 85km/h and thought maybe it is as steep as it looks.
By the time I was getting up to Wooler it was around seven in the evening. There were still at least two hours in the saddle to get to Duns. I decided to stay the night at the Wooler Youth Hostel. I called my mum to say that I wouldn’t make it that night, but she could have my lunch ready for me the next day if she wanted. My sister offered to come and collect me and the bike, but the idea was to cycle up to Duns not just to get there, so I said thanks, but no thanks and had a night on the town in Wooler.
A Scotsman in Suburbia 