Crash, bang, Petacchi - again

Stage 11 of the Giro saw another crash and another big, strong, fast Alessandro Petacchi victory. Balducci 2nd, McEwen 3rd. Not that I am complaining but it would be nice to see someone else win - maybe tomorrow? Definitely not a stage for the flatland sprinters. Yes, folks, it's the Col D'Izoard. Doesn't sound so much like the tour of Italy, does it? Ah, those Alps, they get around!

Another Giro sprint

This time Napolitano overtook both Petacchi and McEwen, denying them both their expected win. No such luck tomorrow as the Giro heads back into the mountains. McEwen has suffered from a stomach bug - if he's recovering - as it appears - then this will test him out. If he is OK then expect his team to rally and get him over the top within the time limit.

Renshaw, Petacchi, you name it

Mark Renshaw picked up a stage win at the Tour de Picardie whilst Petacchi took win number 21 at the Giro. Landis? Landis who?

Petacchi takes sprint 2

It had to happen. After a luckless 2006 Giro, breaking his kneecap, Alessandro is finally back to the big time, winding his 53x11 up in his typical 'none-shall-pass' way. It's not the prettiest sprint but it's darned effective. McEwen was 4th this time.

Just to comment briefly on sprinters, there are more ways than one way to skin a cat, so to speak. You can wind up a huge gear behind a train of riders - like Petacchi usually does, although today's parcours didn't suit that approach - and take the risk that you (a) will fade and get rolled at the line or (b) that you aren't as strong as you thought you were and just can't accelerate that huge gear, in which case you get jumped or rolled anyway; or you can rely on rat cunning, sit in and spin a bit more, and either roll the power guys at the end or use your better kick to jump 'em and gap 'em a little earlier on. Of course it's more complex than that as different roads and obstacles arise that may derail your train, or someone else will jump first and gap you. And even a small rise will feel like a leg-snapper in 53x11. You can train to your strengths, like Petacchi, and organise a power train to bring you up to speed, but it's also good to have a range of tricks up your sleeve and be adaptable, because anything may happen in a sprint. And lastly, you have to train both for power and kick. Today Petacchi proved he had that grab-bag of tricks and had done the training. He also had the luck of someone who took a bit of a chance and just went for it...

McEwen takes first Giro road stage

The McEwen formula is simple. Start the year early with some wins in Oz, to prove he's still got it. Go back to Europe and prove it again by getting into "the form of his life", only to get sick and lay low for a few months, missing some targets that he really wanted but never seems to be able to get. Then struggle back, just off the pace, just in time. With 2 races to go grovel at the back, just keeping within the time limit. Then win again, seemingly from nowhere, when no one is looking for him. Then front up at a Grand Tour and take the first stage. Easy as pie.

McEwen had good form earlier in the year, indeed he said he was climbing better than he ever has (being not a noted climber, of course, but better at it than 90% of the rest of us). Then he got sick. He always does. Somehow he gets enough form to hang in there on the first Grand Tour Giro stage, when the likes of Hushovd and Haedo are dropped and the bunch is thinned to a top 30 or so. Somehow his team get him into that selection, they grind back the gap to the breakaway and deliver him to the last 2 or 3 kms. He takes it from there, just sittin' in and waiting for Petacchi's train to leave the station. And then jump off, just in time to take the win. CN report here.

Kelly, O'Grady, Paris-Roubaix and Le Tour

OK, it's stunning. Stuart O'Grady has won Paris-Roubaix. It's (sadly) not big news here in Australia, at least we haven't heard a lot about it yet - but it should be HUGE. Hopefully as the news filters through it will get some more attention.

As Cyclingnews points out today, "In addition to first being the race's first Australian victor, O'Grady became the first English-speaking rider since the great Sean Kelly to win Paris-Roubaix, and not only the first Australian, but indeed the first cyclist from any Commonwealth country to win this race (Kelly is from Eire, which is not part of the Commonwealth). And the last time O'Grady won a race on a velodrome, it was nothing less than a Gold medal in the Madison at the Athens 2004 Olympics (with Graeme Brown)."

Before Stuey won I was going to note (as Irish hard-man and road sprinter Sean Kelly does here in Cyclingnews) that the way pro riders target their season has changed over the last 20-30 years. CN also recently reported that "the last time a rider did the Paris-Roubaix-Tour de France double was Bernard Hinault in 1981. Before that, Eddy Merckx took both races in 1971. Merckx was the last rider to win the Tour and triumph in Flanders in the same year, way back in 1969." Stuey won't win Le Tour but he has worn the Maillot jaune.

It's interesting that Stuey is a little in Kelly's mould. A hard man, known for his sprinting as well as his versatility. Kelly was arguably a better sprinter but the way he toughed it out in the mountains was a rare treat. Stuey too has been known to have a dig in the high stuff, if there was a sniff of some time to be gained on GC. But Roubaix is dead flat and cobbled, so this win is a monument to O'Grady's versatility.

Thinking along these lines, these days we don't expect to see a sprinter like Boonen contest the GC at Le Tour, as we didn't expect to see Armstrong do Paris-Roubaix; whereas Merckx and Hinault contested the classics, the GC, the mountains... even the sprints. We can expect nothing less than increasing specialisation over time if the individual targets are worth it - and that's exactly what has happened. Le Tour is so big that it alone justifies a rider's salary. Whilst we have always had some specialists - it's a physiological thing after all - it wasn't possible for a pro to to make enough money (or even to retain their place in a team) without riding lots of races over the course of a year and being good at more than type of race. Which is why we'll 'never' see another Merckx, if things stay as they are but will 'probably' see more Armstrongs, Boonens and - I hope - more O'Gradys.