LaFlorecita said:
Nice pic!
Here’s my Japan Cup Crit report. It was a fun afternoon, first time ever to see any WT racers without some kind of electronic visual intermediary! Wow they sure zip by quickly! Had been thinking to take a proper camera for some pics but forecast was light rain so I left it at home, so I took some video clips and a few pics on the iPad. I moved around the course between peloton passes searching for good vantage points - heard some Japanese fans yelling out “Alberto” as they raced past with Trek and Contador on the front (yes, he actually did some pulls)
Since it’s a crit I normally assume the winner is scripted, however - in this case, I’m not sure if the person who won was supposed to win! A few hundred metres before the finish there was a small crash - a rider’s bike slid out from under him in the slippery conditions, taking down Jasper Styven who was right behind him, and who was trying to lead out Beppu. In the meantime the winner, Canola (Nippo Vini-Fantini) and a couple other riders were still ahead. I wonder had the crash not happened if Beppu would have been the designated winner again…? Hard to tell from where I was, but I assume there was enough road left to catch the leaders. Or maybe the escape was designated to win, regardless of crash, who knows!
I had wanted to arrive about an hour before the start, but just missed my train and the next one didn’t leave for an hour, so I arrived just after start time. With some spare time between the end of the race and the presentation I wandered around a bit and passed a very long queue of people waiting to buy Trek-Segafredo shirts and limited edition “Muchas Gracias Alberto” T-shirts at the Trek booth. The adjacent Cannondale booth was very quiet in comparison. Made me realize how important Beppu is for Trek for their Japan marketing, he’s a big name in Japan, though obviously Contador was the main attraction this time round. Turns out he's quite the rock star in Japan, maybe even more popular than anticipated. In fact, he might return next year which could make for more great marketing for Trek, retired or not! Made me wonder what Cancellara's reception was like last year. He would have had a big following too.
I passed the booths again later as they were getting ready to close down, no queues, a Japanese Trek guy gave me a TS keyring, and I decided to buy the Alberto T-Shirt, complete with cheesy print of him on it as a souvenir. I could have lived without the pic, though I like the red colour and good fabric quality (not the usual el-cheapo thin stuff). On the back is the querer es poder design with symbols representing the 3 GTs - I think the same design from the custom Trek bike. One sleeve has the Contador logo and Fundacion Contador with website, and the other has trek, segafredo on it.
I thought of you La Flo - if there had been a way to contact you I would have asked if you wanted one! I thought about grabbing another one, but didn’t have enough cash on me without a trip to the ATM. Though I bet they could easily be tracked down thru Trek Japan if not available in in Europe. If you or any other Contador fans are interested I'm happy to check.
I saw some pics from the Trek after party, and was surprised to see one with Alberto presenting a team-signed jersey to a friend’s husband, who I knew had a managerial position at Segafredo, but didn’t realize he was the (or one of the) head honcho(s?) for Japan! I wish I’d known, he would have let me sneak in!
After party article/pics:
Japanese -
http://cyclist.sanspo.com/366260
Translation (sort of..!) via Bing:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fcyclist.sanspo.com%2F366260
The link below covering the actual Japan cup mentions there was a big crowd of Contador fans waiting from as early as 7am for him to show up! :surprised:
Japanese:
http://cyclist.sanspo.com/365896
Translate:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=&to=en&a=http%3A%2F%2Fcyclist.sanspo.com%2F365896
It would have been nice to watch the Cup, but I had something else on that day, plus it was a crazy rainy day - with a typhoon on its way to pass thru the following morning!
Also - I found the video of the teams presentation night online and boy does lil Richie look chubby!!! But at least he’s healthy again after that horrible crash! I can probably find it again if anyone wants to see it.