USA Pro Cycling Challenge, Stage 7; Denver ITT, 15.3 km

[Orinda8]

Poetic justice

So CVV wins the race just two days after Lance loses his wins. Recall that wonderboy dissed CVV for coming in fourth in the TDF as a sign that there were no serious racers left since he had retired. This win is an in your face rebuttal.

 

[dgodave]

Good race overall. I enjoyed it a lot. (But I'm a biased local.)
.

 

[9000ft]

California surely is bigger in terms of world wide coveraged, budget etc etc

Yeah, it would be interesting to compare. I'd guess that they are pretty similar in terms of money in and money out. CA has a big title sponsor in Amgen that surely pumps a lot of coin into it, CO has deliberately gone the more numerous, smaller sponsor route with the thinking being if one big sponsor that the race hinges on pulls out the whole race isn't in jeopardy.

The crowds and community support in Colorado have been pretty phenomenal. Since I don't live in CA I hesitate to compare the two races on that level. I'm sure there's lots of great grass roots support in CA though.

Both races occupy spots in the pro calendar that makes them not a huge priority for most teams except ones with big US sponsor commitments. CA can be a good prep for the tour and CO can be good prep for the worlds. You can only have so many GTs and Spring Classics and I doubt either race will ever rise to that level of prestige, but after a long time without any world class road racing in the US, it's great to have both these races.

 

[Rocksteady]

First GC win for VDV since...??

Awesome. Very Happy for VDV.

 

[perico]

2008, I think. First win since 2009.

 

[robert_c]

My question is, does Dave Z have any chance at the US TT Championship next year? Or was this a bad parcours for him?

 

[9000ft]

My question is, does Dave Z have any chance at the US TT Championship next year? Or was this a bad parcours for him?

Quite possibly it's just a case of the torch being passed. DZ had a good run but likely is past his prime. No one is immune, it happens to us all.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

My question is, does Dave Z have any chance at the US TT Championship next year? Or was this a bad parcours for him?

It depends who is in the field, but all things being equal it's hard to see him beating the likes of Phinney.

 

[Moviefan1203]

It depends who is in the field, but all things being equal it's hard to see him beating the likes of Phinney.

I think Tejay has passed him as well. Talansky probably isn't far off on his good days either.

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

Good race overall. I enjoyed it a lot. (But I'm a biased local.)
.

Well, I'm not from your area and I liked it. I thought it was a great race. In today's final ITT, CVV did a great ride as did time trial winner mini-Phinney. Vangarderen too who took 3rd in the ITT.

Those leaders jerseys look great. Nice to see Jens as the KOM winner... at almost 41!

 

[screaming fist]

My question is, does Dave Z have any chance at the US TT Championship next year? Or was this a bad parcours for him?

Z has been working hard for his team during the week, it's a late in the season, short race, Phinney probably focusing a bit on this TT. I don't think Zabriskie was at his best, but of course he is getting older. Let's see next year.

 

[perico]

Zabriskie has a few good years left. He's not really as old as the current "old guard." He's only 32 or 33 at the most.

 

[RedheadDane]

He's old! Anybody aged 25 or older are old!

This, of course, is true until my birthday when it's be anybody aged 26 or older...

 

[BillytheKid]

The great escape..too bad the TV failed on the last climb. The bottom photo covers it though.

Feel free to post your favorite pics.

 

[BillytheKid]

One more for good measure.

 

[alberto.legstrong]

The racing was pretty good, largely because Garmin were super aggressive. The TV coverage was very poor, with the feed regularly going down. The crowds however seemed huge and very keen.

You could make a case for it being the top race in the US, but it would be largely based on the crowds. They also have the right topography to make the best parcours, but they haven't really used it so far.

The feed issues were so bad I would just zip to the last 15 minutes (DVR). They couldn't even cover the finish line well. They have a lot to learn.

 

[9000ft]

The feed issues were so bad I would just zip to the last 15 minutes (DVR). They couldn't even cover the finish line well. They have a lot to learn.

It would be interesting to find out what the problem is. It's not like covering cycling in the mountains is uncharted territory. You'd want to assume the NBC and whoever they contract out for a lot of the operations isn't incompetent. Maybe there is some issue that's inherent to the Colorado Rockies but I can't imagine what it is.

Strange because the USPCC folks and the partner organizations have otherwise done a top notch job.

 

[BillytheKid]

The feed issues were so bad I would just zip to the last 15 minutes (DVR). They couldn't even cover the finish line well. They have a lot to learn.

You did not watch the whole race obaviously and still don't understand the effects the altitutde plays stopping aricraft flying at 18,000 feet into T-storms. You a typical Euro-centric and jump to false conclusion in your zeal to rant and run down anything here.

By watching only the last 15 minute, you missed an aspect that most races don't have: start to finish coverage. There was massive attacking in the first 30 minutes of most stages until the break was establish. That's something you don't get to witness very often in any race and was a plus to the online coverage.

The coverage was vastly improved over last year, but had some obvious faults. The route can be made batter, but it does seem the organizers wanted a close GC going into the final two stages.

Hopefully the race will stay around and get better as it did this year.

Typically people like you expect racing in the rest of the world to be on par in cycling with Europe in all aspects. Things just don't happen over night.

The race could still use some more investment going forward.

 

[BillytheKid]

It would be interesting to find out what the problem is. It's not like covering cycling in the mountains is uncharted territory. You'd want to assume the NBC and whoever they contract out for a lot of the operations isn't incompetent. Maybe there is some issue that's inherent to the Colorado Rockies but I can't imagine what it is.

Strange because the USPCC folks and the partner organizations have otherwise done a top notch job.

Altitude, icing and and wind shear in very thin air. Aircarft typically have to fly higher here over moutains due to FAA regulations. Once you get above 15,000 ft. it's almost always hovering around 0C. Thunder storms can pull air down from even higher. On the stage to Beaver Creek, the aircraft were not even flying and they were using mountain top relays, which will fail if they loose line of sight.

I once worked summers at a resort near 11,000 ft. Wild weather and wild temperature drops.

I think this will be the last post on it. People just want to believe what they want to believe.

 

[9000ft]

Altitude, icing and and wind shear in very thin air. Aircarft typically have to fly higher here over moutains due to FAA regulations. Once you get above 15,000 ft. it's almost always hovering around 0C. Thunder storms can pull air down from even higher. On the stage to Beaver Creek, the aircraft were not even flying and they were using mountain top relays, which will fail if they loose line of sight.

I once worked summers at a resort near 11,000 ft. Wild weather and wild temperature drops.

I think this will be the last post on it. People just want to believe what they want to believe.

Oh I understand all that. I live above - well, 9000'. I have also worked with helicopters so I'm familiar with what they can and can't do in high mountains. It seems though that other races have been able to cover other races in the mountains in poor weather. The altitude in the alps is lower, but mountain storm characteristics aren't that much different. More fixed relays in the Alps maybe? Maybe they hired a helicopter that isn't a good high altitude machine? (They need a Llama or similar machine) Not to mention, there were video feed issues even during clear weather which indicates to me that it was a hardware/software issue as much as weather.

The race is still in its infancy. I certainly don't expect the promoters and broadcasters of this race to have the same resources that Euro networks put into the big races out there - at least not yet. Right now though, I don't see the terrain that doesn't live up to the snobby "true cycling fans" standards as the thing that's going to keep the race from making the next step, it's the coverage.

Hopefully they'll get it worked out. It's really awesome to have elite level road stage racing (we have all kinds of great off road racing) in my back yard.