Often it seems to be the case that the Dauphine needs some relative time to warm up before it gets into full swing. This is an unfair and inaccurate observation. Ah! But when the Dauphine begins, all of us are still just only beginning to come down from our high from following the Giro d’Italia that always goes out with a massive bang in the final week. This year, the Dauphine was actually a week early and the opening stage clashed with the Giro’s final day TT in Milan. Thus Lotto’s Brent Van Moer’s solo-break stage win on the opening day was not as exciting to us as it should have been—I was arduously editing my final stage report of the Giro as I watched. Nor was Bora’s Lukas Postlberger’s similar solo-break stage win the next day for I could not endure another cycling race. In both cases they just barely held off the peloton with Bahrain’s Sonny Colbrelli winning the sprint for second. Luckily, Colbrelli could not be denied on Stage 3, where he took victory. But I barely watched much of that Colbrelli stage until the very finish, too busy was I trying to get my life back in order after a three-week adventure in Italy. I was too busy to even watch any of the Stage 4 Time Trial that was surprisingly won by Alexey Lutsenko (Astana-Premier Tech). It was not until the very last kilometer of Stage 5 that the Dauphine started to suck me in and grab my attention. Until that point I had only been looking to see who was on good form for the looming Tour de France…the top answer was of course: Sonny Colbrelli for any sort of lumpy stage.
Tag Archives: Alejandro Valverde
2021 LBL: Intangibles Pay Out
“When betting, I specifically enjoy considering the intangibles…The take Brett Favre and the Packers on Monday night because his dad passed away last Tuesday or bet on any team who has a star player who just had his first newborn child because they’re now playing for more than themselves bet…When I win these bets based on these psychological hunches and tells that are neither scientific nor measured by the Vegas line makers, I believe I have an inside track, betting 5.0, Machiavellian craft, all because I kn-ewww it.” –Matthew McConaughey
2021 Fleche: The Strongest Puncheur vs the Man Who Knows the “Trick” (Written)
“Some say it is of some intrigue to have such a race end with such a pure test of strength and power. To this I say: for a Wednesday Classic, perhaps this is reasonable. Should one work all day and not have time to watch at leisure for an hour or two, surely all can find 3 minutes in their day to squeeze in watching the Final Kilometer of this La Fleche Wallonne. But is this climb a pure test of who is the best puncheur in the world?”
2021 Amstel: A Grudge Match Sprint (Written)
“The three went away, and Brabantse Pijl déjà vu flashed in all of our minds. Instead of Trentin, it was Schachmann today who had to play the third—sorry, fifth and sixth—wheel for a grudge match between the cyclocross rivals.”
2021 Catalunya: Good Vibes All Week in the Centenary Edition
“Another delightful aspect to this year’s very edition—in addition to its centenary—is the fact that the race was completely cancelled last year due to the pandemic, and thus it is O! so refreshing to see a beloved race return. But as always had to be the case, the riders and the racing itself was the source of the lion’s share of the week’s Good Vibes.”
Team Preview 2021: Movistar
“Yes, it is a great time of transition at Movistar this year. Perhaps not all the eyes of the cycling world will be on them any longer, but this I think shall prove a pivotal year in their trajectory for the whole next decade perhaps.”
Cycling Odysseys 