not your usual race tactic

As I mentioned the other day, Joost Posthuma rode the Tour of Austria this year rather than the Tour de France. Österreich Rundfahrt runs only a week, while La Grande Boucle runs a full three. Joost's in training these days rather than racing so, after four years of riding the TdF, he gets to watch it on TV this year. In an interview held earlier this week — posted on his website — He says he's enjoying watching the race, an experience which he finds quite strange and very unlike riding in it. To him the images on the screen make the event seem remote and much less physically and mentally taxing than it is in real life. He gives as an example the bunch sprint that often comes at the end of flat stages. On screen it looks smooth and efficient, but in the pack it's frighteningly fast and chaotic. The speed is extremely high. Riders are tired and some so spaced-out that they can't concentrate as they should.

He said this the day before Mark Renshaw was ejected from the race for head butting Julian Dean. Both were trying to set up the run to the finish line for their teams' respective top sprinters, Mark Cavendish and Tyler Farrar. They and the other lead-out men had cranked up the speed of the peloton to over 40 miles per hour (70 kph). At this speed the tiniest mistake can cause a massive crash. Renshaw accelerated to pass Dean on his left and Dean put his elbow in front of Renshaw's to counteract the move. In most sprints Renshaw would then have countered by leaning into Dean with his shoulder. In this one, Renshaw believed he couldn't use his shoulder without bringing them both down so he bumped Dean's helmet with his own. He did this three times. This image, taken from video, shows one of these head butts.

{source: 3news.co.nz}

Here's a video of the event.



Jon Brand reports that "As Renshaw hit Dean, one fan shouted, 'Zizou, Zizou,' the nickname of former French soccer star Zinedine Zidane. Zidane was famously ejected for head-butting an Italian defender during the 2006 World Cup final in Germany." (As it happens, I did a blog post or two on Zidane back then.)

As in the Zizou incident, no one was injured by Renshaw's unusual tactic.

Interviewed afterward, Dean said he was flabbergasted to get bonked on the helmet. He supported the officials' decision to send Renshaw packing. Renshaw said when Dean hooked his elbow over his own he had no choice but to use his head in order to keep his position. He said, "the object was to hold my line and stay upright."

Most of the articles I've seen say that Renshaw did wrong. They say shoulder bumping and elbowing are permitted in sprint lead outs, but not butting. It's also generally seen as ok to push with the head, but, as one coach says, a sprinter will get in trouble for using his helmet like a hammer. Others say head butts are a legitimate tactic for maintaining position. A former racer is quoted as saying "I’ve been mixed up in bunch sprints where I have been the lead out man or I have been having to sprint myself and people have head butted me. I've done it back. I've even taken my hand off to fend people off me."

Here's a smattering of news accounts.

Mark Cavendish's team-mate Mark Renshaw disqualified

Head butting is part of the cycling game

Tour de France Stage 11 turns into 'gladiator arena'

Head Butts Mar Stage Finish at Tour de France

Dean says ejection a fair punishment for head-butting rival

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This photo, from Joost's website, shows him on the podium after he won the time trial in the Tour of Austria last week.

inside view of the Tour de France

This is the last day of this year's edition of the Tour de France. By tradition there's no real competition until the very end on the boulevards of Paris. While I'm writing, the riders are rolling through the countryside conversing casually with each other. In pre-race interviews they say the race was unusually tactical and hard, building from a relatively undramatic beginning to a major conflict in yesterday's stage ending with the fierce climb of Mont Ventoux. They also point out that the number and enthusiasm of spectators was astounding this year, culminating with huge crowds of joyful people on Ventoux. And they point out that drug testing seems finally have succeeded in eliminating illegal performance-enhancing substances: a huge amount of controls and no detections.

I'm confident that one racer whose career I've been following off and on for the past few years hasn't used any such substances. He's a personable and modest guy of relatively modest achievements who's Dutch born riding for a Dutch team: Joost Posthuma.

This photo, taken last year, shows him in less garish clothing than his blue and orange Rabo kit:

{source: dailypeloton}

There are short biographies and early photos of him on his own web page and at this Dutch site: http://www.owc-oldenzaal.nl/?RubriekID=2399

His personal web site also has an extensive photo gallery.

Quite a few riders have personal blogs and a growing number of them tweet and some regularly blog.

This year, Joost has been doing daily interviews from his mobile phone while on the massage table each evening.

Here are some highlights from his calls.

His work day can seem surprisingly mundane. He loves his morning coffee, gets cranky when he's delayed at an airport and looks forward to a pre-dinner shower at the end of a short flight; he puts in his day's work and relaxes in the evening by reading a book, watching sports on TV, catching up with friends and family on his mobile phone, and accessing the Internet with his notebook.

Although he's won some of the less-well-known races, here at the Tour de France he's a support rider, helping to give the team's leading riders a chance at winning stages and placing highly in the overall classification. He's looked out for opportunities to get in breaks during the flat stages but missed the deciding break of the day until yesterday's great stage to Mont Ventoux. This 16-man break stayed away from the third kilometer until nearly the last of this 167 k stage. He worried that the peloton would catch the group and increased his pace to keep them off.

This photo shows him at peak effort as lead rider on the lower slopes of Mont Ventoux:

{source: cyclingnews}

Not a mountain specialist, Joost's effort helped give his teammate, Juan Garate, the wherwithal to win the stage at the top of the mountain.

{Garate pulling away to win;source: cyclingnews. Click here for a thumbnail page of cyclingnews images from this stage.}

Most of this tour's 21 stages, he helped protect the leaders and ferried food and drink from the cars at rear back to team members in the peloton. Although the team's managers were growing increasingly upset with the team's performance until it's success yesterday, Joost never felt that he'd performed poorly and reports times he won praise for doing good work from both his fellow team members and the team's managers.

An even-tempered and friendly kind of guy, he's not prone to make controversial statements. He can be pretty funny as for example in his comments on the Tour's radio-free day. Calling the stage a race without ears, he said race organizers, in seeking ways to back off from technological advances, should require riders to go back to using toeclips and hairnets (which he calls "sausage hats").

Perhaps it's odd that Joost doesn't say much about performance-enhancing drugs. Along with other team members, he was recently called to to give information as evidence is accumulated against a former member of his team. He only just mentions that and his other comments deal with the extensive test program of the Tour, which he takes in stride.

In response to the interviewer's question, he says he's never broken a bone, though he's had his share of injuries. The topic arises because, as usually happens, a couple of riders have crashed and been forced to abandon because of bone breaks. He's strained his knee but has avoided scrapes and bruises as well.

He appreciates encouragement he's received from the many Dutch fans who line the roads but didn't like being thumped on the back by an over-enthusiastic (and probably over-beered) Netherlander on one mountain stage.

He's content with the cold and wet as well as the hot and dry weather they've encountered and didn't complain about the winds of Provence which raged yesterday.

He looks forward to visits with his parents and other relatives, and with his girl friend of course, when they're able to attend stages. He looks forward to getting back to his garden at home and being reunited with his dog.

Friends and family members write in the "guestbook" on his website to give words of encouragement during the unsuccessful stages of this year's Tour and congratulations on his success yesterday. One couple say, roughly: "Hey beautiful mountain goat. We've been watching this afternoon's ride you with awe and admiration. We congratulate you, on the team's stage victory, and your own performance 1.56 behind the winner on the Mont Ventoux." A woman admirer writes: "Congratulations on the victory of Mont Ventoux. You rode very strongly today. Echt Klasse! Yesterday night I rode back from the Tour along with your parents who were sitting in our bus. I had a nice week's holiday at the Tour."

---

Notes:
--------------------
Some previous posts about Joost:

• July 03, 2006
• July 12, 2006
• July 13, 2006
• July 14, 2006
• September 02, 2006
• April 19, 2007
• June 20, 2007
• July 15, 2007
• July 29, 2007
• November 12, 2007
• July 03, 2008
• November 25, 2008
• April 01, 2009
• April 02, 2009

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Some examples of rider blogs:

• http://www.juliandean.co.nz/diary.php
• http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/ryder-hesjedal/
• http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/heinrich-haussler
• http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/andy-schleck/

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Joost on "ears:"

No oortjes - ears: "I just got a phone voice mail from my mother. She is angry and disappointed in the [radio-free] stage today. She's a major cycle racing fan, and is upset at how tame the racing is right now. Today there was no real competition.

------------------------

Joost on radio-free day:

The interviewer asks Joost whether there was tacit agreement to take the day easy in protest. Joost says nothing concerted, but a kind of consensus to ride easy. He says, "It is ridiculous that we possess modern communications and can't use them." What's next? he says, will tomorrow they require the riders to used toeclips and wear sausage helmets. "Back in time."

{toeclip pedals; source: wikipedia}

{toeclip cleats; source: wikipedia}

{"sausage helmet"; aka hairnet or vegetable basket; source: labicletta}

{Laurent Fignon with toeclips; source: grahamwatson}

{Fignon with "sausage helmet"; source: pezcyclingnews}

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Drug testing:

According to Pat McQuaid, the head of the International Cycling Union, the Tour de France will be the most rigorously tested sports event in history. There will be about 520 doping tests, and several of the 180 riders are already in the cross-hairs even before the three-week showcase even begins. {source}

----------------

This shows Laurens ten Dam scraped and bruised. He fell on a fast descent and posted this photo of himself afterward.

{photo by Laurens ten Dam posted on Twitter}

three weeks in July

Alan Taylor's "Big Picture" on Boston.com has a feature on the Tour de France today:

{Bradley Wiggins of Britain speeds down Col du Tourmalet in the Pyrenees mountains during the 9th stage of the Tour de France on Sunday July 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)}

There's one more hugely difficult stage to run before the final run-in to Paris on Sunday. In three weeks of tough riding everyone's been rung through the ringer time after time. My favorite rider isn't one of the stars, he's one of the guys on the Rabobank team who provides support to the team's sprinters and its contender for the overall race leader. Though he's been doing his job extremely well, the team has done poorly. Through bad luck, tactical mistakes, and lack of form, they've failed to take a stage victory and have no chance for a high-place finish at the conclusion of the race.

That's put only a small damper on my enthusiasm. It's been an interesting race all the same. In daily telephone interviews, the guy I follow, Joost Posthuma, has been giving insights into the events of this year's Tour and the difficulties he's faced. You can read the series, in Dutch, here: https://www.rabobankcentraaltwente.nl/JoostPosthuma/.

I'll give some highlights in another post.

For now, here are a few photos from the gallery on his web site.

{All photos are copyrighted; I'm providing these thumbnails under fair use provisions of copyright law.}

12th stage, hot and dry, July 16	13th stage, cold and wet, July 17
14th stage, July 18: his mom was able to get off work this day	15th stage, July 19: collecting water bottles to distribute to team members,

3 Days of De Panne: Joost takes 2nd

Joost Posthuma took second place overall in the mid-week Belgian bike race, Driedaagse De Panne. It was an amazing achievement for him. The riders who took the first three stages are among the best in the world. He arrived well to the front in the first stage, but lost almost a minute in the second. In the third stage this morning he lost more time when he got caught in a crash near the finish. However, Joost is a time trial specialist and he was able to make up what he'd lost in the final TT stage this afternoon. At the end, his position in the general classification was only 19 seconds behind the winner, Frederik Willems.

{Joost is on the right; his team mate,
Tom Leezer, took third; photo from his team}

There's a good interview with him (in Dutch) on the team's home page: Na de 2e plaats in 2007 en de 1e in 2008 wordt Joost Posthuma dit jaar 2e in de 3Daagse De Panne.. He says he's happy to have finished second today after having placed first last year and second the year before. The competition was greater than ever before and, although Willems edged him out, he beat Manuel Quinziato this year just as he did last year. (Quinziato ended up in fourth place.) Asked whether he's a threat at the most famous of the spring classics this weekend (the Ronde van Vlaanderen), he said the favorites are in great form and he sees himself a notch below them; still, anything can happen in a major race like that.

Cycling News has a wrap-up in English: 33rd KBC-Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde

bike race in Belgium

The northern classics are now fully underway in the Belgian world of pro cycling as the Three Days of De Panne enters its second day. My favorite rider, Rabobankk's Joost Posthuma is defending his win last year, but the competition is fierce.

He good-naturedly complains that a late-race break by Frederik Willems was aided by two of the media-motorcycles that left too small a gap enabling him to draft as he jumped away. Filippo Pozzato , whom Joost and everyone else calls Pippo, was able to bridge up to Willems and the two of them managed to keep a winning margin over a chase group that included Joost and more than a couple dozen others.

You can read race reports here, here, and here or on the official site (Dutch and French only) here.

Cycling news has the first page of photos.

Joost writes on his blog that he'd hoped to get on the podium yesterday, but the pace was outrageously too quick. He's OK with his current position in the general classification, feels his form is excellent, and still has hopes for a top-three finish tomorrow.


This photo, from his web site, shows Joost in the leaders jersey at the last race he won -- the Ruta del Sol.

Joost off-season, Lance in training

I haven't done a Joost post for a while. You'll recall that he won this year's Three Days of De Panne and the Tour of Luxembourg last spring. Since then he's been injured a couple of times. He recovered after the first crash and, at the end of August, took a good second place in the Dutch time trial championship race. Since the second crash, in October at the Tour of Poland, he has mainly devoted himself to helping other team members achieve their best. Rabobank itself hasn't done all that well. Óscar Freire, Denis Menchov, and Juan Antonio Flecha have come close but haven't achieved podium finishes in major races lately. He ended his season a bit earlier than usual to work on recovering from the second crash. Since then he has renewed his contract with the team for a couple more years and has moved from his home in Belgium back to a city in eastern Netherlands close to his birthplace. He says he's happy to be back in his home country in the Tukkerland province.

Joost came to mind when I read yet one more piece on Lance's comeback in Pez this morning. Pez was able to place a reporter in a support vehicle that followed LA on a training ride in the countryside near Austin. The article helped me remember why I'm not fond of the man. He lives in a gated estate, trains with only one fellow cyclist, has the support vehicle with him all the time, and, in general, seems to use his wealth to make things as close to perfect for himself as he can. It's the celebrity culture I dislike. That and the aloofness that he used to keep from other professional cyclists. I can't imagine him palling with Joost at any time in his career. All the same, his devotion to cancer projects and healthy living is wholly admirable. One shot of him reminds me of another reason I temper my dislike: he looks a lot like my friend Joel.

Here's a video (to which the Pez article points) on Lance and one of his cars:

---

Here's a little Joost gallery. Click images to view full size.

In the recent Tour of Mexico:


At Three Days of De Panne







Map showing Hengelo near Enschede.

Tukkerland seems to be a relatively rural area in which there's an annual youth festival:

TIOOYK

This year's version of the Tour de France starts Saturday. Organizers promise us the cleanest Tour ever. They've said that before. But after the debacles of previous years, what are they to say? It's true that there's much more dope testing than ever before, but organizers are still on the defensive.

Here are some sites on which to follow the action:

- Cyclingnews: 95th Tour de France, July 5-27, 2008

- Velonews

- PEZ

- The official Tour de France site

There are also bunches of rider diaries to follow. I'm fond of the ones from Garmin-Chipotle.

One of these, Will Frischkorn's, isn't on the main site. Here's his latest: One last night of peace, and then — the Tour, By Will Frischkorn, Team Garmin-Chipotle, posted Jul. 1, 2008. Will also has a flickr photostream: willfrischkorn's photostream.

On the other hand, one of the best rider blogs is on the Garmin-Chipotle site. David Millar knows his stuff and writes well. Here's his latest: When Superbad is soothing, Author: David Millar.

The same site has an interesting post by the woman who puts together all the stuff that riders need to keep them going day by day: The Tour packing list!.

And there's a link to a profile on Taylor Phinney which leads me to mention a good post on one of the best Tours ever, the one held in 1986: Tour Redux: 7-11's Crazy Weekend, Wednesday, July 02, 2008, by Edmond Hood.

I'll be following the Rabobank Team in general and Joost Posthuma in particular, but I'm not confident that this will be a good year for either of them.

Here's a look at the week ahead: TDF08: Parcours Up Close - Week 1, Wednesday, July 02, 2008, by Richard Pestes.

If you're curious about the title of this post, look here. After Merckx made that memorable quote, the initialism it showed up repeatedly on the old bike racing newsgroup, rec.bicycles.racing and eventually found its way into the group's FAQ. (It's one of those internet shorthands that have so many uses.*) As David Millar says, " Having so many of the world’s most talented cyclists at 100% of their fitness and motivation racing against each other is something to behold. And that’s the biggest difference between this race and others, everybody is excellent."

-----------------
* For example what the phrase Doing Push-Ups has now become. See here, and here, and here.

Joost and his team

[Update: Chris Selden has an summary of the Rasmussen inquiry and its outcome on Pez Cycling News.] I haven't written about Joost Posthuma for a few weeks.

Late in September, he crashed during the individual time trial in the World Cycling Chamionships, but wasn't badly hurt and has since recovered. His web site says it started raining while he was on the course. He went too fast around a corner and slipped. At the time he was doing very well and, but for the crash, might have achieved a finish within the top ten.

Early in October he re-injured his hip during the Paris Tours race. He hasn't raced since then, but he reports that he has signed up for another two years with the team and is now taking a holiday in Egypt with his family.

There's been plenty of news about the Rabobank Team itself. They sacked their leader during the Tour de France while he was in first place with good expectation of achieving the overall win. At the time they explained that he had missed two drug tests in the weeks before the race and had lied about his whereabouts. The Rabo site, the cycling press, and Rasmussen's own web site now have reports of an official inquiry into the incident.

Rasmussen says the team knew where he was all the time, he didn't take performance-enhancing drugs,* and he lied about his location for private reasons. The private reasons have to do with his family, specifically his wife, and he asks the press to respect his desire for privacy.

The press says that the ruling body of cycle racing, the UCI, does not accept Rasmussen's account as an acceptible explanation. They say that the fact that he lied is enough to bar him from the sport.

Two reports on the Rabo site say that the executive board of the group that runs Rabo cycling commissioned the inquiry and supports its conclusions. They admit that they had information about Rasmussen's whereabouts, knew that he lied, and had contact him at least some of the time while he was in Italy and France when he said he was in Mexico. (There had already been a partial admission of Rabo compicity. Without giving details, the Rabo cycling director admitted wrong-doing and resigned right after the Tour de France last July.)

As I see this, the good news is that Rabo do admit they made serious mistakes, they did sack Rasmussen, though they should not even have let him start the race, and they can say they are clean: there has been no allegation nor any evidence that the team, its sports staff, or its medical staff had anything to do with illegal drugs.

Here's a link to Rabo's report of the matter. A brief extract: "The Executive Board commissioned the committee to conduct an independent inquiry into the course of events surrounding the Rasmussen affair. The main conclusion of the report is that Rasmussen was rightly expelled from the competition and later dismissed. He demonstrably lied about and tampered with his whereabouts. There is no evidence that Rasmussen used doping. ... Serious errors of judgement were clearly made, primarily by the Chairman of the Board of Directors. ... It is patently obvious from the information known now that Rasmussen should not have been allowed to start in the Tour de France."

=================
* Rasmussen doesn't say he never took any drugs, but rather "I have never during my career taken EPO or Dynepo." However, to his credit, his web site gives a table showing the dope tests he took and their results from March 2005 through October 2007. Here are the concluding paragraphs on the subject on his web site:

In order to steer clear of speculations concerning what went on in Italy and whether he has complied with the doping regulations Michael Rasmussen presents his so called ‘biological passport’ in terms of tests from the previous 3 years. All the values show normal variations which should give absolutely no cause for suspicion about manipulation. These values are of course known by the UCI.

“In this connection I would like to stress that I have violated the whereabouts regulations but I have never missed a doping control performed by the UCI. From this point on I will obey all UCI rules and I am still available for control. Thus, I can also tell you that after the Tour de France I have had two further out of competition tests from the UCI with no remarks,” says Michael Rasmussen.

“My greatest wish right now is to ensure clarity about this matter and be able to return to professional cycling,” Michael Rasmussen says.

a winner for rabo

Joost Posthuma isn't in this year's Tour de France. As you know, he's still recovering from injuries suffered when a car crashed into him during a training ride last May. Others, including many favorites, are not in the Tour because they've been caught taking performance-enhancing drugs. Despite these many absences, this year's edition of Le Grand Boucle has been a good one. Joost's team, Rabobank, has placed riders in the top ten, but -- until today -- hasn't really shown its stuff. Thursday, I thought things were looking a bit bleak for the team when Oscar Freire, their sprinter, dropped out. Before that, in the early flat stages which usually end up in mass sprints, he'd done well: been second once and third twice, but he hadn't won a stage.

Today's big change was a win by Michael Rasmussen in the first of the difficult Alpine stages. He dominated the race from about the half-way point and is now both race leader and leader of the mountains points competition. The BBC web site has a good summary of his achievement. Though he's a climbing specialist and not known for time trial skills, and though it's frequently the time trial specialists who also do well in the mountains who win the Tour, the article says he thinks he might have a chance:

After Monday's rest day he has another day in the Alps to consolidate his lead and the first time trial - the format in which he generally struggles - is not until next Saturday.

Asked if he would aim to take the yellow jersey in Paris in a fortnight's time he said: "The way I'm riding, I would be stupid not to."

"I am a pure climber so I need to grab as much time as I can in the mountains.

"When I came close to the podium two years ago, it crossed my mind I could win the Tour in the future.

"This could be my year as the Pyrenees are extremely difficult but, again, I need to improve in the time trials."

It might be thought ironic that the Rabo site has an interview with him yesterday in which he's not nearly so confident of ultimate victory. In it, he says today's stage would be an important one, "But," he went on, "I do not think that tomorrow's winner will be the one standing on the number one podium spot in Paris. It will give an idea about how strong everyone is but it will not be a decisive stage. I do think it will only be decided in the Pyrenees. The Alps are only a foretaste for things to come."

Given what Rasmussen says on the Rabo site today, I think the BBC article is quoting somewhat selectively. Today's Rabo Tour commentary says the team will defend the Yellow Jersey but will see how things develop. Though unlikely, it's possible Rasumussen will come out on top. It's also possible that Denis Menchov will have a shot at it. From the Rabo Tour commmentary:

The director of the Rabo cycling teams Theo de Rooij was also overjoyed. "This has immediately made the Tour a big success, at least for now," is what he said somewhat cautiously still. "But, we have again won a wonderful mountain stage. Rasmussen experiences a day like this every year and he knows how to plan it too. But what happened behind him was also great: all classifications are open and Rasmussen profited well from it."

{Click image to enlarge. Captions: (1) "Shot at 2007-07-15 Denmark’s Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank/Ned) starts his breakaway from the group of riders during the eighth stage of the 94th Tour de France cycling race between Le-Grand Bornand and Tignes, 15 July 2007. Ramussen won the stage and took the yellow jersey as overall leader." (2) "Denmark’s Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank/Ned) rides uphill during the eighth stage of the 94th Tour de France cycling race between Le-Grand Bornand and Tignes." Credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)}

• Joost still down and out

Rabobank has announced its line up for the Giro d'Italia and Joost is not in it. He was recovering from a crash in a recent race when he got into an accident during a training ride in Germany. His website says a decision will be made tomorrow whether to operate to repair his knee. There are no broken bones, but he has deep bruises and possibly more serious damage. The site reports information from Joost's girlfriend about his condition.