2011 is almost drawing to a close and we are only weeks before the new season kicking off. The off season is an opportunity to reflect on the season completed, the highs and lows, the rider movements and why the UK gets caught up with the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Maybe Mark Cavendish, the 2011 winner can give some insights into SPOTY fever that grips the UK every Christmas time.
I have taken some time out to reflect over the season that has just been completed.
Australian cycling – a year to remember
Road cycling was once the domain of Europe. Lance Armstrong with seven Tour de France victories did his best to destroy that image. 2011 also confirmed another major player on the road cycling circuit - Australia.
The season started well with Matt Goss winning the first cycling monument for the year – Milan San Remo. He also became the first Australian to win the 298km classic. While not the first Australian to win a cycling monument, the win certainly highlighted the fact that Australia was a major player on the European cycling scene. Goss was also only centimetres from winning the rainbow colours in Copenhagen as Mark Cavendish beat him across the line.
There were many stage wins by Australian riders through the World Tour. Neo pro, Michael Matthews won his debut stage at the Tour Down Under and another stage win at the Tour of Murcia. Cam Meyer won the Tour Down Under. But who can forget Cadel Evan’s Tour De France win?
The UCI rankings confirmed Australia’s position in the peloton. In 2011 World Tour season Australia ranked fourth ahead of established European countries like Netherlands, Germany and France. Even Cycling Quotient ranked Australia sixth, down from last year, but still credible considering the countries of which Australia finished ahead.
If we thought that 2011 was a great year, 2012 should position Australia at the top cycling's new World Order. After months of waiting, on 6 December 2011, the UCI finally granted GreenEDGE cycling a World Tour Licence for two years. The assembled line up, featuring some of Australia’s best riders, may not win a Grand Tour, but stage wins and one day classics are not beyond them. I am sure that the whole of Australia is beyond this new team.
Who can forget Australia’s track cycling team – the Cyclones. At the 2011 UCI Track Cycling World Championships at the Omnisport Apeldoorn, Netherlands, Australia won 11 medals, including eight gold. This was 6 gold medals more than France and seven more than Great Britain. It was an amazing domination by Australian track cyclists and one that we all hope will be repeated at the London Olympics in 2012.
2011 Giro – gripped by tragedy
The 2011 Giro was no different to other years. Long transfers, huge mountain stages, and long flat stages as the organisers criss-crossed the country side to celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the unification of Italy. The start in Torino was well attended by the Italian public. However, by Stage 3, a dark cloud sank over the peloton. News had filtered through that Leopard-Trek’s Wouter Weylandt had crashed on the descent of the Bocco mountain pass around 25km from the finish line. Despite paramedic efforts, Weylandt tragically died from his injuries. It was the first fatality on the Giro since 1986 when Emilio Ravasio crashed on the first stage and fell into a coma to die several days later.
Stage 4 was a moving stage with race organisers netrualising it to allow riders to show their respect to one of their own. Watching Leopard-Trek riders led the peloton over the last three kilometres with Tyler Farrer was a tear jerker. The images that graced the newspapers and TV screens were something that many cycling fans will never forget.
While cycling fans are memorized by the skills of cyclists as they fly down a mountain pass at over 80-90 kph, we can never forget the dangers that this sport throws up. Weylandt was not the first cyclist to die in a grand tour and may well not be the last. But as fans, we must ensure that race promoters organise stages that are exciting, but importantly safe for cyclists. We must boycott events that place any unnecessary risks on the participants. No sport is worth seeing their stars being killed in action.
The sporting holy grail – captured
Australian sportsmen and sportswomen have reached the pinnacle of most sports in the world. We have a long and successful Olympic tradition, won cricket, rugby and League world cups, FA Cup medals and F1 driver championships. However, 24 July 2011 has been etching into Australian sporting folklore – the day that Cadel Evans became the first Australian to win the Tour De France and finally capture Australia’s sporting holy grail.
After coming second twice in the sport’s number one race and then falling deep into the middle of the peloton in the 2010, one could not blame Cadel if he took his rainbow colours and retired from the sport. However, testament to his character, he was not going to be stopped in finally winning this race that has eluded many Australians before him.
No one will forget Stage 19 - Modane - Alpe-d’Huez, when even a mechanically mishap would not deny Cadel the victory that he desperately wanted. The Schleck brothers also tried everything to drop Evans, but to no avail. By the top of Alpe-d’Huez, there was only 57 seconds that separated Andy Shleck and Evans. By stage 20, the Grenoble time trial, the gap had dissolved and Evans was in yellow and technically the winner of the 2011 Tour De France.
By the morning in Australia, the Cadel Evans Effect had taken Australia by storm. His win was splashed across of the major papers and 6 O’Clock TV news programs. There was a welcome home parade in Melbourne where thousands of Australians swapped their AFL colours for yellow. Now we are waiting for the BMC bike explosion.
Less doping more focus on what counts - racing
Too often discussion around the of sport of cycling has been dominated by doping. Who can forget the Festina affair, David Millar, Saunier Duval-Scott team withdrawing from the Tour de France in the wake of the positive drug test returned by their star climber Riccardo Ricco and later Leonardo Piepoli failing a doping test.
Not a day goes passed by without a reference to the 2010 positive test by Alberto Contador. Reports from the 2011 Tour de France edition claim the event was doping free. It has been a long time since we could say that. As Mark Cavendish said “I think cycling is being victimised because it wants to be a clean sport. The fact that I can win bike races shows that I'm playing on a level playing field.” Cadel’s win in the 2011 Tour De France shows what hard work can achieve.
Cycling is not the only sport where its athletes take performance enhancing drugs. Maybe it is time for other sports administrator to examine their own sport and the media to leave cycling alone. It is trying to clean up its own house.
I was there – 2011 Giro and 2011 Tour De France
In 2011, we travelled to Europe for six months. One of the highlights of the trip was attending 4 stages of the Giro d’Italia and three stages of the Tour de France. Everyone has a bucket list of sporting events that they want to attend. I can now rule a line through two events on that list.
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| Giro start - Maddaloni |
We made the start in Spilembergo and Maddaloni (Italy) meeting Aussie cyclists like Mark Renshaw, Cam Meyer and Robbie McEwen. We met Italian future legends like Visconti and Nibali. But Petacchi managed to escape us.
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| Me and Mark Renshaw |
We were there to support Cadel Evans win the 2011 Tour De France as he climbed Alpe D'Huez and in Grenoble as he took the yellow jersey from Andy Schleck. That is a memory that will stay with our family forever.
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| Cadel warming up for the TT in Grenoble |
My son managed to run alongside Alberto Contador, cheering him on in pink. We ran beside the riders on Alpe D’Huez, may be getting too close at times are one rider yelled at him to get out of the way.
We climbed the mythical mountains of Monte Zoncolan and Alpe d’Huez. A highlight for any cycling fan.
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| On top of Monte Zoncolan - ITALY |
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| Alpe D'Huez -FRANCE |
Cycling fans are a hard core lot. We sat on Monte Zoncolan as the heavens opened up, drenching the crowds cheering on Nibali and booing Contador (and the organisers for changing the stage route). We were stuck up on Zoncolan for 2 hours before the chairlifts started working again after the storm. We were wet, we were cold and we were getting hungry. But we witnessed something that was magical – cyclist v mountain.
That is the perfect way to wrap up my year in review. It will not be the same watching the Giro and the TDF from our lounge room. But we can now save for the next trip, whenever that will be.
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