Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race
As Michigan mountain bikers head to races in Calumet and Rockford, Michigan, several pro cyclists will gear up for the Leadville 100.
After racing this year's Tour de France, Lance Armstrong is expected to win the Leadville 100. (AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)
Saturday morning, the “Race Across the Sky” will begin. This year’s Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race promises to be exciting as several big-name cyclists line up with pros and amateurs, alike, at 6:30 a.m. in Leadville, Colorado. The racers will ride 50 miles to Hope Pass and back. The last seven miles to Hope Pass are an uphill climb to 12,600 feet of elevation. When the racers return to Leadville at 10,200 feet, they will have climbed and descended over 14,000 feet.
The Leadville 100 will see mountain biking greats such as World and NORBA Champion Tinker Juarez and Colorado native and World Champion single speeder Travis Brown, but the real race will be between six-time Leadville 100 winner and defending champion David Weins and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.
Dave Weins won last year’s race almost two minutes faster than Lance’s second place finish. This year, Dave recognizes that Lance is in much better shape after placing third in this year’s Tour de France. Lance is favored to win this year’s Leadville 100.
You can watch a live webcast of the race at http://www.leadvilletrail100.com.
Jamie Bestwick and Scotty Cranmer Back on Top
Some familiar names are back in the X Games gold medal slot for park and vert. Scotty Cranmer and Jamie Bestwick, respectively. Cranmer won gold in park back in ’06, then sat out most of last year with a foot injury, but when Scotty is on, he’s on. As for Bestwick, he went down extremely hard on a tailwhip 540 and didn’t know where he was when he woke up, but he already had nailed two runs that kept him in the top spot, despite sitting out the last few minutes of competition.
You want highlights? Here goes. First up, we’ll start with park.
What a mess. A good mess, but messy nonetheless. Here’s why: there are two heats in the beginning. Five riders in each heat, 10 riders in total. The two heats run, and the top five scores from both of those heats go on to the final finals. I know it’s confusing, but it works pretty well. Unfortunately, before we got to the final finals, the announcer called the results as the final results, awarding Diogo Canina first place. Diogo was surrounded by his friends, doused with water and put up on someone’s shoulders to celebrate.
And then we got word to him that he actually had to ride again. A run In the end, Diogo finished in second, but he seemed visibly bummed. I would be too. Here’s some highlights from the top three though.
Gold, Scotty Cranmer: Insane gaps into and out of the concrete. Double whip backflips, frontflips and a huge flair over the capsule channel. Scotty also knows the format, so while everyone was getting psyched for Diogo, he was getting ready to ride the final finals.
Silver, Diogo Canina: Insane flair transfers, 360 flips out of the concrete, tailwhip flips over the hump in the concrete. Won X Games for about five minutes before everything got straightened out.
Bronze, Gary Young: Gary won qualifying, and perhaps because of the “First in Qualifying Curse,” fell back to third. He eyed up some of the most creative lines in the park course, fired them out, then went back and fired them out faster and with turndowns in them.
In all, it was a great comp that unfortunately got overshadowed by some organizational confusion. But hopefully Diogo Canina is happy with his silver medal. It’s good to see Scotty Cranmer back on top. He’s been missed in the park comps. Congrats guys.
And now onto vert. Jamie Bestwick nailed two stellar runs before going down hard on his head and shoulder after hanging up a tailwhip 540. Those scores were high enough to propel Jamie into the first place spot, where he remained for the second half of the final jam session. Jamie’s tricks included alley-oop downside whips, a perfectly nailed nosedive tailwhip 5 earlier in the session, opposite and regular flairs and consistent flow and style. Chalk up a three-peat for X Games gold in vert for Jamie Bestwick. Feel better dude.
In second was fellow U.K. vert competitor Simon Tabron, who has now added one-hand one-foot 900s to his vert repertoire. Simon has the 9 on lock, but he mixes that up with a wild batch of variations, including barspin to tuck no-hander and smooth carving flairs.
Third place went to Chad Kagy, who went down several times on double flair attempts. While still on the bike, Chad nailed flair whips, opposite flair whips and barspins to tailwhips, but a few slide outs and time constraints kept Chad from getting his dream run in.
I’ve also gotta mention the number of 900s throughout the entire vert comp. Tabron, DMC and Tim Wood all pulled consistent 900s throughout the day. And that is no joke. As for new tricks, well I gotta give it up for Kagy’s opposite flair whip and Tabron’s one-hand one-foot 900. As is the case with vert, even though Jamie and Dennis went down hard, I gotta end this by saying that I’m glad that everyone walked away from the vert comp.
And that’s going to do it for X Games 15. Be back in the office by Tuesday, so look for regular updates to commence.
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Tour de France Stage 20 results, The Winner is Manuel Garate
Mont Ventoux was the last big chance for riders to write their own history in the 2009 Tour de France before the final ride through the city of Paris on Sunday. Manuel Garate of Rabobank rode ahead of the leaders during one of the most difficult climbing routes in the tour, winning stage 20 in 4 hours, 39 minutes, 21 seconds.
Fans came out expecting a great showdown today and weren’t disappointed. The 167 km stage began in Montelimar and finished on the top of Mont Ventoux. Tony Martin of Columbia-Highroad stayed with Garate, finishing 2nd, 3 seconds later. Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank, who was in a secondary group of riders finished third, 38 seconds behind Garate. Contador and Armstrong finished 4th and 5th. Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas rode with the top ten, finishing 8th, only 56 seconds behind Garate.
At 25 km to go, a sixteen man group led by Astana took control during heavy crosswinds, splitting the peloton. As the ride became more grueling, the breakaway group became smaller with just three riders left at the 3 km mark. Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank, currently second overall tried to dislodge Lance Armstrong over and over again, throwing all kinds of moves and attacks at the group. Armstrong would have none of it, counter attacking every move Schleck made with his trademark steely determination.
The stars have aligned for the riders you’ll see on the podium in Paris on Sunday. But it takes more than luck to win the race. It requires an incredibly competitive spirit and the ability to ignore pain while riding through all kinds of challenging terrain, weather and road conditions, maintaining the highest level of endurance and skill as a sprinter, climber and time trialist.
Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck and Lance Armstrong have persistently defended their positions as the three top dogs in the general classification. Bradley Wiggins of Garmin-Slipstream has ridden with distinction, holding on to fourth place overall. Roman Kreuziger of LIquigas has moved up to ninth place overall.
The final stage of the 2009 Tour de France is a sprinter’s showcase. The stage begins in Montereau-Fault-Yonne, travels over a distance of 164 km and ends with a Champs-Elysees sprint in Paris. Look for more excitement from Mark Cavendish, Thor Hushovd and Tyler Farrar.
Overall Standings after Stage 20 (Top 10):
1. Alberto Contador (ESP), Astana, 81:46:17
2. Andy Schleck (LUX), Saxo Bank, +4:11
3. Lance Armstrong (USA), Astana, +5:24
4. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) Garmin-Slipstream, +6:01
5. Frank Schleck (LUX), Saxo Bank, +6:04
6. Andreas Kloden (GER) Astana, +6:42
7. Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Liquigas, +7:35
8. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Slipstream, +12:04
9. Roman Kreuziger (CZE), Liquigas, +14:16
10. Christophe Le Mevel (FRA), Francaise Des Jeux, +14:25
