Spring is here!
February 20, 2008
Only in its third year, the Amgen Tour of California has already become the unofficial harbinger of spring (in my book, at least). I have to admit not being able to muster much enthusiasm for the race in 2006 (too early in the season, too short, too local, etc.) but I’m starting to come around. The field this year has quite a few heavy hitters, including the return of The Lion King: Mario Cipollini, coming out of retirement at age 40!
Now, I don’t follow professional road racing year-round. I prefer to ease in beginning with the Tour of California and slowly build up through the spring classics, leading up to the Tour de France in July. (By the end of the third week, though, I’m left feeling pretty spent — all those nights of getting up at 1 and 2 in-the-morning to watch live coverage… but I wouldn’t have it any other way!) Thus, it’s always a bit of a surprise come February when I’m faced with all the changes that have taken place in the off season. This year the re-shuffling is crazier than usual.
First, Cipo is cycling again? (Who saw that one coming? I sure didn’t. Does this mean we’ll see the return of the zebra suit?) And there’s a bunch of new teams I never heard of before, plus some old stalwarts that have disappeared: Discovery, gone; T-Mobile, now Team High Road. (I won’t say I’ll miss those pink jerseys, but they certainly were iconic.)
With Discovery’s disbanding, Johan Bruyneel has now gone over (defected?) to Astana. Astana! Remember Vino and and the doping accusations that forced the team to abandon the Tour de France last year? And Johan’s taken Levi and Alberto with him. Things are so discombobulated that Astana’s website is johanbruyneel.com, where there are photos of Johan still wearing a Discovery shirt. (Discovery’s old fansite, The Paceline, now seems totally lost at sea. With the tagline “The official fan club of Lance Armstrong and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team”, I think it’s past time to abandon ship.)
What may take even more time getting used to is seeing George (Hincapie) riding for the former T-Mobile squad. At least Tom Boonen is still wearing his trusty blue Quick Step kit, which is a reassurance.
