Happy Dutchman Has Modest Expectations on New Team

In earlier posts, I have predicted big things for Dutch Rider Bauke Mollema.  (In my dyslexia, I had previously referred to him as being Danish.  Ooops!  Well, they both begin with “D” and Holland and Denmark are both up in that northwest corner of Europe.  How else can I explain it?)  Anyway, this may be the year for Mollema to steal some headlines.

He changed teams this year, leaving his career-long affiliation with LottoNL-Jumbo (formerly Belkin, Blanco, Rabobank, etc.) to sign with Trek Factory Racing.  Indeed Trek considers him to be their new General Classification (GC) leader.  Mollema loves his new team and his elevated status, and has set his sights on a top-5 GC finish at the Tour de France.  He will have the services of some big-name riders as domestiques – namely Frank Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Yaroslav Popovych, and Haimar Zubeldia.  In addition, his TDF team could well include Matthew Busche (current USA Road Race Champion!), Bob Jungels (very promising new GC prospect), and veterans Grégory Rast and Gert Steegmans.  

In this year’s 7-stage Tirreno – Adriatico race, Mollema clawed his way to the 2^nd place GC position on the brutal snow-covered mountain of the fifth stage.  Then, in the sixth stage, he suffered a puncture with 70 Km to go.  Cancellara and other Trek riders fought heroically to pull him back, from a deficit of 2 minutes or more, to rejoin the lead peleton and to retain his 2^nd place position.  He will need this kind of team support to realize his dream of a top-5 finish at the Tour de France.

American rider Chris Horner (No. 114) and Dutch rider Bauke Mollema (No. 61), stage 12 Lyon, 2014 Tour de France.

Luxembourg rider Frank Schleck (No. 161) stage 12 Lyon, 2014 Tour de France.

Speaking of Frank Schleck, where is his younger brother Andy?  Andy Schleck eclipsed his older brother in fan popularity, and in Tour de France laurels, winning the Yellow Jersey in 2010 and placing 2^nd in 2009 and 2011.  Andy missed the 2012 TDF, due to crash-related injuries suffered in that year’s Critérium du Dauphiné.  He struggled to make a comeback in late 2012 and through 2013, but retired in 2014 citing lingering effects of his injuries.  As of March 2015 he announced plans to open a bike shop and café in his native Luxembourg.  We will miss you, Andy.

"Andy" graffiti on a wall along the climb to the Col du Tourmalet (May 2011) - a testament to Andy Schleck's popularity with cycling fans.    (Photo by Aaron Kennard)

More "Andy" graffiti - on the support columns of an avalanche shed - route du Col du Tourmalet, May 2011.  Note the graffiti honoring Haimar Zubeldia (another Trek rider) on the first column.  Note also the intrepid climbers Matt Jensen and Nan Kennard pushing up to the summit.  (Photo by Aaron Kennard)

Scrambled Names – Opportunity Lost

What is the value of a sports team’s name?  Take the Yankees, the Red Sox or the Dodgers.  These famous American baseball teams have changed owners over the years, and the Dodgers even moved across the country.  But their names have remained constant.  Fans have been buying their name-branded merchandise for generations.  Advertisers pay a premium to be associated with those names.  When such a team is for sale, a huge part of the value is allocated to the bundle of intangible assets known as “goodwill” of which the protected name is a major component.  Can you imagine if those teams changed their names every year or two depending upon the changing landscape of advertising sponsors?  The New York Wheaties become the New York Bud Lites, and then the New York Nikes?  The Dread Pirate Roberts understood this concept perfectly!  And what if the same companies advertise with (sponsor) multiple teams?  You could end up with the Boston Geicos and the New York Geicos.  How confusing would that be?  Just think of the lost revenue opportunities from not having a time-honored name?  The Yankees brand by itself is a veritable “golden goose.”  Tossing that name aside in favor of a new sponsor’s name would be financial folly – not only for the team, but even for the sponsor.  Association with the Yankees name itself multiplies the effect of the advertiser’s exposure as a team sponsor.

Yet the above scenario is exactly what happens with professional cycling teams.  Many of them change names every year or two, as sponsors come and go.  There are four Tour de France teams sponsored by lottery systems, and three of them have used or still use the word “Lotto” in their ever-changing names.  It’s almost impossible to keep them straight.  From one year to the next, it is very hard to tell which teams are new and which ones are successors to teams from the previous year.  For die-hard fans who follow all the teams through all the season-long races, maybe this is not a problem.  But for the millions of TDF-only fans – those who only tune in each July for the “Grande Boucle,” the annual name scramble makes it very hard to develop lasting team loyalties.  Forget the fans.  What is the impact on revenues?  It seems to me that the teams and their advertising sponsors are squandering a huge financial opportunity by failing to create and capitalize on a powerful and enduring brand name.

That’s my soap box.  For more information on the ever-evolving names of the teams, see my prior posts at the following links:  http://tourdefrancebypapaduck.blogspot.com/2012/06/pro-cycling-teams-in-general.html and: http://tourdefrancebypapaduck.blogspot.com/2012/06/more-tidbits-on-teams.html

Now, here is the list of teams invited to compete in this year=s Tour de France, along with a few notes:

17 UCI-Qualified Teams:

     AG2R la Mondiale (ALM), France.

     Astana Pro Team (AST), Kazakhstan.

     BMC Racing Team (BMC), USA.

     Etixx Quick Step (EQS), Belgium.  Recently, Omega Pharma Quick Step (and lots of other names – including “Lotto” – before that).

     FDJ.fr (FDJ), France.  Recent name sponsor BigMat is gone.  FDJ is the French lottery. 

     IAM Cycling (IAM), Switzerland.  New team since 2013, sponsor is a Swiss asset management firm.

     Lampre – Merida  (LAM), Italy.  Name has changed frequently over the years.

     Lotto – Soudal (LTS), Belgium.  Formerly Lotto-Belisol, and a long list of other name changes. 

     Movistar Team (MOV), Spain.

     Orica GreenEDGE (OGE), Australia.  Fourth year in the TDF.

     Team Cannondale Garmin (TCG), USA.  Merged from Garmin-Sharp (USA) and Cannondale-Liquigas (Italy).  Both teams have a long and confusing history of name changes.

     Team Giant Alpecin (TGA), Germany.  Formerly Dutch team Argos Shimano.  Another old team with a long and confusing history of name changes – and now a nationality change.

     Team Katusha (KAT), Russia.

     Team LottoNL Jumbo ( ?  ) Netherlands.  Formerly Belkin, Blanco (blank), Rabobank, Novell, WordPerfect, and other names.

     Team Sky (SKY), Great Britain.

     Tinkoff – Saxo (TTS), Russia.  Formerly Dutch team Saxo Bank, with other names over the years.

     Trek Factory Racing (TFR) USA.  Descended from RadioShack (USA) and Leopard Trek (Luxembourg).  Two old teams (USA & Lux) hot rivals, with long list of former names; merged a couple of years ago with Luxembourg registration.  This year changed to USA registration.   

5 Wild-Card Teams:

     Bora Argon 18 (BOA), Germany.

     Bretagne Séché Environment (BSE), France.

     Cofidis Solutions Crédits (COF), France.  Slight name change.

     MTN – Qhubeka (MTN), South Africa.  New team since 2013. 

     Team Europcar (EUC), France.  An old team under various names; has new name and new vision for development of French riders since 2011.

4 Teams that have disappeared:

     Euskatel - Euskadi (EUS), Spain.  Basque team with distinctive orange kits (uniforms).  They folded for lack of funding, and declining results.  Basque riders with their wonderfully unpronounceable names can still be found on other teams.

     Liquigas - Cannondale (LIQ), Italy.  This team has merged with the US team Garmin.  (See list of 2015 TDF teams.)

     Vacansoleil (VCD) Netherlands.  Folded end 2013 when sponsor withdrew.

     Saur - SoJaSun (SAU), France.  Folded end 2013 when sponsor withdrew.

Jeff Louder (BMC) on the verge of winning Stage 4 (Park City) Tour of Utah 2010.  BMC is one team that has kept its name and image consistent over recent years.

Langeveld, Clarke & Vachon, leading the breakaway at Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.  They are riding for Garmin-Sharp, OricaGREENEDGE and Bretagne-Séché-Environment respectively.  For 2015, Garmin merged with Cannondale and now goes by "Team Cannondale Garmin."

  

Astana (light blue kits) riding together in the peleton to protect their GC contender Vincenzo Nibali (yellow jersey third from right) in Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.  Nibali ended up winning the GC prize that year.

Ladagnous and Gallopin riding for two of the lottery sponsored teams - FDJ and Lotto-Belisol, Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.

The BMC team car following the peleton, Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.

The Trek team car following the peleton, Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.

And Now for the Mountains!

After the rest day, the Pyrénées await.  Stage 10 ends with a 1,300 meters climb over 23 Km to a mountain-top finish at La Pierre-St-Martin.  Stage 11 has another summit finish at Cauterets, with two punishing mountains in the middle – Col d’Aspin and the legendary Col du Toumalet.  Stage 12 also finishes with a climb to Plateau de Beille, after three intervening summits.  At this point, the Yellow Jersey race will be coming into focus.  Meanwhile, the sprinters will be lucky to survive.

The Pyrénées!  By July, the snow will have melted enough for the roads to be open, but this will still be a hostile environment.

Nan Kennard, Matt & Ashley Jensen climbing the east approach of the Col du Tourmalet - May 2011.  (Aaron Kennard taking the photo.)

Aaron & Nan Kennard and Matt & Ashley Jensen at the summit of the Col du Tourmalet - May 2011.  (Was Jurgen Van Den Broeck taking the photo?)

Four flat-to-rolling stages will next bring the peleton first to Valence on the Rhône River, and then to the foothills of the Alps at Gap.  These stages (plus the rest day to follow) will give the GC riders a chance to recover their strength for the Alps.

 How's this for a hostile cycling environment?   The Alps in winter - Mont Blanc in the middle distance.

The four stages in the Alps feature 14 categorized mountain climbs; and three summit finishes.  The crowning jewel will be the famous Alpe d’Huez!  These will be the last chances for the challengers to overtake the rider who emerges from the Pyrénées with the Yellow Jersey.  The Polka Dot Jersey (for best mountain climber) will also be decided here.  As always, the winner must not only be world-class strong; and generously lucky; he absolutely must have the support of a strong team.  “Lucky” you say?  For sure!  A mechanical failure at the wrong time, or a crash on one of those frightening downhills can destroy the success of a brilliant climb.    

Remember, the mountain stages will not necessarily be won by the Yellow Jersey or his challengers.  These riders will battle amongst themselves throughout those stages, to be sure.  But for all the other teams with no other hope for glory, these eight stages offer the chance to send their favorite sons off in the breakaways, in hopes of stealing a stage win.  Even one TDF stage win on a rider’s resumé can transform him from an “average Joe” – a mere domestique – to a rising star.  Whoever wins the climactic stage to Alpe d’Huez will have his name forever marked on one of the 17 hairpin corners – immortal fame!  Cycling enthusiasts from all over the world climb that mountain by the thousands every year.  It is perhaps of the sport’s most “holy” pilgrimage site.  Imagine the glory to have your name enshrined on one of those magical corners!

Just some of the 17 switchbacks on the climb to Alpe d'Huez.

Matt Jensen rounding corner No. 10 at Alpe d'Huez (May 2011).  If he could win this stage at the Tour de France, his name would appear on that sign along with Federico Echave, stage winner in 1987.  (In your dreams, Matt!)

 Nan Kennard, climbing through corner No. 17, just before entering the ski resort village of Alpe d'Huez.  (May 2011).  I hate to tell you, Matt, but Nan has a better chance of getting her name on the sign than you do.  Matt may never win a stage at the TDF, but he wins props for organizing the very challenging Three Kings Bike Race, held each June in North Salt Lake.  Any cyclist who claims climbing prowess should conquer the Three Kings before boasting too broadly.

The final stage will be the ceremonial ride into Paris.  The Yellow Jersey winner, and probably all of the other prize jersey winners as well, will have already been decided.  They will all ride casually through the crowds toasting their teams and all the fans with champagne.  The only drama will occur at the very end, when the sprinters will jostle for one last stage win.

I can hardly wait for the Tour to begin! 

I’m Baaack!

Perhaps you noticed that I was unable to create my full complement of blogs for the 2014 Tour de France.  Ironically, I was in France.  Suzanne and I were serving as volunteer office staff in the France Lyon Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints   I did manage to break away one afternoon long enough to watch Stage 12 as it passed through the outskirts of Lyon.  But we were too busy to be able to post as many blogs as I have done in previous years.  Well, 

we are home now, and I plan to pick up where I left off.

The Route for 2015

The First Week:

For the first nine days the Tour will move from Holland, through Belgium, and then along the Channel coast of France into Normandy.  This is the reverse order of the liberating Allied armies of 71 years ago.  Back then, the entire area was a bleak, black-and-white, crater-pocked moon-scape – as if color had not yet been invented.  Today, it is a vibrant colorful region of flowers, forests and farms; of big bustling cities and quaint villages.

This field of Lupins growing in the area of this year's Tour de France opening week represents the 20,000 tons grown annually in France.  The seed is as nourishing as peas.  The plants are so hardy they do not require insecticides.  

The Tour begins with two stages in Utrecht, Holland.  First, a short individual time trial – 13.8 km (less than 9 miles).  This should favor the power-house riders more than the endurance ones.   The second stage from Utrecht to Zeeland will be long and flat, and will likely end in a bunch sprint to open the competition for the Green Jersey.

Stage 3 goes from Antwerp past Brussels to Huy (all in Belgium) and ends with a short-but-steep climb – 1.3 km at 9.6%.  Stage 4 cuts back across Belgium from Seraing (near Liège) to Cambrai (France), and incorporates more than 13 km of the brutal cobblestones from the one-day Classic Paris-Roubaix.  One mistake on the cobbles can cause an early exit from the Tour, even for the favorites. 

The next three stages are flat ones (ideal for the Green Jersey sprinters), and follow the Channel coast southwest into Normandy.  Stage 8 from Rennes to the Mûr de Bretagne (heart of Normandy) is also flat, but ends with another vicious climb: 2 km at 6.9% avg – max 15%  This will certainly spread out the peleton, and may give a clue to the contenders for the final Yellow Jersey.  The final stage of this first portion of the Tour will be a team time trial. 

As the first rest day arrives, the General Classification (GC – Yellow Jersey) competition will still be wide open.  No victor will yet be certain, but there may be some certain losers.  This can be the result of accidents/injuries, illness, or poor results in the time trials or on the two hill-top finishes.  

This is Omaha Beach, one of the landing beaches for the Allies on D-Day, June 6 1944.  Today, sail-cars race on the beach, and the turmoil of long ago is only a memory.  These racers can reach speeds of up to 140 miles per hour!  The 2015 Tour de France will pass near this location during its first week.  

This is the lighthouse of Tévennec, located near the finish of Stage 8 of this year's Tour de France.

Symbolic View of Vincenzo Nibali

The photo below tells the whole story.  This is the view all the other riders have had of No. 41 Vincenzo Nibali throughout this Tour de France - just his backside!  (Notice the glimpse of his Yellow Jersey, and his number just above the rear wheel.)  Barring an accident, he will maintain his lead for one more day of climbing in the Pyrénées.  And then, there is no way he's going to lose 6 minutes or more to any of his rivals in the time trial on Saturday.  He might as well accept the invitation to dine with the Italian Prime Minister, and not keep him waiting until Sunday for an answer.

My First Time Seeing the Tour de France Live!

I have followed the Tour for years.  I've studied it, written about it, and even staged a family trip so the kids could climb the Tour's most famous mountains.  But I've never seen it live.  Until this week.  In January 2014, when my wife and I received our call to serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("Mormons") in the France Lyon Mission, I checked the TDF website to see if the route might pass near where I would be serving.  At first, all I could learn was that it would pass somewhere near Lyon.  As time went on, the website added more and more details.  I knew that stage 12 would skirt Lyon on July 17.  On a Saturday in early May I drove out to Lentilly (20 Km from the mission office) to see the route and to scout out the best viewing spots.  That day Lentilly was like a ghost-town.  Not a person to be seen, and hardly any cars on the road.  The problem remained that, come July in the middle of the week our work in the office might prevent me from breaking away in the middle of the day.

My co-worker, Elder Herbert Clark, wanted to go too.  But the week before the big day, certain meetings were rescheduled to take place in the office on the 17th.  It looked like our plans were doomed.  Then we learned that some new missionaries were also arriving that day - additional demands on our time and attention.  The morning of the 17th, the office was bustling with people, the meetings were going on, we were fielding emergency phone calls, Elder Clark was in charge of food, we had a last-minute crisis in the preparation of the apartment for the new missionaries, I had to make a trip to the post office that took longer than expected, and we both figured we had missed our chance.  After lunch, the meetings resumed.  The new missionaries arrived.  We helped them move their bags to the new apartment.  Elder Clark gave them an orientation.  And then, like magic, the office got quiet.  At about 2:10 p.m. no one was clamoring for our attention.  We made an executive decision and bolted for the door.

Time to get the car, cross town, ride out into the country and find a parking spot.  Ha!  We parked 20 yards from the cross-roads that was blocked for the race and joined the crowds of people lining the lonely country road that had been so empty back in May.  We had missed the "Caravan," the parade of sponsor vehicles throwing out gifts and trinkets, but we were in place with about 30 minutes to spare to see the cyclists come racing through.  We made friends with some people in the crowd, including an Italian with a big flag who was there to cheer on his yellow-jersey hero Vincenzo Nibali.  Soon, the increasing flow of sponsor cars, police and others on motor bikes, and team cars signaled that the riders were getting close!  Then the helicopters overhead.  Then the crowd cheering in the distance.  Then finally . . .

The four riders in the breakaway zipped up the hill and though the round-about, and disappeared up the road, heading towards St. Etienne.  I had my camera on sport setting, so I was snapping off pictures as they flew by.  Three minutes later, the crescendo of crowd noise and more approaching helicopters announced the arrival of the peleton.  Same story:  They burst up the hill through the crowds lining both sides of the street, steamed through the round-about (mostly on the right, but some on left), and shot up the hill through the crowds and disappeared.  The circle of helicopters drifted up the sky to the south above the streaming line of the peleton.  And they were gone!

With a basketball or football game, you can arrive late and not miss a thing.  You watch the actual sporting event for an hour or two, and then you leave.  Sometimes you leave early because the outcome is already settled.  You had better not arrive late for a bike race!  The time stamps on my pictures from the first cyclist to the last are less than four minutes apart!

So, what about the race itself?  The three-week race is half over.  25 riders have abandoned (out of 200 who began).  Six of them were the leaders of their teams.  Big names: Sprint king Cavendish, fan favorite Andy Schleck, defending champion Froome, Top challenger Contador, Swiss sprinter Cancellara, American hopeful Talansky, and others.  Nibali has controlled the Yellow Jersey most of the race and increased his lead with his third stage victory on Friday.  But there are still opportunities for others to challenge him.  Peter Sagan, on the other hand, has a strangle-hold on the Green Jersey.  The other prize jerseys are still up for grabs.  There are still opportunities for stage-by-stage glory, even by lesser-known riders.  Each day will have its own drama.

Then, a week from Sunday (July 27) the Tour de France will end, and with it the cycling season for most of the world.  But for the cyclists themselves and the minority of fans who are "true believers," the season will continue with the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) and many more races all over the world.  Races continue nearly every week into the fall.  But sports fans generally, especially those in the United States, will not be watching.  They'll be watching high school and college football, the World Series, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, maybe some golf, maybe even bowling.  But not cycling.

In May, there is no hint of the commotion to invade this quiet spot when the Tour de France will arrive in July.

The course will overlook the city of Lyon, as it passes on its way to St. Etienne.

On race day for Stage 12, the fans are out in force just like this all along the 185 Km course from Bourg-en-Bresse to St. Etienne.

Langeveld, Clarke and Vachon are the first riders to appear.  Their breakaway will not survive.

As the peleton closes in on the breakaway, Team Astana rides as a group near the front to protect their Yellow Jersey leader Vincenzo Nibali (just barely visible in the middle of the pack of light blue kits).

American Chris Horner (114) and Dutchman Bauk Mollema (61) keep pace with the peleton.

German sprint champion Greipel rides safely in the middle of the peleton.

"Purito" Rodrigues wears the Polka-dot Jersey as the current King of the Mountains.  Can he keep it through the Alps and the Pyrénées?

At this point, French rider Sébastian Minard is bringing up the rear of the Peleton, but he actually passed more than 50 riders between here and the finish line in St. Etienne.  That should count for something, shouldn't it?

These are not buzzards, but the circling helicopters drifting south along the route towards St. Etienne.

Elder Clark and Elder Kennard with their new-found Italian Friend, preparing to cheer for his hero Yellow Jersey rider Vincenzo Nibali.

Driving Through the Drôme and Provence

The 2014 Tour is less than a month away.  The Dauphiné is taking place this week in the vicinity of Lyon.  But we needed to go to Nice.  Going down, we followed Route 75 from Grenoble through the foothills of the Alps, through the upper Drôme, stopping for the night at Lus la Croix Haute.  The map in the village square showed a "Boulodrome" just beyond the church.  I had to check it out.  Four of the locals were battling it out in the traditional "pétanque" style (as opposed to the "Lyonaise" style played near our apartment in Lyon).  Two completely different games!  The lady in red was called "The Golden Arm"  ("Bras d'Or") because of her prowess "au tir" (blasting the opponent's ball out of the way).  From 8 meters away, I watched her throw 8 out of 10 perfect strikes!  It was amazing!  The "tireur" (shooter) on the other team (man in grey) took some time getting warmed-up, but then he too made several amazing shots in a row to rescue his team from disaster.

Les amis du village jouent à la pétanque au boulodrôme.

La dame en rouge mérite bien le sobriquet "Bras d'Or!"  Elle n'a presque jamais manqué le tir.

Et Monsieur en gris n'est pas malin non plus.

Madame en blanc est pointeuse pour son équipe, mais, (hélas!) elle m'a appris pas mal de jurons au cours du jeu.

Monsieur "le Jardinier" a réussi à chaque reprise de planter sa boule au plein centre de son "jardin."  Avec Madame "Bras d'Or" son équipe a gagné presque tous les points.

Après le jeu, ils sont rentrés chez eux pour l'apéritif traditionel.

What is the connection to the Tour de France and biking?  Well, we were touring in France.  And, the next morning our trip was detoured for a bike race taking place along our planned route.

On Tuesday, as we headed back towards Lyon, we took a side trip to Gordes, a medieval village in Provence, where we saw this cyclist climbing up the steep incline to the top of the village.  Does that count?

 The next pictures will give you an idea of how steep the climb is.

View of Gordes from below.

View of Gordes from above - from the top of the neighboring hill.