The Spring Classics

The month of March is a very exciting time for cycling fans, as the big one day races kick into gear. Milan-Sanremo is the first true classic of the year on Saturday, 20 March. However, before the first 'monument' of the season there are some important semi-classic races.

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad is the traditional Belgium cycling season opener (raced tonight New Zealand time) followed by Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne on Sunday. Pavé has an excellent preview of the Belgian opening weekend, ranking all the favourites.

Important dates on the professional race calendar to note down are:

20 March, Milan-Sanremo*
28 March, Gent-Wevelgem
04 April, Ronde van Vlaanderen*
11 April, Paris-Roubaix*
18 April, Amstel Gold Race
21 April, La Flèche Wallonne
25 April, Liège-Bastogne-Liège*
*Monuments

For those outside of Europe you can catch the action live on www.cyclingfans.com or check YouTube after the event. To whet your appetite some old classic footage follows...








Photo at top courtesy of Lionel

The Meo GP

The two riders on the front push the pace on the climb, neither wanting to give an inch. The speed creeps ever higher until, unshackled, it is one on one – now rid of outsiders they can indulge in the sibling rivalry that has driven them to this level of effort every weekend. The sons of Italian immigrants, Andrew and David Meo found cycling a natural bed for their combative attitude and these "invitation only" weekend training rides became synonymous with competitive suffering - the GP was born.

Schooled in an era when cycling etiquette and peloton hierarchy was vigorously enforced, "the Meo's" gained reputations as hard men. Andrew and David rigidly enforced these old world values in the GP training rides - hard honest efforts with no shirking nor prima donnas was the standard. Respect was earned and punishment for breaches of etiquette was severe - I personally experienced the repercussions of breaching the rules numerous times; being forced to chase for 45km after being stupid enough to attack up a small climb and, after being dropped up another climb, a 15km chase - the comment on catching up was always along the lines of, "you'll get stronger chasing on your own, eventually you'll be able to keep up" - yeah right.

Based on years of consistent suffering and performance the Meo GP has taken it's place in Wellington (New Zealand's capital city) cycling mythology. To ride the GP is an achievement, to hold the wheel on the climbs and not skip turns on the flat, an indication that you have true race form.

Cycling reflects many facets of society, with the Meo GP carrying an Italian legacy for style, the work ethic of the immigrant and the hard man attitude so evident in the New Zealand pioneering culture - to suffer on a bike with class and style is true art in motion.

Click on the above photo's for a full description on Flickr.

A rivalry that divided a nation...

During the GP trip to Italy last year we were very fortunate to visit the cycling museum beside the Madonna del Ghisallo church in the hills above Bellagio on Lake Como.

Outside the little church there are two bronze heads, one being Gino Bartali and the other, Fausto Coppi.

These monuments were built out of respect for the two great champions of the sport, who to this day continue to divide Italy into two camps. You either support Bartali, the conservative, rural, religious man from Florence or Coppi, the more worldly, secular character from Turin, representing the industrial north.

Coppi and Bartali's rivalry started when they became teammates in 1940, at the Legnano team. Coppi was hired as a domestique for the leader and star of the team, Bartali. However, during that years Giro d'Italia Coppi attacked and raced ahead to win a stage and the race overall. From that moment on their rivalry became a national obsession.

It was an explosive relationship that resulted in epic cycling battles at the Giro, Tour de France, World Championships and one day Classics. To this day Italians still debate at the dinner table over who was the best rider. Coppi supporters say that he won more races, but Bartali fans say he lost his best years to World War II.

The debate continues, but shortly before Coppi died in 1959, he was seen on a national TV show with Bartali. Their competitive days on the bike behind them, they almost seemed friendly to one another...

The lie in

There's nothing quite like having the occasional lie in, especially when you can hear the wind howling and the rain bucketing down on the roof outside from the comfort of the horizontal position. Then once sufficiently rested, rising up from bed to enjoy a cup of your favourite coffee with breakfast. Yep, sometimes it's the simple things that are the best.

Today was one such morning. Then, news came through that JC was up and out the door by 7am and had put in 4 hours on the bike by the time I was even thinking about doing something... damn.

To top it off, hot on the heels of Joe's exploits, news came through that Slim had been up early training in the freezing cold and snow blanketed fields around Crema over the last few weekends.

Tomorrow won't be a lie in, that's for sure!

Ciao Franco

Two-time Paris-Roubaix champion and Italian national team manager Franco Ballerini passed away on Sunday morning from serious injuries inflicted while acting as co-driver during the Rally Ronde race in Larciano, Tuscany.

During Ballerini's tenure as manager of the squadra azzura (national team) he piloted three riders to four victories at the World Road Championships. Cipollini (2002), Bettini (2006 & 2007) and Ballan (2008). He was also team manager at the 2004 Athens Olympic games, where Paolo Bettini won gold in the mens road race.

Ballerini's professional cycling career spanned 16 years, beginning with the Magniflex team (1981) and closing with Mapei-Quickstep (2001). A noted classics specialist, Franco epitomised PRO style off and on the bike... one of the all time greats. Franco's full cycling palmares can be viewed here.

The Aka's

The Akatarawa road between Upper Hutt and Waikanae is a 30km stretch of road that is well known to Wellington cyclists. Many bike races have been held through the narrow twisty single lane road over the years. The Tour of Wellington, Rice Mountain Classic, Palmerston–Wellington, to name a few.

Today however, the GP riders decided that an "Aka's" ride was well overdue. The weather was stunning, the boys were all up for it... the good times keep on rolling.

Starting from the Tasting Room in Wellington, we headed out onto the Hutt motorway, through to Upper Hutt, over the Akatarawa's and the long descent into Waikanae.

Traditional stop at the dairy in Waikanae for a cold drink, then south through to the base of Paekakariki Hill pausing briefly at the summit for a photo and video opportunity...

Another long descent through to Haywards (Lovers never attacked), back onto the Hutt Motorway and home. 145km, taking just under 5 hours at a steady tempo. Nice.

The White Horse

Seen here at the 1975 Tour de France, the White Horse is the fabled mascot of the GP.

What was once a childhood competition to pass the time while bored in the back seat of their parents car (Slim & Davis), was adapted to the bicycle, where if one spots a White Horse while out riding, they automatically gain a 30 second time bonus. In a group situation, the first person to call 'White Horse' takes the time bonus. False calls incur a time penalty of 30 seconds.

The White Horse competition is one of many such competitions on the road during GP rides. In addition, there's the Sprints competition which features the Makara town sprint, Tomlinson sprint, Backhouse Interiors sprint, KKK sprint, Seatoun sprint and various zebra crossings (ranked in order of importance, respectively). The KOM competition (featuring various cols around the Wellington region) and Glenno has his own competition drafting trucks and other random vehicles.

The real White Horse resides in Crema and made an appearance at the dinner table during the GP trip to Europe last year. The White Horse was under the watchful eye of the Director during the course of the entire evening, and an attempted mission to bring the horse back to New Zealand failed, even though generous bribes were offered to the Directors assistant.

Nevertheless, a White Horse trophy was commissioned by the Director as the premier prize for last years awards ceremony at Scopa. Competition for the coming year is expected to be hot...