VeloNews

RAGIN t
lhi ' Sefiha
ont inent al Shift
the caliber of field a Beauce signify the end
d-world stage racing in North America?
ng gr a n ted liC I sta tus in 1997, th e Tour de
njoyed a prosperou~ run as a n in tegra l part
rth American road ra ci n g c irc ui t. U.S . pro
src d raw n to th e C a n a di an s t a ge ra ce beca u se
ficu it days. idea l posr-Philly We ek po s it io n
Ice cale n dar. and th e o pp or tunity to ta ke on
Fo r example, Ue l race ra n k ings. d esigna tio ns u se d to
indicate th e quality or status of events. a rc aw arde d ba se d
on a lita n y of fac to rs including p rize lis t, ama teur or pro
team partic ipation , a nd le n gth and diff i cult y of th e race.
H ig her rank ings s uc h as th os e e n joyed by th e Am ge n
Tom of Cali forn ia a nd Tou r de Ceo rgia a rt: awarded to
In ;J! compel it ion ju s t north of th e bord e r in
8e;111((' region, Past w inners in cl u d e Levi
e ven ts able to at t ract d e ep- po cketed s pon sors t hat de ­
ier (199X and 1( 9 9 ). l-len k Vo gel s (200i) a nd
Rogers . wh o cross ed th e Atlan ti c O ce an wi th
Mapci-Quic k Step sq u ad in 20 02.
on ly in la rge, urban m ark ets.
'II I
years , howeve r. ther e 's been
J
d rop ill both
national a nd domes tic par ticip a tion at Beauce.
le th e la ck o f u.s. pro tea m s didn 't s u lly this
rall win by Can adia n ha rdma n Svein Tuft (Syrn­
only two profess io nal Ameri can tea m s , Jitte r y
Team Type I. atte nd ed thi s yea r 's Jun e 10 · 15 race,
m-Chipotle was sc heduled (0 race but cou ld no r
.rn due to inj uri es.]
1. teams s uc h as Toyota-Unite d, H ealt h Net­
Colavita-Sut ter I lome and Bissell pa ssed on
lpting instead to send full squads to Miun eso ­
ag ~
~
mand a V01U T H? of pot ent ial c us to m ers gen erally ava ilah h:
"It is very im port a nt for many of ou r spon sors a nd th e
cit y as a wh ole th at at least 30 to .10 percent of om rac er s
be Can ad ia n ," sa id Ra ncourt . ad d in g th at the fundamen­
tal mi s sion of th e Tour de Beaucc is to p rom ot e cycling
in Queb ec.
Bu t with only three professio na l tea m s in Canada , am ­
ate u r teams m u st fill in the ga ps, And whil e Rancou r t is
qu ick to point ou t th at Beau cc loves its a m ateu r tea m s.
thi s co m posit ion wo n 't yield a higher UC.I ran king.
Rancourt say hi s event is content w ith th e L1e l
2.. 2
He a lt h Nct-Maxxis h as a lways focus ed 0 11 "be-in g
No, 1 tea m in th e USA : ' explai ne d tea m director :-"1
ran k in g it's hel d s ince 2 0 ° 5 . when th e UC l int rodu ced
the ProTour a nd con tinenta l tou r form a ts , But th e eve n t 's
Ta mayo. Bi se ll team m ana ger Mark O lso n concur:
lo w intern at ional s tatus m a kes a ttra ct in g top-no tch ill­
ind ividu al rankings m ea n t Bis se ll wo ul d be "foolish '
say ing tha t having tw o r id er s
ill
the top
\0
of th e N
Nature Va llpy Grand Pri x NRC event. That
te r nati onal teams diffic u lt. Once -cove te d UC I po int s a t e
m iss ou t o n N RC. po in ts by a tt e nd ing Bcaucc, no ma
to wonder if Bcau ce can cont inue to cl a im sta­
now assigned to th e America Tou r. a low pri ori ty {e)r Eu­
th e qua lity of th e event:
c most presti gious pro ·am s tage rac e in Nor th
ro pe a n pro tea m s .
ENTER NATURE VALLEY
VORLD VS. NEW WORLD
ways. th e To u r de Bcauce represents a more
Since its be gi n ni n g in 19~) 9 , Na ture Vall ey h as evol ved
from a reg io na l three- day eve n t to ga in in g the sa me NRC
He a lth Ne t's t r ip was ce r ta in ly wo rt hw hi le. 'Icam
Ie
er Rory Sut herl a nd's ove ra ll w in padde d bot h h is lead
th e individual J RC ra n k ings as we ll as hi, tea m 's leal
Spons o r ob ligations al so play an integ ral role wl
craft in g a te am 's rac e sc hedu le. Not s u r pri s ing ly. 1'1
o fficers for ma ny of th e to p U.S_tea m s ind icated the
d Eu rop e an stage ra ce model. Lo ng , s in g le ­
2 .1
,es tr ave rse mostl y ru ral lo cat ion s and severa l
it climbing d ays es tablish GC sep ar ation s. 011
Much o f Nature valley's popu larity ca n be att ri bu ted to
orga nize rs ' attem pt s to cr ea te more th an just a hike race ,
. hand. Natu re Vall e y cou ld he called th e new
H eld in con ju nc tion w ith the a n n ua l Gr eat River Energ y
porrancc of domestic par ti cipa t ion , especia 1Iy ill la
urhan m arket s.
In resp on se Nat u re Vallcy org a n ize rs e n listed a pro
Ige racing approach, emphasizin g eve n ing cri te­
urb an se ttings in term ixed w ith fa m ily·o riente d
Id activit ies. Wi th lim ited extended cli m bs , G C
rs mu s t h u n t not only for win s, bu t th e ti m e bo­
n ered th rou gho ut ea ch race,
Bicycle Fes t ival , th e e lite races a rc ju s t O I1 <~ par: of a n
e ven t that draws significan t crowd s ,
Travel a n d logis tic s a lso pl ay a ro le , w ith Beau ce start
ipproachcs have fu n ct ioned s uccessf ully, yet
, North Am er ican race calenda r pit ted the two
Igains t one another, as happ en ed d uring the
cek of Ju ne , it was Natu re Va lley d rawi ng th e
of profess ion al dom estic-based ta len t. So do cs
l iley's rapi d r ise sign al ;J new format of Arn cri ­
with Beaucc ill yea rs past f('11 on dea f ea rs. "We wan t to
s ta tus as the M1. Ho od a nd Tour de 'Toon a s ta ge races.
"We tr y to offer a fund a mentally differe n t fo r m u la
from othe r stage race s: ' s a id N VG l' race dire ctor David
La Por te. add ing tha t att empt s to coord ina te race dat es
b r ing ra cin g to th e pe ople . That' s why h alf the s tages are
u rb a n cr itc riu m s. Additiona lly, 1'011 need to ge t people
emot io na lly in volved wi th a ri de r or team ,"
sio na l m a rke ting fir m to co n nec t te am s with the m
JUSl two da ys a fter th e fin al Philly We ek race . while
tu re Vall ey g ives teams an extra d ay to reg ro up and of
ho s t housi ng for all 19 tea m s an d the ir sta ff
H ig h spec tato r turn ou t at Nature Vall e y ind icates
new strategy is popula r wit h th e m asses. The rid er s S~
to agr ee.
"Nat ure Valley is m ore excitin g. It's Am er ican s
To th at. end , Nat ur e Vall ey created its Wheaties "Wa tc h
raci ng," sa id Toyo ta- Un ited 's Vogels. who has worn
to \\'in " game. Sp ectator s rece ived Wheat ies-brand ed
leadcrs je rsey at both e ven ts. "Beauce is reall y hard
rac in g?
ride r trad in g ca rds . a nd if that ri de r di d wel l. Em s cou ld
" Beauce org a nizer Franc is Ra ncourt m us t dea l
u suall y bad weathe r, a lot of the ro ads are terrible an c
go t a lot of clim bin g."
proble m s common to m any inte rn ationa l bike
red e em the ca rd for a p ri ze. T he race a lso em ploye d a n
a r m ad a of volun teer s who were eag er to a n sw e r a ny bik e ­
norer s: You 've got TO please th e locals bu t a lso
related qu esti on s. All th ese s trategies, l.a Port e hopes. ad d
I req u ireme n ts that de m a nd five internation al
could be arg ued these d e m ands d ir ec tly conflict
u p 10 a new for ma t ofl I.S. s ta ge rac ing.
sa id, " Gu t 1 thin k it depend s on wh at k ind of ride!'
Natu re Valley al so offers so meth in g Bea uc c ca n­
not: Nation a l Rac in g Ca le nd ar poi n ts, Top ranked team
ar e, Beauce is a h a rd m a n's race an d it's defi n ite ly a m
I
ot her.
NE '/ 5 JU l Y 1,200 8 WWW VFLO NEW S COM
So whi ch do es Vogels like bet ter?
"At th is stage in m y ca reer I like Na ture Valley,'
win for a ny rid er. "
reak, Unfortun at ely circulation n ever returned to
1.1. and Landis' dead bone eventually had to be re­
d.
me fractures arc less co m m on . but wh en you col­
with a railroad barr icade as Zabri skie did . bad
:s tend to h appen. Thirty-one bony bu ild ing blo ck s
'n as vert ebrae mak e up the s pin e. T he ir alignmen t
, basis for po s ture and balance. Wh ile th e lu mbar
b 'ae of th e low ha ck a re the lar gest an d st ro nge st.
also bear tr emendous load as a tran s ition zone
the tr unk to th e pelvis , Compress ion forces ca n
orn e the verteb ra e 's s tre n gth , crushing the norm al
sha pe in to a we dge.
lou
•
d
Unli ke pie ces of bro ke n wrist or colla rbo n e, these
sp inal wed ge s are oft en impacted and inherently st able,
m eanin g su rg ery u sua lly isn 't required , Of cou rse Za­
bri sk ie was lucky hi s s pin al cord wasn't involved . Wh ile
it's a painful inju ry. a little time and pa tience usu ally
gel s you back to n orm al.
Regardl es s of w hat ge ts brok en . bon es have a remark­
able abilit y to heal themselv es. III as fc'w as two week s
heal in g is visi ble via X-ray, a nd wh ile th at process w ill
searchers found that 5o -rear-old men who roth
year s h ad to- percent less bon e den s ity than tht
cycl is t co u n te r parts. It 's tough to say whctli
caused th e ca rnage at th e Giro. but clearly pr evq
par amount. Doctors typically recommend takin
eq u ate calc iu m a nd vit amin D. performin g
we ight-bearin g exerci ses, and of course, tr yin g
the r u bb er 0 11 th e road.
con tinue for up to
"Dr. AI (. x" is em or tiw[Jt: rlir sUl'gr:rr resident at lilt:
sity oJ lltinoi» Mn Jjul! Ct:I1 /cr ill Chicago. Wilell
.fix iug brokerl b OI1 ~ , }1(.Jlj'1J_find him ,'idillg Chin/go
Shore wil li ilis wijt: and tile Turin Hicycir. Soci<:t)' CI
;J
year. mo st fract ures regain sta bility
w ithi n a m onth .
One la st piece ofthi s con ver sati on is cycli ng 's impact
on bone density a nd os teo porosis , III a 2 0 03 stud y, re ­
t 0
Sunday - July 27, 2008
Downtown Criterium - Altoona, Penn.
Men Pro-lIWomen Pro 1-2: 40 mi/65 km
Men Cat 2: 25 mi/40 km
Men Cat 3: 20 mi/32 km
Men Cal 4: 20 mi/32 km
Men Cat 5 : 1mi/11 km
Women Cat 3/4: 20 miles/32 km
distribution
;-.~
~
800 7169010
(~top~
www.swissstop.ch