Yet another surprise, Rund um Köln

Rund um Köln's organizer has announced that 2008's edition would be different
from the previous years' editions.

First of all, it would be held on Sunday, March 23rd 2008. RuK has been
traditionally held on Easter Monday, which will be March 24th in 2008.

The main sponsor of the race, T-Mobile, has not yet been committed to give the
money that once pledged. The race may lose its main sponsor.

If the race organizer can not find the sponsor(s) that will fulfill the obligations
(a lot of money), the race will be held without ProTour teams. And if Team CSC
doesn't participate, there is no reason for me to get there and watch it.

Let's see what will happen.

Surprise, surprise Paris-Nice

The very tentative plan already needs a change.

March
9th. Sunday: Paris - Nice (Fra) -- Prologue in Paris

24th. Easter Monday: Rund um Köln (Ger) -- in Cologne

30th. Sunday: Critérium International (Fra) -- last 2 stages

This was the plan for the upcoming March but ASO (Amaury Sport Organisation)
announced that the traditional Prologue in Paris would not materialize
in 2008 but there would be a short ITT in a city called Amilly south of Paris.

I already have hard time reaching Paris in time. Amilly, wherever it is (3 cities
with the same name exist south of Paris), is not closer to me than Paris.

Amilly is found in (three Prefectures) 28, 45 and 61. In any case it is far from
Paris. Possibly by Amilly they mean Amilly (45). I have drive almost 600km
to get there. I give up! I will not drive to Paris on March 9th.

Maybe I will drive to Kuurne to watch Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne instead.

2nd. Sunday Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne (Bel)

Waypoints aquired during 2007 race watch

I was traveling with my Garmin StreetPilot (a navigation system) during
the 2007 season. I eventually accumulated useful waypoints.

For example, camping sites, supermarkets (or they call those bigger than normal
supermarkets "hypermarché" in France), and others.

• E.Leclerc
• Carrefour
• Géant

These are common supermarkets I visited during TdF and Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.
These supermarkets have their web sites, which enable you to look for
their affiliates in your neighborhood. If, only if, I was going to follow
TdF in 2008, I would search for their affiliates along the course and plot
them in my StreetPilot to make it easy to shop.

Tentative plan for race watch 2008

This is a very tentative plan.

March
9th. Sunday: Paris - Nice (Fra) -- Prologue in Paris

24th. Easter Monday: Rund um Köln (Ger) -- in Cologne

30th. Sunday: Critérium International (Fra) -- last 2 stages


April
6th. Sunday: Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres (Bel)

13th. Sunday: Paris - Roubaix (Fra)

20th. Sunday: Amstel Gold Race (Ned)

27th. Sunday: Liège - Bastogne - Liège (Bel)

It would be nice if I could watch La Flèche Wallonne (Bel) but ...


May
1st. Thursday: Rund um den Henninger Turm Frankfurt (Ger) -- in Frankfurt am Main

4th. Sunday: Tour de Romandie (Swi) -- but where?


June
1st. Sunday: Bayern-Rundfahrt (Ger) -- the last stage but where?

8th. Sunday: Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg (Lux) -- if Team CSC participates

22nd. Sunday: Tour de Suisse (Swi)
or
22nd. Sunday:Team Time Trial(Ned)

It would be so nice if I could watch Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (Fra).


July
5th - 27th. : Tour de France (Fra)

Of course, it would be great if I could follow all the stages. I am not yet sure if
I can do it.


August
3rd. Sunday: Sparkassen Giro Bochum (Ger) -- in Bochum

24th. Sunday: Eneco Tour (Lux) -- if the stage is held somewhere nearby

31st. Sunday: Deutschland Tour (Ger) -- if possible


September
7th. Sunday: Vattenfall Cyclassics (Ger)

14th Sunday: Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt (Ger) -- if Team CSC participates

21th. Sunday: 3-Länder-Tour der Sparkassen Versicherung (Hessen RF) (Ger) -- where?

24th - 28th: UCI World Championships (Ita) -- Varese


October
5th. Sunday: ProTour Finale (???) -- where? and what?

Saison 2007 and Team CSC 2008

Saison 2007 is almost over and Saison 2008 is being formulated. There will be
more confusions in 2008 than in 2007, namely the uncertain future of Pro Tour and
the dark dogging shadows of doping cases.

As far as I am concerned, I will remain a Team CSC fan and follow them around
whenever I can. I will also keep an eye on Team Astana because Allain Gallopin
is there in 2008 and because Levi Leipheimer is (not yet confirmed) there. I don't
know Levi personally but I know his family and they were nice people. I also
keep watching Christian Vande Velde and Dave Zabriskie although they don't
belong to Team CSC anymore. I want to stress that this does not mean I become
less truthful to Team CSC.




This is the sum up of Saison 2007.

I went to the following races:

1. 4th March: Kuurne - Brussel - Kuurne
2. 11th March: Paris - Nice (Prologue)
3. 1st April: Critérium International
4. 8th April: Tour des Flandres
5. 9th April: Rund um Köln
6. 15th April: Paris-Roubaix
7. 22nd April: Amstel Gold Race
8. 29th April: Liège - Bastogne - Liège
9. 1st May: Rund um den Henninger Turm (Frankfurt am Main)
10. 3rd June: Bayern Rundfahrt (Stage 5)
11. 10th-17th June: Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré -- 7 race days
    
12. 24th June: Team Time Trial (Eindhoven)
13. 1st July: National Championship (Germany)
14. 7th-29th July: Tour de France (all the stages except UK stages -- 19 race days)
15. 5th August: Sparkasse Giro in Bochum
16. 12th August : Deutschland Tour (Stage 3)
17. 19th August: Vattenfall Cyclassics (Hamburg)
18. 23rd September: Drei Länder Tour (Germany)
19. 27th September: World Championship, ITT (Stuttgart)
20. 30th September: World Championship (Stuttgart)

Team CSC related race events: 44 race days in 20 race events (not including the
non Team CSC races). Gasoline and other expenditure (highway toll, camping
site tariff, the paint and etc.) cost me more than 4,000 euro (most possibly more?).
This figure does not include those other things I paid for. Things like camping goods
or flags that I can use next year. The money just disappeared in the air. The
gasoline literally evaporated in the air, you know.


*****************
(Team CSC non-participating races)
17th & 18th May: Rheinland-Pfalz-Rad-Rundfahrt (Stage 2&3)
7th June: Tour de Luxembourg (Stage 1)

3 race days in 2 race events.
*****************


Autograph collection:

1. Lars Bak
2. Kasper Klostergaard
3. Martin Pedersen
4. Luke Roberts
5. Andy Schleck
6. Alexandr Kolobnev
7. Christian Vande Velde
8. David Zabriske
9. Frank Schleck
10. Bobby Julich
11. Chris Anker Sørensen
12. Juan José Haedo
13. Jens Voigt
14. Anders Lund
15. Volodymir Gustov
16. Kurt-Asle Arvesen
17. Mathew Goss
18. Michael Blaudzun
19. Allan Johansen
20. Niki Sørensen
21. Karsten Kroon
22. Stuart O'Grady
23. Carlos Sastre
24. Inigo Cuesta
25. Macus Ljungqvist
26. Fabian Cancellara
27. Matti Breschel
28. Bjarne Riis

27 riders and the team owner. I missed Lars Michaelsen's autograph.

World Championship in Stuttgart Part VIII

Thursday September 27th 2007, Stuttgart, Germany

Benoît Vaugrenard (France)


Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Belgium)


Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) -- if I am not mistaken.


Dmytro Grabovskyy (Ukraine)


Knut Anders Fostervold (Norway)


Kristjan Fajt (Slovenia)


Dan Craven (Namibia)


Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)


Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)

Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)


Brian Vandborg (Denmark)


Marco Pinotti (Italy)


Bert Grabsch (Germany)

Bert Grabsch (Germany)


Joost Posthuma (Netherlands)


Gustav Larsson (Sweden)

Gustav Larsson (Sweden)


Sebastian Lang (Germany)


Cameron Wurf (Australia)


David Millar (Great Britain)


Vladimir Karpets (Russian Federation)


Dominique Cornu (Belgium)

Dominique Cornu (Belgium)


Jason Mccartney (USA)

Jason Mccartney (USA)


José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spain)

José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spain)


Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain)


David Zabriskie (USA)


Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)

World Championship in Stuttgart Part VII

Thursday September 27th 2007. Stuttgart, Germany

My automobile.


It was raining. I drove to Stuttgart, 130km away, and arrived at Herdweg
around 4:00 AM (in the morning!). I wanted to paint there on the street. I had
to give up the hope of painting since it was raining rather heavily. By noon it was
getting to drizzle.


The first rider is getting geared up. It was still raining and the road was wet.


Benoît Vaugrenard (France)

Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Belgium)

Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)

Dmytro Grabovskyy (Ukraine)

Knut Anders Fostervold (Norway)

Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan)

Lars Ytting Bak (Denmark)

Brian Vandborg (Denmark)
Has he already got a new contract? He finished at 4th place last year.
Why did he get this starting order? He deserved a better place, did not he?

Marco Pinotti (Italy)

World Championship in Stuttgart Part VI

Sunday September 30th 2007. Stuttgart, Germany

Christian Vande Velde climbing Herdweg.


At one point Thor Hushovd attacked and surprised the spectators. Norwegian
fans were cool, though.


The only picture of Carlos Sastre (with his compatriots).


Dutch team worked hard to tack in the initial breakaway.


Matti Breschel.


Alexandr Kolobnev. Everybody remembers his brave attack.


Jens Voigt.


Juan José Haedo.


Philippe Gilbert. I was supposed to paint his name on Herdweg. I am
sorry that I could not.


Fabian Cancellara.


Bobby Julich.


Lars Bak.


Kurt-Asle Arvesen.


Andy Schleck.