VeloCenter: ATOC preview
I haven't done an entry on my blog for a while so I thought I'd pass along all my plans for the Amgen Tour of California that begins Sunday. I'm flying out tomorrow morning for Sacramento and will primarily be travelling within the Fly V australia camp. However I will be making my rounds to several teams each day.
I'm analyzing and posting race files from Fly V australia and Team Saxo Bank each day so once the stage finishes my work just begins. My goal will be to download files from Fly V and Saxo Bank's Jakob Fuglsang ASAP. I am then writing a race report and data analysis article which will get posted here:
www.TrainingPeaks.com/atoc
Besides posting race files from two riders each day (one Fly V and Jakob Fuglsang of Saxo Bank) I will also be working with Henk Vogels and Ed Beamon who are Fly V's directors. I will be sharing my thoughts with Henk and Ed as I review Team Fly V australia's daily files. I will also be working with Team Saxo Bank's director Bobby Julich who is a long time childhood friend of mine.
I'm also planning to support my other close friends: Neil Shirley of Kelly Benefits (who just returned from a crazy hard Tour of Korea); young neo pro on team BMC Chris Butler (ToC is his 2nd ever Pro race!); Phil Zajicek of Fly V has been "flying" as usual at the recent Tour of the Gila, and finally super talented Jani Brajkovic of Radio Shack who just finished top 10 at Romandie (yet another top-10 placing in a Euro stage race).
Who will Win?
Mmmm tough question. Levi has the experience, hometown crowd and focus. Fabian can never be counted out, but how much celebrating has he been doing since his victories in France and Belgium? Garmin is a tough unit to beat as well and Zabriskie can rise to the occasion like no one else. A surprise victor could spoil it all as well as this is bike racing, maybe a Zajicek possibly. All eyes were on other teammates when Brajkovic rode away with the victory in the Tour of Georgia a few years ago.
Look for me on
VeloCenter TV as I hope to do short daily field reports on what was interesting from the previous day's data files. I will also be conducting my own interviews with directors, riders, sponsors and more so stay tuned at the following outlets:
-Twitter.com/DirkFriel
-Twitter.com/TrainingPeaks
-follow Twitter hashtag #atoctp
Many thanks to Team Fly V australia for their unending enthusiasm to improve. They are proving with more than 35 victories so far in 2010 that no dream is too large. Visit them at:
http://www.pegasusracing.com.au/site/
I'd like to thank Team Saxo Bank for their support and the use of TrainingPeaks.com for the second year in a row. I had Julich's support from the beginning and now Bobby has proved how valuable that data can be for all involved. Also thanks to the team for supporting of my vision to promote daily stage files from the world's biggest races. Transparency has its rewards. Please visit the team web site at
http://www.riis-cycling.com/ as well as the Saxo Bank Taking the Lead site at
http://www.saxobanktakingthelead.com/?p=3436
Life on the road will be tough for me this next week but I welcome it with open arms. I will probably hit the sack well past midnight each night and "the sack" may be the team RV for as much as I know. No worries though. Just being at such a huge international event on US soil is a dream and I'm proud to tag along. I'm also honoured to work with the talented riders, staff members and as always the amazing sponsors that make such dreams come true.
Ciao and see you in Cali!
Dirk
