THIS WEEK IN PRO CYCLING
Astarloa grabs world road title
The key moment in Sunday’s magnificent world elite men’s road race championship — watched by an enthusiastic 104,000 fans — came 15 minutes from the finish of the 260.4km race, just after a peloton, still 90-strong, started the last of 21 laps.
Igor Astarloa, winner this year of the Flèche Wallonne classic in Belgium, was riding alongside his Spanish team leader Oscar Freire, the two-time world champion. “I spoke with Oscar,” Astarloa said, “and he told me that he wasn’t feeling strong enough to follow [Paolo] Bettini, who was sure to attack on the final lap. So he told me to follow Bettini if I could and he would take care of the sprint if we were caught.”
Sure enough, as soon as the strung-out peloton reached the short, winding climb of Beckett Drive, 10km from the finish, the expected attack came. Not from Bettini, but from a highly motivated Peter Van Petegem of Belgium, whose team had raced aggressively all day.
Only five others had the strength to follow the storming Van Petegem: Bettini, Astarloa, Michael Boogerd of the Netherlands. Bo Hamburger of Denmark and Oskar Camenzind of Switzerland. It was an elite sextet, all of whom had previously medalled at the world’s or won World Cup classics, except Astarloa.
It was a startling, explosive break. Within half-a-kilometer of attacking, the six were 17 seconds ahead as they emerged from the trees shading the Beckett Avenue climb. They continued to gain time on the wide, straight streets that were exposed to the sun and a strong southwesterly breeze on the top of the so-called Hamilton Mountain.
The gap was 20 seconds as they turned left off of Garth onto Fennell, where the crosswind became a tail wind; and 25 seconds as they sped past Mohawk College at the top of the 12.4km circuit.
Boogerd knew he couldn’t win a sprint against these guys, so the veteran Dutchman shot away on his own, with the wind at his back. But Bettini himself took up the chase, followed by Camenzind, then the other three. They descended the long, long Claremont Access hill together, and were still 25 seconds ahead at the bottom.
Just 4.5km remained, half of it uphill, the remainder plunging back to Main Street and the final 300-meter straightaway. Did the six have enough time to stay away? Was there anyone strong enough in the peloton to bridge across? And did anyone in the front have the legs to make another attack?
All these questions were being thought about by those in the front, those behind, and by the team managers in the following cars. At the same time, the big teams that had missed out on the break — notably the United States and Germany — were desperately trying to close the gap.
The main dynamo of that chase was homegrown Chris Horner, who had already shown his nose at the front with a sharp attack two laps before this. Now, on this final go-round, Horner said, “I pulled the last part along the top, down the descent, then I just went into the climb and kept it strung out all the way into the climb, because I knew those guys would have to be tired. So if we could just keep the speed going into the climb they would probably be caught.”
That looked a possibility when the 25-second gap was cut to 13, then 10 seconds midway up the 2km Claremont Access ascent. Camenzind, the 1998 world champion, saw that his group was being reeled in and made a quick acceleration. But his 32-year-old legs didn’t have the snap he wanted. Astarloa came up to him, then Bettini and Boogerd.
This final climb was turning into a slugfest, just as many predicted. Then, with less than a kilometer of uphill work remaining, 27-year-old Astarloa, just 5-foot-7 and 136 pounds, stood on his pedals, shifted onto his big ring, and sprinted clear of the others — just as he did to win April’s Flèche Wallonne by punching clear of fellow Basque Aitor Osa on the forbidding slopes of the Mur de Huy.
Hamilton’s Claremont Access is no Mur de Huy, but this being the 21st time up the wide, straight Canadian climb, and with a head wind to overcome, it probably felt the same. Astarloa knew he was taking a risk, but he said that he had been watching the faces of the other five riders in the break, and he knew this was his only chance of winning.
Van Petegem, too, had been observing the others, and said, “This was not the Bettini who won San Sebastian in the month of August.” Even so, Bettini did eventually chase, but he couldn’t close the instant 100-meter lead that Astarloa had taken.
At the same time, the front of the strung-out peloton had closed to within about 50 meters of the chasers. It was a gap that three riders would be able to cross before the summit. The first was another member of the new generation of Spanish stars, Alejandro Valverde, third in the recent Vuelta a España, who made a crucial decision. “I saw Igor [Astarloa] was doing good in the front, so I decided to help,” he said
Meanwhile, the U.S. goal was still to give George Hincapie a shot at an eventual sprint finish. But a disconsolate Hincapie later said, “I didn’t have good legs today.”
Ironically, the U.S. Postal Service teammate who had been training with Hincapie in South Carolina for the past week, Toronto native Michael Barry, riding for Canada, did have good legs and he made a remarkable effort to chase across to the Bettini group right on the summit.
“The peloton didn’t really seem to be going super-fast,” Barry related, “so I just thought I’d give it a go and jump across. Everybody hesitated for a second, and then I went. I just stayed in the small ring — I had a 42 on today — and pedaled hard.”
Barry knew that there was a rider on his wheel when he went, but wasn’t sure who it was. It turned out to be Italy’s Luca Paolini, who then helped Barry close the last few meters to the chasers after turning sharp left into the steep James Mountain Road downhill.
After making that turn, Astarloa said he looked across at the chasers. “I saw Valverde with them, so I knew that he would try to slow the chase.”
Astarloa was in a deep tuck, arrowing down at 85 kph, conscious that less than a minute separated him from the world title. His lead was less than 10 seconds, but with his goal in sight and knowing that Valverde was covering the chase, he never looked back.
Well, not until well after he had turned left into Main Street. And when he saw that the victory was his, the Spaniard who rides for an Italian trade team (Saeco) and who will next year race for a French one (Cofidis) let all his tension dissipate in a burst of Hispanic joy.
Around the final corner, after Paolini had vainly tried to pull Bettini up to Astarloa, Camenzind fell (he would finish 70th, a minute down) and Bettini went for the silver. But Van Petegem came off Barry’s wheel to go past the Italian favorite while Valverde came around at the last second to beat them both.
Meanwhile, an elated Barry coasted across the line in seventh, right behind Boogerd and Hamburger, the other survivors of a last-lap break that saw the final 12.4km completed in 16:54, the fastest lap of the day, at a remarkable 44 kph.
The best of the Americans turned out not to be the disconsolate Hincapie (in 37th), but his friend and last-minute team member Fred Rodriguez (18th). It might have been better, Rodriguez explained. “I was having problems with my left leg, had cramps,” he said. “I rode for George, and at the finish I was still there with cramps. I tried to sprint but there was nothing in my legs. I was pedaling with one leg pretty much.”
The field sprint for ninth place, 12 seconds down on Astarloa, went to Spain’s prerace favorites Freire, who crossed the line in Paolini’s wake, while Germany’s Erik Zabel was pipped by Estonia’s Janek Tombak for 10th.
And so Italy, the hot favorite to mop up medals in Hamilton, eventually went home with none — in any category. The last time that happened was three decades ago, in 1974, which was also the last time the world’s came to Canada. One can only imagine the inquests that will fill the coming winter. Perhaps the Italians will get it right in time for next year’s championships, which just happen to take place in their own backyard, in Verona.
