Whilst Marcel Kittel held off a lunging Bryan Coquard to claim stage four of Le Tour last week, Brendan Canty was also winning. That’s right: while the mainstream cycling media and public were salivating over the blonde German’s comeback from injury - and quite rightly so - the young Canty was doing Australia and his Team Drapac proud by claiming stage honours in the concurrent Tour of Austria.
While the melee and media frenzy of the Tour de France captures the cycling world’s attention for much of July, spare a thought for those professional riders elsewhere for reasons too long to list. While non-selection for riders and teams alike is often a bitter pill to swallow (sic), spare a thought for the “other” tours involving “lesser” riders around the same time as La Grande Boucle.
The use apostrophes for the terms “other” and “lesser” is purposeful in that neither should be used to describe event or rider for that matter. For one thing, stage races like the Tour of Austria are steeped in tradition as well as being truly brutal affairs. Be it the unpredictable tactics or simply the unrelenting climbs into places like Dobratsch, the fact that this tour that was eventually won by the Czech Jan Hirt (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) goes largely unnoticed by the media is pretty sad. After all, it was not that long ago that one former Le Tour winner and World Champion was relegated to his World Tour squad’s “B” team for this very event. That’s right: Cadel Evans, out of favour with his then-T-Mobile squad, was deemed not part of their French plans for July 2004. His adjusted role: go to Austria and win Internationale “Österreich Rundfahrt”.
So with these facts in mind, let’s take a slightly closer look at the alternative events currently on the go as the peloton snakes around France.
The Tour of Austria (or Österreich Rundfahrt) is a 2.HC event in UCI terms. Originally a preparation race for the Le Tour, its reshuffle in the calendar sees it attract less World Tour squads than in past years, evident by the 2016 start list and eventual result. Not that this should fool one: far from it in fact as GC winner Jan Hirt has actually ridden for World Tour squads such as Leopard-Trek and has been a professional for some four years. Former winners include the likes of Pete Kennaugh, Jakob Fuglsang and Michael Albasini. And the teams deserve special mention. For instance, Canty’s Drapac squad now has strong links with the World Tour, what with the Australian investment group’s recent partnering with Jonathan Vaughters’ Slipstream Sports.
“Actually there are two Nambos here,” said Dan Craven in reply to a Tweet of mine last week. The Sibiu Cycling Tour is the national tour of Romania and counts the evergreen – and ever-controversial? – Davide Rebellin as winner of the 2013 edition. Trivia aside, I only became aware of this “other” tour thanks to the hirsute and quirky Craven’s ever-interesting social media updates. The well-travelled Namibian never fails to entertain and astound, what with his now riding for one of the world’s more eclectic squads in the Israeli-registered Cycling Academy. Thanks for the heads up Dan, and do get in touch if you read this – would love to chat. Seriously bud.
+++++
It is late Wednesday and Peter Sagan has just held off a beastly Christopher Froome. The cycling world is abuzz with Froome’s newfound skill in making the race on the flats, using the crosswinds to his and Team SKY’s advantage. Awesome to watch and observe but spare a thought for an equally weary peloton rolling into Katowice. The Tour of Poland is but two days old and Team Etixx-Quick-Step is no doubt fighting “tooth and nail” to defend stage one victor’s Davide Martinelli GC lead into the Silesian Metropolis. It might not be on EuroSport but dinner will no doubt be rather welcome by each and every one of the 248 rider peloton this evening.
Chapeau.
