Lucas Euser, budding climber of the Garmin Chipotle team, was nice enough to allow EuroPeloton to ride along with him on the road course in Varese on Thursday. At only 25 years old, Euser is a bright young talent on the American cycling scene, and he'll use the road race on Sunday to gain some valuable experience racing against the best in the world. With Levi Leipheimer's departure on Friday for America, the US team will be riding without a de facto leader, allowing Euser to look for his opportunity on Sunday.
As we ascended the first climb on the road course, Euser explained that the downhill portions would be just as important as the uphill sections on the course. "The descent off this first climb, at eight kilometers, is twisting and technical. There will be many opportunities to create a gap on the downhill, so if you're not in the first 25 riders, you could miss a decisive move." As we flew down the descent, I saw what he meant. The road is rarely straight on this section, and seems to widen and narrow every few meters. Add a tough round about to the mix and you have a descent made for escape artists.
As we transitioned onto the ronchi (pronounced ron-key, climb in Italian) Euser showed me how an attack could be made. He flew away from me with relative ease, and looked back saying, "You see that this climb isn't overly steep, so you can really punch it to put a rider into difficulty." I wheezed "yeah" as I desperately tried not to look spent as I pursued him. At four kilometers, the climb may not be long enough to unhitch the field right away, but the riders will tackle the climb 15 times. By the 13th or 14th time up, expect some of the less climbing oriented riders to fade away, leaving only the true hilly classic contenders like Valverde and Bettini to battle for the rainbow jersey.
After summiting the climb, there are still four kilometers until the finish line. If a rider with good time trialing skills can escape on the climb, perhaps he'll be able to hold the lead all the way to the finish in Mapei stadium. Adding to the trouble however is that there is a short incline leading into the stadium at the 400 meters to go mark. Both the U-23 and women's race were affected by this slight rise in the road, and the gradual pitch will likely play into the finish of the men's race as well. Top sprinters like Tom Boonen, Oscar Freire and Robbie McEwen will have to hope to survive the final incline if they are to win. It won't be easy though. Punchy climbers like Bettini, Valverde, Schumacher, and Breschel will do all they can to unhitch the fast men on the run in to the finish.
So who does Euser think is the top favorite for the race? A less obvious choice, Davide Rebellin. "Rebellin is better than any other rider I know at conserving his energy. He's always in the right place, always underrated, and he rides with those factors in mind. Plus, he can descend better than most. Just look what he did to Gesink in this past year's Paris Nice race. He showed us all how it's done!" Euser's pick is a good one, especially considering that his teammate Bettini will be watched much closer by the rest of the field. A big thank you to Lucas for his candid perspectives for this article, and best of luck in the future!
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1 comments:
Was kind of hoping to see Michael Barry do something at the Worlds. He won the toughest stage at the Tour of Missouri after attacking all day and he might not have been on the radar. That would have been 2 for Columbia. I read he got caught in a crash.
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