欧州自転車レース追っかけ日記 Bike Races in Switzerland

Friendly fire or not?

Was it a friendly fire?
A few days after I came home from Zurich, Switzerland. I read a brief article about the then on-going criticism among (mainly?) Dutch media. The tactics of the Female Dutch team was the subject of the criticism.

I understood that the Dutch people were very sour and disappointed by the outcome. They had a very strong team and the race course (including climbs) seemed to favor their aces (Demi Vollering, Marianna Vos etc.) rather than Belgium ace, Lotte Kopecky.

Well, the climb was not so steep and the steep section was not so decisive.

The article that I read was about those other articles criticizing the seemingly friendly fire attack within the Dutch team. So I did not get the details.

Just recently I watched the video that Chiris Horner explained the situations above-mentioned.

OK, it seemed like a friendly fire situation, indeed but can people blame some individuals involved?

I don't think it is fair. Those who are pointing their fingers did not compete, right?

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [Friendly fire or not?]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

Zurich 2024 and the souvenirs!

Nice Souvenirs from Zurich, Switzerland 2024
On Sunday, I got two Food Bags (Sacoche). Two rider almost at the same time gently place them at my feet. How nice of them!

One belonged to the Spanish team and the other to the Team Britanica. The latter included three unopened energy bars (of kinds), which soon consumed by me. Thank you very much for the lunch!

The Spanish sacoche had a hand-written name on it, Alex. I looked it up on the PDF start list and soon learned that it belonged to Alex Aranburu. Nice! If I encounter him the next time I will ask him to put autograph on it.

The other one was bit puzzling with no names but I had help. I took photos on my Google Pixel 7 and I had a good shot with a British rider about to throw away his sacoche. At least I had the suspects face (with sunglasses) and bike head tube logo clearly in the photo. The logo turned out to be Scott's.

I also had a Spanish rider with seemingly riding Canyon bike (also judging from its head tube logo) with one hand extending with something (must be the bag) with a small face with some package of food in his mouth (but it was too small to recognize his face) in the same shot.

I came home and did some Googling and checked all the background of the British riders. All I had to know was their team and the team issue bike brands. I soon found that Oscar Edgar Onley was a Scottish rider riding for Team DSM–Firmenich PostNL and the bike supplier was Scott. On top of it, the face I saw on the Internet was exactly like the one in my picture. Got to be him.

I will also try to get it autographed by him.

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [Zurich 2024 and the souvenirs!]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

Here I come, Zurich, Switzerland

I am not a good packer

I am leaving for Switzerland in about 6 or 7 hours but have not packed yet. I am lazy. It won't be too difficult to pack for a 2-day car trip but I am too lazy to pack.

It is not raining in Zurich now (Friday evening) but will rain later in the evening throughout Saturday. Tomorrow it will be much colder than it is Today.

I will be bringing warmer clothes and the poncho, windbreaker, umbrellas and others for me and Hannah.

In Japanese: 続きをどうぞ [Here I come, Zurich, Switzerland]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

Zurich 2024, here I come!

Zurich, Switzerland car trip
I am leaving for Zurich today, sometime past midnight or so. I am crossing the French-Swiss border around 04:00 in the morning, I think.

My main objective is watching the Women Elite and Men Elite road race on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. I'll be watching the race on a ascending road past the finish on the circuit course around Zurich.

Women's race starts in the afternoon but there are Men's and Women's para-cycling races in the morning. They (three para-cycling races) seem to climb the bigger circuit course once and then they use the short and flat circuit near the lake.

I am driving my Mazda MX-5 with my beloved Hannah, the cat. I found out that I had Saturday off (not working) a bit before noon of Friday (I am writing this Friday afternoon). I hurriedly looked for a place to stay near Zurich using Airbnb.

I found one and requested for a stay. The host (who seems to be staying home, I don't know if the host person is retired or working home?) responded a few minutes later and welcomed me (and my Hannah).

Now that the place to stay in Zurich was secured, I started preparing for the early departure (I was going to leave early Sunday morning to watch only Men's road race). I have already purchased the E-Vignette. I have now collecting some more information on the races.

The official site (https://zurich2024.com/) seem to post the time tables and then the start lists as the races near. For this moment, all time tables are available for download but not all the start lists. I have to download the start lists on Saturday or Sunday.

The weather in Zurich seems to be harsh (raining and cold) on Saturday and turns for the better on Sunday but still chilly. I have to bring something extra (poncho, umbrella and so on) for the rain.

The Airbnb host I booked is 44 km away from the center of Zurich by mostly highway. It won't be much of drive.

In Japanese:続きをどうぞ [Zurich 2024, here I come!]の続きを読む

テーマ:自転車ロードレース - ジャンル:スポーツ

Tour de Suisse 2016

I like Tour de Suisse (Tour of Switzerland, if I may, in English) for several reasons.

(in ramdom order)
1. Beautiful mountains and sceneries
2. Less crowded traffic and fewer crowd (than those of the Tour de France)
3. More (valuable and abundant) 'petits cadeaux' (free stuff from publicity caravan and at start/finish)

The only complain that I have is that over there diesel fuel is more expensive than gasoline and my Ford Ka uses diesel. Things are relatively expensive there but I only buy cheap food so no damage is done.

Next year (2016) the Tour de Suisse has a very interesting stage layout. Take a look at http://www.tourdesuisse.ch/.

I wish I could go and watch all of the stages this coming summer.

The highlight (at least one of the highlights) will be the climb to Rettenbachjoch. Rettenbach is a well-known name to any cycling fans. I always wanted to climb there.

A while ago, I wrote about camping shower equipment. Today I looked for a similar device on Decathlon's site. It is a big sporting equipment store chain in France, Belgium, Germany and many other countries.

Was my search fruitful? Yes.