Managing the Talent at OPQS

A Problem Many Teams Would Like to Have
With the classics season coming up Omega Pharma-Quick Step look like the team with all the right cards to play with aces like Tom Boonen, Niki Terpstra, Mark Cavendish and Zdeněk Štybar and pack of able support riders.

But there’s a problem here as the team has so many top riders it can be hard to manage them all. Do you race the big names regularly or rest them from time to time? Who gets to be team leader? With all this in mind guest writer Whit Yost, a former directeur sportif, takes a look at the options for OPQS.

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Thanks to the SCP Gran Fondo

All sponsors get a message of thanks, a way to express gratitude for their support and a means to explain what their ad is about. Coinciding with the start of the Chinese New Year, February’s sponsor is the SCP Grand Fondo in China, an event that’s open to all and wants to welcome foreign entrants.

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Sunday Shorts

Talk about a long weekend, i’s been an instructive and busy two days of racing. Chris Froome and Alberto Contador both won, the same for André Greipel and Mark Cavendish along with Carlos Betancur and Michał Kwiatkowski, Alejandro Valverde, Amaël Moinard and Moreno Hofland. Almost all big names, Moinard is a big helper and Hofland a future sprinting prospect.

Froome’s result was expected but it marked Contador’s first win in over a year and a chance to revive the El Pistolero victory salute. Is he back to being a forced to be reckoned with? It’s too soon to tell but it’s a start. Unlike poor Andy Schleck who was invisible in the Tour of Oman, he might yet come good but you feel for his supporters who must wait.

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Roads to Ride: Jebel Al Akhdar

The Queen Stage of the Tour of Oman finishes on the Jebel Al Akhdar, the “Green Mountain”. A tough climb with an inappropriate name, it’s also a unique ride in a landscape that is very different to the typical Alpine climb.

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Pompeiana: RCS Need to Decide

Milan-Sanremo is famous for its tension, the longest race of the year is often decided in the final moments, a long wait that gets more and more nervous as the finish approaches. Now there’s a long wait to find out what’s happening to the course and whether the crucial new climb of Pompeiana is in or out.

A rough road and a wet winter mean the road might not be viable and as you’ll read below, municipal bickering is part of the problem too. Velonews reports there will be a meeting next Wednesday but what if this isn’t conclusive? Weather damage is understandable but the uncertainty is becoming inexcusable.

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Why isn’t the Tour of Oman on TV?


As the triptych of races in the Arabian Peninsula comes to an end Stage 5 of the Tour of Oman on Saturday and its summit finish on the Jebel Akhdar promises one of the best contests so far this season. Only the week’s racing isn’t live on TV to the frustration of many. Can we expect to watch every race for free?

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Go High and Get Hot

A quick physics lesson. Feel free to skip this one but with the news today that Fabian Cancellara could attack the Hour Record in August at the Aguascalientes Bicentennial Velodrome in Mexico, here’s a quick look at the effect of altitude and temperature on performance.

Within hours of the story appearing in La Gazzetta Dello Sport Cancellara’s Trek team denied the plans saying the focus is on the classics. But if the record attempt is still uncertain the physics is fixed: riding at altitude in Mexico could be just what is needed to break the hour record. It’s not just for elite records either, air temperature can have a big effect on daily riding and Strava conquests alike.

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Book Review: Ma Liberté de Rouler


Ma liberté de rouler by David Moncoutié

For a long time professional cyclists had one of two blood groups, they were either EPO+ or EPO-. David Moncoutié was one of the minority who avoided the doping culture. Yet he thrived and often beat the cheats.

There’s been plenty of publicity given to the doping and the dopers. Many ask “what about those that rode clean?” and here is the tale of one who did just that.

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Volta ao Algarve Preview


A short preview with thanks to Portuguese blogger Rui Quinta who has helped decrypt each stage. It’s a compact race with something for the sprinters, climbers and a technical time trial, a good guide of early season form for climbers and classics contenders alike.

With many big names in Oman, there are still plenty of riders to watch here with Rui Costa, Chris Horner, Michał Kwiatkowski, Alberto Contador and Mark Cavendish.

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Tour of Oman Preview

After Dubai and Qatar now for Oman where the sky is is scraped by jagged mountains instead of tall towers. It’s very different terrain and with it, a very different race and even landscape you’d like to ride through.

As well as the geography this race has got the cosmology with a galaxy of stars. Chris Froome, Joaquim Rodriguez and Vincenzo Nibali and many more are in action. Here’s a stage-by-stage preview for the week along with a look at the contenders, TV schedule and more.

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