Sarah Gigante wins the Tour Down Under

Sarah Gigante flashes a wide, transparent grin while on a training ride up Doshi Michi
July 21, 2021, at the Tokyo Olympics. Obviously, she is enjoying just being there.

Today, Australian cyclist Sarah Gigante won the Women's version of the Tour Down Under, a major World Tour Title.

Gigante hit the cycling scene with a splash five years ago -- with a victory in the Australian national time trial at age 18, repeated at 19 -- and launched a professional career that included a stint with a local Australian team then several years with Movistar, all by age 23. 

In 2021, in her first pro season in Europe, she had a bad crash, only 4 months before the Tokyo Olympics. She nonetheless made the  Olympic team selection and placed 11th in the time trial, 40th in the road race. After more health issues and two disastrous seasons at Movistar -- the most recent of which saw her race only a few days -- she has moved on to AG Insurance-Soudal Quickstep. 

Gigante gives the thumbs up!

And now, she's back! In her first significant race with the new team ... she won the Tour Down Under with a dramatic, decisive victory in the last stage. You can watch the last few minutes of her climb to victory up Willunga Hill here.  And then you can see her interview at the finish line -- half of what spills out of her mouth seems gibberish, she is so overjoyed and excited at winning that her words trip over themselves.

Why is this of interest to me, other than the pleasure of watching someone who is so happy, especially after overcoming a period of difficulties?  Well, that day in 2021 when I rode up to Yamanakako looking for Olympians doing training rides. I had the best luck as I headed down Doshi-michi. I saw groups from Australia, Denmark, Japan, Israel, among others. (The mighty Slovenians I had seen for a few milliseconds as they descended south from Kagozaka toward Subashiri earlier. The Brits - G Thomas - I saw as I descended from north Kagozaka to Yamanakako). 

But the only Olympian who really acknowledged me, who smiled and made eye contact, was Sarah Gigante. Indeed, as she saw that I had pulled off Doshimichi and was going to take a photo with my iPhone ... she gave me the thumbs up!  

Thumbs up!

Maybe a close-up would be better!

Sarah -- Best wishes for your success over the rest of 2024 and beyond!

Escape from Tokyo, 2021

 In a dystopian near future, the 23 wards of central Tokyo have been turned into a maximum security prison!

A few areas, near some public facilities built to serve the masses during a kinder, gentler era, are "outside the fence" as it were, now set aside for entertainment of the global elite in gladiatorial games, with the cost to be paid for by the prisoners (the current and next several generations). The "hunger games"?

This was my thought as I tried to ride my bicycle on a route down the west side of the new national stadium toward "Killer Dori" ... but found the way blocked off. I needed to go around along a very narrow path outside a very tall, guarded fence. In the rain. It was deserted at midday on a weekday.

You can tell the fence is designed to keep US out rather than THEM in ... since the concrete is placed on the outer side of the curb, leaving the roadway undisturbed.

The only car I saw on the deserted inner roadway. I hope the road is wide enough for it.

Guards waiting to check anyone vehicle attempting to leave the prison.

Men's TT at Fuji Speedway - Tokyo 2021

Primoz Roglic riding like a man on fire

The Men's TT was held with 3 start waves of 13 riders each, with the highest seeded riders going in the last wave, and going last within each wave. Also, with a 2PM start, the last wave began at 350PM, with the sun already low in the sky, some cloud cover, and cooler temperatures. This offered I think a not insignificant advantage.

Around halfway through the event, they announced that the lower area along the course was being opened, so that we could walk down and spectate from alongside the track. This made the trip all the way to Fuji Speedway worthwhile. They came by fast and close, and we could watch them as the 1-2-3 leaders waited in the "hot seat" area to find out whether their leads would hold up (or not, as was the case this day). H. Houle of Quebec took and held the lead early, then Remco Evenepoel of Belgium, then Rigoberto Uran of Columbia, and in the last wave Dumoulin, before Roglic.

Remco Evenepoel of Belgium (who is praised for his great TT form on the bicycle with, as one commentator put it, the tuck allowed by his "tiny T-Rex arms") really looked like plumber or construction worker, while Tom Dumoulin and Alberto Bettiol seem almost regal, or certainly as if they could smoothly transition from cyclist to fashion model.

Bettiol

Uran

Cavagna

Filippo Ganna

Roglic

Dumoulin

Primoz Roglic won, and he rode like a man on fire. Indeed, I think I said as much to Peter S next to me as we were watching ... then heard the commentators say exactly the same thing when I watched the recorded stream late that night soaking in a bath to cool down after cycling home. How fast was he? He won by more a minute, while the next four fastest riders were all bunched within five seconds of each other. Just incredible. Roglic was so focused that when he went across the finish line ... he kept going and going, not slowing down noticeably nor braking until he got nearly to the end of the viewing stands and finish straightaway. 

As with Van Vleuten in the women's event, this was a kind of "redemption ride", with Roglic suffering from a poor 2021 season (crashing out of the Tour de France after a few stages). It was great to see someone who has been the #1 rider in the world most of the past three years, but has struggled of late, to come in like a man on a mission and show that he is still a force to be reckoned with.  And Roglic, famously stone-faced and a man of few words, looked elated with the victory, and gave a (for him) lengthy interview to his home country TV broadcasters in the finish area.

Dumoulin, who got silver, likewise has kept a low profile this year, and must have had people questioning whether he was "done", or still had what it takes to keep going as a top level pro cyclist. 

It was a long trip home -- lines to wait for the gate to open to walk to the shuttle bus, then a 40 minute wait at Gotemba station (during which I grabbed dinner across the street -- this is convenient Japan after all), then 2 trains back to Hiratsuka, then a 60km ride home arriving after 11PM. I heard and saw an unusually number of ambulances out as I crossed Kanagawa Prefecture, so it was not surprising to read that both Kanagawa and Tokyo hit record numbers of Covid-19 new cases that day (and again each of the next few days). But I felt safe outdoors in the breeze at Fuji Speedway.  it was a memorable day!

Peter and I

After a while I realized the only way I could get good photos would be to take a video and then extract a screenshot from it -- they were just TOO FAST to photograph otherwise. The video clips themselves are nice ... but do not integrate well into Blogger. So here are some of the screenshots (in addition to Roglic at the top of the post).

Wout van Aert

Rohan Dennis

Kasper Asgreen

Filippo Ganna

Remi Cavangna

As for the Americans, Brandon McNulty had a decent run and ended in the lower middle of the pack, after his heroics on Saturday. Lawson Craddock came in at the very back. As I told Peter S., I am not a big Lawson Craddock fan -- he rides in the Pro Tour, sure, as a domestique, but does not seem to have what it takes to actually win races based upon from everything I have seen.

Sepp Kuss (USA) can win a stage on the Tour de France (the mountain stage to Andorra this year).

Nielson Powless (USA -- native American, actually) just showed that he can win, taking the Clasica de San Sebastian, the most important one day race in Spain (ranked just below the Spring "monuments"). He outsprinted the very experienced Matej Mohoric, double stage winner at this year's Tour.

Next Olympics, I would hope to see both Sepp Kuss and Nielson Powless, and other young American riders who can win against the best, in the road competition and TT.

Olympic Time Trials at Fuji Speedway - Women's TT

I got a message from a friend last week that his friend had an extra ticket and was looking for someone who wanted to see the two road cycling time trials on Wednesday, July 28, at Fuji Speedway in Oyama/Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. Apparently Peter S. and his wife Michiyo had gotten the tickets, but Michiyo ended up working as a coordinator of the interpreters for the cycling events, so they had a spare ticket. I jumped at the chance.

Spectator ticket? What? I thought this was a "no spectator Olympics". Well, apparently the decision is up to the governor. Most governors have not allowed spectators in events in Saitama, Kanagawa, Fukushima and elsewhere. But the Shizuoka governor allowed them so the tickets remain valid. Maybe 1 out of 100 Olympic events that allowed spectators!

I had entered the lottery for many of the track cycling events at Shuzenji CSC velodrome, but not for the road race or time trial events where there was seating at Fuji Speedway. It seemed like a long way to go to watch a TT from the stands of a massive motor circuit. And I figured that if I could actually get to Gotemba/Oyama -- it would be a long day getting there and back -- I could watch from somewhere out on the course. 

But by the time this invitation came up, I had already had a taste of watching the best in the world, and wanted more. 

I left home at 430AM and rode my Pelso Brevet 62kms to Hiratsuka. I had planned to try and get to Kozu, 3 stops further SW along the coast, but was not sure I would be in time to catch the connecting Gotemba Line train, nor that I would want a ride of more than 70kms back at night. So I parked my bicycle and got a Tokaido Line train to Kozu, then a 747AM Gotemba Line train for Gotemba. I next took a 20-25 minute 9AM shuttle bus (the last schedule one available before the roads closed ... though it turned out that they also at a 930AM shuttle) to the Fuji Speedway. We walked what seemed a very long way, and then started through the entry procedures -- ticket check, etc. I was in the stadium at my seat by 945AM, for an 1130AM start to the women's TT. Peter joined me a few minutes later.

We noticed that the start of the TT was just a few hundred meters beyond the end of the viewing stands ... and would have the riders heading AWAY from us out onto the course. And the finish line was a few hundred meters in the other direction from our (inexpensive "B" class) seating area. Fortunately, the riders would come by us once after the entered the speedway and before a short final loop that brought them onto the finish straightaway. And we would be able to see them as the finished and barreled down the raceway -- in fact, the "hot seat" where the leader would sit was beyond us, and the media booths for rider interviews were just below us. So we could see plenty of the action. And we could see across into the areas where teams would be warming up.

Anyway, Annemiek Van Vleuten crushed it, and another Dutch rider took the bronze, so the Dutch got 2 of the 3 medals with the Swiss getting Silver. Van Vleuten was obviously elated to win -- erasing the severe criticism of the Dutch team tactics that followed the road race. We could see her parading around with the Dutch team entourage after the medal ceremony. As Tom Dumoulin warmed up for the Men's TT more than an hour later, she was STILL elated, wearing the medal and visibly celebrating.

Bike parking at Hiratsuka Station S entrance -- 200 yen for 24 hrs

Volunteer briefing -- from the shuttle bus

Fuji Speedway approach never looked better.

Flowers grown by local school children to commemorate the event

Finally, on the grounds.

View toward the finish line w telephoto

Complimentary cooling ice

Complimentary cardboard fan

Free seat cover -- insulated for cooling

Fuji Speedway

Somehow I think we may be watching the end on TV?

The start area

Dutch team / Van Vleuten parade

Still showing off her gold medal ... as Dumoulin warms up in the backgronnd. He was in the last Men's stasrt wave (of 3) so was riding after 4PM in the afternoon!

Viewing the Mens and Womens Olympic Road Races from Inagi-shi

On Saturday morning, John K., Pieter F., Jerome and I headed out on a well-trodden ride path for Onekansen Doro -- a regular route to the west of town. This time would be different, however, as the Olympic road race course twisted and crossed Onekan a number of times as it headed out of Tokyo and toward the mountains. 

We quickly found a spot along the course on the second very short climb the riders would ascent after the passed the Tamagawa, in the shade, on the edge of a public park. We had been thinking to go further out, but this looked like a perfect spot. And it was. We could relax in the shade for the hour or so until the race would start at 11AM. Actually, the riders would start to roll at 11AM but it was a lengthy neutralized start, and it was only 20 minutes later than they actually crossed the river. There were caravans of vehicles -- crews headed to man the feeding zones up the road,  VIPs, etc. A few minutes later, a small breakaway group passed us. Then soon thereafter was the Peleton, Belgian and Slovenian riders prominent in the front row. Faster than the "parade" of the neutralized section, but still a relaxed pace very early in the 235km, 4800m elevation gain monster course.

We enjoyed the spectacle, then went to Makoto Artisan Bistro in Futako Shinchi for a long, delicious French lunch. We could follow the race via streaming as we ate, and made it home in time to watch the climactic final 50kms, includng the brilliant and gutsy deciding move by Brandon McNulty and Richard Carapaz that brought Carapaz the gold medal. 

Waiting for the riders

We could follow their progress via the web streaming service to our mobile phones

Any minute now!

And there is the peleton, the Belgians and Slovenians in front

And then they were gone!

Jan Tratnik of Slovenia wins best power domestique -- here between the Fuji and Mikuni climbs

Well worth the modest effort!

The next day, also a scorcher, my wife and I drove to a spot not too far from Inagi, then rode to the same place as I had watched the day before, and met Peter J, for a repeat of the experience, and home in time to catch the last 1/3 of the race on a big screen streamed at home.

The women's race also had a breakaway from the start, as four riders passed us minutes before the main group -- three of them, Anna P. from Poland, Omar Shapira of Israel, and Anna Kiesenhofer, self-coached cyclist and mathematician of Austria, would hold off the peleton until Kagozaka Pass, and Kiesenhofer would ride solo the rest of the way to the finish for an incredible, inspirational victory.

If you have not followed her story, you really should! And the favored Dutch riders (who the oddsmakers strongly favored for gold, silver, and bronze), came away with only one medal, a silver by Annemiek van Vleuten, who did not realize that Keisenhofer was ahead of her (out of sight) up the road.

The early parade -- via streaming -- only 67 starters.

Ayu and I wait at the park

Peter J., Ayu, and I wait with the rest of the viewers.
A bigger group appeared on Sunday than on Saturday -- word spread!

The breakaway -- Omar Shapira, Anna P., and Anna Kiesenhofer are 1, 2, and 3.

Ethiopian rider quickly thought better of trying to stay in the break

The peleton

Rear view of the peleton

Kiesenhofer at the finish!

Kiesenhofer at the finish

Two days, two great races.