a double-shot of road racing reportage

RACE SCHEDULE

sat TRAINING 19 TIME TRIAL sept TRAINING sun WOMEN’S TEAM TIME TRIAL 20 MEN’S TEAM sept TIME TRIAL mon WOMEN’S JUNIOR TIME TRIAL 21 MEN’S UNDER 23 sept TIME TRIAL tue MEN’S JUNIOR TIME TRIAL 22 WOMEN’S ELITE sept TIME TRIAL wed MEN’S ELITE INDIVIDUAL 23 TIME TRIAL sept thu ROAD RACE 24 TRAINING sept fri WOMEN’S JUNIOR ROAD RACE 25 MEN’S UNDER 23 sept ROAD RACE sat MEN’S JUNIOR ROAD RACE 26 WOMEN’S ELITE ROAD RACE CHASING sept sun MEN’S ELITE 27 ROAD RACE RAINBOWS sept From crits to Worlds, each rider is pursuing his own pot of gold a double-shot of road racing reportage . 03

THE GRAND DUCHESS won the national road race championships an astonishing 15 times, with her THE FIRST last victory coming in 1974 at CHAMPION the age of 41. Issue 2, September 2015 The story of Elsy Jacobs, winner of the ON THEP.04 RIVET inaugural women’s road worlds in 1958. Words JOE HALL Cycling photographer Andy Bokanev has spent the crits season this year chasing the races, taking stunning images. This photo essay presents a selection of his work.

THE CYCLIST’SP.12 BEER

Rapha has created a radler beer to celebrate the Worlds coming to Richmond, in homage to the apparent two- THERE IS A QUESTION OVER WHAT IS THE BIGGEST EVENT IN WOMEN’S attention from all sides of the racing world and helping to wheeled roots of this thirst- CYCLING. The Giro Rosa has a tradition around it, and at put female racing in the spotlight. quenching beverage. some point almost every serious female rider has raced and Tactically inept but By 1956, women’s racing was gaining popularity across finished the Italian . athletically gifted, and Elsy was winning multiple races by employing La Course, of course, has the most excitement, glamour her established tactic of just riding off and staying away. P.14 Elsy would just ride FACE TO FACE and cheers. For the women to race the Champs-Élysées on off the front on her At a UCI conference in 1957, a motion was passed for a the last Sunday in July, with all of the attention and hype women’s road world championships. The following August Bike racing is one of the around Paris on that day, is very special. But for women’s lonesome the race took place in . , , world’s toughest sports and cycling, the world championships is the biggest victory to and the French sent teams of six women; and Brakethrough Media’s grace a palmarès. To wear the rainbow bands in every road each sent a pair of riders and the and images perfectly demonstrate race for the next 12 months cannot be compared. It is a title Luxembourg both sent just one lady to compete (Elsy being the agony and ecstacy of that, once earned, will remain one of the most prestigious Luxembourg’s candidate). The course was three laps of a its competitors. next to your name for eternity. 20km circuit, a lumpy parcours that suited her. The first woman to win this coveted jersey, Elsy Jacobs, The first lap of the race saw seven riders go clear, including was much like women’s road racing itself: an underestimated Elsy. In the second she pulled clear and did what she always P.18 THE STORM entity. Elsy was from Luxembourg, a tiny, innocuous did: gave it everything she had and rode away to win the nation that has managed to produce a batch of great riders, inaugural women’s road world championships. Later that In 2007, Richmond hosted including , the “Angel of the Mountains”. She season, Elsy, with the help of Raphaël Géminiani, went on to the finale of the U.S. Open began her career in 1951, crossing the border into France to set a new , riding 41.347km at Milan’s Vigorelli Cycling Championships, a race attend the weekend races. At that point Elsy did not have a velodrome. Known as the ‘Grand Duchess’ of women’s threatened by weather worthy license but charmed her way on to the start lists. Tactically cycling, Elsy is today commemorated with a three-day race of the worst Belgian ‘classics’. inept but athletically gifted, she would just ride off the front called the Grand Prix Elsy Jacobs, which has been won by a on her lonesome. number of top riders, including Dutchwoman . By 1953 (the year Queen Elizabeth came to the British The women’s Worlds continues to be a coveted prize and throne and the hydrogen bomb was announced), Elsy was makes for an amazing end of season festival of racing. Only fully licensed and racing for a French club, competing in due to the Olympics in 1984, 1988 and 1992 has the race the first ever women’s stage race in Auvergne, in the heart ever been withheld. Frenchwoman has the of France. She finished 20th and then took part in the most victories to date with 13 and overall the Netherlands now-defunct female , coming 17th. The has won the most medals, with a total of 26. Somewhat following year, Elsy and her two racer brothers, Edmond interestingly, Lithuania has seven medals. Who knew? and Raymond, were recruited to the Dippach Cycling Club. Who will be the next Elsy Jacobs, and take women’s racing Cover photo by ANDY BOKANEV It was quite the family affair, with the Jacobs attracting another stage further in the 21st century? 04 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 05

ON THE RIVET Photographer Andy Bokanev examines the lively scene in the U.S.

Words & Photos ANDY BOKANEV 06 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 07 08 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 09

WE, AS AMERICANS, DID NOT INVENT , but we sure as hell love them like we did. We want to see the racers go round and round inches away from each other. We want to feel the gust of wind as the riders duel for the limited real estate that each apex has for sale. Maybe it is our short attention spans. Maybe we cannot relate to waiting half a day on the side of the mountain for a 120-pound human being to pedal his way to the top a few seconds or minutes ahead of other 120-pound humans. Maybe it is because we like a party, a tailgate, a spectacle. These were the questions and thoughts going through my head at the beginning of this season as I agreed to follow Team CLIF Bar around the country for Peloton Magazine. These are some of my favorite photographs from Athens, GA, Tulsa, OK, Boise, ID and St. Louis, MO. - Andy Bokanev 10 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 11

ALLEZ The word ‘allez’ is French for ‘go’. It is an encouragement directed not just at one rider, but at all of them: ‘Allez, les gars!’ 12 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 13

TOUR DE FRANCE, 1921 Cyclists Henri Colle and Charles Parel sit on the steps of a local house in Dalstein to enjoy a refreshing break from the day’s racing.

THE RADLER ISN’T A BEER DRINKER’S BEER. IT’S A CYCLIST’S BEER. (Boulevard and 10 Barrel to name two) still top 4%. The name itself, radler, is German for bike rider, and the But Christ’s early, off-hand mention of the radler as beer-lemonade cocktail has its origins in Bavaria almost an afternoon beverage speaks to the heart of its appeal. 100 years ago. The common tale holds that innkeeper Franz Your standard radler, whether premixed by a brewery or Xaver Kugler constructed a bike path through the forest THE your bartender, should clock around 3% alcohol. Today’s outside of Munich to his establishment in the summer of quintessential bottled radler, Stiegl, hits just 2.5%, with a 1922. On the first Saturday it was opened, 13,000 cyclists mix of the Austrian brewery’s Goldbräu lager and either descended upon his inn, and he quickly realized that the only grapefruit or lemon soda (either version is excellent). way to sate all of their thirst was to mix sparkling lemonade CYCLIST’S To commemorate the 2015 UCI Road World with lager, otherwise his supply would run dry. Championships in Richmond, and accommodate the influx The ‘radlermass’ (cyclist’s liter) Kugler served that day of thirsty cyclists, Rapha has teamed up with local brewery certainly introduced the concoction to thousands of Ardent Craft Ales to create its own radler. For the first unfamiliar riders. The story is backed by the Bavarian U.S.-hosted Worlds since 1986’s Colorado Springs — where Brewers Federation and endorsed by accomplished beer BEER ’s Moreno “The Boss” Argentin took the men’s win and historian Horst Dornbusch, but a 1912 book, ‘Erinnerungen Ohio’s Janelle Parks claimed second behind the legendary einer Überflüssigen’ by Lena Christ (Memories of a Rapha has teamed up with local brewery Jeannie Longo — Rapha’s radler has an American flair. Superfluous Woman) references the radler as a possible Ardent to create a radler for Worlds. Instead of the traditional German lager base, the radler uses lunchtime beverage. Most likely, radlers originated a few Ardent’s strong, golden Honey Ginger ale. decades before Kugler’s big day in German cycling clubs Words MAT ALLYN Ardent co-founder, head brewer, and keen cyclist Kevin WELL OFFSIDE looking to ride on more than water, but still hold their lines. Photo O’Leary had not created a production radler before, but Radler variations abound within Germany alone. In the adores the style’s long cycling tradition and supreme thirst- north near Hamburg, it is named ‘alsterwasser’ in reverence quenching power. Ardent began by creating its own house- of the pure waters of the Alster River that flow into the Elbe. made soda, a blend of grapefruit and lemon. While most In eastern Germany and Berlin, it is a ‘potsdamer’ — though radler breweries make separate grapefruit and lemon brews, that name can apply to any type of added soda. And should O’Leary explains that the mixture offers both the citrus bite you swap the lager for a wheat beer, your beverage becomes a of lemon with a complementary grapefruit juiciness. Then ‘russ’, or ‘russ’n’. Ardent began blending the soda with their range of beers Beyond Germany, France and French share — as well as with a handful of competitors’ brews they knew the same cocktail, now called a ‘panaché’, though it is slightly they could make too. O’Leary and his crew found the perfect weaker and the alcohol can dip down to 1% ABV. England’s match in the Honey Ginger on their last trial. own beer cocktail, the ‘shandy’, swaps lager for ale and lemon Brewed with local wildflower honey and fresh ginger, soda for ginger beer. It predates the radler by a few decades. this 7.8% ABV ale is designed as a tasty yet potent summer The earliest known reference comes in 1853, but its most drink. The Honey Ginger makes the perfect radler, says notable came in H.G. Wells’ 1910 ‘The History of Mr. Polly’. O’Leary, because unlike Ardent’s brews that already feature In the U.S., the radler and shandy first appeared as sweet, radler-like fruit flavors, its herbs and spices fully complement mass-produced fruit beers, but more recently they have the soda instead of competing with the lemon and grapefruit. caught on with craft brewing’s lower-alcohol session beer Kugler realized that The resulting radler strikes 3.9%, and is by far, says O’Leary, movement. Naturally, some brewers, like Ohio’s Hoppin’ the only way to sate the most thirst-quenching beer of the trials. While it may Frog, still follow the American beer tradition of amplifying not follow Kugler’s famous recipe, it is true to the spirit of European beers with, in their case, the 7% ABV Turbo all of their thirst was the cyclist’s beer. So drink up. Shandy (which also comes in bourbon and tequila-barrel to mix his beer with Rapha’s radler will be available from the Rapha Pop Up Store variants). And most American radlers worth drinking sparkling lemonade Richmond, located on 811 West Cary Street during the Worlds. 14 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage. 15 FACE TO FACE A photo essay demonstrating the full gamut of emotions that bike racing provokes. These are the faces of the peloton.

Photos BRAKETHROUGH MEDIA

THE AGONY AND THE ECSTACY This page, clockwise from the top: Jean-Pierre Drucker, , , . Far page, clockwise from top left: Fabian Cancellara, , , Lizzie Armitstead, Simon Geschke, Zdeněk Štybar. 16 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 17

AFTER PARIS-ROUBAIX, IT’S THE DUST. It paints every crack of the racer’s face. Their teeth appear oddly white amid the grime, and you can always see them because when the race is over nearly every rider is smiling. Before a time trial, their faces shine, slick with the sweat of the trainer warm-up efforts. They stare ahead, a thousand yards ahead, and look at nothing. They bob their heads to music unheard by the rest of us. They grimace and display the cracks in their bodies through their transparent faces. The faces of the peloton remind us how hard this sport is and how sweet the reward is when finally realized.

WRITTEN ON THEIR FACES This page, clockwise from top left: Iris Slappendel, , , . Far page, clockwise from top left: , Rigoberto Urán, Maarten Tjallingii, , Jérémy Roy, John Degenkolb. 18 . doppio - rapha.cc a double-shot of road racing reportage . 19 THE STORM The U.S. Open Cycling Championships was North America’s attempt at a Belgian ‘classic’ - and it had the weather to match.

Words RYAN NEWILL Photos CASEY B. GIBSON CANCELATION WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN UNPRECEDENTED. Three years trying to avoid explosion. NBC Sports was on the phone, before, a no lesser race than the Omloop Het Volk — demanding to know if it needed to cue up a hockey game. It historic, respected, the embodiment of a Belgian hard man’s was now or never. There would be no cancelation. race — had faced the same weather and folded. Nobody If snowy reveille in Richmond had yielded trepidation, the could say it was just the Americans. impending start in Williamsburg descended into near-panic. On 7th April 2007, the North American peloton had Soigneurs drove from store to store buying up thermos flasks woken not to a mild Richmond spring day, but to sub- for hot tea while riders huddled in church vans with the heat freezing temperatures, high winds and fresh snow. An blasting or commandeered nearby businesses. Only threats of inch covered the uneven cobblestones of Libby Hill, the fines convinced some to emerge for sign-in. switchback ascent expected to shape the finale of the first When they did, aesthetics had taken a backseat to U.S. Open Cycling Championships in about six hours. practicality. The Toyota-United team had holed up in The 20 American, Mexican, and Canadian teams had a nearby Starbucks, where employees handed over a reason to be fearful. Icy roads could create havoc in the restaurant-sized roll of plastic wrap to windproof shoes and peloton and 35mph winds and blowing snow would make helmets. The Mexicans of team Tecos, some of whom had for a tense and miserable four-plus hours of racing. For never experienced snow, emerged in outerwear fashioned riders coming from warm weather tune-ups in Redlands, ON DISPLAY The idea behind the from trash bags. Elsewhere, riders cut jackets into vests to be Merced and San Dimas, the unseasonable cold was a brutal race was to showcase the historic worn over other jackets, stuffed newspapers under jerseys, shock to the system. For those whose next stop was the Tour attractions of Virginia just weeks and ripped pads from helmets to accommodate the bulk before the 400th anniversary of de Georgia, the specter of illness loomed large. America’s first permanent English of winter hats. Soigneurs stretched white and blue surgical But those teams also knew that the U.S. Open was a race settlement in Jamestown. gloves over cycling ones to keep gusting winds at bay. the domestic circuit desperately needed, a rare point-to- As the race finally rolled up the banks of the James River, point, one-day race of 180km. NBC Sports was to air the headwinds and lingering snow stifled attacks. At last, on final two and a half hours — the first time since the Tour the outskirts of town, northbound peloton and southbound DuPont ended in 1996 that an American race would receive storm finally completed their passing. Skies cleared and same-day network coverage. If America was ever to have its winds eased, though temperatures only reached the low 40s. own spring classic, this was it. Libby Hill stood waiting, dry, sunny and crowded with fans. Riders boarded a charter bus for the 80km drive to the As planned, the race blew to pieces on the hill in southern start in the colonial town of Williamsburg, where wet spring downtown, overlooking the old canal and the smokestack snow coated trees and buildings. Temperatures struggled of the mothballed Lucky Strike power plant. Winner Svein to escape the 20s. The organization announced a one-hour Tuft dropped breakaway partner Pat McCarty on the last delay, lending weight — hope? — to rumors of impending run up the cobbles and rode on to win. McCarty barely held cancelation. But the delay was not in deference to under- on for second. Eighty-six of the 141 starters abandoned. insulated pro cyclists or a concession to untenable road Neither Tuft nor McCarty were pre-race favorites, but conditions. No, the snow had grounded the TV helicopter. given the conditions, both perhaps should have been. Tuft, A vaunted Belgian classic like Het Volk can miss a year a bearded Canadian, was famous in the peloton for his — for war, for weather, for lack of funding — and return long, unsupported adventures in the British Colombian to a waiting and eager audience. The same is not true for The riders had wilderness. McCarty had recently returned stateside after a first-year American races, notably ones that deny two reason to be fearful: stint in Europe, where he had earned his stripes in races like municipalities and a national broadcaster promised returns. Amstel Gold and Liège–Bastogne–Liège. The ambitiously named U.S. Open Cycling Championship icy roads and 35mph The organizers had gambled and got lucky, but the race had already endured a funding shortage and a leadership winds would create was never held again. In the end, it was lack of sponsorship shake-up to arrive at this point: shivering in the snow and havoc in the peloton money that did it in, not snow or helicopters or riders. RAPHA RICHMOND 09.24.15- 09.27.15

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