ONLY 200 limited edition 2008 Giro d’Italia Tees!

Slipstream/Chipotle H3O is celebrating its Grand Tour debut with this sweet take on the Giro d’Italia, Argyle-stye! Show your passion for the pink - and orange and blue - with this 100% organic cotton beauty.

Slipstream/Chipotle H3O is making the Giro Tee available as part of our new line of limited edition event apparel. To keep these items unique, only small quantities will be sold. Ships on or before May 19 and yes! international shipping is available.

Follow the iconic pink Giro lettering to Topo Ranch where only 200 of these 100% organic cotton beauties are being produced and sold exclusively.

Today’s stage started out with a strong tailwind, which kept the speed very high and resulted in a high speed pile-up that took down several riders, including Will and myself. Will landed hard on his knee, which forced him to abandon. I was lucky and came out of it without any injuries.

As the race got closer to the finish, the hills and winds started to splinter the field. The final selection was made on the 1 km climb up “Cap Blanc Nez” [”white nose hill”] with 10 km remaining. Jason, Christophe and I finished together in a group about one minute down on the winner.

Tomorrow’s stage includes the Cap Blanc Nez climb six times. It will definitely be the toughest stage yet. If our luck holds out, the weather should again be nice, bucking the trend during this race. Asking for a calm day would be pushing it. We are on the coast of Northern France after all!

Slipstream stage 4 results
1. Pierrick Fedrigo 4:24′30″

42. Christophe Laurent +1′18″
43. Blake Caldwell +1′18″
47. Jason Donald +1′18″
95. Martijn Maaskant +8′32
99. Tom Danielson +8′32
126. Steven Cozza +10′49″
136. Michael Friedman +10′49
DNF William Frischkorn

Slipstream GC
1. Stéphane Augé 18:14′39″

39. Christophe Laurent +3′48″
65. Blake Caldwell +4′01″
74. Jason Donald +5′11″
88. Martijn Maaskant +11′02
89. Tom Danielson +11′02
109. Michael Friedman +13′19″
124. Steven Cozza +13′32

GazzettaTV features a video interview with David Millar about his hopes for the opening team time trial on Saturday and his thoughts about the 2008 Giro course.

Velonews speculates on the chances of having an American in pink–possibly David Zabriskie–on the 20th anniversary year of Andy Hampsten’s 1988 Giro d’Italia victory.

“We really want to win the team time trial,” Slipstream’s David Millar told VeloNews. “We’ll have one of the best teams and we’re really motivated to try to get the maglia rosa.”

Hello everyone! I am writing to you from the massage table after day three of Four (six actually) Days of Dunkirk. Joachim is my massage therapist this week and I am happy to report he has good legs to work on.

I’m sure a lot of you are wondering why I am at a flat, cross-windy race instead of the mountainous Giro. After a lot of thought and some ideas from JV and team management, I decided the combination of this race and Volta a Catalunya served as the best Tour preparation for me. At these races, I can work on my weaknesses and rest first, then follow up with a race full of my strengths.

This week also marks my return to Europe since last September. I really enjoy racing in Europe as the fans are very passionate and make our job easier! The hard part about being here is being away from your loved ones. Personally, I look for certain objects along my journeys here that remind me of them. This is a new tactic of mine, so I’ll let you guys know how it works.

This is also my first time this year working with the European staff. They all seem very dialed and carry the Slipstream mentality of performing well by first enjoying what you do! We also have many nationalities aboard the team, so my language course has started again…hahaha.

So far so good here. I am riding better than ever and feel like I will be ready for an excellent July. Spring is here so everyone should be reading this post after a ride, or before…No exceptions! So get outside and enjoy life!

TD

Another day like the past two here. Lots of polished up sun tans in the bunch and, unfortunately, a few bodies with a bit of blood showing crossed the finish line today. The lack of crashes yesterday was balanced out with a few in the once again crazy finish today. Fortunately, we all managed to stay upright. Though a few of us did get held up in the tangles.

Another stage much like today in store tomorrow, though there is a small kick at the finish. Then Saturday is held on a tough circuit and things should finally get interesting.

Stay tuned!

Slipstream stage 3 results
1. Kenny De Haes 4:38′34″

14. Martijn Maaskant
33. Tom Danielson
39. Christophe Laurent
45. Michael Friedman
79. Will Frischkorn
107. Blake Caldwell
117. Steven Cozza
141. Jason Donald

Slipstream GC
1. Stéphane Augé 9:11′11″

16. Martijn Maaskant +2′54″
29. Michael Friedman +2′54″
33. Christophe Laurent +2′54″
54. Tom Danielson +2′54″
84. Will Frischkorn +3′07″
112. Steven Cozza +3′07″
114. Blake Caldwell +3′07″
135. Jason Donald +4′17″

Review of Dan Martin’s Trophée de Grimpeur power performance

Last Sunday, Dan Martin raced the Trophée des Grimpeurs, a one-day race over 17 laps for a total distance of 137.3 km. In the figure below you see on the x-axis the time and on the y-axis in yellow the power output (watt), in green the cadence (rpm) and in blue the speed (k/hr). To make each lap more visible, the background alternates between grey and black. This original data is from the PowerTap trainings system mounted on his bike.

The second graph below compares the average power per lap for 1) the climb (Côte de l’Ermitage, 6.2-13% grade) to the finish (blue dots), and the entire lap (pink dots). On the climb in lap 12, the lead group of 8 riders was chased down by a group of 6 which included Dan. To be able to stay there, Dan’s power output went up to 746 watts for the climb. During the next lap, Dan managed to again deliver an impressive 749 watts during the climb which put him in the lead group of 9 riders including Pineau, Voeckler, Fedrigo, Chavanel and David Le Lay.

During this phase in the race, the average power went up from 240 to eventually 305 watts in lap 16, and 301 watts in the next and last laps. On climb 16, eventual race winner David Le Lay managed to drop Dan by only a gap of 10 meters at the top of the climb. In lap 17, Dan chased Le Lay, but the gap slowly got bigger. Just before the finish, Dan was caught by the peloton.

The special note here is that Le Lay managed to drop Dan on the 16th climb where Dan delivered a power output of 600 watts. Though in the four laps before, Dan was able to deliver over 660 watts. So as a result of his increased workload during the previous laps, Dan was more tired, less explosive and just not able to follow.

What do you think about this? Does Dan need better aerobic power so he is less fatigued at the foot of the climb? Or do you think he needs to train more on his anaerobic power? What is your answer? Dan and I know what to do, but please let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

P.S. For your information, Dan’s 749 watts equals 12.1 watts/kg bodyweight and 10.9 watts/kg bodyweight plus bike (Felt and Zipp 202 wheels).

Day 2 up here was more of a nice long group ride, punctuated by 20 km of attacking at the start and 20 km of video game-esque hauling a– to the finish. The last 20 km in particular was one of those bits of racing where there was just the right setup for a massive stack (fresh-legged field, fast roads with “road furniture” everywhere, and just a touch of wind). Yet, somehow it was avoided.

I’m always amazed at how we manage to do some of the things on bikes we do and today was one of those days. Pretty darn fun, as long as the rubber stays touching the road.

Tomorrow looks to be more of the same - a completely atypical Dunkerque. But no complaints to be heard here.

Slipstream stage 2 results
1. Gert Steegmans 4:46′50″

21. Michael Friedman
25. Martijn Maaskant
35. Christophe Laurent
51. Will Frischkorn
57. Steven Cozza
101. Jason Donald
103. Tom Danielson
116. Blake Caldwell

Slipstream GC
1. Stéphane Augé 9:11′11″

21. Martijn Maaskant +2′54″
36. Michael Friedman +2′54″
47. Christophe Laurent +2′54″
54. Will Frischkorn +2′54″
91. Jason Donald +2′54″
98. Steven Cozza +2′54″
111. Tom Danielson +2′54″
115. Blake Caldwell +2′54″