T-Mobile GP Results

The weather was perfect for the 4th running of the T-Mobile Gran Prix in San
Francisco. Most of the race was ridden with cool temperatures and I was
wearing a Fassa Bortolo winter jacket and was comfortable until about 1:00
pm when the high fog burned off and the temperature got up in the mid-70's.

The race has three laps around the Embarcadero area where the laps are about
1.3 miles. This sort of warms them up because they then go to the long laps
which have a lot of rolling hills on them and include the really nasty
Filmore hill with it's approximate 1/4 mile of 20% (OUCH). There is
absolutely no doubt that something is going on with the Peloton these days.
The first two versions of this race had at least half of the pack quartering
the hill after two laps. This time I only saw one guy doing that and he was
in the breakaway.

Finally there are 5 5-mile laps that still include the Taylor Street hill
but not the Filmore climb.

About a 1/4 of the way into the race a 10 or so man breakaway formed that
included 5 Healthnet riders and 3 Webcor riders. There was a Posty there as
well but I didn't recognize him. This went on for most of the long laps.
Then near the end of the long laps Jason McCartney (Health Net) broke away
and pulled out a big lead in short order. There are so many hills on this
course that a good climber and really get a big advantage rapidly unless the
chase group is committed. And with so many Health Net riders in the chase no
one else wanted to give them a break.

Jason McCartney (Health Net) had a 2.5 minute lead when they went from the
long laps to the short laps. A Domina rider was in between Jason and the
peloton who was maybe 4 minutes behind with the 25 miles worth of laps (5)
to go. The Domina rider disappeared rather abrubtly and I suspect he crashed
since I caught sight of a Domina guy being treated by the ambulance guys on
the Big Screen.

About this time Postals with some help went to the front of the pack and
started closing.

With two laps to go Dionne dropped the hammer on Taylor climb and went by
McCartney so fast that on the big screen I assumed that was Jason lapping
one of the Health Net riders who was off the back.

Fred Rodriquez reacted a little slowly but left the rest of the bunch behind
and George won the sprint.

If the Posties had started to close on the last long lap I think that George
could have won it. With only a short interval to Jason I don't think that
Dionne could have gotten away like that. But then, Fred has shown himself to
be REALLY RAPID lately and surely Fred and George are America's best one-day
riders.

Loved to see Fred in the Red, White and Blue. Yeah FRED!!!

Charles Dionne (Health Net)
Fred Rodriquez (Aqua Sapone?)
George Hincapie (US Postal)

Tom Kunich wrote:
The weather was perfect for the 4th running of the T-Mobile Gran Prix in San
Francisco. Most of the race was ridden with cool temperatures and I was
wearing a Fassa Bortolo winter jacket and was comfortable until about 1:00
pm when the high fog burned off and the temperature got up in the mid-70's.

The race has three laps around the Embarcadero area where the laps are about
1.3 miles. This sort of warms them up because they then go to the long laps
which have a lot of rolling hills on them and include the really nasty
Filmore hill with it's approximate 1/4 mile of 20% (OUCH). There is
absolutely no doubt that something is going on with the Peloton these days.
The first two versions of this race had at least half of the pack quartering
the hill after two laps. This time I only saw one guy doing that and he was
in the breakaway.

Finally there are 5 5-mile laps that still include the Taylor Street hill
but not the Filmore climb.

About a 1/4 of the way into the race a 10 or so man breakaway formed that
included 5 Healthnet riders and 3 Webcor riders. There was a Posty there as
well but I didn't recognize him. This went on for most of the long laps.
Then near the end of the long laps Jason McCartney (Health Net) broke away
and pulled out a big lead in short order. There are so many hills on this
course that a good climber and really get a big advantage rapidly unless the
chase group is committed. And with so many Health Net riders in the chase no
one else wanted to give them a break.

Jason McCartney (Health Net) had a 2.5 minute lead when they went from the
long laps to the short laps. A Domina rider was in between Jason and the
peloton who was maybe 4 minutes behind with the 25 miles worth of laps (5)
to go. The Domina rider disappeared rather abrubtly and I suspect he crashed
since I caught sight of a Domina guy being treated by the ambulance guys on
the Big Screen.

About this time Postals with some help went to the front of the pack and
started closing.

With two laps to go Dionne dropped the hammer on Taylor climb and went by
McCartney so fast that on the big screen I assumed that was Jason lapping
one of the Health Net riders who was off the back.

Fred Rodriquez reacted a little slowly but left the rest of the bunch behind
and George won the sprint.

If the Posties had started to close on the last long lap I think that George
could have won it. With only a short interval to Jason I don't think that
Dionne could have gotten away like that. But then, Fred has shown himself to
be REALLY RAPID lately and surely Fred and George are America's best one-day
riders.

Loved to see Fred in the Red, White and Blue. Yeah FRED!!!

Charles Dionne (Health Net)
Fred Rodriquez (Aqua Sapone?)
George Hincapie (US Postal)


McCartney's lead was HUGE, I had to do a double take to convince myself
it wasn't him coming in to the finish circuit.

The Domina rider was Valerio Agnoli and he still had a huge lead on the
number 3 guy, also solo.

This is a great race, and it'll always be the San Francisco Grand Prix.

--
My bike blog:
http://diabloscott.blogspot.com/

On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 23:08:56 GMT, Tom Kunich wrote:
and George won the sprint.

*Gasp* now what. I thought the collective genius of rbr ruled that out.

Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 23:08:56 GMT, Tom Kunich wrote:
and George won the sprint.

*Gasp* now what. I thought the collective genius of rbr ruled that out.

If LANCE can take a field sprint against the best US domestic riders
then George ought to be able to do it as well.

Michael Boogerd ought to race the US crit circuit, he'd clean up.

Bob Schwartz


Anyone that was even faster than him would do even better...

This is a great race, and it'll always be the San Francisco Grand Prix.

As it should be. I see a major issue trying to convince SF (or any other
big city) that "their" race is actually going to go by another name. The
"San Francisco Grand Prix" does much more to enhance the idea that cycling
is a good thing for the City by the Bay than anything that substitutes a
corporate name for the city.

The PCT (Pro Cycling Tour) organization is very short-sighted when they
remove a city's name in favor of a corporate sponsor. We need the city to
be proud of the race and have them hold it up to the world as one more thing
that makes San Francisco great. But if you look at the PCT website, try to
find it... it's under PCT RACES... as the T-Mobile International.

Would it be so bad to call it the "T-Mobile San Francisco Grand Prix?"

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Ewoud Dronkert wrote:
On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 23:08:56 GMT, Tom Kunich wrote:

and George won the sprint.


*Gasp* now what. I thought the collective genius of rbr ruled that out.

I certainly did not.

Tom Kunich wrote:

The weather was perfect for the 4th running of the T-Mobile Gran Prix in San
Francisco. Most of the race was ridden with cool temperatures and I was
wearing a Fassa Bortolo winter jacket and was comfortable until about 1:00
pm when the high fog burned off and the temperature got up in the mid-70's.

The race has three laps around the Embarcadero area where the laps are about
1.3 miles. This sort of warms them up because they then go to the long laps
which have a lot of rolling hills on them and include the really nasty
Filmore hill with it's approximate 1/4 mile of 20% (OUCH). There is
absolutely no doubt that something is going on with the Peloton these days.
The first two versions of this race had at least half of the pack quartering
the hill after two laps. This time I only saw one guy doing that and he was
in the breakaway.


The long laps were shortened, but Fillmore was climbed 9 times instead of 8.

Finally there are 5 5-mile laps that still include the Taylor Street hill
but not the Filmore climb.

About a 1/4 of the way into the race a 10 or so man breakaway formed that
included 5 Healthnet riders and 3 Webcor riders. There was a Posty there as
well but I didn't recognize him. This went on for most of the long laps.
Then near the end of the long laps Jason McCartney (Health Net) broke away
and pulled out a big lead in short order. There are so many hills on this
course that a good climber and really get a big advantage rapidly unless the
chase group is committed. And with so many Health Net riders in the chase no
one else wanted to give them a break.

Jason McCartney (Health Net) had a 2.5 minute lead when they went from the
long laps to the short laps. A Domina rider was in between Jason and the
peloton who was maybe 4 minutes behind with the 25 miles worth of laps (5)
to go. The Domina rider disappeared rather abrubtly and I suspect he crashed
since I caught sight of a Domina guy being treated by the ambulance guys on
the Big Screen.

About this time Postals with some help went to the front of the pack and
started closing.

With two laps to go Dionne dropped the hammer on Taylor climb and went by
McCartney so fast that on the big screen I assumed that was Jason lapping
one of the Health Net riders who was off the back.


It was on the final lap, not the penultinate when McCartney was caught (awesome
ride by him too, btw). Incidentally, KGO didn't really catch Dionne's attack,
other than to show him blasting by McCartney about halfway up the last section
of the Taylor climb. Dionne came out of a group of about 12, but Dionne's
attack, and any response was not shown. Too bad.


Fred Rodriquez reacted a little slowly but left the rest of the bunch behind
and George won the sprint.

If the Posties had started to close on the last long lap I think that George
could have won it.

They did, with Horner's help, of course.

With only a short interval to Jason I don't think that
Dionne could have gotten away like that. But then, Fred has shown himself to
be REALLY RAPID lately and surely Fred and George are America's best one-day
riders.

Rodriguez said there was something wrong with his leg: "I was pedaling with one
leg." Also he was on a replacement bike (after a crash) with the saddle too
low.

Hincapie said he just didn't have it.

Dionne said he looked in the mirror this morning and said "I am Charles Dionne,
and I will win the T-Mob."


Loved to see Fred in the Red, White and Blue. Yeah FRED!!!

Charles Dionne (Health Net)
Fred Rodriquez (Aqua Sapone?)
George Hincapie (US Postal)

Weirdly, Dionne had the same exact finishing time as Horner last year, that is
if I can believe Ligget and KGO.

"Bob Schwartz" wrote in message

Anyone that was even faster than him would do even better...

The secret to bike racing finally revealed!

Bob Schwartz wrote:

Anyone that was even faster than him would do even better...

Tosi thinks that O'Grady is faster than Petacchi.

Just to clarify, Charles Dionne rides for Webcor, not Healthnet


--
bigfloppyllama