Category Archives: from the book

Will Tyler Farrar Beat Cav? He’s Done It Before.

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From Chapter 5 of Argyle Armada:

“The day after the time trial win, Navardauskas and Zabriskie keep five breakaway riders within reach for much of the flat 123-mile stage from the seaside village of Olonne-Sur-Mer to Redon. The field captures the breakaway 6 miles from the finish. On the run-in it looks like another Mark Cavendish win is in the offing. But then, with less than 1 kilometer to go, Millar keeps Hushovd protected through a right-hand turn, then the yellow jersey barrels past a stunned Cavendish with Dean and Farrar in tow. Dean takes over from Hushovd and drops off Farrar 250 meters from the finish in Redon.

Farrar wins the team’s second stage in two days. The manner in which Hushovd made it happen is unprecedented. This is the first time a rider wearing both the rainbow stripes of the road world champion and the yellow jersey has led out a teammate for a win in the last 500 meters of a Tour stage. At the finish, Farrar and his two lead-out men reenact the historic moment through a time-delayed doppelgänger; while Farrar coasts past the finish line in real-time, hands held aloft in the shape of a W, on a JumboTron behind them and on TVs around the planet, a time-delayed Farrar is still sprinting, hands on his bars, elbows out with escorts Dean and Hushovd peeling off to his right.

After the stage, Farrar says he won it for Weylandt. The sprinter from the state of Washington is the first American to win a Tour stage on July 4, his country’s Independence Day. As of today the 27-year-old is also the second American to have won stages at all three grand tours—Dave Zabriskie being the first.

At the finish, Millar scrambles through a frenzy of journalists to Farrar. With a Colombian radio reporter providing a live account in machine-gun Spanish to listeners back home, Millar plants a kiss on Farrar’s cheek. Vande Velde hugs Farrar and tells him it’s a great way to celebrate the Fourth. New Zealander Dean is usually emotionless after races, a countenance of blank concentration. Today, however, a smile shows through road grime that covers his face in the patterns of a Maori tattoo.

The marketing return on Farrar’s win rains down within hours. U.S. Senator John Kerry e-mails Vaughters his congratulations. Articles headlining Garmin-Cervélo pop up on media sites around the world. Forbes, CBS, ESPN, The Washington Post, The Guardian: the world’s press is smitten with the story of an American winning on July 4, an American who suffered tragedy months earlier with the loss of his dear friend. The next day’s L’Équipe headline reads, in English, “Farrar’s Day” with a fullpage photo of Farrar with his hands forming a W.”

Go inside the pro peloton with Argyle Armada, available from your local bookstore or bike shop or from these retailers:Argyle Armada book cover

You’ve Won the Stage, Now What?

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What happens after you’ve won a stage of the Tour de France? Here’s embedded writer-photographer Mark Johnson’s look at Thor Hushovd’s exit from the course after winning Stage 13 of the Tour.

From Chapter 5 of Argyle Armada

Long after all the team buses have left, Hushovd makes his way through a crowd of fans to a waiting team car. With the assistance of a Tour de France bouncer, he slips into the front seat, where he takes a moment to sign an autograph book for a boy in a polka dot climber’s jersey. A plastic container of food with “Thor” written on the lid waits in the backseat.

Team director Marie gets into the driver’s seat, and Marya Pongrace sits in the back, though she has a hard time shutting the door because as she gets in, a fan sticks his video camera through the door and won’t pull it out. When police finally pry the videographer off the vehicle, Marie starts the engine and the crowd parts.

Argyle Armada Inside the team car after Thor wins Stage 13

Get behind the scenes with Argyle Armada, your all-access pass to the sport, lifestyle, and business of professional cycling. Argyle Armada is available from your local bookstore or bike shop or from these retailers:Argyle Armada book cover

Behind the Scenes at the Tour de France: A Snarl of Team Cars, A Forest of Bikes, the Tour de France Support Staging Area

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Before a stage of the Tour, the team cars assemble in a staging area before departing onto the race course behind the riders.

Argyle Armada Tour de France support staging area

Argyle Armada Mark Johnson TDF staging area

Click to enlarge. Try it! Can you find Vaughters?

Argyle Armada is a behind-the-scenes look at the world of professional cycling, from training camps to service course, sponsorship negotiations to the team bus.

Go inside the pro peloton with Argyle Armada, available from your local bookstore or bike shop or from these retailers:Argyle Armada book cover

Missing Thor: Would Hushovd Have Beaten Sagan on Stage 3?

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With Thor Hushovd out of the 2012 Tour de France, many fans are missing his presence, especially after the finish atop a Cat 4 climb in Boulogne-sur-Mer, which reminded many of Thor’s win in the rainbow jersey last year:

From Chapter 5 of Argyle Armada

On paper, the day’s stage from Pau doesn’t look promising. With the 10-mile Col d’Aubisque poking up the middle of the stage profile like a circus tent, followed by 26 miles of descending into the Pyrenean foothills town of Lourdes, the stage is not selective enough for climbers like Danielson and Vande Velde. And it’s too mountainous for sprinters like Farrar and Hushovd.

Or so it seems. With 60 miles remaining in the 97-mile stage, Hushovd gets in a 10-man break. At the bottom of the Aubisque, the Norwegian makes a thunderous attack and drops everyone in the break except Frenchmen David Moncoutié and Jérémy Roy.

By the top of the 5,607-foot climb, Roy and Moncoutié return the favor by dropping Hushovd and put nearly two minutes on him. But the world champion plummets through the serpentine descent like a one-man Norwegian bobsled team and catches Moncoutié on the descent. Moncoutié sits on Hushovd’s wheel; he knows he can’t beat him in a sprint, so there is no sense helping him catch his countryman, Roy.

At the finish in Lourdes, a big screen TV shows Hushovd’s insane effort play out. Transfixed by the possibility of their man winning yet another stage, Viking hat–wearing Norwegians chant, “Thor, Thor, Thor,” and a blond woman holds up a sign that reads, “Thor Hushovd the Ox.” Their hero catches, then passes Roy. Is Hushovd, a sprinter, really about to win a Pyrenean stage? He rides across the finish line with arms aloft. Behind him, the crowd is a frenzied tableau, a Delacroix of waving pom-poms, lifted cameras, and out-of-body screaming that is almost religious in its tenor—an appropriate scene for Lourdes, a shrine visited each year by some 5 million Catholic pilgrims.

Hushovd’s Garmin GPS shows his top speed on the descent from the Aubisque is 69.59 miles per hour. After the stage, Lionel Marie, the directeur sportif in the team car behind Hushovd, tells me he has “never done a descent like that. It’s wonderful for the guys.”

When Hushovd had the gap down to a minute and a half, Marie thought there was a chance he could catch Roy, but the director was by no means certain. His eyes shining with joy, Marie recounts how “on the last roundabout, I told him, ‘Come on man, come on!’ And, phewww . . . he did it!” He adds, “I told him to enjoy this moment, because, can you imagine, he won a stage in the Tour de France with the rainbow jersey. It’s fantastic.”

Argyle Armada Thor wins

Embedded with Team Garmin for the 2011 Tour de France, photographer Mark Johnson was in exactly the right place at exactly the right time to capture Thor Hushovd’s come-from-behind stage win at Lourdes.

Get behind the scenes with Argyle Armada, your all-access pass to the sport, lifestyle, and business of professional cycling. Argyle Armada is available from your local bookstore or bike shop or from these retailers:Argyle Armada book cover

Ryder Hesjedal and the Giant Giro

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Thursday’s Denver Post includes an article from John Henderson about what winning the Giro would mean to the Argyle Armada. Henderson says that Team Garmin, in its few years of existence, has had a few incredible months. July, 2011 with Thor winning stages of the Tour and wearing yellow. April, 2011 with Johan Vansummeren’s improbable win at Paris-Roubaix.

But May could shape up as the team’s best month ever. Garmin’s Dave Zabriskie won the Tour of California time trial and the team put him and Tom Danielson on the podium.

Ramunas Navardauskas with the man behind their TTT wins at the Giro and Tour de France, sports science director and time trial guru Robby Ketchell.

Then the team won the Giro d’Italia’s team time trial, putting Ramunas Navardauskas in the race lead  for two days. And this week, Ryder Hesjedal moved into a very strong position to win the Giro overall. Sitting in second just 30 seconds back, Hesjedal is causing a bit of panic among the Giro favorites. Sunday’s final stage is a time trial, a discipline that suits Hesjedal much better than the race’s current #1 and 2 riders.

Hesjedal winning the Giro d’Italia would be by far the biggest trophy in the team’s trophy case. ”If we were able to win a Grand Tour, that would be incredible,” said team director Jonathan Vaughters in Henderson’s article. “That’s the real underdog story. We’ve built a program slowly but steadily. We’re one of the top four teams in the world, but as far as budgets go, we’re not even one of the top 10. For us to pull off a Grand Tour victory with the resources that we have would be unprecedented.”

Ryder Hesjedal Mark Johnson Argyle Armada

Hesjedal’s time trial might unlock a Giro d’Italia victory

Mark Johnson’s new book Argyle Armada tells this underdog story. Embedded with the team for its entire incredible 2011 season, Johnson’s words and photographs reveal the insides of a pro cycling team, from sponsorship negotiation to race wins to crushing defeats.

Chapter 8, on the Canadian Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec and Montréal, are particularly revealing about the things and people who motivate Hesjedal, including thoughts of the young Canadians who see his photos in magazines, as well as Hesjedal’s wife, Ashley. Voted Canada’s cyclist of the decade, Hesjedal is the descendent of a great grandfather who emigrated from Norway to Canada in 1886. On the road today Ryder shows many traits of the quietly diligent ancestors. Jonathan Vaughters also provides his thoughts on what it will take for Hesjedal to win a big race–read the chapter to find out if JV was right and how Hesjedal met his wife!

Take a look at Ryder Hesjedal in this photo gallery drawn from the book Argyle Armada.

Argyle Armada book coverOrder your copy of Argyle Armada today and get an all-access pass to the world of professional cycling. Available from your local bookstore or bike shop or from these retailers: