News for December 25

1995 IN REARVIEW MIRROR

Report filed Dec. 21

    BY JOHN REZELL

    ....

    "Oggi la forza di due vomini"

    ....

    Six words that captured a memory, defined a sport
and warmed a heart. Six words.

    Another year has come and gone, leaving behind a
peloton of memories: some happy, some sad, some thrilling,
some disappointing. But each dripping with emotion.

    Of all the images that race through my head as I close
the chapter on 1995, none can match the view of Lance Armstrong
screaming from the breakaway like he was shot out of
a cannon. A man possessed, no doubt, digging deep for every
ounce of energy in his essence. Laying it all on the line.

    I can only laugh when I hear the skeptics. Ah, good ol'
Lance taking advantage of a photo op. Good ol' Lance hamming
it up. Good ol' Lance cashing in.

    All those doubters have one thing in common. They haven't
spent any time with good ol' Lance. His epic solo victory in
the Tour de France stands as simple evidence of the size of
his heart. That's what separates Armstrong from the rest.

    And heart is what separates all those heroes in bright lycra
jerseys from the rest of us mortal souls.

    ....

    "Oggi la forza di due vomini"

    ....

    On any given day, someone seems to rise above -- to find
an inner strength the others cannot tap into on this
particular occasion. Indeed, Armstrong seems capable of
capitalizing more than others as if it were the only fuel
for his burning soul.

    It's one thing to watch his magic on a television. It's
another to see it in person. Just ask the 20,000 who swarmed
the campus of Virginia Tech University during the Tour DuPont.

    I'll never forget that moment on Salt Pond Mountain during
Stage 4 of DuPont. It had already been a legendary stage, one
riders like Ron Kiefel and Jeff Pierce peg as the
toughest single day of racing on US soil since the days of
the Coors Classic, if not the toughest in history. Period.

    It was a brutal course that the peloton raced hard, from
the opening gun. 141 miles. Five major climbs. 8,000 feet of
gain. Names like Durand, Bortolami, Jaskula, Bauer, Yates and
Armstrong were stoking the fire in the Carolina hills. Riders
were left behind like carnage from a battlefield. And as our
press van climbed the summit, only a handful remained in contention.

    With a slight drizzle wetting the windshield, it was critical
to get the press van over the summit ahead of the breakaway. The
climb continued forever as Armstrong, Andrea Peron, Viatcheslav
Ekimov and others continued hammering.

    At moments like this, the press van must attack at 1K to the
peak. We hadn't seen the sign. We thought for certain we had
missed it in the excitement. The tension was mounting.

    I sat in the back of the van with small binoculars, relaying
information to our group. Finally Driver Tim cracked.
"One more look, then we gotta go." I turned for a final peek. The
group was breaking up. Hang on just a second for me to identify
the survivors. Peron, Ekimov and, boom, Armstrong attacked. Ekimov
didn't follow. Peron sat on Ekimov's wheel, and Armstrong chugged
up the hill alone.

    We raced down the mountain for what seemed an eternity. On a
descent the information on Tour Radio becomes sparse. The day before
the crucial Roanoke Mountain Time Trial, and Armstrong threw down
the gauntlet. My hands were shaking.

    When we zipped into town we found the streets lined with fans.
When we got to campus, it was a zoo. We stood watching Armstrong
on the huge television monitor as he weaved through the streets
of Blacksburg alone, the crowd buzzing. The hill across the
finish line looked like ants attacking a picnic, swarms of
bodies sprinting for a better view of history in the making.

    I stood with Skip Wood of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, our mouths
literally hanging open and hair standing on our arms. When Armstrong
arrived the roar was deafening. It was US cycling's true christening.

   .....

   "Oggi la forza di due vomini"

   ....

   Four days later, on a day that should have been a breather,
emotions were brought to a boil again by young fireplug from
Boulder. Clark Sheehan showed us everything that is right about
cycling with sparkling eyes that have looked into the abyss and
returned triumphantly.

   These are the days that "experts" dread. That one percent of the
time when they must eat their words and remember why men climb
on their bicycles each day with aching muscles and weary minds.
The days I love.

   For four hours, Clark Sheehan kept our heartrates high. For four hours
Sheehan and Djamolodine Abdujaparov chugged up and down the
Blue Ridge Mountains racing into history.
   The beauty of Clark Sheehan lies in the fact that even if the
peloton had caught him in those frantic final meters into Asheville,
N.C., the disappointment would have been eventually washed aside by
the true joy of being part of something special. Of giving all you
have hoping for a dream to come true. Of living a moment when
you're thrilled to be alive.

     ....

     "Oggi la forza di due vomini."

     ....

     The memories of '95 run forever and deep, like a fresh mountain
stream. Some mean more simply for the relationships forged over the years
in the heat of the moment when I show up with my reporter's notebook
to chronicle the other side -- those who shot for victory with
amazing heart, but were denied.

     Those are memories that last a lifetime, when the true
soul of a champion shines through the disappointment and the watery
eyes that watch another accept accolades.

     For that reason Linda Brenneman will always stand as a monument
to what can be right about journalism. In the spring of 1992 in the
hills of Altoona, Pa., Brenneman opened her life for my inspection as
a reporter for The Orange County Register.

     Here I must interject for anyone who pursues this as a career.
Dangers lurk everywhere in journalism, but none as frightening as the
loss of objectivity. Lose that and you've lost it all. But far too many
journalists use that fear as a crutch, their excuse to remain completely
unattached. What they lose is possibilities.

     To really understand a story you must take a leap of faith, a moral
bungee jump toward a rocky river shrouded in fog. Objectivity must not
live in an emotional vacuum. I'm afraid in mass media today it does.
I believe writing, both objective and subjective, comes from the heart.
To take that from the equation denies everyone, but most of all the writer.

     Enough from my soapbox. Back to the memories.

     I'll always remember Brenneman's victory at Redlands '95, how her
peers enjoyed the fruits of a team car, a team mechanic and most of all,
 teammates. Meanwhile, Mom Brenneman drove herself back and forth some
100 miles to Laguna Beach to spend evenings with her son before climbing
aboard and racing again for the first time in 17 months.

     But what I'll remember most is the innocent, natural fears that
haunted Brenneman early in the race. Fears she didn't keep bottled up
inside, but instead shared. Fears that may help some youngster someday
meet the unknown head-on.

     ....

     "Oggi la forza di due vomini."

     ....

     My lone regret of '95 is the inability to cover more women's cycling.
I'm limited by the interest of my clients. Frankly, that sucks.

     I have mixed emotions about sharing the spotlight. Spend a minute
with Dede Demet and you'll wish women had the opportunity to race in
front of the huge crowds of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on a regular basis.

     But that means they have to share that limited mass media space
with men, and I think both pay dearly. It's a shame that some of the
'96 Olympic Trials, the most important final days, have both men and women
racing on the same day. It just doesn't make sense. Someone gets slighted.

     Just look at Seattle.

     This year the men raced early, before a sparse crowd. That's because
last year they raced AFTER the women and too many guys got p-oed about
having to wait around.

     This year the women waited, and got to race before a huge,
enthusiastic crowd. And Jeanne Golay treated them to heaven.

     When Golay attacked on the tough, hilly Seattle course it looked
as though she'd need a miracle to stay away from the talented field.
She rode as though she were indeed possessed. There were times from=7F
the press car you would have sworn she sat out a lap or two, she appeared
to have that much more. The selection was amazing.

     ....

     "Oggi la forza di due vomini."

     ....

    I could go on and on. If it weren't such a hectic time for me, I
would. But I have to move on the 26th. Fun, eh? The holidays. A major
illness in the family. And if that's not enough, my entire '96 is up
in the air right now.

    So excuse the Velo-O-rama for being a little slow this time of
the year. It will heat up, I promise. My dream is to bring to you
the magic moments of '96, but also bring you up close and personal
with the peloton. Give you the guts of a race, a look at the riders
who sacrificed for their teammates or made dramatic, but foiled,=7F
attempts at victory that shaped a race.

    I want to give you a side you can't get anywhere else, a look at
some of the other riders who aren't on the major teams. If that's
you or your team, email me. I want to cover the entire scene. Let's make
that bungee jump.

    But I can't got away with one final memory, that of watching the
coveted stars and stripes jersey through the year, the US Men's
Professional Road Race Championship Jersey that rightly so has a
Captain America look to it.

    No matter what the status of US Cycling is in the grand scheme,
whether it is nothing more than European Cycling's poor little sister
or a niche sport of an eclectic US culture, it is not without its
magic.

     And that magic resides in the Stars 'n' Stripes.

     Talk to past champions and they'll tell you. Bart Bowen gets a
little quiver in his voice when he speaks of it. Lance Armstrong gets
a wild fire in his eye when he tells you how bad he wants it back.
Steve Hegg found redemption in it and rode the major races after DuPont
in a style befitting US Champion. And finally, Norm Alvis earned it
in a dream-like sequence, clutching his heart and weeping in the end.

     Hegg said it best. The jersey seems to have a mind of its own. It
seems to find its way onto the back of those who deserve it most, those
whose blood, sweat and tears serve to add to its mystique -- to its
shining example that on any given day:

     ....

     "Oggi la forza di due vomini."

     "Today I had the strength of two men."

                        -- Lance Armstrong

More on Coppi

... More Placings - for 1952

A win in the Tour and the Giro! Historic stuff, but the summer form
had deserted Fausto by the end of the season as the results show...

1952
****

1 al Giro d'Italia
1 al Tour de France
1 al Gran premio del Mediterraneo
1 al gran premio di Lugano
1 al criterium di Tarascona
1 al criterium d'Auch
1 al criterium di Vallorbe
2 al Gran premio delle nazioni
2 alla parigi Roubaix
3 al Giro d'Emilia
3 al trofeo Baracchi
4 al giro della Svizzera Romanda
11 al Campionato d'Italia
13 al Giro della Toscana
26 ex-aequo alla Parigi-Bruxelles
31 al giro dell'Appennino=7F
35 al Giro di Lombardia
37 ex-aequo alla Milano-Sanremo
75 alla Coppa Bernocchi

Chiappucci goes to Aprica

   Tonight Claudio heads for Aprica where he will spend Christmas.

   Then the Carrera devil (Il diablo della Carrera) will go to Uboldo,
   the Valtellinese city which is a favourite of the Giro, on the
   26th, Saint Stefano's Day (Boxing Day to some of you),

   Chiappucci will be at the "Longoni Sport di Cinisello" Center
   (Milano), on January 14 to shake a few hands with the tifosi and
   cycling afficionados.

   On the 30th he will be at a ski/mountain bike event in Cunardo
   (Varese) for another public relations appearance. Also attending
   will be Bugno, Berzin, Swiss Gianetti and Puttini along with a
   group of Italian Cross-Country skiers led by Albarello.

Jalabert pips Rominger, Italy the leading country

   The rider of the year is Laurent Jalabert, the Frenchman who opened
   his season with a win at the Primavera (Milano-Sanremo) and took
   the Vuelta in September, with 3197 UCI points.

   Following Jalabert are Rominger (2386 points), the Swiss who took
   the Giro, and Indurain (2338 points) with his fifth consecutive
   Tour victory and World Championship time trial win.

   First Italian is Chiappucci, in sixth place.

   Nationally the rankings are as follows:

1. ITALIA (1)
2. Svizzera (2)
3. Spagna (4)
4. Belgio (7)
5. Francia (5)
6. Russia (3)
7. Danimarca (9)
8. Gran Bretagna (10)
9. Stati Uniti (-)
10. Germania (6)

Coppi into 1953

... More Placings - for 1953

The Giro and the Worlds - not bad..

Campione del Mondo
1 al Giro d'Italia
1 al Bol d'Or des Monedieres
1 al trofeo Baracchi
1 al circuito di Borgosesia
1 al Gran premio di Firminy
1 al circuito degli assi a Tortona
9 alla Milano-Sanremo
16 ex-aequo al giro del Piemonte
17 al giro del veneto
26 al Giro della Campania
28 al Giro della Romagna
Abbandono nel giro della Toscana
Abbandono nella Tre Valli varesine