One small leap for me, One giant leap for SRAM. This photo sums it up. Leap (aka the frog) has made it to Paris and beyond. Dirk shot this photo of me waving the flag early in the final stage on Sunday the 29th awaiting the riders at the Place de la Concorde. The flag is a symbol of our products and our technology. It¹s a concluding image and a concluding entry in our "Tour de Force".
The road to Paris and becoming ProTour proven was long. It started as I said a while ago about 2 years ago. Its been filled with ups and downs, but mostly ups. Its been a huge undertaking, with countless people that have helped along the way. If I had to sum it up, it would be hard but with the great product and great people we did it and won. We've overcome huge criticism and skepticism. We¹ve overcome a very conservative audience. We have come to the tour and completed it. Thousands of miles in rental cars. Thousands of miles in RV's. Thousands of frog stickers. Thousands of miles on bikes. Thousands of pushes on the DoubleTap controls. Thousands of spins of the Force Crankset. And thousands of little details that went into supporting it all.
Many thanks go out to all of us that have helped. First to Scott Bikes. Without the trust and partnership of Pascal and Hermann we wouldn't have had this opportunity. Next thanks to the core team at Saunier Duval aka GM bikes Mauro, Matxim, David, Jose, Daniele, Roberto, Robert, Virginie, and all those that support the Saunier Duval team Thanks. Then the riders Raul, Jose, Raivis, Rubens, David C, David D, Iker, Juan Jose, Jesus, Alberto, Arkaitz, Koldo, Jose Angel, Angel, Ruben, Peter, Iban, David M, Javier, Manuele, Leonardo, Christophe, Lucianio, Riccardo, Gilberto, Francisco, Guido, and Carlos thanks for your patience, your trust, and your perseverance you¹ve been a great team to work with, and we look forward to another successful year. Don¹t relax too much as the season isn't over quite yet - Force still has quite some miles that you¹ll be putting on. Next up is the team at SRAM; Ron, Charles, Scott, Dirk, Gaetan, Wim, Markus, Alex, Andy, Michael, Benny, Michael, JoAna and all the team at SRAM who delivered kickass products and support to help us launch the most successful product in the cycling industry!
I wrote everything above right after the finish on Sunday on my way from Paris to Munich. Monday night I arrived in Munich to find out about the news on Mayo. I was filled with mixed emotions and unsure about an actual reaction. Certainly its disappointing news and something that we had no idea about, but for us were not judging. For us, its all about our products. We developed the Force line of components to be ProTour ready and race proven. They were developed by a huge team and then sent out in the marketplace with a huge line of support. Saunier Duval is our first ProTour team, but certainly not our first team to compete successfully on our products. We've had countless individuals and professional organizations riding SRAM for years now. In fact to date we have logged over 1 million kilometers on the product. We will continue to design and develop innovative products for you through all the ups and downs of the sport. We believe in cycling. We believe in performance products. That¹s what we do and who we are. We believe in ourselves and the people around us. We are SRAM.
July 2007
July 31, 2007
July 30, 2007
Sightings...
So if youre in the right place at the right time, you can bump into just about anyone at the tour. It certainly helps to have backstage passes. Here's some random shots to enjoy....if you dont know who these folks are....then let me know....
Matxin!
The lead Sports Manager for the team is Matxin. His real name is Joxean Fernandez, but everyone calls him Matxin - pronounced "Ma Cheen". Maxtin is the man. He is often seen driving a car behind all the lead riders coaching them on, and keeping their spritis high. Matxin was driving the car on the TT stage when David Millar blew out the 2 wheels. I was sitting next to him during all the chaos, but he kept his cool. He's a super pro. Congrats Matxin on a great tour. By the way, Matxin is one of those guys that can quadruplemultitask while driving. That means he can talk on a radio with one hand, on a cell phone with the other, watch the in car tv, drive in mass traffic with motorcycles all around, shout directions at the rider, drink, eat, and downshift all at once....Oh yeah...he can drive real well too.
Tapas at the Tour
So last night, after the finish, we met up with Mauro and the whole team and the sponsors at a cool little Tapas bar for a congratulations dinner. It was a great chance to shake everyones hands in a relaxed non pressure environment. We also got to meet all the big wigs at the corporate offices of Saunier Duval. The best line though goes to Dirk - who was spotted by Mayo and he said, "Hey - SRAM - (your stuff rocks smile), and he gave a big thumbs up!".
The final ceremony
After the final, all the riders parade 1 last lap together team by team. Here's the final 7 rampin up the CHAMPS ELYSEES. Its a really cool ceremony to see live. You get to see all the riders slowly in front of you. That is, if you can get a close enough spot to watch. Most of the time there's 10 people deep crowds!
The arch!
Paris is a great place to watch a bike race. Dirk and I just had to ham it up in front of the arch.
But leap was the biggest ham - posing on top of the arch. Leap made it to the tour! Finally.
The riders...
Here's some quick snaps of all the riders from SD that finished the race. There were 6 of them in total, Millar, Mayo, Rinero, Canada, De la Fuente, Camano, and Cobo. Unfortunately Ventoso did not finish due to a crash. So pictured here are the 7. Congratulations to you all!!!!! 
July 29, 2007
Chasing Yellow
Just before the last 30 riders go on the course, James Startt offered me a ride in his car to one of his photo locations, a little village just 10 km after the start. Once the yellow jersey came flying by he yelled at me “lets go “ and our race to chase yellow was on. Contador was followed not only by his team car, an official car, helicopter, no! Ambulance, 16 Photographers on Motos, a hand full of Police on Motos, and road service cars. No problem for James! Honking at the Gendarmerie, passing cars and Motos with Millimeters between us, racing with 60 km/h through little villages, so close to people standing at the road so I could read the time at their watches, we were between the motos within minutes. I can’t remember when the last was I buckled up in the back voluntarily. Next thing James wants to find out the GC times of the top3, so he pulls a L”Equipe up and one handed driving reads the paper, still rallying through the villages surrounded by Motos. Still every face I looked into had a smile...once at the finish, we sprinted for the podium shots, James to the front, me to the back... What a great race, thank you James for this experience.
Sandpaper texture 10
The morning of the TT started wet. Having a closer look at the road surface looks a bit scary. In the international sandpaper texture grade this would not be more than a 10. Let’s hope no one will get too close today.
