One Earth, One Life, One Chance...Go Green
TopBottom
Showing posts with label Bicycle r racing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bicycle r racing. Show all posts

Gear up..Fasten your belts..Speed Machines are ready...!!!

Posted by Vikramsinh at Sunday, June 7, 2009

Time to gear up..sports events calendar is already full, feast for fans and passionate followers of sports. Many events back to back brings never ending excitement. Made people mad, creating one of the most tense, joyful, overwhelming moments. We already seen the T-20 IPL, Champion's league in the last month and now ongoing French open (shocking results for Rafa and sharapova), T-20 world cup keep us engaged, but can we look at something unexplored.

Let’s check out the racing events, mainly Bicycle and motor car racing.
Before starting I will shed some light on the history and background of bicycle racing. It consists of many types but long distance stage races are favorites among enthusiasts. Three major races of this type are Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana. All the 3 grand tours (major annual racing events) were originated from the same need; need to increase the circulation of sports newspaper.
First started Tour de France in 1903 then comes Giro d’Italia in 1909 which is inspired by the success of tour de France. Third one, Vuelta a Espana, started bit late in 1935. As the names suggested, all tours traces a circuit around most areas of respective countries. The Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, and World Cycling Championship constitute the Triple Crown of Cycling. Tours are stage races (around 21 stages, each covering some predefined distance) running for 22-25 days, covering around 3500 Km long distance, making them most difficult to survive.

Giro turns 100....
Last Sunday (31st May) seen the Denis Menchov's (Team Rabobank) victory in Giro d’Italia. This year Giro is celebrating 100th anniversary. It was 92nd race from its inception. Race was special as it brought back one of my most favorite sportsman, Lance Armstrong. Though he already broken his collarbone and undergone surgery. He not only recovered from injury but also participated in the race and secured 16th place in overall ranking. It’s really amazing; racing for such long distance can show there is no limit to what extremities human spirit can go. I love this sport because riders fight back all odds, no matter how difficult the journey is.

Be ready..the Tour is waiting
One of the most famous sports across the world, le Tour de France. Simply brilliant and extraordinary. See the statistics, 20 teams, 180 riders, 3500 km distance, 23 days, 21 stages, 40 km/hr average speed. These numbers are enough to explain everything. Here are some quotes to feel it‘s incredibility, "Tour de France is arguably the most physiologically demanding of athletic events." The effort was compared to "running a marathon several days a week for nearly three weeks", while the total elevation of the hill climbs was compared to "climbing three Everests."
This year tour is scheduled between 4-26 July, almost 1 month from now. All potential winners are dreaming the same, victory in tour. Along with 7 time winner Lance Armstrong, Alberto Contador (Team Astana, winner Tour de France - 2007 and Giro d’Italia - 2008) is a good bet. Defending champion, Australia’s Cadel Evans (Team Silence-Lotto) is also good contender. Apart from these other favorites are Damiano Cunego, Alejandro Valverde, Denis Menchov, Carlos Sastre and Danilo Di Luca. I can’t wait anymore to start the tour…

Turkish GP...Can we expect something unexpected?
Here we are, waiting for this weekend's Turkish grand prix (GP); if you have some idea of Formula 1 (F1) then probably you will not feel totally lost, for those who feel the same I will present some short introduction.
The F1 is motor car racing competition with 16-19 grand prix races annually. 11 teams each having 2 drivers, commpete in the races. At the end of the year, driver with highest points awarded as the winner of Individual driver's championship and the team with highest points (combined points of 2 drivers of same team) will be the winner of constructor’s (teams) championship. I will write in more details about F1 history, actual races and rules in future.

Right now we are looking forward for 7th GP of the season. Jenson Button of Brawn team seems unstoppable with 5 GP wins out of 6. He is the most speculated winner and will start from 2 position on the grid (1st row) in the Sunday‘s race; Ferrari's Felipe Massa is eyeing his 4th consecutive win on the same circuit. This is the first anticlockwise circuit out of two. Massa is good at this circuit, so can we expect some miraculous performance from him??Apart from these two, 23 year old German, Sebastian Vettel is starting from pole position (1st position in 1st row). The question is can Button remain invincible this time also? I want Massa to win but reality is pointing towards Button’s win. Let’s see how speed machines behave with respect to time and space..
Thanks.

Yours,
Speedo maniac mv4ce3krnb