Cafe Roubaix

Rider of the week

Asked a couple of years ago what races he dreams of winning, Joaquim Rodriguez replied almost in the blink of an eye: the World Championships, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and a Grand Tour. Up until now, he came close of scoring a memorable win in each and everyone of these: in 2013, he was 500 meters short of taking the rainbow jersey, after being caught by Rui Costa on the finishing straight in Florence. It was a remake of the scenario seen earlier in the season at “La Doyenne”, where he came agonizingly close of landing the victory, before being surpassed by Daniel Martin. As these defeats weren’t enough, one year earlier, “Purito” also lost both the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España during his prime, after wearing the leader’s jersey and being the overwhelming favourite with just a couple of stages left to go.

It’s true, in the same period of time, the Katusha rider has built himself a nice palmares, winning Grand Tour stages, the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the Volta a Catalunya, finishing first in the 2012 Flèche Wallonne, as well as taking back-to-back triumphs in the Giro di Lombardia (one of cycling’s Monuments), but the general impression was that once he came short of greatness on a regular basis, another big opportunity will never return, especially as he was getting older.

Lining-up for the 70th running of the Vuelta as one of the second-tier contenders, Joaquim Rodriguez has had a slow start and missed some important chances of making amends, two of these being Cumbre del Sol and Cortals d’Encamp, the latter being a stage he designed last year, at the organisers’ request. As a result, many were beginning to think the race will go down as another one in which the Catalan cyclist will disappoint and end up outside the podium.

Surprisingly, this time, there was more than meets the eye regarding “Purito”, who preferred to have a slow start and build up his condition in the second half of the race, instead of going all in from the first mountain stages. As a result, he steadily climbed in the overall classification, up until the point that the final week of the race finds him second in the general rankings – with a spectacular stage victory in the bag – and very confident that he can finally win a Grand Tour and fulfill one of his biggest dreams.

Rider of the week

More than two years ago, in February, Esteban Chaves crashed hard in the Trofeo Laigueglia and sustained a number of injuries, one of the most important being a lesion in his brachial plexus which affected the movement in his right arm, were two nerves needed to be repaired. The surgery performed in his home country went well, but even so, he could recover only 80% of movement to the affected limb. Forced to stay more than three months out of the races, the 2011 Tour de l’Avenir champion began a long way to coming back in the sport and fulfilling his huge potential.

At the end of that season, he left Colombia-Coldeportes and signed with Orica-GreenEdge, where he slowly started to show glimpses of his talent in the form of two beautiful victories, in mountain stages of the Tour of California and the Tour de Suisse. But people were expecting more from him, as the pocket-climber had enough material to be a Grand Tour protagonist. After making his debut in a three-week stage race in 2014, at the Vuelta a España, and completing the 2015 Giro d’Italia (where he got to wear the white jersey), he returned to the Spanish Grand Tour with a point to prove and a name to make for himself.

It didn’t take Esteban Chaves long to lay his mark, as stage two finishing in Caminito del Rey saw him trade blows with fellow attackers, before taking the biggest win of his career so far and pulling the red jersey on his shoulders. It was an ecstatic feeling for the South American, who kept the lead for a couple of days, until he lost it on the stage to Malaga, won by his teammate Caleb Ewan. Then, just 24 hours later, on Sierra de Cazorla, Chaves showed panache and strength, as he found the perfect timing to attack with three kilometers to go and nail another win, relinquishing the red jersey he lost one day earlier.

A brilliant and spectacular rider, Esteban Chaves is on the top of his game and sees his star shining brightly in what is his best race to date. After these victories and almost a week in the red jersey, results which confirmed his potential, he now needs to find out the answer to another important question: is he a rider made for a Grand Tour, a rider who can fight for the general classification? The answer will come in the next two weeks.

Rider of the week

At first glance, it could seem strange that my pick comes from a 2.HC race United States race, giving that last week-end saw the 20th edition of the Vattenfall Cyclassics take place, as well as the first two stages of the Vuelta a España (the season’s third Grand Tour), but the truth is that Rohan Dennis’ masterful display in the USA Pro Cycling Challenge couldn’t go unnoticed, because it was one of the most impressive seen this year in a stage race, albeit one should mention that only four World Tour teams came at the start of the Colorado event.

Interesting enough, BMC’s plan before the race was for Rohan Dennis to be Brent Bookwalter’s domestique and guide the US cyclist to a GC win. During the first stages, the 25-year-old Aussie did a good job for his teammate, pulling all the time at the front and protecting Bookwalter, before becoming the team leader’s after a great attack on stage four’s Moonstone climb, that put him in the yellow jersey, which he kept until the end, in Denver. Even more outstanding than his two stage victories – both which came in Breckenridge – was to see his versatility on the flat, mountains and in the ITT, a sign of improvement and sheer power.

Two years after showing glimpses of his great potential at the Criterium du Dauphiné, where he wore the yellow jersey before finishing 8th in the overall standings, the rider from Down Under found the consistency that has elevated him in the eyes of his team and repayed the trust put in him last August, when BMC decided to transfer him from Garmin-Sharp. On short term, Rohan Dennis will look to the World Championships in Richmond, where he has a fair shot at the gold medal in the individual time trial race. Then, in the future, there should be no surprise if he’ll line-up in the Tour de France as one of the big contenders for the overall victory.