Ahhhh poor millionaire cyclists having to ride over cobbles and get dirty.

thats no millionaire there

well maybe now he will be

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

I doubt there's more than 10 millionaires in cycling; in 2008 there were 4, but I can't find any info this year.

They're not exactly the spoiled playboys you make them out to be.

This is what cancellara had to say

 
This is what cancellara had to say

Great interview. Very classy, humble and professional. He did what he could on the day and left it at that! No bad mouthing the others or the tactics, just full of praise and happiness for the winner and his own accomplishment of taking second.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I remember reading recently that Sylvain Chavanel was making 1m (euro?) before he switched to QuickStep.

Considering there are 30-60 riders of similar status in cycling, I would think more would be making that amount. Think guys like Rogers, Voeckler, Kloden, Eisel, Haussler, EBH, Roche, LLS, Breschel, Kolobnev, etc etc...not the "gods," but winners when they are on form and on their terrain.

-Physiojoe

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-Physiojoe
Instagram: @thephysiojoe
Cycling coach, Elite racer on Wooster Bikewerks p/b Wootown Bagels

The minimum salary for Pro Tour riders is around $50k right now. Contrast that with $325k for an NFL player, $473k for an NBA newbie, and $400k for an MLB rookie. Average MLB salary is $2.8M, which is highly skewed by the outrageous $20M+ salaries out there.

I highly doubt there are that many cyclists making more than $1M/year in salary alone. I have read in some places the average salary is around $180-190k right now, but I'm not sure how reliable those reports are.

x2 but still funny that ONE guy can be so dominant....

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

I found an article about 2010 salaries, mentioning Chavanel making 700k euros which would be approx 1 million USD. The majority of riders would be below the 100K euro range, guys who have won a stage in a major grand tour could be between 100k and 200k. A bit more if you have won a big classic race. Some earn > 1 million euro but not many (Cadel Evans, Tom Boonen, Hushovd, Cavendish, Contador, Cancellara, the schlecks, but not many more than that.

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Don't forget to attack!

Gerard sets the Versus educated crowd straight:

http://www.cervelo.com/...ter-vs-rouleur/2689/

I like this bit:

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Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Indeed - great blog by Gerard

There is always way more going on in a bike race than people realize. before, people rant on and on, they first need to understand the dynamics, etiquette and details of bike road racing. It's a bit complicated, but until you understand all that, you will not understand what happened on Sunday. When you do figure it all out, you'll then appreciate fully what a wonderful thing it was for Van Summren, to pull off the win.

I once rode the wheel of a much stronger rider to second place in a road race - beating a lot of guys much stronger and fitter than me. I just happened to be in the right lace at the right time, with the right guy in a two man break. That's road racing. No one was slagging me aftward. On the contrary, I was getting back-slapped and congratulated for making such a smart and savvy move! However from my perspective, it was all a bit of dumb-luck!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Read an interview spot with Vaughters on Podium Cafe where he said that they INTENTIONALLY dropped a Garmin rider from the front pack to lead the chase group as a decoy; having him do most of the work and keeping the chase w/in 40 seconds to a minute, in the hope of getting Cancellara to try and bridge, and then having Thor get towed. Interesting stuff.

"people rant on and on, they first need to understand the dynamics, etiquette and details of bike road racing."

Well...let's be fair to Kevin on this. I'm pretty sure, based on his palmares and experience, that he understands these things at least as well as us. My issue with his analysis is that he took a very narrow viewpoint from which to come up with the conclusions he did...most specifically his naming Thor and Garmin's tactics "chicken-shit" and "weak". He may still take issue that Gerard is just rationalizing his own interests, but I think anyone who steps back from a Cancellara-centric view of the race will have to admit that, as in any bike race, there were A LOT of factors other than Cancellara-vs-Thor going on in that race. Viewed with a greater lens, and with understanding like Gerard and some others provide, the race unfolded beautifully. Maybe not as some of us might have liked to see, but certainly to the credit of VanSummeren and all of the favorites. I thought it was astounding to see how the other teams really managed to narrow the window of opportunity for Cancellara.

What happens if Boonen and Chavenel don't have their difficulties? What happens if Hincapie doesn't flat at the entrance of the Arenburg, leaving Ballan on his own in the final 50k? Maybe even just those two elements would have provided the help Cancellara needed to bring back the break. Maybe Cancellara is able then, to jump away for the few km remaining after Carrefour. Or not. He would still have been pretty isolated, and certainly Quickstep and Garmin would have ridden hard to give Boonen and Hushovd their shots on the velodrome. That's all a bunch of what-ifs. Like I said above...Cancellara had a very narrow window to ride through to the win...superman or not.

Luck, tactics, and a bit of intestinal fortitude by VanSummeren won the day. Well deserved in my book.

Agreed. + An interesting fact. Van Summeren finished the race with a flat. HUGE effort for a guy who has consistently placed well in the past. Not a fluke, a bit of luck and a strong ride.

"Despite riding the last 5km on a flat, Van Summeren was able to solo to victory in the velodrome."

http://www.usprocyclingnews.com/...eren-and-garmin-win/

Thor's contract is up at the end of the year, and he's apparently going to start negotiating in this years Tour. Here is what he had to say about some of the tactics during PR and other Spring Classics.

It sounds like it's more than just a $ sign that is going to affect his decision, and it sounds like he's still waiting on his world's title bonus:

The 33-year-old revealed that he did not agree with the team's strategy at the races, criticising Vaughters' tactical approach. "It was not determined enough. We were not concrete enough on how to work and who we were racing for in each race. I think there should be a clear strategy before the start, and none of that 'the best rider on the day is the one we will race for.' That only causes uncertainty," Hushovd said.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...ate-contract-in-july

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@brooksdoughtie
USAT-L2,Y&J; USAC-L2
http://www.aomultisport.com