Professional Cycling For the Fans - I am liking this Guy Zabriske

Unassuming, non cocky and for once somebody who wears a smile on the finsh line instead of a "see that scukers, I won" look... His press interviews crack me up... Today he was talking about how he could find only one place to pee... :roflmao:

yeah you can tell that he hasn't given many interviews! Funny dude!

I thought he was a doper. Or am I thinking of Joachim?

I thought he was a doper. Or am I thinking of Joachim?
I dunno who joachim zabriskie is..

I dunno who joachim zabriskie is..

I was talking about Benoit Joachim.

yeah, benoit tested positive for Nandrolone, got sacked from US Postal, but now hes back. So much for Lance and Co.zero tolerance

I was talking about Benoit Joachim.

Was benwaaa ever caught doping???

*edit.. Thanks for the fill in smoothie.. I didnt know that he got caught once...

USPS did have a zero tolerance. Benoit was ACCUSED of doping and was cleared. Who can say for sure if he took the substances knowingly or not, but the reason is on the team right now is because he was cleared back in 2000

accused, AND tested positive. Apparently the explanation is that some regular legal supplements were tainted. Several others have got caught up in this too, Like Scott Moninger so there may be some truth to it.

As far as being Cleared, it was his own countrys sporting department that cleared him.

Yeah it seems like it was a weird situation. He gave a "HAIR" sample right after he tested positive, and there was no trace of anything.

I did read that it was his Natioanal Federation that cleared him too, but I guess that's why USPS hired him back. Benefit of the doubt and all. I am sure that if he was indeed banned, he would never have been welcomed back to USPS and now Discovery

Sorry to go back on topic, but I'm starting to like Zabriske too. His interviews are crazy fun to watch. I'm a shy guy myself, so I can relate.

It's too bad that he doesn't get a little more credit with all the talk about Lance.

Well he is young, so if he pays his dues and keeps it up, he will get plenty of opportunities for credit in the upcoming seasons...and even though we didn't get to "SEE" his race because of the timing of the coverage. He still got quite a bit of credit..

-26Year old American kid win a Tour Stage and take the Yellow
-The fastest avg speed in a Tour De France Time Trial EVER

People will be keeping their eye on him for sure...Hopefully he can stick it out for the whole 3weeks.

Well he is young, so if he pays his dues and keeps it up, he will get plenty of opportunities for credit in the upcoming seasons...and even though we didn't get to "SEE" his race because of the timing of the coverage. He still got quite a bit of credit..

-26Year old American kid win a Tour Stage and take the Yellow
-The fastest avg speed in a Tour De France Time Trial EVER

People will be keeping their eye on him for sure...Hopefully he can stick it out for the whole 3weeks.

I wonder how he climbs... If he is good, he could be a true GC contendor in a couple of years...
I think he is a force in the TTs.. He even said he doesnt care about the distance... This makes the team TT even more interesting...


Another classic Zabriske comment.. "well lance said 'Never be more than 100 yards from the front' and I said 'ok".. The commentators seem to think that he is uncomfortable with the maillot Jaune.. I think he is just a humble guy,,

How does Zabriskie climb? I take it none of you watched this year's Giro. He climbs okay, but he won't be able to hang with the big guns. If he lost 10 pounds he could be a contender for sure. As far as I'm concerned, he's currently the best TT rider in the world. If he's on form, he has to be the favorite for the world championships this October...

How does Zabriskie climb? I take it none of you watched this year's Giro. He climbs okay, but he won't be able to hang with the big guns. If he lost 10 pounds he could be a contender for sure. As far as I'm concerned, he's currently the best TT rider in the world. If he's on form, he has to be the favorite for the world championships this October...

I saw the TT that he won but fraid didnt watch much of the giro... He doesnt seem to be overwight.. I predicted him to win stage 1 anway..

How does Zabriskie climb? I take it none of you watched this year's Giro. He climbs okay, but he won't be able to hang with the big guns. If he lost 10 pounds he could be a contender for sure. As far as I'm concerned, he's currently the best TT rider in the world. If he's on form, he has to be the favorite for the world championships this October...


Devil, I agree with you. There is a lot of Talk on these boards etc.. about how he had a favorable wind, and if he didn't he wouldn't have been so fast etc... speaking like the wind didn't affect the guy 1 min before him, or the guy 1 min after him....Thats BS, the guys is flat out fast. He and Lance rode about 2.5km an hour faster than the rest of the top 10. That's smokin fast, and extremely impressive.

They asked him about the distance on this 1st stage vs. the next TT, His response was a very quiet "the distance, it doesn't really make any difference" He should be very fast then as well.

he seems like a good kid hope he can keep it up for the full 3 weeks ,we will need a new american to take lances place next year .

he's a character. see his blog. (http://www.davezabriskie.com/pages/1/index.htm)

OK, how much is it to join the Z fan club and do I get an autographed pic with my dues? :)
I'm definately jumping on the Z fan wagon. Even if he doesn't win the TDF I'd at least like to see him win another stage. That dude is funny. I found his site when I googled his name after the 1st stage.
Great stuff.

4 Americans in the top 6... I'm pretty impressed. I've never paid attention to the tour before so I have to ask... aside from Lance, is this the norm lately?

It's too bad that he doesn't get a little more credit with all the talk about Lance.

Yeah, OLN is getting really tedious with the Armstrongathon, just thank god Zabriskie is American or we would never hear about him at all.

I actually really like this guy, and his time trial on day one was awesome, and today it was win-or-crash-trying, you have to admire that.

I think CSC has to re-think the support of Basso unless he pulls up his socks over the next few stages.

Zabriskie has a history of injuring himself in crashes.
he seems to find a way of crashing no matter what,
in that sense he reminds me of Tyler.
That said, I really like him and hated seeing him lose
the yellow jersey that way.

he seems to find a way of crashing no matter what,
.

I didnt see todays crash but that statement is a bit misguiding...
His first crash was an inattentive driver hitting him..
second was due to bad roads..
:)

Snaps up to DZ. He done good by the USA. Now we've had 3 Americans in yellow! Yay us! :)

Koffee

I'm definately a fan now too. It kinda annoyed me that there was no footage of his tt. The same thing happened during the Giro too. They said he went too early for the cameras. You'd think they'd learn after that.

DZ is my new favorite rider and new favorite blogger. He was interviewing fellow Giro riders for his blog. Here's an example:




Here is an on the bike interview with Charlie Wegelius of the Liquigas Team.

DZ: Charlie have you ever actually had Liquigas?

CW: You mean like when the s*#t comes out of your ass in a Liquid?

DZ: Sure.

CW: I had to quit the Giro in 2003 because of it.

DZ: Thanks for the interview.

-Dave Z.

I am really liking Dave Z too. It's a bloody shame about his crash though. CSC was really blistering the road too. It would have made a rather interesting finish. Is this guy genuinely funny or what? I hope he can come back and be an effective rider the rest of the way. I think CSC has a star on their hands...and goodness knows, America could use a few young stars right now.

Regardless of stars; Zab and Danielson... neither of them have a "Lance" story..
No offense, but Americans love dramatic heroes... it makes great television... I mean Lance in the 2003 was classic... and well worth a broadcast.
Now, all OLN seems to be doing is following Team Discovery to Lance's finish and I guess both of them will be done after this year... which sucks...
I hope they keep Cyclsm Sundays at the very least to cover what's happened during the week in the world of cycling...

Regardless of stars; Zab and Danielson... neither of them have a "Lance" story..
No offense, but Americans love dramatic heroes... it makes great television... I mean Lance in the 2003 was classic... and well worth a broadcast.
Now, all OLN seems to be doing is following Team Discovery to Lance's finish and I guess both of them will be done after this year... which sucks...
I hope they keep Cyclsm Sundays at the very least to cover what's happened during the week in the world of cycling...

one could argue with DZs crash that he has started his own bit of drama ..no?.. nonetheless I agree that OLN's cycling coverage might trickle down and there would be more hunting/bull riding/fishing :rolleyes:

Of course this has alot to do with whether or not you like Zabrieske?

Lets try to stick to the thread gang, we have enough Lance/OLN threads.

Does anyone know how Dave is today? Is he riding or is he to banged up?

This morning, he said he was riding in an interview.

where can i read the interview?

He at least looked a bit perked up today, and not as down as he was yesterday. Of course, good painkillers will do that for ya. ;)

I'm glad to see he's still racing.

Koffee

It was OLN this morning. I guess that doesn't mean it happened this morning. On further reflection, it was probably taped yesterday. He had been to the hospital and had gotten some stitches or something. Now that I'm remembering more clearly, he said he still had to get some x-rays, but pending that result, he felt good enough to ride. I'll try to find a transcript.

Then again, http://www.olntv.com/tdf/ says he may have broken ribs. I don't really know what's going on.

I heard brushed ribs yesterday. Since he rode today I wouldn't think he'd have broken any ribs. That would be ridiculously painful. He'd have to have pain killers by the bottle...or by the liter right into him. Even brused ribs hurt badly.

I finally saw the fall on the 5pm (PDT) replay. I knew he'd fallen and I'd even seen a brief clip on the news. Still, when I saw CSC come sailing through those S turns towards the finish and Paul and Phil yelling, I got excited for DZ. When he fell, I got a chill.

I hope he bounces back. I'll be pulling for him.

Send Dave an email at dz@davezabriskie.com. Let him know we're pulling for him!

rofl, check out his tips on saddle soreness: http://www.davezabriskie.com/pages/4/index.htm

He at least looked a bit perked up today, and not as down as he was yesterday. Of course, good painkillers will do that for ya. ;)

I'm glad to see he's still racing.

Koffee

Too bad he wont get to take any for at least another 2 weeks. I'm thinking they measure the number of asprin a guy can take each day to 2 or 3.

rofl, check out his tips on saddle soreness: http://www.davezabriskie.com/pages/4/index.htm
Funny as hell.

He seems to be a really funny guy, and also seems to have a lot of talent. And his blog is really great. If you look up his riding history, he seems to really be doing good the last couple of years. If he can just stop falling ....

Man, when he was riding in yesterday with blood dripping down his legs, I just felt so bad for him. It looked very painful. At least he was not injured so badly that he had to drop out of the race entirely. I hope he's in good condition at the next time trial, because I'd love to see him blister some competition.

It was painful to watch him limp in at the end of the stage,
maillot Jaune stained and torn.
I think CSC should have left 2 riders to escort the yellow jersey into the finish,
they still would have had 6 to finalize the times.

marty

It was painful to watch him limp in at the end of the stage,
maillot Jaune stained and torn.
I think CSC should have left 2 riders to escort the yellow jersey into the finish,
they still would have had 6 to finalize the times.

marty

A sombre procession.. as dramatic as in epics... All those camera crews and bikes behind him.. Many a time he had his head tucked in like he was crying but I think he was in pain, serious pain.. He seemed to unclip as soon as he saw the finish line, like he couldnt pedal one more stroke... My heart goes out to the man.. What do you think would be going on in his mind those last 2 miles..

I think he is going to make a statement the next time trial or a solo breakaway in some stage... go DZ...

I thought it was a nice tribute for him to ride in on his own terms and let the crowd see him one last time in yellow. Crashing at nearly 40 mph had to hurt- I'm sure anyone would be in pain after a crash like that.

Koffee

I looked at some slow-mos of DZs crash and it seems like the chain slipped.. His right foot rapidly accelerates, in slow mo mind you..

Did it accelerate before or after he starts sliding? That could be his rear wheel spinning out once it lost traction.

I saw that oln interview and wish he would have said what flashed through his mind when the reporter asked something to the effect of...so you crashed at near 40 mph and slid on the ground for quite some time. How did that feel?

You could see in his face he wanted to say. "um..it hurt like hell. How do you think it would feel?"

Did it accelerate before or after he starts sliding? That could be his rear wheel spinning out once it lost traction.

Before the slide... He was still upright and the bike was straight...

Word on the net says it the chain, your video makes you think it was the chain, it probably was the chain, but you may never hear it stated so plainly in the media. When equipment fails and causes a crash, the manufactures don't want it brought to the buying publics attention.