Road Bike Racing - Chris Horner?

I don't know much about him except that he has been one of the very best US cyclists for the last three, maybe four, years. He and Mark McCormack both. They seem to be a real good road racers. Have either ever raced in Europe? If not, why not? I get the feeling they could do well over there. Are the Euros so good that guys of this caliber would only just be hanging on to the peloton? Anybody out there got any thoughts on this?

Chris has done some racing in Europe. He had a 3rd in a stage of the Criterium International. It's a whole different ballgame over there though. Some very strong Americans have crossed the pond and found that they just didn't care for it. Different languages, foods, cultures, attitudes, etc. That combined with a healthy dose of anti-American snobery make it a difficult place to make it as a non-european rider.

I think they both did a short stint in Europe. But given both of their ages I really do not see them catching on with a D1 Euro squad. They are both team leaders and at best in Europe they would be domestiques. Also you have to factor in their ages and the fact that they pretty much rule North American D2 and 3 racing. Its a shame they are not in Europe because they are both great talents.

DEKKERFAN,

This was just being discussed on our club's e-mail list. Chris was on the FDJ team for a while. Someone pointed out this (http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/3146.0.html ) link from Velonews about 18 months ago. It appears that Chris could make more money in the States and be closed to his family. I hear he is a really nice guy. I missed an opportunity to ride with him a few months back and a number of people noted that he took time out to talk to them during the ride.

Just on a side note, Ted Huang, a teammate of Horner's and winner of last year's Univest race had a serious crash yesterday and had to be helicoptered out. We heard from the team manager that Ted had regained consciousness before the helicopter arrived. Ted may have broken bones around his eye socket. They've called in a specialist to examine him further. Let's hope that Ted will be all right. He is a very nice guy and one heck of a rider.

SteveE

Chris Horner won the Tour de Langkawi in 2000, riding for Mercury. Though most continental pros would be using a race like this to build form, he was racing with the likes of Rene Haselbacher, Serguei Ivanov, Chepe Gonzalez and Damien Nazon, among others.

Floyd Landis, also riding in Mercury colours, finshed fifth in GC.

The guy who I'm psyched to watch now is Tom Danielson on Fassa Bartolo, we just interviewed him (@the Ride and next we're interviewing Tyler Hamilton :D ) and it looks like he's going to be the strongest GC guy on the team if the inter-team training is any sign. The Giro is gonna be fun to watch.

I actually get to ride with Mark McCormack every now and then. He lives about 10 miles away and he often shows up at a local weekly crit for training. Like Horner he is very nice too. He hangs out and chats, no problem at all. He even goes to the pizza party on the last night of the season. It is kind of strange being around someone so talented and see that he is just like all of us. Now that you mentioned it in your reply I can see it is true, he probably stays in the US because of his family, most nights his wife and family is there with him. Okay, he is like most people except when it comes to riding. In that arena he is on a much much higher level. He usually laps all of us on the 1.3 mile course too. If anyone is able to hang with him it is just luck and that's all they are doing... hanging on. He works so hard it's unbelievable. He takes off after only 1 or 2 laps and then never relinquishes the front, and he doesn't care if anyone is on his wheel. He just trucks along at about 30-33mph sometimes with a few lucky riders who get to hang in his wake until after a few laps they get dropped and fizzle out. He is a machine. Good luck to him.
DEKKERFAN,

This was just being discussed on our club's e-mail list. Chris was on the FDJ team for a while. Someone pointed out this (http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/3146.0.html ) link from Velonews about 18 months ago. It appears that Chris could make more money in the States and be closed to his family. I hear he is a really nice guy. I missed an opportunity to ride with him a few months back and a number of people noted that he took time out to talk to them during the ride.

Just on a side note, Ted Huang, a teammate of Horner's and winner of last year's Univest race had a serious crash yesterday and had to be helicoptered out. We heard from the team manager that Ted had regained consciousness before the helicopter arrived. Ted may have broken bones around his eye socket. They've called in a specialist to examine him further. Let's hope that Ted will be all right. He is a very nice guy and one heck of a rider.

SteveE

dekker you racing at plymouth this weekend?

Last summer Horner joined the River Ride, the local Saturday shop ride here in Sacto. He was in NorCal to train for the Worlds. He just killed people without breaking a sweat. It was amazing.

I told people at work that that's what is so great about cycling. It'd be like going to the local pickup game at the park and playing with Chris Webber.

We received word today that Ted Huang is out of the hospital and is staying with his sister who lives near Redlands. Ted apparently did fracture some bones around the eye socket but he did no permanent damage to his eye. He also had a fractured mandible.

Everyone wishes Ted a speedy recovery.

Horner is just amazing... soo much stronger than everybody else. Like last year at the SF Grand Prix... sand-bagging, then even stopping, pretending something was wrong with his bike. Than he takes off, catches the lead pack, easily passes them, and motors on to the finish, forearms resting across the top of his h-bars. Or big-ringing away from everybody else on the final climb at Redlands.

I'm curious about Danielson. The European circuit is so much harder, so many more miles, and he hasn't been over there long. I'd expect him to need a couple of years to come into form over there, but who knows? We Yanks need to be grooming someone to fill Lances cleats!

dekker you racing at plymouth this weekend?
Sorry I didn't write back before the race, but yeah I did race at Charge Pond this weekend. I raced the B race at noon. I had a good race eventhough I almost got destroyed when somebody decided to go left at that sharp right hand turn. He was obviously new to the course because he had no idea that he was supposed to turn right. Luckily I saw that he was sitting up straight instead of leaning to the right so I was able to avoid the crash. He should have known better than to be on the front on the first lap of a course that is new to him. We are all lucky no one got hurt. He actually was pretty fast, he caught back on and completed the race. Hopefully he'll have learned his leason and will help to make our area even faster still.

The euro clown...that same guy rode off the road in the sprint at the end...so I doubt it, but the guy he took out won the race. I was at the back of the pack after the first lap because my bars dropped 3 inches when I hit one of the many holes on the course. I was in the Brandeis jersey.

The euro clown...that same guy rode off the road in the sprint at the end...so I doubt it, but the guy he the race. I was at the back of the pack after the first lap because my bars dropped 3 inches when I hit one of the many holes on the course. I was in the Brandeis jersey.

Hey Pinky, I remember you, you raced well. Especially well for someone without a team there. I was in the Back Bay Bicycles jersey and I too had no team there. But nonetheless it was still a good race. Hey, do you know if they hold the Adelphia Grand Prix on that same course? I'd like to race it, but that one extra sharp corner just causes to much of a danger/slowdown that it takes the rythm out of the race.

Yah the Prix is on the same course (pretty sure of that). That turn was the best part of the race-if you were near the front and took it right you could burst off the front evertime. That said, taking the same turn in the pack got a little hairy, but except for clown boy I had no problems with it, I only didn't like the pot holes.