Vuelta

The Vuelta a Espana has just crowned Alejandro Valverde as its new champion 8 days ago but it seems only Spain cared about it. There are a lot of things that makes the Vuelta a poor brother to the Tour d’France and the Giro d’Italia. And one of them is its position in the racing calendar.

First ridden in 1935, the Vuelta is the youngest of the 3 Grand Tours. It used to be that the Vuelta was held in April, but because of its proximity to the Giro (held every May), only the Spanish teams and riders raced it. In the 90’s it was moved to September, to make it more compelling to the stars. It worked for a while and Lance Armstrong came 4th in 1998 and Jan Ullrich won in 1999. After that, the stars stopped coming. If they did, they used the race to hone their fitness for the World Championships a week later. Now, even the Worlds have suffered the fate similar to the Vuelta. LA isn’t going to the worlds, nor is Alberto Contador. The reason is that the racing season is long and since these stars have accomplished what they promised for 2009, they would rather rest their weary bodies instead of trying hard to keep the form and probably burn out the following year.

Going back to Valverde, his triumph didn’t help either. The Spaniard was convicted by the Italian authorities for doping but the Spanish authorities would have none of it. Now, they are waiting for the case to be resolved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. If Valverde gets convicted, he would be stripped of the Vuelta title and a loss of face for the Spanish race.

Races Coming Up

The Talisay Fiesta race will be held this weekend at the Talisay side of the South Coastal Road. IMO, this race course is the most beautiful not because of the wide roads but because the Talisay government makes it a point to close the roads from other traffic for the duration of the race. Chapeau! to Judge Mario Manayon and Councilor Ronnie Capala for this event!!!

The next race will be on October 17, an out of town sortie called the “Ormoc City Medical Society Road and MTB Race”. The road race will be a 100km affair which will start in Ormoc going to Isabel and then back to Ormoc. The race will then finish at Barangay Milagro, a 14km climb going, the same climb going to Lake Danao.

The Dassler Brothers

I guess you know both Adi and Rudolf, the two German brothers who founded two of the biggest sneaker companies in the world, adidas and PUMA, respectively. Their sneakers were used by Jesse Owens during the Berlin Olympics and during WWII, they produced boots for the Wermacht. But they would later dissolve a very successful partnership over a bitter feud that they would take to their graves.

So what was the feud all about? According to Dutch journalist and researcher Barbara Smits, it was all about a comment made by Adi about the Allied bombers who Rudolf thought was intended for him.

Both brothers belonged to the Nazi Party. In 1943, during an Allied bombing raid, Rudolf and his family seek refuge in an air raid shelter. They were joined by Adi and his family, who snapped, “Here are the bloody bastards again,” meaning the bombers. But Rudolf thought the remark was for him and from that day on until their very end, they would never ever talk to each other again. -  THE FREEMAN