Strangely not OT: Michigan Has an Alum in Pro Cycling
Saw this a couple of days ago: Former scholarship distance runner and Michigan grad Rusty Woods took up competitive cycling following running injuries. He rose quickly from amateur into the professional ranks and now rides for Cannondale-Drapac, the American team run under various sponsors (most memorably, Garmin--if you've followed the Tour de France they have had guys competing for top five positions and very rarely stage wins in the past) by Jon Vaughters.
He is finishing up the Giro D'Italia, a grand tour of similar difficulty to the Tour de France, and played a vital role in a stage win for teammate Pierre Rolland earlier this week. He's a domestique, generally filling helping roles for the guys the team hopes to get stage wins or other results, but that is still a big deal, and per the linked article he has competed for results himself in some non-trivial lower-rung races like the Tour of Australia.
I'm not aware of any other Michigan alumni who have ever ridden in the pro peloton before. He didn't come to Michigan for cycling, but he has turned it into a professional career, riding in major races, and that is pretty cool.
You are missing at least one that I know of, Alum and Michigan native Larry Warbasse.
Splendid! Good for him. Not BMC this year, but IAM isn't bad.
2 michigan alum work with Oracle Team USA as well. Racing begins tomorrow for the chance to win the Oldest Trophy in Sports! And yes - the boats fly now. Michigan Engineering :)
C'mon, you can't drop that nugget on me and hold out on details. I'm planning to watch the event and the last one converted me into a dedicated (casual) sailor. Who are they and what role do they fill?
the short video linked in my post, they're both interviewed briefly. Engineering school grads.
another Michigan (state of, not university of) connection to the team is Harbor Springs' own Matt Cassidy, who's one of the grinders on the boat.
The "Club of Champions", I took up your Pepsi challenge to find more Michigan alumni Pro cyclists.
First name I came up with: Tom Schuler, Graduate of the University of Michigan, Olympic Cyclist and part of the original 7-11 cycling team and a member of the US cycling Hall of Fame.
Club of champions:
Tour d France as a member of the 7-11 team., total bad@ss and.. a Sparty alum. :(
The state of Michigan is the Netherlands of US cycling, it produces great domestiques, lowlanders but don't look for many climbers or GC overall contenders.
Livonia Michigan's own winning the final stage of the 87 TdF, unbelievable. American cycling is so much more than Armstrong and Lemond. A tribute to the late, legendary coach Mike Walden, the Bo Schembachler of American cycling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFDaw6G4P34
ps: 1987, the year Stephen Roche of Ireland won cycling's triple crown Giro D'Italia, TdF, and World Championship. A magical year for him and if you want to see the most beautiful form on a bike in the modern era, take a look at Stephen Roche riding, a thing of beauty, perfect pedal rotation, perfect angle of his back and shoulders. It's the equivalent of a OL keeping his bend and pads low. Not a natural climber, not a sprinter, a decent time trialist but yet with beautiful form, efficiency, and no wasted effort, enough that year to win the Triple Crown.
Many years it does indeed seem to be harder but nothing matches the tactics and pressure of the TdF and the summer heat in France. It may be spread out a bit more with less hors category but the TdF is a pressure cooker and much more difficult to win.
Basically there are two sports for me and nothing else Michigan football in the Fall and the summer cycling grand tours. They are perfectly complimentary to each other, one leads beautifully into the next and they don't interfere with each other.
It used to be worse, but they switched showrunners and it has become more sane. A few years ago there were multiple stages that were so brutal people were shocked at the audacity of them, and one stage had to be heavily modified due to safety concerns. That guy (the name escapes me and I don't feel like looking it up) was shuffled out and more "normal" routes have followed.
This one has a surprising amount of time trial mileage, which has made for a good GC battle between Tom Domoulin and Nairo Quintana.
But Alexey Vermeulen is a local kid, he rides for Lotto Jumbo. He grew up in the Ann Arbor area.
Were integral to revealing the whole Armstrong PEDs scandal as well. Lets hope this is in the past of cycling.
http://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/features/Pages/lancearmstrongtalk0…
Alexey Vermeulen is only 22 and on the Dutch team Lotto-Jumbo.