Stories 
Riding with F1 driver Jenson Button(2)
Back in mid-December, VeloVeritas pal Mike Zagorski noticed that 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button was in Hawaii, by happy coincidence the same island that he lives on.
As it turns out, Jenson was on a bit of a holiday with his girlfriend, a Japanese model named Jessica Michibata, and long-time friend Chris Buncombe (24hr Le Mans driver) – and they had brought their bikes!
Mike made contact with Jenson and within a day or two had managed to nail down a time and place to ride.
Full Story»
Bremen Six Day – Photo Roundup(0)
Here’s a few photos from the Bremen Six Day that we haven’t used in other articles.
Rotterdam Six Day – John’s Photo Album(0)
Our friend John Young, of Fietsenphotography fame, worked at the Rotterdam Six Day this year, and sent us a bunch of photos.
We thought you’d like them!
Dan Fleeman – Moving from Racing to Coaching(0)
‘There’s a time to come and a time to go,’ the words of Danny Stam when he announced that he would retire at the end of this winter season, the Dutchman is 39 years-old.
But whilst the former British under 23 road race champion, twice British hill climb champion and Tour of the Pyrenees winner, Dan Fleeman is 10 years younger than the six day man, he’s arrived at the same conclusion.
A Breather. Sort of.(0)
Today is an interesting stage. It’s too hard to be a sprint, too easy over the final 40km to cause any concern to the GC lads, and so is a difficult, and likely stressful in-between day where nothing much changes, other than everyone’s a day tireder and one bloke has picked up a big victory.
(Just) Desserts And Grace(0)
Great food pun. Well, an ok food pun. I’m sure there are some unemployed former News Of The World staffers who could come up with something better… Enough of unimportant stuff though! Onto the cycling.
Last night was a very tough stage – Voeckler’s team did indeed keep things quite close to ensure he retained the yellow jersey, and Gilbert hit out hard to try and shake the sprinters prior to the finale.
Stage 11 of the Giro 2010 – Redux(0)
Apologies for not updating the site for a little while folks – we’ve both been very busy with our day jobs.
Ed has been clearing the decks before heading over to Italy to cover the Giro d’Italia shortly, and so to get us in the mood we thought you’d enjoy revisiting one of our diary articles from Stage 11 of last year’s race, a 262km haul from Lucera to L’Aquila, when a break of over 50 riders threatened to overturn the race completely…
Jez Greengrass Remembers ‘THAT’ 25(1)
After the excellent articles on Alf Engers competition record published on VeloVeritas, specifically Part 2, but also Part 1, I thought I should try to recall my memories of that day away back in 1978.
At 14 years old it’s not often that you can say that “I was there” but I was.
- by Jeremy Greengrass -
The Time Capsule: An American Team in the Six Days, by Colby Pearce(2)
The experienced American rider Colby Pearce was one of the guys looked after by Kris, Martin and Ed at some of this winters’ Six Days, including the recent event at the Ballerup Stadium in Copenhagen.
Having raced at elite level on the track at the Olympics, at World Cups and in the World Championships, as well as being a National Champion 14 times and holder of the US Hour Record (50.191), together with a spell working as the US Track Coach, Colby had seen most of what track cycling had to offer.
One element was missing though: Six Day Racing…
In My Shoes(0)
Imagine you are a young man. You are racing in your first Tour De France. You do not know it will be your only one. You have climbed the ladder from the outside in, from day one.
You have won the Olympic Games, you have survived a season on your own in Belgium, you have survived all things Grewal.
Your entire life has been to win your father’s approval, to be seen in his eyes and hence in your own as a winner.
Nothing you have done to date has ever made that possible. Not even a Gold Medal…
One to Watch: Daniel Teklehaimanot(0)
Hidden away in North East Africa – ‘The Horn’ – bordering Ethiopia and Sudan is a little known country called Eritrea, officially ‘The State of Eritrea.’
At 118,000 square kilometres it’s around half the size of the United Kingdom; with a population similar to that of Scotland at an estimated five million
It’s better known for producing athletes of the running variety, but one ambitious, young sportsman is breaking the trend…
The Skin Suit – AKA The Olympics in L.A.(1)
Mission Viejo, Sunday July 29th 1984 and Alexi Grewal wins the 190 kilometre Los Angeles Olympic Road Race for the United States in front of an estimated 300,000 home fans. It should have been the start of a magnificent career for the talented man from Aspen, Colorado, but it didn’t work out quite like that.
Despite contracts with some of the best teams of the era – Panasonic, 7-11 and RMO – and flashes of brilliance, his Euro career never caught fire and he returned to the USA. The wins came there, but to knowledgeable observers, his was always an example of unfulfilled genius.
When someone pointed out to us that Alexi was on the comeback trail we just knew we had to talk to him, and Alexi offered us the following great story about that amazing day, written in his own words. Read on!
2009 Gent Six Finalé – Revisited(0)
The Gent Six day kicks off next week, so as a way to build the excitement we thought we’d revisit last year’s finalé, with VeloVeritas’ own Ed Hood there and working for the Danish World Madison Champions, Saxo Bank riders Alex Rasmussen and Michael Mørkøv, as well as Swiss star Franco Marvulli. Read on!…
Helen Wyman’s Cyclocross World Cup, Rounds 1 and 2(0)
It seems like a lifetime ago that we (that’s the ‘royal we’ i.e Stef) were packing the car and heading off for the first world cup of the season in Aigle, Switzerland.
Ten days, eight countries and two races later we are on our way home to Oudenaarde.
Having tasted local delicacies along the way I can say hand-on-heart my favourite food is still Italian. Not wanting to write entirely about food though – although it is one of my favourite subjects – I will include the odd incident which hasn’t coincided with mealtime, for those trying to diet…
La Vuelta goes to Burgos, Castile y León(0)
On Friday La Vuelta arrives in Burgos, having travelled from Rincón de Soto, famous as the pear capital of La Rioja.
VeloVeritas will be in Burgos and we’ll be following the race for a few days as it enters Cantabria, finishing at Peña Cabarga on Saturday and Lagos de Covadonga (where Robert Millar once made us teary eyed with national pride as he left the best Spanish climbers in his wake) on Sunday.
We thought it would be interesting to revisit the last time we were in Burgos for La Vuelta, a couple of years ago.