Sunday, July 15, 2012 3
ROUNDUP Slip, sliding away
CYCLING
Unsung mechanics toil to keep riders in top gear Experienced technical men work behind the scenes to ensure bikes are in perfect trim for gruelling races ...................................................... Jeanette Wang in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, France jeanette.wang@scmp.com It’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. Perry Moerman has been at it for 20 years on the professional cycling tour, serving star riders past and present such as Erik Zabel and Mark Cavendish. Behind the glitz and glamour of the Tour de France, the 50-year-old mechanic for the Astana team chugs away quietly at a daily work routine that begins hours before the riders get flagged-off and ends well after the stage is done. For the Belgian from Flanders who once aspired to be a top-level cyclist, it’s a dream job. “It’s the second best thing you can do on the Tour if you fail as a rider,” he says. Mechanics are an integral part of every team, much like the pit crew of a Formula One outfit. They ensure glitch-free operation of the machines that riders use to propel themselves to the finish line, and, on a good day, victory. Chris Horner, an American cyclist with Radioshack-Nissan, says mechanics are a “huge” part of the team’s success. “The bike has to work and it has to work perfectly. So you’ve got to have good mechanics to keep the bike functioning correctly and keep us in the right place.” On stage 10 on Wednesday, a gear-shifting problem with Horner’s bike on the tough climb up the 17.4km long, 1,501-metre high Col du Grand Colombier meant he had to ride his big chain ring to the top. “The amount of energy I had to expend was enormous to stay with the front group and all that energy was spent because of a bike problem and not because of legs or anything like that. So yes, [the part that mechanics play] is huge,” Horner said. A typical work day for a mechanic at the Tour de France begins at about 7.30am. The bicycles are prepped for the day’s stage, Tyres are pumped. Nine bikes, one for each team rider, are loaded on to the team bus; 16 spare bikes, along with food and drink supplies, are loaded on to two team cars that follow behind the peloton during the race. Everything is then driven to the start, which could be a town or two away. The team usually arrive at the site about two hours before the race is flagged off, which is typically around noon. Here, mechanics – each team usually have about three or four – are on standby should any bike need tuning or fixing. After the race begins, the mechanics hop into the team’s two cars that
TOOLS OF THE TRADE The team truck is a mobile workshop that is part of each team’s motor entourage. A typical truck has: 5 bikes per person (3 road bikes, 2 time trial bikes) 120 pairs of wheels (including those on the bikes) – mixture of wheels for all terrain and races 15 spare groupsets 12 spare frames of various sizes 100 tubular tyres Other spares: cables, brake pads and tools follow the peloton. A crash, puncture or mechanical problem along the way may call for a change of bikes within seconds. “We plan for everything so that when it does happen we already know how to handle it and we can work quickly and calmly,” says Ian Sherburne, 42, a mechanic with the BMC team since 2007. Once the race is over, usually at about 5pm, the team drive to the hotel. While the riders eat, rest and recover, the mechanics begin washing and servicing the bicycles. Tyres are changed every second day; handlebar tape every third or fourth. Postrace work takes about three hours. Work for the day wraps up at about 9pm. Despite reeking of degreaser, oil and sweat, it’s usually straight to dinner. “The advantage is everyone smells, so it doesn’t matter,” says Moerman. The toughest part of the day, says Inaki Goiburu, 32, a mechanic with Orica GreenEdge, is ironically when he’s off his feet: sitting in the car following the peloton for five or six hours straight. “I’d rather be riding the Tour,” says the Spaniard.
The bike has to work perfectly. So you’ve got to have good mechanics to keep us in the right place RADIOSHACK-NISSAN CYCLIST CHRIS HORNER
Pro Team Astana mechanic Perry Moerman is busy checking one of the team bikes before the start of stage 11 of the Tour de France. Photo: Russel Wong
At the professional tour level – the apex of competitive cycling – this daily routine repeats over three weeks for the Grand Tours in France, Italy and Spain; up to a week at the smaller tours, and then there are the one-day classics and other races. This schedule puts mechanics on the road for about 200-250 days a year. But the chance to travel and see the world is one of the attractions of the job. “I get to see a lot of the world,” says Moerman. “And someone else pays.” Sherburne, who has been a mechanic since 1990, says: “[This lifestyle of] not being in one place for long – you get tired of it and miss it at the same time.” A pro tour team mechanic earns ¤50,000-¤60,000 a year, and unlike in the peloton, there isn’t really a “star” mechanic, says Moerman. “Every [pro tour] mechanic is at the same technical level. But another big thing is how you get along with your colleagues. The job demands good social skills.” With all that time spent together on the road, the team inevitably become family. Everything is done as one body. When a cyclist wins, it is a victory for the other team members and support staff, too. “The job satisfaction is working with people who are the best at what they do,” says Sherburne. “The staff is like a big family – we have a glass of wine together at the end of each day. When Cadel [Evans] won the Tour last year, we all felt like we won it, too. It’s a group effort, there’s no way one person even as strong as Cadel can do it alone.” If you’re dreaming of joining the pro tour ranks as a mechanic, the best way to start is by experimenting on your own bike and then working your way up, starting at a bike shop or a club team. “It also helps to know the riders and team managers,” says Moerman. He started with Team Stuttgart in 1993 and stayed on with the same team (though their name changed from Telekom to T-Mobile to HTC) until last year when HTC-Highroad dissolved owing to the lack of sponsorship. Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov, leader of the Astana team whom Moerman had worked with at T-Mobile, offered him the Astana job. “It’s not easy to get into the world [of the pro tour], but once you’re in there you’re set,” says Sherburne, a native of Santa Rosa, California. He says he “was in the right place at the right time” and got his big break as a mechanic for the US national team based in Colorado Springs. Once you’re in the big league, life as a mechanic actually gets easier. Says Moerman: “In a big team, we have a bigger budget and sponsors, so we hardly repair – we replace. For example, if someone has a problem with shifting, we just screw off the rear derailleur and replace it. In a small team, you would have to learn how to fix it.” But what never gets easier is sacrificing personal life for the job. Moerman’s girlfriend last week gave birth to their first child – and for the first time the Belgian is considering getting an office job, such as working at the Astana base in Nice, France. Goiburu doesn’t see himself on the road for long: “I had a girlfriend for 10 years but she left me – maybe this job is the reason.” Sherburne had “retired” from the pro tour and worked in a bike shop between 2003 and 2007 to spend more time with his then-girlfriend. His return to the tour coincided with the couple splitting up. “I’m looking to work in the office more,” he says. “My [current] girlfriend sees me more on Twitter.” Interestingly, when the mechanics are not on tour, they say they spend their spare time riding – what else – bicycles.
Millar’s happy to be called ‘ex-doper’ ...................................................... Julian Pretot in Annonay, France David Millar, who returned to cycling seven years ago after a two-year doping ban, has urged the media to keep referring to him as an ex-doper after winning the 12th stage of the Tour de France. “Don’t stop calling me an ex-doper,” the Hong Kong-raised Scot said after he crossed the line at the end of a 226 kilometre ride featuring two demanding climbs. Millar, 35 (pictured), who joined the Garmin team in 2008, has become an anti-doping advocate. Last year his book Racing Through the Dark, in which he gives a full account of his doping years, was published. “We are proud of what we do. We came with a mission to change the sport, to prove people it could be done differently,” Millar said. “We profess that we are clean and I’m incredibly proud of my team. “The reason I was given a second chance is that I have a duty to not forget where the sport comes from. “I’m representative of our sport as a whole. We should not forget the past.” The past featured a first Tour
win in 2000 when he beat Lance Armstrong in the prologue, followed by years of doping punctuated by two other victories on the world’s greatest race. “I made mistakes. I am an exdoper and now I am clean,” he said. “I want people to have trust in our sport. Cycling has changed a great deal. I want people to understand that.” Millar’s win came 45 years to the day after fellow Briton Tom Simpson died on the slopes of the Mont Ventoux on the Tour de France after
We profess that we are clean and I’m incredibly proud of my team … I want people to have trust in our sport DAVID MILLAR
taking amphetamines. “Today is the 45th anniversary of his death and it makes it a poignant win for me,” said Millar. “I hope that today I’ve shown where cycling has come in the last 45 years, and even in the last five years.” His victory drew compliments from compatriot and yellow jersey holder Bradley Wiggins, with whom he has had a sometimes complicated relationship. In a column in The Guardian, Wiggins explained that in Britain, an ex-doper like France’s Richard Virenque could not come back and be hailed as a hero. “I think Dave is one of the very few exceptions to that rule because of what he stands for since he came back,” Wiggins said “He has been very proactive in working with UK Anti-Doping. I think Dave is trying to help the future of his sport.” Both riders were selected to represent Britain in the Olympics road race, with Millar being picked after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the British Olympic Association’s lifetime Olympic ban on drug offenders. Reuters
Kalex Moto2 rider Pol Espargaro (front) of Spain comes off his bike along with Motobi rider Johann Zarco of France, who ends up in the gravel during the third practice session for today’s Italian motor-
cycling grand prix at Mugello circuit. Espargaro still managed to post the fastest qualiying time to snatch pole position for the race, with Zarco third fastest. Photo: Reuters
GOLF
ROAD WAS LONG, BUT THE KOREANS HAVE ARRIVED KJ Choi was the first from his nation to qualify for the PGA Tour in 1999 but his success opened a pipeline as the game in the country has seen a transformation ...................................................... Doug Ferguson To chase his dream, K.J. Choi had to climb a mountain. His arms were too long for a future in powerlifting, and baseball was just starting to take off in South Korea when he was a teenager. Without money to buy a baseball and a bat, Choi went to the nearest mountain, cut down a pine tree and fashioned his own bat. He played with a tennis ball, but it just wasn’t the same. So imagine how he felt when he went to a driving range for a golf demonstration. “Getting to hit a golf ball for the first time with an actual iron, I couldn’t forget that solid feeling,” Choi said. “It felt much better hitting a golf ball with a real club than hitting a tennis ball with my bat. And that’s when I fell in love with it. I told myself, ‘just start golfing, and let’s see how far it will take me’. And I kept with it.” It has carried him to 17 wins around the world, including The Players Championship, and more than US$27 million in career earnings on the US PGA Tour. He was the first Korean to join the tour when he made it through Q-school in 1999. Now, finally, he has company. And more are on the way. These days, it is much easier for the likes of Noh Seung-yul, Bae Sangmoon and Kang Sung-hoon, who are among eight Korean-born players on the US tour. Beyond American shores, only Australia has more US PGA Tour players. They also have role models in Choi and Yang Yong-eun, the first Asian man to win a major when he took down Tiger Woods in the 2009 US PGA Championship. Most of them are products of the Korea Golf Association, which is pouring resources into golf and has produced a national team that could be the model for other developing golf nations. So, how strong is the national team? Well, Korea won the gold medal in the Asian Games in 2006 in Qatar with a team that featured Kang and Presidents Cup player K.T. Kim. Noh, who was 18 when he defeated Choi in the 2010 Malaysian Open, was a re-
serve. Bae, who started this year at No 30 in the world and lost in the quarter-finals to Rory McIlroy at the Match Play Championship, wasn’t good enough to make the team. “I tried,” said Bae with a laugh. “But there were too many good amateurs in Korea, so I couldn’t.” A year ago, Bae became the second straight Korean to win the money title on the Japan Golf Tour. Kim won it in 2010, while Noh topped the Order of Merit that year on the Asian Tour. The ultimate stop is the US PGA Tour, and the numbers are growing. Korean success in America starts with the women. Another reminder came last week when Choi Na-yeon won the US Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run, where Pak Se-ri won the US Women’s Open in 1998 and became a pioneer for women’s golf in her country. Korean membership on the US LPGA Tour is approaching 50 players. More than 30 of them have won close to 100 times, and 10 have won majors. For years after he became a US PGA Tour winner, Choi rarely made it through an interview without being asked why there weren’t as many Korean men. The simple answer was mandatory military service, which comes at a critical development stage for young golfers. Choi had to put in his two years at age 22. He was a rifleman, worked on a radar base and even spent time in the kitchen. His shift was to work two days and have two days off, during which time he could hit balls. Some players have avoided military service by moving from Korea (US Amateur champion Danny Lee to New Zealand, Kevin Na to America). Others have deferred until their 30s, and now there is a major incentive. Kang, for example, is exempt from his military service because he won a gold medal at the Asian Games. Players like Noh and Bae are hopeful of an Olympic medal in 2016. “That was a big deal for me,” Kang said. But it’s more than just a military obligation. There was a time when golf was considered only a game for the very rich, not a career path. Kor-
ean families invest heavily in their children’s future, with a big emphasis on education. Pak’s win at the Women’s Open paved the way for women. It was still another four years before Choi won in New Orleans for his first US PGA Tour win. “Golf wasn’t considered a good job for men,” Choi said. “You didn’t have a guaranteed income. No one knew you could make a living. Nowadays, as soon as you’re born, parents stick a golf club in the baby’s hands.” Choi learned that when he met his future wife and her parents didn’t approve. Golf? How could someone provide for his family playing golf? Choi struck a deal that if he were to win a tournament, “I’m coming back and I’m going to take your daughter”. “They wanted me to prove I could support her,” Choi said. “This only took a year to prove. I got my teaching licence. I got on the Korean Tour. And I won.” More than US$27 million in the bank later, do they approve? Choi smiled and said: “Big time.” Along with the Korean Tour, the men can make a living and aspire to reach the US PGA Tour by playing in Japan (26 Korean players), the Asian Tour (13 players) and the fledgling
OneAsia circuit (24 players). Eight players are on the US tour, a group that does not include John Huh, who was born in New York but grew up in Korea. He made it through Q-school and already has won this year at the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico. Huh will be making his major championship debut this week at Royal Lytham & St Annes in the British Open. Only five years ago, 22 players from Korea signed up for Q-school on the US PGA Tour. That number more than doubled to 52 a year ago. One of them was Bae, who was introduced to golf by his mother. He won 10 times on the Korean, Asian and Japan tours before he made it through Q-school last year. “There’s so many good players on the PGA Tour,” he said. “I couldn’t try PGA Tour Q-school because it was such a long trip to Korea. And Qschool is crazy hard. Only 25 people get their PGA Tour cards.” Korea, meanwhile, has kept up with its growing demand for golf. With three million golfers, the country has 500 golf courses, 4,000 driving ranges and now some 9,000 certified instructors. Even so, the story behind its success lies with the overwhelming support from the Korea Golf Association, which has 3,600 players – 2,000 of them men – registered in its national programme from ages 8 to 20. “If we prepare the players steadily from now on, we won’t have a problem in winning Olympic medals,” KGA vice-chairman Kim Dong-wook said. All these developments bring a smile to Choi’s face. Even though he hasn’t won a major, young Koreans look to him in the same way so many women were inspired by Pak. Kang noted that even when Pak was winning majors, there were other Korean women on the LPGA Tour, such as Kim Mi-hyun. On the PGA Tour, for a long time there was only Choi. At the Memorial this year, there was a poignant moment when two young Koreans stood quietly to the side of the putting green to watch Choi, then going out onto Muirfield Village for a practice round. “When I first started winning on the PGA Tour, they were in their teens,” Choi said. “They were kids. And now they’re here.” Associated Press
Yankees’ Derek Jeter tags out Howard Kendrick. Photo: AP
eighth to tie the score. Five batters later, catcher Russell Martin drove in the winning run with a single to right. Reuters
52 Number of Korean players who signed up for US PGA Tour qualifying last year, up from 22 five years ago
SHORT SPORT Ex-Armstrong team boss to fight doping charges
Saints ink contract with quarterback Drew Bees
Lance Armstrong’s former team manager, Johan Bruyneel, will fight charges of allegedly engaging in a long-running doping conspiracy. Bruyneel is one of six people, along with seven-times Tour de France champion Armstrong, facing serious charges of being involved in a major doping conspiracy by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. Usada confirmed that Bruyneel wanted his case heard at an arbitration hearing rather than accept penalties that could have seen him hit with a lengthy ban. AFP
The New Orleans Saints and recordsetting quarterback Drew Brees have agreed to a new contract. The terms were not revealed, but the NFL’s website said Brees, who reportedly was not going to report to training camp without a new deal, agreed to a five-year, US$100 million contract. The deal is a welcome dose of good news for a franchise that has been dogged by turmoil this year after the NFL revealed the Saints had a programme that rewarded players with cash rewards for knocking opponents out of games. Reuters
Yankees come from behind to topple Angels Mark Teixeira drove in five runs with two home runs and the New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-5 behind a four-run eighth-inning rally in Major League Baseball. Los Angeles had led 5-2 before Teixeira homered to left with Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson on base in the
City lose to Saudi side in Innsbruck warm-up English Premier League soccer champions Manchester City slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in their opening preseason in Innsbruck, Austria. The only goal of the game came in the 68th minute when Shaker Nawaf Alabid beat goalkeeper Eirik Johansen with a fierce drive. AFP