Heady Days
nothing important January 22nd, 2008Those heady days when head bands were head bands, delta brakes ruled the bunch, styrofoam coolers masqueraded as helmets clad in lycra- and the Tour of America was the Tour of Americas. Thanks to Chris at Defeet for supplying this photo of him on the line with a couple big names from the bunch. How many can you name in this photo?
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Let’s see…Pedro and his Spanish Posse, a couple of Mexican dudes, a couple of 7-11 guys (Bob Mionski, Ron Kiefel?), a couple of US Team riders with a pre-buck shot Greg Lemond…is that little Lance in the background on a tricycle with his mommy? This looks like the Tour de Trump 1989 and I can’t remember if PDM was in that race. I was looking for Gert, the most intimidating looking rider of his era.
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Secretly, Pedro’s headband would leak a little bit of testosterone into his bloodstream throughout a long stage race. He borrowed the idea from Jimi Hendrix who did it with acid.
Actually, it’s surprising how little you hear about Delgado’s TdF victory and the fact that he was busted soon after (although let loose on a technicality). Very different times.
January 24th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Yo, Desert Dog:
1) It is from 1989 (the only year LeMondster rode for Coors Light), but that’s 2+ years post-buckshot.
2) Tour de Trump is a good guess, but I do not believe Reynolds ever raced there. PDM certainly raced the ‘89 TdT — Theunisse was 4th — but if you think he was the most intimidating-looking rider of his era, you never saw Mike Zanoli.
3) Ryalco-Postobon and Manzano-Postobon were Columbian, not Mexican teams.
Steve: Delgado was not bust during the ‘88 TdF. He was not busted after it either, therefore he could not have been let go on a technicality. He tested positive for Probenicid, a steroid masking agent, during the Tour, but that substance was only on the IOC list of banned substances, and was due to be added to the corresponding UCI list the next month. The positive result was made public nonetheless, in a bit of poetic justice that presaged the release of Lance Armstrong’s retroactive positive finding from the 1999 Tour.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Thanks for the clarification Wes. It appears I’m losing brain cells faster than I thought, but I shouldn’t be surprised. And no, I have never seen Mike Zanoli, although I recongnize the name. If he has a better scowl than Theunisse than he truly was a bad ass. Any pics?
January 24th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Zanoli was famous for punching people before, during and after the sprint. Punched Phinney during a sprint once. Big and ugly as homemade sin. So ugly they had to tie doping products around his neck to get the pack to ride near him. He could swallow Theunisse whole.
He died in 2003 at 35 of a heart attack.
January 25th, 2008 at 7:51 am
I’ll take a whack at id’ing the photo then let the other John or Chris set the record straight. As for the riders, the only 3 I know for sure are Lemond, Delgado, and Chris Sheean (in the USA kit). The 7-Eleven rider with the awesome Bolle shades is not Dag Otto, but looks very familiar. The other USA rider has a Plymouth Reebock helmet cover. That team was a west coast Junior team. The other teams I see are Schwinn Wheaties, Euro Car Gali (John Eustice, Roberto Gaggioli, and son or nephew of Peter Post), Postobon from Columbia.
The equipment is also interesting. Lemond is on a Mavic group, the Cinelli 1R stem is represented well, the Mavic retrofriction downtube shifter is there (the best downtube shifters in my opinion and I have a few pairs squireled away), Mavic gel 280’s rims, Campy Delta brakes, Time shoes with the big red straps, and the version 1 Giro styrofoam helmets.
The race is the Tour of America 1989. I think it started in Florida and came north up the eastern seaboard. It may have been a 7 - 10 day affair. I can’t remember if it went for more than a year.
I raced against Lemond later in the year at the A to Z Classic. Athens to Zanesville, Ohio. Road race then a Criterium. He had just won the worlds. I remember lining up next to him thinking; 1) I will never make a fraction of the money he is making, 2) if I don’t place I will not have gas money for the trip back to Indiana, 3) this is going to be very painful, 4) it is a 100k criterium on a 1k course so stay toward the front but do as little effort as possible… ha!
January 25th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Bill: Michel (not actually mike, but everyone called him that) Zanoli actually died in early 2004, and the specific race where punched Phinney was stage 9 of the 1992 Tour du Pont, in order to get him off teammate Phil Anderson’s wheel. Phinney, despite choking on the rather copious blood flow, went by Anderson with ~200 m to go, but ‘Skippy’ caught him just before the line and won.
During an earlier stage, Zanoli had punched a cameraman for accidentally knocking teammate Andy Bishop off his bike, then he continued — all 6′6″ and 195 lb. of him — to glower in rage at the cameraman, who kept the videotape rolling all the while.
I remember officiating a race in the States in 1997 (his last year before retiring), turning around, and suddenly, there he was. It was almost surreal.
John: make that Clark Sheehan; the 7-Eleven guy may be Jens Veggerby.
LeMond’s group is not Mavic, rather it apprears to be Campagnolo, though the Bottechia he rode at the Tour later that year for ADR was indeed Mavic-equipped.
The Tour of the Americas was held in 1983 and 1988-90, so that fits LeMond’s ADR/Coor’s Light uniform. I believe the stems are XAs, not 1Rs, and I’d bet aginst the rims being G.E.L. 280s, which were fragile — probably G.L. 330s, or perhaps an even heavier model.
January 25th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Wes - you’re correct about lemond’s group, I guess I was looking at the Team USA guy’s bike. Those black brakes could also be Modolo Racing Specials. You’re also probably right about 330’s not 280’s or maybe even MA-4’s… wasn’t that what the tubular version of the MA-40 was called?
I was working at the ‘92 DuPont and had forgotten about Zanoli punching the camera operator, who I believe was Scott Ogle.
Wasn’t Jens Veggerby the 7-Eleven guy who got called up to the Tour after a prologue or stage 1 crash that took out an American on the team?
I do think it is Chris Sheehan (the other pro Sheehan) not Clark because it was Chris who sent us the picture. I do see Clark these days at the races where he is the king of the course-side fence. He’s got miles of metal barricades that are for rent at the bigger races.
January 25th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Wes, you are a fountain of knowledge. I’d have to dig around in my dad’s basement for my box of vintage Velonews and Winning magazines just to earn a seat at the table.
Hopefully they are still there. He’s always trying to show me something “in the shop” hoping I’ll load up all that crap I’ve abandoned. I wasn’t born yesterday and thusly the crap remains.
Stacks of tubulars that will never be fixed. Hideous Scott Aerobars (like Yates won the GP Eddy Merckx with) left over from a regretable “triathlon phase”. Bent up wheels of every stripe. And a box of those nifty little Avocet computer parts that everyone had in the 1989. Just stop by and ol’ dad will cheerfully pelt you with it all.