The Art of Cycling: October 2021

Monday, October 4, 2021

Paris Roubaix: Sprinting in Roubaix

Riders caked in mud and sprinting on a velodrome could only happen at Paris Roubaix. Try as they might neither Matthieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Felix) nor Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) could get rid of Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) on the final kilometer before the Roubaix velodrome. Both knew that they were going to have and out sprint a well known sprinter if they wanted to win since they couldn’t shed themselves of the European Champion before the finale. So when these three came around the bell lap it went down as most would have expected. Sonny Colbrelli won his first attempt at the Hell of the North, with Florian Vermeersch just nipping Matthieu Van Der Poel for second. In the back ground you can see Gianni Moscon (Ineos-Grenadiers) having been lapped by the podium trio. He risked losing in hopes of winning and claims fourth in his last race for Ineos-Grenadiers.

This is most likely my last paintings for a remarkable 2021 season. I hope to be able to paint the opening race of 2022, the Tour Down Under. But it was canceled last year, and Australia is still being very strict with their travel restrictions, so here’s hoping it will happen. If not I’ll be back for the Spring Classics. Thank you all for your support of my cycling art!

This is a small 4x6 inch original watercolor painting that is available through my website at greigleach.com or you can simply follow the direct link at the end of the post to purchase the painting above. Since it is an original work of art, it is a first come first served reality. The painting was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors from www.Richesonart.com. The work sells for $75 USD plus shipping, and yes international shipping is available.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840269-63-290150/Painting/sprinting-in-roubaix-pr21-16.html

Paris Roubaix: Who’s Who

Is this not the most iconic image of all that is Paris Roubaix? As Phil Liggett and Bob Roll commented on the race, one of their main difficulties was figuring out who was who the more the riders got caked with mud. This is yet another title that is a bit of a play on words. First it was very difficult to tell who was who, and these three men, Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious), Matthieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Felix), and just peaking over their shoulders, Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Sousa) were looking to be the who’s who of this Paris Roubaix. The trio caught and dispatched Gianni Moscon on the fabled Carrefour de l’Arbre and were now vying to find their places on the podium. The fans crowded the course as they too tried to make out just who was their man for the race.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840265-62-290150/Painting/whos-who-pr21-15.html

Paris Roubaix: Hoping to Get There Alone

Gianni Moscon (Ineos-Grenadiers) was hoping he would be able to follow in the pedal strokes of Lizzie Deignan who rode solo to the finish on the velodrome of Roubaix. Just as she had, he had been off the front of the race since just before the first section of cobblestones, but unlike the first Queen of Roubaix, he had company up until now. Using the pave section Mons en Pevele, he rode off the front putting 30 seconds into the chasers rather quickly. With 47 kilometers to race, he was making it hard for the others at the very least. It was a perfect moment of syncopation that he had the same gap on his chasers as she did at the same moment in his and her races. Unfortunately for the Italian on the British team, his fortunes were not quite they were for the British riders on the American team.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840264-61-290150/Painting/hoping-to-get-there-alone-pr21-14.html

Sunday, October 3, 2021

Paris Roubaix: Time for His Move

He may have had a rough start to this Paris Roubaix but as the kilometers ticked off Matthieu Van Der Poel (Alpecin-Felix) made his move on the Tilley a Sars et Rosieres section of pave. As the former Dutch Champion went at full speed Yvette Lampaert (Deceuninck-Quick Step) wasn’t able to get onto his wheel. Van Der Poel’s experience as a cyclo-cross rider was putting him in good stead on the muddy wet cobbles of northern France.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840229-60-290150/Painting/time-for-his-move-pr21-13.html

Paris Roubaix: In Pursuit

Jeremy Lecroq (B&B Hotels) knew a good wheel to latch onto. When Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain-Victorious) went off the front of the pursuers in search of the duo up the road, only Lecroq had the legs to go with the European Champion. The duo were using the smoother roads to try and bridge across.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840222-59-290150/Painting/in-pursuit-pr21-12.html

Paris Roubaix: Can It Get Worse?

It should come as a surprise to no one that with all of the rain last night and during the race today large puddles formed along the course. Just before the entrance to Section 23, the Artres a Querenaing, the railroad crossing had helped to form a huge deep puddle at the start of the cobblestones. First Florian Vermeersch (Lotto Soudal) and then Nils Eekhoff (DSM) road through unable to see their feet nor almost the hubs of their wheels. Fortunately there wasn’t any potholes hidden beneath the surface of the small pond. Fortunately, they and the rest of the peloton got through the slough without more than muddy soaking wet feet.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840221-58-290150/Painting/can-it-get-worse-pr21-11.html

Paris Roubaix: In Search of Pave

Having come off the first set of cobblestones a few seconds behind the front group, this trio of Tom Van Asbroeck (Israel Start Up Nation), Andre Carvalho (Cofidis) and Tosh Van Der Sande (Lotto Soudal) were just about to tag back onto the group that have dropped them on Sector 30. They may have been less than thrilled to realize that they were catching on just as the approached the Cappalle a Reusnes section (#24). With 130 kilometers to race, this was going to be the order, the accordion that is Paris Roubaix. Some riders can open a gap on the cobbles, and others have to chase back on the smooth tarmac between each section as they wind there way through the north of France.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840220-57-290150/Painting/in-search-of-pave-pr21-10.html

Paris Roubaix: Cold and Wet

By the time the men hit the first section of pave, #30 the Troisvilles a Inchy, there was already a large group off the front of the peloton. Leading the group on the first of many cobble stoned sections was Florian (Lotto Soudal) with Nils Eekhoff (DSM) and Gianni Moscon (Ineos-Grenadiers). By the time they had reached this point the temperature was dropping rather than raising. As if that wasn’t enough to make the peloton uncomfortable, now it was starting to rain. All of us cycling fans have been waiting almost twenty years for a wet Paris Roubaix. Today was going to be that day. I do feel a bit guilty for wishing this on every man in the race, but it is going to be exciting!

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3840219-56-290150/Painting/cold-and-wet-pr21-9.html

Paris Roubaix Femmes: The First Queen of Roubaix

Winning a race is always special, winning the very first Paris Roubaix that women can race is surely an amazing moment in anyone’s life. Today, it was the moment being savored by Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo). And she did it by going free on the very first section of pave over eighty kilometers earlier. And she did it literally all on her own. Chapeau! And chapeau to the ASO and UCI for finally making this happen. Now let’s work on equal prize monies, equal distances, and equal base salaries.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839953-55-290150/Painting/the-first-queen-of-roubaix-pr21-8.html

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Paris Roubaix Femmes: She Should Be the First

As Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) took the bell for her final lap around the Roubaix Velodrome, it was looking like she would be the first woman to win the first Paris Roubaix Femmes. As the rain fell her closest competitor was over a minute behind. As long as she didn’t slip on the wet concrete of the velodrome her name will go down yet again in the history of cycling.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839952-54-290150/Painting/she-should-be-the-first-pr21-7.html

Paris Roubaix Femmes: Closing In

Marianne Vos (Jumbo-Visma) jumped free of everyone behind her and went in search of the one woman who has been off the front all day long. Vos quickly pulled a minute back on Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo), but with 12 kilometers left to the Velodrome, she wasn’t able to get any closer to the former world champion (she is a three time former champion herself). I was worried for Deignan, but Vos wasn’t ever able to close the gap. She can consul herself with taking second place in the first ever Paris Roubaix Femmes.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839951-53-290150/Painting/closing-in-pr21-6.html

Paris Roubaix Femmes: Third on the Road

Elisa Longo Borghini (Trek-Segafredo) was continually dropping off the pace on the cobblestones, and then catching back on when she hit the smooth roads of northern France. The Italian Champion was in a tough place, she was trying to hold the wheel of Marianne Vos (Lotto-Jumbo), but couldn’t chase down her teammate who was up the road. On the other side of the coin, she was holding off the group of chasers she had left behind on the previous stretch of smooth macadam. Both she and Vos were on the hardest section of pave yet, the Carrefour de l’Arbre, so her slowing a bit can be forgiven. Spoiler alert, not only was she third on the road, she was third at the line on the Roubaix Velodrome.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839950-52-290150/Painting/third-on-the-road-pr21-5.html

Paris Roubaix Femmes: Making Her Own Luck

Traditionally most riders who get bib number 13 will flip one of the numbers over to ward of the bad luck of the number. Not Lizzie Diegnan (Trek-Segafredo) wasn’t having any of it, neither the superstition nor the bad luck. She was so on fire that even has she slid in the mud of the corners on the pave sections, she had no trouble keeping her bike upright. As she rode onto the next section of pave, the Bourghelles a Wannehain she still had just over two minutes on the those chasing her from behind. Still another six section of cobble stones and 24 kilometers to go, this race was far from over.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839949-51-290150/Painting/making-her-own-luck-pr21-4.html

Paris Roubaix Femmes: Poursuivantes

After crashed, mud splatters, and fishtailing in the mud this rather large group of chasers began to get themselves organized into a full on chase of the lone woman up the road. It was Lisa Brennauer (Ceratizit-WNT) and Christine Majerus (SD Worx) leading the chase both in their national champion’s jerseys. As the road across Section 9, the Pont Thibaut a Ennevelin, they were almost two and a half minutes behind the lone leader. With 38 kilometers left to race, it was mathematically likely that they would all catch their prey, however it is a former world champion they were hunting.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839944-50-290150/Painting/poursuivantes-pr21-3.html

Paris Roubaix Femmes: Not the Best Debut for the Rainbow

Last week Elisa Balsamo (Valcar-Travel & Service) was winning the UCI Road World Championship, today, bedecked in her brand new rainbow jersey she was sliding through the mud in the Hell of the North. Balsamo, was in the middle of the group chasing the lone leader when she fishtailed in the mud of Section 11 of pave, the Mons en Pevele. She had braked a little too hard to avoid another rider going down just ahead of her. With all of the wet mud on the rough cobblestones, it was to hard for her to keep her bike upright. It was that much worse as she slid to a stop in a soggy mud puddle. It could have been much worse, the road surface is very, very painful fall onto at speed. She wasn’t hurt, but lost the wheels of the chase group and I never saw her on camera again.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839943-49-290150/Painting/not-the-best-debut-for-the-rainbow-pr21-2.html

Paris Roubaix Femmes: The First of the First

It was an extra year in coming, but come it did. Today was the very first time that the pro women took on the fabled “Hell of the North,” Paris Roubaix. Lizzie Deignan (Trek-Segafredo) attacked on the very first section of pave (cobblestones). By the time she came of the Section 12, the Auchy a Bersee paves, she had built up another two minutes on the large group of chasers behind her. As the riders come off a section of the cobbles, there are their soigneurs lined along the smoother pavement ready to hand them a bottle, a gel, or in needed a wheel or a bike change. The race gets so strung out, that getting help from the following team cars is near impossible.

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring-Classics-2021/3839940-48-290150/Painting/the-first-of-the-first-pr21-1.html