LBL: Cycling Strip Tease

One of the many challenges facing the peloton in today's Liege Bastogne Liege was exactly what to wear during the phase of the race.  As the riders left Liege it was just barely above freezing with a hard rain.  As the kilometers mounted, the day warmed the sun popped in and out, and the effort of racing warmed the racers' core (if not their fingers and toes).  So it was that Enric Mas (Decenunick Quick Step) stripped of his arm warmers even as he set the pace on the front of the peloton.  It must have been even more demoralizing for Michael Albasini (Mitchelton-Scott) to be caught by someone who was undressing rather than struggling with the effort of catching him.

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

https://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Spring%20Classics%20/3325632-446-195767/Cycling%20Strip%20Tease%20%20LBL19-4.html

Rio Olympics: Quite the View

The early break in the Men's Road Race was six riders strong, including; S.E. Bystrom (Norway), Michael Kwiatkowski (Poland), Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia), Michael Albasini (Switzerland), Simon Geschke (Germany), and Paulo Kochetkov (Russia).  The group gained over seven minutes before those behind began the chase.

This is a small watercolors and ink painting measuring just 4"x6" and was created using Yarka St. Petersburg watercolors and Steve Quiller brushes from www.richesonart.com.  This painting and all of my Olympics artwork will be available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting just follow the direct link at the end of this post.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Summer%20Olympics/2833896-4-226051/PaintingQuite%20the%20View%20Rio4-Greig-Leach.html#.V6ZvHLgrLIU

Tour Down Under: Taking Them Up

Orica-GreenEdge has been expected to do the work on the front, first by being a ProTour team from Australia, and secondly, because the Ochre Jersey is on one of their team members.  So it is that Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn and Michael Albasini were called upon to ride tempo and keep the lone break away rider in check.  With the repetitive uncategorized climb on the finishing circuit, it was unlikely that their sprinter, Caleb Ewan, would be able to keep is leader's jersey, but the team leader, Simon Gerrans, had already picked up 5 bonus seconds in the earlier intermediate sprints.  He must be setting the stage to go for the General Classification lead by the end of the day.

This is a small original watercolor and ink painting created using watercolors from www.richesonart.com and is available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  To purchase this particular painting, just follow the direct link at the end of this post.  In addition, be sure to check out my new book, "Art of Cycling: Richmond 2015 UCI Road World Championships" available now at www.artofcycling.bike.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-multi-view/Tour%20Down%20Under/2674747-69-194179/Painting.html#.Vp_PwPkrLIU

Tour Stage 2: I'm Climbing with Who?

Peter Sagan (Cannondale) had to be stunned to find himself climbing with the fabled climbers and General Classification (GC) men of the Tour on the final ascent in Sheffield.  The short but very steep climb up Jenkins Hill Road brought out attacks from Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Chris Froome (Team Sky), shockingly though the Slovakian sprinter was able to hang with the attacks.  The climbers tried hard to rid themselves of Sagan, none wanting to come to the finishing straight with the man that has the legs to beat Cavendish, Kittel and Greipel on a given day.  This is a small original watercolor and ink painting that is available through my artist website at www.greigleach.com.  It will be included in my soon to be self published cycling art tome, "Book de Tour", to learn more about the project, to pre-order your copy, and perhaps to get involved in bringing the project to print, please visit https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1335072134/book-de-tour.  If you would like to purchase this particular painting, just follow the direct link at the end of this post.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-view/Tour%20de%20France%202014/2397188---199992/Painting.html#.U7ncbM_D_IU

Tour Stage Fourteen: Pure Joy

Sprinting from the rear of the break, Matteo Trentin, surprises everyone (including himself) and gets the win ahead of two sprinters, Albasini and Rojas.  That makes the third win for Omega Pharma Quickstep and two in a row for the team.  The big winner however, was Andrew Talansky, who pulled back almost seven minutes on the Yellow Jersey and all of the GC contenders, climbing way up the leader board into 12th place.  It was good to see Talansky pay back the hard work of David Miller and the faith of the team.  This is an original watercolor and ink postcard that is available for purchase at my artist website.  Just follow the direct link at the end of this post to get your piece of the 100th Tour de France.  Too bad the French couldn't get their first stage win, tomorrow is their big day, Bastille Day, when every French cyclist wants to be victorious in the Tour.

http://www.greigleach.com/large-view/Tour%20de%20France%202013/2182589---186227/Painting.html#.Ue3fD8_D_IU