There's quite a bit of interest in US cyclist Christian Vande Velde since he climbed up to 3rd place in the Tour de France on Sunday. Until this year, you could say the 32-year-old cyclist has been pedaling under the radar as primarily a domestique since turning pro in 1998.
Those who knew Vande Velde growing up in northern Illinois expected great things from him, but the rest of us have to do some digging to learn about his star of the Garmin-Chipotle cycling team.
For instance, I had noticed that he made his major mark in this year's Tour by finishing in 8th place at the Stage 4 time trial. That put him in 6th place overall, and he improved on that in the Massif Central last week and Pyrennes over the weekend.
Mountains
How did he become such a good climber?
“I’m proof that you don’t have to ride hills to do well on hills,” he recently told the New York Times in “An Olympic cyclist's level-headed advice.”
Vande Velde spent the winter training in the Chicago area and relied on a watts meter to measure and improve his power output, which helps move him up and over mountains. He maintained an average 470 watts over the Tour de Georgia time trial. Although that was a career peak for the 5-11, 150 pound cyclist, he said larger pros can attain that during a warm-up.
To train, Vande Velde includes “power bursts” into his workouts by dropping into a big gear and grinding it out at a high speed for five minutes, then spinning for five minutes to recover.
He uses the watt meter to gauge his performance. The watt measurements are pretty common these days, but I found it ironic that didn't feel a need to do his mountain training in the mountains.
Family man
On the personal side, Vande Velde is a father, whose daughter, Uma, was born shortly before the beginning of the 2007 Tour de France. You can read all about his wife Leah giving birth and his reaction and bicycle racing at the VeloNews diary he wrote during last year's Tour de France when he worked as a domestique.
Sponsorships
I searched around for sponsorships by major shoe and clothing companies, but couldn't find anything, not even for sunglasses.
But I did find him giving a testimonial for the Dr. Barry Sears Zone Diet. I didn't learn much about the Zone Diet, except that it prevents Vande Velde from suffering energy swings during workouts. I also learned that Vande Velde would want to be a truck driver if he weren't an athlete.
He also mentions that back problems has been a big challenge to overcome. What's that about?
Back problems
In a Bicycling magazine interview after getting the pink jersey in the Giro, Vande Velde said he had lost a lot of time because of back problems, “but that has finally worked itself out and I can really race and train 100 percent.”
No follow-up question about the back in that article, but I did find something in an interview on the CSC cycling team website from early 2007. (Vande Velde rode for CSC from 2005 through 2007.)
csc.com: Remind us how your back problems came about, was it through one particular crash or an accumulation of issues.
CVV: It was more of an accumulation of things starting in about 2001. It would go up and down, with a downward tendency. I’ve never been in pain, it was more things would get out of balance. I would overcompensate with one leg and cause some muscle damage. It was just a lack of power and my hips were going out of alignment, my back would go out. Now things have gotten better, the downs have gotten smaller and the ups have gotten bigger, so I’ve been going in the opposite direction, which is better.
csc.com: So you must be a true believe in team physical therapist Ole Føli …
CVV: Ole has always been so helpful and he has a new protégé, Kelle [Flebbe], who’s been with the team about a year and a half. He’s a massive man, he looks like a linebacker, but they’ve been great. The whole staff has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help me recover. They always provide the extra help when I need it. It’s always there and it does play on my mind. When you have bad day, it makes it pretty frustrating, but those days are less and less.
The future
What's next? The Tour de France enters the foothills of the Alps on Saturday, followed by major mountain stages Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday (Monday is a rest day). An individual time trial comes on Saturday, the penultimate stage.
By then, we'll know whether Vande Velde's experience watching the peloton as a domestique and doing his winter training in the Chicago area will pay off.
See also: “Who is this Christian Vande Velde?”
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