One of the toughest things for any sports fan to do is to watch an enduring hero struggle to stay in the game as he reaches that "over-the-hill" point in his career. But for cycling fans, that day has yet to come for the seemingly ageless Jens Voigt.
At 37 years old, the German staple of cycling doesn't appear to have aged a day over his 13-year professional career. Voigt's ultra-aggressive style of riding has made him a longtime fan favorite. He is widely known as one of the greatest breakaway threats in the pro peloton, and once he decides to take off with his diesel engine, it is no easy task to rein him back in. Just look as this past weekend's Critérium International.
The Critérium International is a two-day race held in northern France every March that consists of a long, relatively flat stage the first day and a shorter but more hilly stage the morning of the second day, which in turn is followed by a short individual time trial in the afternoon. Voigt came into this year's edition as the two-time defending champion, having won the event in both 2007 and 2008.
Looking to win the race for the fifth time and tie Raymond Poulidor and Emile Idée as the race's most successful competitors, Voigt did not disappoint. With the first stage ending in a sprint finish, he did what he always does on stage two the next morning: attack.
Voigt was a member of the early race breakaway, helping to power the gap to as much as 1:20. While most of the original escapees were eventually reabsorbed by the charging peloton, Voigt persisted as usual, dropping his companions one by one with his relentless pace before finally crossing the line for a solo victory to claim the race lead. He would go on to defend the top spot with a fifth-place finish in the afternoon time trial.
The sight of Voigt off the front of a race has become all too common over the course of his career. By going solo, the German has garnered stage victories at the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia as well as three stages and the overall title of the 2006 Deutschland Tour.
Voigt is a special breed of rider that excels at going it alone or powering a day-long breakaway. Rather than shattering the legs of his rivals with blazing attacks, he grinds away at them with his steady but hard rhythm. Imagine trying to ride behind a semi all day with a mere fraction of the draft, and one might get an idea of what it is like to try staying on his wheel.
It is common in cycling, particularly during a three-week race like the Tour de France, for riders to go on the attack early in a stage and establish a breakaway, often building up a lead of several minutes. These riders are usually not threats to the overall contenders, so the peloton lets them go by, knowing that they will probably fade.
Later, those early breakaways often get caught when the peloton picks the pace up in the race as the sprinters' teams try to set up the finish for their respective fast men. And except for the rare stage or two in which the early breakaway succeeds, that stolen lead remains short-lived. These riders know that they are doomed, but their efforts still have a purpose: TV time for their sponsors.
Off the front of the pack, a rider provides a service to his sponsors by giving the logos on their jerseys TV exposure. Aiding their sponsors, combined with the off-chance for a bit of glory on those rare days that the break succeeds, induces riders to take off in pursuit of the win day after day. This is simply not the case with Voigt.
He has the motor to stay away from even the hardest-charging pelotons, and a breakaway led by the powerful German is likely to succeed. Knowing this, other riders are not as inclined to let him escape just any day. Not a pure climber, though still a force in the mountains to say the least, Voigt most often chooses a rolling course to make his move.
Such a course is usually one that favors a smaller group of riders instead of the mass of the peloton, but a day that isn't marked is key for the general classification contenders. But rather than just riding the armchair back in the peloton on days that he is not on the attack, he provides an invaluable service as a workhorse at the front of the pack for his team captains.
Voigt's impact is felt heavily at the head of the group, pulling back other breakaways or setting a heavy tempo as a springboard for attacks by his teammates later on. When the roads turn upwards on a major mountain stage, he will often be the last of his Saxo Bank (formerly CSC) team to swing off the front after driving the pace all day before the GC leaders make their moves.
Case in point: the Alpe d'Huez portion of the Tour last year when Carlos Sastre won the stage and claimed the yellow jersey. Not to detract from Sastre's achievement, but had it not been for selfless teammates like Voigt, that win would never have happened. The German is the consummate teammate, further endearing him to managers, fellow riders and fans alike.
Although he is approaching the age at which most cyclists either hang up their wheels or at least start to think about retirement, it doesn't seem like Voigt has any plans of slowing down. Whether it comes in the form of wins or service to teammates, his value remains as high as ever. And as long as the big German turbo diesel can keep up the work in either of those departments, there is no reason to believe that he'll be going anywhere anytime soon, a welcome sign for all cycling fans. When the time comes, though, he will definitely be one of the hardest riders to see leave the sport.
Over the past two weeks, brackets have been busted, dreams have been crushed and memories have been made. Now, with the matchups set, the college basketball season enters its final, and what may very well be its finest, weekend.
The Final Four, which begins tomorrow night in Detroit, features two No. 1 seeds, the UConn Huskies and the North Carolina Tar Heels -- both of which have spent time during the regular season ranked No. 1 in the country -- in addition to a nitty-gritty, physical No. 2 seed in the Michigan State Spartans and the buzzer-beating No. 3-seeded Villanova Wildcats. Every team but the Wildcats has won a national championship this decade.
Perhaps the most talented team in the country, UNC starts four future NBA first-round picks in senior Tyler Hansbrough, junior Ty Lawson, junior Wayne Ellington and senior Danny Green. Along with freshman Deon Thompson, the Tar Heels boast a starting lineup in which all five players average double digits in scoring. Any one of these players would be the No. 1 scoring option on any other team; it is simply impossible to keep all five from finding their rhythm.
Even with Ellington having his first single-digit scoring effort since Dec. 28 and Hansbrough getting in early foul trouble, UNC still maintained a double-digit cushion throughout the second half against the Oklahoma Sooners in the Elite Eight, largely thanks to Lawson and Green.
While Green has played a solid tourney after a dismal display in the ACC Tournament, Lawson has been the key to UNC's success. The owner of the most-discussed toe in sports, he has averaged a shade over 20 points per game in the three contests he's played and boasts an astounding 10:1 assist to turnover ratio. The ACC Player of the Year shoots 48.5 percent from three but is most dangerous leading a fast break. As he showed last weekend -- and no doubt will display once again against Villanova -- he is the fastest player on the court, and he has the ability to dart to the rim for a layup or penetrate and then kick to Ellington or Green, both spot-on three-point shooters.
It will be a difficult task for the Wildcats to slow down the second highest-scoring team in the country. Led by junior guard Scottie Reynolds, whose last-second shot against the Pittsburgh Panthers has been arguably the most memorable moment of the tournament so far, Villanova will need to slow down the pace of the game if it wants to advance to the final.
With their three-guard set, the Wildcats will rely on the play of senior Dante Cunningham. If the 6'8" forward gets his mid-range shot going early, Hansbrough will be forced to defend him further from the basket, which should open lanes to the basket for the guards. With UNC's height advantage, Villanova will need to work hard to keep the Tar Heels off the offensive glass while also trying to scrap for its own second-chance points. Having already beaten Pitt, the Duke Blue Devils and the UCLA Bruins, the Wildcats have shown they can play with any team.
If UNC is the most talented team, then UConn is a close second. For all the Huskies' veteran talent, however, it was Kemba Walker, their freshman guard, who led them to the Final Four. Walker was the most poised player on the court in the closing minutes of the game against the Missouri Tigers and ended up as the game's leading scorer with 23 points. On a night when UConn sank just two of 12 three-pointers and committed 17 turnovers, it needed every ounce of Walker's energy to advance.
While the Huskies have come this far in the tournament without the best efforts of junior Hasheem Thabeet, UConn will need its star big man to produce more on offense if it wants to win a national championship. The 7'3" center scored just five points against Missouri and failed to block a single shot. If he finds a rhythm inside and reemerges as the beast on the defensive end he has been all season, UConn will be tough to stop.
In senior Goran Suton, however, Michigan State might have the ability to nullify Thabeet's abilities. The Spartan center, no slouch himself at 6'10", knocked down three treys in the Elite Eight matchup with the Louisville Cardinals. As with Villanova's Cunningham, if Suton is hitting shots from outside, it could create matchup nightmares for UConn, potentially forcing Thabeet to defend Suton further out from the basket or making the Huskies play zone.
If the Spartans choose the latter, that could leave sophomore guards Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers open along the perimeter. Against Louisville, they took full advantage of open looks, combining to hit four three-pointers. Michigan State will look to slow the game down to compel UConn to play half-court offense, which will emphasize the physical game. If the Spartans can force the Huskies into foul trouble -- something no team has yet been able to do -- the game could change considerably, as UConn sticks to a seven-man rotation and has very little experience from anyone else on the bench.
If the trends of the tournament continue, UConn and UNC will meet for Monday night's final. But the NCAA Tournament rarely follows any logic. It may not be March anymore, but there is still time for madness.
