ChechuRubiera.info - an online magazine for fans of Chechu Rubiera


RACE SCHEDULE 2010


2 to 7 March Vuelta a Murcia
6 to 9 April Circuit de la Sarthe
14 to 18 April
Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León

27 April to 2 May
Tour de Romandie

16 to 23 May Tour of California
4 to 11 July Tour of Austria
31 July Clásica San Sebastián
10 to 14 August Tour de l'Ain
24 to 27th August
Tour du Poitou-Charentes

29th August
Chateauroux Classic de I'Indre Trophee Fenioux
12 September
Grand Prix de Fourmies

15 September
Grand Prix de Wallonie

17 September
Championship Flanders Koolskamp

19 September
Grand Prix d'Isbergues

5 October
Memorial Frank Vandenbroucke

7 October
Paris-Bourges

10 October
Paris-Tours

16 October
Giro di Lombardia

30 October
Criterium Ciclista Ciudad de Oviedo


RACE DIARY 2010


CRITERIUM CICLISTA CIUDAD DE OVIEDO

30 October 2010




Photograph © Peña Ciclista Allerana


FRANCE / BELGIUM ONE-DAY RACES

15 to 17 September 2010




12th Grand Prix de Fourmies 142nd @ 4'35"
15th Grand Prix de Wallonie 122nd at 6'46"
17th Championship Flanders Koolskamp 89th s.t.
19th Grand Prix d'Isbergues 56th at 02"

Christine made a second visit to Team RadioShack's one-day races on Sunday.
See Christine's Diary

Photograph © Christine Kahane


GRAND PRIX DE FOURMIES

12th September 2010


For Chechu to come last at 4'35" - and pretty much on his own - you have to wonder what the heck is going on. Let's hope he hasn't taken a tumble.

Motivation of Team Radioshack is low for these one-day races. With no Vuelta a España, Tour of Britain or Lombardy, what's the point? Well, it is about points actually. The team badly needs qualifying points for next year's big tours.



Photograph © Christine and Roger Kahane for ChechuRubiera.info

Chechu's mind is likely elsewhere today. The Vuelta stage to Lagos de Covadonga - just a few miles from home in Siero and a training route - was won by his friend, Carlos Barredo. Chechu should have been there. Tomorrow will be even more punishing for him, as the Vuelta peloton climbs Coto Bello Cima Chechu Rubiera for the first time. Let's hope that Barredo can make it two in a row and dedicate the win to a friend languishing in France.

See Christine's Diary


CHATEAUROUX CLASSIC DE L'INDRE TROPHEE FENIOUX

29 August 2010


Result:
One day race, 165km. It was a sprinters' finish in Chateauroux today, with a large breakaway caught just a few kilometres from the line. Chechu finished 22" behind winner Anthony Ravard, in 91st place.


TOUR INTERNATIONAL POITOU-CHARENTES

24 to 27 August 2010


Results:
Stage 5: Niort to Poitiers, 197.6km And then came a bad day. Markel misses out on the overall, Chechu crashes (reportedly not serious) and RadioShack's stalwarts - Paulinho, Popovych and Rubiera - abandon. Zubeldia and Irizar finish 5th and 6th overall, however.

Stage 4: Latille to Vouille, 22.1km A good day for RadioShack with 5 men in the top 10, including stage winner, Markel Irizar. Chechu finished in 39th at 1'27" and now lies 79th overall at 2'55".

Stage 3: Quincay to Vouille, 95.7km A short stage and Chechu within the peloton. Going into this afternoon's ITT, he's lying 92nd overall, at 1'43".

Stage 2: Saint Georges De Didonne to Niort, 178.5km You have to wonder where Chechu's motivation is coming from these days. The team with which he has placed (and risked) his reputation appears lukewarm to his plans to race one final year and doesn't get invited to his national race. He's stuck in France with the prospect of one-day unknown draces in Belgium when he should be on his mountain, at least. Life sucks sometimes, and we are concerned.
Chechu finished 105th at 1'28" and now lies 93rd overall at 1'43".

Stage 1: Chalais to Royan, 186.3km Team RadioShack drove the peloton in pursuit of a 15-man break, but it was a breakaway rider who crossed the line first in Royan. Chechu finished 121st, at 15".

Go to Race Website


TOUR DE L'AIN

10 to 14 August 2010




Photograph © Graham Watson, courtesy of Team RadioShack

Results:
Stage 4. Culoz to Belley 126.1km
Brilliant news for Team RadioShack as Haimar Zulbeldia takes the yellow jersey on the final stage. Is 2/100th of a second the narrowest of winning margins ever? Congratulations to Haimar and his team.
Chechu led RadioShack's charge over Grand Colombier (HC) in the final 35km, and took 19th place on the stage, at 38". He finished 36th overall, at 8'09".
His next race is Tour du Poitou-Charentes, 24-27th August, followed by the Classic de l’Indre in Chateauroux on 29th August.

Stage 3. Montmerle-Sur-Saone to Arbent, 164.5km Not such a great day for Chechu, he lost over seven minutes on the toughest stage, and now lies 65th overall, at 7'38".

Stage 2. Le Parc Des Oiseaux to Trevoux 138.8km The sprinters' plans weren't thwarted today by an escape, as has happened previously on this stage. The peloton chased down the breakaway, which contained GC contender Tomas Voekler.
Chechu crossed the line within the peloton, and is now 26th overall, at 25".



Photograph © Christine and Roger Kahane for ChechuRubiera.info

Stage 1. Lagnieu to Saint Vulbus, 144.4km Team RadioShack pulled at the front of the main peloton all day to protect Zubeldia’s overnight lead. Time bonuses deprived him of the leader's jersey in Saint Vulbus, however. Vacansoleil will be defending tomorrow.
Chechu finished with the main bunch of 60-plus riders, same time as winner Stéphane Poulhies. He is now 29th overall, at 14".

Prologue. Amberieu-En-Bugey, 3km It was one for the spectators in Amberieu-En-Bugey last night, 3km in a little over 3½ minutes. The prologue was won by Chechu's team-mate, Haimar Zubeldia - his first stage win in 10 years. "I'm not a winner," he said. Where have we heard that before?
A fast time for Chechu too. He finished just 10" behind Zubeldia, in 37th place.


CLÁSICA CICLISTA SAN SEBASTIÁN

31 July 2010


A host of Tour de France riders set off for on today's new, hillier 234km route that included climbing the Jaizkibel (7.8km) and the Arkale twice in the final 100km.

Luis Leon Sanchez wore the Basque Txapela on the podium, 11'59" ahead of Chechu.


TOUR OF AUSTRIA

4 to 11 July 2010




Results :
Stage 1: Chechu finished safely within the peloton, finishing with the same time as sprint winner, Andre Greipel. In light rain, the peloton gave chase to the three-man breakaway, led by Colombia and Milram, from about 50km to go. At 10km, the sprint was fast, heading towards the finish in the pictureque city of Dornbirn.
Chechu now now lies 91st overall.

Stage 2: A mighty mountain finish on the hors categorie Kitzbüheler Horn. Ricardo Ricco crossed the line first, with Chechu finishing some seven minutes later. He is now 48th overall, at 7'18".

Stage 3: With no news from Chechu in Austria, and sparse reporting, it's difficult to get a sense of what's happening in Austria. He lost more time today, crossing the line nearly seven minutes behind winner Leonardo Bertagnolli. A tough day for sure, with two 1st category climbs. But it suggests something's not right. Tomorrow's another big day. Grossglockner awaits. Chechu now lies 59th overall, at 13'37".

Stage 4: On the Grossglockner today, Chechu finished over 16 minutes down and now lies 71st overall, at 30'09".



Stage 5: Today's breakaway of 12 riders rode away at 50 km, only to be caught at with 1km to go on the final climb to the finish on Deutschlandsberg. Chechu finished 73rd at 1'59", and remains 71st overall at 31'51".

Stage 6: At 231km, this was a long race across central Austria. The end is in sight though, today's finish in Laxenburg is just 15km south of Vienna. With just a couple of minor climbs to overcome on the way, Chechu will have had the chance to stretch his legs and must surely be feeling happier tonight. He finished within the bunch at 7", and is now 68th overall at 31'55".

Stage 7: Rabobank's Joost Posthuma won today's 26.3km individual time trial around Podersdorf am Neusiedler See. The race was overshadowed by an accident involving race leader Riccardo Ricco, who crashed into a parked motorcycle. Chechu posted a time of 3'19" and is now 67th overall at 32'21".

Stage 8 (final): Graeme Brown wins the stage. Riccardo Ricco wins overall. Chechu came in with the peloton, same time as Brown. Overall, he finished 66th at 32'21".



Photographs © Veronika Popotnig



Go to Official Race website


AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA

16 to 23 May 2010




Photograph © Will Swetnam, Team Radioshack

Stage 1: Nevada City to Sacramento Chechu avoided crashes during another crazy sprint finish to cross the line in 45th, behind winner Mark Cavendish. Because of time bonuses, he lies 49th overall, at 10".

Stage 2: Davis to Santa Rosa On a rainy Californian day, Radioshack chased a breakaway, and Chechu was amongst the group of top contenders who sprinted for the line.



Photograph © Glenn Kasin, Team Radioshack

Team-mate Chris Horner describes the exciting finish, "Chechu took over from Jani as we had five RadioShack riders all lined up on the front. Chechu’s pace further splintered the already diminished group down to only 15 or 20 riders as we hit the summit of the final climb ... After surviving the descent, Jani, Chechu, and I threw everything we had left into an all out team time trial to the finish".

Chechu finished 27th, same time as winner Brett Lancaster, and now lies 17th overall at 10".

Stage 3: San Francisco to Santa Cruz Chechu finished 21st on a difficult stage at 17", which included the classic Bonny Doon climb, and now lies 11th overall at 21".



Photograph © Will Swetnam, Team Radioshack

Stage 4: San Jose to Modesto When we joined the live TV action (10pm BST), the peloton was in catch mode, chasing a four-man breakaway. At four minutes down, and 60km to go, the pace was quickened by sprinters' teams and the seconds tumbled off the break. It was a long chase though. When they reached the circuits in Modesto on the rain-dampened road, the inevitable happened. Crash!

Chechu seems to have escaped - although the boss was caught up on the final circuit - and he crossed the line in 61st place, same time as winner Francesco Chicchi. Chechu lies 13th overall at 27".



Photograph © Chris Graythen / Getty Images / Life

Stage 5: Visalia to Bakersfield Well, that was horrible. An early crash takes down a pile of riders, inclucing Chechu and Lance Armstrong. As Lance headed to hospital, Chechu rode on, covered in road rash. Team Radioshack twittered later, "Chechu is very banged up & covered with road rash, but he was managing a smile at dinner and looked to have a good appetite!". Still, it's a horrible injury, and he will stiff and sore for many days to come.

He finished the race however, crossing the line 89th at 28' 34". In the GC, he's now 47th overall at 28'05".





Photographs © Will Swetnam, Team Radioshack

Stage 6: Palmdale to Big Bear Lake "Chechu Rubiera is a hero! Incredible to finish this stage after his crash yesterday and with all the wounds all over his body." Johan Bruyneel

He's our hero too.

Chechu crossed the line 56th at 31' 13". In the GC, he remains 47th overall at 59'22".







Photograph © Glenn Kasin, Team Radioshack

Stage 7: Los Angeles ITT You know something's seriously up when Chechu finishes 5 minutes down in a 30km time trial. What an extraordinary achievement, given that he can hardly walk. He crossed the line in 74th place, and is now 50th overall at 1:04:38.



Photograph © Glenn Kasin, Team Radioshack

Stage 8: Thousand Oaks-Westlake Village-Agoura Hills Job done, with Levi set up to make one final effort to seize back his title, Chechu retired.

He told us last night, "I am in Oakland, at BARLATA. Tonight we had the dinner and tomorrow we will have the ride. I am pretty tired and painful. Tomorrow, they say it's going to rain, but I will do it anyway and (go) back to Asturias - to Noah - next day".

Barlata sponsors a cycle team in San Francisco called Thirsty Bear Cycling. The restaurant hosted a fundraising dinner on Monday honouring team member, Joe Amon. It's too late to attend the dinner, but you can always add a few $, € or £ to their fund.





Photographs © Will Swetnam, Team Radioshack


TOUR DE ROMANDIE

27th April to 2 May 2010








Stage 3, Tour de Romandie. Photographs © Veronika Popotnig

Results:
Prologue: It took me a moment to get my brain round this one. Just 20 seconds behind the winner, and yet Chechu lies in 100th place!
It was just 4.3km, however. At short burst of speed and power to get the Swiss race rolling.
Stage 1: On a jaggy 175.6km stage from Porrentruy to Fleurier, Chechu finished in 85th place, same time as sprint winner, Liquigas' Peter Sagan. Chechu now lies 74th overall, at 29".
Stage 2: Cavendish grabbed the headlines with his "gesture" of ... well, whatever. Meanwhile, Chechu finished just behind Cav in 83rd place, same time. He now lies 61st overall, at 29".
Stage 3: Another super-good time for Chechu in today's 23km ITT. He finished 63rd, at 2'19". He's now 55th overall at 2'06".
Stage 4: A great ride by Chechu today, on a wet stage and hilly stage. He crossed the line in 17th place, at 22". This means he's rocketed up the GC, and now lies 22nd at 2'08". Venga Chechu! Have a good one tomorrow.
Stage 5: Fatherhood suits Chechu. He finished 16th at 1'39", the fourth Team RadioShack rider to make the top 20 overall. In the final GC, he was 20th at 3'59".
It was another great result this season, just check out his palmarès so far. And Team RadioShack takes yet another team classification.





Photographs © Graham Watson, Team RadioShack

Don't miss! Veronika Popotnig - top TRS fan - took some photos especially for us at TdR. Go to her photo album and her blog from Romandie.


XXV VUELTA CICLISTA CASTILLA Y LEÓN

14th to 18th April 2010






There are more photographs, exclusive to ChechuRubiera.info, on Facebook.

Results:
Stage 1: Chechu finished in 50th place, same time as sprint winner, Theo Bos.
Stage 2: Finishing in the front group once again - this time in 45th place - Chechu now lies 39th in the GC.
Stage 3: Chechu crossed the line on the Alto de El Morredero summit in 14th place, at 1'40". He now lies 12th overall.
Stage 4: Wow! An outstanding result for Chechu in today's ITT, 15.6km in Ponferrada. He finished 18th at 1'50" behind winner Alberto Contador. He is now 10th overall.
Stage 5: This has been a brilliant race for Chechu. He finished with the main bunch today (30th) and he maintained his 10th place in the general classification.
Christine told us, "As the veteran, and the boss for this race, he got the bouquet from the organiser. He was very pleased and said to us he has a lot of flowers to bring back to Laura and Noah." Chapeau Chechu.







Photographs © Christine and Roger Kahane

Chechu is racing close to home this week for the XXV Vuelta Ciclista Castilla y León. The five-stage tour - Wednesday 14 to Saturday 18 April - will follow the pilgrim's Way of St. James to its finale in Santiago de Compostela.

Key points this year will be the arrival on the Alto de El Morredero in Stage 3 and a 15km ITT at Ponferrada in Stage 4.


Stage 1, April 14: Belorado (Burgos) - Burgos, 157.7 km
Stage 2, April 15: Burgos - Carrión de los Condes (Palencia), 209.9 km
Stage 3, April 16: León - Alto de El Morredero, Ponferrada, 158.8 km
Stage 4, April 17: Ponferrada - Ponferrada (CRI), 15.1 km
Stage 5, April 18: Samos (Lugo) - Santiago de Compostela, 176 km

Riding alongside Chechu for Team RadioShack are Fumiyuki Beppu, Sam Bewley, Jani Brajkovic, Markel Irizar, Tiago Machado, Jason McCartney and Gert Steegmans.

Go to Official Race website and nortecastilla.es


CIRCUIT CYCLISTE SARTHE

6th to 9th April 2010




Results:
Stage 1: 75th, same time as winner Luis Leon Sanchez.
Stage2a: 55th at 1".
Stage 2b (ITT): 47th at 29". Finishes day, 45th overall at 37" with Sanchez heading up the GC. RadioShack's Tiago Machado (Chechu's roommate) won the stage and is 2nd overall.
Stage 3: 58th at 4'11". 55th overall, at 4'48".
Stage 4: Chechu finished the Circuit de la Sarthe today in 47th place overall behind the GC winner Luis León Sánchez. Chechu was 39th on the stage, same time as stage winner Anthony Ravard. Tiago and Chechu were the only two RadioShack riders to finish the race.



Photographs © Fabrice Lambert/sportbreizh.com via cyclingnews.com


CHECHU: MURCIA AND SPANISH CYCLING

16 March 2010


Hola,

So ... the first race (Murcia) was really good for me. I had great feelings, especially in the mountain stage. Only in the time trial, I was terrible. I don't know why ... my condition was really good but maybe the position on the bike is bad. I was never a good time trialist but I should do it better with the good legs that I had during the race. I'll check the position because sometimes, when we try to go aerodynamically, the position is bad for pushing hard the pedals. It has to be a good balance between aerodynamics and a comfortable position for pushing hard. I'll will work on that.

Now I'm training for the Basque Country but not too hard. I have a while until then, it makes no sense to expend all the energy on training now. It will be a hard race for me, the level there is always super high and it'll be only the second race of the season for me. I'll have to do some motor pacing for the legs ...

It was a nice weekend (for Spanish sport), especially for Alonso. It has been a long time for a winner like him. And Spanish cycling is at the top of the world now with three guys in the podium of Paris-Nice. But what about the Spanish teams and Spanish sponsors? Ah, we don't have any more of those. We (or they) are losing a nice chance to make history. Everyone remembers Miguel Indurain and the Spanish bank Banesto. Now Contador has to win sponsors in the USA or from Kazakhstan. But everyone wants a picture with him, for free! What a country!

Laura is going well, getting bigger ... just two weeks to go!

Take care,

Chechu


30th VUELTA CICLISTA A MURCIA

3 to 7 March 2010




Stage 2. Photograph © Graham Watson, Team RadioShack

Results:
Stage 1: 51st, same time as winner Robert Hunter.
Stage 2: 57th at 5". Now 42nd overall at 5" with Robert Hunter heading up the GC.
Stage 3: 29th, same time as winner Luke Roberts. Chechu's now 21st at 5'.
Stage 4 (ITT): Another strong time-trial showing for Chechu. He finished 37th at 2'37". He now lies 20th overall, at 2'42".
Stage 5 (final): Chechu finished with the main bunch, and maintained a brilliant 20th place overall, at 2'42". ¡Estupendo!

News and final results (in Spanish) at esciclismo.com and stage profiles at regmurcia.com.











Stages 1 to 3. Photographs © Graham Watson, Team RadioShack



Photograph © Bosco Martin, cyclingnews.com


TEAM RADIOSHACK TRAINING CAMP




Calpe, 11th February. Everything is well here and perfect until today. Today it was too cold. So far we have done more than 30 hours training in 7 days. And the team looks great! Saludos, Chechu

Photograph © Graham Watson, Team RadioShack


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