It is said that this race is one of the easiest to finish but hardest to win. Really, it is the easiest to finish? I’ve driven from San Remo to Milan and it takes hours and hours, even at Italian highway speeds. I’m amazed this race usually ends up in a field sprint, somehow big sprinters survive the capos at the end of this long course. These are not major climbs but they are ridden incredibly fast, faster than any of us could ascend, even if we didn’t do the warm up from Milan.
What a shot of suffering on the bike this is. The twenty-two year old, second year pro with Peugeot, hanging on up the Capo Berta. I’d look as miserable as him if I was racing on a steel Peugeot too. Sean’s grimy expression is unapologetic suffering. He might have told Graham Watson to sod off if he wasn’t dying so. No gloves for his 300km race and the brake hoods are nothing to hang on to unless climbing out of the saddle which Yates could be doing here if his legs could handle it.
The best part of this photo is how big he is. He may be climbing well for his weight but he must have dropped one whole Andy-Schleck-unit by the time he was racing for Motorola. And yet, here he is, paying his dues as a young pro, looking like the British pursuit champion he was… no Capo Bertas on the track.
The Velominati hold Sean Yates in the highest regard. He is a classic hardman, no messing about, he would ride you into the ground and enjoy doing it. He is in an elite group of riders that includes Jens Voigt and Stuart O’Grady; to call them domestiques would greatly understate their careers. They are more team captains (the French must have a good word for this), they have all been in the yellow jersey of the Tour, and all have outstanding palmares. Probably better to just call them hardmen.
Post script:
“When you’re in your first professional season and riding in your first real classic, a relatively miniscule hill like the Capo Berta in Milan-San Remo can have the nastiest effect on your diminishing reserves of stamina. That’s how Sean Yates came to remember his baptism into big-time racing, having neglected the opportunity to collect a food-bag at the final feeding station, twenty kilometers before.
I was inching my way past the heaving peloton on the Capo Berta when I caught sight of a bulky figure wearing a Peugeot jersey-unmistakably Yates. As I passed our eyes met: mine squinting through an 85mm lens, his out of a face screwed up in agony and exhaustion. It was a short exchange- I couldn’t bear to look at him in such a state…”
-Graham Watson, Visions of Cycling. p 58.
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@michael
A+1.
I followed the "rouleur" link, and saw this:
"The german Jens Voigt is regarded as one of the best rouleur riders to this day. He is famous for riding very long distances without slipstream."
Well, yes - though it doesn't really do JENS! justice (not to mention not spelling his name "JENS!").
So I followed the link to "Jens Voigt" (sic) and found this:
"...Voigt has never challenged for the overall title due to his lack of ability in the mountains ..."
Huh? "Lack of ability"?! Good grief. "Relative inability to climb as well as a tiny little person half his weight" perhaps. But not "lack of ability".
It then goes on to say:
"In cycling folklore, he is considered as one of the best rouleur riders to this day."
"Folklore"?!!! Good grief.
I think there may be a job here for the Velominati community - sorting out Wikipedia entries. While the onset of summer down here means we Antipodeans might have little time to devote to it, those of you in the dark, frozen North may be able to make some productive use of those long winter evenings...
Ha, I love the Wikipedia edit. It is a community resource after all, and as Velominati it's our duty to make edits to Wikipedia that improve the articles. Making sure the correct prases are used could just be the start...
@michael
It's a good theory and generally true (believe me, I know about long lets and shorts), but he actually did roll them up, or deliberately wear them extra short, depending on what phase of his career you're talking about.
Here they are actually folded back:
And here they are pretty obviously crimped up by the hip:
It definitely seems like he would be able to wear them longer if he wanted.
@frank
His guns are so powerful, the bib-cuffs are getting pushed up. That's my theory. Note however that this theory fails to explain the rolled-up shirtsleeves on the Fagor jersey.
Also, do I detect further evidence re the Rule 46 issue?
What did he do in the off-season or for a job that he didn't want a low cycling tan line??
@Mr Haven
This brings up a very interesting discussion regarding the interesting photos I saw doing a Google image search for "Sean Yates" then selecting Large Images in the left column with safe search off.
NSFW: http://ow.ly/32JXY
From what I saw, he enjoys a bit of male-modeling, as well as gaining excessive amounts of weight and getting married on the beach. That must be a bitch to work off ahead of racing season.
Your link is certainly a bit more interesting.
A bit off topic (actually almost completely off topic) but in my looking around here in the Hardmen category I have not found any mention of Ian Stannard. Surely his 2010 K-B-K result warrants admitting him into these halls, if for nothing more than this post race interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vq7LbOHZbs
@Mr Haven
He used to like cutting hedges, with his bare hands I'm guessing?
On the topic of slim, what is it with some of these ex pros that are looking slimmer than when they rode? Yates, Allan Peiper, Brian Holm, Rolf Aldag, all look slimmer now today, all with grey hair though.
@roche kelly
Brian Holm: A spot of cancer tends to do wonders for the waistline.
@frank
In other walks of life, shorts were worn much shorter back then. No knee length beach shorts or basket ball shorts.