43. Bremer 6-Tage-Rennen, Post Mortem

The venerable Bob Williams is already back at the National Sports Center, but had an interesting encounter this morning on his flight from Bremen to Amsterdam, about which he just sent me a long report. Here it is.

So OK.
Kurt and I got out at the airport. He came in with me while I checked in for my flight and then we were going to get a cup of coffee before I had to board. Who should be standing at the next check in desk ............... short guy ........ expressionless ........... Right! Marco Villa! We said hello, told him what a good race he rode and wished him luck. We had coffee and I went down to the gate. Guess who was there? Yup. I said a few words as we got on the bus to the plane. We got on the plane and as luck would have it, the poor sucker had to sit next to me! Hah! I talked with him for an hour!

Here's some of what I learned.

He's 37 and hopes he will be selected for the 2008 Olympics. If so he will ride the 2008/ 9 winter season. If not then it will probably be 07/08 for his last season.
He's married with two kids, 5yrs and 20mos. He was going to go home for a day to spend it with the family before driving out to Stuttgart on Thurs. AM. I asked him about the gearing used at the Six. He said he and most were still on 52X16. I mentioned that Zabel said he was on 53X16 and he said that is probable. Intimating that Zabel doesn't have the spin of the specialists and so uses a slightly bigger gear. He said some of the guys will go up to a 49X15 from time to time.

I told him that I understood that the Bremen track was a bit hard to ride in that the corners are so tight. He agreed. He compared the tracks and said Gent, Munich, Zurich were really good fast tracks. Dortmund was pretty bumpy, Stuttgart was too long.

He talked a bit about the Galvez crash. He was the next man behind it....by about 10 meters. He said the two riders collided when Bartko attacked and Defauw moved up to chase and didn't see Galvez moving up from the rear. It was a very normal crash in his estimation. The problem was the handlebars hooked and that caused the bikes to veer straight up the track and into the balustrade. It was indeed a freak accident. He said it hasn't bothered him too much. He then went on to tell me how in Rotterdam (I think) he crashed and went over the rail into the seats! Since then they put the nets up in places like Bremen to prevent a fall from the top. He thinks the padding on the rail may be of some help.

I asked him about the other riders, who was going well and who was not. He mentioned that some of the guys that are not going all that well now used to be very fast when they started but just didn't have the commitment to train on the road (road race) over the summer and each year they got a bit slower and or weaker. I won't name names but you probably know which ones we talked about. He talked about his own summer training and he said he doesn't do as much road racing as he used to but he still does a lot of criteriums and longer road events in the second half of the summer to help him prepare for the winter. He has finished two Giros in the past and said he really noticed a change in his body and its performance after completing a three week race like that for the first time. He said it taught him that he could go further and faster even when he felt totally exhausted and by doing so accustomed his body to that kind of stress. That has come in very valuable in the Sixes where others start to really struggle. He says Risi is on another planet as far as riders go. He has a natural talent for the track that one just can't match regardless of all the training one does. He also though Keisse was the same and said he is really very good. Zabel as well is very strong and very competent especially since he can't focus on the track like the specialists. He admits that he himself is not as fast as he once was but feels he can still be competitive.
The races like the Olympics and Worlds are different in that so many of the guys are not riding the sixes but instead are peaking for those events and can afford to work on power with bigger gears etc. to make the speed of those races very hard indeed. He feels he can do the same but he must find some time to fit in the extra power workouts between the Six contracts.

All and all a very pleasant hour was spent talking about the pro Six scene. Marco was very willing to talk and friendly even though still fairly expressionless. He gave me his email and I wished him good luck and said I would be seeing him next year in Gent and that I would be watching his results. He smiled and shook my hand and we parted ways to our respective connecting flights in Amsterdam. What a cool guy!

WHAT A TRIP!!!

BW