castelli-cycling.com

It may have been a boring start of the week for you, but for the bike industry, Monday and Tuesday were days to turn the cranks in the dry, dusty (and somewhat windy) air of Bootleg Canyon, a 25-minute drive southeast of Las Vegas, for Interbike’s 2009 Outdoor Dirt Demo.

Folks from the bike industry had a nice, relaxed and tan-friendly venue to try out the latest in innovations. One such a thing was the Castelli Body Paint bibshort which quickly created a lot of interesst from the media, dealers and other folks from the industry. InterbikeTV was mentioning that this was THE most innovated product at the show. Within two days, the Body Paint bibshorts were online on Twitter/twitpic, Velonews, Triathlon, Bikeradar, bikesnobnyc and many more.

Elite level triathlete and writer, Jay Prasuhn from Triathlon.competitor.com, gives his first impression of the Body Paint innovative shorts after two days in the saddle at Bootleg Canyon.

Jay found it a great chance to catch up with several industry folks in a relaxed, tan-friendly venue. One such visit was with Steve Smith and Soren Jensen of Castelli apparel. We met Smith in February in San Diego when the Cervelo TestTeam, which Castelli sponsors, made a visit to the San Diego Wind Tunnel for some testing with 2008 Tour de France champ Carlos Sastre, and now reigning Tour green jersey winner Thor Hushovd. Smith, a marketing and design manager was present in San Diego to test some aero garments on the athletes, with pieces that saw light of day at the Tour de France. Read the rest of this entry »

Tested Obsessively By Cervélo TestTeam. This revolutionary new Progetto X2 seat pad will already have more than 500,000 kilometers of testing before it reaches the market during Spring 2010.

The seat pad has been in development for nearly three years. Made with 10 separate components, and 12 different phases in the manufacturing process, never before has there been this much effort put into making something effectively disappear under you.  You could call this obsessive. But that thought will vanish the first time you ride it.  Then you too can say “It’s perfect”.

SKIN CARE LAYER (red layer) is a soft, stretchy, seamless, bacteriostatic layer next to your skin with the simple task of preventing any sort of chafing. It’s made to adapt to the shape of your body and the saddle without any folds of the fabric. It’s probably the softest thing to touch your private parts since you got out of diapers.

CUSHIONING LAYER puts just the right padding in the right places. Castelli invented Vario Thick, and now we take it to a new level with infinitely variable thickness. The edges of the pad are thin, gradually thickening to maximum thickness under the ischial bones where you sit. Perforated viscous comfort padding is added under the ischial bones and in perineum area for maximum padding in these highly sensitive areas.

“The new red pad is really good, and I used it without chamois cream! No problem, also in the hills…. Good job!” — Thor Hushovd

“Just wanted to give you some feedback about the shorts!!  For me they’re perfect!”
— Heinrich Haussler

“In 16 years as a pro, this is the best seat pad I have ever used.”
— Inigo Cuesta

“Don’t change anything. It’s perfect.”
— Andreas Klier,
when asked what we can do to improve the prototype Progetto X2 seat pad.

You’ll find the Progetto X2 seat pad in the new revolutionized one single piece fabric Body paint Bibshort. For more information: Click here >>

Philip Deignan enjoyed a double delight in Thursday’s 18th stage at the Vuelta a España, taking the biggest win of his career in Ávila. In a two-up sprint with Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) the Irishman proved his mettle, swinging off the Czech’s wheel to sprint away to his first Grand Tour victory.

“It was very slippery in the last kilometers. I could feel my wheel slipping around. I thought for sure Kreuziger would attack me on the cobblestones in the last kilometers, but maybe he couldn’t,” he said. “Kreuziger looked strong in the group, so when he attacked, I went with him. It worked out perfectly.”

There were probably more than a few pints of Guinness hoisted when Philip Deignan ended the streak with victory in Thursday’s 165km, three-climb run across the Sierra de Gredos from Talavera de la Reina to Ávila.

The 26-year-old Deignan rode into the history books as the first Irish rider to win a stage in a three-week grand tour since Irish legend Stephen Roche won a stage in the 1992 Tour de France.

“It’s a very big day for Irish cycling. It’s been a big year for Irish cycling and this just caps it off,” Deignan said. “I cannot believe it. It just worked about perfectly in the final kilometers. I was just riding as hard as I could. At first I was trying to get time on GC. I knew Kreuziger was really strong, and when he went, I went with him.”

It was the second win for the Cervélo TestTeam at this Vuelta (Simon Gerrans won stage 10). With this victory, Deignan also jumped into the top 10 overall.

“This was a very important victory for me and my confidence,” said a happy Deignan. “I won in my first year as a pro in 2005, but I’ve had all kinds of problems since then, with a knee injury and glandular fever. I didn’t know if this was possible for me anymore. This will really help my confidence.”

Cervélo TestTeam’s Martin Reimer finished second in stage 6 of Tour of Britain behind Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC), who underlined his fast developing star status with trademark sprint victory in four-stages of the Tour of Britain.

Cervélo’s Belgian rider Serge Pauwels also had an active day taking part in a long breakaway with Geraint Thomas (Barloworld), Ian Stannard (ISD-Neri), Ben Swift (Katusha) and Thomas De Gendt (TopSport - Vlaanderen). Pauwels was also involved in all of the mountain and sprint bonus points available today and now sits in tenth position in the overall GC.

Highlights from yesterday’s stage.

Cervélo TestTeam’s British sprinter Roger Hammond hit the deck with 3km to go as the peloton ramped up its speed for a sprint finish in the 16th stage from Córdoba to Puertollano at the Vuelta a España.

Hammond was fighting for position to set up the mass arrival when Julian Dean clipped his handlebars on the barriers along the side of the road. Hammond had nowhere to go, went right over the top of the bars and landed among a half-dozen riders on the road.  Video clip: Click here >>

German ace André Greipel avoided the mayhem and easily won his third stage of this year’s Vuelta.
Alejandro Valverde  retains the leader’s jersey and Cervélo’s Philip Deignan remained within the top 20 placed 18th (7:49)

“It was a little bit stressful in the finish. There was a crash just outside 3km to go. Roger went down, but I don’t think it’s anything serious. I just managed to avoid it and I didn’t get caught in the split, so I didn’t lose any time,” Deignan said. “I think tomorrow’s going to be a sprint and then there will be two quite hard days, so I hope to have good legs.”

General Classification after Stage 16:

Join the Cervélo TestTeam for a new episode of the hi-resolution documentary of ‘Beyond the Peloton’. This time, the filmmakers will take you behind the scenes of Italy’s Grand Tour.

Take me to Cervelo’s video gallery >

In a spectacular sprint finale with strong support from Cervélo TestTeam, Thor Hushovd was victorious today winning the third stage of the Tour of Missouri.

As the breakaway of the day with William Frischkorn (Garmin-Slipstream) and Matthew Wilson (Team Type 1) was brought back within the final 10 km, Cervélo stayed patient and in the last kilometre on a tough hill, Cervélo’s Heinrich Haussler launched an attack followed by teammate Brett Lancaster’s attack. When Columbia-HTC brought him back, Cervélo took it over and Thor was able to sprint to a first place finish.

The 183.9 km stage from Farmington to Rolla was the third time lucky for Hushovd who finished third in Monday’s first stage and second yesterday. Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) and Quick Step’s Dario Cataldo finished 2nd and 3rd consecutively with Cavendish managing a fifth place result.

The win puts Hushovd in the race leader’s jersey* although he is now equal on time with Cavendish.

Saturday’s 110km ride through blazing heat, moderate climbing, and some of the rougher roads around the Veneto were a good test for prototypes of the futuristic Body Paint bibshort, due out in Summer 2010.

The minimalist short absolutely disappears underneath you and you really don’t feel it on.  The fabric is great in the hot weather, and the bibs don’t rub your chest raw like most other bibs.  We’re on to something good here.

As this is the first real heat wave of the summer, I also put the Superleggera Vantage jersey through the paces to make sure that the black color fabric stays cool in the hot sun. Yep, it’s good, but I still opened the long zip on the big climbs.  Overall it was a good testing day as I was on the new Wilier 101 with the Dura Ace Di2 electronic group (phenomenal!) and the matching patent leather red Sidi Ergo2 shoes.  At least I looked good.

Sunday we did 140km up to the 1600m Passo Brocon where Fausto Coppi’s name is still painted on the side of a barn from when the Giro passed through in the ’50s.

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I had on the latest round of slight tweaks to the Team Cervélo team shorts based on feedback from the riders, and figured out a couple things we could do to make the Progetto X2 seat pad even better for its Summer 2010 retail launch.

This revolutionary new seat pad will already have more than 500,000 kilometers of testing before it reaches the market during Spring 2010.

The Progetto X2 seat pad have already won three stages of the Giro d’Italia, a stage of Paris-Nice, second place at Milano-San Remo and Tour of Flanders, third place at Paris-Roubaix, and fourth at Gent-Wevelgem. Nearly 100 people have been involved in the testing phase, perfecting a seat pad that has been in development for nearly three years. Made with 10 separate components, and 12 different phases in the manufacturing process. Never before has there been this much effort put into making something effectively disappear under you.  You could call this obsessive. But that thought will vanish the first time you ride it.  Then you too can say “It’s perfect.”

“Just wanted to give you some feedback about the shorts!! For me they’re perfect!” — Heinrich Haussler
“The new red pad is really good, and I used it without chamois cream! No problem, also in the hills….Good job!”
— Thor Hushovd
“In 16 years as a pro, this is the best seat pad I have ever used.”
— Inigo Cuesta
“Don’t change anything. It’s perfect!”
— Andreas Klier

…when asked what we can do to improve the prototype Progetto X2 seat pad.