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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Pretty sure I've seen this pic before. Total old school suffering at its finest.
What I get from it - you can almost replace the old Peugeot with something even older, like from the '40s - and he would look correct on it. The chunky body, the look and grime on his face, the hair.
It's like a double time warp.
Perhaps the low brakes are something Sean liked because he was tall and had long arms. Riding on the hoods would be a lot like riding in the drops in his case.
His bars have always been set up this way, even recently with STI shifting which much be a bitch to operate. Perhaps its because his arms are so long his knuckles drag on the ground when he walks that he needs the extra reach or he feels cramped.
well in terms of the position of the chickenbones, I suppose he opted for the better of the 2, put them down, not up. Secondly, Yates pretty much rode anything in any size he wanted because notice how small his frames usually are. So for bar drop, stems, TT lengths he obviously pretty much said 'screw it & ride' and often times said as long as your in form you could ride anything. There is probably a lot of truth in that.
@Souleur
Jens clearly took note of this at the TdF this year.
@Gianni
No glasses -- this raises an interesting point about Rule 39. From a historical perspective obligatory eyewear is a new thing. I was just watching A Sunday in Hell and the only eyewear is worn off the bike. Of course, no one is wearing a helmet either. But there is something refreshing about a peleton that doesn't look like a bunch of robots or high stakes poker players.
Never mind being able to tell the women from the men.
@Nate
They fall into the same category, too: safety. As for the abomination of poker players wearing cycling-specific eyewear, let's not ever, ever, EVER again make the mistake of saying that cyclists look like poker players.
The low point of this years Tour was the whole poker analogy thing.
@eightzero
Nicely done.
@sgt
He was absolutely in violation, and was also in violation of Rule 27. Throughout his career. He gets a pass on the basis that he's was tougher than me. But you should feel free to tell him.
Its amazing to see how big he is. That is one big dude. Like, Frank big. He am I, we know what it means to be a big rider. Hell, I would like him just on that basis alone.
He may have kicked off the whole skinny thing. I think this might be the exact moment he decided he was gnu to really watch his diet and get skinny. He was notoriously obsessive over weight and I can understand why; he looks huge here. Christ, that look in his eyes is haunting.