French Touch in Kinloch

Kia Ora,

I started my 2013 season in beautiful beaches of lake Taupo for the ITU Oceania Cup in New Zealand last week.

Lake Taupo is the home town of triathlon legend Bevan Docherty and has a long history with triathlon. This lake will host the New Zealand Ironman in the next few weeks, so it you can imagine the support we get when we compete out there.

Coming of base training, this sprint distance was the perfect workout to get some speed in and unleash the body after so many hours spent as steady state pace in the port Hills of Christchurch.

Despite I have been doing triathlon my entire life, the first race of the season is always a wake up call.

Lactate, fight in the water, crazy fast cornering in tight courses and of course an heart rate close to its maximum for 57min!

Since couple of years, I am use to race pretty early in my training and it's always a chellenge to compete against the finest Kiwis and Aussies triathletes on their home soil.

The motivation and commitment of theses guys is enormous and the more time I spend there and the more I understand how much it means for them to win at home.

This is for this reason I believe theses races are the perfect challenge: always keep the pressure on.

 Tweet I received from a supporter excited about a french winning in NZL

The intensity of the race was insane but I was glad to see I was actually the one in charge of it with Ryan Sissons from NZL.

After the swim, we broke away in a group of six and the 4 laps bike courses turned into a smack down.

The ride felt short but really intense and it took me a good 400m on the run to get into my rhythm.

At the 1km mark, I caught and passed Ryan Sissons which set me up in the first place.

I hold this position until the finish line and I was pretty happy to take that win and start 2013 with a victory.

Complete results here: 2013 Kinloch ITU Sprint

Press release: McIlroy, Vidal show class in Kinloch

Photos: Mike Heydon - jetproductions.co.nz

In the team event, Andrea won the oceania title with Team NEW ZEALAND. The goal for them is to build a solid team performance towards the next commonwealth games in Glasgow (2014).

Before heading home to Christchurch, we spend three days in the north island enjoying the majesty of mother nature and relaxing a bit before continuing our heavy loads of training down south.
Here is some photos:

Mt Maunganui et Mud Pools of Taupo

Mt Maunganui  "catch me if you can" and sunset in Auckland

Hauka Falls and Kerosene Creek- 42deg thermal water

Our ride, Milani Cycles

In the past months, lots of people and friends have asked me or Andrea about our bike, or I should say "bici".

Words by velocitizen

The history of Milani:

The origin of Milani Cycles Factory dates way back to 1927, when three brothers began making bikes for themselves. All were top-quality racers in their own right at the time the company was formed. Giuseppe Milani was racing in the Bianchi team with the likes of Michele Mara, Domenico Piemontesi, Fiorenzo Crippae Ambrogio Morelli. Natale Milani, meanwhile, was racing with the Viscontea team and riding alongside Cino Cinelli - another great rider of the time who later went on to also found his own bicycle company.

As well as being a racer, Natale was already an accomplished craftsman. During World War II, he’d served with the Italian Air Force as a flight engineer. He regularly manufactured parts when spares weren’t available or made changes purely to improve upon existing designs. This ability to make things with hands, along with his understanding of engineering, led to Milani Cycles being among the first companies to make bicycle frames using aluminium alloy. As a result, Milani Cycles quickly became known as the best that money could buy.

The brothers’ first workshop, based in Gallarate, was in an excellent position too. It was surrounded by several giants of engineering, such as MV Agusta Aviation - later to became MV Agusta motorcycles and AgustaWestland helicopters - Caproni aviation, Macchi aviation, Frera motorcycles and Ganna Cycles. With this concentration of expertise to hand, it should be no real surprise that Milani Cycles quickly became one of the best manufacturers of bicycles in Italy. Yet Milani didn’t only construct bikes for themselves, they also produced some of the best bikes in the world for the biggest names in cycling. Their craftsmanship and attention to detail quite rightly made Natale Milani one of the most widely respected Italian frame builders. That dedication to detail is something that can equally be seen in the Milani products of today.

But a modern Milani was very nearly not to be. When Natale died in 1996, the brand lay dormant until Celeste Milani and his wife Paola Di Domenico resurrected the business. Today, they apply the same core values that Natale applied to his range of bikes - quality and performance. They also continue to offer the option to have any Milani frame custom-built. Their current range of bikes runs to a replica steel frame that recaptures one Natale’s original designs.

Milani today:

After many years of professional experience as manager for multinationals such as Nestlé, Virgin, McDonald's and Bulgari, Celeste Milani establishes a light, efficient and modern company. He creates the new center for Design and Production, where exclusive and tailor made frames are brought to life; puts the design into the hands of experts draftsmen; commits the frame’s production to skilled craftsmen; entrusts research development and product’s test to aeronautical engineers. Communication marketing and brand awareness are promoted through national and international sponsorships and prestigious partnerships with world famous brands.

Faithful to its history, Milani still produces frames designed and created entirely in Italy, by hand, with the same fine craftsmanship which characterized the firm’s origins, but also paying great attention to the ongoing evolution of materials, from steel to steel-inox, aluminium alloy and carbon fibre. Thanks to new technologies and new innovative workmanship, Milani Cycles preserves a perfect balance between tradition and progress to develop his philosophy: to realize high range and high quality frames.

Today, as in the past, the distinctive features to realize Milani’s frames are highest quality and technical standards, details, design and performance. Products range from classic road, cyclo-cross and track frames to triathlon and vintage frames.

These company’s features are the reasons for the successful and lasting partnership with the world known italian automobile company Maserati for the production of a Milani for Maserati range of bikes. 

Besides, the excellence and high performance of products have persuaded athletes like Andrea and I, to race with a MILANI N109 & N111, full carbon custom wrapped frames.

End of racing season Wrap Up

Hello Everyone,

I am posting an update from New Zealand where I just had a month break after a wonderful season of racing with Andrea.
I will comeback to our 2012 season in another post.
I left France at the end of September to race the Yokahama World Triathlon Series.
Surprisingly, I crossed the finish line 4th despite a sinus infection which we caught during the travel with Andrea.
More Infos

I knew from that point that it was a sign sent from my body, the season started to be long and the post Olympic Game good shape was disappearing.
We just had one race to do and it was the Final of the World Champs in Auckland, a very special race for me as I live a long part of the year in Christchurch... 49% kiwi as my NZ friends always tell me.

I tried to train the best I could for this tough race but I was far from being able to recover for what needed to be done.
The mind was saying yes but my muscles weren't following.

I flew to Auckland ranked number 6th in the Series and the expectations were propably to enter the top 5.
Well, in fact no.
High performance sport is very demanding and that race was a perfect example of the key of good preparation.

A hard course on a weak Laurent. End of the story. Finished 31st but I still very much appreciated all the support out there.
More infos

I really wanted to perform better and to end the season on a high note but it wasn't possible.
Andrea did fantastic to grab another World Championship Medal.

So I am 8th in the 2012 World Championships and enjoying the off season with some friends in NZ before the big conditioning training block begins.

See you Soon, Laurent.

Winner of the Garmin Alpen Triathlon

Four days after I left Poitier where I won my 3rd national title, I headed up to Germany to compete in the 25th edition of the prestigious Garmin Alpen Triathlon.

This event also doubled as the  BundesLiga grand final.

A transition area in between lake and mountains

I already competed there last year and took the silver medal behind my good mate Will Clarke from Britain. Just like the 2012 French Champs, Schliersee is an old school triathlon with a one lap very hilly bike and a run in the middle of stunning mountains.

Final climb with Will Clarke

The bike leg consists of 40k with 4 hills finishing with a 5k climb followed by a roller coaster 10k off road at 1100m altitude.

In the lead with Will Clarke up the last climb

In the breakaway with Will Clarke in the last hill, I won the race after a little bit more than 2h in front of the German Olympian Christian Prochnow and my french team mate Tony Moulai.
Right at the finish I was delighted to taste the Kaisersmarren, a local speciality which is pretty much a massive thick pancake.

The podium of the day.

Without any doubt it was a great reward for all the 1000 athletes who competed but also a good way to short cut the beginning of a bonk.

With my win and the performance of Jonny Zipf, David Hauss, Patrick Lange and Will Clarke my German Team EJOT won the German Team Championship title.

1/ Laurent Vidal (FRA) 2h00min39sec
2/ Christian Prochnow (GER) 2h00min59sec
3/ Tony Moulai (FRA) 2h01min31sec
4/ Jonathan Zipf (GER) 2h01min36sec
5/ David Hauss (FRA) 2h02min16sec

In the woman's race, it's also a french who won as Charlotte Morel crossed the finish line ahead of Simic (SVL) and Mueller (GER).

Team EJOT

Next stop Yokohama and Auckland for the last two events of the World Triathlon Series but first I will spend some time with my friends and family.
Cheers,
Laurent.

Photos courtesy of Team EJOT