Wyss has won the 2009 solo RAAM. He raced 3021 miles in a time of 8 days 5 hours 45 minutes. His average speed of 15.28 mph wasn’t much slower than the record of 15.4 mph. Pete Penseyres set the speed record in 1986 and no one has been able to break it.
In a very disappointing end to the extremely close battle between Wyss and Robic the last couple days, Robic dropped out of RAAM with 54 miles to go. Here’s what’s posted on Robic’s blog
Jure was the fastest cyclist on this years RAAM. On the last time check TS51, he came few minutes before Dani Wyss. Because of the penalties, issued controversially, because of the rules not aplied always in the same manner and because of not issuing penalties to others, Jure and his crew decided not to finish the race as 2nd, but step out of it on TS51.
Today it was written the history of RAAM. Jure and Dani staged the toughest fight ever and on the end the fastest didn’t won.
Robic’s 2 penalties on the road seemed legitimate. My RAAM update yesterday has more details on the penalty Robic received yesterday. The only thing I’ve found about the one at the start was that someone saw him urinate at the side of the stage and thought he might have gotten a penalty for it. I don’t know for sure.
His crew claimed that Wyss ran a stop sign and didn’t get a penalty. Of course when Mike Trevino was close to Robic in 2004, they accused him of cheating. Trevino actually stopped but finally was convinced to continue but never was close to Robic again.
Whether or not the penalties were fair, I think it’s poor sportsmanship to just quit. Still no official word from RAAM so there may be more to the story.
Update
Robic didn’t change his mind and received a DNF. Jure Robics crew has posted a few videos that they claim show reasons Wyss should have been penalized and wasn’t. Because of the way he feels he was treated this year, he says he won’t be back to RAAM.
In the video I’ve embedded below, it does seem that Wyss made a right turn at a red light, did a u-turn and then turned right to avoid the red light. This is against the rules. I had to watch it a couple times but then it seemed clear what he had done. RAAM officials thought it may have been accidental and gave a warning instead of a penalty.
They have a video showing Wyss over the double yellow line. From what I can see, he’s staying in the center out of the way of traffic when he pulls out until his follow van comes in behind. It seems like a safe thing to do and no penalty should have been given.
In another video he grabs the butt of a girl cheering him on. You can argue about tastefulness of it but I don’t know of any RAAM rule against it.
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Tags: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling
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Yeah, not very sporting, indeed. Seems like he can't handle not winning, so if he can't win he just won't finish. Pathetic…
YEEEPIKAEEEEIII. Now take some flags and start waving, if you dont have a flag, take some underwear, I'm sure there are some panties with stripes and stars…..
Congratulations to Dani. But I think his win is bitter-sweet. Some bitterness must left in his mouth by the way, he won the race. Not blaming him at all. He's done the job.
But I bellive, for Americans was just to much, that a stranger from a country they even can't find it on a map, wins the race again. (majority can't find USA either) They had to act. So, if there was no penalty,(just for Jure!!!!) who knows. This thorn of doubt will stuck in Danis cariere forever!
I have highly respected Jure and admired him for many years….but.
A word about a couple of penalties:
1. All riders must follow the same set of rules.
2. In America, it is against the law to relieve yourself as Jure did. That may not be so where he comes from, I do not know. Where I live in the States, Jure could and probably would have been taken to jail; arrested for indecent exposure. And can you see where allowing this to happen how it could mushroom into something even bigger? "Well, if Jure can do it, so can we!"
3. The very biggest penalty that Jure received has to do with him not following the route. He had the same navigational aids as other teams.
In addition to that, the rules have always been that the rider MUST return to the place where he left the route and proceed from there. He can ride back or be taken in a van but he must follow the entire route, which Jure did not do. They let him get away with it by only giving an penalty.
4. There is a provision for any racer to dispute any penalty. Jure should have followed the race to the end and then protested.
Finally, it is one thing to be bitter when beaten, but to accuse the competition of being favored is totally wrong. To attempt to take something from Dani's win is as unsporting as it comes.
My respect for Jure the athlete is still very strong. My respect for Jure as a man in how he his handling this has been lost. My only hope is that he faces it like a man. He finishes the race, congratulates Dani, and then wages a formal protest.
1. I am not sure that urinating in public is evan relevant to the race!?
2. Not taking the route costed him time!! He took longer route than others! And got 30 min penalty on top of that!
3. And overtaking a rider on motorway? He was't even in RAAM but on RAW! And by my information the official signaled something to his team and after they overtook the slower rider he reported them for overtaking on the highway?!
4. As I was told Dani run over a red light and wasn't punished…
Ok smart asses.The problem isn't only the penalties Robic got…it was the fact that the winner CHEATED.
He ran through red light.He was fed food and water on red stops.He caravaned.He went right over red lights to gain speed and all of this was documented on video.
The judges ignored it because they clearly wanted a new winner this year.
So don't go preaching about poor sportmenship here.
Cheating and help from the judges is a good reason to quit any race
I have 3 RAAM starts an d2 finishes, both as rider as as crew chief… A few years back, Trevino almost pulled out because the race officials/ PR stepped in and told him that Robic's crew was accussing him of cheating… a big mental blow… those officials responsible admitted to it.
.. which brings me to this…
This years RAAM started out with a witch hunt to dethrone Robic and to encourage his competition.. read the pre-race articles…
As far as pissing at the start line… how many of us out there are going to run to the Port A potty and miss our race start, emotions are high, physiology takes over, I bet EVERY racer and race official has stopped on the road to take a piss or "other"… As far as returning to the "point of departure" the you tube video has the reporter waiting on Robic to return to the point of departure and stated that he did return…..? Another you tube video shows what "seems" to be Wyss making a right turn on red only to do a U turn and re enter back on to the course… see for yourself… thats makes 2 violations on his part… going of course without calling in and doing a u turn at a busy intersection…
the red white an blue… damn here we go, showing our "better than you card"by accusing the country instead of the character… I crewd for the Danes and raced against the german and the slovenian… the only difference was the language, at about 120 miles into it we're ALL getting our ass kicked… this race is about the human element and how we fucking adapt… not about international – sociological differences.. be safe on the road everyone
Just putting my 2 cents in:
1) Robic made stupid mistakes and got penalized for them. Peeing to the side of the stage when there are bathrooms 50 feet away? Stupid Move. It must be penalized because it could get RAAM kicked out of Oceanside.
2) Going off course when he has the same maps and directions as everyone else. People make mistakes and go off course all the time, its a 3000 mile race. That it took longer and had more traffic is not a defense, what if it was shorter? He's competed in RAAM enough to know he should have returned to the point he left the course.
3) Overtaking the rider on a highway? Please…he couldn't wait 15 minutes for the official to get out of sight, I mean for an exit ramp?
4) He has what appears to be clear evidence of Wyss running a red light (and wyss should be penalized), but Robic pissed off a lot of people when he UNFAIRLY accused Trevino of cheating to gain a tactical advantage. So, I would be wary of any blanket statements his crew made about a competitor cheating.
5) I have never heard of Robic getting tested for perfomance enhancing drugs and I would like to be assured that he's racing clean with at least one test.
Sincerely,
Lou Lamoureux
Lou,
1) He didn't get any advantage from it. There would be no problem, if Jure got a fine, as he did a wrong thing. But there was no need for the penalty from RAAM. But, ok, let's say it is fair, that he got the penalty, shall we?
2) Again, he didn't get any advantage, but let's say rules are rules, shall we? No problem.
3) He was behind the other racer for 30 miles. He was respecting the rule for 30 miles (!) and officials have not done anything. By RAAM rules, the slower driver should have gone off the road at one of the ramps, that are only 7 miles apart. He failed to do so for 4 times. Finally officials drove to the slower driver, it seems they decided to do something about this obvious problem. The offical care then gave some signals to Robic and they thought it was a sign that they can pass. All clear? But ok, let's say rules are rules and even if you get signals from the officials, you still shouldn't obey them.
4.) What does that have to do with anything? Remember, rules are rules, correct? They showed the videos to officials and they were just laughing and chose to only arrogantly wave with their hand. Would be interesting to hear how you can explain this?
Also, there are more youtube videos, he also clearly crossed double line. What is important here is, that not only these two cases should receive a penalty, but they were done by clear intention to cheat. Wyss is a cheater, look at the DOUBLE cross of red lights and one U turn. He KNEW he was cheating, he WANTED to cheat. He is a cheater. Can you honestly say that he didn't have an intention to cheat there? Can you honestly say, that officials didn't give him a penalty because… because… I can't even find a reason, that would sound reasonable enough.
5) Yes, Robic has been tested many many times in his career, all of course negative. If I am not mistaken, there were some tests also on previous RAAMs. Robic was also physically tested and the tests were not supernatural. He wins by superb mental preparation and because his body is used to working better with no sleep.
6)To all people talking about spying… it is something that is going on on RAAM for many years. Robic also had spies following him, in fact, he got some penalties on previous RAAMs because of the spies. There is nothing wrong with that, in fact RAAM even encourages this in their rules, Public Reporting is the title of the rule (or something close to that meaning, can't remember now)
[…] of RAAM [Race Across America]. Jure won RAAM 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, but DNF [Did Not Finish] 2009 [there is a story, of course]. [Facebook […]
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UltraRob,
I was the person who accused Michael Trevino of cheating because Robic and his crew couldn’t believe that he was still up with Robic half way into the 2004 solo RAAM. I was a writer/reporter who was deputized as a temporary official by race director Jim Pitre because there were no other officials around. I realized I made a big mistake, and am sorry for it. Human beings make mistakes, and most of these do not cost you your life, but Robic made one that did when he was flying down a gravel/dirt road with sharp turns at high speed on his mountain bike, and was hit and killed head on by an automobile one year ago in September, 2010. Dani Wyss proved twice (in 2006 & 2009) that Robic was indeed beatable! Although an pneumonia caused Robic to quit in Colorado in 2006, he was healthy when Wyss rode all the way across the county close to Robic in 2009. Robic & crew had gotten so used to Jure starting out so hard and fast that he would open up this huge time gap to allow him relatively easy victories in 2004, 2005, 2007, & 2008. So Robic & crew must have been CRAZY to suddenly find themselves in a situation they had never been before in 2009 with Wyss. As a 5 time solo RAAM winner, Robic is the greatest RAAM rider ever, but it must have eaten away at him that he was never able to break Pete Penseyres’ solo RAAM speed record of 15.4 mph set in 1986.
Danny Chew,
two time (1996 & 1999) solo RAAM winner
Million Mile Man
690,000 miles into the life long goal!