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.

Back to London - Olympic Games -

1h47min21sec I crossed the finish line fifth in the heart of Hyde Park crowded with a million people who came to attend the Olympic triathlon.
I have pins and niddles in both arms and cheeks, I have only one which: to lie down to recover.
I see David Hauss just behind the fence, we clap hands without saying a word.
We delivered on the day but on the podium, they were stronger!
Since I started my specific phase for that race, I did everything with James Elvery who didn't achieve the challenge to qualify for the New Zealand team.
We spent hours and hours together, beyond the sweat, lactic acid and pains, he threw me one day: "Bro, expect things to go wrong."
It is this simple sentence that I kept in mind, in any case it would be hard and if this sentence was true for me, it was also for others.
To have a chance to win this race, you will need to fight in order to don't loose it .
The pre-race is like many races but this time I watch Andrea four days before my race on TV.
She has a great race, and extremely concentrated from the start to the finish, she finished 6th beaten by girls stronger than her on that day.

Andrea during the run

Jessica Harrison in the first french crossing the line, finishing in 9th and other French Carole and Emmie missing the lead group after the swim screwed a bit heir chances to do well, they still fight to enjoy fully their games. Brave.

With David and Vincent two days before our race.

The morning of my race, it is 6:26, I woke up just before my alarm. I met David in the lobby of our hotel for a jog around the pool.
It is 8:00 and I swam 1500m and ran 30min.
I feel good, really relax, I know I'm ready and David is too.
Later, we go to the Olympic venue where the crowd is already massive. I look at Vincent Luis (my team mate) and tell him to get the most of it, we couldn't hide a smile during our warm-up.
There is no tension, no anxiety, it's been four years that we prepare for today and we will do what we know, we will perform.

I was so ready that things will be complicated,  I was surprised to find myself in the perfect scenario!
After a 10km Team Time triathlete of 17athlets, we caught the 5 breakaways formed after swimming and from now I'm in the lead group with 22 athletes (including David and Vincent).
33 competitors have therefore already lost the race.
Adapting to the race, I decided to save the maximum amount of energy I could on the bike as domestiques were keeping the pace on during the whole bike scion. They were no opportunity for a break.
I don't necessarily enjoy this type of racing but in order to grab the best place finish on the line this is what was the most valuable for me,hoping (knowing ;-)  ) my running legs wouldn't let me down.

My transition (T2) rom bike to run is average, I start the run in eighth position. As they have a little head start from T2, the Brownlee Brothers and Javier Gomez are impossible to follow, The pace is too quick on this first km for me to bridge any gap.
Quickly in 4th and 5th position with David, we know that Jonny Brownlee has penalty and we relay to keep him in sight.
In the 3rd lap of 4, I give it all and I believe we can catch him.
Finally, we never did, Jonny leaves only few seconds in front of us after his penalty and I'm exhausted. I gave everything in this hunt.
I learned to win by losing. I'm not afraid of losing because I know what it takes to win and today in front of me they were simply better.
So I crossed the line in 5th in the biggest race in the world.

This stunning race is ending the London 2012 Olympics campaign during which personally but collectively with the french team we have never stopped improving.
David 4th, Vincent11th without forgetting Tony Moulai Aurelien Raphael and Fred Belaubre for which we had to be ready.

A part of my supporters

Thanks for your messages, your support and encouragement if you were there.
Thanks to those who supported me to make this adventure possible.

The French Olympic Triathlon Team

Never ever ever ever give up.
Laurent

Press realease, results and photos  .:.here.:.

Mashup of the last month

Us during a long ride in my region in South of France.

Hi all,
The D-100 for the Olympic Games function organised by the French Olympic Committee seems so long ago and I ended today certainly the best 4 week training cycle I ever did.
The month was pretty tough and I am fortunate to share my training between Sète and Montpellier with James Elvery. After training together in NZ, we are now helping each other for the big season ahead of us (him in Long distance now and me with the Olympics). And of course Andrea is with us for every session.
About my preparation, the crew of Nicolas Geay  ( for national TV 2)  followed me one day for a report from the "inside".
It was a standard Saturday of April / May including a session 6.3 k swim with the "pole France", a specific bike session paced behind the scooter and 19km of run including a 5x1500 race pace efforts with 1min rest.
This is a massive opportunity to promote our sport in France as it was for the most famous and followed sport show.
We are still lagging behind other countries but it will only get better!
Here is the link for the video ( in french only).

As you know if you follow me, in 2012 I am ride Milani bicycles (Andrea since 2009).
Milani is an authentic and genuine product actually 'Made in Italy'. Milani preserves  a perfect balance between tradition and innovation to develop his philosophy to realize high quality frames for racing bicycles.
I just received the N109 with the new 2012 Sram Red and Quarq power meter and Zipp Firecrest wheels (the model of Zipps varies between 101, 303, 404 or 808 depending on the race course).
(More photos available on my facebook page). 
The bike has been amazing to ride in my first outings and I am excited to attack the tough course in Madrid next week with this weapon and on to London.

Finally, bad weather was expected over most of France for the next few days so I prepared a "minimix" and I am sharing it with you.

Next race coming up: Madrid  World Serie in 6 days.

Cheers.
Laurent

Auckland World Cup- Wrap up of the 2011 season

Kia Ora everyone!

After 46hr of travel I landed in New Zealand, my second home.
I will be training here in Christchurch until next april but first I had to end up my 2011 season in Auckland for the ITU World Cup.
The build up to the race was awesome, I could feel in the air that this race was gonna be awesome.
The kiwi's love triathlon and everything was reunited the day of the event to give a stunner to the thousands of Aucklanders.

The course was hard and I hope if you watched the race on the national TV of on the side of the road, you enjoyed it.
I wished I was a bit more on top of my game but I had to do with what I had on D-day.
I crossed the finish line in 4th with the fastest run split. Kris Gemmell and Andrea won the races, I am really happy for them and for sure the next year event will be madness.
Now I am enjoying a week holiday after 17 000km, 2 races and 12h jet lag in one week.
All the best.
Laurent
Feel free to watch the video of the race.
Please read here for more infos about the race.

You can also click HERE to read the article of the NZ Herald of sunday 20th of november ( it is the main newspaper in New Zealand).

A day with Laurent Vidal / French TV report ( France3 )

Hello,

For those of you who understand french you can watch a report made by the French TV last week in the South of France where I live.
It was a typical day of october, I hope you will enjoy it.

All the best.

Triathlete Mag French Edition Covert ( Sept 2011)

Hello,
After the New Zealand Triathlete & Multisport in august, I am this month on the covert of the French edition of Triathlete Mag.You will find a 4 pages interview where I am talking about my recent Olympic selection, my training, my plans for the future and a little bit more.
Online version available HERE
Cheers, Laurent

World Championship #6 in Lausanne

Hi everyone,

Last week end I took the 6th place in the sixth round of the World Championship Series in Lausanne.
The 75 athletes started at 12:51am under an unusual extreme heat ( 36degrees in the shade) for the 750m swim.
With the number nine on my shoulders I had a great start, I was a great position around the buoys but unfortunately I got hit with 200m to go and lost my googles. From then my orientering was a bit of a mess and I put myself in trouble by loosing precious time before the bike leg.

I jumped on my bike a few metres back from the lead group and I decided to chase really hard with a few other athletes including Brad Kahlefeld, Steffen Justus and James Elvery.
The four lap bike course had a steep 600m hill ( 10,5% gradient average) where I decided to make a move to catch the leaders. I attacked really hard and I quickly closed 8 seconds but I was still missing a few metres to catch the front. I was at completely maximum effort. It took me almost 4k to recover from that and I realise now that is was a bit silly trying to bridge a gap on my own against a group of 15 guys...
Luckly, after 3 laps of a hard chase, my group caught the leaders and I was again in the battle for a great 5km running fight.
Well, it didn't really worked as planned as I completely messed up in the second transition, starting the run well back in around 25th.
Despite a great come back during the entire run, I couldn't sprint on the last kilometre when Alister Brownlee took off for the bronze medal. Fast racing, I call it fast racing.
Once again I had a solid race and it was wonderful to be in Lausanne.
I had a great time by the " Lac Lément ", visiting the Internationnal Olympic Commitee Museum and disovering the little streets of the swiss town.
On the women side it was great to see Andrea getting bronze!!!

Full results.
Official photo gallery.
Photo: Courtesy of Delly Carr

Multisport New Zeland magazine cover

Hi Guys,

As an adopted kiwi I am glad to be in the cover of the latest New Zealand Triathlon and Multisport magazine.
You will find a long interview about my upcoming  challenges.

All the best, Laurent.

ALLEZ LAURENT VIDAL -chat w/ Herbert Krabel from Slowtwitch.

ALLEZ LAURENT VIDAL

Source: www.slowtwitch.com

Written by: Herbert Krabel
Date: Thu Aug 11 2011

With his 6th place finish at the Dextro Energy World Championship race in London, Laurent Vidal earned his ticket to return to that site next year for the Olympic games. He had a few words with slowtwitch.

Slowtwitch: Huge congrats on making the Olympic team for London 2012.

Laurent: Thanks Herbert. It was a gutsy race, very nervous & slippery on the bike and at the finish it was a mixture of relief, excitement and joy of an accomplished goal. It’s not often that you cross the line 6th almost as happy as if you won the race!

ST: You made the Beijing Team in 2008 too - is this time just as exciting?

Laurent: No way, this time is 50 times more exciting! For Beijing it just happened, I qualified as the 3rd French. I was the young gun of the team. This time I prepared that particular selection race for 2 seasons now. In 2008 and especially 2009 I have raced a lot and very consistently (6th on the overall rank of the WCS) but I had never done my best race on the biggest race of the year. So in 2010 and 2011, I changed my way of approaching the season and racing and I really tried to set up a plan in order to have a crack at it in London 2011 and even more so in 2012. So it is very enjoyable to seal the deal so early even if the more challenging part is about to come.

ST: Did you have some extra motivation with Andrea qualifying for the Kiwi team a day earlier?

Laurent: It is crazy but I was nervous watching her race. When I am doing mine I am not stressed at all, but being on the side of the road, without any control, is pretty stressful. I knew she was in good shape and I really trusted her ability to answer the London call and she did, so I was delighted! Andrea showed the way with a classy performance and without saying any word about my upcoming race to me I knew what I had to do the next day.

ST: Had you not qualified would Andrea have given you grief?

Laurent: I am sure she wouldn’t have said anything at first because it is only sport and second because we are both really good separating sport emotions from couple things. We have been together for 4 years and we share a lot, we made our plan in common and assume our choices. I believe to achieve great things you have to take some risks and then the game has to play a bit in your hand and this is what happened in London for both of us.

ST: How confident were you going into the race?

Laurent: To secure the Olympic selection for France, I had to do a top 8 and I was ready to fight against great adversity as the Olympic distance World’s best wanted to qualify there. It was really a 10-month plan, taking a direction and sticking at it, believing it will work well. It was a question about timing and deciding the way you want to achieve your goal. I didn’t have 50 different plans for the race. I could feel everyone around me quite worried, but I was very confident.

I had a long and nice build up, I also decided not to race in July to give myself the best chance, but also to put myself in the same situation of the 2012 year: Nothing mattered apart from this one day race. Ten days before the race I did a very hard day and then I knew I was ready.

ST: Your season until now has been quite steady, but I guess that really did not matter.

Laurent: My base training had been great in NZL and I only did Madrid (12th with 4th fastest run), Kitzbuhel 6th and European 7th as International ITU races prior to the Olympic Test event. It is consistent racing without any crack but I really felt I was getting better week after week. I have learned from the past and my mistakes. I just didn’t say anything but I was putting little piece after piece into London.

ST: Were you surprised by Brownlee’s attack during the bike?

Laurent: I actually didn’t realize he attacked until half way through the bike. I thought it was Stuey Hayes. It’s only my fault, it started to rain hard and the course got very slippery. For a while I was quite deep in the peloton so I couldn’t really react right on time. Alistair is an aggressive racer so I am not surprised he would want to get away. Both Brownlees are great athletes but they are not the only ones. They have brought triathlon to a new level but I can feel that some other athletes are reaching them step by step.

ST: Had your team plans to attack the Brownlees, or in general being aggressive?

Laurent: For this race we didn’t have any team plan. It was a bit weird but the goal was not especially to try everything to win it but to get a top 8 finishes. It will be completely different next year. After Beijing, I realized that the Olympic Race is about winning it. I haven’t spoken with David yet but surely we will put ourselves in the best position to bring back home something big for France. And for the first time in my triathlon career I raced the major goal of the year just focusing on achieving a top 8 because there is not point on being the best in August 2012 if you miss the qualification!

ST: With David Hauss the French team has another very strong athlete going to the Olympics. Has he surprised you?

ST: Who is most likely to get that third spot?

Laurent: Well, it’s still very open with 4 guys fighting for it. They all are good athletes and have different strengths. At the moment, Vincent Luis has shown some great form and by his young age he should keep improving a lot in the next few months. Fred Belaubre and Tony Moulai are experienced and they know what it takes to grab an Olympic spot. Finally Aurelien Raphael was junior world champion in 2007, so he has the talent and now it’s just a question of time until work pays off.

Laurent: I was actually very impressed by Vincent Luis, he is on his debut in the WCS (only his 3rd one) and he took 10th on the fastest! As for David, I have known him since we were 15-years old. Since then we have been very close to each other, he is a very good friend. David was always good, it just took him a bit of time to get the consistency but now he has it. Both of us spend our base training outside of France and I think this is making a difference. He spends time on Réunion Island and I as an adopted Kiwi in New Zealand. Now I am used to say that I am 49% Kiwi, 51% French.

ST: So what is next for you?

Laurent: I am now back in my hometown, Sète (South of France) and you will see me competing in Lausanne for the round 6 of the WCS, then Beijing Grande Finale, Yokohama WCS, the National Champs and finally I will race Auckland World Cup before basing myself in Christchurch to prepare the Olympic season.

ST: How are things going in terms of sponsorship?

Laurent: My partners are involved in my project, without their support it would be impossible to perform at the top level. We are working on long/middle term mutual goals. Although, one or two extra collaborations would be perfect, I decided to limit my number of sponsors to have time to best suit each of them.

Lagardère is a French multinational conglomerate headquartered in Paris. The group is divided into four business lines: media, services, publishing and sport/talent management.

I also belong to the Adidas Olympic Team in France. This team includes several athletes from every Olympic sport. Since 2010, I am «all in» representing the brand with the 3 stripes.

Finally, since 2004, I am contracted to the French army as an athlete and representing values like perseverance, commitment, respect and performance.

ST: Anything else we should know?

Laurent: Yes, during my spare time I enjoy composing electronic music. I have been doing it for 5 years but no dance floor for me - triathletes are a bit sleepy past 11:00pm!


The website of Laurent Vidal is laurent-vidal.com

Images 2 and 3 are courtesy of Mike Heydon of jetproductions.co.nz

Back on track after health scare

Words by John Whiting and photos courtesy of Mike Heydon
Full Article on triathlon.org.nz


French triathlete and adopted Kiwi Laurent Vidal is back on track and hungrier than ever before.

It comes after weeks of testing and countless visits to health specialists following a scare during the Sydney leg of the ITU World Championship Series.

During the Sydney race Vidal blacked out while in the lead pack and momentarily lost consciousness, prompting huge concern from medical staff.

"Within two seconds I moved from being in the lead pack and feeling great to collapsing,” Vidal said.

"I guess the feeling was a bit like when you stand up too quickly after a day in front of the computer and then waking up a few seconds later like after a sleep.”

It wasn't the first time the 27-year-old had fainted while exerting himself, so once back home doctors ran him through the full range of testing to try and find a cause.

During the gruelling testing process he stayed in hospital for over a week and upon completion his results were sent off to the best specialist in France for analysis.

Then, finally, the full story became clear.

"I have to be honest I was quite nervous when I went for the second time in nine months to the hospital. I had a full heart check-up including MRI, electrophysiology, stress testing and 48 hour Holter monitoring.

"I wouldn't wish it [testing] on anyone, firstly because the feeling of the unknown of your health is not nice but also for the pain of the electrophysiology. That was a tough one, they opened my femoral vein and put cables through it until they reached my heart and then sent electrical impulses to my heart while I was on a drip of drugs (a sympathomimetic).

"From that the doctors tell me I am not suffering from any disease or any dysfunction but from what they call Neurocardiogenic Syncope. It is an over adaptation of the vagal nerve and in some circumstances this nerve is causing a sudden drop in blood pressure and eventually I collapse.”

Vidal's condition is not a sickness and not dangerous for his overall health. It is frustrating however, as doctors are unable to determine why it happens or provide a sure-fire cure.

"So the good news is that it's not a sickness and it's not dangerous on the health side. But as you guess it could be pretty dangerous in a traumatic point of view during racing (bike crash for example).

"It is a rare problem but there have been athletes reported with it. There are some risk factors - as an athlete I know I push very hard during racing, I train for this and my mind is ready to go super hard while I compete.

"Without a bunch of little factors added to each other, this problem wouldn't happen. That is exactly what I am working on with the specialist. I am now doing a weekly test to check where my autonomic nervous system is. On the treatment side there is no pills to take but many little changes in my everyday life.”

Vidal is the partner of New Zealand's top ranked female athlete Andrea Hewitt, and the pair split their time between Christchurch and Sète, France.

He stole the spotlight earlier this year with a thrilling win at the Wanaka round of the Contact Tri Series, defeating a world class field in front of a huge crowd.

 Vidal refers to himself as "51% French, 49% Kiwi” and has a huge fan base here in New Zealand, which has become his second home.

"I really enjoy being in New Zealand almost half of the year. I think, eat and drink Kiwi most of the days.

"New Zealand is in my life now and I am very respectful about it. I have met great people in New Zealand and I still do, so I am happy if any Kiwis support me because I am really proud to be part Kiwi. My English is not perfect but I am good at using the Kiwi slang - mean as!”

Vidal is now back in full flight and announced his comeback to the ITU circuit with an impressive 12th place finish at the Madrid round of the World Championship Series.

The race was dominated by Great Britain's Brownlee brothers Alistair and Jonathan, but Vidal showed the fire was back with the fifth fastest run time of the day (30min 40sec).

"Finishing 12th in Madrid is feeling like a victory after the last seven weeks. I ran one of the fastest times chasing down the breakaway. My hat off to the Brownlee brothers.

"During the past month I have been forced to really think about what was happening. I never thought about giving up but that made me realise that problems like this don't happen only to others.

"Now, I have to live with it and at the end it's always the same question....

"Are you ready to dare to challenge? Guess what, challenges don't scare me so I am back on tour with the same motivation and an extra bit of anger.”

Look out world, Laurent Vidal is back!