First Edition News for September 10, 2003

Edited by John Stevenson

Kim Bruckner undergoes cancer surgery

Kim Bruckner
Photo: © Casey Gibson

T-Mobile racer and Cyclingnews diarist Kimberly Bruckner has had her season curtailed by a brush with cancer. Fortunately, the problem does not appear to be serious and Bruckner is expected to make a full recovery.

Bruckner discovered she had a tumour while taking a break from racing after the Pan-American Games. "During this break, I took the time to have this bump that I've had on my ankle checked out," she told Cyclingnews. "After continuing to get referred up and up the doctor chain, I finally met with one of the top surgeons in Denver two weeks ago and he performed surgery the following day to remove this soft tissue tumor. The lab report came back last Tuesday that the tissue is in fact cancerous. Kind of the worst day of my life."

Bruckner immediately returned to the surgeon to discuss further treatment and to have a CAT scan to make sure the cancer had not spread. "I am scheduled for surgery this coming Tuesday," she continued. "They'll be going into the ankle again to clean absolutely everything out that they can and do a muscle/skin graft since there isn't a whole lot of skin around the ankle. I'll be in the hospital for a few days."

Despite her initial reaction, Bruckner was calm about the prospect of further surgery. "The more I think about it, the less I worry," she said. "I'm just so disappointed I'll miss San Francisco and Worlds this year. But hey, good things will come from this."

Piil renews with CSC but Jalabert to Phonak

Jakob Piil has signed a new two year contract with Team CSC, after receiving offers from several other teams.

"The sporting reasons mattered most," said Piil. "The next two years will probably be the most important in my career and it means a lot to me that I can ride in a team where I know that everything works." As well as stage 10 of the Tour de France, the Dane demonstrated his versatility by winning the Wachovia Invitational in Lancaster, PA this year.

In other CSC news, Nicolas Jalabert will leave CSC for a two-year deal with Phonak despite an announcement the other day that he had renewed his contract with CSC. A deal was reached but papers never signed and Phonak apparently came up with a better offer. Explaining the confusion, CSC team spokesman Brian Nygaard said, "It is the case that he did not sign his contract with us and he has now got an offer for which we will not stand in the way."

Jeff Hansen update

Atlas Cold - Italpasta's Jeff Hansen is recovering after being involved in a car accident in Portugal on Monday, according to his brother Matt Hansen.

"Jeff is recovering well now with some friends of the family, in Porto, Portgual," said Matt in an email to Cyclingnews. "Apart from some stinging from the lacerations in his face, and some sore hips and elbows, he is more or less fine. His wife Sylvia is recovering in hospital and Jeff has been able to speak to her on the phone. Jeff's mother-in-law Dina is in good hands, but is still in intensive care in a different hospital from Sylvia. Jeff's father-in-law and brother-in-law are with Dina today. A big thank you to the many well-wishers who have sent kind words via email or telephone."

Pelle Kil becomes a dad

Dutch former professional Pelle Kil became a father for the first time on Monday September 8 with the arrival into the world of a daughter, Femke. Kil's partner Kitty van der Pijll and Femke are both home in the Almere in the Netherlands and doing well, according to Pelle, who now works as an editor at Dutch cycling magazine 'Fiets'.

US Postal cleans up with Dial

If anyone doubts that cycling is getting cleaner, the latest sponsorship news from US Postal should dispel those doubts. Hot on the heels of the US Div III LeMond Fitness team's deal with Capt Cray-Z soap, the US Postal Service team has added soap and laundry detergent manufacturer The Dial Corporation to its roster of sponsors.

Dial soap is claimed to be America's number one anti-bacterial soap, while the company's Purex laundry detergent is the overall number two detergent brand. Just the thing for freshening up riders and kit post-race, then.

JP Print - Marco Polo Cycling Team for Ster Elektrotoer

The JP Print - Marco Polo Cycling Team brings a mix of its strongest riders and talented riders from non-traditional cycling countries to the Ster Elektrotoer, the second biggest Dutch stage race. The team consists of riders from five continents (Africa, Asia, North America, Oceania and Europe).

The Ster Elektrotoer (September 10-14, UCI 2.3) consists of a short time trial near Eindhoven and four road stages, all concentrating on the beautiful area near Valkenburg (the venue of the 1998 world championships 1998) with short, steep climbs in the Netherlands and longer climbs in the Belgian Ardennes on the September 13 stage to Verviers in Belgium. The last stage goes back to the north and is completely flat.

The JP Print - Marco Polo Team: Kay Kermer (Germany), Ulzii-Orshikh Jamsran (Mongolia), Habte Weldesimon (Eritrea), Kam Po Wong (Hong Kong), Michael Carter (USA), Ben Robson (New Zealand), Felix Rohrbach (Germany), Ephrem Tewelde (Eritrea)

The team hopes that the climbing capacities of Kam Po Wong, Michael Carter and maybe even Eritreans Habte Weldesimon and Ephrem Tewelde will be enough to compete with the strong competition in this pro-race. Eritrean riders Habte and Ephrem have stayed in The Netherlands for over three months now, supported by the Dutch Interchurch Aid organisation ICCO and have made incredible progress. Finally they can show their climbing abilities with the pro's.

Participating teams in the Ster Elektrotoer include Fassa Bortolo (Fabian Cancellara); Gerolsteiner; Mercatone Uno; Landbouwkrediet (Vaitkus); Rabobank TT3 and Bankgiroloterij (with last years' winner Bart Voskamp, and Bram Schmitz).

T-Mobile International on the air

This weekend's T-Mobile International (September 14, formerly the San Francisco Grand Prix) will be covered by KGO-TV/ABC7, Outdoor Life Network (OLN) and AdventureSports Radio. KGO-TV/ABC7 will broadcast the start, the finish, and live racing highlights of the pro men's cycling race, plus highlights of the pro women's race.

OLN will carry a highlights show on September 25 at 8p.m. and 11p.m., September 27 at 5p.m. and September 30 at 12Noon, all Eastern Time.

AdventureSports radio will cover the race live via the Internet.

Eugene Celebration adds kids' race

Organisers of the Eugene Celebration Cycling Classic, September 20-21 have announced the addition of a kids race as part of the program of competition and festivities in what's claimed to be one of the top event in the US North West.

The Fun Kids Race, which is free to enter, will take place in the middle of the racing schedule on Sunday September 21 at 11:30am. The kid's racecourse will be set up with cones and done on laps according to age level. Organisers will group kids by 0-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-11 years old. All kids participating will receive a Kids Race Participant Ribbon, special kid's prize drawing ticket and goodie bag. All kids are welcome, any age and ability.

For full details see: www.obra.org/eugene_celebration/kids_race.htm

Second Yoplait Women's Cycling Conference

As well as hundreds of industry exhibitors and tens of thousands of visitors, this year's Interbike show (Las Vegas, October 10-14) will host the second Yoplait Women's Cycling Summit Conference, on Monday, October 13.

Following on from the first conference at the Nature Valley Grand Prix back in June, which discussed strategies that could build elite women's racing and the need to make recreational cycling and entry-level racing more accessible to women, the second conference will focus on the development of a national women's points series.

On the recreational side the June conference identified a number of strategies that have produced good results, including women's rides, skills clinics, mentorship, social support networks and seminars on topics like balancing cycling with job and family obligations. Conferees at Interbike will discuss strategies for distributing such programs nationwide.

The conference is open to everyone who supports women's cycling and will be held in room Casanova 505 of the Venetian hotel from 6:00 to 7:30 PM on Monday, October 13. Refreshments will be served.

For more information contact David LaPorte at Lapor001@umn.edu.

Vale Harry Dawson

By Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent

Former international cyclist, Harry Dawson who died on Sunday enjoyed a career in the sport that spanned more than 40 years. Most of that time he presented himself as a man of few words.

He was a life member of the Bray Wheelers Cycling Club in Bray, Co. Wicklow and a past chairman.

Urban Monks, the current chairman said, "What can I say about an icon? He was always on hand to offer advice and took a great interest in the youth of the club. On the regular weekend spins, you would invariably find him in the group talking to the youngsters. His catchphrase was, 'are you alright there son.' He'll leave a huge vacuum. "

Highly regarded for his intelligence as well as his sporting prowess, Harry packed so much into his life.

First and foremost he was a cyclist who attained the highest honours in the sport, representing his country on many occasions during the '60s and the early '70s. The latter part of the '60s was the best period of his career. It was also a purple patch era in the history of the club that had been formed in 1949. Along with Harry, a select group of the membership stood out as the top cyclists in the country. The only club who offered them any resistance was the now defunct Tailteann CC and there were rare confrontations on the roads all over the country. Harry made a massive contribution to that success as a team member. In those days Bray Wheelers was Irish cycling's Manchester United and all national teams had at least one or not two Bray Wheelers riders in the line up. Harry could be counted on to sacrifice his chance of success in support of the national team.

Harry's best year was probably 1969, when you could guarantee that the name Dawson would be on any Irish team, participating at home or abroad. He had numerous successes in his career but the Raleigh Dunlop Tour of Ireland of that year saw his best performances on the bike. On stage three from Fermoy to Limerick, he took off up the road in the company of Morris Foster and despite the best attempts of the chasers they stayed out front with victory going to Foster who was regarded as the best time trialist in the land. That effort set the overall victory in tune for Foster.

Down the years Harry won many a race and often contributed to team success for the Wheelers. But the stage win in the 1969 Tour from Oughterard in Co. Galway to the town of Monaghan, always brought a wry smile to his face. The race manual advised the competitors that the stage distance was 122 miles. By a strange quirk, it turned out to be 169.9 miles. When the peloton came to Roscommon, instead of turning left, they went right and added the extra mileage. In the uphill sprint, none other than Dawson eclipsed the field to land the stage and his piece of Irish cycling history. It later transpired that a cattle truck had broken down and had blocked the junction which brought the event on a detour.

When he finally retired from racing, he turned his attention to helping develop the club. "I got so much pleasure from the sport and I am happy to make a worthwhile contribution to the development of the youth," he often remarked.

The Bray Wheelers and particularly those who regularly cycled with him will certainly miss his presence in the chain gang. In the last few of years he made trips to the continent for the big tours and the world championships.

To his wife Theresa, daughters Carmel, Pauline, Mary. Sons, Laurence, Neil, immediate relatives and a large circle of friends, we regret his passing. Their loss is immeasurable but we in the cycling world have lost a true friend and a wonderful ambassador of the sport of cycling. May he always be on our wheels.

The measure of how popular Harry was could be seen by the amount of people from all walks of life who were present at the removal Tuesday evening.

Harry will be laid to rest in Springfield Cemetery, Bray today (Wednesday).

Ni beidh a leitheid aris. Codladh samh, Harry.

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