First Edition Cycling News for April 27, 2004Edited by Jeff Jones Rebellin climbs UCI rankings
After winning three highly ranked races within the space of eight days, Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) has climbed up to fourth in the UCI rankings on 2074 points, less than 200 points behind leader Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), with Paolo Bettini (Quick.Step-Davitamon) and Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) in second and third places. Rebellin is also rated as the best rider of the season so far, scoring 974 points - well clear of Oscar Freire (819 points) and Paolo Bettini (733 points). Other riders showing improvement in the rankings include Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile, 12th - 8th), Jens Voigt (CSC, 21st - 12th), Matthias Kessler (T-Mobile, 91st - 55th) and Damiano Cunego (Saeco, 218th - 103rd). In the Division I team rankings, Rabobank has taken the number one spot ahead of CSC, but there are only a handful of points in it.
UCI Rankings as of April 25, 2004Elite men 1 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 2271.75 pts 2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 2235.00 3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2132.00 4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 2074.00 5 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 1773.00 6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor1752.00 7 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 1412.00 8 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 1381.50 9 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 1329.00 10 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 1227.75 11 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 1167.00 12 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 1155.60 13 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 1153.00 14 Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1150.00 15 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco 1133.00 16 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Nobili Rubinetterie 1121.00 17 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1070.00 18 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1046.00 19 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 1036.00 19 David Millar (GBr) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone 1036.00 Top riders of 2004 1 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 979.00 pts 2 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 819.00 3 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 733.00 4 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 728.00 5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step-Davitamon 695.00 6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 692.00 7 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 687.00 8 Denis Menchov (Rus) Illes Balears-Banesto 653.00 9 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 545.00 10 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 479.00 Teams Men's Division I 1 Rabobank 3118.00 pts 2 Team CSC 3086.00 3 T-Mobile Team 2887.00 4 Quick.Step-Davitamon 2542.00 5 Gerolsteiner 2518.00 6 US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 2083.00 7 Lotto-Domo 1924.00 8 Saeco 1869.00 9 Illes Balears-Banesto 1781.00 10 Fassa Bortolo 1730.00 Men's Division II 1 Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme 1180.00 pts 2 Domina Vacanze 1149.00 3 Ceramiche Panaria-Margres 766.00 4 Costa De Almeria-Paternina 596.00 5 Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 573.00 6 L.A.-Pecol 422.00 7 Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 409.00 8 Colombia-Selle Italia 398.00 9 Vlaanderen-T Interim 315.00 10 Cafes Baque 280.00 Full rankings: Individuals, Teams, Nations Teams for Tour de RomandieThe Tour de Romandie, a 686 km hors categorie stage race, runs from April 27 to May 2, and is the second biggest race in Switzerland after the Tour de Suisse. The race has a slightly different format this year in that almost all the stages start and finish in the same place. The following teams have announced their line ups for the TdR: Fassa Bortolo: Dario Cioni, Thomas Danielson, Mauro Facci, Jimenez Aitor Gonzalez, Volodimir Gustov, Gustav Larsson, Alessandro Petacchi, Julian Sanchez Pimienta Landbouwkrediet-Colnago: Bert de Waele, Johan Verstrepen, Wolodimir Bileka, Wolodimir Duma, Ruslan Gryshenko, Santo Anza, Sergey Avdyeyev Chocolade Jacques-Nixdorf: Andoni Aranaga, Mauricio Ardila, Florent Brard, John Gadret, Denys Kostuk, Zbigniew Piatek, Maxim Rudenko, Geert Verheyen Lampre: Wladimir Belli, Simone Bertoletti, Olexandr Kvachuk, Marco Pinotti, Mariano Piccoli, Manuel Quinziato, Luciano Pagliarini, Jan Svorada. RAGT Semences: Jerome Bernard, Eric Berthou, Pierre Bourquenoud, Michael Buffaz, Christophe Laurent, Ludovic Martin, Christophe Rinero, Eddy Seigneur. The stages Prologue - April 27: Geneva ITT, 3.4 km Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme denies UCI suspension threatThe Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme team has denied the possibility that it could be suspended by the UCI, following reports in today's edition of Marca as well as other Spanish newspapers. The team issued a statement today saying that, "The UCI has not placed any type of time limit for the presentation of the pertinent documentation, neither has it communicated the possibility of suspension of the team from the upcoming races in the international calendar. The team management is in constant contact with Alain Rumpf, general coordinator of the UCI, who is being regularly informed of the entire situation. "The sporting association has had to present a completely new dossier, substituting the previous owner, and this has delayed the normal procedures in these cases. The Valencian Community wants to thank the UCI for its margin of tolerance and to ask for excuses for the delay of said documentation." Ljungskog starts and finishes with the menWorld Champion Susanne Ljungskog stole the show at the Swedish season opener Monarkloppet in Varberg by finishing 55th and spending most of the race well tucked in the peloton - in the men's race. "The guys were really nice, they congratulated me and I think they thought it was fun that I started," she said, reporting that her back, injured in a fall some weeks ago, is now OK. Her next race will be the Tour de l'Aude in mid May. "It's fun if she gets something out of this and it's good for us too that she started, I suspect the media attention wouldn't had been the same without her," said the winner, Petter Renäng (Team Bianchi Nordic). Later this season, in August, Susanne Ljungskog will start in the international (1.5) men's race Scandinavian Open. Gilles Bouvard and Yoann Le Boulanger outThe RAGT Semences-MG Rover team has suffered two injury setbacks with Gilles Bouvard and Yoann Le Boulanger now out of action. Bouvard crashed in the Tour de Vendée and injured his elbow and had to be operated on at Dijon General Hospital. He is still in a state of recovery. Worse off was Yoann Le Boulanger, who crashed in Sunday's Tro Bro Léon, badly injuring his knee. He was taken to the Clinique des Lilas on Monday morning with a fractured knee joint, which means a 4-5 month break and probably the end of the 2004 season for him. Tour of Connecticut 2004The 2004 Tour of Connecticut will be held from May 16-23 in an Omnium (points series) format, rather than as a conventional timed stage race. The tour is part of USA Cycling's National Racing Calendar, the season long points score to determine the most consistent cyclist in the USA, and will be a key preparation race for cyclists aiming to do well in the USPRO National Championships in Philadelphia in June. "The mix of long, grueling road races and fast criteriums allows the pros to race the distances they need to, while working on their speed and power, yet not becoming over-taxed," said race director John Eustice. The Tour of Connecticut also sees a change in the women's competition. Instead of a road race, the women cyclists will be competing in a criterium. The race will be televised on Connecticut's UPN station WCTX and ABC's WTNH. It will also be videocast internationally on Aria TV Sports, an internet-based channel. The final stage of the TOC, the Housatonic Classic, will be broadcast live on WLAD-AM80 Radio. The racesMay 16 - Road Race in Litchfield Hills 220 km (137.5 miles): An extremely difficult race around historic Litchfield County that starts and ends in Torrington. Amateur criteriums for Category 2/3 and Masters 35+ will take place while the pros are out on their initial 188 km (117.5 miles) loop. May 20 - Circuit race on Lime Rock Park race track 50 km (31.25 miles): Held on the famed automobile racing track at lunchtime. May 21 - Criterium in New Haven 50 km (31.25 miles): The "Race Around the Green" is expected to be an exciting evening race for the after-work crowd. May 22 - Waterbury 80 km (50 miles): The Waterbury Climber's Cup will test the pro's to their maximum. 2004 introduces a 30 km World Championship selection race for Juniors. Winners here will qualify for the PCT Jr. Grand Prix at the USPRO Championship in Philadelphia. May 23 - Housatonic Valley Classic 160 km (100miles): The grand finale is the Housatonic Valley Classic: 160 km through the ten towns that border Candlewood Lake with the start and finish in Danbury. Watch Team Navigator's Russian Vasilli Davidenko try for the hat trick - his 3rd consecutive win at the Classic. There will also be criteriums for Masters, Juniors and Women in Danbury. More information: www.tourofct.com, www.housatonicvalleyclassic.com or www.spartacycling.com CRCA/Sakonnet Technology to compete in Milk RasBy Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent New York City based CRCA/Sakonnet Technology has accepted an invitation to participate in the FBD MILK RAS. The UCI 2.5 classified event begins in Dublin City Centre on May 23 and runs through to Sunday May 30. The team had been pursuing a European campaign for some time now and all the pieces fit for the trip to Ireland. With the help of Ras promoter Dermot Dignam and coordinator Edward Dawson all the paperwork was filed with the UCI and arrangements were made to make this foray to Europe possible. "Initially the Team was looking into taking a squad to either Portugal or Spain but going to the FBD MILK RAS made much more sense," said team manager Basil Moutsopoulos. The team's title sponsor Sakonnet Technology has offices in the U.K and racing in Ireland will allow the company to entertain clients and to gain publicity in a key market. "Racing at the Ras is good for Sakonnet's business and that's very important to us," said Moutsopoulos. A possible second trip abroad may still be in the cards for the team if the right invitation comes their way and the schedule permits. Currently the team is looking at events in Denmark, Germany and Spain where Sakonnet Technology also has business interests.
(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2004) |
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