First Edition Cycling News for September 24, 2004Edited by Jeff Jones, Hedwig Kröner & John Stevenson Cafes Baque vs Kelme in stage fight
Today's 18th stage of the Vuelta once again saw a breakaway successfully stay away from the peloton, while behind it, the race for the GC was played out. Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme and Cafes Baque were present in numbers in the break, and in the end it was Javier Pascual Rodriguez (Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme) and Ivan Parra (Cafes Baque) who escaped the rest on the final climb to duke it out in Avila for the stage win. Parra was clearly out of his element on the cobbled run into town, and Rodriguez had no problems winning the sprint and taking Kelme's fourth stage win. Pascual Rodriguez told Cyclingnews, "I was convinced I would win the stage as I know I am much faster in a sprint. I thought that he would have a go from the bottom because if we arrived in the final straight together I would be faster." Behind, Francesco Mancebo and the Illes Balears team did their utmost to unseat the rest of the GC favourites, attacking on both final climbs to try to gain an advantage. Despite some good team tactics by Illes Balears, Heras, Perez and Valverde were too strong and Mancebo ended up having to chase them down after he was dropped on the last climb. But all finished together in Avila, and there were no changes to the GC. Vuelta Stage 18 - Full
results, report & photos, Live
report Vinokourov out of VueltaAlexandre Vinokourov didn't start the 18th stage today, along with Aitor Gonzalez (stomach virus) and Michael Barry. Fortunately, the Kazakh wasn't suffering any health problems. He merely chose to withdraw in order to rest up for the World Championships next week, where he will be one of the favourites. The Vuelta also lost Italian champion Cristian Moreni (Alessio-Bianchi) and Cyclingnews diarist Floyd Landis (USPS-Berry Floor), who pulled out during the stage. Rebellin finally gets Argentine IDBy Hernan Alvarez Macias in Buenos Aires Davide Rebellin has finally received his Argentinean identity document, enabling him to compete for Argentina in the World Championships to be held in Verona, Italy from September 27 to October 3. Rebellin provided all the legal paperwork demanded by the Argentinean authorities and received his new papers on Thursday. The Gerolsteiner rider had come to Buenos Aires on Monday to provide his papers and his application was considered because of his sporting merits as a cyclist. The Argentine authorities gave his case special consideration and decided to grant him citizenship on the grounds that he would be a sporting asset to the South American nation. The Argentinean Cycling Union's president Gabriel Curuchet talked with Cyclingnews about this nationalization. "Rebellin is a world star," he said. "His representing our country could help many kids decide to start riding a bike. We have good track cyclists, but not road cyclists and [Rebellin becoming an Argentinean] can help improve our level on that discipline. [Santiago] Botero, [Victor Hugo] Peņa together with Rebellin racing on the Pan-American Games could be very good for this competition." Curuchet added, "Rebellin was very happy [about the outcome] and time will tell if this helps our cycling. He is looking forward to riding in Verona, but the truth is that he is giving [away] a little advantage as he didn't train as well as he could. However, he rode 90 kilometres today and 170 kilometres yesterday." The UCRA president will also fly to Verona to watch the World's and to take part in the UCI congress. Rebellin sought Argentinean citizenship after being left out of the Italian team for the Olympic Games by "azzurri" national coach Franco Ballerini. With the World's in his native province of Verona, he didn't want to miss the opportunity of chasing a rainbow jersey on home roads, but felt he was not respected by the Italian authorities and would not be selected. Rebellin left Argentina on Thursday night and was expected to be back in Italy Friday morning. The World Cup leader will ride the Giro dell'Emilia tomorrow. More Vuelta positivesSpanish sports newspaper As is reporting that six as-yet-unnamed Spanish riders have returned positive doping controls at the Vuelta a Espaņa. However, the substances in question are ones which it is possible for athletes to use, provided they have a medical certificate. The UCI is examining the medical handbooks of the riders - believed to include some of the race's major protagonists - to check that the necessary permissions are in place. Slovak National team rosterThe Slovakian National team will participate at the World Championships in Verona with the following riders: Individual time trials Elite: Martin Prázdnovskũ Road races Elite: Matej Jurco (De Nardi) Chocolade Jacques here to stayAccording to news agencies ANP/Belga, Chocolade Jacques will be part of the pro cycling calendar in 2005 too. The chocolate company, "Will be our main sponsor next season," said Noël Demeulenaere, the team's patron on Wednesday. "Negotiations with other financial suppliers will take place shortly." The budget will probably be tighter, "The team roster might have to be cut down to 18 riders only," said sports director Johan Capiot. For this reason, Chocolade Jacques cannot take part in the UCI's Pro Tour next season. Schenk resigns German presidencySilvia Schenk has resigned as president of the Bundes Deutscher Radfahrer (BDR), the German cycling federation after an emergency meeting of the federation in Frankfurt last night. Schenk had previously threatened to resign after accusing federation sport director Burckhard Bremer of covering up a suspect test result of a member of the German Olympic team. No reasons were given by the BDR for Schenk's resignation. Until a new president is elected in March 2005 her job will be performed by vice-president Fritz Ramseier. Appeal court quashes conviction against AndersenThe New Zealand Court of Appeal has overturned the conviction of Astrid Andersen, the organiser of Le Race, in which a participant died in 2001. Andersen was initially convicted of negligence, but the Court of Appeal determined that someone would have had to have been found to be reckless to this conviction to stand. The decision was weclomed by other event organisers. "It seems unfair that an organiser who has taken all reasonable precautions can be held responsible for an accident," said running event organiser Allison Roe to Stuff.co.nz. "There's nothing stopping some mad motorcyclist from running somebody over. You can't control that. What happened to Astrid has probably put a lot of event directors off." Sport and Recreation New Zealand participation general manager Deb Hurdle warned of letting standards slip among event organisers. "It is not grounds for people to sit back, kick up their heels, and say we don't have to worry any more," she said. WADA announces 2005 Prohibited ListThe World Anti-Doping Agency has announced its 2005 Prohibited List, the master schedule of performance-enhancing substances and methods that are banned in sport. Unlike last year, when the removal of caffeine and pseudoephedrine from the list caused some raised eyebrows in the cycling community, this year's edition sees few major changes. The only change likely to affect cyclists is that a Therapeutic Use Exemption is no longer required for dermatalogical application of glucocorticosteroids. These preparations are commonly used to treat skin irritations and insect bites. One intriguing change is that several federations have requested that alcohol be removed from the list of prohibited substances specific to their sports, including gymnastics and triathlon. The reason is presumably that an athlete could return a positive result for alcohol after consuming a small amount in food or absorbed through the skin from a massage product, but it does conjure up worrying images of gymnastic waifs (most of whom aren't old enough to drink anyway!) falling off the balance beam and hordes of triathletes wobbling out of transition. Of course, at Cyclingnews we'd never stoop so low as to make snarky comments about the ability of your average triathlete to ride a bike while sober... IMBA and Clif Bar grantsIMBA and Clif Bar have announced the latest recipients of $500 IMBA/CLIF Bar Trail Preservation Grants. Six IMBA mountain bike clubs will receive grants to assist their trail maintenance and access activities. The recipients are: Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association, McCall, Idaho - will build bridges
over wetlands and reroute eroded sections of the 20 Mile Trail in the
Payette National Forest. 2005 Single Speed World ChampionshipsDates and details have been announced for the 2005 Single Speed World Championships, which will be held August 20 and 21 at State College, Pennsylvania. According to the organisers the 25+ mile single loop course will include challenging climbs, rock strewn ridges, and fast, tricky descents, "in the east Coast tradition".
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