First Edition Cycling News for February 15, 2006Edited by John Stevenson & Les Clarke Hondo injured in road rage attack
German rider Danilo Hondo, currently in training while serving a two-year suspension, was injured on Monday when struck by a car in what appears to be a road-rage incident in Somerset West, near Cape Town, South Africa. Tony Brown, an acquaintance of Hondo, and Matthias Kessler, were training with the German sprinter on the Paarl Vallei Road when a car drove past and abused the riders. Both Brown and Kessler said the driver, aged around 65, waited for them to pass before ramming Hondo's bike "with intent". The extent of Hondo's injuries is not yet known, and Hondo himself isn't sure when he'll be riding again. "The doctors will have to check me out," he said. "Sometimes you get internal injuries from a fall like that - I'm not so worried about crashing, you can crash in any country. The problem is that drivers can do this." In a strange twist Somerset West police said that the driver of the vehicle called the police station after the incident and reported the cyclists attacking him, something denied by both Brown and Kessler. Hondo is reported to be taking action against the driver. Gerolsteiner confident for Volta ao AlgarveAfter Gerolsteiner's first win of the season - David Kopp's victory on stage five of the Challenge Illes Balears - team manager Reimund Dietzen is confident his riders can put in good early-season performances. "It motivates us and takes a bit of the pressure off," said Dietzen of Kopp's win, as he looks ahead to the Volta ao Algarve, which starts today and signals the beginning of Davide Rebellin's racing season. "I have a good feeling about this team right now," said the 46-year-old German, and while attention will be focused on Robert Förster and Markus Zberg in the sprints, the season debut of Rebellin should be of great interest to team management. "Above all the final stage could have something for Davide," said Dietzen. The Portuguese race will also signal the team debut of Stefan Schumacher, who Dietzen believes could do good things. "Stefan is highly motivated and Mallorca was good for him; the form is coming," he said. Gerolsteiner's squad for Volta ao Algarve: Robert Förster, Andrea Moletta, Sven Montgomery, Davide Rebellin, Matthias Russ, Stefan Schumacher, Marcel Strauss und Markus Zberg. Directeur sportif: Reimund Dietzen. Sanderson leaves Davitamon-LottoOne of Australia's most promising neo-pros, Nic Sanderson, has had to part ways with leading Belgian ProTour team, Davitamon-Lotto. Sanderson, who was third in the junior men's road race at the World Championships in Zolder in 2002, is said to suffer from a mild form of epilepsy and agreed to dissolve his contract with the team for medical reasons. However, earlier reports from Belgium on Cyclingnews that the rider will be forced to end his cycling career are incorrect, as Sanderson is still riding and aiming to continue as an elite cyclist. Quality field for Wellington world cup roundThe Wellington round of the women's world cup, to be held March 5, will feature riders such as Oenone Wood, Susanne Ljungskog and Judith Arndt in a quality field that exceeds organisers' expectations. Entries have now closed, and race director Jorge Sandoval says the standard of the 126-strong field is "beyond everything we hoped", with the world's top three riders (Wood, Ljungskog and Arndt) joining names like Nicole Cooke and New Zealander Joanne Kiesanowski in what should be a very well-contested race. Sandoval believes there are several factors that have attracted the world's top riders to the event. "I think we really blew them away with everything we did last year, especially the course," he said. "They thought having the race right here in the middle of the city with the start and finish in Parliament grounds was pretty amazing - some of them had only ever seen their own parliament on TV." Among the national teams racing are New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Russia and China, who will be competing in a World Cup event for the first time. Strong field for Australian Madision championshipThis weekend sees one of the highlights of the Australian track season as the Australian Madison championship rolls out at the Joe Ciavola Velodrome, DISC, Darebin, Victoria at 7:00pm on Saturday February 18. Thirteen teams will contest the championship, with one of last year's winning pair, Cofidis rider Chris Sutton (NSW), paired with Tasmanian rising star Matthew Goss. They will face strong opposition from Simon Clarke (Victoria) and Miles Olman (Queensland) who are out to impress the national selectors ahead of the track world championships in Bordeaux, France in April. Tasmanians Darren Young and Nathan Clarke are another strong pairing - Young has represented Australia in the Madison, while Clarke is a two-time winner of Tasmania's prestigious Latrobe wheelrace. The program also offers a full range of supporting events, featuring international competitors preparing for the Commonwealth Games including Malaysian sprint sensation, Josiah Ng. For more see information see www.cyclistsinternational.com.au Kersten and Meares headline Australian team for SydneyOlympic gold and bronze medallist, Anna Meares, 22, and Ben Kersten, 24, who last week claimed four gold medals at the Australian Championships will headline the Australian 'Cyclones' team for the final round of the 2005/06 UCI Track World Cup Classics series at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome March 3 to 5. It will be the final hit out for Kersten, Meares and Victorians Shane Perkins, 19, and Sean Finning, 21, before they line up in the Commonwealth Games ten days later in Melbourne. They will be part of a 193-rider field from 35 countries in what promises to be a big series finale. Kersten will contest the keirin and teams sprint events with Perkins joining him for the teams sprint and entered for the match sprint competition. Meares will feature in the women's sprint, the event she claimed gold in at the Australian Titles. Finning, who now rides with the South Australia.com - AIS team, was the 2005 Australian Champion in the points race and seventh in the event at last year's World Championships and is expected to make a strong showing in Sydney in the points race. The Cyclones also boasts a host of gold medallists from the recent Australian Track Cycling Championships. 2003 junior World Champion and newly crowned Australian elite points race champion, Miles Olman, 19, from Queensland will add his weight to the teams pursuit line up and team with fellow South Australia.com - AIS team member, Simon Clarke,19, for the Madison. Kristine Bayley, 22, who upstaged Commonwealth Games champion, Kerrie Meares, to win the 500 metre time trial last week will contest the event in Sydney as well as the sprint and keirin. Junior rider, Tess Downing, 17, who was crowned Champion of Champions at the Australian Titles after an amazing week of success will race in the points race and individual pursuit. The Victorian teenager took out the U19 points race title in Adelaide despite crashing midway through the race. She got back on her bike and continued racing but was later taken to hospital suffering concussion missing the ceremony for gold and her naming as the Champion of Champions. Australian Cyclones for Sydney World Cup March 3 - 5, 2006 Simon Clarke (Vic - 18.07.1986) For more information on the 2006 Sydney Track World Cup see www.cyclingnews.com/sponsors/sydneytrackwc/ Top Aussies, Kiwis and Brits at Clarence St CupBen Kersten will also be in action the week before the Sydney World Cup, when he lines up for the Clarence St Cyclery Cup carnival at Sydney's Dunc Gray Velodrome on Saturday, February 25. Top Australian rider Kate Bates will also ride, in her last appearance before March's Commonwealth Games. Bates won two national titles at the recent Australian Track Championships in Adelaide to add to the Australian road championship she landed in January. Fans looking for an insight into international riders' form in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games should look out for the New Zealand and British riders who are scheduled to ride. Nathan Seddon, NZ keirin champion, Adam Stewart, NZ junior sprint champion and NZ 200 meter record holder will head the Kiwi men's onslaught to take the Clarence St Cup across the Tasman. Leading NZ women's riders Fiona Creswell, 2006 NZ sprint champion and Liz Williams NZ women's keirin champion will clash with Australian Commonwealth Games hopes Kate Bates and Sky-Lee Armstrong. The British cycling team will field at least 4 of their top women riders, Wendy Houvenagel, Rachel Heal, Nikki Harris and Emma Davies. Eddie Soens Memorial offers more in 2006There will be a new trophy up for grabs at the 45th edition of the Eddie Soens Memorial Cycle Race on March 4. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Liverpool solicitors Silverbeck Rymer sponsoring the event, the 'Silverbeck Rymer 10th Anniversary Trophy' will be presented to the rider who turns in the most meritorious performance on the day. The traditional season opener for Merseyside cycling - and widely regarded as one of the classic events on the British Cycling calendar - this year's race will offer an extra incentive for competitors. Following a review of the national competition structure, British Cycling have decided that 'handicap' events such as the Eddie Soens will now offer license points for the first ten riders to cross the finish line. Further details of the event and how to enter can be found on the official event website at www.ccs-uk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Dutch team to ride Isle of Man Youth TourThe Isle of Man Isle of Man International Youth and Junior Tour, to be held April 28-30, has been given a major boost with a Dutch team featuring top junior riders to take part in the event. It's the first time since the demise of International Cycling Week that a European team will have competed in the Isle of Man race. Riders in the Dutch team include cyclocross specialist Mitchell Huenders, Dutch junior national time trial champion Jetse Bol [who pipped 2005 Isle of Man Youth Tour winner Peter Kennaugh by 2 seconds at the Tour of Acterfeld] and junior Dutch national points champion Pim Ligthart. Organisers are still seeking event entries, which close April 9, and will be at the Manchester Velodrome for Revolution 12 this Saturday [February 18] taking entries and bookings. For special travel and accommodation prices and more event information go to www.youthtour.co.uk. Kenneally joins CyclewaysBy Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent Top Irish domestic rider Brian Kenneally from Piltown, Co. Waterford has swapped club allegiance from the Carrick Wheelers Road Club, of which he was a long-standing member, to the Cycleways team. Along with along with Eugene Moriarty, David O'Loughlin and David McCann, Kenneally was one of the Irish team that helped secure Ireland two places in the 2004 Athens Olympic road race when McCann took the bronze in the 2003 'B' World Championships. When I caught up with him in Dungarvan on Tuesday, Kenneally said, "I have been with Carrick a long time and I felt that a change of scenery would be appropriate. "I attained the dizzy heights with the club, but as they say 'the grass is often greener on the other side.' Naturally when [other] clubs realised that I was getting itchy feet, they came a-calling. There was talk that I was relocating with the Murphy & Gun-Newlyn team which will have its official launch at the end of the month. It will be some set up with the former professional Morgan Fox as the team leader." Despite the attraction a team headed by a rider who had ridden the Herald-Sun Tour in Australia last year, Kenneally chose to go with Cycleways. "Quite literally I had a conversation with Philip Cassidy of Cycleways and as far as I am concerned it is a done and dusted deal. I have opted to join up on the strength of Cass being a good operator. No better individual, he knows the game inside out, so I am happy with my lot. "My season will begin in early March and hopefully, I'll recapture the form that guaranteed Ireland a place at the Olympic Games in Greece," said Kenneally.
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