First Edition Cycling News for January 14, 2006Edited by Anthony Tan Majorca the setting for magenta launchBy Shane Stokes
Today, T-Mobile will officially unveil their 2006 line-up on the island of Majorca, presenting the riders to an estimated 160 journalists at the Robinson Club Cala Serena. The luxurious German-owned resort is the setting for the launch and, on Friday, those involved were all working hard. The riders left shortly after ten o'clock to log a hard five-hour spin, while back at base, team management and event organisers were setting things up for what should be a slick display. This year, the team will present its biggest ever line-up of riders, thanks to the amalgamation of the men's and women's team. In previous years, the women's T-Mobile squad was an American based outfit, but from 2006 onwards it will have a much closer links with the men's team. The base will now officially be in Germany and there will be a greater focus on European races than before. In all, T-Mobile has 43 riders at the camp. The men's team numbers 29 and is led by household names such as Jan Ullrich, Andreas Kloden and Michael Rogers, while the women have Judith Arndt, Lyne Bessette, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg plus seven others. Development squad riders Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard, Stefan Denifl and Josef Kugler have also been getting in the kilometres on the Majorcan roads, motivated no doubt by their dreams of someday joining the pro squad. The camp officially started last weekend, with riders on their bikes for up to five hours a day since then. Besides getting in some base mileage, they have also been doing some interval training, time trial work and performance tests. Of course, the intensity of the workouts is very much governed by each rider's goals for the year; the Classics specialists and the so-called Early Wins group (targeting results in races such as the Tour of California and the Trofeo Mallorca) need to hit form in time for the spring races and so these have been digging a bit deeper than the others this past week. "We are very happy with how the camp has been going," said sports and technical director Mario Kummer. "The ambience has been very good and it shows that we can integrate all the new riders. We have 12 new guys, the most ever - it is almost half of a new team. That part has been going well." "The training has also been good. The riders are doing different things - some are aiming to be in form early on, some later in the year. Both the quantity and the quality of the training is important." Forging close relations is also part of what the camp is about. This is even more relevant this year due to the integration of the women's team plus the arrival of 12 new riders to the men's squad. The group will spend just two weeks together, but this bonding period is nevertheless important for boosting team spirit and co-operation in the weeks and months ahead. Full coverage of the 2006 T-Mobile launch will follow. PhotographyFor a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here Images by Shane Stokes/Cyclingnews.com
Phonak hard at workBy Shane Stokes While T-Mobile have been burning up the roads on the east of the island, their Swiss neighbours have been clocking up pre-season kilometres from a base about 50 kilometres away. Phonak have been based in a plush hotel near the golden shores of Playa de Palma (Palma beach), building form for what they hope will be a successful 2006 season. The riders had a rest day on Friday but several of them opted to head to the local velodrome to work on their positions on their new bike. Former world time trial champion Santiago Botero has also been honing his aero form, spending part of Thursday evening experimenting with handlebar positions, under the watchful eye of the team aerodynamicist. BMC chief engineer Rolf Singenberger was also close by, taking Cyclingnews through some of the exciting new changes in their equipment for 2006. A new paint-job sees the old Phonak frame colours replaced by a more appealing red, black and white colour scheme, while both the road and time trial frames have been tweaked in order to make them lighter. More details of the Phonak camp coming soon. Saunier Duval-Prodir to MurciaNext week, from January 17-24, the entire Saunier Duval-Prodir team will convene in Murcia, Spain, for the first training camp of the 2006 season. Stationed at the Nelva Hotel in the city centre, the week will focus on training and also allows equipment suppliers to present innovations and make the necessary adjustments, before racing commences in late-February/early March. The first official team presentation will take place on the final day at the city's auditorium at 5pm. Afterwards, the team will fly to Milan, where there will be a second official presentation at the Grand Hotel Visconti Palace on January 25 at midday. Bates brilliant at nationalsBy Les Clarke in Adelaide Sydney rider Katherine Bates has become Australian national road race champion after taking the title outside Adelaide yesterday. After a sedate start to the race, Bates went with fellow Sydney rider Amanda Spratt after the 19 year-old broke away from the bunch late in the race. After Spratt fell away, Bates rode with Olympic road race champion Sara Carrigan to the finish, taking the two-up sprint in the final metres. The 23 year-old, who will ride with the powerful Nurnberger squad in 2006, was overjoyed at taking the national champion's jersey after missing the time trial on Wednesday. "The most exciting thing is being able to take the green and gold jersey overseas, for sure. I'm always finishing second and so I opted to sit out the time trial out because I thought I'm just going to give this a crack; if I don't win it, I'm not good enough, it's not because I have done another race. I feel fantastic actually, new team, new jersey," she said post-race. Bates will most likely be an integral part of Nurnberger's plans for 2006, and she's aware of the opportunity she's been given. "I want to be able to integrate myself into Nurnberger really well and help Oenone win another World Cup. We've got the world champion in there as well. So it is a pretty impressive team and I just want to be part of that and work with it, and then work toward the road world championships," she continued. Oenone Wood, whose role in controlling the peloton behind Bates was vital to her win, was hopeful of a big season for her young charge after a great start to 2006. Bates will slot into a team which has lost some of its stars, but Wood is confident Bates will fit in perfectly. "We've lost a couple of top quality riders; Liv's gone to Nobili and Judith Arndt has gone to T-Mobile; obviously it's hard to replace riders like that, but picking up talents like Kate Bates has filled the gap, I think. Kate's a strong rider, so I'll think she'll fit straight in," said Wood. US team complete for 'Cross world'sThe addition of five elite men completes a 20-rider roster for the US national team to compete at the upcoming UCI Cyclocross World Championships in Zeddam, Netherlands from January 28-29. Ryan Trebon and Jonathan Page earned automatic nominations to the team based on a top-50 ranking in the UCI standings, while Barry Wicks earned an automatic nomination as the top American in the overall standings of the 2005 Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series. USA Cycling elite men's national champion Todd Wells and Tim Johnson also earned automatic nominations, but declined participation. Erik Tonkin and Jeremy Powers join the team as discretionary selections. Elite women's national champion Katie Compton has declined her automatic nomination and will be replaced with Christine Vardaros. Final U.S. team rosterElite men Ryan Trebon (Kona/Corvallis, Ore.) Elite women Barbara Howe (Velo Bella/Larkspur, Calif.) U23 men Troy Wells (TIAA-CREF/Durango, Colo.) Junior men Daniel Summerhill (TIAA-CREF/Centennial, Colo.) Australian ProTour team in 2008?Barely a month after the launch of the Continental-registered South Australia.com - AIS Cycling Team, Cycling Australia's head coach Shayne Bannan believes a place within the highest level of professional cycling - the UCI ProTour - could be attained as early as 2008. "Australian cycling has reached the level where if there was a sponsor interested, it could happen as soon as 2008 - look at the depth of young riders we have at the moment and the depth of professionals," Bannan told AAP. Making its debut at next week's Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, the South Australia.com - AIS Cycling Team is a collaboration of the current Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) road development program for riders under 23 years of age with the cream of Australia's track endurance squad. With additional support from the South Australian government, the driving motivation behind the team's creation is to provide an even stronger platform for emerging Australian talent, ensuring riders are well equipped before entering the highest ranks of professional cycling. The dream of many Australian cycling fans, however, is to see an all-Australian team enter the Tour de France. "We're hoping to use this Continental team as a vehicle to tickle the imagination of potential companies out there," said Bannan, adding that the sport was well-placed to attract the sponsorship required for an Australian-registered ProTour team. The 'Weapon' returnsBy Anthony Tan Having withdrawn from the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens following his admission to having used a prohibited substance, New Zealand track cyclist Anthony Peden made a formal return to top-level racing at the New Zealand national track championships, attempting to secure Commonwealth Games selection. The 'Weapon', as he is nicknamed, won his heat of the Keirin on Friday and automatically qualifies for today's finals in Wanganui on New Zealand's North Island. Although the Keirin is not a Commonwealth Games event, Peden will be looking to be a member of the sprint team come March 15, when the Games begin in Melbourne. In August 2004, he was sanctioned by the New Zealand Olympic Committee for failing to disclose he was administered intra-muscular injections of triamcinolone acetonide, a banned glucocortiscosteroid, by a German doctor between 19 and 28 July 2004 to treat lower back pain and sciatic nerve irritation. Peden belatedly applied for a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) that was rejected by the IOC and WADA, which subsequently lead to his withdrawal from the NZ Olympic team in Athens. A silver medallist in the Keirin from the 1999 world championships and previously an Australian citizen, he changed his nationality in March 1998 after numerous failed attempts to make selection on the Australian national team. Peden made a low-key return to racing at the Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals in December last year, winning the sprint derby on the second day of the Devonport Carnival, where he staged an audacious move to beat in-form riders Ben Kersten and Joel Leonard. "I'm not in my best form coming into these carnivals due to other commitments," he said after his victory, "but with the first qualifying runs for New Zealand selection five weeks away, I reckon I can give it a good nudge." (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2006) |
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