First Edition Cycling News for October 13, 2006

Edited by Laura Weislo

Bennati closes season with ninth win

by Gregor Brown

Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital)
Photo ©: Sirotti

Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) closed out the season by taking the 93rd edition of the Giro del Piemonte. The Italian from Arezzo scored his ninth success of the year by sprinting clear of Switzerland's Gregory Rast (Phonak) and Aussie Gene Bates (Team LPR). It was not redemption for Saturday's miss in Paris-Tours, but a win in the classical pre-race for Lombardia was enough to put a smile on Benna's face.

"In the last kilometre I was behind," explained Bennati to La Gazzetta dello Sport after the win. "I was able to come back, avoiding the crash of Corioni. ....It went well and I want to dedicate the win to my teammates and to Michele Gobbi. I will take a relaxed vacation; next year thinking of doing well in the classics like San Remo, Flanders and Hamburg."

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Swiss Cycling moving on Ullrich case

Coming up on Cyclingnews will cover the 60th edition of the Dauphiné Libéré live as of stage 4 on Wednesday, June 10, at approximately 15:00 local Europe time (CEST)/ 23:00 Australian time (CDT)/ 9:00 (USA East). WAP-enabled mobile devices: http://live.cyclingnews.com/wap/

The Swiss national cycling federation has confirmed that it received the complete, notarised documents in the Jan Ullrich case last month, in a statement released Wednesday. The federation turned the dossier over to the Anti-Doping Committee (FDB) of the Swiss Olympic Committee. The FDB is responsible for preparing information for the Swiss Olympic disciplinary committee. "Since the case at issue concerning Jan Ullrich deals not with a positive doping test, but with possible circumstantial evidence concerning the usage of illegal performance-enhancing products, the FDB will turn the dossier over to the Disciplinary Committee, which will conduct the actual disciplinary hearing."

The FDB did not know when it will turn the documents over, as it is still waiting for additional documents from Germany and Spain. "In the meantime, because of the ongoing investigation, there will be no further information available," the statement concludes.

The action appears to be in sharp contrast to the case against Ivan Basso, in which investigators recommended that the Italian anti-doping organisation, CONI, drop the case on Thursday, opening up the possibility that Basso could return to the peloton as early as Saturday for the Giro di Lombardia. The Spanish judge in charge of the Operacion Puerto investigation, ruled that national federations did not have the permission to use any of the documentary evidence against the riders until the Spanish court has completed their proceedings.

Susan Westemeyer contributed to this report

Post stage quotes - Jayco Herald Sun Tour

The 5th stage of the Sun Tour finished at Lake Mountain, and the climb was the undoing of leader Karl Menzies (Health Net). Matt Lloyd had an excellent ride, as did Trent Lowe (Australian National Team) who set the pace on the final climb, and Hilton Clark (Navigators), who has all but wrapped up the sprinter's competition, John Trevorrow reports.

Matt Lloyd (South Australia.com)
Photo ©: Shane Goss

Matt Lloyd (Southaustralia.com-AIS)
Q: It’s been a strange week for you.
A: I tell you after last week, oh. I came into this race and the first criterium I crashed and then missed the move on the first road stage and I was shattered not to be on GC. I saw the move going early, I wasn’t worrying about Gerro or anyone, I just did my own thing. I thought I might as well get amongst it.

This just means so much to me. The team have done a great job in fixing me up since the fall, my arm’s still a bit puffy but who cares and I started to feel pretty good today. I hit em at the bottom and I thought 2 ½ minutes is enough for me.

Trent Lowe (Australian National Team)
Photo ©: Shane Goss

Trent Lowe (Australian National Team)
Q: You did a great job on the climb.
A: Yeah thanks. It was even hard before the climb and then I had to red line it on the early section, actually I really battled on the steep section and then we caught Willo (teammate Trent) who pulled out an awesome turn and he was on the front for a couple oh kilometres and I had the chance to recover. So then it was just me riding as hard as I could for as long as I could.

Hilton Clark (Navigators Insurance)
" All week there has been no mention of Phil [Zajicek]. I would read all the stories and think to myself, they will know about him by the end of the week "

Klöden looking forward to 2007 Tour

by Susan Westemeyer

Andreas Klöden has big plans for the Tour de France 2007. "I won't say that I want to win it, but in any case I want to confirm my performance from this year," he told the German press agency dpa. Atthe question of who will be the captain on the Astana team, Klöden replied, "I believe that Alexander Vinokourov, Andrej Kaschetschkin and I will be handled equally. It is not so important as to who is actually captain." Klöden is joining Astana after leaving Team T-Mobile. "T-Mobile won't be favoured in the Tour next year, for me. I think they will concentrate on other races."

Peron set to retire

After 14 years in the pro peloton, Italian Andrea Peron will retire after this weekend's Giro di Lombardia and Trofeo Città di Borgomanero. The 35 year old Peron, who went pro in 1993, raced for Team Polti, Motorola, La Française des Jeux, ONCE and Fassa Bortolo during his career, and has been with Team CSC since 2002.

Peron spent much of his career as a domestique, but he did post several wins during his time in the professional peloton: the Italian National time trial championship in 2001, Firenze-Pistoia in 2003, the overall and points competitions, and stage one of the 1996 Vuelta a Castilla-Leon, and several North American races in his early career.

Liquigas to ride Cannondales

Liquigas Sport president, Paolo Dal Lago, and the president of Cannondale Europe, Jeff McGuane chalked a deal for the Liquigas team to ride Cannondale bicycles for the next two years. Cannondale President and CEO Matt Mannelly said "This was a very important decision for us. We’ve been approached by a number of teams and we had the best chemistry with Liquigas."

The Liquigas team has been sponsored by Bianchi for the past two seasons, and Liquigas Sport General Manager Roberto Amadio pointed out "the profitable cooperation we have had with Bianchi during the last two years. We thank them all. Now, we are very confident in this new partnership, confirming the growing internationalisation of the Liquigas Team."

Backstedt To Ride BEC CC Hill Climb

Liquigas star Magnus Backstedt will give the fans from his adopted home a chance to see him in action when he takes on the BEC CC hill climb on the Sunday 22nd October. Backstedt, who finished his road season with the Vuelta Espana, enjoyed three weeks of 'rest' which included riding Paris Tours, and is now into his track season preparation. Backstedt is using the hill climb as preparation for the track World Cup. "Yes its an unusual one for me, but very similar to the track efforts that I'm doing at the moment. I love these sort of events - there is a good quality field so it should be quite a challenge."

Hincapie and Lewis to race Greenville

Reigning US professional road race national champion George Hincapie and two-time U-23 national champion Craig Lewis will compete at this weekend's St. Francis Classic in downtown Greenville on October 14th. The event will mark the first time Hincapie and Lewis will wear their national champion uniforms in front of their hometown crowd.

"We are extremely excited to host world class athletes like George Hincapie and Craig Lewis for the St. Francis Classic," said Rich Hincapie, longtime race director. "Cycling excitement is at an all-time high in Greenville and we’re looking forward to a very successful event."

Lewis and Hincapie are not the only National Champions competing in the St. Francis Classic. Shane Weever, racing for the local Hincapie Sportswear/Greer State Bank cycling team, is the reigning Masters 30-34 Road Race National Champion.

Aaron's finalizes 2007 roster

The Aaron’s Pro Women’s Cycling Team has finalized their roster for 2007, bringing back key riders from 2006 as well as adding seasoned veterans and young up-and-comers to the team. Returning from last year are 2005 Athens Twilight winner Shannon Hutchison, US National Team member Rebecca Larson and Sunny King Criterium runner-up Catherine Powers. Felicia Gomez from Webcor-Platinum brings some stage race experience to the Aaron’s team and Katharine Carroll from Victory Brewing adds another all-around powerhouse. West Palm Beach native Kristin Sanders, former Lipton sprinter Sarah Caravella, and USA Cycling development rider Carmen Small round out the roster.

DHL supports future stars cycling

The new Revolution season gets underway at the Manchester Velodrome on October 14th with an exciting new format for the hugely popular ‘Future Stars’ Series. DHL Exel Supply Chain has committed to a three year plan of youth development with Revolution, supporting the first ever regional future stars competition. DHL Exel Supply Chain will also develop a Sprint School to nurture even younger talent with the ultimate aim of providing 'Future Stars' structure to new, ambitious riders.

Now in its fourth year the ‘Future Stars’ competition has often provided invaluable experience for some of Britain’s most promising new talent. Riders such as Ian Stannard, Ben Swift and Andy Tennant have all moved into British Cycling’s Olympic Academy following success in the ‘Future Stars’.

This season the Future Stars program adds a national league that will consist of 12 regions represented by teams consisting of three girls and three boys. The riders will compete in three races during the evening, accumulating individual points as well as points for their team. At the end of the season riders will be awarded individual as well as team national titles.

Guy Elliott, CEO of DHL Exel Supply Chain, is looking forward to the challenge of finding new talent: "Working with the Revolution Future Stars is a great starting point for our plans to provide access to the sport of track cycling for kids who might not otherwise get the opportunity. We have young cyclists all over Britain who dream of being able to race at Manchester in front of the capacity crowds of the Revolution Series. We hope that some of them will turn into Olympic Champions by 2012!"

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