First Edition Cycling News for June 12, 2005Edited by Jeff Jones Dauphiné stage 6 wrapupBotero takes two, but lead stays with LandaluzeStage 6 was a tough day for the Dauphiné Libéré peloton in the French Alps. Starting in Albertville, the riders tackled three Cat. 1 climbs before doing the hors categorie Col de Joux-Plane, then descending into Morzine for the finish. As expected, all the GC riders tried to break each other's legs on the last couple of climbs, with Santi Botero (Phonak) and David Moncoutié (Cofidis) crossing the summit of the Joux-Plane first, ahead of Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears), Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole), and Marzio Bruseghin (Fassa Bortolo), then a group containing Lance Armstrong (Discovery), Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile), Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), David Arroyo (Illes Balears), and Jose Gomez Marchante (Saunier Duval). On the descent, Botero dropped Moncoutié and stayed away to win the stage by 23 seconds, with the rest of the contenders coming in in dribs and drabs. As expected, race leader Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was isolated from his few remaining teammates, but managed to limit the damage to 4'17 at the end of the day, and saved his yellow jersey. He now leads Botero by 49 seconds with Leipheimer back in third at 1'16 and Armstrong fourth at 1'37. There's one more stage to come tomorrow in Sallanches, and all the GC riders will have to be alert, as the finishing circuit (ridden seven times) contains the Cat. 4 Côte de Domancy. It could be just enough for one of the top five to put Landaluze under enough pressure to take the lead. Also see:Stage
6 - Full results, report & photos Contador fractures fingerAlberto Contador (Liberty Seguros) didn't finish Stage 6 after crashing just 1.5 km into the stage, when he tried to adjust his bike computer sensor and put his hand into his wheel. Contador was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with an open fracture in the third joint of his right ring finger. He had 15 stitches to the finger, as well as five more in his right thumb. June 11 does not seem to be an auspicious day for Contador, as last year on this date he had to be operated on to relieve a brain cavernoma that put his cycling career at risk. But Contador is confident that he will be back in action in time for the Tour de France. "I believe that this time there is no risk for the Tour," he said. "Last year I missed it because of the operation, but I believe that this problem only will force me to stay off the bike a couple of days." Contador is the second rider from Saiz' team that has suffered an accident of this sort. In the 2000 Vuelta a España, during the Rabassa descent in the Pyrenees, Mikel Zarrabeitia (ONCE), also put his hand into the front wheel and his finger had to be partially amputated. Nozal hit by a carIsidro Nozal's luck hasn't improved either since being suspended by Liberty Seguros after returning a high hematocrit before the Dauphin Libéré. He was hit by a car on Saturday while was training in near Mieres (Asturias). The car apparently ran a stop sign and hit Nozal, who had to be taken to a nearby hospital. Fortunately, no fractures were detected and his injuries were limited to a bad bruise on his back, meaning that he could return home. Tour de Suisse stage 1 wrapupFrancaise des Jeux teamwork pays off for Eisel
Austrian sprinter Bernhard Eisel benefited from some brilliant work by his teammates Baden Cooke and Brad McGee to win the first stage of the Tour de Suisse in Weinfelden. The Francaise des Jeux trio split the peloton on the fast run into the finish in the final kilometres, taking Tom Boonen, Paolo Bettini (Quick.Step) and Peter Wrolich (Gerolsteiner) with them. Despite an attempt by Bettini to preempt the FDJ leadout at 350m to go, Baden Cooke kept his calm and closed the gap, allowing Eisel to take the win ahead of Boonen and Wrolich. Bettini ended fourth, McGee and Cooke were fifth and sixth, and the rest of the peloton came in six seconds behind the leaders. Also see:Stage 1 - Full
results, report & photos UCI women's rankings: Wood increases leadAustralian Oenone Wood (Nürnberger) has opened up a big lead on her teammate Judith Arndt in the latest UCI women's rankings, published on June 9. Wood recently won the Tour du Grand Montréal and has placed highly in several other top ranked races, giving her a points total of 697. Arndt has amassed 414 points in second place, while Susanne Ljungskog (Buitenpoort-Flexpoint) sits in third on 336 points. Unsurprisingly, Nürnberger Versicherung is the top women's team with 1467 points, ahead of Buitenpoort-Flexpoint on 899 and Van Bemmelen-AA Drink on 494. In the nations rankings, Australia, Germany, and The Netherlands occupy the top three spots with 1067, 941, and 679 points, respectively.
Rankings as of June 9, 2005 Individuals 1 Oenone Wood (Aus) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 697 pts 2 Judith Arndt (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 414 3 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Buitenpoort-Flexpoint Team 336 4 Suzanne De Goede (Ned) Van Bemmelen-AA Drink 292 5 Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Ned) Buitenpoort-Flexpoint Team 282 6 Nicole Cooke (GBr) Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan 250 7 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 191 8 Regina Schleicher (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 165 9 Annette Beutler (Swi) 164 10 Geneviève Jeanson (Can) 154 Teams 1 Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 1467 pts 2 Buitenpoort-Flexpoint Team 899 3 Van Bemmelen-AA Drink 494 4 Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan 447 5 Nobili Rubinetterie-Menikini Cogeas 373 6 T-Mobile Professional Cycling 289 7 Univega Pro Cycling Team 210 8 Elk Haus-Tirol Noè 166 9 Team Bigla 164 10 Team S.A.T.S 127 Nations 1 Australia 1067 pts 2 Germany 941 3 Netherlands 679 4 United States Of America 601 5 Switzerland 478 6 Sweden 458 7 Italy 373 8 Canada 279 9 Great Britain 256 10 Denmark 249 Individuals, Teams, Nations Liggett gets a gongPopular English cycling commentator Phil Liggett has been nominated for an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, for "services to cycling". Congratulations Phil! One team, team for sale...It's going cheap, only a minimum of $US3,000American frame builder Richard Sachs [any relation to Oliver? - ed.] has decided to put his cyclo-cross team up for auction on eBay, with a minimum starting bid of US$3,000. Since the creation of the team in 1997, CYBC/Richard Sachs Cyclocross Team members have won nine National Championships in nearly every category. Sachs is looking for another company to share the burden of the $7,000-$8,500 annual budget, which doesn't go far when paying for travel, accommodation, entry fees, and other costs associated with running a team. "Ideally, if I can use that word, the winning bidder will be a corporation, or will have a product that will benefit from the exposure and goodwill that is generated when aligned with a successful racing team," wrote Sachs in his eBay sales pitch. "In return for becoming a supporting sponsor, the winning bidder's product, and/or his or her company will have the right to be prominently displayed on the 2005 team clothing, soon to be designed and produced." More information: cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7162689103
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