Latest Cycling News for November 23, 2005Edited by John Stevenson & Les Clarke Navigators plotting a different course in 2006
While the 20 ProTour teams have reaped the benefits of the new ProTour structure and the various Continental Teams now enjoy their own calendar of racing, it is the Pro Continental Teams who have arguably undergone the most significant change in 2005. Anthony Tan spoke with Navigators Insurance team manager Ed Beamon, whose team has felt the full force of the UCI's restructure of professional cycling. In the space of a year, the gap between what used to be called Division I and Division II squads appears to have widened. This season, the 24 Pro Continental Teams received few opportunities to compete with those in cycling's major league, and when they did, it was hard to be competitive. Of course, there were exceptions. Colombia-Selle Italia enjoyed their best season to date, winning the mountains and combativity classifications, a stage and a place on the final podium at the Giro d'Italia with flyweight Jose Rujano (the Venezuelan also finishing second at the Tour de Langkawi), as well as another two Giro stages courtesy of Colombian Ivan Parra. After next year's Tour of Italy, however, Rujano will join Quick.Step. Then there's Ag2R-Prévoyance, who have seemingly done enough to earn themselves a ProTour place in 2006; that said, they're probably the only Pro Continental Team with a budget capable of signing riders like Francisco Mancebo and Christophe Moreau without going broke. Ed Beamon, team manager of Navigators Insurance, the only American-based Pro Continental Team, told Cyclingnews of his experience during the team's stay in Europe this year, centred around Belgium and Italy this spring. "I think it's tough for a Pro Continental team to show up to some of those events in the early spring and be competitive against ProTour teams," he said. "Each of those teams has half a dozen guys whose whole season is based on those first three months and the smaller teams are basically trying to figure out how to hold their form through nine months of racing because they don't have 30 guys on their roster." Click here to read the rest of the story. Sprint giants fight it out in Manchester keirinThe giants of track sprinting will fight it out in the second international keirin during the Manchester round of the track world cup on December 11. With a £47,000 prize fund on offer at the Manchester Velodrome riders will be out for a large slice of the cash. Olympic keirin champion Ryan Bayley and current world keirin champion Tuen Mulder have both signed up to race in Mancehster, with the Australian dual Olympic medallist the star attraction of the event. Dutch rider Mulder took the world title in Bayley's absence the world championships in Los Angeles earlier this year and will be looking to prove his dominance as the world champion. Numerous past and present Olympic and world champions will also be riding, including last year's international keirin winner Mickael Bourgain, his French teammate Arnaud Tournant, German star Jan Van Eijden, Dutch powerhouse Theo Bos and 2003 keirin world champion José Antonio Escuredo. British will riders Jamie Staff, Chris Hoy, Craig MacLean and Ross Edgar are confirmed to race, and will also be joined by Japanese riders Takahiro Arai, Narihiro Inamura, Harutomo Watanabe and Takashi Kaneko. These riders are used to the extreme action of the keirin event and will demonstrate exactly why it is such a popular sport in Japan. To spice up the event this keirin will follow a unique formula. Instead of heats being announced in advance there will be a trackside draw made immediately before each round of the event. It's likely riders won't know the tactics of their opponents in advance, which can only add to the rough and tumble of each heat. Event director Alan Rushton said, "All of these riders have proven speed so that the rider who can think fastest on the bike and respond to attacks as each round evolves is likely to be the winner." For full details of the race programme on each day visit www.worldtrackcycling.com. National 'cross champions to race each otherPromoters of the Liberty Mutual US national cyclocross championships have organised a special event for elite men with the Liberty Cup, a 'showcase for all the national champions' to be held December 11, right before the elite women's championship. "Any national champion over the age of 15 will be invited to race with no entry fee," said Tom Stevens, race director. "The one caveat is that we ask them to wear their national championship jersey. If they do that we give them a front row start position. We'll pay a good prize list and reward the top masters and top under-23 finishers." It's expected that Jesse Anthony, Jeremy Powers, and Bjorn Selander will race, with 16-year-old Alex Coelho also making an appearance. Registration for the Liberty Cup is open, and entry fees will be refunded to those who win their national titles. For more information about the Liberty Mutual US national cyclocross championships, visit the website at www.cyclocrossnationals.com Mutsaars signs to ride 'cross with ZZPR.nlRonald Mutsaars has signed a contract with the ZZPR.nl team. The 26-year-old from Brabant and team leader Frank Groenendaal have both signed until April 2007, with Mutsaars ending a four-year contract as a road rider with Rabobank. "The Pro Tour means you must be a good sprinter, time trialer or climber. I can do everything a little bit, but nothing really well. That made it difficult to get a contract as an all-rounder," said Mutsaars. He'll be joining the team of Dutch 'cross stars Wilant van Gils and Daphny van den Brand. Perras signs with Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada2003 Canadian national road champion Dominique Perras has signed for one more year with the Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada team. Perras recently finished second overall at the Herald Sun Tour after holding the lead for a large part of the race. Joining Perras at the squad is fellow Canadian sprinter Martin Gilbert. A national track team member, Gilbert was a stage winner and overnight leader in the 2005 Tour de Beauce. Clif Bar's "Tussle for the Buckle"
The Clif Bar Cyclocross Sumo Suit Challenge, the brainchild of Clif Bar's Dylan Seguin, was held last Thursday, with Gavin Chilcott ending the night a deserving winner. Hosted by Clif Bar ahead of the USGP of Cyclocross final round as a means of gathering members of the cycling community in Northern California, there was a silent auction benefiting the Fast Freddie Foundation, plus pizza and beer and of course the sumo event. Riders donned sumo suits and 'tussled for the buckle', wrestling for the grand prize of a specially-made belt buckle. Among those participating in the event were Gary Erickson, Freddie Rodriguez, Mark McCormack, Mike Sayers, Laura Charameda, Jesse Anthony and Troy Wells, plus the finalists Todd Wells and Gavin Chilcott. Emcee for the evening Richard Fries, commented that, "In terms of fun, it was off the charts. There's something between Halloween, Christmas and pagan rituals that makes humanity want to put on costumes. Something comes undone in us all at this time of year, so it's right in with cyclocross. You could never get a bunch of road weenies to do this in May or June. And I'm glad the event has 'Cyclocross' in the title."
When asked about strategy, buckle winner Chilcott quipped, "It pays to be short." When pressed further, Chilcott admitted, "Laura (Charameda) said she was going home with the winner and that was very motivating." For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here Images by Paul McKenzie
Bendigo stars head mainland invasion of Tasmanian carnivalsThe organisers of the Nationalgrid Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals are confidently predicting a big contingent of riders from the Australian mainland. It looks like "the number of mainland cyclists heading for the carnivals will far exceed recent years," said Grant Atkins, president of the Sports Carnivals Association of Tasmania. In the vanguard of the invasion force is Bendigo, Victoria legend Tim Decker, who has a strong track record at the carnivals. Decker is bringing six riders to Tasmania as the "Decked Out Racing Team" and will be rider-manager. The squad includes Glen O'Shea, Tobby Lennon, Simon Barkla, Anthony Rix, Ben Rix and Andrew Rix. Decker, a professional cycling coach, has up to thirty cyclists in his squad and believes the ones coming to Tasmania will acquit themselves well. He said in particular Glen O'Shea is a young track endurance cyclist with a lot of potential whilst Anthony Rix is skilful and quick. Canberra junior Daniel Ellis is another promising young rider heading to Tasmania. Ellis won three medals at the Australian Junior Track Championships in Adelaide last February including gold in the kierin. He represented Australia at the World Championships in the U.S.A. earlier this year. He is a rider of great potential who shows a lot of speed. Victorian and Australian scratch cyclist Todd Wilsch will also ride at the carnivals. Wilsch is a regular winner of scratch races. For more information see: www.tascarnivals.com. Inferno Racing 2006Up and coming US team Inferno Racing has received a boost in the form of sponsorship from Masi Bicycles - and like so many such deals in cycling it's the result of a chance meeting in which the two parties happened to hit it off. Masi brand manager Tim Jackson and Inferno Racing team manager Chad Thompson met at the Interbike show in Las Vegas in September. "I was impressed by the professionalism of Chad and the team rider he had with him during the show when they stopped in the booth between visits with potential sponsors," said Jackson. "We hit it off pretty quickly and the conversation turned from a sponsorship pitch from Chad to just talking about bikes and racing. That doesn't happen often when you are talking with a Pro or Elite level team." The upshot was that Inferno Racing will be aboard Masi bikes in 2006. The team intends to become a UCI Continental squad in 2006 and plans to race National Racing Calendar (NRC) events and potentially events like the Tour of Georgia, the new Tour of California and the USPRO Championships, as well as all USCF elite national championship events. The team has already signed most of its roster for 2006, with two under-23 riders still in negotiation, and a potential additional sponsor waiting in the wings. Inferno Racing rosterAndy Applegate
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