Latest Cycling News for June 12, 2006

Edited by Hedwig Kröner

Winning is easy when you are having fun

An interview with Tom Boonen

It's been quite a year for Tom Boonen. World champion's jersey, lucrative contracts, countless victories and the adoration of a devoted Belgian public. That blend is a potent mix and makes it all the more likely he'll keep racking up the wins. Shane Stokes reports from Baden, Switzerland, after Boonen won the first stage of the Tour de Suisse.

Boonen gives his press conference
Photo ©: Shane Stokes

Sports psychologists call it the 'inverted U hypothesis of arousal,' and while this sounds like a bizarre extract from a Kama Sutra manual, it actually refers to the optimum level of stress for sports performance. The theory is that too little motivation hampers the chances of doing well, but so too does too much pressure. Striking the right balance between the two is crucial.

Tom Boonen has another word for it. It's called having fun. When he spoke to the press after his victory on the opening stage of Saturday's Tour de Suisse, it is clear that he is very much in that mindset. "It is easy to win a race when you are having fun," he stated, with a smile. "If you are too focused, too stressed, thinking too much about preparing for the Tour and obsessing about winning the green jersey - if you think like that, it is hard to go well. But if you regard it all as a game, it makes it a bit easier."

The Belgian is certainly in the right situation to feel that way. Since the start of the year he has topped the podium 17 times, exceeding the 14 wins he took in the whole of 2005. Previous world champions may have been hampered by poor post-World's seasons; however Boonen has been one of the most impressive wearers of the maillot arc-en-ciel in a long, long time.

Click here for the full interview.

A dream comes true for Leipheimer

The final podium (L to R)
Photo ©: AFP

Even though many consider the Dauphiné Libéré solely as the last preparation stage race for the Tour de France - and indeed, race organisers chose some of the same summit finishes as in this year's Grande Boucle - 2006 winner Levi Leipheimer is proud of his achievement for the race itself.

"This is a dream of a race for me," Leipheimer cheered. "The parcours, the landscape, the organisation... Ever since I decided to dedicate my life to cycling - and that was a long time ago - I wanted to win the Dauphiné. When I saw LeMond win it in 1983 as a kid, it became a dream for me to win it one day. Six years ago, I rode it for the first time, when Tyler Hamilton put the race on his palmarès. I was his teammate then; he won, and my desire to step on that highest podium step myself one day only grew. Well, now, here I am. The dream came true."

But another dream of his, the Tour de France, is only a few weeks away. After his impressing victory of the Dauphiné, achieved by consistency, Leipheimer now turns to his season-long goal, the Tour de France. The American's objective is a final Top Three placing, but he knows that the competition will be much harder in the Grand Tour: "Several riders, who were riding in the top of the classification here, will disappear in the Tour de France," he said on Sunday evening. "I will do everything to avoid that, also because I didn't win a stage here - I was simply the most consistent rider. I hope that I'll be able to stand my ground in those hard three weeks in July."

Some of the other Top Ten Tour de France contenders did not reveal their form this last week, and indeed that doesn't necessarily have to be an indicator for July. Iban Mayo, who won the race in 2004, was virtually unexisting at the Tour afterwards. But winning one of those last stage races before the Tour (Tour de Suisse being the other one), boosts self confidence.

For his part, Leipheimer chose not to rest right away after the week-long race, but to continue training in the French Alps: On Monday, June 12, the Gerolsteiner rider had Alpe d'Huez on his schedule. His last weeks before the Tour will then be spent in his home in Spain.

Kohl "simply overjoyed"

By Susan Westemeyer

T-Mobile's Berni Kohl was the surprise of the Dauphiné Libéré, winning third place in the overall GC. The young Austrian, who is only in his second pro year, said on his personal website, "I am simply overjoyed. I hadn't thought I would have a success like this for three or four years. The awards ceremony was a dream, standing on the podium next to Leipheimer and Moreau," he added. "And it was a great honour to be congratulated by all the great stars."

Describing Sunday's stage, he said, "after the mountains the big group was only about 40 eriders. I kept orienting myself on Leipheimer, so that nothing could really go wrong. I still had enough power to come to the finish line with the group and that was it!"

Saturday, on the stage to La Toussuire, he thought he was in danger of losing his hard-fought sixth place overall. "Everyone rode hard right from the start and to be honest, I had my problems on the very first mountain, the Col du Galibier. I had actually figured that I would lose my good place in the rankings today, and was just trying to limit my losses. But it went better from kilometre to kilometre. I had overcome my little crisis by the last mountain surprisingly well and was amazed to find I still had power reserves. When they told me over the radio that I had a real chance for third place in the GC, it was as if I grew wings. I fought for every second and it paid off."

Freire: "Harder stages will suit me"

By Shane Stokes in Einsiedeln

Triple World Champion Oscar Freire is hoping to take a stage win on either today’s third leg or tomorrow’s fourth day of the Tour de Suisse. The fast finishing Spaniard came back from a break from racing to take third on the first stage, and then with first place gone yesterday, he didn’t dispute the sprint for second. But he thinks the parcours in the next two stages will suit him well.

"Today is maybe not the best stage for me but I think that tomorrow [Monday] and the day after are very nice. They are a bit harder," he told Cyclingnews before yesterday’s start in Bremgarten. "I will see how I can do then because after that it is impossible - there are very big climbs from Wednesday onwards and we have other riders for those stages.

"The first stage was close but third position is not enough. In cycling, the only important thing is to win, so I am going to try to do that."

Freire is back to full health this year after a very troublesome cyst ruined his 2005 season. He is over that problem but says that it takes time to get back to full racing sharpness after missing time off the bike.

"I had a lot of problems last year. I stopped for almost seven months and then to start again is not easy. It is okay to keep some basic condition, but the problem is getting up to the level needed to win stages. The difference is not too big, but it is very difficult to get to that condition after a long break.

"I raced up to the Classics this year and then took a rest. Now I have the rest of the season ahead. I hope to remain in good condition and good health, to do the Tour de France, all the classics and then the world championships. I don’t know what the course is like yet [for the worlds]. But I think the parcours is a nice race for me," he added.

McEwen getting back to speed after Giro

By Shane Stokes in Einsiedeln

Robbie McEwen
Photo ©: Shane Stokes

Robbie McEwen is riding the Tour of Switzerland as preparation for the Tour de France and another crack at stage wins and the Green Jersey competition. He took a hat-trick of stage victories in the Giro this year and is hoping that means a similar campaign is in store in July.

"Last year I also won three stages in the Giro, then went on to take three in the Tour," he said, speaking to Cyclingnews before the start of stage two of the Tour de Suisse. "This time, I took three in the Giro again so if it goes the same way I will be happy with that. Actually, if I just win one in the Tour, it is still good.

"My big goal is to win stages in the Tour; if you are winning stages in the Tour ,then you are in contention for Green as well. You have got to do one to do the other. You can’t say I am going for Green but not win stages!"

One of his main rivals in July will be World Champion Tom Boonen. The Quick.Step rider scored a psychological point when he won stage one of the Tour de Suisse on Saturday, but McEwen says that there is a reason why he finished in the second group.

"The goal here is to get ready for the Tour, to sharpen up the form a bit. It would be nice to win a stage as well. So far this Tour de Suisse is going like last year’s - I was nowhere on the first stage. I haven’t really raced since the Giro, barring a criterium and a kermesse race in Belgium. I haven’t really raced, especially uphill, so I am missing a bit of rhythm.

"However my biggest problem yesterday [stage one - ed.] was that I dropped my chain at the bottom of the climb, the last time up it. I was on a new bike and that can happen with them, sometimes. I was being careful changing down but it just fell off anyway. I think the places I lost getting my chain back on is pretty much the same number of places I needed to make up to be in the bunch at the top of the climb.

"It was a little bit frustrating but there are still other stages. I would rather that happens in the Tour de Suisse than in the Tour de France!"

Like Freire and Boonen, McEwen didn’t sprint yesterday once it was clear that the first place was gone. He’s got two days left to try to do something before the race hits the mountains on Wednesday.

French federation president calls Sáiz "riffraff"

The president of the French Cycling Federation (FFC), Jean Pitallier, has publicly insulted the manager of Spanish Würth team, Manolo Sáiz. Speaking about the latest doping affair in Spain involving Sáiz, who "temporarily" stepped back from his functions inside the team on Friday, June 9, Pitallier said that he wished Sáiz would disappear completely out of the cycling world. "He's a villain, riffraff" said Pitallier about the man who has been a team director for 15 years and was closely tied to the UCI ProTour.

If it was his choice, Pitallier would not allow the Würth team [Kazakhstan sponsor Astana has yet to be confirmed by the UCI - ed.] to the upcoming Tour de France. "I would not invite them anymore - even if they have Vinokourov," the Frenchman continued. "It would give new power to the sport." A reaction to "Operacion Puerto" of Tour de France organiser ASO is expected in the coming weeks.

No Tour for Wegelius

By Shane Stokes in Einsiedeln

British Liquigas rider Charly Wegelius rode well for team captain Danilo di Luca in the Tour of Italy, climbing strongly on some of the mountain stages and also helping to pave the way for teammate Franco Pellizotti’s victory on stage 10. He chased down Axel Merckx when the Belgian made what looked like a race-winning lone break, thus setting things up for Pellizotti’s win.

Wegelius said that he is looking forward to a good rest and so will ease back in July rather than heading to France to support Stefano Garzelli and, probably, Di Luca.

"I am not doing the Tour. That was a decision we took in the last week of the Giro," the 28 year old stated. "It is too much. At the moment it is looking like I will do the Vuelta instead. Hopefully I will end my season after that as I don’t really want to do Lombardy.

"I am tired but I am hoping I can pull something out with the last bit of energy left. It really is the last bit of energy because apart from the Giro, I have also been riding quite well since the beginning of April. If I can use my head properly and drag out the last little bit, then I will have a break after that."

Henderson repeats in Philly

After winning the Reading Classic on Thursday, if there was still any question that Greg Henderson of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis had recovered from his fractured femur, he proved emphatically to the hundreds of thousands of people lining the streets of Philadelphia that he was back. After nearly 256 kilometres of racing, Henderson still had the legs in the final 150 meters to come screaming up the left side of Benjamin Franklin Parkway through the finishing straight and narrowly overtake Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) to win the Philadelphia International Championship, the final leg of the Commerce Bank Triple Crown. The win gave Health Net Presented by Maxxis consecutive titles in Philadelphia, after winning in 2005 with Chris Wherry.

"I was really hungry to get back on the bike and start racing," Henderson said. He only returned to competition on May 31 at the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic, where he won two stages. But he was unsure if all the training during his recovery would pay off over the course of a race more than twice that distance.

But once the sprint was on, Henderson found a lane along the barriers on the left-hand side of the road - a critical move as it positioned him out of the worst of the wind and allowed him to make up several bike lengths on Dominguez in the final 150 meters.

"When I opened it up I was still about four or five bike lengths back," Henderson said. "It was a drag race with Ivan, and I came up the inside. I didn't even get to a wheel. I saw the line, and I could see everyone around me, and I could see myself catching Ivan slowly but surely. Sprinters know on the line who's won it, and I was lucky enough to get by Ivan today."

Despite winning two legs of the Triple Crown and accumulating 160 points, Henderson wasn’t eligible to take home the $10,000 and new Mercury Mariner SUV that went to the rider who accumulated the most points in the three-race series. Unfortunately, he missed the opener in Lancaster, where he won last year as part of the team’s unprecedented sweep of what was know as Wachovia Week. Instead, Sergey Lagutin (Navigators), who finished 6th today, took that honour with 108 points, after podium finishes in both Lancaster and Reading.

Henderson refused to speculate as to whether he could’ve repeated in Lancaster and swept the Triple Crown on his own. "Jeff (Corbett) and I agreed I needed to get in some hard racing, but in a race that didn’t have the pressure of something like Lancaster as my first race back," he said. "Originally, I wasn’t supposed to come for these races, but I knew I was feeling good so I told Jeff it might be a good idea to bring me out and join the team for Reading and Philly."

New continental team planned in Germany

By Susan Westemeyer

Plans are afoot to create a new Continental team in Germany, Team Rheinland-Pfalz. Rheinland-Pfalz is a state in western Germany, on the Belgian and French borders, and among its native sons can boast of former pro Udo Bölts, among others. But of 75 Germans who now hold professional licenses, not a single one of them comes from the region. As of 2007, though, that should change: Lars Diemer, a former cyclist and currently a trainer for young pros such as Wiesenhof's Tim Klinger, and attorney Siegfried Fröhlich are joining forces to create the new team. Diemer will serve as Directeur Sportif and Fröhlich as business manager.

They plan a team of 14 riders, with as many as possible out of Rheinland-Pfalz, and most of them should be U23. "Our goal is to challenge and develop young, talented and ambitious young riders and to bring them to world class," said Diemer. The team plans to stay small and young. "We don't plan to one day move up another class, but rather we want to limit ourselves to the professional development of young riders," according to Fröhlich." The team's homepage is www.team-rlp.com

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