News for March 4, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Popovych sick

Ukranian World U23 Champion Yaroslav Popovych was forced to pull out of this weekend's Swiss races, GP Chiasso and GP Lugano, due to an attack of influenza. The Landbouwkredit-Colnago directors Olivano Locatelli and Mark Saligari instead used Claudio Lucchini, Savior Scamardella, Domenico Romano, Volodymyr Bileka, Nicolas Coudray and Sergey Advyeyev.

Ronde van Nederland 2002

Held in August over five days and six stages, the 42nd edition of the Ronde van Nederland will start this year in Utrecht and finish in Landgraaf. The race will be run in a similar format to last year, with a time trial on day three followed by a couple of long road stages to finish the race.

The stages

• Stage 1 - August 20: Utrecht-Leeuwarden, 220 km
• Stage 2 - August 21: Dokkum-Apeldoorn, 160 km
• Stage 3 - August 22: Apeldoorn-Almelo, 90 km
• Stage 4 - August 22: Almelo-Almelo ITT, 18.5 km
• Stage 5 - August 23: Arnhem-Sittard/Geleen, 190 km
• Stage 6 - August 24: Sittard/Geleen-Landgraaf, 210 km

Tour of Willamette cancelled

Race organiser Larry Smith has announced the cancellation of the 2002 Tour of Willamette, scheduled for April 9-14. The stage race is one of the USA's National Racing Calendar events and is well patronised by riders, volunteers and the media. However, the all important monetary sponsorship was not enough to guarantee "a top quality and safe event for competitors, the community, and committed followers."

"The economic downturn of recent months wreaked havoc not only with the sponsorship budgets of businesses here in Lane County, but with those of companies from around the country," said Smith in a statement.

Smith applauded the efforts of the volunteers who "contributed hours of time and energy" and the presenting sponsor KMTR NewSource 16, which "had again pledged more than $100K in airtime for TV publicity and race coverage across the Ackerley Group of stations."

However, the bottom line was that there was insufficient funding to ensure a top quality event.

"I offer my sincere apologies to the racers, fans and faithful supporters of the Tour of Willamette. I have been involved with the Tour, either as a competitor or race organizer of each of the 22 previous years of this wonderful event and I too, am saddened."

"But not beaten. We are moving forward even today with a commitment to bring the Tour of Willamette back in 2003 better than before. So, any and all interested in helping the cause, please contact me at (541) 302-1570 , and we'll see you next year at the race!"

Strong growth for German state federation

Propelled by the popularity of Telekom stars Erik Zabel and Jan Ullrich, bike racing has continued to grow in popularity in Germany in the last year.

The radsport-news.com website reports that Saturday's conference of the Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) state federation in Goslar revealed a growth in membership last year of 500, bringing the organisation to 6,600 members.

The high points of the region's year are the Niedersachsen-Rundfahrt (Tour of Lower Saxony) April 23-28, the GP Hanover on June 15 and August 2's Hanover night criterium.

Slight fall for FFC

Meanwhile, the membership of the French cycling federation, the FFC, fell slightly last year to 100,120 at the end of 2001 from 103,166 the previous year, the FFC revealed at its AGM in Amiens on Sunday.

FFC president Jean Pitallier said he believed the decline had now stabilised after slowly falling since its 1998 peak of 105,362, the first year membership had exceeded 100,000.

Almost ten percent of the FFC's membership is now women, and Pitallier emphasised the importance the federation places on the continued growth of women's cycling. He said that the presence of FŽlicia Ballanger and Albine CailliŽ as vice-presidents of the federation was an important symbol.

Road cyclists continue to make up the majority of the FFC's membership at 71 percent with 19 percent coming from mountain biking and 9 percent from BMX.

Surrey League Women's Squad

The Surrey League Women's Squad has been expanded from its 2001 roster of six women, which contested the British National Women's Team series. Last year's team, led by Cheryl Owens, enjoyed success in the series, leading at one stage and taking second place overall in the end. Many of the squad took top 10 places during the series and the squad won the team prize on a number occasions.

The team created a lot of interest in the Surrey region, which led to the formation of a coaching department called "Power Pack" run by John Leitch. A number of coaching days have taken place over the winter months, and have included seminars and on the road coaching.

Women cyclists have come from many disciplines including: road, track, MTB XC, MTB Downhill, triathlon and running. The League now has a list of some 50 women wishing to improve their abilities, ride League events and make it into the women's squad.

In 2002 the League will be entering two teams into the National Women's Team Series and a smaller select team will be riding the Reynolds National Series.

To enable the team selectors to pick the two squads for the Women's Team Series, two early season events have been made into selection races. These are on March 9th at Hillingdon (1:30 pm) and March 24th at Goodwood (9:30 am). All events on the Surrey League calendar are open to women, but on the following dates women will have their own events: March 9th - Hillingdon, March 23rd - TAB, March 24th - Goodwood, March 31st - Goodwood, May 19th - Goodwood, July 28th - Goodwood (South East Division Championship), August 18th - Goodwood and August 25th - Goodwood. It is hoped that a few more events will be added to the calendar at a proposed new circuit at Chertsey.

Essex County Velo Cycling Team

Essex County Velo, one of New England's largest cycling clubs, is starting an elite men's road racing team in 2002. The team will consist of Category 1-2 racers who will contest a calendar of New England and East Coast National Race Calendar races. The squad will focus on gaining positive exposure for its sponsors and mentoring the club's aspiring young racers.

Team roster

Cat I
Kirk Gilligan, 28, Cat I, Newburyport, MA.

Cat II
Christopher Benoit, 29, Cat II, Beverly, MA.
Mark Abramson, Cat II, Somerville, MA
Ben Silberfarb, 35, Cat II, Norwich, VT
Todd Parker, 26, Cat II, Dartmouth, MA
Cody Harple, 19, Cat II, Dartmouth, MA
Jeffrey Gray, 31, Cat II, Northboro, MA
Adam Buckland, 26, Cat II, Hanover, NH
Victor Taormina, 28, Cat II, Gloucester, MA

Elite Team Manager: Christopher Benoit
Director: Stuart Thorne
Sponsors: Trek, Giro, Continental, Pedro's, Mavic, VOMax, Bay Road Bikes, Riverside Cycles, Seaside
Cycles, Harborside Cycles
Equipment: Trek Bicycles, Giro Helmets, Continental Tires, VOMax Clothing, Smith Eyewear
Website: www.ecvcycling.org
Contact E-mail: benoit@neb.com, stuem@earthlink.net

Recently on Cyclingnews.com

Bayern Rundfahrt Photo ©: Schaaf