News for April 19, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Aerts looking to Liege-Bastogne-Liege

Mario Aerts
Photo: © Sirotti

It's a rare rider who can win both La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege in the same week. The last time anyone did it was in 1991 where Moreno Argentin took out both races in the "Ardennes Weekend" as it used to be known. Lotto's Mario Aerts is hoping to be the next rider, after winning yesterday's dash to the top of the Mur de Huy.

Aerts is 27 years old, is 1.81 metres tall and weighs 67 kilos. He is nearing his peak as a rider and hopes to improve on his rather sparse palmares. That he put down to a lack of confidence in his own ability, much like the previous incarnation of Erik Dekker, who 'found himself' in 2000 when he won three stages of the Tour de France.

"I am inspired by his example, to target specific objectives," said Aerts a day after his victory. "In the Tour de France, I will concenrate my efforts on certain stages."

After Liege and the Amstel Gold Race, Aerts will take some recovery time, missing the Giro and then building up for the Tour.

For Liege-Bastogne-Liege "I have nothing to lose. I can go to Liege calmly. I will go to win." Aerts added that Casagrande, Frigo and Boogerd were his favourites for LBL, after they showed good form in La Fleche.

No World's for Axel Merckx

2000 Belgian road champion Axel Merckx says that he will not be doing the World Championships in Zolder this October. In comments to De Standaard newspaper, Merckx said that "If I can follow my scheduled program from the Tour and the Vuelta, then I will end my season in Madrid. No discussion is possible. That is long enough."

"I can not shine in Zolder. Belgium has many capable riders for this parcours. The team will be built around others, a pair of sprinters and domestiques who can stay near the front."

"Directly after Lisbon I let it be known that it was unlikely that I'd be in Zolder. In 1998 also I was not at the World's in Valkenburg. The then national coach Marc Sergeant tried to talk me into it."

If it is in Axel's head now, it is difficult to change his mind," said Sergeant, who is currently Merckx's team director in Domo-Farm Frites.

Saeco-Longoni Sport comments on Zolder course

Some of the Saeco-Longoni Sport team visited course for the world road race championships to be held in Zolder, Belgium this October. Danilo Di Luca, Mirko Celestino, Fabio Sacchi, Damiano Cunego, Alessandro Spezialetti and Cristian Pepoli tested out the route along with Italian national coach Franco Ballerini and several other riders.

"It's not a course which really suits me but that won't change my plans," Di Luca said in a press conference afterwards. "If Ballerini picks me I'll ride and give it everything, not just for the sake of taking part."

Mirko Celestino was of a similar opinion. "It's a course for sprinters but the World's is a special kind of race, even if I'd have preferred a harder circuit."

Franco Ballerini kept his options open and said that no rider is automatically excluded from the Italian team. "There are still a lot of races before the World's," he said. "It's too early to say what kind of strategy the Italian team will have. But of course as well as the sprinters there will have to be riders who are ready to be in the action in the crucial parts of the race. The World's in Lisbon last year taught us that anything can happen in a race as long and as difficult as the World's."

Lampre-Daikin for Liège-Bastogne-Liège

The Lampre-Daikin team facing the côtes of the Ardennes is very similar to the team that will take part in the next Giro d'Italia. The team is led by Pavel Tonkov and Raimondas Rumsas - the latter who is almost completely recovered after last month's injury. Gabriele Missaglia and Maximilian Sciandri have both performed well in the early season World Cups, and are hoping for more results in Liege.

The team

Pavel Tonkov, Raimondas Rumsas, Gabriele Missaglia, Maximilian Sciandri, Massimo Codol, Juan Manuel Garate, Sergio Barbero, Milan Kadlec. Team manager: Pietro Algeri.

iBanesto wants to build a team around Freire

Oscar Freire
Photo: © Jeff Jones/CN

Spanish team iBanesto.com is interested in World Champion Oscar Freire, who is in his final year of a three year contract with Mapei. Team leader Jose Miguel Echavarri wants a good classics rider to justify the team's entry into nearly all the World Cup races, a requirement of being part of the Top 10 Club in Division I. He says that he is in negotiations with a new sponsor that would be able to fund Freire, who would provide a massive boost to the team in the one day races.

New shorts - and sponsor - for Team fakta

Danish division II squad Team fakta presented a new main sponsor Thursday. Electronic Data Systems will have its name on the team's shorts while the black and red jerseys will remain the same. The team name will be EDS-Team fakta.

EDS is one of the world's largest IT service companies and leader for the North European branch is Asger Jensby, once a leading name behind CSC's sponsoring of the Danish CSC-Tiscali team.

"We have for a long time been searching for a big sponsor that could bring us the resources necessary for advancement to the first division. Now we will have an economic stability for the rest of the season and will be able to strengthen the team by signing new riders for the next season", says team manager Peter Sejer Nielsen.

The contract is for this and the two following seasons, and the team will have a budget of 20-30 million Danish kroner (approx 2-3 million USD) annually. The team will have 18 to 20 riders from next season and will run a double racing programme.

Sejer Nielsen and his crew will be looking for a couple of big names to add to the team, which is currently ranked number one in the Division II rankings. The ability to fit into the team on social terms, such as good communication with the riders, will be very important.

Lancaster to ride Commonwealth Games trial in Manchester

Brett Lancaster (iteamNova.com) will ride a trial on the Manchester Velodrome tomorrow (Friday, April 19) in a bid to set a qualifying time to meet the selection criteria for the Australian Commonwealth Games squad.

The 22 year old former Junior World Champion, from Shepparton in country Victoria, needs to post a time of 3'22.50 or better to meet the benchmark set by Cycling Australia if he is to be eligible for selection in the squad which will be named on Monday, April 22.

Lancaster, who was a member of the Australian pursuit team at the Sydney Olympics, won the gold medal in the teams pursuit at the Kuala Lumpur Commonwealth Games in 1998 and is keen to defend the crown in Manchester in July.

"I've ridden under the time as a junior when I rode 3'20 but that was after very specific track training," said Lancaster who has been racing on the road with iteamNova.com since the start of the season.

He had a look of determination whilst out training on Monday near Gent in the pouring rain, saying that he "needed to do some efforts along the canal" to prepare for Friday's trial.

He is hoping to use one of Cycling Australia's team issue BT bikes, which was sent out to Manchester last Friday from Australia. A hold up at Heathrow may prevent Lancaster from getting the bike in time, but "If it doesn't arrive in time I'll just jump on another track bike which my team manager, Sean Yates, has arranged."

Veenendaal-Veenendaal wants to move to a Saturday

The Dutch mid-week 1.2 race Veenendal-Veenendaal (won today by Bobbie Traksel) wants to move to a weekend. It currently takes place on the Thursday between Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, but organiser Gerrie van Gerwan would like to run it on a Saturday.

"We think that we will attract a better field on another day," said chairman Jan IJspeert. "At this time the riders normally take a rest day. They would rather choose to start in La Fleche Wallonne."

The race is ranked the same as the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and Brabantse Pijl in Belgium, which are both held on the weekends.

Track World Cup starts in Mexico

The first round of the Track World Cup starts on Friday, April 19 in Monterrey, Mexico. It is the first of five rounds of the World Cup which will be disputed by a number of national teams.

After Mexico, Round 2 will be held from May 10-12 in Sydney at the Dunc Gray Velodrome, the current venue for the Australian National Track Championships. The World Cup will then move to Moscow, Cali and Kunming in China for the next three rounds.

Finals schedule in Monterrey

• Day 1 - April 19: Individual pursuit (M/W), Keirin (M/W), Points (M), Team Sprint (M)
• Day 2 - April 20: Team Pursuit (M), Scratch Race (M/W), 500 m TT (W)
• Day 3 - April 21: 1000m TT (M), Points (W), Madison (M), Sprint (M/W)

UCI Track World Cup

• Round 1 - April 19-21: Monterrey (Mexico)
• Round 2 - May 10-12: Sydney (Australia)
• Round 3 - May 31-June 2: Moscow (Russia)
• Round 4 - June 21-23: Cali (Colombia)
• Round 5 - August 9-11: Kunming (China)

Cidona Carrick's winning run comes to a (temporary) end

By Tommy Campbell-Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent

Last weekend the dominance by members of the Cidona Carrick Cycling Team came to an end. Since the start of the season at the end of February they have been notching up wins courtesy of Eddie O'Donoghue, Martin O'Loughlin, Timmy Barry and Brian Kenneally.

On evidence of that success, their preparatory training during the winter paid handsome dividends for their sponsor, Cidona of Clonmel.

Paul Longeran the manager of the team was pleased with the way the early season form is panning out and admitted, "It was nigh on impossible that the lads could keep up that the momentum. Yes we did miss not being on the podium last weekend, but to be fair it had to happen. There are a couple of interesting races on this weekend. With the Elliott scheduled for Sunday week and the fact that it has world ranking points, we will be endeavouring to get back on track," said Paul.

Paul is actively involved in securing sponsorship for the team for the FBD Milk Ras that goes on the road on the 19th of May.

"This has to be one of our priorities for the year, considering it is the Golden Jubilee of the event which has captured the hearts and imagination of the Irish sporting public down the years," said Paul.

David O'Loughlin certainly took everyone by surprise by switching his attention from Cork to Bohermeen last Sunday, where he won in convincing fashion. He certainly has laid a marker for upcoming events here domestically before he returns to his base in America.

The Co. Mayo participant heads to Stamullen where an attractive programme is scheduled over the weekend, starting tomorrow evening and culminating with a host of events on Sunday. The local club are in buoyant mood after securing an attractive three-year sponsorship, with M. Donnelly and Co. which will certainly further the aims and aspirations of this popular club in Co. Meath. Yet again the presence of Philip Cassidy and his Cycleways Lee Strand Team will make for an interesting days racing.

Meanwhile in Clonmel, the Bill Hyland Memorial is the featured race in Munster. Last week's winner of the Banteer event, Ciaran McMahon of the Earl of Desmond-Tralee Bicycle Club will be regarded as a likely favourite, but on the other hand you may yet see the Cidona lads getting back in the act of success with Brian Kenneally the favoured hope.

Mountain biker rides up the Eiffel Tower in 19 minutes

French mountain biker Hugues Richard has smashed his own record for riding up all 747 steps of the Eiffel Tower. Richard rode up on Thursday in a time of 19 minutes and 4 seconds, almost half the time he took in 1998 (36'26). He used a fairly standard single speed bike weighing 7.9 kilograms.

Richard has also ridden up the 1,600 steps of the Butte Montmartre in October 2000, and the 284 steps of the Arc de Triomphe in December 2001, without putting a foot to the ground.