News for December 7, 1999

Oceania news

Courtesy of Gennie Sheer

With the kickoff for the International Oceania Grand Prix scheduled for tomorrow, December 8, it's all happening out at the Dunc Gray Velodrome in Bankstown. Although all the facilities are not yet in place, the velodrome itself looks quite stunning from the inside, as readers of cyclingnews.com will find out.

The battle for Olympic spots will start with Sydney's Brad McGee having to beat New Zealand's Matthew Randall in the individual pursuit to give Australia another berth. New Zealand are the only other country at this meet who are eligible for Olympic competition.

In the evening, all eyes will be upon the match between Australia's Shane Kelly and Frenchman Arnaud Tournant in the international one kilometer time trial. Tournant recently won his second World Championship in the event, with Kelly second, and the rematch should be an exciting affair.

Also in action will be the women in the 500m time trial. Atlanta sprint silver medallist, Michelle Ferris needs to finish ahead of New Zealand to claim the additional place for Australia at the Sydney Games, but she will also be keen to defeat Canadian Tanya Dubnicoff and China's Cuihua Jiang. Jiang was the silver medallist at the World's in a time of 34.869 seconds, while Ferris had to settle for 6th place in 35.567, with Dubnicoff 8th in 35.677.

In the men's international individual pursuit, Russian Alexei Markov will be the rider to watch after his fourth place at the World's in Berlin. Frenchman Damien (Droopy) Pommereau is also tipped to medal. He is the reigning French champion and won gold at both the Colombian and Mexican World Cup rounds this year, as well as winning the amateur competitions in the Munich and Gent Six Days.

Tour de Europe 2000

To be held in August 2000, the Tour de Europe is a race designed to draw attention to eastern Europe, and to help charity. The route is likely to start in the eastern Netherlands, through Germany and Poland to Latvia, though it has not yet been finalised.

Due to organisational reasons, only a small number of participators will start - teams of three or less (it will be possible for individuals to start). One name down to compete may be Bart Veldkamp, former Olympic Champion speed-skating and a member of the Dutch track pursuit-team.

Sponsorship is still being sought and the organisers hope to support the ANPED-projects (Northern Alliance For Sustainability) charity.

Cycling Australia Awards

Wilson cyclist of the year

Australian cyclist, Anna Wilson, has taken out both the female cyclist of the year and the overall cyclist of the year at the Cycling Australia awards, held last night.

Wilson has had a fantastic year, and has been well supported by a strong Australian team. The highlights have included: two World Cup wins (Canberra, Switzerland) and overall WC victory, 1st in the GP des Nations time trial, and two silver medals in the World road championships time trial and road race. She finished the year ranked number two in the world behind German Hanka Kupfernagel, and will be one of Australia's strongest road cycling medal prospects in next year's Olympics. She rounded off the year by marrying long-time boyfriend David, just two weeks ago.

She told the Sydney Morning Herald: "I [will] look back in my life and think 'I wish I could go back there [to this year]'. Maybe next year will be even better. These few years, I think, will be the best times of my life." This, in addition to being a fully qualified solicitor, is an indication that Wilson has a great future ahead of her, in whatever field she chooses.

In other awards, successful women's coach James Victor won the coach of the year, while Robbie McEwen and Shane Kelly won the male cyclist of the year (road and track). Michelle Ferris won the female track cyclist of the year after her silver medal in the sprint at the World's.

Best male mountain biker went to World Cross Country silver medallist, Cadel Evans, while dual slalom star, Katrina Miller took out the female MTB cyclist of the year. Six day legend, Danny Clark showed that he was still going strong, taking out the best 45-49 year old Masters cyclist award.

The awards:

Cyclist of the year (Sir Hubert Opperman trophy): Anna Wilson

Female track cyclist of the year: Michelle Ferris
  
Male track cyclist of the year: Shane Kelly
  
Female road cyclist of the year: Anna Wilson
  
Male road cyclist of the year: Robbie McEwen
  
Female Mountain bike cyclist of the year: Katrina Miller
  
Male Mountain bike cyclist of the year: Cadel Evans
  
Female BMX cyclist of the year: Tanya Bailey
  
Male BMX cyclist of the year: Luke Madill
  
Coach of the year: James Victor (female road coach)
  
Junior female cyclist of the year: Rahna Demarte
  
Junior male cyclist of the year: Ben Kersten
  
Masters cyclist of the year (45-49 age): Danny Clarke
  
Paralympic cyclist of the year: Paul Lake
  
Event of the year: Tour Down Under, Adelaide

Twelve teams for First Union series

By John Alsedek, cyclingnews.com correspondent

Advantage International, the promoter of the First Union Cycling Series, has just released a list of twelve teams that have been confirmed for the 2000 series. The teams are:

Festina (France)
Ikon-Lexus (USA)
Mapei-Quick Step (Italy)
Memory Card-Jack & Jones (Denmark)
Mercury (USA)
Navigators (USA)
Nutra-Fig (USA)
Saeco-Gaggia (Italy)
Saturn (USA)
7Up-Colorado Cyclist
Shaklee (USA)
US Postal Service (USA)

Luperini positive again

Italian cycling was rocked recently when one of their best performers, multiple Tour de Feminin and Giro d'Italia winner, Fabiana Luperini tested positive for nandrolone. All athletes are required to submit two samples at the time of the test, in case the first one is positive for confirmation of the result.

The news for Luperini is not good however, as the second sample was found to contain nandrolone as well. Possibly eating too much cheap meat?

Dutch news

Michael Boogerd and Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel have become the Dutch cyclists of the year for the second time running. The best up and coming talent was Marcel Duijn, while the best cyclocrosser award went to Bas van Dooren.

Danish track champion Rikke Sandhoj Olsen has signed with Farm Frites Hartol. Team manager Michael Zijlaard has also signed contracts with two Swedish women: Madeleine Lindberg and Susanne Ljungskog.