Second edition news for January 11, 2000

USA Olympic long team

Courtesy of Rich Wanninger

USA Cycling have announced its 2000 Olympic Long Team. The Olympic Long Team is comprised of athletes who have met the respective disciplines' qualifying procedures. More athletes can be added to the 2000 Olympic Long Team by meeting certain qualifying criteria. The final 26 member Olympic team will be announced later this year.

The road cycling squad is comprised of 10 cyclists, including 1999 Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong (Austin, Texas). Armstrong finished the 1999 season ranked seventh in the world, as well as being second American to win the Tour de France. U.S. Postal Service teammates George Hincapie (Charlotte, N.C.), Tyler Hamilton (Boulder, Colo.), Dylan Casey (Mountain View, Calif.) and Marty Jemison (Park City, Utah) also qualified for the long team.

Former U.S. Postal member Jonathan Vaughters (Boulder, Colo.), who will ride for French team Credit Agricole in 2000, and Chann McRae (Austin, Texas) of the Mapei team also earned spots on the long team. Armstrong, Hamilton, McRae and Vaughters qualified for the road race and individual time trial, while Casey, Hincapie and Jemison qualified in the road race.

Karen Dunne (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won the gold medal at the 1999 Pan American Games (road race) and finished second in the First Union Liberty Classic. Elizabeth Emery (Albuquerque, N.M.) won the individual time trial at the Pan Am Games, and was the top American at the World Road Cycling Championships in the time trial. Mari Holden (Colorado Springs, Colo.) won national championship titles in the road race and individual time trial and the time trial at Tour de Snowy, in addition to being the top-ranked American in the UCI rankings. Karen Kurreck (Los Altos, Calif.) finished third in the time trial at the Tour de Snowy

Dunne qualified in the road race, while Emery and Kurreck earned spots in the individual time trial. Holden qualified for both the individual time trial and road race.

The mountain bike long team consists of Alison Dunlap (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Ruthie Matthes (Durango, Colo.), Shari Kain (Cupertino, Calif.), Steve Larsen (Ashland, Ore.) and Travis Brown (Boulder, Colo.).

Dunlap earned a gold medal at the '99 Pan American Games, and came fourth overall in the '99 World Cup series. She is currently ranked second in the world. Matthes, who has competed off-road since 1990, returned to the World Cup scene full time in '99 and finished 12th overall. Shari Kain also made her comeback to mountain biking in 1999 after two back surgeries. She was 18th at the World Mountain Bike Championships.

Steve Larsen captured the gold medal at the Pan Am Games in Canada, as well as the 1999 short-track cross-country national championship title. Travis Brown earned his first national title in '99, claiming the cross-country national championship title.

1996 Olympic silver medalist Marty Nothstein (Trexlertown, Pa.) will head the USA Cycling Olympic Long Team for track cycling. Nothstein won the three gold medals at the Pan American Games (match sprint, Keirin and Olympic Sprint), and earned two top-six finishes at the World Track Cycling Championships. Marcelo Arrue (Woodland Hills, Calif.) also qualified in the same three events. The Pan Am winning team pursuit squad of Derek Bouchard-Hall (Palo Alto, Calif.), Mariano Friedick (Brentwood, Calif.), Tommy Mulkey (Winterville, Ga.), Mike Tillman (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Adam Laurent (Shell Beach, Calif.) earned spots on the Olympic Long Team.

Christian Vandevelde (Boulder, Colo.) captured a World Cup crown in the individual pursuit and like Friedick, also qualified in the team pursuit and individual pursuit. Casey won the individual pursuit at the Pan American Games and is the only cyclist on of both the Olympic Long Team for road and track cycling.

Jame Carney (Durango, Colo.) qualified in the points race following his World Cup rankings (fourth), while Johnny Bairos (Redlands, Calif.) was a member of the Pan Am gold medal Olympic Sprint squad.

Erin Veenstra (Colorado Springs, Colo.) captured two gold medals at the Pan Am Games (points race, individual pursuit) is the top female track cyclist for the United States. She also captured a World Cup event in 1999 and finished sixth at the world championships in the points race. Tanya Lindenmuth (Trexlertown, Pa.) collected national titles in match sprint and 500m-time trial. Lindenmuth, Becky Quinn (Quakertown, Pa.) and Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) each qualified in the match sprint.

There are 18 medal cycling events at the 2000 Olympic Games, including a dozen medal events in track cycling, four more than the 1996 Olympics. There are four road cycling events and two mountain biking events slated for Australia.

USA Cycling Olympic long team:

Road

Lance Armstrong - Road Race, Individual Time Trial Austin, Texas
Dylan Casey - Road Race, Mountain View, Calif.
Karen Dunne - Road Race, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Elizabeth Emery - Individual Time Trial, Albuquerque, N.M.
Tyler Hamilton - Road Race, Individual Time Trial, Boulder, Colo.
George Hincapie - Road Race, Charlotte, N.C.
Mari Holden - Road Race, Individual Time Trial, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Marty Jemison - Road Race, Park City, Utah
Karen Kurreck - Individual Time Trial, Los Altos, Calif.
Chann McRae - Road Race, Individual Time Trial, Austin, Texas
Jonathan Vaughters - Road Race, Individual Time Trial, Boulder, Colo.

Mountain Biking

Travis Brown - Cross-country, Boulder, Colo.
Alison Dunlap - Cross-country, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Shari Kain - Cross-country, Cupertino, Calif.
Steve Larsen - Cross-country, Ashland, Ore.
Ruthie Matthes - Cross-country, Durango, Colo.

Track

Marcelo Arrue - Match Sprint, Keirin, Olympic Sprint, Woodland Hills, Calif.
Johnny Bairos - Olympic Sprint, Redlands, Calif.
Derek Bouchard-Hall - Team Pursuit, Palo Alto, Calif.
Jame Carney - Points Race, Durango, Colo.
Dylan Casey - Individual Pursuit, Mountain View, Calif.
Mariano Friedick - Team Pursuit, Individual Pursuit, Brentwood, Calif.
Adam Laurent - Team Pursuit, Shell Beach, Calif.
Tanya Lindenmuth - Match Sprint, Trexlertown, Pa.
Tommy Mulkey - Team Pursuit, Winterville, Ga.
Marty Nothstein - Match Sprint, Keirin, Olympic Sprint, Trexlertown, Pa.
Becky Quinn - Match Sprint, Quakertown, Pa.
Jennie Reed - Match Sprint, Kirkland, Wash.
Mike Tillman - Team Pursuit, Santa Monica, Calif.
Christian Vande Velde - Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit, Boulder, Colo.
Erin Veenstra - Points Race, Individual Pursuit, Colorado Springs, Colo.

More carnage with Aussie women

After yesterday's potentially tragic accident involving 16 Australian women and an out of control car in Melbourne, there was another serious incident today. This time, Australia's number three ranked cyclist, Elizabeth Tadich was injured when a car turned in front of her. It seems as though Melbourne is studded with people out to nobble the Australian women's Olympic team!

She was very unfortunate to break her collarbone in the accident which will put her out of action for several weeks. This is extremely bad timing, as she will have to miss the National Titles this weekend. It may also impinge on her Olympic chances, as the upcoming races are important Olympic selection races.

Further details of Sunday's crash were also revealed. Apparently, the car that ploughed into the pack had skidded to try and avoid another car that had slowed down. However, it completely spun around and the rear end of the car smashed into the group. It was amazing that no-one was more seriously injured and it is an unfortunate reflection on the general skill of Australian drivers when it comes to cyclists.

Linda McCartney news

Courtesy of Britpronews

The British Linda McCartney squad have announced their complete rosters for this year, as well as their schedule for the early season races. The international team roster is as follows:

Management:

Julian Clark - General Manager
Sean Yates - Team Manager
Keith Lambert - Assistant Manager, European Team/Manager UK Espoirs Team
Chris Lillywhite - Assistant Manager, UK Team

Riders:

Tayeb Braikia (Den)
Ben Brooks (Aus)
Maurizio De Pasquale (Ita)
David McKenzie (Aus)
Ciaran Power (Irl)
Pascal Richard (Swi)
Max Sciandri (GBr)
Spencer Smith (GBr)
Matthew Stephens (GBr)
Bjørnar Vestøl (Nor)

Tour Down Under (Aus) 18-23 January, 2000: Sciandri, Richard, Vestøl, Braikia, Stephens, McKenzie, Brooks and De Pasquale.

Tour de Langkawi (Mal) 26th January - 6th February, 2000: Smith, Power, Stephens, Vestøl, Brooks and McKenzie.

Vodacom Rapport Toer (RSA) 11-19 February, 2000: Sciandri, De Pasquale, Richard, Braikia, Vestøl and Power.

Hayman starts career

Courtesy of Mark Carter

21 year old Canberran cyclist, Mathew Hayman will depart for the Netherlands on Thursday to commence his professional career with the World's No. 2 ranked cycling team, Rabobank.

Hayman has spent two years living in the tiny town of Rilland, racing with the U23 Rabobank development team. Hayman has now signed a two year contract which will commence with the Rabobank team presentation on 19 January in Holland, followed by the first pre-season training camp from the January 21-31 in Tuscany, Italy.

His principle role will be as a domestique, and he is hoping for a start in one of the World Cup events and one of the major tours, depending on form.