News for June 13, 2000Tour de Suisse: harder than everThis year's Tour de Suisse, from June 13-22, promises to be a very challenging edition of this classic stage race. A total of 10 stages in 10 days, including an individual and a team time trial, along with a very mountainous parcours will be a hard earned victory for one, and a good Tour build up for others. A total of 18,400 vertical meters are on the agenda in 1358 kilometres of racing, and 17 professional teams will take part in the fun. The race starts with a 24 kilometre, flat team time trial in Uster which should get things off to an interesting start. Teams to watch will be Vini Caldirola, Mapei, Rabobank and Telekom at this point. Stage 2 from Uster to Rheinfelden is also quite flat, with a couple of 300 metre climbs. The race enters more hilly terrain in stages 3 and 4, with the latter ending in a 1000 metre climb at Verbier. Stage 5 on June 17 is a 30 kilometre individual time trial, with one 150 metre climb to be overcome. Following this is a short 103 kilometre stage starting and finishing in Ulrichen. Short it may be, but it certainly isn't easy, as the pack will negotiate three climbs of 1000 metres (up) each, with the highest being the 2436 metre Furka Pass, and a downhill run into the finish. This stage has virtually no flat part. There follows a flattish stage 7, 171 kilometres from Locarno to Lugano before the mountains strike in stage 8. Starting in Locarno/Magadino (198 m), the course is fairly flat for the first 40 kilometres, before rising to 2066 metres (San Bernadino Pass) in the next 25 kilometres. Following the descent back to 680 metres, there is another climb to the Abula Pass (2315 metres), and a 10 kilometre downhill to the finish at La Punt. The 150 kilometre long 9th stage from St.Moritz to Arosa is only slightly easier, climbing the Flüela pass (km 52, 2383 m) then descending for quite a while. The last 30 kilometres to Arosa are all uphill though, involving at 1300 metre gain in altitude. The final stage is fairly straightforward, 175 kilometres from Herisau to Baden with a few short climbs. All in all, a challenging and varied parcours providing plenty of resistance for those who seek it. Several top riders will be aiming to win the Tour de Suisse, while others will use it as Tour de France preparation. Amongst the favourites will be Francesco Casagrande, winner last year and looking to avenge his defeat in the Giro d'Italia. Stefano Garzelli, winner of that race may feature although he may be recovering from/enjoying his efforts in the Giro. Similarly for Gilberto Simoni (Lampre), but he may well wish to ride hard in this event, seeing as he won't race the Tour. On the other hand, riders like Laurent Dufaux (Saeco), Oscar Camenzind (Lampre) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) are all a lot more rested. Camenzind will likely be going all out, as he does not have a Tour start. Many of the others, Vandenbroucke, Ullrich, Tchmil, and Virenque for example will likely try and test themselves on a few stages without throwing the entire basket of wood onto the fire. Teams and principal riders: Vini Caldirola (Casagrande, Gianetti) Stages: Stage 1 - June 13: Uster-Uster TTT, 24 km Total: 1,358 km
World's wrap upWith this year's World Mountain Bike Championships in Sierra Nevada officially closed, several countries had some excellent results. If all the events (XC, Dual, Downhill and Teams) are taken into account, the United States emerged as the winning nation with 3 gold and 2 silver medals in its tally. They are followed by Spain, with 3 golds and one silver, and France with 3 golds and 4 bonze medals. Switzerland and Australia are next on the list (see below). The US had success in the junior men's cross country event, with Walker Ferguson taking the title, while Kathy Pruitt won the junior women's downhill. Myles Rockwell scored an narrow win in the downhill men's event to make up three gold medals. Spain won the team's relay, and the U23 and women's cross country events, while France won the men's cross country and women's dual and downhill events. Australia's Wade Bootes, who lives in the USA (Huntington Beach, California) won the country's only gold medal in the men's dual event, beating USA rider, Brian Lopes in the final. Australia also managed well with Mary Grigson placing 5th in the women's event, her best ever result in a world championships. Canada scored two silver medals in the prestigious men's and women's cross country events, with Roland Green and Alison Sydor. Green was surprised with his result, as he was battling leg cramps near the finish, and was only hoping for a top-10. He came fourth in the first round of the World Cup in March, but will still have to try and qualify for the Olympic team at the Tim Hortons mountain bike nationals on July 21-23 at Chelsea, near Ottawa. Alison Sydor is automatically qualified, and she too was quite happy with her achievement at the World's. She also suffered from leg cramps in the closing kilometres. Medals Table
Gold Silver Bronze
1 USA 3 2 1
2 Spain 3 2 0
3 France 3 0 4
4 Switzerland 1 1 1
5 Australia 1 1 0
6 Great Britain 0 2 2
7 Canada 0 2 0
8 Finland 0 1 0
9 Poland 0 1 0
10 Italy 0 0 2
11 Netherlands 0 0 1
12 New Zealand 0 0 1
Pieri finedSaeco's Dario Pieri withdrew from the UCI 1.2 Giro dell' Appennino on Sunday in Italy, conducted in atrocious conditions. Although only 19 our of 133 riders finished, Pieri was actually fined by his team for his non-participation. Saeco said that his decision was "frivolous and unjustified" and he should have shown respect to the race organisers and fans.
Jack Hoobin passes awayFormer top Australian cyclist, Jack Hoobin passed away on Saturday, a day before he had been due to carry the Olympic torch. His wife Margaret took his place in the relay as a tribute to her husband who remains the only Australian to have won a world road cycling title. Hoobin, a Victorian who has lived on the Gold Coast since the 1960ıs, won the amateur road event in 1950 in Moorslede, Belgium. He also represented Australia at the 1948 Olympic Games in London where he placed seventh in the road race.
US USPRO resultsOf the 68 finishers in the USPRO Championships in Philly last weekend, 28 were from the USA. We have added the results into the USPRO page (and made a slight correction to the full results - Julian Dean did not finish 10th and 11th!) for the benefit of our US readers.
NZMBA gain new coordinatorThe New Zealand Mountain Bike Association have acquired a new part time co-ordinator for their office. Rick Zawodny replaces Zhijun Chen, who has moved onto a full time job. Rick has a strong background in mountain biking administration as a long-time member of the Hutt Valley Club, and the NZMBA hope to utilise those talents in future.
Cannondale competition winnersCyclingnews.com is proud to announce the winners of its Giro d'Italia competition sponsored by Cannondale and Saeco. All three prize getters were both surprised and very happy when informed of the result. Again, we are very grateful for the enourmous response to the competition and will have more on the way in future. A big thanks as well to Cannondale for sponsoring the prizes. |