News for September 13, 200055th Vuelta a España news
Heras takes command
There are still five stages to come in this year's Vuelta, but Kelme's Roberto Heras is looking like the most likely final winner in Madrid. Today up the notorious Angliru climb he put nearly 4 minutes into second placed Angel Casero (Festina) and now leads the race by 3'41. With two more mountain stages to come, and just one time trial for the rest to make up time on the climber, Heras is looking good in the Maillot Oro. A crash may prevent it of course and Heras is not invulnerable to these - he lost stage 16 of the Tour de France (Courchevel to Morzine) after crashing almost on the final bend, giving it to Richard Virenque and his smoking gun salute. "We are over the moon. It was an important step toward gaining the Vuelta," said Heras afterwards. "However, it is necessary to take care." Kelme once again performed in the mountains, and set an aggressive pace that forced the rest out the back. To finish with 3'41 spare on Casero was "more than I dreamed, I finished it off on this climb that is without comparison," added Heras. As for Casero, he said that he would do his utmost to gain back the time in the Madrid time trial, but today Kelme had "torn the race apart like the living Christ." He has not given up hope of winning, and neither has his Festina director Juan Fernandez. "3 minutes and 40 seconds is a lot of time, but it is not impossible," said Fernandez. "It was a great stage from the Festina team, but the stage fitted Heras like a glove. Angel Casero rode a good climb, but El Angliru is a mountain of extreme category." "Angel is a great rider, very complete, but not a great climber. He was well aware that Heras was going to attack. Kelme were sensational, imposing the toughest pace on the Colladiella, allowing Roberto to attack on the hardest slopes of El Angliru. They took more time out of us than we hoped, but they deserved it," said Fernandez. Commenting on his first ascent of the infamous Alto de L'Angliru Festina's David Clinger explained: "Oh, it had to rank as just about one of the hardest things I've done. On the last climb it got really steep and I was riding thinking "OK it's steep" and then it gets steeper and I'm thinking "well this isn't too bad" and then you go round a corner and it gets steeper and you're still thinking "OK, this is still doable" then another corner and it's just getting so steep it's sick, and then on the steepest part, Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano goes flying past me so fast ... being pushed by two people!! Without the helping hand it would've been just crazy but I got lots of pushes."
Simoni rates it harder than the MortiroloToday's stage winner, Gilberto Simoni (Lampre) rated El Angliru as harder than the feared Mortirolo climb in Italy (occasionally used in the Giro) which is considered one of the hardest climbs in the world. "I have ridden the Mortirolo several times and in my opinion the Angliru is harder," said Simoni after his triumph. "This race will be quite special for me from now on. This was one of my most beautiful wins." Despite coming third in the Giro and not riding the Tour, Simoni is only lying in 30th position at the moment, 38 minutes down. He lost a lot of time in the first week and commented that "If I had found myself in better form in the first few days, I would have probably gone for the overall win. Now, I am in the last week in the best form," he said.
Tonkov up to thirdMapei's Pavel Tonkov benefited from a solid ride today as well as the withdrawal of Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano to move up to third overall, 4'27 behind Heras. More importantly for him, he is only 1'09 behind Angel Casero who he might be able to catch in the coming days. If not, there is still the final time trial in Madrid where Tonkov is a proven performer. "I am satisfied because I believe that I will finish on the podium," said the Russian. "I wanted to win this stage after what happened last year, but the break changed the plans. I attacked Casero because I saw him in difficulty. I am just over a minute ahead of him and that is sufficient for the moment - there is enough time left. It is an interesting situation, and it looks like I can take the second position."
Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano abandonsSix riders abandoned the race today, reducing the field to 130. The two biggest names were Vitalicio's Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano and ONCE's David Etxebarria. While the latter wasn't a contender for GC, the former was lying third overall but had to pull out due to a knee injury. Gonzalez de Galdeano was dropped on the category 1 Alto de La Colladiella with over 50 kilometres to go, near the same place that Abraham Olano came to grief last year. It was a great blow for his team who are in their final year of sponsorship, especially after his older brother's stage win yesterday. "It tried today but after the first climb my knee started to hurt a lot...it was a great disappointment for our morale," said Galdeano.
Coming up...The final five stages are an alternation of flat and mountainous terrain, with a time trial to finish. Tomorrow's stage 17 from Benavente to Salamanca is 155.5 kilometres and quite flat. It will therefore give the sprinters a rare opportunity to keep things together for their own share of glory. Stage 19 from Salamanca to Ávila also offers this. There will be three intermediate sprints tomorrow at Santovenia, Fuentesecas and Fuentesauco and the final kilometre in Salamanca is uphill.
Olano for the hour?There seems to be renewed interest in the hour record now that the bar has been 'lowered' to Eddy Merckx's 49.43195 kilometre mark. Chris Boardman (who now holds the 'Best Hour Performance') will be the first to tackle the new record in October during the World's. However, other cyclists have expressed interest as well. One is Lance Armstrong, going for the "3600 second record" and another is Abraham Olano. Olano and his ONCE team director, Manolo Saiz have spoken of it but not yet set down any plans or a date for the challenge. They will perhaps wait for Boardman's attempt before assessing its feasibility on a standard bike. For obvious reasons, attempts on the hour record are usually made after the season has finished in October-November, or before the start in January-February. In other hour news, masters rider Jacqui Lockwood made an attempt on the women's hour record in Manchester last week during the World Masters Track Championships. On Thursday September 7, she set the new hour record at 40.756 kilometres.
Giro del LazioThe Giro del Lazio on September is the single most important one day race this month on the UCI calendar aside from the Olympic road races. It will be the last pre-Olympic test for many, including the several of the Italian Olympic squad. 19 teams will present themselves, with 9 riders apiece, including the likes of Andrea Ferrigato (Fassa Bortolo, winner of the GP Fourmies), Davide Rebellin, Sergio Barbero (last year's winner), Stefano Garzelli, Pascal Richard, Ivan Basso, Paolo Savoldelli, Chepe Gonzales, Hernan Buenahora, Mirko Celestino and Massimo Donati. The 200 kilometre race departs from the Terme di Caracalla in Rome and finishes in San Gregorio, with three laps of the traditional circuit of Roma Imperiale, after the Rocca Priora and Rocca di Papa. The teams: Alessio Team NewsDomo gets RodriguezMapei will lose their US Champion, Fred Rodriguez to Domo-Farm Frites next year after he signed a two year contract with the team. He joins McEwen, Magnusson, Kleynen and Moernhout who all signed on Monday. Peter Van Petegem may well join Domo after Mapei are now not as interested in him. The prime reason being Michele Bartoli who will stay with the Italian squad in the role of classics leader. Van Petegem has expressed interest in joining the new team of Cees Priem, which is yet to be revealed (if there is one). Romans Vainsteins and Marco Milesi (Vini Caldirola), and Enrico Cassani (Polti) are others on the Domo-Farm Frites hit list. Nürnberger adds, Mroz subtractsTwo Polish riders, Arkadiusz Wojtas and Sebastien Wolski will join German division II team, Nürnberger next year. They currently ride for the top Polish squad, Mroz are considered to have a bright future in cycling. Both riders are under 25: Wojtas won the KOM classification in the Peace Race as well as a stage, while Wolski has done well in time trials (6th in the espoirs at the 1998 World's). In addition, a member of the German U23 Telekom development squad, Jörg Förster, will ride for the team as well as Robert Förster and Christian Werner.
Cafés Baqué to pro ranksTop Spanish elite squad, Cafés Baqué could be joining the professional ranks next year. Team director Sabino Angoitia has come up with a proposal for the UCI after several months of consideration. The move up would require a significant increase in budget however - it is currently 25-30 million pesetas ($US 160,000) but would need to be increased to 40-50 million to make the change. To ask for this money from their sponsor, a Coffee manufacturer, they need approval from the UCI. If successful, they would enter the scene with a team of around 14 riders next year, with Ínigo Landaluze, Julen Fernandez, Antonio Martin, Ricardo Montana and Sergio Perez being five names to keep from their current lineup. They would also look to sign a few out of work pro's but the overall team will consist of young riders. It is also likely that their amateur team would keep going, regardless of what happens with the proposed professional team. |
