News for September 16, 200055th Vuelta a España news
Non eventful stage
Finally the Vuelta has taken its toll, as the riders are within two stages of the finish. Today's 130 kilometre effort from Salamanca to Ávila was uneventful until near the finish, but a bunch sprint was the result, and Mariano Piccoli won another stage. Race leader, Roberto Heras had a scare with 25 kilometres to go when he needed a bike change, but the leaders on GC didn't take advantage of the situation and did not attack. He was subsequently paced back to the bunch while the sprinter's teams took control of the stage, having just to catch Zintchenko towards the end. Carlos Sastre was the hometown hero of the stage, as he lives in Ávila. However, the ONCE rider was not able to win despite attacking on several occasions. "I am quite happy to be here on home ground, where everybody knows you and supports you even if you are last," he said. He aims to place in the top 10 in Sunday's time trial, and expressed his satisfaction with the race so far.
González wants a podium spotSantos González (ONCE) has hung in there during the Vuelta and is currently lying in fifth place, 26 seconds behind Raimundas Rumsas and 2'13 behind Pavel Tonkov. He believes that a podium spot is possible given the final two stages, but he will have to work for it. He said that he was "satisfied" with his performance in the Vuelta, but "the more you get, the more you want," he added. "Tonkov is a great rider, but I am going to try with all my strength and if I have a good day, then I can move up to third. I am sharpening the knife."
Two stages to goThe 55th Vuelta a España will conclude on Sunday with an individual time trial in Madrid of 38 kilometres. The stage, taking place in the city's centre, is a logistical problem for the organisers who have to close the circuit to traffic between 10:00 and 17:00. As the time trial is held on major roads, the Madrid's motor traffic authority declared that it will the largest road closure in the city's history. The organisers fear that they will be beaming images of scantily clad prostitutes who are well known for plying their trade in the city's central park, Casa de Campo (where the time trial passes through. "This would be a severe embarrassment for the city of Madrid, said Unipublic's Victor Cordero to El Pais. They are hoping that as the race is held during daylight hours, and the park will effectively be closed to traffic, then this will not occur. Tomorrow's stage from Ávila to Alto de Abantos will present the riders with their last mountain challenge of the race. A total of five categorised climbs culminate with the Alto de Abantos, a 5.6% category 1 climb at the finish. Due to certain sporting fixtures in Australia, the stage will only be covered live for the last hour, from 16:15 European time.
Teams classification: a short explanationMany cyclingnews readers have been writing and asking how the teams classification in the Vuelta (and other tours) is worked out. At the moment, Vitalicio Seguros is leading that competition, despite Kelme being the dominant team over the past 10 days or so, and having their three best riders higher on GC than any of Vitalicio's. The reason for this apparent anomaly is that the team's classification is worked out by summing the times of the top three stage finishers out of each team after every stage, and adding it to the cumulative total. It doesn't matter who the riders are, and they don't even have to finish the whole tour to count for team time. Thus, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, Jan Hruska and Victor Hugo Peña have all played an important part in keeping Vitalicio at the top. However, there's only 19 seconds in it and Kelme may overtake them in tomorrow's stage and hold it in the time trial.
66th Giro del LazioThe 1.HC Giro del Lazio takes place in Rome today, held over a 200 kilometre parcours. It is the last test for the Italian men's road team, and all of them will be present: Danilo Di Luca, Michele Bartoli, Paolo Bettini, Francesco Casagrande and Marco Pantani. Controversy has surrounded the Pirate in the last few days regarding hematocrit checks carried out by CONI on members of the Italian team. It is possible that he may be prevented from going or may opt out of the team himself if CONI and the FCI continue their stance. "They risk having four of us go to the Olympic Games," said Pantani today. For the remaining members, they will be closely watched in the race, and Liquigas will be doing their best to put Davide Rebellin in front to show Antonio Fusi once again that he should have been selected. In addition, Stefano Garzelli, Mirko Celestino, Massimo Donati and Andrea Ferrigato are expected to show their colours. The main difficulties on the undulating course are the climbs of Rocca Priora (768 m, 3 km at 8.2%) and Rocca di Papa (734 m, 4.5 km at 10.14%). The first is at kilometre 131, while the second is at kilometre 144.8. These are significantly harder climbs than any on the Sydney course, however they only have to be climbed once rather than 14 times. The Italian team will fly out the day after the race on Sunday, September 17.
Spanish World's teamThe Spanish are entitled to 13 in their World Championships team as they have the defending champion, Oscar Freire. The rainbow jersey will be present in Sydney but is also down to defend his title in Plouay on October 15. Spanish national selector, Francisco Antequera named the following riders today. Notable absentee was Vuelta leader, and probable overall winner, Roberto Heras. Time Trial
Abraham Olano (ONCE-Deutsche Bank) Reserves: Santos Gonzalez (ONCE-Deutsche Bank) Road Race Oscar Freire (Mapei-Quick Step) Reserves: Santiago Blanco (Vitalicio-Seguros) Australian World's teamThe eight rider men's team that will represent Australia at the World Championships in Plouay (October 10-15) was named by selectors earlier this week. The team is not official yet until Cycling Australia endorses it. Three riders (O'Grady, McEwen and McGee) will be doing it on top of the Olympics and it is not yet certain if they will return from Australia. Australian men's team
Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) - RR, ITT 58th Milan Bike ShowThe only international bike show open to the public is the Milan International Bicycle Exhibition, in its 58th year this year. The four day show runs from September 16-19, and features a number of special events, including visits from Mario Cipollini and Romans Vainsteins, the mass participation Pedalata Azzurra and the Rally del Giubileo, an international forum on the future of the bike, as well as the latest new products in Italian cycling. One feature will be the new CF1 Colnago bicycle by Ferrari, built after a year-long collaboration between Ferrari and Colnago. It is red and silver, and only 500 will be made, costing a lot of cash. Look out for a full report on the show on cyclingnews.com.
Sunderland, Høj and Capelle meetAustralian Scott Sunderland, along with Danes Frank Høj and Lars Michaelsen and Belgian Ludovic Capelle will meet to discuss their future with the "new" combined Belgian team, Collstrop-Palmans. Sunderland, who is a key member of Palmans, has expressed his desire for riding for the enlarged team although he has received offers from other squads. "I am not really interested in changing teams, and I will certainly rider for another year. There is the possibility of a contract in future for two to three years, but perhaps the contract from Collstrop will be for just one year. I'll see after talk with Van Der Schuren," he told sportnet.be. Van Der Schueren (who currently manages Collstrop) said that he hoped to have all these riders in his team next year, and was optimistic that they could reach an agreement.
Ballerini's futureFormer Paris-Roubaix winner, Franco Ballerini is currently considering his options for next season. He will be 36 this December, and retirement is a strong possibility. Although he rides for Lampre-Daikin at the moment, there is a good chance that he would return to his former team of Mapei in 2001. Ballerini will make his decision in two weeks. Tax free transport in BritainAs the majority of the British population fretted in fuel queues, crowded onto public transport or simply remained at home waiting for the fuel situation to ease, a minority stumbled across an alternative form of transport. People throughout the country were spotted making remarkably quick progress down almost deserted roads on strange two-wheeled contraptions. Silent, clean, maneuverable and surprisingly fast, these vehicles attracted interest and admiration wherever they appeared. Historians were soon announcing that they had identified these peculiar steeds from old photos and documents dating back to the beginning of the last century. Apparently they were then referred to as "bicycles" or "cycles" for short. Amazingly, these unfamiliar machines were once the most popular form of transport, before being replaced by the vastly superior car. Equally amazingly, "bicycles" seem to have escaped any form of taxation - successive governments having dismissed them as an insignificant form of transport. Experts have also revealed that "bicycles" do not require petrol or any other form of fuel, though this is obviously hard to credit as estimates of their speeds range from 10 to 20 miles per hour. They must draw their power from somewhere. Some have even claimed that they are powered by their pilots, or "cyclists" as they are known - surely not? Bicycles Tax-Free Try a single-seater (bicycle) or sporty two-seater (tandem) today |
