World Championships news for October 14, 2000

Bye Bye Boardman

By Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent

In the dramatic finish of yesterdays Elite Men's TT, we forgot to mention the penultimate race of one of our favourite riders, Chris Boardman. The current hour record holder, multiple time Maillot Jaune in Le Tour, world champ and Olympic Gold Medal winner, Boardman has had an excellent career. His 4th place ride was called by some "respectable" but we are sad that the likeable Brit didn't snag another medal. Oh well...

Boardman is training for his last race; an attempt to establish the "conventional" hour record during the upcoming Worlds Track Championships in Manchester, UK. Plus for all you big-time Boardman fans, a new commemorative book on Chris's career will be coming out soon. With pix by Phil "Philly Dog" O'Connor and the venerable Graham Watson, a forward by Mike Price and contributions by Miguel Indurain, Jean-Marie Le Blanc and Roger Legeay, the volume will be a fitting tribute to Boardman's career. Adieu Chris!

Frankie's fate

Rumors are circulating at the World's about the fate of Frank Vandenbroucke With his impending nuptials next week, no contract for 2001 and all his other "issues", VDB has a lot on his plate. Although he's been id'ed with a number of teams, a reliable source tells cyclingnews that Frankie may be headed south to Spain. After all, he's ridden for Belgian, French and Italians, so why not screw up with Banesto?

But VDB still has his loyalists; after all, his sports tests have always put the Walloon Whirlwind up with the very, very best riders.

LeMond's new project

Inside sources tell cyclingnews that Greg LeMond is involved with an ambitious team project for 2002. Although Le Greg wanted to launch the new team for '01, the funding simply arrived too late from the US based telecommunications sponsor to hire enough talent for a competitive team. Greg will be involved from the organizational side, while his old ADR team director, the personable Jose De Cauwer may be driving the car if the new team actually gets off the ground.

Freire the Spanish favourite

The Spanish are the defending champions in the Elite men's road race on Sunday, but they seem to be losing strength as the week progresses. They had entered with a full compliment of 13 riders, but may be reduced to 9 if things do not sort themselves out. First to leave was Abraham Olano, who was disappointed with his 5th place in the men's TT yesterday. He claimed that he was given the wrong information about time splits from his DS, Manolo Saiz and national selector Francesco Antequera.

After 20 kilometres, he was told that he was two seconds up on German Michael Rich and eight seconds faster than Gontchar. This was clearly not the case, as readers of cyclingnews who were following it live can attest. He was actually closer to a minute down and things did not improve for the former world champ in this discipline.

Later than evening, Olano decided to quit Plouay with one of the Spanish doctors, and his season is effectively finished.

The Spanish woes did not stop there, as three riders managed to leave their licences at home, and will have difficulty getting accreditation. There's always a way though...

Oscar Freire will still go into the race on Sunday as a favourite, but he will have to play his cards correctly against the other squads and the Italians in particular who seem less affected by the end of season blues than most.

Kate Bates' comments

Hailing from Sydney's west, Katherine Bates has been Australia's most successful rider at the World Championships to date, with a silver medal in the junior women's TT and a sixth in the road race. The following is an account of the time trial in her own words:

Well, what can I say, today was a good day! With a silver and a bronze, The Aussies are the only nation to have two medals after day one of time trials, despite the gold not coming....yet!

The junior women started off Australia's strong campaign in this year's road World's, with a 2nd and an 11th.

The course was an absolute burner, with a 3km climb up to the finish that was nasty to say the least. We go down it in the road course. For the first 5km or so of the race, it poured with rain, and winds that made me query my wheel selection. But, this soon turned to beautiful sunshine, and a bit of nice weather. The crowds were awesome, six deep in some areas, and really knew how to make a bit of noise!

I had a good ride, and felt good out there. I went into it a bit unsure of how I would pull up 16km later, but after collapsing and nearly passing out at the finish, I was sure I had put all into the race and the result that followed was just a bonus! It was certainly an experience we call "character building", and I learnt a lot about the sort of person I am! I also discovered how satisfying second can be, and by all means, I am now hungrier for that gold than ever!

Jessica Amy, Aussies other rider was happy with her ride, in 11th, and came out of it saying she is eagerly anticipating her future and what it holds. Always a good thing.

Courtesy of Parramatta CC