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Edited by Jeff Jones
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South Australian cyclist, Stuart O'Grady, was awarded the top honour at the 2001 Fielders Australian Cyclist of the Year Awards after a spectacular season marked by his performance in the Tour de France. O'Grady was presented with the Sir Hubert Opperman Trophy for the 2001 Fielders Australian Cyclist of the Year at the ceremony in his hometown of Adelaide. O'Grady was also named the Male Road Cyclist of the Year. He was also awarded both accolades in 1998.
In 2001 the 28 year old Credit Agricole rider began his season success in the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, where he snatched overall victory on the final day of racing, the second time he had won the event.
But his biggest achievement of the year came in the Tour de France. O'Grady performed brilliantly in the first 10 days of the Tour to claim the leader's yellow jersey, the second time in his career that he has worn cycling's golden fleece. He also was part of the Credit Agricole victory in the Tour's Teams Time Trial stage. When he eventually relinquished the yellow, he donned the green jersey as the leader of the Tour's sprint competition, a lead he held until the final day when the German master sprinter, Erik Zabel, recaptured it for his sixth win in that competition.
O'Grady's 2001 season also included second overall in the Tour of Sweden and numerous podium finishes in international events.
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World number one ranked Anna Millward, 30, took out the Female Road Cyclist of the Year Award. The Victorian, who rides for the Saturn team, performed consistently throughout the year to clinch the number one ranking. She also secured the World Cup Series crown for the second time.
In the track awards Perth speedster, Ryan Bayley, 19, claimed the Male Track Cyclist of the Year title after a win in the keirin event at the World Championships in Belgium. He was also member of the Australian trio which claimed silver in the Olympic sprint event. NSW teenager Kate Bates was named the Female Track Cyclist of the Year. Her performances included a silver medal in the points race at the World Championships, world cup placings and two gold and a silver medal at the Australian Titles.
Sydney's Paul Rowney, 31, claimed his third consecutive Australian Cross Country Mountain Bike Crown in 2001 and that, along with consistent performances and his outstanding ambassadorship for Australian cycling, saw him named Male MTB Cyclist of the Year.
Female MTB Cyclist of the Year went to Canberra's Mary Grigson, 30, who won her fourth Australian crown and triumphed for the second year in the US NORBA National Championships. She also claimed victory in Round 5 of the World Cup series.
In the Multi-Disability category, Mark Le Flohic (CP Div 2 - tricycle) clinched two gold medals at both the European and World Titles and achieved the number one ranking in his division.
In the junior categories Mark French (Vic) earned the title of Junior Male Track Cyclist of the Year. He came home from the World Junior Championships in 2001 with gold medals in the sprint and Olympic sprint to match the pair he won at the nationals. The female award went to Queenslander Anna Meares who won gold in the 500m time trial and finished fourth in the sprint at the World Junior titles.
On the road Bernard Sulzberger (Tas) who accomplished a clean sweep of all Australian Junior Road Series stages and represented his country at the World Road Championships in Portugal was named Junior Male Road Cyclist of the Year. Victorian Vanessa Crawford, who completed the full distance in the road race at the World's despite crashing midway through received the junior female award.
In Mountain Bike competition 2001 Junior World Downhill Champion, Ben Corey, claimed the junior male title. No female junior MTB award was made this year.
The BMX category saw 20 year old Tanya Bailey (WA) awarded the senior female honour. She is the number one ranked Australian elite rider and national champion as well as a finalist in the World Championships. Best Male award went to Queensland's Kamakazi, 20, who claimed the rare feat of dual top honours in the cruiser and 20 inch class in the national male elite ranks was also awarded the Professional Rookie of Year title by the American BMX Association. Junior national champions Bridgette Pink, 18, (Qld) and Shane Agalawatte, 17, (SA) took out the junior awards.
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In the masters division Danny Clark (Tas), who claimed two gold, two silver and a bronze medal at the Masters World Track and a gold and a bronze medal at the World Road Championships, was named Male Masters Cyclist of the Year. The female award went to Vicki Birks (Vic) who clinched three silver medals in the over 40 years division at the World Masters titles in Manchester.
Highly respected Victorian coach, John Beasley, was named Qantas Coach of the Year
The judging criteria included:
1. Performance at principal world events
2. Performance at other major international events
3. Performance at premier domestic level
4. Consistency of Performances
5. Ambassadorship for the sport of cycling
2001 Australian Cyclist of the Year - Sir Hubert Opperman
Medal
Stuart O'Grady (SA)
Female Track Cyclist of the Year
Kate Bates (NSW)
Male Track Cyclist of the Year
Ryan Bayley (WA)
Female Road Cyclist of the Year
Anna Millward (Vic)
Male Road Cyclist of the Year
Stuart O'Grady (SA)
Female Mountainbike Cyclist of the Year
Mary Grigson (ACT)
Male Mountainbike Cyclist of the Year
Paul Rowney (NSW)
Multi Disability Cyclist of the Year
Mark Le Flohic (CP Div 2 - tricycle)
Junior Female Track Cyclist of the Year
Anna Meares (Qld)
Junior Male Track Cyclist of the Year
Mark French (Vic)
Junior Female Road Cyclist of the Year
Vanessa Crawford (Vic)
Junior Male Road Cyclist of the Year
Bernard Sulzberger (Tas)
Junior Male MTB Cyclist of the Year
Ben Corey
Junior Female MTB Cyclist of the Year
Not awarded
Female BMX Cyclist of the Year
Tanya Bailey (WA)
Male BMX Cyclist of the Year
Kamakazi (Qld)
Junior Female BMX Cyclist of the Year
Bridgette Pink (Qld)
Junior Male BMX Cyclist of the Year
Shane Agalawatte (SA)
Female Masters Cyclist of the Year
Vicki Birks (Vic)
Male Masters Cyclist of the Year
Danny Clark (Tas)
Qantas Coach of the Year
John Beasley (Vic)
Event Merit Award
Bendigo Madison (Vic)
Santiago Botero (Kelme-Costa Blanca) was named the best Colombian cyclist of 2001 by the Colombian Cycling Federation yesterday at a ceremony in Bogota.
"I am very happy with this honour which is the fruit of one year of hard work. It will motivate me to look for other victories on European roads, the Vuelta España or the Tour de France. My objective is to continue to be one of best in the international peloton," said 29 year old Botero.
"Colombian cycling is very competitive and I am aiming to give a good image of it in Europe," he added.
Botero's results in 2001 included 8th overall in the Tour de France, 18th in the Vuelta España (2 stage wins), and 3rd in the World Time Trial championships in Lisbon.
Elite male cyclist of the year (world)
Santiago Botero
Elite male cyclist of the year (national)
Marlon Pérez
Elite female cyclist of the year (world)
María Luisa Calle
Elite female cyclist of the year (national)
Flor Marina Delgadillo
U23 male cyclist of the year, winner of Vuelta de la
Juventud
Luis Felipe Laverde
U23 male cyclist of the year (national)
Carlos Andrés Ibáñez
Junior male cyclist of the year, winner of Vuelta del
Porvenir
Mauricio Soler
Junior female cyclist of the year (national), winner
of Vuelta del Futuro
Laura Castro
Winner of Vuelta a Colombia 2001
Hernán Buenahora
By Paul Boudreau, www.timjohnson.net
Defending US National Cyclo-cross Champion Tim Johnson had the following thoughts on this weekend's US Cyclo-cross Championships and Super Cup finals in Baltimore
Paul Boudreau: You've won another race but had a few companions. In fact, it seems as though this season has been a lot more competitive. Who will you be on the look out for at Nationals?
Tim Johnson: The guys that I think I'll be looking at this weekend are Todd Wells, Marc Gullickson and Jonathan Page. I think Dale Knapp can be in there for a while, Alex Candelario can surprise.
I think the fun part about having such a competitive season is that we've had a chance to see each other quite a few times and kind of get to know what we're all about, so going into the race I'm not totally blind. It was nice to have that race last weekend (New England Series Race #6 - Merrimack) to figure out who's going well and who really wants to win.
I think if the race turns out to be very, very difficult I have a good shot of winning. If it's an easier tactical race then I think it will be much harder, because that means more people are able to win. It should be interesting and I haven't seen the course yet. I think it's going to be an exciting race no matter what.
PB: You had a pretty intense training week on the bike prior to the Merrimack race. How do you think your fitness is as we head into Nationals?
TJ: The week before the Merrimack race had been very difficult. My week involved a lot of training and some pretty high intensity stuff. But I don't think that it's anything too extraordinary. I think my fitness is OK. I can't say for sure exactly how it is because I haven't raced in the last couple of days. I think it'll be OK. It's a bike race and bike races are hard to win. If this race wasn't hard to win than it wouldn't really be nationals, would it? I think it'll turn out OK.
PB: What about the Super Cup? You're just behind Marc by what - 2 points? Are you going into this weekend more focused on one race or are you looking to win at both races?
TJ: Yea, kind of a good problem to have, not being able to tell which race to really focus on. It's actually easier because if I race as hard as I can both days then I'll have a good chance of one: winning nationals; and two: winning the Super Cup, and that would be the endpoint to a nice US season just before I head over to Europe. <,p> It's an awesome position to be in and it's kind of nice to see that I really was consistent all year so my points are pretty high in Super Cup. Should be a hell of a battle for both races. I'm not scared (laughs)! I'm looking forward to it.
New signing for La Francaise des Jeux, Bradley Wiggins, recently returned from his first training camp with many of his teammates at Renaze, France, where has managers the Madiot brothers were born and still live nearby. Despite the lack of his three other English speaking teammates, Bradley found that his mainly French colleagues made him feel right at home.
"Providing my form warranted it, I would possibly lead the team in some major French stage races and I have be told to be on good form for Paris-Nice and the prologue time trial," said Wiggins. "I should also have a chance to ride some classics and even a couple of the major ones, maybe even my favourites, Paris -Roubaix and Tour of Flanders. The team and the Madiots have shown a lot of confidence in me...Even the Tour de France is not out of the question, but not the whole event."
Bradley has also been training hard in the gym and been doing a lot of ergo rowing, so when the opportunity was presented to row at Henley by his club colleague, ex-international and Oxford Brookes rower and now cyclist, David Cockrell, Bradley jumped at the chance.
"Normally it take a good few weeks to get to grips with the technique but after a few minutes Brad was rowing really well as if he had been training for months," said David. "I still cannot get over the fact that it was his first time and neither could any of my colleagues. I know he is bit special on a bike and he seemed to carry over his talent very easily, it was just fantastic to row with him. I know he would never stop cycle racing, but if he did...well..."
By Rod Morris
The Devonport Trial Wheel is back on the agenda, giving riders an invaluable hit-out prior to the start of the Basslink Tasmanian Carnival Series. The Mersey Valley - Devonport Cycling Club will conduct the Devonport Trial Wheelrace over 3000 m next Tuesday night, with a full programme of events starting at 6.30 p.m. at the Devonport Oval.
While entries will be accepted on the night, the MVDCC is expecting to have enough riders to accommodate up to three heats. Senior riders will also be catered for with a 1000 m lightning handicap and graded scratch races, while junior racing will be included.
On current form, Devonport scratchman Gareth Atkins cannot be discounted, although the middle markers group of Ron Crawford, Jarrod Burr, Simon Elliott and even veteran front marker Darrell Eaves are all moving well enough to suggest they could be a threat.
Former Rosebery Wheel winner John Abblitt is another danger and his present facing form is nothing short of sensational. Abblitt is arguably the quickest man on two wheels - without a motor - over a sprint distance in Tasmania at present.
The Devonport Trial Wheelrace will be the last carnival for Tasmanian riders before the Christmas Series begins at Latrobe on Boxing Day.
1 - Open 1000 m Handicap heats
2 - Junior 3 1000 m Handicap
3 - Junior 2 1000 m Handicap
4 - Junior 1 1000 m Handicap
5 - Open 1000 m Handicap final
6 - Junior 3 Scratch
7 - Devonport Trial Wheel 3000 m heats
8 - Junior 2 2000 m Handicap
9 - Junior 1 2000 m Handicap
10 - Junior 1 1000 m Handicap
11 - Devonport Trial Wheel 3000 m Final
12 - Junior 2 Scratch
13 - Junior 1 Scratch
14 - B Grade Scratch
15 - A Grade Scratch
Major Races and Events
September 7-29, 2002: Vuelta
a España (GT) - Preview, stage list
May 11-June 2, 2002: Giro
d'Italia (GT) - Preview, stage list, photos
July 6-28, 2002: Tour
de France (GT) - Full preview & official route details
December 8: Superprestige
Rd 5 (Cat. 1) - Erwin Vervecken
November 29-December 4: Six
Days of Noumea (6D) - Sassone/Neuville victorious
November 26-December 1: Six
Days of Zurich (6D) - Day
6 - McGrory/Gilmore/Schnider win
December 1: Melbourne
Cup on Wheels (IM) - Scott Moller, Keirin,
Sprint, Support
races
December 2: Cyclo-cross
World Cup #2 (CDM) - Sven Nijs again
November 24-December 3: Juegos
Deportivos Centroamericanos (JR) - Final results
December 8-9: Frankfurter
Rad-Cross (Cat. 2) - Alex Mudroch, UK
National Trophy Series #4 (Cat. 3) - Roger Hammond, Grote
Prijs Industrie Bosduin - Kalmthout (Cat. 1) - Bart Wellens, Int.
Radquer Obergösgen (Cat. 2) - Björn Rondelez, Trofeo
Mamma e Papa Guerciotti (Cat. 3) - Enrico Franzoi, Premio
Egondo (Cat 3) - David Seco, Irish
cyclo-cross championships - Robin Seymour
Results: local racing
Australia - CycleWest
Promotions Omnium Series #2, Eastern
Suburbs Summer Criterium Series, Carnegie
Caulfield Tuesday criterium, Southern
Cross Junior Track Open & Madison Cup, Manly
Warringah CC, George
Town Track Carnival, Carnegie
Caulfield CC, Randwick
Botany CC, Gold
Coast CATS CC, Caesar's
Illawarra CC, Caesar's
Illawarra (track)
Denmark - Danish
cyclo-cross Post Cup #3
Italy - Gran
Premio Città di Bassano
Luxembourg - GP
De Kopstal
New Zealand - Cyco
Criterium series
Spain - Elorrio
cyclo-cross
USA - Georgia
Cross Series Championship, Chimborazo
Grand Prix cyclo-cross, Boulder
Cross Rd 6, New
Mexico State Cyclo-x Champs, Sorrento
Cyclo-x & California State Champ's, Boulder
Cross Rd 5, Verge
New England series, Northampton
CC Cyclo-cross Championships, Chris
Cross International CycloCross
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