|
|
|
Edited by Jeff Jones
Mario De Clercq has made a decision about his future, and will sign for his old team Palmans from March 1, 2002. Up until last week, De Clercq was leaning toward retiring after the Cyclo-cross World's in February. That meant that his Domo-Farm Frites team manager Patrick Lefevere could fill his roster with 25 riders, without having to worry about De Clercq.
However, the Belgian ex-world champion changed his mind and decided to continue, and would have ridden for Domo if there was a place left. "Patrick Lefevere received no guarantee from the UCI that it would be possible to have a 26th rider," said De Clercq to De Standaard. "I had a nice offer from Harry Palmans. With team leader Hilaire Van der Schueren we also spoke of including me in the road team. I am hopeful."
Van der Schueren is happy with this arrangement. "I saw Mario start as a professional with Superconfex, when I was an assistant to Jan Raas. It is very nice that he will also finish his career with me. If he comes to an agreement with Harry Palmans then I don't have any problem with him in the road team."
By Karen Forman, cyclingnews.com correspondent
|
Next month's Skilled Geelong Bay Cycling Classic has been hailed an all important key to the fitness of several of Australia's international road riders as they prepare to rejoin their teams overseas for the European racing season.
Newly crowned 2001 Cyclist of the Year, Stuart O'Grady, told the launch of the 2002 event at Melbourne's Crown Casino yesterday (Dec 17) that Australian domestic fixtures like the five-day "Bay Classic" provided crucial conditioning, race fitness and tactical fine tuning for pro riders.
"The obvious thing is to try to win but at the same time (competing in events like this) gives you something to take back to Europe with you," he said.
O'Grady, who held both the leader's yellow and the sprinter's green jerseys in the 2001 Tour de France, will be one of five of Australia's top road riders contesting the criterium event, which begins January 2 in Rye, continues January 3 at Barwon Heads, January 4 at Geelong, January 5 at Port Arlington and concludes on January 6 at the Crown Casino complex.
Defending champion Robbie McEwen will be going for his fourth title, while stage winner in the Giro d'Italia David McKenzie will be doing his utmost to take the winner's jersey to Europe to mark the arrival of Australia's new trade team, iteamNova.
Olympic madison gold medalist, Scott McGrory, fresh from winning four Six Day races in Europe, is also looking to continue his fantastic form, hoping to clinch an event he has not yet conquered. In the women's event, World Cup champion and 2001 Australian Female Road Cyclist of the Year, Anna Millward will be seeking a fifth title.
They will be joined by what race director John Trevorrow believes is the best international group ever to compete in the 13 year history of the race.
The lineup of 14 internationals includes Italian Adriano Baffi (Mapei-QuickStep), a top sprinter who has won more than 100 races during his career, compatriots Enzo Melloni and Diego Zanardo, Englishmen Jeremy Hunt, Russell Downing, Tim Moreley and Joby Ingram, Sion Jones from Wales, Kiwis Graeme Miller and Greg Henderson, Czech Tomas Buchacek and Dutch Olympians John Den Braber and Jens Mouris.
"The Skilled Geelong Bay Classic is gaining a global reputation as a great event that is now being used by many international riders and our own overseas based Australian riders as a major part of their New Year preparations for the European cycling season," Trevorrow said.
"We have the best field ever...we say that every year but it keeps getting bigger every year. "When we first started we were struggling to get top overseas riders here. Now we are getting them but we don't need them...because we have so many of our own guys doing well on the international scene. It's going to be a great series."
|
The Australian riders admit it's going to be tough. "It's always tough," O'Grady said. "But you gain a lot of experience through racing at home. I have been trying to get my base together since December and obviously this year (I will be) trying to win."
He said obviously he and other Australian pros felt more pressure to perform well when competing on home turf - which ultimately provides even better racing for riders and spectators alike. "You can't just relax and chill out because everyone expects you to do well," he said.
O'Grady will follow the Bay event with the Australian road nationals, where he will "try to take the jersey" before returning to Europe to the French team he has spent seven years with, on January 24. He said he would be a Commonwealth Games contender on the road, but not the track, due to its clash with the final stages of the Tour de France.
|
McGrory, still on a high after taking gold in front of a home crowd during the Sydney 2000 Olympics, said the Bay Classic would kick off the second part of the Euro track season for him. "I had a very good second half of the year," he said. "I gathered things around in time to be good for the Euro track season, which was what Mapei had planned for me... out of five six days, I won four of them."
He will leave for Europe after the final criterium, missing the road nationals. And then? "Commonwealth Games - yes, I want to do everything, he said. The Commonwealth Games are the next step to the next Olympics..."
Certainly, top performers in the Skilled Geelong Bay Classic will get plenty of coverage. The 2002 event will be seen by a worldwide audience of more than 250 million viewers, thanks to a special television broadcast package negotiated by Summer of Cycling. As well as being covered nationally through Channel 10's Sports Tonight program, Trevorrow, who is Summer of Cycling director, will produce two one-hour specials covering the men's and women's events that include visual postcards of each location.
It's a prospect that excites naming rights sponsor, the City of Greater Geelong, which has joined Australia's largest diversified services company, Skilled Engineering, as its sponsorship partner, for the first time. Councillor for major events, Shane Dowling, said Geelong was the perfect location for the event and would provide a spectacular backdrop for the action.
"With a worldwide television audience of some 250 million people, the beauty of Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula will be on show to the world," he told the launch. "It's a great opportunity for us to reach a global market and to show why the city and surrounding region is gaining a great reputation as a major events venue."
O'Grady said the nature of the event would contribute to the interest. "Criteriums are always exciting and fast, with riders flashing by on every lap and sharp corners, while in a road race, people can wait all day to see the riders just flash by."
McEwen, meanwhile, said he believed it was important for pro-riders to support events at home. "Like the other guys I find it is very important for us to promote our sport the best we can...the more the better," he said.
He said criteriums were best raced by "getting at the front, staying at the front and just going as hard as you can, almost switching off and trying to finish it off."
The criterium event is the first leg of the three-race Skilled International Series, which culminates with the Skilled Tour of Tasmania in late February.
The Italian team formed out of the remnants of the Liquigas team continues to take shape, with Colombian veteran Hernan Buenahora to lead the 13 member squad. 34 year old Buenahora is a climbing specialist, with 10 victories in his career. He will aim for Tirreno-Adriatico and the Giro d'Italia, the most important stage races in Italy.
22 year old Italian Crescenzo D'Amore is another rider joining Cage Maglierie, having ridden the past two years for Mapei-Quick Step. Others include Ramon Bianchi and Paolo Bono. Fabio Bordonali will manage the team, which will ride Olmo bikes.
Domo Farm Frites will hold a two week training camp in Mallorca, starting January 15 and finishing on February 2. 12 riders (approximately half the team) including Johan Museeuw, Franck Vandenbroucke and Romans Vainsteins will remain in Mallorca until February 7, after riding in the Mallorca Challenge, a series of one day races held around the island. A smaller group of Domo riders will return to Spain on February 16 for the Vuelta a Andalucia (Ruta Del Sol), February 17-21.
The Spanish ONCE team has justified its actions in the case of a cyclist suffering from bulimia, who was forced out of the team. "He [Curro Garcia] was psychologically down and we decided not to give publicity to his case so as not to complicate his future," said team manager Pablo Anton.
Garcia's doctor, Ángel Buenache, said that "He a big obsession not to gain weight and suffered from bulimia. He put his fingers in his mouth to vomit after eating, until somebody told him about medicine that suppresses the appetite."
"The boy was destroyed psychologically. Luckily, Acqua e Sapone signed him, and we did not hide anything and they are helping him. It takes months and a lot of psychological therapy, and I am convinced that we are going to make him recover."
Last year's Swedish Championship bronze medallist Åsa Hagberg will ride for the Italian pro squad Michela Fanini for the two first months next season. Hagberg started as a mountain bike racer but made her breakhrough on the road last year as a runner up in the Swedish Road Cup.
"I have hardly raced abroad so I don' t really know where I stand. I still have a bit left to the level of the three Swedish top pros (Ljungskog, Lindberg and Algelid) that's about all I have as a reference," Hagberg said in a press release from her Swedish club Borlänge CK, where Madeleine Lindberg also started her career.
She will train and race with the Italian squad for two months as a beginning and in mid March her performance will be evaluated for a possible continuation.
With thanks to Roberto Vacchi
Next year's edition of the Vuelta al Tachira (UCI 2.5) in Venezuela takes place from January 12-24, 2002. The race is 1181 kilometres long, comprised of 13 stages with an average stage length of 139.3 kilometres. Two of these stages are flat circuit races, including the starting stage in Barquisimeto. The remainder are point-to-point races, sometimes with a starting circuit. An 18.6 kilometre individual time trial is featured on stage 11.
The longest stage is Stage 4, starting in Socopo and finishing at Santa Anna del Tachira after 216.3 km. This is also the first of five uphill finishes, although the summit at 820 metres is certainly not one of Venezuela's largest mountains. On stage 6, the riders again finish uphill, with the category A climb to Merida (1550 m), one of the race's critical stages.
Stage 7 from Santa Cruz de Mora to La Grita offers no respite, also finishing at altitude (1460 m) after a long 40 kilometre climb. The climbs come earlier in Stage 8 from La Fria to Cerro Cristo Rey, although there is still a Category B climb to finish, again at 1460 metres.
The stage 11 time trial features a Category C climb at the end, but this is likely to hurt as it climbs 415 metres in the final 4.9 kilometres. This stage will be the last real chance to make any changes in the general classification, as the final two stages contain only moderate climbs.
Total: 1181.3 km
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
Recently on Cyclingnews
Latest Photos - Olympic
Armstrong, Boulder & California 'cross, More Pan-Am, Canberra, Boston & REI
'cross (December 13)
Cyclingnews survey -
Reader Poll 2001 - Vote for your favourite riders
Letters
- VDB, Lance, Boring Tour, Coastal Post, Respect (December 13)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Ryan Bayley - the KFC-fuelled world champ (December 13)
Cyclingnews Interview
- David McKenzie - Macca's back (December 12)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Laurent Jalabert - Jalabert looks ahead (December 11)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Charly Wegelius - A coffee stop with Charly (December 8)
Cyclingnews
Interview - Sven Montgomery - Moving up in the world (December 6)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Rochelle Gilmore - Road scholar (December 6)
Tales from the Peloton
- 12 Hours of Oleta - MTB endurance race in Miami (December 6)
Tales from the Peloton
- Tony Cruz - back to his roots (December 7)
Marco Polo
Diary - Tour du Faso - Part II - Nathan Dahlberg's report (December 3)
Tech
maintenance - Wheels - how to keep them true and tight
Tech letters
- Headsets, Pegoretti, Carbon cage, gloves & tubes (December 10)
Tech news - Navigators
power-tap, Headsets, Carbon cages (December 7)
Tech- Recycling
- How to protect your chainstay for free
Tech Reviews:
Egg Beater pedals; Park
Tool belt; Shimano shoes;
Speedplay
Breaking
the Chain - Dope planning and testing - From Willy Voet's book
| Home Search Survey Contact us |
