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Edited by Jeff Jones
The Cyclingnews' season review of some of the more memorable moments of 2001 continues with two items today. Regular European-based contributor Tim Maloney gives his precis of the season, which covers most of the professional road racing from spring through autumn.
Cyclingnews staff member Paul Goldsmith has decided to focus on one particular incident, and that was "The Look" that Lance Armstrong gave Jan Ullrich and others at the foot of L'Alpe d'Huez during the Tour de France. It was the start of Armstrong's dominance in this year's Tour, which he eventually won by a very healthy margin.
The following week will include more stories from the Tour de France, Vuelta a España, Giro d'Italia, MTB exploits, tech highlights and plenty more.
By Tim Maloney
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As Europe, the heart of world wide cycle sport passes from deutschmarks, drachmas and other ducats to a unified currency, 2001 may enter the ledger of cycling history as, well, just another year. However, there were some bright moments in 2001. Here are some that come to mind.
Special spring moments come to mind like the miniscule margin of victory by Davide Rebellin over Lele Colombo in Tirreneo-Adriatico; opening the way for Tintin Rebellin to eventually post 11 wins for the season, top Italian winner, who was world #1 for a while.
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Remember Piotr Wadecki's dramatic stage win on Stage 5 in Paris-Nice to finally give a sputtering Domo-Farm Frites squad a much-needed morale boosting victory? Then April showers soaked the pavé of French Flanders, where Johan Museeuw and his DFF boys put on a show at a chaotic Paris-Roubaix, with classy Servais Knaven eventually countering for the win, an extraordinary 1-2-3 for Domo.
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Summer opened with chaos at the Giro d'Italia, where a moronic prosecutor took advantage of the transition between governments to stage a grandstand raid on the Giro in search of alleged drugs. The Opera Buffa almost cancelled the Giro, but in the end, the police action handed the race to winner Gibo Simoni on a plate as his emerging rival Dario Frigo ended committing auto da fe.
In the new world, Freddy Rodriguez took his second consecutive US PRO title in Philadelphia with a clever last moment move that kept the talented Domo rider in his Stars & Stripes for another year.
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Oh oui; c'est Juilliet; c'est Le Tour - Lance Armstrong went for and got his three-peat and as the Star Spangled Banner once again wafted over the Champs-Elysées, it was a touching moment (except for when I lost my mobile phone in the media scrum) but 5 months later, one hopes for a more wide-open Tour next year. Le Tour, with all of it's gigantic, over-globalized, quasi-Disney hoopla runs the risk of becoming moribund.
With summer turning to fall, attention shifted to the post-tour classics and Erik Dekker's pursuit of a World Cup title. The solid Dutchman built on his April win in Amstel Gold all season with excellent rides in San Sebastian, Hamburg and Zurich.
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George Hincapie had his best season ever with April's classics win in Gent-Wevelgem, then a major victory in front of the enormous crowds at the inaugural San Francisco Grand Prix in September. As September's shadows lengthened, who could forget the big win by Scott Sunderland in GP Fourmies. The win by the 34 year-old Sunderland capped his tough comeback and catapulted him a long way up the top 100 on UCI points, a fitting reward for the likeable Aussie and Cyclingnews.com contributor.
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October's falling leaves and cold gusty weather greeted the top cyclists in the world as the penultimate race of the 2001 World Cup rolled out of Paris on October 7th. Dekker's World Cup win was still not wrapped up but sprinters race to Tours was enlivened by an electrifying solo win from Richard Virenque. The Domo man was on the comeback trail and love 'em or hate 'em, Virenque great ride was one of the top moments of 2001 for me.
With his 13th place in Paris-Tours, Dekker clinched his well-deserved World Cup title, so all eyes turned to the World Championship in Lisbon. The Races For The Rainbow jerseys turned out to be a quite disappointing; sparse crowds on hand, very little event promotion and finally an inadequate road course that was simply too easy for World Championship racing.
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Despite the negatives, I found a few exceptions; likeable Lithuanian Rasa Polikeviciute finally winning a world title in the Women's road race, American Danny Pate's stunning win in the U23 TT and the last three laps of the Men's Elite race, where eventually the immense class of sprinter Oscar Freire brought the Spaniard his second world title in 3 years.
But no worries mate - only a few more weeks to go until the 2002 racing season kicks off at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia! Let's get the show on the road.
By Paul Goldsmith
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My moment of the year in cycling was the Armstrong "look". For me, nothing else compares.
During the tenth stage of the Tour de France, twice defending champion, Lance Armstrong, challenged 1997 Tour winner Jan Ullrich to a race. Always one to master the moment, Armstrong chose to assert his dominance on L'Alpe d'Huez, one of the most respected and mythical peaks in cycling.
After the "look", not only was the tenth stage of the Tour de France over, the whole race was now in Armstrong's hands, although he didn't take the yellow jersey until stage 13. The look was so Armstrong, so challenging as to be undeniable. And so Hollywood. But not in a bad Hollywood way.
Whatever was or wasn't said, and the actual intent of the glance, matters little. Armstrong looked at Ullrich at the bottom of a hill. Both parties noticed the look. And Armstrong rode away from Ullrich. Simple.
I can go harder than you. You cannot hurt me. Very Terminator.
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So what was funny person, come serious actor/sentimentality fan Robin Williams doing in a team car? Of course we all have famous friends, who we like to have around when we are competing. I mean that's understandable.
But on a day, that was pure soap-opera, as Armstrong "faked" lethargy to fool the Teutonic knight, Williams appearance gave the stage somewhat of a surreal tone. A particularly American, "je ne sais quoi" moment.
And where was Arnold Schwarzenegger? Probably in Jan's car watching the TV coverage of the race. Adding to the irony; there will be a very happy beautician somewhere if Williams is allowed to play Armstrong in the movie. The waxing alone will cost a fortune.
Everything else aside, it was a bloody good ride. Armstrong was magnificent.
So all up, we had a few laughs, we rode up a few big hills, there was a bit of chest puffing, and one hero beat another. What a great day.
*Note: Armstrong's own account of the look can be found here.
By Rod Morris
The higher profile riders that help form part of the Basslink Tasmanian Carnival Series will be invited to compete in some spectacular Keirin racing. Each of the four clubs that make up the Tasmanian Carnival Series, will conduct heats and finals with the winner being formally announced at next Tuesday's Burnie New Years Day Carnival.
Keirin racing is a great spectacle of bike riding and includes small fields (between five and nine riders) following a motorbike at high speeds before a frenetic final lap and a half when the motorbike leaves the track. Riders are not allowed to jump in front of the motorbike, but are permitted to jostle for position and it's because of that rule, it is normally only the more experienced cyclists that are invited to compete.
Keirin racing is big business in some countries, particularly Japan and internationals Shinichi Fukushima and Kouji Yoshii are expected to make their mark on the invitational series this week.
Latrobe fielded two heats of the first round of the Basslink Invitational Keirin Series at yesterday's Boxing Day Carnival, while the final is scheduled for 12.35 this afternoon.
The invited stars to compete in the Keirin Series will include all nine scratchmen, Adriano Baffi (Italy), Erik Weisspfennig (Germany), Jame Carney (America), Jeff Hopkins (New South Wales), Ryan Bayley (West Australia), Shane Kelly (Victoria) and Tasmanians Gareth Atkins, Nathan Clarke and Darren Young.
Bayley is the current World Keirin Champion and should be keen to prove that win was no fluke. Other high profile riders such as Brent Dawson, Danny Day, Ashley Hutchinson and Todd Wilksch will also be invited to compete in the series.
Each of the four finals will carry prize money and for the overall series, a sliding points system of 5-3-2-1.
The US team competing in the 2002 Vuelta a Cuba (UCI 2.5) from February 12-24 is currently accepting resumes for unfilled rider and staff positions. The team will travel to Havana, Cuba on January 20 to complete a short training camp and two multi-day events in preparation for la Vuelta. Interested road riders, mechanics and therapists should contact Mike Fraysse, Vice President, UCI Pan American Confederation at mfsr@citlink.net or 1-800-994-3335.
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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maintenance - Wheels - how to keep them true and tight
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