|
|
|
Edited by Jeff Jones
Belgian cyclo-cross star Sven Nijs is back to his brilliant 1999 form, currently leading the World Cup, Superprestige and UCI rankings. In winning round 4 of the Superprestige today in Gieten, Nijs notched up his 15th win in a Superprestige race, putting him in fourth place on the all-time SP winner's list. Ahead of him are Roland Liboton (21 wins), Daniele Pontoni (18) and Richard Groenendaal (17), but 25 year old Nijs is rapidly catching them.
With four rounds to go in the Superprestige series, it is theoretically possible that Nijs could equal Liboton's record by the end of this season. He has certainly been unstoppable in all the major races so far, recording seven wins in total.
Last year's revelation in the Superprestige series, Kipcho Volckaerts, will not be racing any more this winter. He was found by the Vlaanderen-T Interim doctor Chris Goossens to be suffering from a mucoplasma disease, similar to the type that ended Steven Van Malderghem's career two years ago. Volckaerts is hoping to come back to cycling, but will rest for the entire 2001/2002 winter.
German sprinter and the number one ranked UCI rider, Erik Zabel has been voted "German sportsman of the year" in a public survey conducted by the ARD and Bavarian television networks and Max magazine. Zabel, who won the green jersey in the Tour de France for an incredible sixth time, gained the vote ahead of skiing world champion Martin Schmitt and Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher.
In other categories, Paris-Dakar rally winner Jutta Kleinschmidt won the "Sportswoman of the Year" while the German women's soccer team was voted "Team of the Year", beating Champions League winner FC Bayern München.
In Pontenuovo today, Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin has been awarded the "Giglio d'oro", a prize that acknowledges the best Italian professional of the season. Rebellin won 12 races this year and held the UCI number one position for some time. He finished with more wins that Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni, Francesco Casagrande, Paolo Bettini and Dario Frigo. Rebellin also won the Giglio d'oro in 1992.
Other than Rebellin, special prizes were awarded to Gilberto Simoni (Giro d'Italia), Daniele Nardello (Italian champion), and Franco Pellizotti (2001 revelation, protagonist in the Vuelta), Franco Ballerini (retired this year from pro cycling, now Italian technical director) and the Vellutex team from Tuscany, which accumulated an impressive 92 wins in amateur races this year.
Although the average haematocrit of the peloton has been steadily falling over the past few years, seen by many as an indication that EPO abuse has also decreased, there are now fears that new blood boosting drugs have become more popular. After all, EPO has been around for over a decade, and the urine based testing introduced this year has made it unattractive to use, despite recent questions raised over its reliability.
In a conference held in Bologna last Saturday, doctors voiced their concerns about the use of synthetic haemoglobin (HemAssist, Hemopure etc.), which does not raise a person's hematocrit, but may provide a performance boost. Pier Luigi Fiorella, of the Sports Medicine Institute of Bologna, said that it was important to be able to anticipate any new drugs that could potentially be abused in the sporting world. He also expressed optimism that they could win this fight a lot sooner than with EPO.
"Many companies that produce synthetic carriers of oxygen collaborate with the anti-doping laboratories in order to allow a counter-test," he said. "A situation different with respect to the fight against EPO, which took years to find a solution."
Another doctor, Massimo Benati said that the use of synthetic haemoglobin could seriously harm the cardiovascular system and interfere with blood coagulation.
By Gerard Knapp
A promising young Australian triathlete, Michael Atkins, has died as a result of injuries sustained in a racing accident on Friday, November 23, during a criterium held at the Waratah Park circuit, south of Sydney, Australia.
The death has shocked the Australian racing community, as most cannot recall the last tragedy resulting purely from racing on a circuit which did not involve any other vehicles. The 21-year old rider was racing in the B grade event, as part of the regular Friday evening criteriums organised by the Sutherland Cycling Club on an off-road circuit south of Sydney.
Atkins was competing under a 'three-race trial licence' provided by the NSW Cycling Federation to allow athletes to enter races and experience racing before committing to a full licence. The accident occurred at the bottom of the circuit's descent, where riders can reach speeds over 70kmh before negotiating a tight left-hand bend which swoops uphill.
Apparently Michael was at the front of the group when he lost control of his bike and crashed. Reports to Cyclingnews indicate he struck a tree, but a spokesman for the NSW federation would not confirm this detail. Personnel from the St John's Ambulance were in attendance at the race and rushed to the crash scene. A helicopter airlift was called in and the rider was flown to St George Hospital, but died shortly after from internal injuries.
The young rider was an emerging Australian triathlete, training in an area of Sydney which has produced several world champions. Atkins had recently finished sixth in the Forster-Tuncurry Half Ironman - ahead of 25 professional athletes - and was training with a group which included world triathlon champion Peter Robertson. His coach, Mark Newton, told a Sydney newspaper that the rider "had the potential to be an Australian champion". It was his first race at the Friday criteriums at Waratah Park, which were often used for training by leading triathletes such as Greg Welch and Emma Carney.
The race commissaire has presented his report to the NSW Cycling Federation, and a spokesman for the federation expects a Coroner's inquest will result from the tragedy.
(The team at Cyclingnews - several of whom have raced on this circuit, an area where this writer learnt to ride his bike - extend their deepest sympathies to his family, friends and riders of the Sutherland club.)
Bart Bowen is resting after an untimely break - of the leg - as a result of a crash at the Monkey Hill race, in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 21. Midway through the men's pro race, Bowen was transitioning from the grass to the famed cobbles of Monkey Hill and went down hard. Closer inspection of his bike showed only minor tweaking of the right brake. The shape of the cobble stones, the grass to cobble change and speed all played a factor.
Bowen was immediately rushed to the ER and had his broken leg set. This unfortunate result caused one well-known New Mexico cycling photographer/resident (in town with nothing better to do than to photograph a cyclocross race), familiar with knowledge of the top quality care that Wilmington hospital's provide, to quip "better care here in a Wilmington hospital than in Albuquerque".
Spoken too soon. This past week, Bowen had his leg re-broken in an Albuquerque hospital, and will be out for a number of months.
The Cultural and Sporting Foundation of Castilla-La Mancha today paid tribute to former cyclist Manuel Sanroma, who died after crashing into a barricade at the end of the second stage of the 1999 Volta a Catalunya. The tribute took the form of a street criterium - the Memorial Manuel Sanroma - in Castilla-La Mancha, featuring 20 professional cyclists including Oscar Sevilla.
This was the third time that the race has been organised. The Foundation contributed 2 million pesetas (US$10,500) to help organise it and will also hold an online auction of Oscar Sevilla's bicycle on December 15, with bids starting at 100,000 pesetas (US$530). The money raised will go towards a monument to Manuel Sanroma that will be erected in Almagro.
AVS (Albi Velo Sport) has become Ag2r Prévoyance-Decathlon's second official "feeder" club. A contract was signed by AVS president Bernard Larroque on Saturday November 24, in Albi's local Ag2r Prévoyance office in the presence of some Junior and Espoir riders, several club officials, members of the press and of Ag2r.
AVS is a club based in Albi, which is a historic Cathar town in the Midi Pyrénées area of southern France. AVS will develop its young riders with the aim of integrating them into the Ag2r professional team, hoping to achieve this within the next two years. The club also hopes to be the first to follow a rider from start to finish, i.e. from "Ecole de cyclisme" (Cycling school, for riders aged 6 and over) to the pro ranks.
There was a strong anti-doping message put forward by Ag2r during the post-signing Champagne session. They hope that their links with clubs such as AVS will help them recreate a cleaner image of French cycling, and bring French cycling back to the front of the international peloton.
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 |