Track Cycling News, Friday, December 11, 2009

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Date published:

December 11, 2009, 10:00

• BikeNZ gathers world champions to celebrate 2009 success

  

  Article published:

  December 3, 2009, 00:48

  By:

  Cycling News

  Remarkable season produces 15 World Champions

  BikeNZ has celebrated a successful season by bringing together the 15 competitors who secured New Zealand 18 International Cycling Union (UCI) World Championships throughout 2009. High performance programme members Alison Shanks and Sarah Walker were amongst those gathered for the function in Wellington.

  BikeNZ Chairman Richard Leggat thanked the organisation’s commercial partners along with the Academy of Sport for their contributions to the nation’s success.

  “Our high performance programme is very focused on delivering outcomes in our targeted areas of endurance track cycling and BMX, and in this regard Alison and Sarah led the way,” said Leggat. “These outstanding performances are not limited to this pair alone with the women’s and men’s pursuit programmes and other endurance track events enjoying significant international success.

  “We are a very focused and committed High Performance Programme led by our High Performance Director Mark Elliott who has put in place the best coaches and performance support professionals who are as driven as the athletes for success,” he added.

  The nation’s 18 titles included Shanks elite women’s individual pursuit title at the UCI Track World Championships in Poland and Walkers’ two BMX World Championship wins in Adelaide, Australia. In addition to these elite victories the nation’s riders claimed junior and master world titles in addition to its para-cycling success.

  Leggat also praised New Zealand’s national funding body SPARC for its commitment to the sport. SPARC Chief Executive Peter Miskimmin applauded the riders for delivering on the Government’s investment.

  “The achievements of these 15 athletes are tremendous,” said Miskimmin. “It is simply extraordinary that a single sport has produced 18 world titles in a single year.

  “Credit has to go not only to the riders who have undoubted talent, but to the planning and support provided by BikeNZ,” he added. “It has shown it is a national sport organisation that is able to deliver results.”

  Leggat said BikeNZ, which is in just its sixth year, will be placing high priority on its talent identification and development programmes in coming years. “BikeNZ is committed to building on this success in 2010, developing a range of programmes that will help our clubs better support the development of all levels of cycling and a nationwide coaching development framework,” he said.

  BikeNZ's 2009 World Champions:

  Alison Shanks (Dunedin): Elite Women’s Track Individual Pursuit
  Sarah Walker (Kawerau): Elite Olympic Class BMX
  Sarah Walker: Elite Cruiser Class BMX
  Sam Webster (Auckland), Ethan Mitchell (Auckland), Cameron Karwowski (Blenheim): Junior Track Team Sprint
  Sam Webster: Junior Track Sprint
  Sam Webster: Junior Track Keirin
  Brook MacDonald (Napier): Under 19 Mountain Bike Downhill
  Rico Bearman (North Harbour): BMX Olympic Class 5-6 years
  Nicholas Fox (Gisborne): BMX Cruiser Class 16 years
  Tahlia Hansen (Christchurch): BMX Olympic Class 12 years
  Paula Tesoriero (Wellington): Para-Cycling Road Race
  Paula Tesoriero: Para-Cycling Track 500m Time Trial
  Justin Grace (Auckland): Masters Track 1000m Time Trial 35-39 years
  Reon Park (Timaru): Masters Track Individual Pursuit 35-39 years
  Megan Blatchford (Palmerston North): Masters Track Sprint 45-49 years
  Megan Blatchford: Masters Track Scratch Race 45-49 years
  Warwick Dalton (Auckland): Masters Track Scratch Race 70-74 years
  Owen Duff (Dunedin): Masters Track Points Race 75 plus years.

• Williams handed two-year ban by USADA

  

  Article published:

  December 4, 2009, 13:17

  By:

  Richard Tyler

  USA Cycling issue revised Masters Track Nationals results

  Kenny Williams has been handed a two-year ban by the United States Anti-doping Agency (USADA) as a result of a positive drug test at the USA Cycling Masters Track National Championships in August.

  Williams tested positive for an unnamed anabolic agent in a test conducted by the USADA on August 21. In the wake of the initial finding the 42-year-old admitted, on September 21, to knowingly taking steroid Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and was provisionally suspended by the USA Cycling Federation from that date.

  The USADA reported on Wednesday that Williams has accepted the ban, which will end on September 21, 2011.

  Williams is also required to return medals, points and prizes awarded after July 27, the date he admitted to having first used DHEA. USA Cycling has confirmed that Williams will be stripped of the 3000 metre individual pursuit and kilometre time trial titles he claimed at the Championships in August.

  Williams' victory in the 40-44 3000 metre individual pursuit had been achieved in an unofficial world record time of 3:26.097.

  Accordingly, USA Cycling has removed Williams from the results of the Championships and instated James Tainter and Jason Sprouse as the respective National Champions in the 40-44 kilo and 3000 metre individual pursuit.

  Williams' removal from the results has resulted in the following revisions to the men's 40-44 USA Cycling Masters Track National Championship results:
   

  1-Kilometre Time Trial

  1	James Tainter (Minneapolis, Minn/Silver Cycling)
  2	Aron Gadhia (Los Angeles, Calif/Kahala La Grange)
  3	Roger Hernandez (Miami, Fla/Nitroshot Cycling Team)
  4	Pekka Jaske (Sammamish, Wash/First Rate Mortgage)
  5	Michael Paulin (Aurora, Colo/Hammer Racing)

  Points Race

  1	Clark Sheehan (Boulder, Colo)
  2	Keith Harper (Boulder, Colo)
  3	Michael Hutchinson (San Jose, Calif/Morgan Stanley Cycling Team)
  4	Mike McMahon (Lake Forest, Calif/Team Velocity)
  5	Jason Sprouse (Asheville, NC/Industry Nine)

  3000-metre pursuit

  1	Jason Sprouse (Asheville, NC/Industry Nine)
  2	James Tainter (Minneapolis, Minn/Silver Cycling)
  3	Kevin Nicol (Boulder, Colo/Excelsportscom)
  4	Daniel Casper (Northfield, Minn/GrandStay Hotels)
  5	Michael Miller (Birdsboro, Pa/Team Alliance Environmental)

  Omnium

  1	James Tainter (Minneapolis, Minn/Silver Cycling)
  2	Jason Sprouse (Asheville, NC/industry Nine)
  3	Roger Hernandez (Miami, Fla/Nitroshot Cycling Team)
  4	Stephen Hill (Winston, Ga/LTO Velo)
  5	Clark Sheehan (Boulder, Colo)

  Team Pursuit

  1	Michael Miller (Birdsboro, Pa/Alliance Environmental), Daniel Casper (Northfield, Minn/Grandstay Hotels), Scott Kasin (Carbondale, Colo/Matrix/RBM), James Tainter (Minneapolis, Minn/Silver Cycling)
  2	Robert Black (Albrightsville, Pa/Saroff Racing), Christopher Regan (Washington DC/ Saroff Racing), Don Saroff (Alexandria, Va / Saroff Racing), Andrew Applegate (Black Mountain, NC/ Saroff Racing)
  3	Dave Gray (Little Canada, Minn/Flanders), Voytek Glinkowski (Buffalo Grove, Ill/WDT/Allvoi), Franco Panveno (Highland Park, Ill/Alberto’s), Kevin Schaeffer (Minneapolis, Minn/Loon State Cyclists)
  4	Greg Wilson (Northglen, Colo/EastSide Wheelmen), Robert Kelly (Littleton, Colo), Barry Messmer (Red Feather Lakes, Colo/Vic’s Espresso) Gerald Greenleaf (Boulder, Colo/Vic’s Espresso)

  Madison

  1	Keith Harper (Boulder, Colo), Clark Sheehan (Boulder, Colo)
  2	Gregory Pent (Boulder, Colo/Rocky Mounts), Daniel Lionberg (Fort Collins, Colo/Team Rio Grande)
  3	Mike McMahon (Lake Forest, Calif/Team Velocity), Sean Watkins (Oceanside, Calif)
  4	Brent J Hanlin (Denver, Colo/Michelob Ultra), Patrick Warner (Boulder, Colo)
  5	Brian Peterson (Redwood City, Calif/Webcor), Sheldon Serrao (Coral Springs, FlaChampion Porsche)

   

• Ryan Sabga forced to withdraw from Track World Cup in Colombia

  

  Article published:

  December 6, 2009, 20:22

  By:

  Sue George

  Broken pelvis brings early end to track rider's season

  Black Dog Professional Cycling Team Madison and points race rider Ryan Sabga has been forced to withdraw from the third round of the UCI Track World Cup in Cali, Colombia, after sustaining a broken pelvis in a fall while doing his final preparation for the event.

  Sabga, double silver medalist in the team pursuit and madison at this year's US national championships, will be out of action for approximately four to six weeks, making his participation at the Beijing, China, round of the UCI World Cup also unlikely.

  "It's a disappointing end to my season, for sure," said Sabga, "We came back from Manchester, and I really dialed in my training well to fix the couple of things I was lacking. On top of that, Ryan (Luttrell) and I had raised our Madison to higher level, from a technical perspective. I was looking forward to seeing what we could do in Cali. I've been going pretty well, so for this to happen is, as I said, super disappointing to me."

  Ryan Luttrell, who was also involved in the fall but was unhurt, will take Sabga's place in the points race. Consequently, he will compete in both the points and scratch races in Cali but, without a healthy partner, will be unable to take part in the Madison.

• Keisse to join De Ketele for World Cup Madison

  

  Article published:

  December 9, 2009, 16:16

  By:

  Richard Tyler

  Quick Step's newest recruit to target Track Worlds selection in Colombia

  New Quick Step signing Iljo Keisse will compete in a busy schedule of events at the third round of the International Cycling Union's (UCI) track World Cup this week in Cali, Colombia.

  Het Nieuwsblad reports that the 26-year-old Belgian will return to World Cup competition for the first time since the Manchester round of the series in 2008, and will compete in the points race, Madison and team pursuit. He has made the journey to South America in order to qualify for next year's track World Championships, which will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark in March.

  Keisse will join Kenny De Ketele for the Madison, reuniting the pair that finished fourth in the same event at last year's Beijing Olympics. The duo will then combine with Steve Schets and Ingmare De Poortere for the team pursuit.

  Schets is scheduled to also compete in the scratch race, while De Poortere will race the 4000 metre individual pursuit.

  Keisse's presence at the World Cup will means he will miss this week's Quick Step training camp in Calpe, Spain. He confirmed a one-year contract with the ProTour team on Monday and has planned to compete in the Track World Championships before racing with the Belgian squad on the road from March onwards.

  Keisse's first event in Colombia will be the points race on Thursday. Headed into the third of four World Cup rounds, Belgium currently sit 15th on the overall team standings.
   

  Track World Cup overall standings after the second round

  1	Australia	210	pts
  2	Great Britain	199
  3	Germany	189
  4	Netherlands	131
  5	China	103
  6	New Zealand	94
  7	Team Jayco	92
  8	Team Sky + Hd	81
  9	Russia	77
  10	Ukraine	69
  11	Poland	61
  12	Spain	59
  13	Italy	54
  14	France	52
  15	Belgium	46
  16	Lithuania	45
  17	Greece	35
  18	Cofidis	32
  19	Czech Republic	30
  20	Denmark	28
  21	Japan	27
  22	Belarus	25
  23	United States	24
  24	Hong Kong	16
  25	Switzerland	16
  26	Korea	15
  27	Hong Kong Pro Cycling	14
  28	Malaysia	14
  29	Gruppo Sportivo Fiamme Azzurre	11
  30	Bike Technologies Australia	10
  31	Cuba	10
  32	Rodin	10
  33	Alks Stal Grudziaduz	10
  34	Katyusha	9
  35	Lokomotiv	9
  36	Proman Racing Team	8
  37	Verducci Breakaway	8
  38	Austria	8
  39	Moscow Track Team	7
  40	Ireland	7
  41	Verducci Breakaway	7
  42	Argentina	6
  43	Us Creteil	4
  44	Mexico	3
  45	Grace Institute	3
  46	Chinese Taipei	1

• Cremona Six Day decision expected on Friday

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 00:02

  By:

  Cycling News

  Italian Six Day event faces hurdles in testing times

  Cremona Six Day organiser Claudio Santi has admitted that he still needs to overcome problems threatening next year's event, which gets underway on January 21. The challenges relate to sponsorship funding for the race as Cremona's Six-Day joins the growing list of events in this category that face an uncertain future.

  "Unfortunately we are not yet certain that the International Six Day of Cremona will take place, despite our organisation, which has decided to commit to setting up [the event] after some months' work - there are problems about which we need to take advice," said Santi.

  Santi explained that financial contraints imposed by the diminishing budgets of companies is the most pressing challenge. "The sponsors, as forecast, have their respective budgets dictated by economic crises, but the expenses that will be incurred remain; a reduction [in expenses] or lack thereof means we have provided an estimate which currently does not allow for the risk of not reaching unattainable figures," he added.

  "But there is still hope that in our meetings over the next 48 hours this lack of budget will be rectified and we can conduct an event included in the international calendar from [cities such as] Rotterdam, Bremen, Berlin and Copenhagen," Santi continued. "Friday is the last day [40 days before the event] to present [event] programs to the Italian Cycling Federation and the UCI."

  Santi said that the success of this year's event may help in guaranteeing its future, as he makes a presentation to the President of Cremona Fiere, Antonio Piva, about the likelihood of presenting the event's program to the Italian federation and cycling's governing body or giving up. "The success of 2009 is irrefutable however; it met with enthusiasm from around the world, for the warmth and beauty of the City of violins, nougat, cycling and song.

  Should next year's 6 Giorni di Cremona Internazionale go ahead, the official launch will be held on Jaunary 9 in the Ponchielli Theatre, with the event to be run from January 21-26.

• IOC turns track events upside down

  

  Article published:

  December 10, 2009, 16:44

  By:

  Susan Westemeyer

  Individual pursuit, points race, Madison out of the Olympics

  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved massive changes in the track cycling events for the London 2012 Games, eliminating the individual pursuit, points race and Madison from the programme.

  The London Olympic Games will now feature five men's and five women's events, as proposed by the International Cycling Union (UCI) as part of a gender-equality plan, according to the Associated Press. The 2008 Beijing Games had seven men's events and three women's events.

  "The changes reflect the IOC's desire to continually refresh the program, as well as its commitment to increase women's participation," the IOC said in a statement on the last day of its executive board meeting.

  Under the new plan, there will be 84 women track cyclists in London, or 45 percent, as compared to 35 riders, or 19 percent, in Beijing 2008.

  The new plan has events for both sexes in the individual sprint, team sprint, keirin, team pursuit and the omnium. The latter is a five-race event which includes a 3km individual pursuit, 200 metre sprint, 1km time trial, 15km points race and a 5km scratch race.

  There has been massive protest against the changes, which affect among others, American Taylor Phinney and Briton Bradley Wiggins.

  Briton Rebecca Romero, who is current Olympic champion in the women's individual pursuit, had announced her dissatisfaction with the plan before the announcement was made. “I'm all in favour of moving to achieve parity between men and women but there must be a better solution," she said. "This is a major culling. There's got to be something better."

• Industry responds to IOC’s track decision

  

  Article published:

  December 11, 2009, 11:21

  By:

  Cycling News

  Olympic revamp receives mixed response

  The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) ratification of radical changes to the Olympic Games track programme has received a mixed response from national federations and riders alike. Decisions that create winners and losers within the same sport is likely always going to receive a mixed response, which is exactly what arrived from the cycling industry following yesterday’s IOC meeting.

  British Cycling’s performance director Dave Brailsford praised the IOC’s changes, which eliminate the individual pursuit, points race and Madison.

  "The issue of gender inequality within the Olympic track cycling events needed to be resolved and in that regard, I think the IOC move is to be applauded,” said Brailsford. “The detail of how the parity could be achieved was by adding or removing events and there were always going to be winners and losers.

  “It's a shame to have lost great events such as the Individual pursuit, points and madison, however I believe the UCI have been very creative to include the omnium within which the individual pursuit and the points race will still figure," he added.

  The decision is a double-edged sword for Brailsford, as it is for many of this colleagues at other national federations. While male and female track athletes will contend for an equal number of medals at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Brailsford’s individual pursuit champions Bradley Wiggins and Rebecca Romero will not be able to defend their respective Olympic titles on home turf.

  "There didn't need to be such a massive overhaul," Romero told Radio 5 Live. "This is a massive overhaul of the Olympic track programme which will have massive consequences for the sport.

  A world away in New Zealand BikeNZ high performance director Mark Elliott is wrestling with the same conundrum. Three of the nation’s five Olympic track medals have come from the individual pursuit, and in Alison Shanks the nation also has the reigning International Cycling Union (UCI) World Champion.

  “It’s disappointing from the viewpoint of endurance track that the blue ribbon event of individual pursuit has gone along with the points race and Madison,” said Elliott. “That said the even gender split is commendable and BikeNZ is well placed in regards to the women’s team pursuit with our team picking up the silver medal at the world championships this year. Our power to podium programme has identified a group of talented women and we have been developing them for a year now.

  “It’s a disappointment for Alison Shanks as the reigning world champion, but let’s remember that we still have the world championships in all of these disciplines every year,” he said. “And for us to have a successful teams pursuit programme we must have world class individual pursuit riders. The focus for us now will be to have balance across world championship outcomes and our Olympic outcomes."

  Like Australia, New Zealand is both a winner and a loser from the IOC’s decision, with both nations having good prospects in the axed programmes and the introduced omnium.

  The Commonwealth nations have an added complication in that the changes made by the IOC don’t impact the Commonwealth Games, which will be staged in India next year. Commonwealth countries will have added motivation to continue track programs in the culled areas to ensure success at the Commonwealth Games events.

  Tweet all about it

  Here’s what track riders – past and present – had to say on their Twitter.com accounts.

  Chris Boardman: Individual Pursuit out of the Olympics....booooo. My World record might stand forever...yeeeea!

  Taylor Phinney: Well family, it seems that we have been unsuccessful in our fight. I dearly appreciate all your support! We now move on.

  Greg Henderson: It is a shame, in my opinion, that track endurance is ruined now in future Olympics.

  Jesse Sergent: Today is a sad day for endurance track cycling.

• UCI wants sixth event in Olympics omnium

  

  Article published:

  December 11, 2009, 12:07

  By:

  Susan Westemeyer

  Calls track event changes “historic turning point”

  The International Cycling Union (UCI) has announced that it will suggest adding a sixth event to the omnium event at the London Olympics in 2012. The UCI said the changes made in the Olympic track events were an “historic turning point” for the cycling world.

  Yesterday, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced that it had adopted the UCI's recommendations to delete certain events and add the omnium, in order to make track cycling more equal for men and women cyclists.

  The omnium currently consists of five events: 200 m individual sprint; 1 km/500 m time trial; individual pursuit; points race; and scratch race. Responding to criticism that this format was too heavily oriented towards the sprint specialists, the UCI said that it would add a sixth event, to make it “attractive to the public and indeed more oriented towards endurance.” It did not say what the event would be.

  The UCI had originally asked that, in order to reach the goal of gender equality, two more women's events be added to the Olympic programme. The IOC turned that down, saying it could not increase the total number of cycling medals or the total number of athletes at the Games. In response, the UCI came up with the proposal adopted yesterday.

  In its statement released Thursday evening, the UCI noted that the changes were intended solely for the Olympic Games and would not affect its World Track Championships, which have ten men's and nine women's races.