Latest Cycling News for August 23, 2004Edited by Jeff Jones Everyone agrees, the track is fast
Although there were fears before the Games that the Athens velodrome would be slow, the number of world records set in the opening three days of competition has erased all anxiety: Anna Meares going under 34 seconds in the women's 500m TT, Sarah Ulmer knocking a total of six seconds off the old record in the women's 3km IP, the Australian pursuit team lowering the 4km mark to 3:56 in the preliminaries and Brad Wiggins setting the best time (under modern UCI rules) in the men's 4km IP qualifying. It's rare that this many records are blown away at a single Olympic meet, especially at a sea level velodrome. A combination of a high relative humidity, the warm temperatures in Athens, the track's dry, baked boards and of course the fact that some of the riders are in the form of their lives has led to the extremely quick times, and even some of the Olympic champions are eating their own words now. "I wish I hadn't said in public about a week ago how slow the track was," said New Zealander Sarah Ulmer after she beat the world record twice in as many days to win the 3km pursuit title. She had barely stopped speaking when another huge roar came from the 3,300 sellout crowd at the Olympic Velodrome - the Australian men's pursuit team had just broken its 4km record. "It is the combination of the track and the form of the riders," said Dutchwoman Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel, who finished with bronze even though she was over three seconds faster than her previous world record. The women's 3 kilometre record stood at 3 minutes, 30.604 seconds when the riders gathered under the spectacular roof of architect Santiago Calatrava covering the track. Three record races later it stands at 3:24.537, a massive improvement of over six seconds in two days. It had taken riders over a decade to bring the level down by the same margin to 3:30.604. "If they would have told me I would have to ride 3:27, I would have declared them mad," Zijlaard-Van Moorsel said. The most successful cyclist in Olympic history did and it only yielded bronze. Cyclists had called track too windy, too hot, too dusty. Since the roof sits over the track without covering the sides, there were fear swirling winds would throw riders off balance. "It is sad for the Games," said French multiple world champion Arnaud Tournant of the velodrome one day before setting an Olympic record on the course. It stood for only a few minutes before gold medalist Chris Hoy of Britain beat the mark over the 1 kilometre time trial. Ahead of the games, track builder Ron Webb supervised a team of Greek workers to come in and shave 2mm off the Afzelia hardwood track to make it even smoother. It paid off, from the opening night. "I wasn't even looking at a world record, to tell you the truth, when I came here ... I never dreamed of it," Anna Meares of Australia said when she became the first woman to beat the 34 second mark in the 500 metres. © AAP (Cyclingnews contributed to this report) Missing decals - what's the story?
Observant Cyclingnews readers have noticed how some decals on the road bikes used in the Olympic Games have been taped over. Now that competition has moved to track, the offending decals on the highly-aerodynamic track bikes are being sanded back and painted over. This is due to the poorly-understood regulations of how much 'advertising' is allowed on the machines used in the Olympic events. One bike supplier told Cyclingnews, "It's a bit weird, but it's the Olympics. Some decals are OK, others are not. The problem is, we don't know what is allowed." However, it's believed that the length and width of the main decal for some brands has been the issue, with the large brand name positioned along the frame's down-tube being the most offensive. If it's too big, then it gets covered completely and the top tube decal remains. If the down-tube decal is OK, then the top-tube is covered. What is clearly not allowed are any team sponsors' names on the bikes, unless they are also the actual bike manufacturer. This would explain why the Alessio-Bianchi machines still carried the Bianchi decal, but not that of Alessio. However, on other bikes, the downtube decal is OK - presumably due to its smaller size and length - but then the decal on the head-tube is not allowed. Consequently, team mechanics have been advised to either cover up or remove the offending decals. The thought of applying ugly duct tape to the sleek, aerodynamic machines used on the track has seen the mechanics using sandpaper to rub the decal back to the paint, and then the frames have been touched up to restore their appearance. As one manufacturer said, "Without any clear guidelines on this, it's difficult. It can make them (the bikes) look a bit unprofessional as we go to so much trouble to prepare these bikes, and then we have to use tape or sandpaper to cover up the decals." One thing is for certain, the UCI stipulates that any machine used in competition must be commercially available, even if the price tags may be a little stratospheric for the weekend warrior. Lampre rides the Eneco TourThe 44th Tour of the Netherlands, officially named the Eneco Tour, will take place between August 24-28 over a fairly standard parcours, including a 22 km time trial in Goch on August 26 and a tough 197 km stage from Sittard-Geleen to Landgraaf on Saturday, August 28. Half of the six stages will start in Germany, with Kleve, Goch and Dusseldorf all hosting stage starts. Lampre's manager Giuseppe Saronni has named his line up for the race, selecting a mixture of sprinters and time trialists to give Lampre the best possible chance at stage wins and the overall GC. The team is Andrej Hauptman, Olexandr Kvachuk, Samuele Marzoli, Luciano Pagliarini, Mariano Piccoli, Marco Pinotti, Manuel Quinziato, Jan Svorada The stages Stage 1 - August 24: Oudenbosch - Hoorn, 205 km Boogerd in for Rabobank in Eneco TourMichael Boogerd will take the place of Steven de Jongh in Rabobank's team for the Eneco Tour. Boogerd crashed during the first lap of the Olympic road race and abandoned, but feels fit enough to race again. De Jongh has been suffering from a sore back of late, and gave up his place. Svensson replaces Renäng in SlovakiaTeam Bianchi Nordic is adding Johan Svensson to its team for the Tour de Slovaquie starting Wednesday and the Tour de l'Avenir in September. Svensson has raced this season for CCI Differdange in Luxembourg with a stage win in the Flèche du Sud as well as three other victories in Luxembourg and Belgium. Svensson replaces Swedish Champion Petter Renäng in Slovakia after Renäng developed a saddle sore that finally needed surgery. Renäng’s start in the Tour de l’Avenir is also in jeopardy. Team Bianchi's Jesper Ingevaldsson has also had health problems for most of the season and his racing for the remainder of the season is in question. Tour of the Tamar VineyardsBy Rod Morris Brunswick teenager William Walker, billed as the rising star of Australian road cycling, has a golden opportunity to enhance his reputation by clinching the 2004 Tattersall's Cup series in Tasmania on Wednesday. The affable Walker, 18, leads the series by six points from hardened professional David McKenzie, 30, after the first four races in Victoria, and will go into the Tour of the Tamar Vineyards a solid favourite to win the Tatt's Cup. While Walker has not won a Tatt's Cup race, he has strung together a series of top 10 placings and displaced Sydney's Peter Milostic as cup leader with a gut-wrenching fifth in last Wednesday's Tour of Baw Baw. "I have tried to be consistent," Walker said. "I can't believe I'm in the lead in such an important event as the Tatt's Cup, but my real goal is to get a ride in the Herald Sun Tour." The top 10 overall placegetters in the Tattersall's Cup are guaranteed automatic entry into the Herald Sun Tour, to be held from October 14-24, and Walker is in no danger of missing out. He will become one of the youngest riders to ever gain selection in the tour, first held in 1952. McKenzie, who has won 11 stages of the Herald Sun Tour, has recorded two seconds and a fourth placing in this year's Tatt's Cup. "The Tamar race should be a great one," McKenzie said. "I'm going to have to put a fair bit of space between William and myself, but he's got the advantage." The 138 km Tour of the Tamar Vineyards starts at 10 a.m. at Launceston's York Park and will finish at Lilydale about 1.15 p.m. It will be followed on Thursday by the Forestry Tasmania Scottsdale Grand Prix, a 36 km lunchtime criterium for Tatt's Cup riders. The Tour of the Tamar Vineyards has attracted a powerful 80-man field, with riders from New Zealand, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Uruguay and all Australian states. Claude to BouyguesBrioches la Boulangère manager Jean-René Bernaudeau has announced that Mathieu Claude (Vendée U and a stagiaire with Brioches la Boulangère) will ride next year for Bouygues Telecom as a neo-pro. Source: cyclismag.com Young Dutch rider injured15 year old Dutch rider Maurice Vrijmoed suffered a bad crash while training on the parcours for the Dutch championships in Valkenburg last Saturday. The crash happened when Vrijmoed's front wheel came out of the fork and he landed on his face, resulting in serious facial wounds and the loss of a number of teeth. He is currently recovering in Maastricht hospital. Source: De Telegraaf
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