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Dauphiné Libéré
Photo ©: Sirotti

First Edition Cycling News for December 8, 2004

Edited by Anthony Tan

Trebon outside favourite for US 'cross title

By Steve Medcroft

Ryan Trebon: Tall, slender & powerful
Photo ©: Steve Medcroft
Click for larger image

23 year-old Ryan Trebon has dominated this year's U.S. 'cross season, taking an impressive overall victory in the US Gran Prix of 'Cross, the country's national series. He now goes into this weekend's U.S. National Cyclcross Championships in Portland, Oregon, as one of the top favourites and could be the one to surprise Jonathan Page.

Standing six-foot five, Ryan Trebon has been getting attention lately for more than just his height; he's been storming cyclo-cross courses in the U.S. and getting to the podium in every race he enters.

At 23, Trebon is a surprising up-and-comer. As a junior, he was a passionate racer but didn't perform well on the national stage - in an era where Adam Craig was sweeping every championship available to the U23 set. But something changed this year. Trebon got a coach, had some eye opening good luck, and began to race at the front of the field. But even his breakthrough mountain bike season was no precursor to what would happen in cyclo-cross.

He stumbled in the first two major U.S. 'cross races, then exploded to the front of the pack, winning or coming second in practically every other race he entered. Overtaking Geoff Kabush in the final U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclo-cross race, Trebon won the overall as well as two of the last four races and, barring a repeat of last year's solo win by Jonathan Page, is a favourite to win the U.S. 'cross nationals.

Click here to read the full interview

Danielson enjoying life in Texas

Newly-signed US Postal Service (soon to be called Discovery Channel) recruit Tom Danielson has already formed favourable impressions five days into the team's first training camp, conducted in Lance Armstrong's hometown of Austin, Texas.

Clearly, 2004 was a tough learning curve for the 26 year-old, who often struggled at times under the direction of hard-as-nails Fassa Bortolo directtore sportivo Giancarlo Ferretti. But now back in an American team at least until 2006, the Colorado native said to the Paceline.com's Chris Brewer he is enjoying every minute "and there no real egos or internal competition to get around" - which one could construe to be made in reference to his former team.

"It's really amazing and I am throughoughly enjoying myself. Most of the other teams camps I have been to have been a lot more difficult in terms of fitting in and everyone getting along," said Danielson. "But here there's been none of this. Everyone here knows the established hierarchy and there are no real egos or internal competition to get around. This camp has been an excellent experience."

VDB: "Arrogant and narcissistic"

Following the raid on Frank Vandenbroucke's house two years ago, where products including EPO, clenbuterol and morphine were discovered by police, a psychological evaluation was recently conducted by the regional court of Dendermonde, Belgium. In his frank assessment of Vandenbroucke's personality and behaviour, Dr. Debert said that he minimises everything, describing him as "an arrogant man who finds it difficult to accept authority, exhibits a narcissistic personality with a lack of respect, and is irritable and very vulnerable". This week, VDB was sentenced by the court to complete 200 hours of community service.

Farm Frites Hartol renamed Team Ton van Bemmelen-AA Drink

From January 1, 2005 the previous Dutch professional women's team Farm Frites Hartol of Team Ton van Bemmelen Sports will be renamed Team Ton van Bemmelen-AA Drink to reflect their new naming rights sponsors for the next four years. According to Dutch news agency ANP, team manager and husband of 2004 Olympic time trial champion Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, Michael Zijlaard, reached an agreement with the two companies up to and including the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Spearheading the team will be 2004 Olympic road race champion Sara Carrigan from Australia and Angela Brodtka, the German finishing third overall in this year's World Cup. Directeur-sportif Ingrid Haringa, a former professional and past coach of the women's national team, will be assisted by Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel, who announced her retirement after the Athens Games, and will continue as coach. The official team presentation will take place on January 17, 2005 in Alphen a/d Rijn.

Australian Cyclones bound for LA

Cycling Australia announced their full 14-person Cyclones line-up to compete at this weekend's second round of the UCI Track Cycling World Cup, to be held in Los Angeles from December 10 to 12.

Endurance Group

Richard England (Vic 09.07.1981
Chris Sutton (NSW) 10.09.1984
Bradley Norton (Vic 14.05.1984
Sean Finning (Vic) 22.01.1985
Ashley Hutchinson (Qld) 09.05.1979
Darren Young (Tas) 01.05.1976
Alexis Rhodes (SA) 01.12.1984
Katie Mactier (NSW) 23.03.1975

Sprint Group

Ryan Bayley (WA) 09.08.1982
Sean Eadie (NSW) 15.04.1969
Ben Kersten (NSW) 21.09.1981
Kristine Bayley (WA) 22.06.1983
Rebecca Ellis (NSW) 12.10.1980
Anna Meares (Qld) 21.09.1983

Don't forget your toothbrush, Dave

By Anthony Tan

When we spoke with the affable Dave Zabriskie at the end of last month, a few days before he left for Team CSC's famous (or infamous) training camp, Cyclingnews' Anthony Tan was interested to know what the 25 year-old Utah native was asked to bring with him.

"They said to bring some swimwear and a toothbrush... and some cycling clothes," Zabriskie said, before (hopefully) joking, "I think I might try to smuggle in a survival knife or something like that... "

This is exactly how the CSC Team Manager wanted his new guard to feel before entering boot-camp a là Bjarne Riis, which began last Friday in Denmark and ends this Friday, December 10. "I said to him [Riis] that I didn't know what to expect. He just replied: 'That's good, expect nothing'. So I'm sure it's gonna be interesting and a good way to meet my new team mates."

A rider who began his career after watching the 1979 cult cycling classic Breaking Away, a story about about four 19 year-olds who hadn't a clue what to do after finishing high school, before the main character escapes into a world of bike riding and all things Italian, Dave Zabriskie's life has subsequently followed a similar path. Never particularly interested in going to school, he first found rollerblading a means of escape, later discovering he had a natural ability to ride a bicycle - fast.

Half a dozen years later, and after three formative years with US Postal, he now finds himself about to embark on the next stage of his professional cycling career. Despite a near career-ending accident with a car in May of 2003 and being airlifted to hospital after another serious pile-up at the Redlands Bicycle Classic in March this year, Zabriskie is on the verge of greatness. Coming back from injury to cream the field at the US Time Trial Championships, before winning Stage 11 of the Vuelta a España and finishing fifth at the World Time Trial Championships in Verona - the latter race where CSC's interest in him became evident - the 2004 season was a clear turning point for him.

Asked whether Postal tried to match the offer, he replied: "No, they didn't try... they didn't want to match the offer."

Zabriskie's goal for 2005 is a simple one: "To help the team the best I can and to improve." And as to how Riis sees him fitting into the mix, Zabriskie said the taciturn Dane came to the conclusion that he would be part of the team's stage race program, but mentioned it could change depending on where he's needed. "Apart from the Worlds ITT, I'm not aiming for a specific race, but I think I'll be ready for the early season and the Giro," he said.

Look out for the full interview with Dave Zabriskie later this month, including an update on how he fared at CSC's boot-camp.

Lampre-Cafitta's team bonding concludes

In other team training camp news, the first get-together of the Lampre-Cafitta ProTour squad, held in Castelnuovo del Garda in the province of Verona, Italy, concluded last Wednesday, December 1, and marked the start of preparations for the 2005 season for the recently-merged Lampre and Saeco teams.

As well as routine medical testing, the 26 cyclists comprising 9 different nationalities (with 17 Italians) were fitted for race and casual wear, helmets, shoes, sunglasses and bicycles from Cannondale, who were the supplier of bikes for the previous Saeco 'red train'.

General manager Giuseppe Saronni and team manager Claudio Corto, along with directtore sportivi Bontempi Fabrizio, Bontempi Guido, Giuseppe Martinelli and Maurizio Piovani, were present, and went through the details of each rider's training and race programs to establish a unified team program, which will see them kick off their road season with the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, from January 18-23, 2005. However, before that, Italian cyclocross champion Enrico Franzoi will compete in the World Cyclocross Championships in Rovato, Italy, on Sunday, January 9.

Following the Tour Down Under, Lampre-Cafitta will return to Italy to compete in the GP Costa degli Etruschi in Livorno, Tuscany on February 6, which starts and finishes in the small town of Donoratico.

The full team roster: Alessandro Ballan (Ita), Daniele Bennati (Ita), Giosuè Bonomi (Ita), Gianluca Bortolami (Ita), Salvatore Commesso (Ita), Damiano Cunego (Ita), Paolo Fornaciari (Ita), Enrico Franzoi (Ita), Juan Fuentes (Spa), Gerrit Glomser (Aut), Olexandr Kvachuk (Ukr), David Loosli (Swi), Marco Marzano (Ita), Samuele Marzoli (Ita), Andreas Matzbacher (Aut), Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita), Evgueni Petrov (Rus), Dario Pieri (Ita), Daniele Righi (Ita), Marius Sabaliauskas (Ltu), Michele Scotto d'Abusco (Ita), Gilberto Simoni (Ita), Alessandro Spezialetti (Ita), Gorazd Stangelj (Slo), Sylvester Szmyd (Pol), Andrea Tonti (Ita).

Vestby to EuroGifts.com

27 year-old Norweigan Martin Vestby has signed a one-year contract to ride for Dutch team EuroGifts.com. Team director Arthur van Dongen said: "With Martin, we can play a role in the undulating races; he is a great acquisition."

Armstrong Foundation combats counterfeiters

According to a recent report by the Boston Herald, counterfeit versions of the globally popular Livestrong wristbands were selling at three times the normal cost at Boston-area convenience stores, with lawyers from the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) issuing "cease-and-desist" orders to those unethically and unlawfully violating the trademark.

An idea conceived by Nike and Armstrong back in May this year to raise funds for the LAF, the Livestrong bracelets, selling for US$1 each, have outgrown their expected popularity severalfold, with around 25 million sold to date. Celebrities wearing the bracelets including Armstrong's girlfriend Sheryl Crow, Bruce Willis, Bono, Robin Williams, Angelina Jolie and both George Bush and John Kerry.

However, their popularity has sparked an invitation for fraudsters to illegally capitalise on the Livestrong bands; some counterfeits spotted were exact replicas, while others sported the words "be strong" instead of the foundation's trademarked logo.

Yoplait Women's Summit proceedings from Interbike

In October this year, women and their supporters gathered in Las Vegas at the Interbike trade show for the fourth Yoplait Women's Cycling Summit Conference, to canvass issues concerning women's participation in cycling across the US. The result of a grassroots movement started by women cyclists and their supporters to promote all levels of women's cycling, the Yoplait Summit Conferences began in June of 2003 and now take place twice annually: at the Nature Valley GP in June and at the Interbike trade show in October.

This edition of the Yoplait Summits focused on bike industry sponsorships and making bike shops more welcoming to women. It was noted that sponsorships must support the company's business goals, a fact that many cyclists seem to miss, and product sampling, logo placement, athlete appearances and regular contact from teams were four areas crucial to maximising returns from a company's investment in a team. Furthermore, with regards to creating women-friendly bike shops, it was suggested that understanding the size of the women's bike market, a less intimidating shop environment, employing female staff and women-specific rides and clinics would lend to a more positive shopping experience.

The full proceedings can be found at www.WomenCyclists.com

Win an Argon18 Krypton FC with Red Ace

Argon18 Krypton FC & Red Ace Leg Shave Prep
Click for larger image

Thanks to the generous folks at Red Ace - makers of Red Ace Leg Shave Prep, the pre-shave formula for cyclists and all sportspeople who shave their legs - we've got a brand-new, Dura-Ace-equipped Argon18 Krypton FC road bike to give away in our free-to-enter Christmas competition.

All you have to do to enter is do a tiny bit of detective work to answer one simple question. Click here to go to the competition page.

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