Cycling News Extra for July 7, 2004Edited by John Stevenson US road team for Athens
USA Cycling has announced the five men and three women that will comprise its teams for the road races and road time trials at the Athens Olympic games this August. Leading the charge is Lance Armstrong, bronze medallist in 2000, five-time Tour de France winner and, of course, currently engaged in attempting to win his sixth Tour. Armstrong is on the record as having been disappointed not to win an Olympic gold in 2000. Joining Armstrong is 2000 Olympian Tyler Hamilton who was famously fourth overall in last year's Tour de France despite cracking his collarbone in a crash early in the race. Currently, Hamilton is considered one of the biggest threats to Armstrong's chances of a sixth Tour win, but come August the two will form a strong one-two punch as teammates on the U.S. team. Classics specialist and Armstrong's first lieutenant on U.S. Postal Team, George Hincapie will ride his fourth Olympic Games this year. Hincapie qualified for the squad as a results of his fifth place overall finish at Paris-Nice. Joining the three Olympic veterans is first-time Olympian, Bobby Julich. Julich was third overall in the 1998 Tour de France and has found a new lease of life this year on the CSC team, placing third overall at Paris-Nice - a ride that secured him a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team - and winning a stage at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. Julich's presence on the Olympic team completes a solid roster of proven pros with serious medal potential in Athens. Rounding out the men's roster is Jason McCartney, who earned his spot with an audacious solo breakaway in the Team USA Selection Race at Redlands last month. McCartney also won a stage of the Tour of Georgia earlier this year, demonstrating that his Olympic selection victory was no fluke. The three women who will represent the USA in Athens are all first-time Olympians. Despite her long career as one of the most successful riders in the peloton, Dede Barry makes her first Olympic Team as the top American rider in the international rankings. Barry missed out on the 2000 Olympic Team and retired from professional cycling but returned in 2002 to win the Montreal women's world cup. Joining Barry is her T-Mobile teammate. Armstrong earned a spot on the team after riding to a win in the USCF Elite National Championships last month. The first-time National Champion has steadily progressed through the ranks of professional cycling by achieving consistent results in some of the world's most prestigious events. Completing the women's team is USCF Elite National Time Trial Champion, Christine Thorburn. Thorburn was a surprise victor at last month's nationals to upset a strong field and earn a spot on the Olympic Team. Australian team for Paralympic Games
The Australian paralympic Association has announced the team that will represent Australia at the Athens Paralympic Games, September 17 - 28 September. The team includes 11 cyclists, five of whom will be compting in their first Games. One is 25 year-old Andrew Pannazzolo, only took up cycling early this year after previously being into soccer. The cycling team will comprise: Greg Ball; Anthony Biddle & pilot Kial Stewart; Peter Brooks; Peter Homann; Lindy Hou & pilots Janelle Lindsay & Toireasa Ryan; Mark LeFlohic; Claire McClean; Kieran Modra & pilots David Short & Tyson Lawrence; Andrew Pannazzol; Chris Scott; Janet Shaw & pilot Kelly McCombie Where's Manzano?Amore & Vita boss concerned about missing riderJesus Manzano, the rider at the center of allegations of organized doping within the Kelme team, appears to have gone AWOL, according to a report from Spanish sports newspaper Marca. Manzano was offered a contract by the Italian Amore e Vita team, but team manager Ivano Fanini says he hasn't been able to reach Manzano for some time. "I am very worried about the state of Jesús Manzano," said Fanini. "After the team presentation at the end of March and after being questioned by the district attorney's office in Turin, Manzano has gradually ceased being in touch with our team." Fanini said that nobody had been able to tell him where Manzano was or provide information about his health. Manzano had feared he might never race again as a result of a knee problem that he claimed had been caused by the doping regime he alleged he was subjected to at Kelme. "I have managed to speak to his mother, who has had little clear news herself," said Fanini, adding that Manzano's mother did not know where he was but that he was no longer living with his family. Fanini said that the team's directeur sportif, Pelliconi had heard that Manzano had left the hospital where he was being treated for depression, but had left no trace after that. He had subsequently failed to turn up for an interview with a French TV station. Saeco & Quick.Step for Uniqa ClassicThe Saeco and Quick.Step-Davitamon teams has announced the squads that will start the International Uniqa Classic in Austria, July 7-10. Saeco will be led by Danilo Di Luca, who won Sunday's Trofeo Matteotti but is still smarting at being excluded from the Tour de France. Di Luca will be looking for a 'revenge' victory in Austria. The Saeco squad for the Uniqa Classic will be directed by Flavio Miozzo and as well as Di Luca will include Giosuè Bonomi, Antonio Bucciero, Nicola Gavazzi, Andreas Matzbacher and Gorazd Stangelj. Under directeur sportif Luca Guercilena, Quick.Step-Davitamon will start with Frederic Amorison, Aurelien Clerc, Josè Antonio Garrido, Pedro Horrillo, Josè Antonio Pecharroman, and Sven Vanthourenhout. Cofidis for Trofeo AgostinhoThe Cofidis team has announced the squad that will take part in the Trofeo Agostinho, which runs July 7-11. Under the direction of assistant directeur sportif Bernard Quilfen, the team will field Arnaud Coyot, Inigo Cuesta, Massimiliano Lelli, Luis Perez, Hayden Roulston, Staf Scheirlinckx and Cédric Vasseur. BMC sponsors third NYC Cycling ChampionshipNYC Cycling Championship organizer Threshold Sports has announced that this year's third edition of the race will be named the BMC Software New York City Cycling Championship after long-time cycling supporter BMC Software upgraded its involvement with the event from presenting sponsor in 2002 and 2003 to title sponsor for 2004. This year's event will be held on Sunday, August 1, on a 1.2-mile circuit in the midst of Lower Manhattan's financial district. It will be televised live on WABC-TV from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Jonas Carney's Lehigh swan-songVeteran US racer Jonas Carney will say good-bye to a venue he's raced at since he was a kid when he and brother Jame take part in the 2004 Bicycling Magazine Madison Cup at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome on Friday, July 9. It will be Jonas's last race at Lehigh, and he and Jame will be up against riders from Argentina, New Zealand, Great Britain, and the United States. The Carneys will face their most serious competition from the pairing of Marty Nothstein and Hayden Godfrey who will be attempting to reclaim the title of champion that Nothstein relinquished in 2003 to Jame Carney and Erik Saunders. Saunders, meanwhile, will also be a title threat, paired with Dan Larson. Other notables for the 2004 Bicycling Magazine Madison Cup include young guns Bobby Lea and teammate Kyle Wamsley as well as Gui Nelessen and his teammate Mike Friedman. Lea and Wamsley (T.E.A.M. Fuji), despite their youth, have beaten many of the big name riders in the past and look to continue by taking the biggest madison event win of their careers this Friday. Nelessen and Friedman (ESSM/GPOA) each very accomplished road cyclists also look to capitalize on their anonymity to slip away and take the nation's biggest prize in a Madison cycling race. For tickets or more information about the Friday, July 9, Bicycling Magazine Madison Cup presented by Red Robin Restaurant and WDIY 88.1 FM visit the website at www.lvvelo.org.
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