Latest Cycling News for October 12, 2004Edited by Hedwig Kröner End of season for PeronTeam CSC confirmed to Cyclingnews.com that Italian rider Andrea Peron broke a bone in his left hand during a training ride yesterday. The unfortunate accident means the end of the season for the 33 year-old. ”On a descent I crashed in a turn. I wasn't going very fast, as I'd noticed the road was a bit wet, but I lost control and landed on my left hand," Peron explained, adding, "It makes me sad that I won't be able to participate in the last few races. I wasn't in bad shape and would've liked to help the team in the last, important week in Italy. Furthermore I was determined to defend my victory from last year in Firenze-Pistoia. That's not going to happen, and instead I have to take a break and look forward to next year." More lineups for ItalyThe German team Gerolsteiner has announced its lineup for the next two Italian races this week. Sprinter Danilo Hondo will be the designated leader at both races, together with Giro 2004 mountains jersey winner Fabian Wegmann at Milano-Torino. René Haselbacher to lead Hondo out at at the flatter Giro del Piemonte, where the bunch is likely to stay together until the finish line. Racing for Gerolsteiner at Milano-Torino, October 13 will be:
At the Giro del Piemonte, October 14:
VDB busy after SluitingsprijsFrank Vandenbroucke (MrBookmaker.com-Palmans) will be riding today's Sluitingsprijs in Putte-Kapellen, effectively the last race on Belgium's road cycling calendar for the 2004 season. But the Belgian rider will continue to ride on the track, racing his first sixdays of this winter in Amsterdam, starting on Monday October 18. Next weekend, he will also be participating at the Middelkerke, Belgium Cyclo-cross race. Meanwhile, his personal manager Paul De Geyter has reportedly received a number of contract offers for the season 2005, and VDB will be taking a decision about his professional future in the upcoming weeks. Australia’s turn for a Bike ShowThe cycling industry Down Under is gearing up for its biggest bike show yet. In just over a week’s time, on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 of October, more than 120 exhibitors with over 500 brands will converge on Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building for the Bicycling Australia Show. The heritage-listed, 125 year old building set in Carlton Gardens will house all the very latest cycling technology, with bikes, components, clothing and accessories covering every inch of historic floorboards. New products at the Show include Shimano’s upgraded 10 speed Ultegra group set and the new Hone mountain bike group set; Giant’s new TCR Advanced Team road bike; Cannondale’s illegally light Six13 road bike; the long travel Nixon trail riding fork from Manitou; Look’s new KEO Carbon pedals; and the ‘Electra’, a new motorized bike from Avanti. Plenty of information about the sport will be provided by the Malvern Star Seminar Series, covering many topics such as training, fitness, sports massage, bike positioning, commuting, new products, cycling for women and what to look for when buying a bike. The Where to Ride seminars will focus on great cycling destinations and events around Australia. Professional riders will put their skills to the test in BMX jumping, mountain bike trials, roller racing, duathlon and unicycle demonstrations, in shows which will rotate every half hour. Participating international riders include Cirque du Soleil performer Ryan Leech from Canada and BMX rider Leigh Ramsdell from the US. Top Australian mountain bike trials riders include current national champion Andrew Dickey and five time former national champion Steve Marsh. Stephen Wooldridge, multiple World Champion and Olympic gold medal winning Team Pursuiter, can be found at the Excelpro/Argon 18 stand (#503) throughout the weekend. And last but not least, Cyclingnews.com staff will also be available for any suggestion, comment or approval you may have. Visit www.bicyclingaustralia.com for more information. Drug tests expensive in Australia, tooDrug testing in major Australian cycling events could be cut back because of the high cost of the tests, according to Australian daily Herald Sun. Under UCI rules, each event must have compulsory testing to maintain its world ranking, but the cost charged by the Australian Sports Drugs Agency is making life difficult for promoters. This year the number of government-subsidised tests has also been reduced, Herald Sun Tour director John Craven said yesterday. "The escalating charges are putting an impossible burden on promoters," Craven explained. The cost of the tests had risen from $615 last year to $685, while tests for Saturday's Melbourne to Warrnambool classic included a $112 surcharge because it was classed as a rural event [all Australian $ - ed.]. "It's ludicrous for the drug-testing agency to charge an event like the Melbourne to Warrnambool nearly $800 per test," Craven continued. "With such a huge financial imposition, some promoters are going to naturally try to avoid carrying out drug testing. And that cuts across stamping out drug cheats, which we all want to do." Craven said in recent years there had been more "swoop" testing on the Tour, rather than a specified number of tests after each stage. "We have been told by Cycling Australia that we can have only three subsidised tests in total for the Herald Sun Tour, the Melbourne to Warrnambool and the Tour of Queensland," Craven said. ASDA's cycling manager Stephen Cornish said there was more emphasis this year on out-of-competition testing rather than during events. "Event testing has not been targeted as heavily and so there has been a reduction in government-subsidised testing across all sports," Cornish said. "We've asked Cycling Australia to prioritise their events, and obviously their national championships drew the priority." Cornish also defended the high costs of the tests. "There's no doubt John (Craven) feels the cost of the testing is becoming prohibitive, but that is not cycling specific, it's across the board," Cornish said. Jonas Carney finishes pro careerJonas Carney (Jelly Belly) could not have scripted a better ending to the season for the team as finished up his professional racing career by winning four times in the past two weekends. Carney started off by winning the stage one Criterium at Cyclefest in West Palm Beach, Florida. In stage two, teammates Mariano Friedick and Alex Candelario pulled the field back together for Carney to sprint victoriously. The two wins gave Jonas enough points for overall victory. At the Downtown Greenville Cycling Classic, the final event on the US National Racing Calendar, it was Alex Candelario making the decisive breakaway on Saturday, surpassed in the finish only by US Postal Service rider, George Hincapie. On Sunday, Carney won his final race, followed to the line in second by Alex Candelario. Women's World Cup returns to New ZealandNew Zealand will host a round of the women's World Cup for the first time sonce 2002 when the Trust House World Cup event comes to Welllington on March 6, 2005. The second round of the World Cup, the race will be held over 15 laps of an 8-kilometre circuit in the heart of Wellington. Totaling 120 kilometres, the race will start and finish in the grounds of the New Zealand Parliament and feature two tough climbs. Olympic champion Sara Carrigan of Australia and the German World Champion Judith Arndt will be setting their teams after each other for the maximum World Cup points before the next round in Europe. Also competing will be New Zealand's Joanne Kiesanowski. This year’s event saw 158 riders from 22 countries at the start. Preceding the World Cup race, the riders will contest the Trust House 4-stage 3-day tour taking in Hutt City, the Wairarapa and Wellington. Rockville Bridge cancelledOne of the promoters of the 2004 Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-Cross Championship Series has announced the cancellation of race 6, the Rockville Bridge Cross Classic (UCI), Marysville, PA on November 7, 2004. As the longest continuously running event in the Verge Mid-Atlantic Series, Mike Kuhn had hoped to introduce a new course this year. Unfortunately, several set-backs, including the loss of two different venues (the first through scheduling, the second a result of major flood damage) combined with the loss of a long-time sponsor, culminated in the forced cancellation of the event. "I was holding out hope for as long as I could that we would be able to bring this year's event together," stated Kuhn, who plans to regroup and hopes to see the return of the event in the 2005 series. The 2004 Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-Cross Series consists of eight races with six of them being internationally (UCI) sanctioned. Two of the eight events, Beacon Cross and Highland Park ‘Cross have also been included in the new Crank Brothers U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross Series. The U.S. Gran Prix of Cyclocross series is a new national series that offers automatic world championship selection to the series overall winners. The revised schedule of the 2004 Verge Mid-Atlantic Cyclo-Cross Championship Series: Round 1: October 16 Blue Diamond Cross, New Castle, DE Illawarra Open Track Carnival on Oct. 30The 2005 track season is about to start, and the first carnival on the Australian calendar is the Illawarra Open Track Carnival to be held at Unanderra track, on Saturday, 30th October 2004. The track open features a Junior Carnival starting at 5 pm and an Open Carnival starting at 6:30 pm. Further information and entry forms at www.nsw.cycling.org.au
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