First Edition Cycling News for October 18, 2004Edited by Jeff Jones and Hedwig Kröner Cunego heralds new era
In winning the Giro di Lombardia yesterday, Saeco's young superstar Damiano Cunego became one of the rare riders in recent history to win both a classic and a grand tour in the same year. And at only 23 years old, Cunego is being heralded as one of the next big things in cycling. But he doesn't want to be compared with other riders who achieved the Giro/Lombardy double in the same season (Merckx, Coppi and Bartali all did it). "Let's avoid such incredible comparisons but here's no doubt it's been a great year for me," said Cunego. After winning in the spring I won the Giro in May and that was amazing, winning a World Cup race is incredible. It's a great end to a fantastic season. I have to thank everybody; the team and my teammates who all worked for me. I also have to thank myself for having believed I could win." Like his main rival Ivan Basso, Cunego did burn a few matches in the finale, attacking several times without success. "I made some mistakes and used a lot of energy but it was probably the only way to make things go my way," he admitted. Cunego paid tribute to Basso with the promise of more battles to come in future. "Winning a World Cup race is worth twice as much as other races," he said. "I've also beaten great rivals, especially Ivan Basso who I'll go up against in the future at the Giro and the Tour de France. I think it's good for cycling and will excite the tifosi and capture the attention of young people. In the next few years it's going to be an exciting time for cycling." T-Mobile wins team World Cup by a hairWith a one point lead ahead of Rabobank, T-Mobile won the overall World Cup team classification at the Giro di Lombardia on Saturday. It was a tight finale, as the Dutch team led by two points at the start of the race. T-Mobile was very keen on getting the title and achieving a very rare "Triple". "We won the Tour de France team ranking, are on top of the world ranking and have now secured the World Cup. It shows we have a well-balanced team", said team manager Walter Godefroot. Directeur sportif Mario Kummer explained the dramatic finish: "We literally passed Rabobank in the last curve," said the ex-pro. "It was a very tight result, but we deserve the success for our constant performance throughout the entire season." Aussie Cadel Evans and Daniele Nardello placed fourth and fifth at the end of the race and earned Kummer's praise. "That was very impressive - the way Evans and Nardello really dug out any leftover energy after such a tiring season," he recalled. Evans and Nardello both tried to attack, but without success. "On the last descent, I suddenly had cramps," said the Italian, "I wanted to attack once more, but it just wouldn't work." Given that Boogerd placed second, it was up to the third T-Mobile rider to make the difference. So Matthias 'Matze' Kessler made the decisive point in crossing the line in a second group 17 seconds after Cunego, just one place ahead of Rabobank's Michael Rasmussen. "That was tight! Matze really gave it everything on the last metres," said Kummer, smiling from ear to ear. Godefroot was very satisfied too: "This result is a good basis for the team's entry in the new ProTour series next year," said the Belgian, who will be succeeded by team spokesman Olaf Ludwig in the future. Erik Breukink, team manager at Rabobank, was of course disappointed. "It is sad. We're going home with two second places," he explained, meaning the loss of the team classification and Michael Boogerd's second placing behind Damiano Cunego (Saeco). Boogerd finished second three times at World Cup races this year but didn't figure in the overall standings because he only rode five races. However, he obviously wanted a win. "That's a real shame for him," Breukink continued. "He deserves a win. At one point it looked good, when he was alone with Ivan Basso and Cadel Evans. He could have outsprinted them. But Cunego is another league in the sprint. From the moment he joined the group, we knew it was going to be difficult. The only thing you can try to do is to surprise him - and Boogerd did that well, he was on the right wheel. But Cunego was simply too strong." That being said, Breukink did sum up Rabobank's season positively: "The team performed very well in the World Cup. We won two classics [Freire's win in Milano-San Remo, and Dekker's victory in Paris-Tours - ed.], and Boogerd finished second three times. There aren't a lot of teams who have won two CDM races," he said, bearing in mind that only Gerolsteiner achieved the same success this year with Davide Rebellin winning the Amstel Gold race and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Final team World Cup standings1 T-Mobile 69 pts 2 Rabobank 68 3 Gerolsteiner 47 4 Fassa Bortolo 47 5 Lotto-Domo 47 6 Saeco 41 7 Quick.Step-Davitamon 37 8 Team CSC 33 9 US Postal-Berry Floor 26 Rasmussen not happyDid a lopsided cleat cost Rabobank the teams victory in the World Cup? One of Rabobank's key riders, Michael Rasmussen, experienced this problem during yesterday's Giro di Lombardia and that could well have made the difference in the end. Rasmussen made it into a useful break after the descent of the Ghisallo, but couldn't hang on when Basso, Cunego, Boogerd and Evans caught up on the penultimate climb of the Civiglio with 16 km to go to form the decisive break. Rasmussen eventually crossed the line 45 seconds behind the winner in 23rd place. "I am not content, not at all," Rasmussen wrote in his diary on feltet.dk. "If I have to make an explanation or an excuse if you like, my cleat had twisted before the start. I thought that I had put it back before starting, and that it was tightened. But after the race I could see that it didn't fit the marks I made under my shoes. The difference was a couple of millimetres, and that is sufficient to give you a cramp when you have to ride 250 km. I am of course extremely annoyed, and there is nobody but myself to blame. It is really stupid on such an important day." Rasmussen will take his end of season break soon, but will also discuss his 2005 program with Rabobank, and he is hoping for a start in the Giro d'Italia. "My suggestion would be that I start relatively late next year, and that I ride the Giro as a preparation for the Tour de France. But The Tour would be my main objective. Then I can take a break after the Tour and then hopefully be ready for Zürich, the World's and Giro di Lombardia." Gerrans warming upBy John Trevorrow Simon Gerrans looks like he is getting over his jetlag and getting ready to stamp his name on the Herald Sun Tour. A lost passport at Paris airport on a Saturday created many hassles and resulted in Simon flying into Melbourne in the early hours of the first day of the Tour. We caught up with a relaxed Gerrans after the finish of stage 5 in Geelong. "It's been going pretty well so far," he said. "I've been trying to take it a bit easy over the first few days to get over the flight." You rode a strong tour last year and only lost second spot on the final day. Do you think you can win this year? "I've always said I would go for a stage win and then see what position I'm in later in the week. With all the dramas of last week I'm just happy to still be in touch with the leaders." Who do you think will be the main contenders? "There are quite a few guys capable of winning. Baden Cooke is a class bike rider and he is riding strongly. If he keeps winning stages then he will be in front soon and only have to defend up Baw Baw. Luke Roberts has come back to win this year. Then there are Corey Sweet and Jeremy Hunt. There are plenty of guys that can go up Baw Baw quick but this tour could well be won before we get to the mountain. "I'm still not feeling 100 percent but I am feeling better each day. I have a good team. Davo (Jayco coach Dave Sanders) has us all motivated and Will (Walker) and Johnnie (Clark) have had a real good finish to the year. I reckon the next couple of days will see some dramatic changes in the placings and I should know just how well I am going." 66th Vuelta a GuatemalaThe Vuelta a Guatemala will be run for the 66th time between October 20-November 1. The UCI 2.5 classed race will see teams from Guatemala, Italy, Colombia, Bolivia, México, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Venezuela taking part over 12 stages and 1,781 km. The stages Stage 1 - October 20: Guatemala-Zacapa, 150 km New sponsor for Randwick BotanyThe Sydney, Australia based Randwick Botany Cycling Club has announced a new sponsor for 2005: FRF Couriers. Frank and Rocky Fortuna's courier company has already been involved in sponsoring a domestic team in recent years, but that will now be absorbed into the Randwick Botany club. The club management hopes that the new sponsorship will allow its strong junior program to continue right through to the elite ranks, as many of its junior riders have been headhunted to other richer clubs and teams in the past. FRF is also the parent company of bicycle import and distribution company, ExcelPro, which distributes Colnago and Argon 18 bicycles, Velomax wheels, Parentini clothing, 3T accessories and Speedplay pedals. Pontoni lookingItalian 'crosser Daniele Pontoni is looking for a team to race for in the US. If any team is interested in taking him on, please contact his U.S. manager at danella02@earthlink.net.
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