First Edition Cycling News for September 20, 2004Edited by Jeff Jones and John Stevenson More surprises on Sierra Nevada
On a day where Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros) was expected to extend his lead over everyone else in the Vuelta, things didn't quite go according to plan for the climber from Bejar. Heras finished third in the very demanding 29.6 km uphill time trial from Granada to Sierra Nevada, 1'51 behind winner Santi Pérez (Phonak) and 0'44 behind second place getter Alejandro Valverde (Comunidad Valenciana-Kelme). The GC suffered yet another shake up with Heras preserving just 0'05 of his lead over Valverde, and Pérez climbing up to third place at 1'45. "We are entering the toughest week of the Vuelta a España," said Heras after the stage. "After what he has done today, Santi Pérez has to be counted as one more rival for the overall victory. The last week is going to be simple when everyone has the same level of strength. We don't know yet what the order on the podium in Madrid will be. In this sport there are very nice moments and others not so nice. There are still stages to come." After his morale boosting win yesterday, Pérez showed himself to be a candidate for the overall victory by smashing everyone with a time of 1:02:29, averaging 28.42 km/h over the whole distance. The 27 year old who nearly two years ago lost his girlfriend in a traffic accident told Cyclingnews after the stage, "I am in the middle of a dream. I will always remember this day. "If I continue along this line, I will be fighting for the stages in Covatilla and Navacerrada, but now they are going to be careful with me. I am at a good level and I believe that I could do well in the Madrid time trial, even though I am a climber." Alejandro Valverde moved tantalisingly close to the gold jersey today, but needed another few seconds to remove it from Heras' shoulders. "It doesn't mean anything," he commented after the stage. "There is still a lot of the Vuelta with the Covatilla, the Sierra de Madrid and the time trial on the last day. Santi Pérez showed himself to be the best. I have a lot of confidence in myself and I raced hard, but kept something for the end. I thank the public, for whom I gave the maximum." Vuelta Stage 15 - Full
results, report & photos, Live
report Petacchi outAlessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) is the latest sprint specialist to abandon the Vuelta a España, dropping out before the start of stage 15 yesterday. Petacchi has been complaining of tendonitis in his left forearm, and has elected not to risk making the problem worse toiling over the remaining mountains. In a team statement, Petacchi said, "In agreement with my team's doctors and sport directors we have decided to finish my Vuelta early. My physical condition is good, and my withdrawal is a precaution in view of my last season objective, the Paris-Tours. It doesn't make sense to stay in the race and stress the tendon when, except for Tuesday, there is still a week of high mountains to go. "I am going back to Italy fully satisfied with my four stage victories and good physical condition." Blood tests continueThe UCI's medical inspectors are working hard at this year's Vuelta, carrying out frequent blood health checks on the riders. This morning before Stage 15, the UCI tested riders from the following teams: Quick Step-Davitamon, Team CSC, AG2R Prevoyance and Relax-Bergasol. No rider was declared unfit to start. Otxoa smashes recordFormer professional cyclist Javier Otxoa, who was seriously injured in February 2001 when he and his twin brother Ricardo were hit by a car, has smashed the record for the 3000m individual pursuit at the Paralympic Games in Athens. Otxoa set a new record of 3:57.480 in the CP 3/4 category, lopping almost 16 seconds off the previous mark of 4:13.220, set in August 6, 2002 by Daniel Nicholson of the USA. Otxoa is a certainty to take at least the silver medal in the pursuit as a result, but says he wants the gold. Otxoa sustained substantial brain damage and spent several weeks in a coma after the crash in which his brother Ricardo was killed. Rebellin flies to ArgentinaGerolsteiner rider Davide Rebellin was planning to fly to Buenos Aires yesterday to finalise his transition from Italian to Argentinean citizenship, according to radsportnews.com. As an Argentinean, Rebellin will be a virtual certainty to ride the world championships road race in Verona, Italy next month, after being overlooked for selection to the team of his native Italy. "The process is now at a point where Rebellin must come to our country," president of the Argentinean cycling federation, Gabriel Curuchet told Argentinian daily newspaper Clarín at the weekend. Curuchet said Rebellin would have to appear at a judicial hearing where his naturalization would be ratified. Rebellin said last month that he was taking the unusual step of changing nationality because he "was not respected as a racer in Italy" despite his record of success in one-day races, which this year included a remarkable triple of Amstel Gold, Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Italian world's team almost decidedItalian national team manager Franco Ballerini will announce today the final shape of the blue-clad team for the world championships in Verona. One place remains to be allocated and Ballerini says he has three riders in mind, one of whom is Gilberto Simoni. Ballerini, who has been able to unite the often fractious Italian peloton behind a single team leader and goal at recent world championships and Olympics, says the riders to watch at this year's world's will be the Spanish, who "will arrive fit from the Vuelta and be hard to beat. And we will be keeping an eye on Jan Ullrich" who showed good form in Saturday's Giro del Lazio. Climb any mountain
A former rock climber from Cooma found herself scaling an even bigger heights in yesterday's Grafton to Glen Innes Challenge, where Jessica Rider made her mark on the infamous 17 kilometre climb of the Gibraltar Range. Karen Forman reports from Inverell. The new Grafton to Glen Innes World Heritage Way Ladies Challenge couldn't have come at a better time for rising talent Jessica Ridder. As the winner of the women's road series last year, the 30 year-old drug education school teacher from the NSW Snowy Mountains town of Cooma has been looking forward to coming head-to-head with Olympic hero Kathy Watt - who is leading this year's series. And what better place to do that, than in a race which offers a mountain similar in terrain to that Jessica has been racing this year in Italy, during a stint with the Australian national team? While Watt won Saturday's event, Ridder's second was a definite credit to her, particularly considering she has only been racing bicycles for a couple of years and is pretty much the greenhorn. Dufaux says goodbye
Swiss rider Laurent Dufaux made his professional farewell on Saturday at the Giro del Lazio, bringing his career full circle by bowing out of the pro peloton at the race where he made his debut in 1990 as a stagiaire for the Helvetia-La Suisse team. In his subsequent 15 year career, Dufaux has been a solid working pro, clocking up a couple of good wins almost every year. His palmares includes victories in the Dauphiné-Libéré, Tour de Romandie, Midi Libre Zuri metzege, Polynormande, Route du Sud and GP Pino Cerami, a well as stage victories. He has ridden for six teams over the years. Laurent Dufaux's teams1991 - 1992: Helvetia-La Suisse PhotographyImages by Quick.Step-Davitamon
Nicholas Roche likely to CofidisIrishman Nicholas Roche, the son of 1987 Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, is likely to sign his first professional contract with Cofidis for 2005, Cofidis directeur sportif Francis Van Londersele said in an interview with cyclismag.com. Roche, a member of the French club VC La Pomme-Marseille, is currently riding as a stagiaire with Cofidis. Van Londersele also said that from next year Cofodis will develop a partnership with the AVC Aix club. AVC Aix rider Alexandre Cabrera is riding alongside roche as a Cofidis stagiaire at present. Naïbo to Bretagne Jean Floc'hCyclismag.com also reports that French rider Carl Naïbo (Bressuire AC), winner of the Criterium des Espoirs back in February and the espoirs category at the GP Plouay, will probably sign his first professional contract with the French Bretagne Jean Floc'h team for two years.
(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2004) |
|
January 2009 |
Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Mt Hood Classic Photo ©: Swift |
