First Edition Cycling News for April 11, 2005Edited by Anthony Tan & Jeff Jones 103rd Paris-Roubaix wrap-upBoonen loses the Museeuw tag
The golden boy of Belgian cycling has done it again. On a cold Sunday in 'hell', 24 year-old Tom Boonen, who rode an amazing Ronde van Vlaanderen last weekend, won the 103rd edition of Paris-Roubaix and doing so, became only the eighth rider in history to complete the Flanders-Roubaix double. "This is more than unbelievable. Everything went as I expected it would," said the beaming Boonen post-race, engulfed in a horde of team staff, journalists, photographers and fans. "This is impressive," were some of the first stuttered words that came from his ecstatic team manager Patrick Lefevre's mouth. "The whole team worked for Tom. Actually, Boonen shouldn't have won after his victory last week. But he was spared of bad luck and rode fantastically." Going clear of a very select five-man group with less than 20 kilometres to go, Boonen entered the Roubaix velodrome with only George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Fassa Bortolo) by his side. Showing the cunning of a seasoned track sprinter, Boonen waited in third wheel right until the bell lap signaling one lap to go, before launching himself down from the banking with two corners remaining, comfortably outsprinting Hincapie and Flecha, who took second and third place respectively.
"I believed in myself. I knew Boonen was the man to beat," Hincapie said. "When he attacked, I thought I could come by him at the end. But he was too strong. I'm happy I was amongst the strongest riders. I rode a smart race. I did what I could and I rode as hard as I could." "It was beautiful Roubaix," said the third-placed Flecha, who, after finishing second in a controversial Gent-Wevelgem on Wednesday and 12th in the Ronde, is surely up for a Spring Classic victory in the not-too-distant future. Last year's winner, Magnus Backstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi), was part of the early six-man break but was dropped on the Le Carrefour de l'Arbre secteur of pavé when Boonen accelerated, coming in just over a minute down in fourth place, while Lars Michaelsen (Team CSC) was also in the lead group until he too fell victim to Boonen's strength on the same section of pavé, eventually finishing 2'43 down in fifth place. Last achieved by Peter Van Petegem in 2003, but before that, 26 years ago by four-time Paris-Roubaix Roger De Vlaeminck (1977), Boonen's rare double means he has done something the man he is constantly compared to hasn't - that man being three-time winner Johan Museeuw. "To win the double at 24 years old, fantastic. I shouldn't race for too much longer, right?" Boonen quipped. Full results, report
& photos Van Petegem's hellThe biggest favourite to crash out of today's Paris-Roubaix was Davitamon-Lotto's Peter van Petegem, who came down in a big crash at the halfway mark. The 2003 winner firstly had to wait a long time to get a spare bike, then had a 15 km chase ahead to regain the peloton. But as soon as he did, he was dropped again because of his injuries, and had to abandon. He was taken to the ASZ hospital in Aalst, Belgium, where doctors diagnosed him with a badly bruised pelvis, but no broken bones. "It's disappointing, but you come up against bad luck days like this during your career," Van Petegem told VRT afterwards. "At one stage there were some puddles of water and suddenly [other riders] slid out in front of me. I was in 25th position and couldn't avoid it any more. My wheels, shoes and derailleur were broken. But more seriously, I immediately knew that my injuries were bad. "Through character and with the help of De Vocht, Steels and Roesems I could come back. But the pain remained and I couldn't put any power in my right leg," concluded the disappointed Van Petegem, who will take two days off before deciding on whether he will start in the Amstel Gold Race next Sunday. Tafi's last Roubaix
Andrea Tafi (Saunier Duval) rolled in at the back of the main peloton in 42nd place after riding his final Paris-Roubaix. The giant 39 year-old Tuscan won this race in 1999, but is in his final month (or months) as a pro. Tafi told Italian TV after the race, "I have such a big emotion now, but I'm sorry I didn't do better today...in my career, I've had so many beautiful emotions and winning here (in Roubaix 1999) was the greatest moment of my career. Last night I wasn't feeling that good and so when you aren't good, that's that. But I really want to thank everyone who's supported me." Tafi was "rewarded" with a SFR200 fine because he wore a non-standard jersey (his Saunier Duval jersey had a cobblestone motif on it). His team was fined SFR500 for the same offence. Quick.Step and Davitamon-Lotto finedTwo more teams falling foul of the commissaires today were Quick.Step and Davitamon-Lotto, who both copped SFR200 fines for "not obeying the commissaires' instructions". But given the value of Tom Boonen's win to Quick.Step, this doesn't even count as small change. Thijs rewarded for his long dayErwin Thijs (MrBookmaker) received some satisfaction for his efforts today, as the Belgian was one of the early attackers that escaped at km 25. The break was caught by the Boonen express at km 50, and dropped 5 km later, but Thijs hung onto the chase group to finish 13th (Florent Brard and Arnaud Coyot also did well, finishing 7th and 10th respectively). "The aim was to get in an early breakaway," Thijs told VRT. "I could give the sponsor something with the publicity. But when Boonen and co. come along, you know that's it. Boonen gave me a clap on the shoulder. Andrea Tafi also did that when he won. It brings good luck, eh." Roberts wants to go back
CSC's Aussie rider Luke Roberts finished 59th in his first Paris-Roubaix, rolling across the finish line in a group with 17 riders at 10.36 behind winner Tom Boonen. Cyclingnews spoke to him after the race, and Luke appeared thoroughly impressed. "It definitely was a big experience," said Roberts. "It's one thing to watch this race on television, seeing all those people on the side of the cobblestone roads, but to actually be riding through those crowds is awesome, a big thrill. I went OK, finished in a good group. I have to admit I probably wasn't desperate enough to be at the front when we hit the cobbles. It was just such a fight. "I was behind Van Petegem and Davis when they crashed. To get around them, I had to hop off the bike, off the road via the field and get back on the bike again, that cost me some valuable time. But it being my first time, I guess I just wasn't hungry enough to take more risks. At the moment, I'm still in a bit of a shock. I'll go away from this and think about what I could have done different and what mistakes I made. Paris-Roubaix is a fantastic race, it was a good experience for me and I certainly want to ride it again and do better!" Ullrich: "I want to beat him"
After a solid return to racing at the Circuit de la Sarthe, where Jan Ullrich finished a promising 10th overall, the 1997 Tour de France champion has declared he wants to beat the man that has stood in his way on more occasions than he cares to remember: Lance Armstrong. "Whoever beats him is the hero. And I want to beat him," said Ullrich about his American arch-rival on T-Mobile's website, www.t-mobile-team.com. "To do that, I just have to ride faster than he can. But I have a strong team behind me and with a promising opening race in the legs, I can look forward to the next race with confidence." 'Der Kaiser' finished his first race back in France on a high, outsprinting a small group of 11 riders to place sixth on a difficult 180 kilometre final stage that finished in Le Mans, 1'50 behind stage winner and overall race victor Sylvain Chavanel of Cofidis. "It was my first race of the season and I am very satisfied with how it went. Skipping the Tour of Murcia was the right decision," Ullrich said shortly after the stage finished. Speaking about starting the 2004 season too early, where, for the very first time, the 31 year-old finished outside the Tour podium in fourth place, the quietly-spoken German had only one thing to say: "That mistake is not going to be made again." Naturally, T-Mobile directeur-sportif Mario Kummer was delighted with the T-Mobile Team leader's performance: "That was an incredibly hard race, with the foul weather doing its best to mess things up. There was even hail out on the route and it never got warmer than about four [degrees] Celsius," he said. Ullrich's performances have not gone unnoticed outside of the T-Mobile team camp, either, with his former lieutenant-turned Gerolsteiner team manager Udo Bölts believes Ullrich is riding stronger than before. "He is looking better than he did last year," said Bölts. "That goes for the time trial, as well as the opening 197 kilometre stage, where he was able to ride comfortably in the peloton despite the high tempo and the severe crosswinds." "I am getting a lot of pleasure out of cycling right now. I feel wonderful and the form and condition is good. I am still setting myself targets and as long as I can still win races, then I want to continue in the sport," Ullrich said. 2012 Olympic Games TT at Estadio Olympico?By Anthony Tan As part of Madrid's proposal to host the 2012 Olympic Games, organisers plan to stage the start/finish of Olympic road time trial inside the existing Olympic stadium. International Cycling Union (UCI) executives Charly Mottet and Philippe Chevallier visited the Spanish capital last week, and have described the idea as 'brilliant' according to the Olympic bid news site, GamesBid.com. The stadium, which has a capacity to seat 70,000 people, is situated less than 10 kilometres east the city centre, en route to the main airport. While Mottet and Chevallier were happy that the Olympic stadium - including the velodrome and BMX track - were all positioned with the parameters of the 'Olympic Ring', one fairly significant hurdle may present an issue: cars are not allowed inside the stadium. Should a rider puncture or experience a mechanical inside the stadium, they would be not able to receive assistance from a team car until outside of the facility, although a way around this would be to position team or a neutral spares personnel situated around the track, à la Paris-Roubaix. Should Madrid host the 2012 Summer Games, both the men's and women's time trials would take place on the same day, August 12, with the athletics programme kicking off at the Olympic stadium the day after. Bruyneel 'disappointed but not discouraged'"I'm a little disappointed but definitely not discouraged," said Discovery team manager Johan Bruyneel after the final stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, with their best-placed rider Tom Danielson placing 14th in the short but sharp 9.3 kilometre time trial and their best GC rider José Luis Rubiera finishing 17th overall. "You always have to realistic, but when you are at the race, you always want to do better." The pragmatic DS added riders like Rubiera, Danielson, Jose Azevedo, Paolo Savoldelli and Benjamin Noval, who all rode the Spanish ProTour stage race, have their main season objectives further down the line, and with the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France still some distance away, most of the Discovery Channel crew at the race are still working their way into top form. "They definitely cannot be super at this time of the season, it's just too early for them. They are all on a good level but not their top level, and you can see that as there always seems to be about 15 or so guys in front of them," he said. Bruyneel also mentioned that while individual accomplishments within the team were nothing to write home about - apart from new Ukrainian recruit Volodymyr Bileka's third place overall at the Circuit de la Sarthe - the team's overall performances at Pais Vasco and the two other ProTour stage races so far this season, Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, as well as the Ruta del Sol, Tour of the Algarve, Semana Catalana have been very sound. In the latter three events, the Discovery Channel team twice finished first and second once, while in the ProTour races, the team placed fourth twice before finishing as the third-best team at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. "The guys for the Giro and the Tour have goals that are further way. But, of course, you always want to be at the front, always. We have put all of our hopes right now on our Classics team and those are the guys who have to perform," said Bruyneel, who should be more than satisfied after George Hincapie's best-ever result in yesterday's Paris-Roubaix, where he finished second behind Tom Boonen. Vietnam's national tour begins SaturdayThe 17th edition of Vietnam's national cycling tour, the Ho Chi Minh City Television Cycling Cup, begins in the city named after the event next Saturday, April 16, also finishing in Ho Chi Minh City 14 days later on April 30. Covering a total distance of 1,497 kilometres, the 14 stage event is mostly comprised of local teams, but the 2005 edition will also see three international teams from South Korea, Thailand and Sri Lanka. According to the Thanh Nien Daily, this year's route has been extended to include more provinces and will visit towns including: Quy Nhon in the Binh Dinh central province, Pleiku and Buon Ma Thout in the Central Highlands, and Bao Loc in the Lam Dong province. The title sponsor, Ho Chi Minh City Television, is reported to be broadcasting each stage live. Forest City Velodrome updateConstruction of North America's third indoor velodrome is now well underway, with an official opening set for April 30, this year. As reported previously on Cyclingnews, the Forest City Velodrome is a unique initiative, in that funding for the project comes from individuals and businesses, rather than being publicly owned. The owner of Apollo Velodrome Systems, Albert Coulier, whose company is responsible for constructing the 142 metre track, told the London Free Press that sufficient financing (approximately US$100,000) was raised to build the velodrome and operate "for a number of months". After that date, user fees will make the velodrome self-sustaining, along with a new sponsor each week. "If we can get just one rider to the Olympics, I can die happy," said the 86 year-old Coulier, whose firm has built more than 20 tracks. "It's not an Olympic-length track; because it's shorter, it's preferred for training because riders can learn tactics." The track will have a 16 degree banking on the straights and 50 degrees on the corners. "This track will be as good as any Olympic velodrome," said Rob Good, the velodrome's chief operating officer, who spearheaded the Forest City Velodrome project by soliciting cash donors and corporate product sponsors. 520 chair-seats are being installed, but the velodrome will hold another 500 spectators on carpeted tier seating. Good predicts an April 23 opening "with riders coming from as far as Detroit, Atlanta and Montreal", with the official opening date set for April 30. (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2005) |
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