First Edition Cycling News for April 21, 2005

Edited by John Stevenson & Jeff Jones

La Flèche Wallonne wrap-ups

Di Luca back in business

By Hedwig Kröner in Huy

Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas)
Photo ©: Sirotti

Winner of the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne classics as well as the Vuelta a Pais Vasco, Danilo Di Luca, is experiencing a similar success as Davide Rebellin did last year, when he achieved his unequalled triple by also winning Liège-Bastogne-Liège. For Rebellin, it was a "time of redemption", that made him forget about his past difficulties and gave him back his confidence. Although Di Luca is not quite there yet - and even if it might be even more unlikely to accomplish a triple like his countryman in 2004 - Di Luca has also come a long way for these victories.

Asked what finally made the difference between last year, where he placed fourth at Amstel and second at Flèche, Di Luca replied after the race, "The difference is in my head, and in the people that surround me. Now I feel sure about my abilities as a champion, and I have a great team around me that makes it possible. It's in the combination."

At the foot of the Mur de Huy for the last time, Di Luca said he was "just thinking about Rebellin all the time. I didn't want to make the same mistake as last year, when I didn't watch him enough. As for the others, I waited for their moves, and responded. My teammates Pellizotti, Calcagni and Ljungqvist got me to the foot in a very good position right in front, and that's when my directeur sportif told me to go a 100 percent."

Of course, expectations are now high for Di Luca at next Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège. "Today, winning the race was already difficult enough," Di Luca said. "It was even harder than at Amstel, as I was being watched more. But Sunday will be the hardest, not only because I will be a favourite, but also because of the last climb."

One thing is certain: Di Luca will be the man to beat in his current form and frame of mind. "I have been waiting for this for three years," he said, very happy to have finally reached a peak in his career. And Di Luca doesn't see himself focus on one-day races only now that he has made this breakthrough - he still focuses on stage races as has been his objective before. "I still think it's possible for me to win a Grand Tour sometime in the future," the true Italian concluded.

Full results, report & photos
Live report
Photos

Cooke does it again in Huy

Nicole Cooke (Safi)
Photo ©: AFP

Nicole Cooke (Safi-Pasta Zara-Manhattan) repeated her 2003 victory in the women's Flèche Wallonne by outsprinting Oenone Wood and Judith Arndt (Nürnberger) to the top of the Mur de Huy. As she did in 2003, Cooke collapsed for several minutes after the finish, but recovered to describe the final kilometre in detail:

"We came with about thirty riders to the bottom of the climb. At that moment, even though I didn't want to make my final move I think it was best to be at the front where I wouldn't get closed in or get pushed to the back. So I took the front line with Melchers, Wood and another rider, even though we weren't going flat out. But then Melchers really started her effort and I just stayed behind, knowing that there was no need to go too soon . But as we got to the two hairpins I started to go flat out, and afterwards Oenone Wood came past me, then I went past her, she came back past me.[laughs] But then, with the last 200 metres to go, I made my move and gave it absolutely everything to the line."

Thanks to her second place, Oenone Wood is the leader of the World Cup again with 165 points, nine more than Mirjam Melchers-Van Poppel (Buitenpoort) and 40 more than Cooke.

Full results, report & photos
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Aldag and Gobbi injured

A major crash in Flèche Wallonne left Rolf Aldag (T-Mobile) and Michele Gobbi (Domina Vacanze) with broken bones, putting both riders out of action for the next several weeks. Gobbi sustained a broken thighbone and was treated yesterday evening at Huy hospital, while Aldag has a broken radius and various cuts and bruises.

The crash occurred on a narrow, slippery uphill section of the course and involved about ten riders including Francisco Mancebo (Iles Baléares), Thomas Dekker (Rabobank), Aldag's team-mate Oscar Sevilla and Benoît Poilvet (Crédit Agricole).

Basso goes for Tour-Giro double

CSC's Ivan Basso is taking the unusual step of riding both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France this year - and aiming to do well in both. Conventional wisdom says that it's no longer possible to win two Grand Tours in the same season (Marco Pantani was the last rider to do it, winning the Giro and the Tour de France in 1998), but in an interview with Spanish sports newspaper As, Basso begs to differ, albeit cautiously.

"I believe that is possible to do the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France in a same season," Basso said. "Due to this decision, I have reduced the emphasis on other races." And he won't be treating the Giro as just a warm-up or training race for the Tour, as some top riders have done in the past. "I will come to the Giro with the objective to do it well and to try to win it. An Italian cannot go to his [national] race without ambition."

Nevertheless, Basso admits he's taking a chance. He doesn't know if it's possible to be 100 percent fit for both races. "This I cannot know beforehand. I believe that I can do it well in the Giro and in the Tour, but right now I cannot be sure that I am going to fight for both."

Despite the ongoing disagreements between the Giro and the ProTour teams over start money, Basso believes the ProTour will benefit the Giro by raising the overall quality of the participants. "Thanks to the UCI ProTour, the Giro will have the better teams at the start, although the spectacle does not depend so much on the participating teams, as on those riders that come with the intention to race well," said Basso.

Turning to the Tour, Basso said of reigning champion Lance Armstrong, "It would be better to win the Tour with Armstrong present, I would like that a lot, but right now it is not the biggest problem for me. The question is how to win it, with or without Lance."

Muenzer supports cancer ride

Canadian Olympic gold medalist Lori-Ann Muenzer will make a public appearance Sunday as official spokesperson of the Canadian Cancer Society's Great Ride 'n' Stride in Springbank Park, London, Ontario.

Muenzer told the London Free Press that, like so many people, she has had family members affected by cancer, and so wanted to support the event. "My grandmother had breast cancer. I had a cousin we lost to leukemia," she said. "It was something I was definitely interested in doing."

The venue also has resonance for Muenzer, who raced on the road in Springbank Park before switching to track cycling in 1993.

After her track sprint victory at Athens - Canada's first Olympic cycling gold medal - Muenzer has gone from relative obscurity to a national hero in Canada, and says she finds herself being recognized even when she's trying to stay low-key. She told the Free Press of a recent incident where she was spotted in a coffee shop, despite being almost disguised in a wool sweater up to her chin and a hat pulled down low.

"I thought, 'This is great. I can blend in with everybody,'" said Muenzer. "This guy comes up to me and says, 'Are you Lori-Ann Muenzer, the cyclist?' I'm like, 'How did you figure that out?' I still shake my head."

The Great Ride 'n' Stride for Canadian Cancer Society starts at 1pm, Sunday April 24 at Springbank Park near Commissioners Road entrance in Byron. Lori-Ann Muenzer will autograph souvenir photos from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Nature Valley signs for three more years

Wholefood snack company Nature Valley has renewed its sponsorship of the Nature Valley Grand Prix through to 2007. The Minnesota stage race, which this year will be held June 8-12, is part of the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival and has been known as the Nature Valley Grand Prix since 2001.

The 2005 edition has added two new locations, for the time trial in the state capital city of St. Paul on Wednesday, June 8 and a road race venue in the river town of Mankato on Thursday, June 9. Other stages include the criterium in downtown Minneapolis on June 10 and the final criterium in Stillwater on June 12.

'Cross film to screen in DC

Washington, DC area cyclocross aficionados, and anyone who wonders what all the 'cross fuss is about, can get along to the Cinema Arts Theatre, Fairfax, Virginia on Thursday, May 12 , 2005 for a screening of cyclocross documentary "Pure Sweet Hell" by Willie Bullion and Brian Vernor.

Vernor describes the aim of the film as to, "educate people who don't already know about the sport, and … reflect American cyclocross racing as we see it: a contradiction of pain and goodness, which just isn't for everyone."

There will be two screenings of the hour-long film, at 7.30 and 9.00 pm, and all ticket-holders will be entered in a silent raffle. Tickets are available from the The Bike Lane Bicycle Shop (www.thebikelane.com) and www.bikereg.com.

Rebuilt course for 24 Hours of Temecula

This weekend's 24 Hours of Temecula at Vail Lake, California, USA sees endurance mountain biking luminaries such as Tinker Juarez and Keith Bontrager campaigning on a race course that has been extensively rebuilt after damage from last year's wildfires and heavy winter rains.

Earlier this year, promoter Granny Gear Productions, the International Mountain Bicycling Association and Vail Lake Resort surveyed the impact from last year's fires and the winter, and redesigned the course. With help from a group of local racers, the promoter has spent the last few weeks grooming the course and rebuilding damaged sections.

"We are humbled by the support we're getting," said Granny Gear Productions race director Laird Knight. "It is evident how precious mountain biking is to this area."

For more information see www.grannygear.com.

People Telecom supports Urban Polaris

Telecommunications company People Telecom has signed up as headline sponsor for the 2005 Urban Polaris mountain bike event in Canberra, Australia on December 4, 2005. People Telecom staff have taken part in the last several Urban Polaris events and the company is opening a new office in Canberra this year.

Huw Kingston of event organizer Wild Horizons said, "It is great to have the pink shirts of People Telecom on board. It certainly gives us some interesting options for perhaps text messaging control locations! In reality 2005 should be a great year for the Urban not only with this news but also that the Urban will be one of the key events in the Brindabella Challenge, a big weekend of all types of cycle riding (road, MTB, BMX, unicycle...), racing and entertainment being promoted by ACT Tourism."

Polaris mountain bike events involve locating and navigating between checkpoints scattered over a wide area, and therefore require map-reading and planning skills as well as sheer bike fitness.

For more information see www.wildhorizons.com.au

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