First Edition Cycling News for March 4, 2005

Edited by Hedwig Kröner and Jeff Jones

Quick.Step ready for Paris-Nice

Qucik.Step has announced its line-up for the first ProTour race of the season. Tom Boonen, who performed well last weekend at Het Volk and Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kuurne will be the team's man for the sprints - but not only that.

"Traditionally, Paris-Nice is very challenging," Boonen said. "The first stage has a finish that is very much tailored to my way of racing. This race will be important in giving me the chance to refine my condition in light of Milan Sanremo, a race that has always fascinated me," he added, indicating that Petacchi, Freire and Zabel should keep an eye on the young Belgian when approaching the finish line in Sanremo.

Michael Rogers, World Time Trial Champion, will be Quick.Step's leader for the general classification in Paris-Nice. "I'm in good form," said the young Australian who finished third at last Saturday's G.P. Chiasso. "I've been improving daily and now I'm ready for Paris-Nice. The short prologue suits my way of racing, as does most of the rest of the route in general. The presence of lots of strong competitors is an important test for me." Also riding for Quick.Step will be Rik Verbrugghe, winner last Sunday of the GP Lugano.

"Paris-Nice is the first race in the calendar of the new ProTour, so there is bound to be a lot of interest, which in return means it is important for our team to be active protagonists," said team DS Wilfried Peeters. "We have a couple of objectives for the race. We'll be looking toward Michael Rogers and Rik Verbrugghe, both of whom are in good form, for the general classification. For the stage wins we'll be working for Tom Boonen. We've got a strong well-balanced team that is more than able to support the leaders in both of our objectives."

The complete Quick.Step roster for Paris-Nice is as follows: Tom Boonen, Kevin De Weert, Kevin Hulsmans, Marc Lotz, Michael Rogers, Bram Tankink, Guido Trenti and Rik Verbrugghe.

Change for T-Mobile

T-Mobile has had to change its Paris-Nice line up. Daniele Nardello is still suffering from back problems caused by a fall in the Tour of Qatar, and will be replaced by Sergey Yakovlev, who is currently riding the Murcia Tour for TMO.

Courtesy of Susan Westemeyer

Milano-Torino with Di Luca

Danilo Di Luca's 2005 season will begin with Milano-Torino on March 5, 2005. The Italian Liquigas-Bianchi rider starts racing again after a long training camp in Toluca, Mexico, involving 26 days of high altitude training alongside three teammates. Lquigas-Bianchi will line-up at Milano-Torino with Enrico Gasparotto, Vladimir Miholjevic, Devis Miorin, Matej Mugerli, Andrea Noè and Marco Righetto.

"I look forward to riding again after a long time abroad," said Di Luca, for whom 2005 is an important season. "In Mexico we've been training very well and we've had a good understanding. Now it's time to enjoy the results of our work," he added. After the 184 km-long Milano-Torino, Di Luca will be present at all main Italian races in March: he will participate in the Giro della Provincia di Lucca, the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo.

Italian team Lampre-Caffita has also announced its line-up for Milano-Torino, an UCI rated HC event.Cyclo-crosser Enrico Franzoi will test his road racing skills there, as well as Giosuè Bonomi, GianLuca Bortolami, Giuliano Figueras, Paolo Fornaciari, Olexandr Kvachuk, Samuele Marzoli, Andreas Matzbacher and Michele Scotto d'Abusco. Damiano Cunego is riding at the Vuelta a Murcia, and Gilberto Simoni will start at Paris-Nice this Sunday.

Bianchi racing in Italy

Julien Absalon will be the captain of Bianchi-Agos in the Trofeo Cigala, the first event of the "Internazionali d'Italia MTB Liquigas Cup" and the race season opening for the MTB team. The race has been scheduled for Saturday, March 5, in Brescia, Italy. Julien Absalon, an Olympic champion and the current World cross country champion who has already won the "Internazionali" in 2003, will be accompanied by his French teammate Thomas Dietsch, the New Zealander Kashi Leuchs, and the Swedish U23 rider Emil Lindgren. Cristian Cominelli, the current Italian Junior champion, will ride too. Cominelli had an excellent season last year and is looking for a sweet home victory as he comes from Brescia. The team manager will be Massimo Ghirotto.

The Liquigas Cup is the most important Italian off-road event and consists of four races that have been scheduled in March and April. "Trofeo Cigala is the 2005 season's curtain raiser for me: I know I can perform well and my form is already all right," Absalon said. "Do you want to know who the most dangerous opponents of Bianchi-Agos are? Well, a lot of champions are expected but we are not going to be afraid at all."

Another celeste team is the Bianchi-Aliverti women squad competing in the GP Città di Castenaso, near Bologna next Sunday, March 6, lining up the two captains Luisa Tamanini and Valentina Alessio. Joining them at the race will be their teammates Veronika Andreasson, Catherine Hare and Susanne Joidon, under the guidance of team manager will be Stefano Della Santa.

Three Days of West-Vlaanderen in danger

Times are difficult for the organisers of the races in winter-struck Europe. The Memorial Samyn in Belgium had to be cancelled earlier this week, and now the bad weather conditions are endangering the start of the Three Days of West-Vlaanderen, which is scheduled for March 4-6.

"Salt has been put on most of the roads by most council services and last Tuesday we scouted the complete parcours, the roads were free of snow," said a hopeful race director Eric Mortelé. "We remain optimistic. If the weather isn't in our favour, we can make a few last minute changes here and there, for example excluding the Kemmelberg."

Seven U.S. Olympians expected in LA Track World's

The upcoming 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships set for March 24-27 at the ADT Event Center in suburban Los Angeles expects to feature several top American riders, including six athletes from last summer's U.S. Olympic Team.

Athens points race bronze medalist Erin Mirabella (La Habra, Calif.), and fellow 2004 U.S. Olympians Giddeon Massie (Colorado Springs, Colo.), Marty Nothstein (Orefield, Pa.), Colby Pearce (Boulder, Colo.), Christian Stahl (Bethany, Conn.), and Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) are expected to participate. A seventh American with Olympic experience, Jame Carney (Boulder Colo.) who rode in the 1992 and 2000 Olympic Games, also plans to compete in Los Angeles.

"As the host country, we're excited about the probability of showcasing many of our most recent Olympic athletes in a world-class competition on American soil," said Gerard Bisceglia, USA Cycling's CEO.

Mirabella, whose achievements this season include a win in the points race at last December's UCI World Cup in Los Angeles, will enter the event as one of the favourites to claim a world title. Pearce nabbed a silver medal in the points race at the Los Angeles World Cup and verified his label as one of the top endurance riders in the world with a bronze medal in January's World Cup in Great Britain. Second in the overall world cup standings at the end of the season, Pearce gives the U.S. National Team another promising shot at a world championship.

Two-time Olympic medalist Nothstein will likely be competing in his final international-caliber track race. With retirement on the horizon, the 2000 Olympic sprint champion will give the cycling community one more look at the talent that made him an American icon on the velodrome.

Reed, the only U.S. world championship medalist from 2004, is also on pace for a podium performance thanks to the momentum of a keirin bronze medal in each of the last two World Cup events, including last week's third place effort in Sydney. Carney launched his 2004/05 campaign with a promising win in the scratch race at the World Cup opener last November in Moscow. Third overall in the final world cup standings, Carney will look to end his season with the same level of success at which he began.

The complete U.S. National Team will be announced by USA Cycling on March 14, following a Team USA selection camp from March 2-12.

Nerac.com for 2005

The Nerac.com professional cycling team has named its lineup for the 2005 season. The team will be led by former Olympian cyclist Oscar Pineda and Milk Ras stage winner Adam Hodges Myerson. Joining these veterans will be a group of first year professionals. Among them is former German track star Patrick Heidkamp, who has taken on the responsibility of some of the organizational tasks on the team as well as being a rider. He will be helping to organize the program to with the goal of developing young riders, such as 2004 World's team member John Hanson and two-time national medallist Michael Norton.

The team is very proud of its no tolerance anti-doping policy and is affiliated with the D.A.R.E. organization. The 2005 team also boasts international flair, with riders from Germany, Guatemala, and Trinidad and Tobago adding to the mostly American-born roster.

The title sponsor, Nerac.com, is a research company based out of Tolland, Connecticut that delivers information to professionals in the areas of science, technology, intellectual property and business development.

Along with the title sponsor, many others have contributed this year to Nerac.com. The team will ride Pegoretti bicycles equipped with Topolino wheels, Crank Brothers pedals, Easton components, and WTB tires and saddles. The riders will be supported by International Bicycle centres and will wear Giordana clothing, Diadora shoes, and Rudy Project sunglasses and helmets.

The Nerac.com team will be officially presented at the Boston Bike Show, which is being held March 11-13.

Click here for the full team roster

Kingsnorth wants you!

The Gent based UK registered club Kingsnorth International Wheelers is recruiting members for the 2005 season. The club receives invitations to ride many of the European amateur classics, particularly in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. Transport and clothing are provided.

Key riders from last year include Aussies Nathan Clarke and Darren Young, Aaron Tuckerman from New Zealand and comeback man Graham Webb, the former amateur World Road Race champion.

For further details contact:

Peter Murphy: +44 1233 636443 (UK)
Staffe Boone: +32 9 2250096 (Bel)
Ian Whitehead: +44 1689 896292 (UK)

"New" Team Wisconsin for 2005

Team Wisconsin, a long time master's road squad based out of SE Wisconsin, previous holder of 2 National Championships and several State titles, will now be showing themselves in off road events too. The team has recruited some talent for both the road and mountain bike squads, and now has several riders that can challenge for the podium in all disciplines, including Cross. This year's squad will be focusing on the statewide WORS mountain bike series, WCA Wisconsin Cup road series, ABR road events, as well as the International Cycling Classic, known as Superweek.

The team has also taken an interest in younger riders and organized a junior division that will be racing in the WORS team Competitions. Future plans include starting a full junior development program.

The full 2005 roster can be found here.

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