Latest Cycling News for March 16, 2005Edited by Jeff Jones and Hedwig Kröner Freire set for MSR
After winning the 40th edition of Tirreno-Adriatico on Tuesday, Rabobank's Oscar Freire will be one of the big favourites for this Saturday's Milan-San Remo, the first 'monument' of the season. Freire won three stages in a row in Tirreno-Adriatico, and didn't even need to contest the final sprint in San Benedetto Del Tronto to secure the overall victory. Rabobank's team director Erik Breukink admitted that Freire will be one of the top favourites come Saturday, "But don't count Petacchi out. He is riding better than ever on the climbs." Freire himself received the ProTour leader's jersey while on the podium, having garnered 53 ProTour points over the last week (50 for the overall win, 3 for his stage wins). But he remained realistic about his abilities. "This doesn't mean that I am now a tour rider," he said. "On the podium I was surrounded by sprinters Petacchi and Hondo [who was later moved down to 4th - Ed.]. I won this tour thanks to bonus seconds. In other stages, there is always a first category climb or a time trial. Then I don't have a chance. My goals of the one day races remain unchanged." Freire said that he will be relying on a traditional finish to Milan-San Remo, where the sprinters who get over the Poggio survive to fight it out on Via Roma. "There's no point in me attacking on the Poggio. Say that someone bridges the gap to me. They won't ride with me to the Via Roma. I have to wait for the sprint and hope that the race is hard enough that the other sprinters are dropped. "Actually there's no one theory that works for Milan-San Remo. You have to save as much power as possible for the final kilometre. In the lead up to the Cipressa and Poggio you have to stay in front and not go in the breaks. Then it's a matter of staying in the first twenty over the Poggio. For the sprint, you have to have a good position in the last two corners. That's where the race is decided." Hondo to MSR feeling confident
Gerolsteiner sprinter Danilo Hondo will be taking the start of "La Primavera" feeling confident about his performances, even if he was demoted from third to fourth after the final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico on Tuesday. Italian rider Fabrizio Guidi stepped onto the podium instead of him, after the UCI commissaires had another close look at the second intermediate sprint of the final stage, where Hondo thought to have scored two precious bonus seconds to maintain his third placing in front of the Italian. But the jury decided to distance the German and attribute the points to Guidi. "Of course it's a pity that it didn't work out," Hondo said. "But I accept the decision. These sort of situations happen all the time in the heat of the race. I won't even discuss it," he added in true sportsmanship. The 31 year-old is nevertheless satisfied with his racing at Tirreno-Adriatico. "I know that my performances were good, there is nothing to be downplayed there," he said, looking forward to Milano-Sanremo on Saturday. His directeur sportif Christian Henn agreed: "Even if the race finish was somewhat unlucky, Danilo is in good form," he said. "All in all, we've been pretty successful here - that goes not only for Danilo, but for the whole team." At the "Classicissima", Gerolsteiner will line-up with the following riders: René Haselbacher, Danilo Hondo, Sebastian Lang, Andrea Moletta, Davide Rebellin, Fabian Wegmann, Peter Wrolich, Markus Zberg. Tour de Pologne route announcedBy Daniel Marszalek This year's 62nd edition of the Tour de Pologne (originally called Dookola Polski, which started in 1928) will start on Monday, September 12 in Gdansk on the Baltic Sea, and will finish on Sunday, September 18 at the Karpacz resort in the Karkonosze mountains, as it has done so since 1999. Gdansk will host the Tour de Pologne's grand depart for the fifth time in a row, but this time it will happen just two weeks after the 25th anniversary of the creation of solidarity movement in the very same city. The new route of the race which was presented on Tuesday in Warsaw's Sofitel Victoria hotel sticks with the modern TdP tradition. The race is 1253 km long, slightly shorter than in 2004, and is divided into eight stages in seven days. The first four stages are flat or at most, undulating, while the other four are all quite hilly with toughest being Saturday's stage six from Piechowice to Karpacz. Just like in the previous edition, the final day of the 62nd TdP will consist of two stages: a road stage in the morning and a afternoon time trial over 19 km that finishes 800 metres above sea level after a 5 km climb to Orlinek. The most notable differences to the previous editions of the TdP are the new stage finish towns on day 1 and day 4: Elblag and Leszno instead of Gdynia and Kalisz). The other change worth mentioning is the movement of the start of the fifth stage from Olesnica, to the capital of Lower Silesia region, Wroclaw. Being a ProTour race, the 20 ProTour teams plus the only Polish professional continental team, Intel-Action, are certain to start so far. Race director Czeslaw Lang, himself a pro in the 1980's with Italian teams Gis Gelati, Carrera, Del Tongo and Malvor, said, "At last we have a Polish event open for the best riders in the world. I'm proud to have such race in Poland. I'd also like to thank all the people, who through all these years since 1993 were working with me on this race and made this success possible." The stages Stage 1 - September 12: Gdansk - Elblag, 170,5 km Armstrong and Simeoni agree on somethingIn the ongoing legal battle between Italian Naturino rider Filippo Simeoni and six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong over stage 18 of last year's Tour de France, Armstrong's former advisor Michele Ferrari and other Italian riders now involved in the case, Simeoni maintains being the underdog against the powerful American. Just recently, UCI president Hein Verbruggen said that Lance Armstrong is not riding this year's Giro d'Italia because of the dispute between him and Simeoni. "I am deeply disappointed at what the UCI president said," Simeoni stated. "As if it was my fault that Armstrong wasn't riding the Giro - Armstrong just isn't interested in the Giro, and neither is his sponsor, that's all." Lance Armstrong, meanwhile confirmed this in an exclusive interview given to Cyclingnews' European editor Tim Maloney. "I'm not avoiding Italy just because of that," the American Tour winner said. "If I really wanted to compete in Tirreno, or the Giro or Milano-Sanremo, I certainly would go...Racing in Italy doesn't fit in with my program...Simple question: when's the last time I raced in Italy?" Simeoni, meanwhile, has hard feelings against the governing body of cycling. "I know why it's like this - it's easier to support Armstrong than Simeoni, because I'm just a small rider," he said, adding, "But I have nothing to be ashamed of. I have right on my side, and I fear nothing and nobody. Not even Armstrong with all his power and money. I believe in justice. But if the law doesn't give it to me, then there is a God to protect me." Armstrong awarded againSix-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong has received yet another award for his achievements in the sport. At a reception at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris on Tuesday, Armstrong was awarded the Grand Prix de l'Académie des Sports by French foreign minister Michel Barnier. Also present was UCI president Hein Verbruggen. Belgian tennis star Justine Henin-Hardenne received a commendation from the Academy. Habeaux remains in hospitalGrégory Habeaux (Landbouwkrediet-Colnago) is making a good recovery after fracturing his skull in a training accident on the côte d'Azur last week. He remains in hospital in Toulon (France), although further investigations have not revealed any new problems. The doctors will keep him there for at least another 10 days, and he may be able to return to Belgium at the end of next week. It is unknown when he will return to competition. Bert Pronk diesFormer Dutch professional Bert Pronk has died of cancer on March 15, aged 54, while on holiday in Portugal. Pronk had been diagnosed with the disease several years ago, necessitating a stomach removal. He recovered temporarily and was able to ride and run again, but the cancer returned very recently and he wasn't even able to return home to The Netherlands before he died. As a professional, Pronk was active between 1974 and 1982, winning the Tour of Luxembourg and Tour of The Netherlands in 1977, and also placing third in the Tour de Suisse and 12th in the Tour de France that year. He was a member of Peter Post's Raleigh team throughout his career, with one exception: in 1978 when he rode for IJsboerke - Gios. Kelly to lead Australian team for World ChampionshipsThe Australian "Cyclones" will leave the country on Thursday, bound for Los Angeles where they will contest the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. The team members were presented at a function in Adelaide on Wednesday with their Australian Cyclones' jerseys, and Shane Kelly (33) was announced as Team Captain. Kelly, a four time World Champion, was selected for his first senior World Championships team in 1990 and since then has won gold for Australia at two Commonwealth Games, contested four Olympic Games and raced on the green and gold at 12 World Championships. The 14 member team to contest the World Championships includes a mix of experience and youth with four riders, Sean Finning, Matthew Goss, Miles Olman and Chris Sutton, making their senior World Track Championships debut. All four have claimed medals at junior World Championships level with Goss, Olman and Sutton all past junior World Champions. They will join the likes of Olympic and World Champions, Anna Meares and Olympic medallists Shane Kelly, Katie Mactier and Stephen Wooldridge. The 2005 World Championships will be staged at the ADT Event Centre in Los Angeles from March 24-27. Men Jobie Dajka - 11.12.1981 (Paralowrie - SA) Women Kate Bates - 18.05.1982 (Old Toongabbie - NSW) Australian MTB Championships this weekendThis upcoming weekend of March 19-20, the sleepy Victorian town of Eildon will play host to the Australian Mountain bike Championship titles, the talent in the world of Downhill racing being heavily weighted on that corner of the globe. Last year's winner (for the second consecutive year), 19 year-old Sam Hill (Iron Horse-Mad Catz-SRAM) is in good form at the moment, having taken out the final round of the national series by six seconds only a few days ago at Mt Buller. Last year's runner-up, 22 year-old Jared Graves (Yeti Cycles) placed ninth in the 4-cross World Championships last year. Graves is also the winner of Thredbo round of the National Series. Another contender for the title is 23 year-old Nathan Rennie (Santa Cruz-Troy Lee-SRAM-Red Bull), who placed third last year after being Australia's top mountain biker in 2003. He has shown good consistency in the National series by winning two rounds, but will be keen to make amends after puncturing in the final round. Other contenders include multiple World Cup winner, 27 year-old Chris Kovarik (Intense-Spy) who, after a bad injury in 2003 is finding his racing form again. Mick Hannah (21) will also want to his worth after breaking his chain in the final run of the 2004 Nationals. Also participating will be Bryn Atkinson and Justin Havukainen, who have recently signed with GT and Iron Horse-Mad Catz respectively. Havukainen holds both U.S. and Australian passports and is presented with a rare opportunity of possibly taking out both the Australian and the U.S. National Champs. On the cross country racing front, recently crowned National Series winner Dylan Cooper (Kona-Mt Buller Factory Team) is heading into this Saturday's event as the favourite with last years runner-up Chris Jongewaard seemingly the only person capable of upsetting Cooper's comeback. Cooper's illness saw him out of the sport for six years after representing Australia as a Junior in the 1997 World Championships. For further information, please visit www.mtbnats.com.au (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2005) |
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