First Edition Cycling News for March 24, 2005

Edited by Anthony Tan

What lies ahead for Stuart O'Grady?

By Anthony Tan

Stuart O'Grady fine tuning his form at the Tour Down Under earlier this year
Photo ©: CN

With a number of cycling's monuments just a few weeks away, talk has turned towards races like the Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold, and riders like Backstedt, Boogerd, Boonen, Dekker, Hincapie, Van Petegem and Wesemann. The name Stuart O'Grady is also in amongst the chatter, and after his performance last weekend, deservedly so.

True, there was little any rider could do against the might and power of Alessandro Petacchi and Fassa Bortolo at Milan-San Remo.

But Stuart O'Grady did better than most. After being isolated following a pile-up on the Cipressa and getting hooked into the barriers with less than a kilometre remaining, the freckly-faced Aussie put in a massive effort to move forward 20-plus places in the last few hundred metres, eventually - and quite remarkably - finishing fourth.

Was he satisfied?

"Yeah... I was happy in a way, I guess," reflects O'Grady to Cyclingnews a few days after La Primavera, now back at his home in France. "I went there hoping for a better result and to pull off a win, and I really felt like I had the legs to do better, so I was probably a bit disappointed at the finish. But the sprint was pretty chaotic, and in the end, I'm pretty happy with a fourth place in a World Cup."

For the 31 year-old South Australian, prime time is now, with more of spring's biggest and best one-day events just around the corner. "I'm ready to go for Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix and Amstel Gold; I'm feeling pretty good about myself, and now I'm going to try and get a result," he says with the muted confidence of a cagey, seasoned professional that he is.

Though careful with his choice of words, in his voice there's a certain optimism, excitement and tension. Look out for the full interview with Stuart O'Grady, to be posted on Cyclingnews later today.

Simoni: "Cunego and I do not have problems"

Lampre-Caffita rider Gilberto Simoni has restated that no bad blood exists between he and his team-mate Damiano Cunego, speaking in particular about this year's Giro d'Italia, which begins in just over a month's time on May 7, 2005.

Currently lying 13th overall at the Setmana-Catalana stage race in Spain, Simoni said that to take the overall honours will be complicated: "We will go day to day, seeing what possibilities there are to obtain a victory, but is clear that to take the general [classification] will be complicated," he said. "In fact, it is more preparation for Giro, without being dismissive of a five-day race like this one."

The 2001 and 2003 Giro winner admitted all races leading up the first of the year's Grand Tours are simply preparation, and although delighted with his recent win atop Mont-Faron in Paris-Nice, as the first Saturday in May approaches, "logically, I will dedicate all my attention towards it."

"Cunego and I do not have problems, either for one reason or another," responded Simoni when asked who would lead his team to defend last year's title. "The real problem will be for our adversaries."

Nys extends with Rabobank

Reigning world cyclocross champion Sven Nys has prolonged his contract with his current team, deciding to stay with Rabobank for another three years. "This is the team I feel at home with. I have mainly chosen in favour of the people I feel comfortable with," said Nys, who was courted by a number of teams since winning the world cyclocross championships in St. Wendel, Germany earlier this year.

Naturally, Rabobank CEO Theo de Rooij was delighted with the deal: "Sven had several and even better offers, and still he chose for Rabobank. I'm very happy to be able to keep the world's best cyclocross rider on board. We can offer Sven a good schedule, good equipment and good support. I'm glad that's also worth something to him."

With no less than 25 victories to his credit, Nys won just about everything there was to win during the 2004/05 cyclocross season, including the overall titles in the Super Prestige and Gazet van Antwerpen rankings, as well as the Belgian national and world cyclocross crowns in January. Nys joined Rabobank in September 1998, after he took his second under 23 world title.

US team preview for Track World's

At the start of competition for the 2005 UCI World Track Championships (March 24 - 27, 2005), the US national team is ready for the the competition that includes 78 riders that competed at the Athens Olympic Games last August. Naturally, the 10-member squad that will wear the stars and stripes are hoping for strong performances on home turf - here's a preview of how they size up against the competition in their respective events:

Erin Mirabella (La Habra, Calif.) Women's Points Race, Women's Individual Pursuit: Mirabella's bronze medal in the 2004 Olympic points race behind was easily the best moment of her career. The Southern California resident will also rely on a home field advantage that helped guide her to a points race win in December's UCI World Cup race at the ADT Event Center just three months ago. However, Slyusareva has won the last four world championship points race competitions (2001-2004) and will be a marked woman. The points race is the stronger of Mirabella's two endurance-based events, but the absence of Sarah Ulmer (NZl) and Katie Mactier (Aus), who went 1-2 respectively at both the 2004 world championships, could aid her in achieving a better result in the women's 3km individual pursuit.

Colby Pearce (Boulder, Colo.) Men's Points Race, Madison: Second at the World Cup in L.A. and third in the Manchester, Great Britain World Cup a month later, Pearce is coming off a successful international season that saw him hold the overall World Cup lead until surrendering it to 2004 Olympic gold medalist Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus) after forgoing the final round in Sydney. Challenging Pearce in the points race will be Ignatiev and endurance specialist Sergi Escobar (Spa). Pearce will also team with Marty Nothstein for the Madison, where the duo was fifth at the World Cup in Manchester this year. Belgium, Ukraine, France and Germany have all won World Cups and are strong teams, but the Madison is an event where anything can happen.

Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash.) Women's Keirin, Women's Sprint: The first world championship medalist since 1998 at last year's event in Melbourne, Australia, Reed enters this year's world championships with promising performances in the keirin under her belt. Dropping the 500 meter time trial from her repertoire, Reed is focusing on the head-to-head events that could often times be considered full-contact sports. The early favorite on paper is Anna Meares (Aus), the world record-holder in the 500m time trial and two-time medalist at last summer's Olympic Games. With Olympic champion Lori-Ann Muenzer (CAN), World Cup champion Tamilia Abassova (RUS), Meares, Frisoni and Natalia Tsylinskaya (BLR) all toeing the line, Reed will have her work cut out for her in the sprint.

Christian Stahl (Bethany, Conn.) Men's Keirin: A member of the team sprint squad in Athens and the reigning Pan-American champion in the one kilometer time trial, Stahl has shifted his focus away from those events with an eye on the keirin. The usual suspects of top sprinters - Theo Bos (Ned) Rene Wolff (Ger), Teun Mulder (Ned), Jose Antonio Villanueva (Esp), Arnaud Tournant (Fra), Shane Kelly (Aus), Mickael Bourgain (Fra) And Jamie Staff (GBr) - are all scheduled for the keirin in L.A. and will certainly push Stahl to his limits.

Giddeon Massie (Colorado Springs, Colo.) Men's Sprint, Men's Keirin: Like Stahl, Massie will have his work cut out for him in the top-heavy keirin, in cycling's best impersonation of NASCAR. Unfortunately for Massie, he will have to face a similar field in the sprint, as all of the top keirin riders are likely to double-up. Massie is the Pan-American champion in both the keirin and the sprint, but when the field expands to include the European talent, it's a whole new ball game.

Marty Nothstein (Orefield, Pa.) Madison: The most decorated U.S. track cyclist with an Olympic gold in the 2000 sprint and a silver in the 1996 games, the 2005 World's will be Nothstein's swansong. Turning his focus to road racing and limited track appearances at European six-day events and select keirin and madison competitions, Nothstein hopes to end his stellar career on a high note. Argentina is returning half of their world championship duo from a year ago, Juan Curuchet, and teams from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Ukraine, France and Germany will pose the biggest threats.

Bobby Lea (Mertztown, Pa.) Individual Pursuit: An eighth-place performance at the Sydney World Cup marks his best individual result of the season and the field in Los Angeles will feature key riders with a history of strong results stacking the cards against Lea. Defending world champion Sergi Escobar (Spa), Olympic silver medalist Robert Hayles (GBr) overall World Cup winner Levi Heimans (Ned) are the heavyweights here.

James Carney (Durango, Colo.) Men's Scratch: No stranger to success, the 1992 and 2000 U.S. Olympian opened the 2004/05 World Cup season with a win in the scratch race in Moscow and finished the World Cup series third overall. A tactically savvy rider with loads of experience, Carney could also find himself on the podium in an event that favors those who have just that. Carney's competition is pretty wide open, although defending champ Greg Henderson (NZl) will be on hand looking to repeat. Alex Rasmussen (Ned), Wim Stroetinga (Ned) and Jerome Neuville (Fra) took wins in the other three World Cups this year and represent the strongest challengers to Carney.

Rebecca Quinn (Quakertown, Pa.) Women's Scratch: Quinn has had a respectable World Cup season that included a silver medal performance at the Manchester World Cup with a fourth-place overall standing in the series. Katherine Bates (AUS) finished her World Cup season strong with a first and second-place finish respectively at the final two World Cups in Manchester and Sydney and looks to be the top contender in an otherwise wide-open race.

Rebecca Conzelman (Cincinnati, Ohio) Women's Sprint, 500m TT: Conzelman will be looking for a breakthrough ride at worlds against a strong women's sprint field. With not much strategy involved in the 500 meter time trial, that leaves the event open to the fastest of sprinters like Frisoni, Tsylinskaya, Pendleton, Muenzer and Yvonne Hijgenaar (Ned).

M-SR too dangerous, says Valverde

Illes Balears rider Alejandro Valverde, who finished 33rd in last weekend's Milan-San Remo, the same time as winner Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), has declared the race too dangerous for his liking, and is not sure whether he'll return. The incredibly gifted 24 year-old Spaniard, said about La Primavera: "I am not sure if I'll do it again; it is much too dangerous, the climbs are much too short in order to make a difference, and in the sprint, I am not fast enough to beat Petacchi.

Dekker's special request

On special request from Erik Dekker, a number of members of the Rabobank team did extra training on the parcours of this year's Ronde Van Vlaanderen yesterday (Tuesday). According to De Telegraaf, the reigning Dutch champion does not want to be greeted with any unfamiliar surprises come April 3, where he hopes to improve on his second place behind Italian Gianluca Bortolami in 2001. "Flanders is the most beautiful [race]", said Dekker, "and many riders have the ability to win. For this reason, I will not say I can win next Sunday week."

"Small changes in the parcours have been introduced, and as a result, it is always good to fit in some extra training," said Rabobank directeur-sportif Frans Maassen. "And even for our boys who are not riding Flanders, such as Michael Boogerd and Thomas Dekker, it's always good to fit in some extra training to get some kilometres in the legs."

Sell-out crowd for Sid Patterson Grand Prix

Held in honour of the esteemed cyclist Sid Patterson, one of Australia's best-ever cyclists, the Sid Patterson Grand Prix has attracted 100 of Australia's best cyclists, which shall be held this Saturday, March 26, at the Darebin International Sports Complex (DISC) in Melbourne.

One of the premier events on the National Cycling Calendar, a number of high class events will be contested along with the Sid Patterson Grand Prix Wheelrace final, which includes the Omnium Series between recently crowned Australian champion Joel Leonard and junior world championship medallist and multiple Australian champion Daniel Thorsen. Leonard and Thorsen will compete in a three round series consisting of a motorpace, a sprint and a flying lap to establish an omnium champion.

A number of riders have the opportunity to finalise their standings at the top of the National Series classifications on Saturday night as they chase the prestige of becoming national track series champion. Joel Leonard is looking to wrest the men's sprint classification from Olympian Ben Kersten and Peter Fitzpatrick is looking to sew up the men's handicap category whilst in the women, Jessica Berry has the chance to leap up to third in the women's endurance and may also move into second in the handicap classification. Former Junior World Champion Rahna Demarte, who is on a successful comeback trail, also has the chance to move to third in the women's handicap ranking.

Tickets are available through CycleSport Victoria on (03) 8480 3000 or at the door on the night. All seating tickets have sold out and only standing room tickets are still available at a cost of $10. For further information regarding this event please contact Adam Murchie (0412 879 871 or amurchie@cyclistsinternational.com.au).

Man arrested for drunken cycling

Associated Press reports that a 46 year-old drunken cyclist was arrested and taken to jail in Ogden, Arkansas after a state trooper saw him take a clumsy spill at a state highway intersection.

"He was pedaling through the intersection of Highway 71 at the Grand Street crossover and fell off the bike," said Trooper Jamie Gravier, who was standing about 50 feet away. "The pedals kept hitting the kick stand and he couldn't keep it up. He was in the middle of the southbound lanes of traffic."

After Don Evans fell from his mountain bike and onto the highway pavement, Gravier turned on his emergency lights to warn passing motorists, then took the man to hospital, where he was treated and released, before being taken to jail and charged with public intoxication.

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