First Edition Cycling News for March 25, 2005Edited by Jeff Jones & Hedwig Kröner Voigt on track for Critérium International
After Paris-Nice in early March, the next major rendezvous for the international peloton in France is the Critérium International, based in Charleville-Mézičres in the French Ardennes since 2001. Since then, the race format has remained the same and the parcours has changed very little. The race gets under way on Saturday with a long, predominantly flat first stage covering 187 km from Vouziers to Charleville-Mézičres. The second and final day - Sunday - will surely decide the winner: after a hilly morning stage through the Ardennes finishing with a four km climb at six percent gradient, the riders have to back up for a flat, individual time trial of just 8.3 km. The Critérium International has been known as the "mini Tour de France" to some... Last year's winner, CSC's Jens Voigt will surely want to defend his title and achieve the top GC placing for the third time, since he also won it in 1999. Helped by his best friend, 2005 Paris-Nice winner Bobby Julich, and Tour de France contender Ivan Basso, Voigt will be the man to watch out for - as well as Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile), Jörg Jaksche (Liberty Seguros), Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), Laurent Brochard (Bouygues Telecom), Erik Dekker and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank). Even though the race is not part of the ProTour, of the 21 squads that will line-up on Saturday, 14 are ProTeams, a somewhat liberal interpretation of UCI rule 2.1.005, which limits non-ProTour races to a maximum of 50% ProTour teams. ProTeams: Team CSC, Fundacion Ciclista Euskadi, Illes Balears, Liberty Seguros Team, Saunier Duval - Prodir, Bouygues Telecom, Credit Agricole, Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone, Francaise Des Jeux, Gerolsteiner, T-Mobile Team, Liquigas - Bianchi, Rabobank, Phonak Hearing Systems Continental Pro Teams: Landbouwkrediet - Colnago, Mrbookmaker.Com - Sports Tech, Comunidad Valenciana, Ag2R Prevoyance, Agritubel, R.A.G.T. Semences, Ceramica Panaria The stages Stage 1 - March 26: Vouziers - Charleville-Mézičres, 187 km Vino and Klöden to Critérium InternationalAlexander Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden lead the T-Mobile Team at the 77th edition of the two-day Critérium International, which will be held in and around the French Ardennes region over the Easter weekend. Vino and Klöden will be supported in France by a mixed team of T-Mobile classics specialists and climbers, under the guidance of directeur sportif Valerio Piva. Although T-Mobile press officer Luuc Eisenga is wary about the stiff competition that the T-Mobile Team will face at the Critérium International, the Dutchman is upbeat about the team's chances in the 293.6 km event. "Vino and Klöden can lay down a marker for us. Vino showed good form at last Saturday's Milan-San Remo, repeatedly attacking the peloton on the Poggio climb, while Tour runner-up Klöden eased his way into better form in the final stages of last week's Tirreno-Adriatico." The T-Mobile roster at Critérium International: Giuseppe Guerini, Torsten Hiekmann, Andreas Klöden, Paco Lara, Alexander Vinokourov, Christian Werner, Sergey Yakovlev and Erik Zabel. More lineups for CIBasque team Euskaltel-Euskadi has announced its roster for this weekend's Critérium International: Iker Flores, Joseba Albizu, Igor Anton, Aitor Gonzalez, David Herrero, Antton Luengo, Aketza Peńa and Haimar Zubeldia will be competing in Northern France, hopefully getting not too cold. Liberty Seguros-Würth is travelling to the start in Vouziers with the following riders on board: René Andrle, Allan Davis, Jesús Hernández, Jörg Jaksche, Daniel Navarro, Javier Ramírez Abeja, Luis León Sánchez and Michele Scarponi. Jan Hruska, who was supposed to participate in the event, will need to stay at home to get over the 'flu, and has been replaced with Jesús Hernández. Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne is sending: Imanol Erviti, Isaac Gálvez, Iván Gutiérrez, Iker Leonet, Francisco Mancebo, Mikel Pradera, Vicente Reynés Landbouwkrediet-Colnago will include: Maxime Monfort, Sergey Lagutin, Jean-Paul Simon, Jurgen Van Loocke, Sven Renders, Johan Verstrepen and Thierry De Groote Nazon outAfter his crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday, French sprinter Jean-Patrick Nazon will not start in the Critérium International this weekend, being replaced by Alexandre Usov. Nazon has bruises and abrasions on his right arm and tibia, and will take some time out to recover. "Grand départ" 2006 in StrasbourgTour de France organiser ASO will host a press conference together with the Eastern French city of Strasbourg, to officially announce the departure - or "Grand départ" - of the 2006 Tour de France in Strasbourg. The press conference will be held on Thursday, March 31 in that same city. The last time Strasbourg hosted the start of the Tour de France was in 1953, when the stage was won by Louison Bobet. Habeaux leaves ToulonLandbouwkrediet's Grégory Habeaux has finally left the hospital in Toulon, where he has been for the last couple of weeks after fracturing his skull while training. After the crashes involving Ludovic Capelle, Tony Bracke, Ludo Dierckxsens and Glen d'Hollander, LAndbouwkrediet's team manager Gérard Bulens hopes that the worst is over. "We have not been spared this season," he said. "If that's all, then good. Of course, most of our thoughts are with Grégory, who has been transferred from Toulon." Track World's session 1 preview500 Meter Time Trial, Team Sprint, Men's Points RaceBy Jacob Burns Today marks the first day of the 2005 UCI Track Cycling World Championships at the ADT Event Center in Carson, California, and the beginning of the first world championships in the United States in 19 years. Events to be contested on day 1 include the men's 40km points race final, women's 500m time trial final, and the men's team sprint qualification and finals. The first event of the championships will be qualifying for the team sprint, the only sprint style team event in track cycling. From the qualifying round, the top four teams will progress to the finals. In the finals the third and fourth ranked squads will compete for the bronze medal while the top two qualified teams will vie for the world team sprint championship. In 2004 the French (Mickaël Bourgain, Arnaud Tournant, and Laurent Gané) proved victorious at the world championships in the team sprint after taking on Spain (Escuredo, M. Salvador, Villanueva) in the final round. With Laurent Gané not returning for the French (2005 team: Bourgain, Grégory Baugé, and Tournant) it may open the door for the Dutch (Theo Bos, Teun Mulder, and Tim Veldt), British (Chris Hoy, Jason Queally, and Jamie Staff), Germans (Matthias John, Stefan Nimke, and René Wolff), or Japanese (Kazuya Narita, Yusho Oikawa, and Kazunari Watanabe) to take the top podium position in the three lap, all out sprint affair. Later in the evening, 22 riders will contest the men's 40km points race, an event with 12 opportunities to score points (not including the bonus of 20 points for lapping the field). With the 2004 points race world champion not returning, favourites will include 2004 Athens Olympic gold medalist Mikhail Ignatiev (Rus), Joan Llaneras (Spa), the gold medalist in the event at the 2000 Olympics and silver medalist at the 2004 Athens games, Juan Curuchet (Arg), the bronze medalist at last year's worlds, and American Colby Pearce (Boulder, Colo.), second overall in the 2004/05 world cup standings. Pearce may be one of the shining lights at this year's world championships for the U.S. National Team having proven his abilities in more than one world cup over the past few months. If able to make the key breakaways he has the ability to steal the show from Llaneras or Ignatiev. The 500m TT will be the first women's event contested with overwhelming favourite Anna Meares (Aus) prime to continue her dominance. Meares is the reigning 500m TT world and Olympic champion and has performed well throughout the winter world cup season. If she has been able to maintain the form that brought her Olympic gold and a world record (33.592), she is likely to repeat her title tonight. Key competitors of Meares in the 2-lap event include: Natalia Tsylinskaya (Blr), the 2002-03 world champion in the event, Nancy Contreras (Mex), the 2001 world 500m TT champion, Simona Krupeckaite (Ltu), 2004 world championship bronze medalist in the event, Tamilla Abassova (Rus), the '04/'05 world cup 500m TT champion, and Elisa Frisoni (Ita), the 04/05 world cup 500m TT overall silver medalist. Also competing, American Becky Conzelman (Cincinnati, Ohio) hopes to take momentum from her two-month training stint in Australia and turn it into a strong performance at these world championships in the 500m TT. See also:Preview Credit Union Ras MumhanBy Shane Stokes, Irishcycling.com A strong field will line out at the start of the Credit Union Ras Mumhan on Friday, with the Tralee based Earl of Desmond squad leading the charge. Paul Griffin, the Lacey brothers, Vinnie Gleeson and the 2004 FBD Milk Rás champion David McCann (riding as a guest) will be their A squad in the race, while Cycleways will also have two teams. Stephen O'Sullivan, Eugene Moriarty, Aidan Crowley, Philip Finegan plus father and son Philip and Mark Cassidy will take part. The Dan Morrissey Carrick Wheelers team is going particularly well at the moment, taking first and second in the Des Hanlon classic league race last weekend. On the basis of that performance, Rory Wyley and double Tour of Ulster winner Timmy Barry must be ranked amongst the favourites. Mark Quigley will lead a five man Connaught team, while Brian Aherne will do the same for Orwell-Dundrum SC. Both Dublin Wheelers and Bray Wheelers will have two squads in action, with Brian Keane and Brian Taafe representing the first and Derek Cunningham and Mick O'Donnell the latter. Stamullen M. Donnelly will also be in action. The Foreign opposition will come from the Dutch BRC Kennemerland team and a 6-man team representing Surrey in England. The race is promoted and sponsored by the Killorglin Credit Union Cycling Club. They will have their own team in the race, led by Michael Concannon who finished 10th overall and best under 23 last year. The race begins with a 52 mile stage starting and finishing in Killorglin and crossing the second category climb of Sliabh Mish. Day two's route is a mountainous 94 mile taking in the same climb, then the first category Conor Pass, Gleann a Gealt (category 3) and Sliabh Mish once more. Sunday 27th of March sees two stages take place. The riders will first scrap it out in a ten kilometre individual time trial, then tackle the sixty mile Skellig Ring stage in the afternoon. The five climbs of Drom West (category 3), Raheen, Killurley, Coom (all cat 2) and Raheen (category 3) should generate plenty of action. The race concludes with a 58 mile circuit race on Monday 28th March, beginning with three laps of a 15 mile circuit around Killorglin and Beaufort and then four laps of the Donal McKenna Circuit. The stages Stage 1 - March 25: Killorglin, 52 miles Riders wanted for Tour of HopeApplications are being accepted for the 2005 Bristol-Myers Squibb Tour of HopeTM, a Lance Armstrong supported cancer fundraising event in the US that will be run from September 29 - October 8, 2005. The organisers are looking for 20 people, including cancer survivors, physicians, nurses, caregivers, researchers, and advocates, to ride over 100 miles a day for nine days and help educate people about clinical trials and cancer research. Applications are due by midnight EDT, April 20, 2005. Selected team members are expected to be notified in late May. To apply, visit www.tourofhope.org.
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