Latest Cycling News for March 30, 2005

Edited by Jeff Jones

Stitches for Boonen

Tom Boonen (Quick.Step)
Photo ©: AFP

Tom Boonen (Quick.Step) was one of several riders who crashed in the wet and muddy first stage of the Driedaagse van De Panne. The Belgian came down when he ran into teammate Wilfried Cretskens, who crashed after 50 kilometres. Boonen bruised his back, pelvis, left elbow and leg, and also required stitches to the middle finger of his left hand after it was ripped open, exposing the tendon.

Boonen will start today's second stage of the Driedaagse van De Panne, but is worried that his injured back and pelvis will prevent him from being at his best in this Sunday's Ronde van Vlaanderen.

Hondo sick

Danilo Hondo (Gerolsteiner) has had to pull out of the Driedaagse van De Panne due to illness, his team announced today. His start in this Sunday's Tour of Flanders is now in doubt. "Danilo had to see our team doctor at one o'clock in the morning," said team director Christian Henn. "He was complaining of chills and all the signs of a fever."

Hondo will stay for the next few days in the team's hotel in Belgium to try to recover. "We really hope that by Friday he has improved," added Henn. "Otherwise he won't start on Sunday in the Tour of Flanders."

Ag2r's Nazon back in GP de Rennes

Following his crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen last week, Ag2r sprinter Jean-Patrick Nazon will make his return to racing in this Sunday's GP de Rennes in France. In other Ag2r news, Stéphane Goubert has become a father for the second time, with his wife giving birth to a baby boy last Sunday. Goubert will return to racing in la Flèche Wallonne on April 20.

The management has announced the following squads for the upcoming races:

La Route Adélie: Sylvain Calzati, Samuel Dumoulin, Yuriy Krivtsov, Lloyd Mondory, Christophe Oriol, Ludovic Turpin. Director: Arturas Kasputis

GP de Rennes: Sylvain Calzati, Samuel Dumoulin, Yuriy Krivtsov, Lloyd Mondory, Jean-Patrick Nazon, Christophe Oriol, Christophe Riblon, Ludovic Turpin. Director: Arturas Kasputis

Ronde van Vlaanderen: Simon Gerrans, Laurent Mangel, Nicolas Portal, Erki Putsep, Marc Scanlon, Alexandre Usau, Tomas Vaitkus. Director: Gilles Mas

Kessler and T-Mobile on the hunt in Spain

Defending champion Matthias Kessler will lead the T-Mobile Team in Spain this weekend, with the team still hunting for its first victory of the season. Kessler will try to successfully defend his 2003 and 2004 victories in the GP Miguel Indurain. He will be supported by Andreas Klöden, Oscar Sevilla, Paco Lara, Giuseppe Guerini, Christian Werner and Sergei Yakovlev. Frans van Looy and Brian Holm will serve as sporting directors for the race.

Team spokesman Luuc Eisenga didn't seem too optimistic about the team's chances: "It is a relatively difficult race, in which only really good climbers have a chance," he said. "Just because Matthias has won it the last two years is no guarantee that he will do well again on Saturday. 'Matse' will have to rely on his teammates for help."

Courtesy of Susan Westemeyer

An interview with Ed Beamon

Steering a steady course

Navigators DS Ed Beamon.
Photo ©: Shane Stokes

Showing the benefits of a several new signings, the Navigators Insurance team had one of their best performances to date during the recent Settimana Internazionale Coppi-Bartali. Cyclingnews' Shane Stokes speaks with the man behind the helm, directeur-sportif Ed Beamon, discussing with him targets such as Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Georgia, new signings such as climbing specialist Cesar Grajales, time-trialling 'beast' Nathan O'Neill and Irish champion David O'Loughlin, plus the team's plans for the future.

Scorching to an impressive third place in the team time trial, the New York-based Navigators team finished 17 seconds off the pace set by Fassa Bortolo and 11 behind Liquigas-Bianchi, but in beating ProTour squads such as Davitamon-Lotto, Quick.Step, Lampre-Caffita, Gerolsteiner and Domina Vacanze, they showed that their eleventh place in the Tour of the Mediterranean TTT was no fluke.

It was a morale-boosting ride for the Professional Continental team, and while the rest of the race didn't go quite as they hoped, they came out of the race with renewed focus for the other races in their European spring campaign.

Principal of these is the ProTour Gent-Wevelgem on April 6, an event which directeur sportif Ed Beamon has targeted as one of the big goals of the team this year. Two years ago, Henk Vogels finished a close second in the race. Confidence boosted by this, Beamon is hoping to see another strong performance by the Navigators Insurance riders.

'" think one of things that is appealing about Gent-Wevelgem as far as the semi-classics go is that it is a fairly straightforward race in terms of what needs to be done to do well there," he explained to Cyclingnews. "As a rule, Belgian racing can be fairly complicated because of the roads; it is really an understanding of the roads and the race courses themselves which plays dramatically into tactics in Belgium. It takes time in that area to learn that. I think that is why Belgians do so well in Belgian races, because they know the layout of the land. It takes a foreigner years to learn the intricacies.

"But, as the bigger races go, I think Gent-Wevelgem is one of those that is more straightforward. It suits powerful, fast guys and it is also over a distance that we can handle. 260 kilometres is a little bit extreme for the team, based on the races that we do, but when you look at the whole package, it fits the profile of what the team's potential strengths are. So, then it is a matter of execution. If the guys execute it right and if they have good form, I think we can be somewhat competitive in that race."

Click here for the full interview

World Champion to race the Archer

One of Britain's new track World Champions, Mark Cavendish, and pursuit teammate Ed Clancy (who did not ride in the final) will be riding in the 100-strong field at the Archer International GP at Hazlemere, in the Chiltern Hills (UK) on Sunday, April 3. It is considered a coup for the 50th Anniversary of the Archer GP, which is the first of three European Tour races in the UK. It also marks the first appearance on home soil of representatives of the all-conquering British team at the World Championships, which won four Golds, one Silver, and one Bronze medal.

Although 19-year old Cavendish and 20-year old Clancy are not expected to make a seamless transition between comparatively short distance track racing to the 116 mile Archer, the British coaching team appears confident that they can now build up to top placings in the World Road Championships later in the year in the under-23 category, effectively the previous amateur championships.

Although Cavendish is the first current British World Champion to ride in the Archer International GP event, other British riders have used it as a stepping stone to World Championship honours such as Hugh Porter and Chris Newton (another gold medallist in Los Angeles), while Regis Ovion (France) and Rykzard Surkowski (Poland) have been past or present world champions when riding the event some year back.

The field of 100 starts from Hazlemere, Bucks, at 11am and covers two circuits in the Chiltern hills, to finish at about 3.30pm in Winchmore Hill village, near Amersham.

In addition to the Great Britain and Welsh national teams, there are teams from Belgium, Holland and three from Ireland, plus all the top trade and club teams in Britain. Likely favourites will be Julian Winn (Wales) and John Tanner (Planet X) who were first and second last year, plus Malcolm Elliott (Pinarello Rt) winner of the Premier Series last year. Tanner is the leader of the 2005 Premier Series after the first event at Easter, the Girvan 3-day, in which he was second overall, but with more Premier points from the three stages.

Hunter Region Velodrome needs bikes

The Hunter Region Velodrome Trust (NSW, Australia) has developed a programme in light of the performances of Australian track cyclists at home and abroad, aiming to continue fostering talent at the grass roots level so that Australia's winning ways can continue.

Dennis Blunden, Chairman of the Trust, sent the call out for young riders interested in taking up track cycling one day per week after school - and the call was answered. It was answered so strongly that the supply of bikes available for use is nowhere near enough to ensure that all riders can get out on the track.

High school students attend weekly training sessions, aimed at developing skills and preparing them for races in the future. The only problem is that there are only 15 bikes for 40 entrants into the programme, and now the call for equipment has gone out. Any businesses or individuals who could donate bikes, sponsor the purchase of bikes or help in acquiring enough track bikes for this programme are asked to come forward.

Les Morgan, a member of the Trust's committee, can be emailed on lesmog@ceinternet.com.au, or alternatively, anyone interested can ring Dennis Blunden on +61 (0)2 4930 1393.

Top field to fight it out in Bathurst

Known to many people as the 'home' of Australian motor racing, Bathurst is preparing to host plenty of strong riders during the Subaru Bathurst to Blayney Classic. MG-XPower riders Robert McLachlan and Shaun Higgerson will be contesting the 94km road race, along with NSWIS riders Richard Moffatt and Sam Lee.

"We couldn't ask for a better field in both the A Grade Men's and Women's races" said Bathurst Club President Mark Windsor. "We had planned on developing the race into a major event over the next few years, but it seems we're pretty close to getting it to a national level cycling classic straight off."

With plenty of challenging hills in the district, it's likely to be climbers such as Higgerson that will make the decisive moves, but in these type of races it always comes down to who has the legs on the day.

The Bathurst Subaru Women on Wheels event will also be hotly contested, with talented Australian representative rider Amanda Spratt making an appearance to take on last year's winner, former national junior representative Kate Nichols. Local Paralympian Janelle Lindsay will also be among the challengers, with fast Victorian Emma Richards and young NSW track rider Skye-Lee Armstrong adding plenty of class to the field.

DeFeet Elite Women's Cycling Team

The DeFeet Elite Women's Cycling Team, managed by Deb Elliott, is comprised of riders from five states across Southeast USA: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia. The road team will focus on Southeast Regional and NRC events, while the Pro Mountain Bike squad will compete in the NORBA National Series across the country.

Click here for the full roster

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