Latest Cycling News for October 17, 2005

Edited by Jeff Jones

Petacchi tops victory list

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo)
Photo ©: Sirotti

Alessandro Petacchi finished the season head and shoulders above the rest in terms of victories obtained in major races. The Fassa Bortolo super sprinter won 27 races this year, with just two of those being non-UCI rated. Among his wins were Milan-San Remo, Trofeo Luis Puig, GP Costa Degli Etruschi, the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana (and three stages), five stages in the Vuelta a España and four in the Giro d'Italia.

The second best on the victory list was Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), who scored 23 victories, including eight non-UCI races. McEwen's 2005 featured wins in the Australian Championship, GP De Fourmies, Paris-Brussels, three stages in the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under. In third place was Tom Boonen (Quick.Step), who won 19 races, 14 of which were UCI rated. Boonen's 2005 palmares is of top quality, as it includes the World Championship, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, E3 Prijs Vlaanderen, Tour of Belgium, and two stages in the Tour de France and Paris-Nice.

CSC was the most successful team with 53 wins.

Victory list for 2005

1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo       27 
2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto           23
3 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick.Step                   19
4 Ivan Basso (Ita) CSC                          16
5 Candido Barbosa (Por) L.A. Aluminios          10
6 Jens Voigt (Ger) CSC                           9
7 Ruben Bongiorno (Arg) Panaria                  8
7 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile            8
7 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Naturino-Sapore di Mare   8
10 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank                   7
10 Jose Rujano (Ven) Colombia-Selle Italia       7
10 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques         7
10 Bobby Julich (USA) CSC                        7
10 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) LPR                   7
10 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Quick.Step                  7

Fischer wins European Tour

McQuaid and Fischer
Photo ©: Roberto Bettini

Brazilian Murilo Fischer (Naturino Sapore di Mare) has finished on top of the European Continental Tour rankings, which were finalised last Friday. Fischer had a great end of season, winning the Giro del Piemonte, Milano-Vignola (GP Beghelli), Gp Industria & Commercio Di Prato, Trofeo Citta Di Castelfidardo, as well as two stages in the Uniqa Classic and a stage in the Tour of Qinghai Lake. Other highlights included a fifth in the World Championships, second in the Giro del Lazio and International Uniqa Classic, and third in the GP Industria & Artigianato and Coppa Bernocchi.

The next best rider on the European Tour was nearly 250 points behind the flying Brazilian: Stefan Van Dijk (MrBookmaker.com). Belgian Nico Eeckhout (Chocolade Jacques) was third, while Ruggero Marzoli (Acqua e Sapone) and Stefan Schumacher (Shimano-Memory Corp) round out the top five.

In the teams rankings, Ceramica Panaria-Navigare finished on top, ahead of ProTour candidates Ag2r-Prevoyance and Comunidad Valenciana. Italy was the best nation, well ahead of Spain and The Netherlands.

Fischer, together with some of the other winners of the Continental Tours, was presented with his trophy at a the ProTour gala dinner on Saturday night after the Giro di Lombardia.

Final European Continental Tour rankings

Indivduals
 
1 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Naturino-Sapore di Mare        748 pts
2 Stefan Van Dick (Ned) Mrbookmaker.com-Sports Tech   503
3 Nico Eeckhout (Bel) Chocolade Jacques-T Interim     492
4 Ruggero Marzoli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone-Adria Mobil    456
5 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Shimano-Memory Corp         441
6 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Team L.P.R.                 440
7 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare       413
8 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) Team Barloworld-Valsir       402
9 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare       357
10 Nico Sijmens (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Colnago         356
 
Teams
 
1 Ceramica Panaria-Navigare                          1847 pts
2 Ag2r Prevoyance                                    1720.2
3 Comunidad Valenciana                               1654.8
4 Team Barloworld-Valsir                             1494
5 Naturino-Sapore di Mare                            1487
6 Team L.P.R.                                        1400
7 Rabobank                                           1384
8 Mrbookmaker.com-Sports Tech                        1200
9 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                            1199
10 Intel-Action                                      1091
 
Nations
 
1 Italy                                              3130 pts
2 Spain                                              2432.4
3 Netherlands                                        2145
4 Poland                                             2027.32
5 Belgium                                            1998
6 Russian Federation                                 1778
7 France                                             1707
8 Germany                                            1501
9 Czech Republic                                     1234
10 Portugal                                          1168
 
Full rankings: Individuals, Teams, Nations

Belgian team named for first World Cup

The Belgian national cyclo-cross coach Rudy De Bie has named his lineup for the first round of the World Cup this Sunday in Kalmthout, Belgium. Nine men will comprise the squad, including the defending champion in everything Sven Nys (Rabobank), the in-form Bart Wellens (Fidea), along with Sven Vanthourenhout and Bart Aernouts (Rabobank), Erwin Vervecken, Wim Jacobs and Jan Verstraeten (Fidea), Tom Vannoppen and Davy Commeyne (Palmans-Sapim). The reserves are Arne Daelmans and Tim Van Nuffel.

Hoffman says goodbye

Tristan Hoffman celebrated the end of his professional career as a cyclist at a criterium at his birthplace in Groenlo, The Netherlands on Sunday. Hoffman rode the race, but halfway through he pulled out and got into the CSC team car, as he is now serving as team director. His compatriot Max van Heeswijk won the race ahead of Andy Schleck (CSC) and Thomas Dekker (Rabobank). Rudie Kemna, Bart Voskamp and Rolf Aldag also rode their last pro races in Groenlo. "This is unbelievable. I never expected such a farewell," said Hoffman.

The Dutch rider enjoyed a career spanning 14 years, turning pro with TVM in 1992 and immediately tasting success by winning the Dutch championship. He went onto win stages in the Tour de Suisse (1993), Herald Sun Tour (1994), Vuelta a Murcia (1995), and Omloop Vlaamse Ardennen (1999), as well as the one day races Dwars Door Vlaanderen (2000), Veenendaal - Veenendaal, Clasica De Sabiñánigo (1999), Paris - Bourges (1996), and the A Travers La Belgique stage race in 1996. He was a classics specialist who regularly scored top 10 finishes in spring, and finished as high as second in Paris-Roubaix in 2004. In that race alone, he finished in the top five on five occasions.

Hoffman's 2005 season was unfortunately over almost as it began. He crashed in the Omloop Het Volk in February and broke his leg in several places. His recovery was slow, and he opted not to continue as a professional rider, but instead get behind the wheel of a team car with his existing team.

Werner trades in two wheels for four wheels

Christian Werner is retiring from professional cycling after the T-Mobile Team did not offer him a new contract and he was not able to find another team. According to the Wiesbadener Tagblatt, Werner, 26, said, "The decision is made. As of the middle of last week I had not received an offer." He did receive offers form "second-class" teams, but did not consider them. "I won't go down (out of the ProTour). Either I ride professionally first class or I don't ride."

At least Werner doesn't have to worry about finding work. He will start working for his family's trucking firm, doing office work and "occasionally driving a truck."

Werner had been with Telekom/T-Mobile since 2003. His best results were a fifth place finish overall in the 2004 Friedensfahrt (Peace Race) and fourth overall in the Rehinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt that same year.

Courtesy of Susan Westemeyer

Bru extends

Spanish ride Yon Bru has extended his contract with the Kaiku team for another season. Kaiku has also added Juanjo Oroz, Alberto Losada and Iván Gilmartín from Caja Rural, as well as Carlos Castaño (Andalucía-Paul Versan). Andoni Aranaga and Ezequiel Mosquera will remain with the team.

New team in Italy?

A new Continental Professional team is taking shape in Italy, although it's by no means certain yet, according to Tuttobiciweb.com. The team would be managed by Antonio Fermo with food company Portaluppi and Scanavino wines as main sponsors. Fermo is planning on having 16 riders, possibly including Paolo Bossoni, Kristian Fajt, Aristide Ratti and neo-pro Daniele Callegarin. Marino Amadori has been asked to direct the squad, which is still very much up in the air.

Tour of Poland to be shortened

Czeslaw Lang, the man behind the Tour de Pologne said during Saturday's Giro Di Lombardia coverage on Eurosport that 2006 TdP will take place from September 4-10 from Warsaw and will last seven days. However, instead of including a time trial like in previous years, the ProTour event will feature just one stage on the final day, and no time trial at all. This year, the race was seven days and eight stages long.

In 2006, the 63rd Tour de Pologne will start in Warsaw (Warszawa), with probable stage finishes in Torun and Poznan on the earlier, flatter part of the race.

Cyclist killed by bus in North Carolina

36 year-old cyclist Todd Weaver has been killed after being hit by a bus in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA last Friday afternoon. According to the Charlotte Observer, Weaver was riding north along South Tryon at approximately 5:00pm when the southbound CATS bus, driven by 50 year-old Jerry Miller, turned left into a parking lot. Weaver hit the bus near the door and was killed almost immediately, as medics were unable to revive him at the scene.

The tragedy was compounded by the fact that Miller had a history of accidents, including one just half an hour before the one involving Weaver. At approximately 4:30pm on Friday, Miller hit a planter as he turned from Fourth Street into South Tryon. No-one was seriously injured. According to police records, Miller had had five accidents in the previous four and a half years. He has not been charged in the Weaver death.

More information, including funeral details, can be found at www.toddweaver.org

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