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Dauphiné Libéré
Photo ©: Sirotti

First Edition Cycling News for August 3, 2006

Edited by Jeff Jones & Hedwig Kröner

Good spirits at Gerolsteiner

'Mission accomplished' for Team Gerolsteiner in stage one of the Deutschland Tour today: "The guys carried out what we had planned," said team director Hans-Michael Holczer. "We wanted to make life hard for the sprinters in the finale - and that's what we did. Everybody's in great shape, so the next few days will be exciting."

Even though the men from the mineral water team could not prevent a bunch sprint finish, two attacks put their mark on the final racing kilometres to Bielefeld. First, it was Stefan Schumacher who tried to get away on a small climb. "The short ascent with seven kilometres to go was unfortunately too short to make a difference," he said. "But it was worth a try!"

Next up it was Sebastian Lang's turn to attack, just as his teammate Schumacher was getting caught two kilometres before the line. "There was gap when I jumped, so if the sprinter's teams would have looked at each other, that would have been my chance," he said. "It's important to go for it, even if it doesn't succeed all of the time."

Sebastian Lang is still third-placed on general classification, at only one second behind Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) and two seconds behind leader Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel).

Van Petegem abandons; Napolitano feverish

A short report form the sick bay: Davitamon-Lotto's Peter Van Petegem had to quit the race during stage one of Tour of Denmark. The Belgian rider, according to the team, has a "badly placed" cyst, which will most probably have to be removed by surgery. In this case, 'De Peet' will be out for a couple of weeks.

Over in Germany, Lampre's Danilo Napolitano finished second in the first stage of Deutschland Tour, just a few centimetres behind Bazayev (Astana), but the Italian raced with a temperature. Over night, Napolitano's health conditions will be evaluated in order to understand if he can go on with the German ProTour race.

Australian cycling loses two champions

By John Kenny

Hector Salas
Click for larger image

Funerals will take place this week for two well-known Australian cycling identities, Hector Salas and Michael Martin.

Hector Salas rode for Uruguay for many years in the 1960s before migrating to Australia in 1971. He raced as an A grade rider for many years in Australia whilst coaching many young local riders. He often organised racing teams to compete in South America.

"Hector was a fantastic cyclist, but he also fostered good relations between Australia and Uruguay through cycling," said Ron Bonham, Australian Cycling Federation national coaching director.

His son Eddie is also a highly successful cyclist, winning 10 Australian championships. Eddy finished sixth in the road race at the Seoul Olympics and was a professional with the Italian teams Fanini and Amore e Vita from 1989-91.

"My father was an inspiration to us," Eddie Salas told Cyclingnews, "not only in the way that he brought us all up but also in the sacrifices he went through to bring us to Australia a country he knew nothing of at the time, without speaking the language and having no-one that he knew here for support. He did this to give us a better way of life than that we would have had. He was always there whenever we needed him, whether it was to go training or to help me out at work, I will dearly miss him."

Michael Martin was a multiple Australian junior and senior track champion. He was an outstanding cyclist whose career overlapped world champions Gary Sutton and John Nicholson.

Martin won the under-18 sprint and kilometre titles in the same year and went on to represent Australia at the Oceania Games, "He won every under-17 event on the track in the same year, I'm pretty sure about that," said Gary Sutton. "I roomed with Mick and he was a beautiful man with a beautiful family. This is such a sad day, he was such a personality of the sport."

Hector Salas' funeral takes place at 10.00am Friday, August 4 at North Chapel, Pinegrove Crematorium, Eastern Creek. Michael Martin's funeral takes place on Saturday in Dubbo.

The staff at Cyclingnews offer their condolences to the families of Hector Salas and Michael Martin.

Stagiaire time again

Several teams have announced the signing of stagiaire riders until the end of the season. Italian Liquigas, for example, has taken on two youngsters from the Marchiol Ima Famila Liquigas, the satellite team of the pro team: Stefano Basso and Emanuele Fornasier. Basso, sixth at the Italian Championship, is part of the Under 23 Italian team. Fornasier, a good long-distance rider, has taken eleventh at the Baby Giro and second in the Giro del Veneto.

German squad Gerolsteiner recruited 19 year-old Nico Keinath, who is being trained by the same coach as Stefan Schumacher, Hartmut Täumler. "We want to test him in some races without pressure," said team manager Hans-Michael Holczer. "I can't wait to see how he'll come along, but until now, all of our stagiaires have always done just fine!"

Another Italian team, Miche Cinerama Tinkoff, has agreed to welcome three apprentices: Davide Beccaro, Alessandro Bianchin and Marco Da Lozzo, who will be racing with the pros at least until the end of the season.

Teams for GP Camaiore

Italian team managers have announced their line-ups for the GP Città di Camaiore, scheduled to take place on Thursday, August 3. Danilo Di Luca is making his come-back to racing after the Tour de France, where he abandoned on stage 2 due to illness. At his side will be Luca Paolini, who was able to be a protagonist last Sunday in the Vattenfall Cyclassics.

The full Liquigas squad at the GP Città di Camaiore will feature Patrick Calcagni, Eros Capecchi, Danilo Di Luca, Enrico Gasparotto, Roman Kreuziger, Luca Paolini, Alessandro Spezialetti, Stefano Basso and Emanuele Fornasier, with team manager Mario Scirea directing the roster.

Professional Continental team Miche will line up Przemyslaw Niemiec, Pasquale Muto, Antonio D´Aniello, Seweryn Kohut, Slawomir Kohut, Eddy Serri, Giuseppe Di Grande and Bo Hamburger.

Bank of America Invitational Criterium field announced

The teams for The Bank of America Invitational Criterium have been announced for this coming Saturday August 5th. The men's race will feature riders from 17 professional teams that include Navigators Insurance, Toyota United, Health Net presented by Maxxis, TIAA-CREF, Kodakgallery.com/Sierra Nevada, Team Monex, Nerac/OurdoorLights.com, Priority Health, AEG Toshiba-Jetnetwork, VMG Racing, Adria Mobil, Ciaco, Colavita Olive Oil-Sutter Homes, Rite Aid, Jittery Joe's/Zero Gravity, Targetraining and Jelly Belly.

The men will compete for $100,000.00 plus lap primes over a distance of 50 miles (80 km).

The women's race is well represented with riders from 12 different teams. These team include TEAm Lipton, Victory Brewing, Cheerwine, Hub Racing, Colavita Cooking Light, Fuji/Bolt Brothers, TravelGirl Magazine, Conex Train, Aaron's Cycling, BMW/Bianchi, Serotta Cycles, Kendra Tire and Biovail.

The women will compete for $25,000.00 plus lap primes over a distance of 22 miles (35 km).

"We welcome all of these great teams and riders back to Charlotte and wish everyone all the best of luck" race director Thad Fischer. This is the 3rd year for this event that has an average spectator attendance of over 30,000. 2005 Men's defending Champion Juan Jose Haedo is returning to defend and 2005 women's runner up Tia Pic is competing for the win in 2006.

Gene Moriarty Cup preview

By Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent

The Gene Moriarty Cup is the highlight of the Irish cycling calendar this Sunday in Listowel, Co. Kerry, but the town is also famous for the Writers Week and the Festival of Horse racing in September. The local community are very supportive of all things that bring people to the town

Organiser Tadgh Moriarty has once again set the bar when it comes to the promotion of a cycle race. "I have been around for a quiet a while and I recognise that it is important that when it comes to bike racing, what is needed," he said. "My first priority has been the safety of the competitors, but equally the general public who I don't wish to discommode. After all, I need everybody's support and particularly the local community."

Of the past winners in the last 24 years, Brian Kenneally from Piltown, Co. Waterford heads the list. He has been successful on three occasions in the last 10 years, and admits now that to make it numero four is a big ask for want of a better word.

Defending champion Ken Norgrove is in buoyant mood. "Yes, I feel that with the way the All System Dublin Wheeler team is going at the moment, that I have a better than average chance of repeating my success of a year ago." Since the McGraths Concrete Ras Connachta a couple of weeks ago, the ‘Wheelers' have been doing the business. So, we'll wait and see the outcome on Sunday in the Kingdom.

The injury sustained by Eugene Moriarty of MyHome.ie back in April seems to have healed, so Listowel should see the team that has been in the news last week with the sale of the company for €50 million.

Coming into form at the moment is the M Donnelly Stamullen Racing Team, and they will surely be a force to be reckoned with. Craig Sweetman's victory in the Leinster Road Racing Championship hasn't gone unnoticed.

Tadgh was at pains to point out that also included on the clar (Irish saying) was a race for third category competitors who should bolster the numbers in town, and the odds are that they will head to Clare via the ferry at Tarbet for the Crotty Cup on Monday.

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