First Edition Cycling News for January 5, 2006

Edited by Hedwig Kröner

Three squads named for Tour de Langkawi

By Shane Stokes

As the countdown to this year’s Telekom Malaysia Tour de Langkawi continues, three strong teams have been named to the 2.HC ranked event. Two ProTour squads and a previous race-winning team have confirmed their participation for the race, which begins with an 81.8 kilometre stage from Kuala Lumpur Tower to Rawang on Friday, February 3.

Last year, José Rujano of the Colombia Selle Italia squad finished a close second overall to Team Barloworld-Valsir’s Ryan Cox. The then 23 year-old Venezuelan went on to take a stage win, the mountains jersey and third overall in the Giro d’Italia, confirming the climbing prowess he showed in the Malaysian race. Rujano has been listed as leading the Gianni Savio’s team in the 2006 edition of the Tour de Langkawi and, having finished just 18 seconds back last time, will be aiming for the top spot of the podium next month.

The first of the two ProTour squads announced thus far is French Bouygues Telecom, who will be making its debut in the race. Former world champion Laurent Brochard and 2004 Tour de l’Avenir points winner Sébastien Chavanel have been pencilled in, and should be backed by Franck Bouyer, Giovanni Bernaudeau, Walter Beneteau and Olivier Bonnaire in their campaign.

Also flying in from France will be Crédit Agricole, the squad likely to be led by the big US hope Saul Raisin. The 23 year-old finished a fine ninth in the Tour of Germany last year and 13th in the Tour of Austria. Raisin knows what to expect in Malaysia, having placed 16th in 2005. The talented young rider should be one of the big contenders for the race; likely to be supported by teammates Sébastien Hinault, Francesco Belotti, Christophe Le Mevel, Benoît Poilvet and Cyril Lemoine.

"As you can see from the list thus far, teams are sending some serious rising talents," said First Cartel managing director Imran Abdullah. "You will have Colombia Selle Italia's Venezuelan star Jose Rujano, still only 23 years old. Crédit Agricole will be featuring a 23 year-old American, Saul Raisin, and Bouygues Telecom have named an exciting line-up of riders. With young Chavanel in there, you can never discount them in the sprints."

The 10-stage race will begin on February 3 and see the riders slug it out over 1,161.7 kilometres. The final stage takes place in Kuala Lumpur on February 12.

More TDL team news is expected later this week.

Rhodes and Nichols make successful comeback

Great to see Alexis Rhodes (L)
Photo ©: Shane Goss

Less than six months after their training accident in Germany which took the life of Amy Gillett, AIS teammates Alexis Rhodes and Kate Nichols made a great comeback to competitive racing yesterday at the first race of the Bay Classic Series in Williamstown, Victoria. Rhodes took sixth place after being amongst the leaders in the closing laps, following an attack which helped make the final selection.

Showing just how strong her powers of recovery are, Rhodes was able to mix it up with the likes of Olivia Gollan, Oenone Wood and eventual winner Katie Mactier, indicating she is far from finished in the sport after spending a week in a coma following the July 19 crash. Sydney rider Nichols admitted to being somewhat nervous before the racing but was just happy to be in Williamstown as a competitor.

Simon Gillett in Williamstown
Photo ©: Shane Goss

AIS teammate Katie Brown was also present, supporting boyfriend Mark Renshaw as he rode to fourth place in the men's event. She isn't yet able to compete, but a racing comeback is surely not far away, and is hopeful she can participate in Saturday's charity ride for the Amy Gillett Foundation. Gillett's husband, Simon, was also a guest at the first day of the Bay Classic series, saying that Amy's spirit would surely have been with the riders, and is looking forward to the expected 2000 riders taking part in 'Amy's Ride' in the Geelong Botanical Gardens on January 7.

Tschopp back in training

Phonak rider Johann Tschopp, after suffering a fracture to the head of the femur at the Tour of Poland in mid September, will take part in the Swiss team's training camp on the Spanish island of Mallorca, starting January 9. The 24 year-old has completed a light buildup training programme over the past four weeks, including some cross country skiing, and is now ready to prepare his racing comeback.

"I'm not feeling any pain any more. At the moment, that's the main thing," said the young Swiss rider. Nevertheless, his rehabilitation will still take some time. "I expect to be able to race again beginning in April," Tschopp added.

Française des Jeux racing in Gabon

La Française des Jeux will be the first French ProTeam to take up racing again in 2006, as it is sending a rider roster to compete in the Tropicale Amissa Bongo stage race in Gabon on the West coast of Africa from January 12-15. Christophe Mengin, Frédéric Guesdon, Arnaud Gérard, Lilian Jégou, Jussi Veikkanen and Christophe Detilloux will be participating in the 450 km-long event, which also attracted French Elite teams VC La Pomme and VC Roubaix, as well as Jartazi, CAPEC and a Luxembourg national team. AG2R, Bouygues Telecom and Crédit Agricole will start their season at the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under from January 17-22.

Record entries for Australian Open Road Championships

A record number of cyclists will line up in next week's Australian Open Road Championships in Mt Torrens, South Australia. The men's road race will feature 151 cyclists (93 elite and 58 U23) while the women's event will see 58 riders vie for the honour of wearing the green and gold national champion's jersey in 2006.

2005 Australian Cyclist of the Year, Robbie McEwen, has his eyes set on the prize of defending his 2005 road race crown but the field is full of potential Australian champions including ProTour riders Allan Davis, Luke Roberts, Cadel Evans, Matthew Hayman and Simon Gerrans along with last year's silver and bronze medallists Paul Crake and Robert McLachlan. The U23 riders in the combined event will be vying for their own jersey and with 2005 champion, Chris Sutton, back in Europe for his first year with ProTour team Cofidis, Victorian Will Walker has his eyes on the win. Last year, Walker claimed the silver medal in the U23 road race at the World Championships in Spain.

The women's field is headed by world ranked number one Oenone Wood, Athens Olympic road champion, Sara Carrigan, sisters Kate and Natalie Bates, Olivia Gollan and 2005 Geelong World Cup winner, Rochelle Gilmore all out to impress.

In the time trial events Queensland's Nathan O'Neill is aiming for his seventh elite men's time trial crown (previous wins 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2005) and world ranked number one Oenone Wood is on track for her third straight victory in the women's event.

The women's time trial is a selection race for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games with the winner securing automatic nomination for the event in March. Two time World Cup Series champion Wood is the top seed but she'll face some tough competition from the likes of Athens Olympic road champion, Sara Carrigan, sisters Kate and Natalie Bates, Olivia Gollan and Barcelona Olympic champion, Kathryn Watt.

The schedule of events in Mt Torrens outlines as follows, with all races starting 10:00 am:

Wednesday, January 11 - Time Trials (Women 27km, Men 40km)
Thursday, January 12 - Rest Day
Friday, January 13 - Women's Road Race 97.5km (5 laps)
Saturday, January 14 - Men's Elite and Men's U23 Road Race 175.5km (9 laps)

Further details can be found on www.aorc.com.au.

Tournant leads French at Revolution 11

Track racing event Revolution 11 will see French sprint legend Arnaud Tournant return to the Manchester Velodrome on Saturday, January 21. Tournant, who has always been a firm crowd favourite by combining speed and showmanship, is always keen to return to Manchester. "Revolution is an excellent event and the crowd is superb so I am always happy to come back and put on a good show," Tournant said.

For Revolution 11, Tournant will be joined by up and coming French sprint stars Matthieu Mandard and Franck Durivaux who will be looking to make their mark against the British sprinters. Their main competition will be Scottish Craig MacLean, who is in great form following his performance in the Japanese Keirin at the Manchester World Cup.

Tickets for Revolution 11 are available at www.cyclingrevolution.com.

2006 women's team Fenixs Colnago announced

Italian women's team Fenixs Colnago CAP Arreghini will be composed of 15 athletes this upcoming season, representing six countries: Italy, France, Russia, Denmark, United States and New Zealand. The team will be led by former world champion Svetlana Bubnenkova, winner of Giro del Trentino; Eva Lechner, Italian U23 champion and winner of the European MTB championship; former European TT and road champion Olga Zabelinskaya, who has returned to high level sport after maternity; Russian champion Julia Martisova and Italian champion Ilenia Lazzaro. The roster is completed by Danish Adamsen, Americans Brook and Campbell, German Eifler, French Parsy, New Zealander Buick and Italians Lavorini, Brunati, Marzatico and Raggiante.

Team Fenixs Colnago CAP Arreghini will be present in World Cup races and in all national and international races both in Italy and abroad. The racing programme includes all cycling disciplines: road, track, cyclo-cross and mountain bike.

Saunier Duval U23 team growing

The Saunier Duval development team for 2006 has been added nine riders to the five that started in 2005. Directed by Sabino Angoitia, the amateur squad has been rejuvenated after four riders made the move to the professional category: two with Saunier Duval-Prodir (Alberto Fernández and Javier Mejías) and the other two with Grupo Nicolás Mateos (Juan Carlos López and Martín Mata).

Now, nearly all of the riders are aged under 21. The five remaining amateurs of 2005 are Enrique Mata, Miguel Ochoa, Héctor González, Raúl Alarcón and Alberto Ibáñez. The newcomers include Luís Ángel Mate (Avilas Rojas), Daniel Ania (Ciudad Oviedo), Rafael Serrano (Mx Onda), Florentino Márquez (Rualje), Antonio García (Rualje), David Gutiérrez (Almacenes Lavín), Jesús Merino (Calahoya), Pedro Merino (Calahoya), Jose Mª Alcaraz (Moto 5), Vicente Rodrigo (Bici Velo Bike), Máximo Cuesta (Alfus) and two Swiss riders, Marcel Wyss and Rafael Nick.

Team Spine rider killed

Bay Area rider Dan Plummer, member of Northern California amateur road-racing team Spine, was killed on New Year's Day morning when a tree snapped and fell on him as he began an early morning ride. Heavy rain and forceful winds wrecked havoc on Northern California last weekend, making the tree come down.

The 39 year-old was research scientist from Redwood City and had been racing for about 10 years. Plummer will be honoured with a memorial ride to be announced on Team Spine's website: www.teamspine.com.

Amy's ride expected to attract 2000

In the morning of stage four of the Jayco Bay Cycling Classic next Saturday, January 7, a recreational ride in memory of AIS member Amy Gillett will unite cyclists of all levels, including Australian pros Robbie McEwen, Cadel Evans, Baden Cooke, Brad McGee, Brett Lancaster, Oenone Wood, Katie Mactier, and Sara Carrigan. More than 2000 people are expected to take part in what is called Amy's Ride at the Geelong Botanic Gardens that day, a fundraiser for the Amy Gillett Foundation. Entrants may choose from five distances around the Bellarine Peninsula, with all rides starting at 9.30 am.

To find out more about the event, go to www.amysride.com.au/.

Paris-Dakar by Bike planned

The first edition of Paris-Dakar by Bike, a 7,000 km-long leisure race scheduled for 10 weeks has been announced as taking place from September 10 to November 18. Imitating the famous car rally, Paris-Dakar by Bike will take cyclists through six countries (France, Andorra, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal) in a total of 58 stages, and include 12 rest days to do just that - or, alternatively, visit tourist sites.

More information can be found at www.bike-dreams.com.

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