First Edition Cycling News for January 15, 2006

Edited by Jeff Jones

T-Mobile 2006 is go

The men's team line up
Photo ©: Shane Stokes

One of the world's biggest teams, T-Mobile, had its traditional training camp and presentation in Mallorca this week. Shane Stokes was there for the spectacle.

The 2006 T-Mobile team was unveiled on Saturday in a slickly-presented launch in the Club Robinson Cala Serena in the Balearic island of Mallorca. A total of 29 male and 10 female riders took part in the presentation, with both squads expressing confidence and determination about the months that lie ahead.

As might be expected, star of the launch was Tour de France perennial challenger Jan Ullrich. He won the race in 1997 but since then has had to contend with the dominance of Lance Armstrong, finishing second to the American three times. It is entirely conceivable that had their eras not overlapped, Ullrich would have lived up to earlier predications of himself as a multiple winner of the race. However, although he is now 32 years of age, he knows that it is still possible to top the podium in Paris at least once more before he finally hangs up his cleats.

There has been much talk in recent months that Ullrich was approaching 2006 with renewed motivation. In the past two years he has finished third and fourth in the Tour, but there is a sense that things could be different next time round. Ullrich certainly looked in good shape at Saturday's launch, appearing lean and muscular and fully at ease with his status as undisputed leader of the team.

"This year is a big one for me," he told the estimated 160 journalists present. "I'm not getting any younger and won't have many more chances to win the Tour... If I train normally and don't have to chase after my form in the spring, then I will be better in the mountains in July than I was last year."

Click here to read the full story.

Rule changes in store for national championships

By Les Clarke in Mt Torrens

William Walker (Rabobank)
Photo ©: Mark Gunter

Following William Walker's win in Saturday's national road race championship, Cycling Australia has indicated that in future championship races, Under 23 riders will not race with the senior elite men. This comes after Walker's disappointment and confusion at not having won the elite national champion's jersey despite winning the race in commanding fashion.

"You're kidding" was the 20-year-old's first response when given the news that he wouldn't be wearing the Australian champion's jersey during 2006. Walker was initially diplomatic, saying, "I think that's disappointing. I can't really understand those rules but I guess that's life."

Cycling Australia CEO Graham Fredericks said that the rules on awarding the jerseys were fairly simple. "There are jerseys awarded to both elite and under-23s. So that is the first reason for it. And the second reason isn't in the rules, but really he is never going to get a chance to wear it - it's simply going to be two categories of racing. He will be wearing a national champion's jersey and so will an elite rider.

"[That is] the way the rules are written - and we reread them half way through the race as we could see the possibility occurring.

"The under-23 division has been evolving for as long as we have run this race. In the last two years we have had a completely separate set of medals for under-23," said Fredericks, before continuing, "We have had about 40 entrants in previous years and this year we had over 60."

"The board of Cycling Australia made a decision about six months ago that in the new round of bids for national championships there will be a separate under-23 race from 2007 onwards. So Willy Walker has the honour of being the first person to ever win both, and he will also be the last," Fredericks explained, before adding that, "The UCI has a rule for under-23 and elite champions so how we interpret that in our rule - and we probably didn't write it with this in mind - is quite clear; an elite and an under-23 jersey will be awarded."

After finishing his day early, 2005 Australian champion Robbie McEwen was asked if separating the two categories of riders would improve the race. "It would open it up for under-23 guys who, say, missed the break; it would give those guys a different race. It wouldn't change ours all that much," commented McEwen.

"I don't think [it devalues the jersey]. Probably no one else in the world would really know [who won the race]. You have to look at the level of the field and these guys who are not used to riding in bunches that big at that speed and maybe that's why that crash occurred. But it can happen anywhere. It can happen in the best bunch in the world," he said.

Click here for full results, report and photos from the Open Men's race, and the U23 Men's results.

Controversy and confusion at national titles

By Les Clarke in Mt Torrens

Henk Vogels (Davitamon-Lotto)
Photo ©: Mark Gunter

Following the finish of the men's national road race championship, confusion reigned and tempered flared as former Australian national champion Henk Vogels was told he would be omitted from the results listing, because commissaires believed he had ridden illegally in the final sprint.

According to riders' accounts of the same sprint, Gene Bates moved across from the centre of the road to the left, forcing Nick Gates, Wes Sulzberger and Vogels into the barriers. Commissaires saw events in the final metres differently, deciding that Sulzberger and Vogels rode dangerously and deviated from their line. "They're trying to rub me for a separate incident that happened 300 metres before...there was that much hooking going on; I was on the inside and riding a straight line the whole time," said a furious Vogels after speaking with race officials.

"I was riding a straight line and people were moving across in front of me, and I've been rubbed. I never led out the sprint - how can I move across the road? I'm following the wheel," he continued. "If I was out the front riding left and right then rub me, but I wasn't in front. I rode a straight line all the way until Gene Bates guided me into the barriers."

Vogels was clearly outraged at his omission and at that of young Tasmanian Wes Sulzberger. "The guy hasn't even seen video footage and he's rubbing people. It's half an hour and they still haven't had a look at it," said Vogels. He cited third-placed Russell Van Hout's account of events that something untoward happened and it may have cost Vogels the title. "Russell said there was a big shit and he just rode around it to the national title."

Vogels' father, Henk Snr, said from his home in Perth after the race that Henk had never been omitted for the type of offence before, and that the West Australian classics specialist doesn't ride in that fashion - it's not his style. He had spoken with his son and told of the intense disappointment the younger Vogels felt. And this disappointment wasn't abated when race officials performed a backflip and decided that in fact Gene Bates should be the relegated rider, reinstating Sulzberger to second place and Vogels to fifth.

Many observers of the proceedings following Australia's national championship were disappointed that such an incident should overshadow the heralding of a new star in Australian cycling. For riders and fans it left a sour taste in the mouths of those that should be celebrating the cream of racing on Australian soil.

An interview with Francisco Mancebo

One step at a time

Francisco Mancebo looking relaxed
Photo ©: Hedwig Kröner

The new year holds many new challenges for Francisco Mancebo. The 29 year-old Spaniard has changed teams for the first time in his professional career, leaving the care of Eusebio Unzue's team Illes Balears for newly-born ProTour team AG2R-Prévoyance. On top of having to learn French, the man from central Spanish town of Avila will move to Switzerland with his wife and first child, and integrate into his new squad which is assigned to help him achieve what he and the team's management aspires most: a step on the Tour de France podium, after finishing fourth overall in 2005.

In AG2R's training camp in L'Isle sur Sorgue, southern France, Cyclingnews' Hedwig Kröner got a hold of Mancebo, who had just enjoyed a massage after having been out on a 120km ride with his new teammates - and discovered that 'Paco' wasn't too worried about his new endeavours at this moment. Taking things step by step, Mancebo revealed that he hadn't even looked at the 2006 Tour de France parcours yet, but admitted the change of environment has given his ambitions an additional boost.

Cyclingnews: How do you perceive this change of teams?

Francisco Mancebo: It's a move that has increased my motivation. I had been with Banesto/Illes Balears for eleven years, and after this much time, I was very accommodated in my mind. So this change of teams is like when I first turned professional; a real motivation.

CN: How did the deal come about?

FM: I had other offers, but this one was no doubt the best on a financial level. As to the sporting aspect, all the offers were pretty much the same - to ride the Tour de France, which is the most important race for me. All the teams are basically the same, so what mattered to me was to be able to take two riders with me: David Navas and José Luis Arieta. That influenced my decision a lot, and as the economic and sporting aspects were all good, that was it. I didn't have to think about it much.

Click here for the full interview

Juniors die in Russia

Two Russian junior champions have died in a car crash in Russia on January 8. Alexander Gushchin (Madison Junior European Champion) and Alexey Shiryaev (Madison Junior World Champion) were in a car when it hit a pole at high speed, not far from the Krylatskoe velodrome. Neither survived.

Courtesy of Igor Modin

Trofeo Luis Puig cancelled

One of the early season Spanish races, Trofeo Luis Puig, scheduled for February 19, has been cancelled. Usually held between Benidorm and Valencia, the sponsorship from Benidorm has been withdrawn this year, thus the 26th edition of the sprinter-favourable race will not be run. The Tour of Valencia, between February 21-25 and run by the same organisers, will go ahead as planned.

CapTech Classic on June 1

The 2006 CapTech Classic will be held in downtown Richmond, VA, USA on Thursday, June 1. The race is entering its fourth year and will continue its tradition of twilight racing on a Thursday evening. "The move to a Thursday night worked quite well for the event last year," said Tim Miller, the event's director. "We attracted far more spectators in 2005 than in previous years, and successfully created an after-work party in the heart of downtown Richmond."

This year's CapTech Classic is one week later than last year, placing the event at the height of the U.S. cycling spring calendar. Riders will encounter the same course as last year, a 1.2 mile, spectator-friendly circuit that provides 125 feet of climbing and eight turns per lap as it makes it way through the heart of the city.

"Richmond has a history as one of the very best pro cycling venues in North America," said Gerard Bisceglia, CEO of USA Cycling. "The CapTech Classic is one of the premier races of its kind, providing our athletes with a challenging course and the spectators with all of the excitement of a world class bike race."

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