First Edition Cycling News, March 12, 2009Edited by Sue George Vande Velde enjoys first solo stage winBy Jean-François Quénet in Saint-Etienne
"It's great for me to win here because it's my first time winning by myself with a significant distance over the rest of the field," said Vande Velde after crossing the finish line first. "I wanted to test myself this week, but I had no plan to attack for the win today." The American found himself in a seven-man breakaway that began at kilometre 67. He was the only one to anticipate the attack of Astana's Alberto Contador with 20km to go. Vande Velde took a careful approach to winning and rode cautiously on the downhill to Saint-Etienne after cresting the top of the col de Rochetaillée with 6.5km to go and a 20-second advantage over the Spaniard Contador. He hadn't forgotten his crash in the opening time trial of Paris-Nice.
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time (CEST)/ 23:00 Australian time (CDT)/ 9:00 (USA East). "I was very disappointed on Sunday, and I've lost quite a lot of skin," said Vande Velde, the captain of Garmin-Slipstream. Vande Velde's first solo road stage win comes at age 33. Although his triumph comes relatively late compared to many cyclists, he appears to be finding the best form of his career. His win Wednesday confirms that his performances of last year's Tour de France and signals more to come this July. Chavanel-Contador duel continues for another dayBy Jean-François Quénet in Saint-Etienne
"Alberto and his whole team were huff after what happened the day before," said Astana's directeur sportif Alain Gallopin. "His attack was not planned at all, but Alberto likes to follow his instinct and make a spectacle. In one kilometre he is able to create a big gap, but he has to learn how to spare some energy. He learns from his mistakes. He's the kind of rider who needs to be given some freedom to attack when he feels like it." "I only wanted to test Chavanel," said Contador after finishing in Saint-Etienne. "When I realized he was not able to react, I decided to keep going. At the end, there wasn't a big difference (27 seconds - ed.) but psychologically, it can have an impact. For me, it's positive. It shows there is room for winning Paris-Nice." "The race is far from over," said Gallopin. "It's better for Alberto to have less than 40 seconds deficit on Chavanel than to have more than a minute. The Montagne de Lure is long but less steep than the Mont Serein we did last year. With the condition he has, Chavanel can limit the damage up there."
"I'm happy to keep the yellow jersey. With 1:03 over Contador, I knew I had a certain margin but I was more worried about Garate." If fact, Rabobank's Spanish recruit came closer to Chavanel on the GC. He sits at six seconds going into stage five. "I won't give up, but I shouldn't daydream," Chavanel said. "Above all, I'd like to win another stage." This year's stage four was unlike last year's when Chavanel lost his GC lead; however, he acknowledged that his overall chances of winning are slimmer. "It was a day that turned better than I'd expected," said Contador. "I managed to surprise Chavanel and take a few seconds." The Frenchman reckoned he wouldn't be able to keep the duel going during stage five. "I'll hide in the bunch and prepare for the big day on Friday," he said. "But the whole bunch is tired and afraid of this stage in the Ardèche with seven climbs," said Gallopin who is happy with his protégé's attitude. "Alberto is motivated like a beginner. I'd like him to win Paris-Nice and keep quiet after that until the Tour de France." "I have my options," said Contador after reflecting on the upcoming terrain. "I'll try again," he promised. Cervélo TestTeam holds onto green jersey hopes
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) won stage four after a daring breakaway. He held off Alberto Contador (Astana), who attacked late in the race and split apart the peloton. "We planned to have a rider of our team in the breakaway, either Hayden Roulston or Xavier Florencio," said director sportif JP van Poppel. "After 90 km we had Florencio in the break of the day together with Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale), Christian Vande Velde, Daniel Moreno (Caisse d'Epargne), Alexandr Kolobnev (Team Saxo Bank), Tony Martin (Columbia-Highroad) and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis)." "The maximum gap of the group was two minutes so we were unsure about the break. The peloton just exploded on the last climb." Heinrich Haussler was the team's top finisher, 41 seconds behind Vande Velde and in 26th place. "Heinrich Haussler was in the second group and all the boys did a good job today. We have already a stage win, and we want to take the green jersey back." "A good general classification is no longer possible after the crash of José Angel Gomez Marchante," said van Poppel. "Inigo Cuesta is not healthy but is trying to survive. We want to work on a good day result and put us back in the picture." After stage four, Haussler is in third place in the points classification with 42 points. Mirco Lorenzetto (Lampre-NGC) leads with 50 points while Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) is in second, also with 42 points. See Cyclingnews' full coverage of stage four of Paris-Nice. Break triumphs at Tirreno-Adriatico
"It was an incredible day and I am very happy for this win. You have to attack if you want to win," said El Farès, who scored the only other win of his professional career while riding as a trainee for Cofidis in 2006, when he won stage one of the Tour des Pyrénées over Yann Huguet and wore the leader's jersey for one day. "Duma's race was exemplary," said the pleased Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce team manager Roberto Marrone, who also noted his team took seventh place with Enrico Rossi contesting the following bunch's sprint. On Thursday, stage two will take racers 177 kilometres from Volterra in Marina di Carrara. McEwen believes he's on course for Milano-SanremoBy Shane Stokes
"My form so far is better at this time of the year than the last couple," he told Cyclingnews on Wednesday. "I've pretty much avoided getting sick, barring a cough that I'm treating. When you can stay healthy, it's a big plus. I have built my form steadily and I think I'll be ready for [Milano-] Sanremo and beyond." McEwen seemed a little below his best in 2007 and 2008, in terms of victories gained, but the 36-year-old appears revitalised by his move to the Katusha team. He sounds more motivated than before and also to be enjoying himself with the new setup. "Things are coming together really well," he enthused. "The morale is high and the races have been going well – we have nine wins already. The teamwork and commitment to each other has been fantastic. Of course, being a new team, some things are still not complete – we only have one team bus right now but the second should be ready soon. "We are in a camper here in Tirreno but I think the guys in Paris-Nice need it [the first bus] more with such shit weather! "It's very interesting how we all communicate – it's Russian, Italian, English, French, Flemish and Spanish until everyone gets it. I think the fact that it's a new team has helped everyone pull together so quickly." The Australian added that being able to bring his osteopath Victor Popov to the Russian ProTour squad has been a big plus for him and the team itself. McEwen was in action on stage one of Tirreno on Wednesday, finishing one minute and 16 seconds behind the day's winner Julien El Farès (Cofidis) in 49th place. While sprint rivals Alessandro Petacchi (LPR Brakes-Farnese Vini) and Tom Boonen (Quick Step) finished in the top ten, placing fourth and fifth respectively, he wasn't too worried; he said that he'd be happy to come away from the race with one victory and an improved level of fitness. "My goal for Tirreno is a stage win, although the chances are limited with hard finales and only one real flat finish on the last day. Otherwise I'm happy building up good form in nice weather and enjoying good Italian food!" His view is that the only thing that's really important is the big Classic a little later this month. "In Sanremo I'm obviously aiming to win. I need to improve a little on the uphills as the climb of La Mànie makes Sanremo harder, as we saw last year. "We will start Sanremo with two leaders, myself and Pozzato. Steegmans was also to be protected but he won't be there now as he's been sick and is really struggling at Paris-Nice. He said he'd rather give up his spot to a fit team-mate, so that leaves me and Pippo as the two leaders. The team will announce the line-up after the finish of Paris-Nice." Injured Del Nero's Tirreno-Adriatico future in doubtFuji-Servetto's Jesús del Nero suffered an injury on Wednesday that may cause him to withdraw from the remainder of the Tirreno-Adriatico race. Del Nero managed to finish stage one in 199th place despite crashing during a descent in Valgiano. Afterward, he was immediately taken to a medical center for further evaluation. Initial evaluation suggested a fracture of a finger on his left hand. His team was uncertain of his participation in Thursday's stage two. See Cyclingnews' full coverage of stage one of Tirreno-Adriatico. Team Barloworld accepts Ronde van Vlaanderen invitationFollowing good results achieved during the first two months of the 2009 season, Team Barloworld was invited to race the 93rd Ronde van Vlaanderen, on April 5. "I'm very happy that we've been invited to the Ronde van Vlaanderen. We deserved it, and we want to ride well," said Team Manager Claudio Corti. "It will be a difficult race, but we've got some strong riders." Team Barloworld will also target Milano-Sanremo on March 21, the team is currently riding Tirreno-Adriatico, in Italy. This season so far, Team Barloworld riders have won five races, taken five second places and four third places. Robert Hunter kicked off the team's success with a third place in the GP Costa degli Etruschi early in February. Ster Elektrotoer scheduled finalized
The UCI category 2.1 event will begin with an individual time trial in Gemert. Stage two will take the caravan from Eindhoven to Sittard-Geleen while Schimmert will host stage three. After a drive through the hilly Limburg, the penultimate stage will start in Verviers and finish among the picturesque scenery Lake La Gileppe (Jalhay). To wrap things up, stage five will run from the Limburg town of Beek to Helmond. Ster Elektrotoer 2009 Da Ros suspendedAfter his arrest for drug trafficking on Wednesday morning in Padova, Italy, neo-professional Gianni Da Ros was suspended by both his Liquigas team and the Italian Cycling Federation. "As far as we know, Da Ros's arrest is part of a big operation targeting drug trafficking in gyms," read a Liquigas team statement. "Team Liquigas as well as the Italian Cycling Federation have absolutely nothing to do with this." If Da Ros's involvement is confirmed, his team will dismiss him and possibly sue him for damages. Alliance for Biking & Walking gives out advocacy awardsThe Alliance for Biking & Walking, formerly the Thunderhead Alliance, handed out its 2009 advocacy awards on Tuesday in Washington, DC. It honored six organizations and individuals for showing dedication, success and an exceptional work ethic in advancing biking and walking. "These organizations and advocates are role models for the movement and we are proud to honor them with these awards," said Jeffrey Miller, President of the Alliance. "Their tireless commitment and dedication to biking and walking are truly an inspiration for us all." Winners are listed below. Advocacy Organization of the Year - Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA) Advocate of the Year - Lloyd J. "Bud" Vye, Vice President of the Virginia Bicycling Federation and Advocacy Chair for the Richmond Area Bicycling Association Business Advocate of the Year- Planet Bike Innovation Award - Transportation Alternatives for their Youth For Car Free Parks project in Brooklyn, New York Best Practice Award - Bicycle Colorado for outstanding results in day-to-day operations and program growth Winning Campaign Award - Livable City for bringing Sunday Streets (car-free routes) to San Francisco. Lifetime Achievement Award - Randy Neufeld, Chief Strategy Officer of the Active Transportation Alliance, President of America Bikes, and the founding chair of the Alliance for Biking and Walking Dartmoor Classic registration expandedDue to an unprecedented rapid flow of entries, the organisers of the Dartmoor Classic sportive made more entries available for its June 28th event. All 1,500 of the planned spots were filled with three months to go. "This gives the Mid-Devon Cycling Club enough time to make all the arrangements necessary to ensure everything is in place to cater for an increased number of riders," said chief organiser Ken Robertson. "However, it would really help our revised plans if those wanting to take up additional places do so fairly soon, so that everybody's parking and feeding station needs are properly catered for." For more information, visit www.dartmoorclassic.co.uk. Introducing the Cyclingnews ForumWe're pleased to unveil the Cyclingnews Forum and we'd like to welcome you to drop by! To kick things off we've created a selection of folders based on the themes you're familiar with from our site, including one for all topics mountain bike related. We'll be adding more sections over the coming weeks as we find out which topics and sub-topics you, our readers, are talking about. And we won't stop there. We'll also be improving the look and feel of the forums as we gear up for a total redesign of the site in a few months' time. All you have to do click on the link below and sign up. Don't forget to let us know what sections or sub sections you want to see in the Forum, and stop by our About the website folder to see what's coming up in the future. For an extensive run down on features such as private message, avatars and profiling please click here. (All rights reserved/Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited 2009) |
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