Cycling power struggle hits Tour de France
The International Cycling Union (UCI) has been blackballed from this year's Tour de France by Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), the race promoter, as the fallout from last year's scandal-stricken race rumbles on.
The feud between the ASO and the UCI culminated in a bitter public spat between Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, and Christian Prudhomme, the Tour director, over the presence of Michael Rasmussen, the Danish rider, in last year's peloton. Each blamed the other for Rasmussen slipping through the ethical net, after it became clear that the Dane has missed a series of out-of-competition tests.
This year, McQuaid and his UCI medical team will not be present and, instead, drug controls at the Tour de France will be run by AFLD, the French anti-doping agency. The AFLD's testing procedures will be supported by the gendarmerie and by the French cycling federation. In addition to the standard blood and urine tests for doping products, a test for human growth hormone will be introduced for the first time.
The ASO has extended its roster to include significant interests in races such as the Tour of California and the Tour of Spain. McQuaid said: "ASO have an objective and we can now see what that is - it's to kill the UCI. They want to set up another international federation with their own races, their own rules, their own anti-doping. They're getting support from Nicolas Sarkozy [the President of France] down to the French Sports Minister."
Prudhomme was unapologetic for the decision to ostracise the UCI. "We needed to make changes," he said. "In other sports when we see something fantastic, we don't have any doubts. Cycling must rediscover its credibility and rid itself of suspicion."
(c) Copyright 2008 Times Newspapers Ltd.
The truth is: 'We're very good'
They refer to time trialing as 'the race of truth'.
And for local cycling the truth is that the island has the best crop of youngsters in the Velo Club's 40-year history and a national champion in Dan Arblaster, who not only took the title but set the fastest ever 10-mile time in the annual event.
Club president Gary Wallbridge rates the trio's achievements as 'certainly the best result Guernsey has achieved at national level'. 'First and second is almost unbelievable and with Callum's time we were a close second in the team event only two seconds outside the old team record with a combined time of 1hr 2min. 15 sec.
The Glendene team won the team event beating the GVC time by only 22 sec. and also setting a new team record. 'Considering the Glendene team cherry-picks the top riders from across the UK to join and develop them, the results by the Guernsey trio are even more remarkable,' said Wallbridge.
(c) 2008 The Guiton Group, all rights reserved
Rain and cold stop Soler
Mauricio Soler's (Barloworld) abandoned any hopes of success in the Giro d'Italia after he withdrew from the race 96.9km into stage 11 on Wednesday. The Columbian climber had been suffering from a micro fracture in his left wrist.
The resulting pain forced him to climb off his bike after the first official feed zone. The steep climbs of the day's stage proved too much for Soler and the cold and rainy weather conditions made it even harder for him to hold the bars and use his brakes.
"There was no point him carrying on," Team Manager Claudio Corti said. "We wanted Soler to see if he could stay in the race but it was clear he was in pain and so it didn't make sense to suffer so much. We're really sorry for the team and for the Giro d'Italia but now our priority is to help Mauricio get better as quickly as possible so he can get ready for the Tour de France."
After being examined during the rest day Monday, Soler had planned to continue racing on a day by day basis.
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Men from the North meet in Dunkirk
Translated from their native language, Norwegians mean "the men from the North," so it's no surprise to see the four Norwegian ProTour riders racing in the north of France at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque. The most famous of them, Thor Hushovd, met on the start line CSC's Kurt-Asle Arvesen who won the E3 Prijs Vlaanderen on the other side of the Belgian border, young prodigy Edvald Boasson Hagen from High Road won claimed a major win at the GP of Denain also in the north of France and his team-mate at Credit Agricole Gabriel Rasch who got an encouraging result when he finished 5th in the Tro Bro Leon, the "Breton Paris-Roubaix."
The real Paris-Roubaix is Hushovd's worse memory this year. He had a great start of the season with a stage win in the Tour Mediterraneen in February, and he was flying in Paris-Nice where he won the prologue and wore the yellow jersey until the race hit the mountains. A frustrated ninth in Milan-Sanremo, he was seen on the attack in the finale of the Tour of Flanders. All his physical preparation was set for the race of his dreams, Paris-Roubaix only to have disaster strike the week of the event.
"I felt sick three days before and I shouldn't even have started," he recalled. "It went worse every day. In the morning of Paris-Roubaix I was coughing and spewing but I still tried to convince myself that I'd be OK. I wasn't."
It took him one week to recover and be healthy again. "As usual I went to the Norwegian mountains to find a unique fresh air," Hushovd said. Last year after his usual break following the classics, he resumed racing at the Tour of Italy because he wanted to face a stronger opposition than in the one-week races. He came second to Alessandro Petacchi one day and wonders if he's now a Giro stage winner after the disqualification of the Italian sprinter ace's 2007 Giro results.
This year, Hushovd is back on his usual pre-Tour de France program: the 4 Jours de Dunkerque, Volta a Catalunya, Dauphine Libere all races where he has won stages and the points competition in the past. "I want to start the Tour in Brest in my best shape," he added. "I know that the first stages suit me, although with no prologue and no time bonus." Two years ago, he won the prologue in Strasbourg.
One week before the Tour, the magic quartet of Norwegian cycling formed of Hushovd, Arvesen, Boasson Hagen and Rasch will race together again at the national championship organized on a difficult course in the middle of the seven hills of Bergen, Norway's second largest town. The top pros will try to honor their reputation against defending champion Alexander Kristoff from continental team Joker Bianchi whose next big Norwegian cyclist, Frederik Willman, just won the last stage of the Tour de Bretagne last week.
Copyrigth Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Even the kiddies roll out for Joe Martin
BY CELIA STOREY
Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008
Terrifyingly talented professional racers will career through Northwest Arkansas this week and weekend during the various events of the annual Joe Martin Stage Race. But this big-time cycling festival is a Pro / am affair, so there will also be hot contests among the region's "ams" - amateur bicyclists.
Many of those ams are very strong riders ranked in the elite class of the U. S. Cycling Federation. But others are such amateurs they haven't even taken off their training wheels.
At 12: 30 p.m. Sunday, children 3 to 12 can pedal in front of thousands of fans assembled to cheer on Joe Martin's spectacular criterium races in Fayetteville's Square. (Criterium races involve multiple laps of a course closed to auto traffic. )
Presented by Cheerios and organized by Fayetteville Public Schools and the Fayetteville Wheelmen, the children's fun rides are free. Children just need to bring their tricycles or bicycles and wear helmets.
Each child will receive a medal and be entered in a drawing for door prizes. In honor of Mother's Day, mothers and grandmothers of participants will also get a little treat.
Children 3 to 5 will pedal about 25 yards. Ages 6 to 9 will ride two blocks; and the 10- to 12-year-olds will ride one lap of the adult racers' criterium course (1. 1 miles ).
A map posted online at www. joemar tinstagerace. com shows the route of each age group, as well as registration and parking areas. Parents or guardians must sign a waiver, which is on the Web site. The forms will also be available in a registration tent at the intersection of Church Avenue and Mountain Street.
Parking can be congested during the popular criterium, so smart families will plan to arrive early so they can park and unload the kids' bikes or tricycles and get to the registration tent.
Joe Martin's adult racing schedule begins Thursday at Devil's Den State Park. Details of each day's events and also advice on the best places spectators can wait to see the action are online at the Web site.
250 HELPERS Race organizers need about 250 volunteers to work as course marshals, assistant judges, team liaisons, feed-zone workers, pickup drivers, registration help, racecourse preparers and removers. An untold number of helpers will be asked to do odd jobs - everything from folding Tshirts to carrying messages about. Each volunteer will receive a T-shirt and be invited to a thank-you party with prizes a few weeks after the race. Volunteers can contact Bonnie and Dean LaGrone at blagrone@cox. net or (479 ) 750-2550.
MORE TO COME As it does every year, Joe Martin will bring many professional racing teams to Arkansas. This year they have an added incentive to stick around: the May 15-18 Tour of Arkansas in Russellville and Van Buren.
This four-stage event will cover 350 miles. There will be professional races as well as events for novice racers. Details are at www. tour-of-arkansas. com.
Copyright (c) 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
Number 1 for McEwen
Australia's Robbie McEwen (Silence Lotto) took his first win of the season after outsprinting Daniele Bennati (Liquigas) on the second stage of the Tour de Romandie in Fribourg. Danish one-day specialist Matti Breschel (CSC) took third after the 172.1 km race between Moutier and Fribourg.
"There was no one team that could control this sprint. It came down to choosing the right wheel," a happy McEwen told Sporza. "I waited a long time to accelerate, because I had cramps all the way to my ears. But I finally have the victory!"
McEwen has been uncharacteristically short of victories this season after a series of crashes and injuries prevented him from reaching his usual early season form.
"It's great to get my first win of the season. It's also good for the morale," said McEwen, whose last win goes back to September 2007 when he won the tough Paris-Brussels classic.
"I am relieved, as it has been a while since I have won anything. I have always remained calm and never panicked. I knew that good form was on its way. Now that I have the first one [victory], I am looking forward to the Giro."
Switzerland's Michael Albasini (Liquigas) remain the race leader going into Friday's 18.8km time trial which starts and finishes in Sion.
Kazakh champion Maxim Iglinsky (Astana), winner of Wednesday's second stage is second overall just one second down.
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Ho Chi Minh City Television Cycling Cup
Nhan Dan Online - The cyclists continued their 12th stage from Pleiku to Buon Ma Thuot. Tuan Anh from Domesco Dong Thao was the first to reach the finish while Ngoc An maintained the yellow jersey.
Tuan Anh clocked a top speed of 37.973 km per hour and ended his competition after four hours, 25 minutes and 27 seconds. This is Tuan Anh's second triumph following his successful Thanh Hoa-Vinh stage.
The second and third places went to Chi Hung from Binh Duong and Cong Anh from An Giang.
Several cyclists from Malaysia including Muhamad Zamani yesterday had to give up their competition. This means that Zamani who won two stages will not be able to compete for individual prizes.
After 12 stages, Ngoc An from Binh Ding continued to keep the yellow jersey with a total time of 37:46.02.
The Domesco Dong Thao team was leading the race with a combined time of 113:21.36, followed by Dofilm and Military Zone 7
Today, the cyclists have a day-off. The next 190-km stage is from Buon Ma Thuot to Nha Nha.
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