News

28th February 2007

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Petacchi wins the second stage of the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana and moves into the overall lead

Second yesterday on stage one, first place today was enough revenge for Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) as he thundered across the line to win the second stage of this years Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana. In doing so Petacchi beat Caisse d'Epargne rider Vincente Reynes into second with overnight leader and stage one winner Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) in third.

Petacchi's placing was enough to give the on-form Italian the overall lead heading into tomorrow's third stage of the race, a 151.8 kilometer stage starting and finishing in Vila Real.

After the stage Petacchi said on team-milram.com, "I am still a little tired as I only had a day's break after the Volta ao Algarve. But today my team worked very well for me and brought me in a good position. Many thanks, particularly to Erik [Zabel].“

Even though the new race leader is back in a commanding position and is only after running out as the overall winner of the Volta ao Algarve the Italian is still not looking and planning his overall victory, He added, "I plan from day to day, then we'll see happens."

Click here for the full results from stage two of the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana...

Crédit Agricole name their riders for upcoming races

French team Crédit Agricole have named their selection for upcoming races this coming weekend. The ProTour team will be in action in both Belgium and Italy at the Het Volk, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, GP de Chiasso and the GP de Lugano.

For the Belgian races, the Het Volk on Saturday the 3rd of March and the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the selection will be managed by their sporting director Jean-Jacques Henry and will be: Angelo Furlan, Jimmy Engoulvent, Julian Dean, William Bonnet, Laszlo Bodrogi, Christophe Laurent, Mads Kaggestad and Sébastien Hinault.

On the 3rd of March the team will ride the 173 kilometer GP de Chiasso and will be represented by Christophe Edaleine, Yannick Talabardon, Pierre Rolland, Nicolas Roche, Benoit Poilvet, Jonathan Hivert, Patrice Halgand and Dimitri Fofonov. Talabardon and Halgand are the only two riders who will be back in action the following day at the GP de Lugano when they will be joined by Rémi Pauriol, Christophe Kern, Anthony Charteau, Pietro Caucchioli, Alexandre Botcharov and Fransesco Belloti.

Frenchman Denis Roux will be the team's sporting director at both Italian races looking for some results from his riders.

ProCycleNews looks forward to this weekend's Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne

Belgium is where the major action will be contested this weekend at the Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, two races that are hotly contested by most of the major classics contenders.

Tough weather conditions and short sharp climbs make both races particularly difficult. For the Het Volk it's climbs like the Muur and the Oude Kwaremont which also feature in the Tour of Flanders.

So, who are the riders to look out for and who should be up there at the end fighting for the the top step on the podiums this Saturday and Sunday?

One rider always to look out for will be Belgium's ex-world champion Tom Boonen who rides for the ever powerful Quick Step-Innergetic team, themselves a Belgian outfit. Watch out for Predictor-Lotto's Leif Hoste, Philippe Gilbert from Francaise des Jeux and Stijn Devolder from the American Discovery Channel team. And lets not forget Belgian Nick Nuyens who now rides for the Cofidis team after moving from Quick Step-Innergetic over the winter.

These riders will all be in the thick of the action but also look out for the Rabobank riders, CSC team and other classics specialists like Roger Hammond, Andreas Klier and Servais Knaven who are all riding for the German T-Mobile team [see the T-Mobile selection for the race in full below].

T-Mobile name their lineup for the coming weekend in Belgium

This coming weekend will see the action hoting up as the professional peloton fight it out at the seasons first UCI HC ranked races. Belgium is the battle ground and German team T-Mobile are just one team looking to impress and take something away from either the Het Volk or the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne.

Andreas Klier will look to get some good form before his major spring objectives, the Tour of Flanders on the 8th of April and the Paris Roubaix the following week on the 15th of April.

Klier will be joined at Saturday's Het Volk by experienced Dutchman Servais Knaven and Austrian Bernhard Eisel, a newcomer to the magenta team. The team will be completed by classics specialists Markus Burghardt and Britain's Roger Hammond along with Lorenzo Bernucci sprinter Eric Baumann and Bert Grabsch who round of the eight rider roster.

On Sunday, at the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Greg Henderson from New Zealand and Czech rider Frantisek Rabon will replace Knaven and Eisel who recently took T-Mobile's first win of the year when he won a stage at the Tour of the Algarve.

Tristian Hoffman who joins Alan Peiper as the teams sporting directors for the Belgian events said, "All riders will go to the start line fit and motivated."

For the Het Volk the team will be: Eric Baumann (26-Germany), Lorenzo Bernucci (27-Italy), Markus Burghardt (23-Germany), Bernhard Eisel (26-Austria), Bert Grabsch (31-Germany), Roger Hammond (33-Great Britain), Andreas Klier (31-Germany) and Servais Knaven (35-Holland).

For the following days Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the T-Mobile lineup will be: Eric Baumann (26-Germany), Lorenzo Bernucci (27-Italy), Markus Burghardt (23-Germany), Bert Grabsch (31-Germany), Roger Hammond (33-Great Britain), Greg Henderson (30-New Zealand), Andreas Klier (31-Germany) and Frantisek Rabon (23-Czech Republic).

Predictor-Lotto also name their shortlist for the Belgian weekend

Belgian team Predictor-Lotto have named a 13 rider shortlist from which their teams for the Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne will be picked. This will be the first weekend this year of racing for the Belgian ProTour squad on their home soil.

Both teams will be selected from: Wim Devocht, Leif Hoste, Nic Ingels, Robbie McEwen, Bert Roesems, Roy Sentjens, Tom Steels, Geert Steurs, Greg Van Avermaet, Preben Van Hecke, Wim Vansevenant, Johan Vansummeren and Stefano Zanini.

Two reserves have also been named for the list, namely, Olivier Kaisen and Pieter Mertens.

World champion Bettini awarded the Velo D'Or

Quick Step-Innergetic's world road race champion Paolo Bettini has been awarded the Velo D'Or, a prestigious award from Velomagazine for the best rider of last season as voted by a panel of sporting journalists.

Speaking on qsi-cycling.com Bettini said, "This is a prestigious award that I’ve been close to winning before.  This award represents to the cycling world what the Golden Ball does for football.  I am delighted to have won it.”

Bettini, accompanied by his wife, will fly into Paris on Friday and will be presented with the award at a ceremony at the magazines headquarters at 4pm.

The Italian will use the opportunity to take a short break in the French capital where himself and his wife Monica will stay until Sunday.

Australia name their track world championship team

Cycling Australia have named their selection for the track world championships, from the 29th of March to the 1st of April on the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca.

The 18 rider selection will be: Katherine Bates (18.05.1982 - NSW), Ryan Bayley (09.03.1982 - WA), Kristine Bayley (22.06.1983 - WA), Peter Dawson (04.02.1982 - WA), Zakkari Dempster (27.09.1987 - VIC), Mitchell Docker (02.10.1986 - VIC), Mark French (13.10.1984 - VIC), Belinda Goss (06.01.1984 - TAS), Matthew Goss (05.11.1986 - TAS), Mark Jamieson (04.05.1984 - TAS), Ben Kersten (21.09.1981 - NSW), Joel Leonard (22.07.1981 - VIC), Katie Mactier (23.03.1975 - VIC), Anna Meares (21.09.1983 - QLD), Cameron Meyer (11.01.1988 - WA), Shane Perkins (31.12.1986 - VIC), Scott Sunderland (16.03.1988 - WA) and Phillip Thuaux (09.07.1979 - NSW).