News

3rd May 2007

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The Tour of Ireland Professional Cycle Stage Race Launches by Press Release

A new International Tour of Ireland Cycle Race was officially announced at an event hosted by Paul Keeley of Failte Ireland in Dublin Castle.

Approx 126 riders will compete in this five-day nationwide event, taking place from 22nd to the 26th August. Lyrath House and Estate is the Race HQ and on 22nd August, Kilkenny Castle will bid good luck to all competitors as they begin their 864 kilometer race where on the 26th August, the victorious winner will arrive at Dublin's Merrion Square.

The route announced today will take in much of the South, West and Midlands of Ireland. 

Stage 1 - Wednesday 22nd August - 160km Kilkenny Castle to Cork - via Clonmel, Carrick On Suir, Lismore and Middleton.
Stage 2 - Thursday 23rd August - 167km Clonakilty to Killarney - a fantastic scenic route via Skibereen, Bantry, Glengarriff and Kenmare.
Stage 3 - Friday 24th August - 190km Tralee to Ennis via Ballybunion, Foynes, Limerick City Centre, Killaloe and Tuamgraney
Stage 4 - Saturday 25th August - 212km - Galway to Galway, a circuit taking in Cong, Westport, Louisburgh, Leenáun before returning to Galway city.
• Stage 5 - Sunday 26th August - 135km Athlone to Dublin via Mullingar, Kinnegad and Enfield before finishing in Dublin for 10 laps of a circuit based on Merrion Square.

The event, promoted by The Events Group in association with Shade Tree Sports and substantially funded by Failte Ireland as a means of showing the countryside of Ireland as a world class sport and tourism venue, will be covered live on television in a number of countries and will feature some of the top teams and riders in the world. The race has been ranked 2.1 on the European Tour by the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale), the world governing body for cycling.

The top European teams are expected to be keen to enter the inaugural tour. Invitations will be extended to the Irish professionals who are part of successful professional teams in Europe and in the USA including Philip Duignan (AG2R Prévoyance) and Nicolas Roche (Crédit Agricole ), current Irish road race champion David McCann (Coalvita), David O'Loughlin and Ciarán Power (both Navigators Insurance), Paul Griffin (Giant Asia) and the successful Irish based Murphy and Gunn team.

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O'Donoghue TD, commented, "This event will provide an ideal opportunity to showcase Ireland to an international audience. Cycling holiday-makers represent a significant niche market and Ireland, with its diverse country-side and spectacular scenery, has much to offer our cycling visitors."

Event Director, Alan Rushton, commented, "We're all really excited to be able to undertake this event this year and we'd really like to thank Failte Ireland for coming on board to support this fantastic event. This will be one of the sporting highlights of the year where the atmosphere is sure to be electric and we hope that everyone will come out and support all the cyclists taking part." 

Irish television RTE will be covering the event live every day with repeat highlights every evening presented by Jimmy McGee and Phil Liggett.

Pan European TV coverage will be extensive. Programming will be seen on the Versus Channel (formerly the Outdoor Life network) more than 80 million homes in the USA . Coverage will also extend to Britain, mainland Europe, Australia, South Africa and Japan.

The Events Group (TEG) were the former organizers of the prestigious Nissan Classic cycle race which ran successfully from 1985 to 1992 and the race was won four times by Sean Kelly. TEG also ran the stages of the Tour de France when it came to Ireland in 1998.

Astana's Paolo Savoldelli remains in control in the Tour de Romandie

Finishing safely in the main peloton was enough for Italian Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) to successfully defend his slender overnight lead into stage two.

The end of stage one came down to a sprint finish won by Gerolsteiner's Markus Fothen ahead of Caisse d'Epargne duo Francisco Perez Sanchez and Joaquim Rodriguez Oliver.

Overall Savoldelli still leads Liquigas rider Roman Kreuziger but stage winner Markus Fothen, from Germany, now moves up into 3rd place overall pushing Predictor-Lotto's Chris Horner out of his podium position.

The race continues tomorrow with a 166.9 kilometer stage from La Chaux-de-Fonds to Lucens, the third stage of the race that looks set for another sprint finish before the riders start to tackle a much more challenging terrain.

Click here for the full results from stage one of the Tour de Romandie...

Sinkewitz solo's to a home win in Frankfurt

T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz soloed home to win Tuesday's Rund um den Henninger Turm - Frankfurt GP, a semi-classic race held over a 193 kilometer course in Germany.

Attacking his breakaway companions in the final kilometer Sinkewitz timed his effort to perfection crossing the line alone ahead of Kurt Asle-Arvesen (CSC) and Dario Cataldo (Liquigas) to claim an impressive win.

The German star had been a member of a larger ten man move that went clear after only 20 kilometers of the race had been covered.

The move was slimmed to nine on the second lap of the tough race when they continued to build their advantage over the chasing group.

The other top German teams led the chase, namely, Milram, Gerosteiner and Wiesenhof-Felt, joined by the Unibet.com squad but even their combined force couldn't reel the breakaway riders back in before the finish.

Speaking after the finish the 26 year-old German winner said on t-mobile-team.com, "It's a fantastic feeling. I absolutely wanted to win my home race at least once in my career. Now I have done that."

Sinkewitz continued, "I didn’t enjoy the success I wanted in the classics season this year - But now I have finished the spring season on a high. That makes me twice as happy."
“At the team-talk before the race, we reckoned that there would be no chance of a break staying away if Milram and Gerolsteiner weren’t represented. But it didn’t work out that way, and then in the finale I knew my only chance would be to attack!”
Results - Top 10:

1 Patrik Sinkewitz (Ger) T-Mobile 4.46.54

2 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) CSC 0.04

3 Dario Cataldo (Ita) Liquigas 0.05

4 Elnathan Heizmann (Ger) Team 3C-Gruppe Lamonta 0.13

5 Marcel Wyss (Swi) Atlas-Romer's Hausbäckerei

6 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Elk Haus-Simplon

7 Maarten Tjallingii (Ned) Skil-Shimano

8 Florian Stalder (Swi) Volksbank

9 Stefan Denifl (Aut) Elk Haus-Simplon 0.18

10 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.24

Chris Baldwin Third in Tour of the Gila’s Opening Time Trial - Five Toyota-United Riders In Top 25; Team Is Second Overall by Press Release via Brian C. Grenier

Tyrone, N.M. – Led by Chris Baldwin’s third-place finish in Wednesday’s Dan Potts Memorial Tyrone Time Trial, five Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team riders placed in the top 25 on the opening stage of the 21st annual Ben D. Altamirano Tour of the Gila.
Baldwin finished one minute and 29 seconds behind Nathan O’Neil (Health Net presented by Maxxis), who won the 16.15-mile (26 km) race against the clock in 33 minutes and 13 seconds. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Priority Health Cycling Team) finished second, 1:15 behind O’Neil. Baldwin is the race’s defending champion.
The revelation of the opening day of the five-day, five-stage, 339.1-mile (545.7 km) race was Toyota-United’s Stefano Barberi. Starting his second National Race Calendar stage race of the season, the 5-foot-9 Brazilian finished 10th, 2:14 behind.
The third-year pro, who makes his home in Boulder, Colo., already has one win to his credit this season. He captured the Stazio Criterium in Boulder on March 25 and rode to a pair of runner-up finishes in challenging mountain road races in Colorado in mid-April.
“It’s good to see him come out and have a good ride like that,” Toyota-United Team Director Kirk Willett said.
Toyota-United’s other placers Wednesday were: Burke Swindlehurst, 13th, 2:29 behind; Ivan Stevic, 17th, 2:48 behind; Justin England, 23rd, 3:03 behind; and Jose Manuel-Garcia, 38th, 3:49 behind. In the team standings, Toyota-United is second behind Health Net.
Willett said the cancellation of the Tour of Utah – originally scheduled for a late June start – has bolstered the quality of competition in the 121-rider field.
“This is probably one of the deepest fields that have ever come here,” Willett said. “O’Neil will be very well-supported by his team and he’s been on form since the Tour de Georgia. But this race has so much climbing and wind that anything can happen. We’re optimistic that our guys can climb well and go after stage wins, which would move them up the general classification.”
Two Toyota-United riders who were penciled in on the team’s original eight-man roster for the race did not start Wednesday. New Zealander Heath Blackgrove continues to recover from a leg injury sustained in the Amgen Tour of California while American Chris Wherry was bothered by stomach problems earlier this week, Willett said.
Thursday’s stage is the 94.1-mile (152.3 km) Silver City to Mogollon Road Race, a race that finishes with a grueling 2,100-foot climb.
“The last five kilometers are really steep all the way to the line,” Willett said. “The course itself pretty much goes one direction (northwest). What we don’t know is which way the wind will be blowing. The forecast is for it to be rather windy, so the race could be really wide open early.”

Unibet.com's José Rujano recovers steadily

Venezuelan professional José Rujano is gradually recovering from his accident at the Amstel Gold race in Holland where he broke his right collarbone and four ribs.

Following the accident the team's sporting director Jacques Hanegraaf said, " Things look really bad for Rujano. The fractures are complicated, so he will be out of competition for several weeks. It's a pity, 'cause Rujano was in a pretty good shape."

Now though things are looking more positive for the highly talented climber with it looking likely that he will be able to start training as early as next week.

Speaking on unibetcycling.com Hanegraaf said, "The team doctors made up a recovery programme for him and he can probably start some 'aqua jogging' next week."

This is considered the first steps back to fitness although at the minute it is unsure when he will be able to return to training on his bike. Hanegraaf continued, "Regarding the fractures he has, bike training is out of the question!"

ProCycleNews would like to pass on our best wishes to José, we hope you return to full fitness soon and look forward to seeing you back in the peloton sometime in the near future.

Barloworld's Pedro Arreitunandia shines in Spain

Barloworld rider Pedro Arreitunandia showed good form in Spain on Tuesday when he was in the thick of the action finishing a fine third behind experienced Spanish riders Koldo Gil and Francisco Mancebo.

The 166 kilometer race was dominated by Spanish riders who were to the fore throughout the final climb but the Barloworld rider still managed to finish the race on the podium finishing just 0'22" behind the race winner.

Crédit Agricole name for the 4 Days of Dunkirk

French ProTour team Crédit Agricole have named their selection for the 4 Days of Dunkirk from the 8th to the 13th of May in France.

The race which kicks off with a 9 kilometer individual time trial will see: Pierre Rolland, Mark Renshaw, Jean-Marc Marino, Christophe Laurent, Jonathan Hivert, Jimmy Engoulvent, Christophe Edaleine and Willian Bonnet lineup in the eight man team.

Sporting director for the Crédit Agricole team at the race will be experienced Frenchman Serge Beucherie who will be assisted by Alain Dagorne.

Barloworld head to Italy looking for a win

The English registered Barloworld Pro-Continental team are sending a strong team to Italy, Tuscany to be exact, where they will be looking for success in the GP Industria ed Artigianato on Saturday the 5th of May and then the Giro di Toscana the next day, Sunday the 6th of May.

One of the teams Italian sporting directors, Alberto Volpi, will guide the team in both races looking for the most from his riders.

The squad will be: Giosuè Bonomi, Alex Efimkin, Fabrizio Guidi, Paolo Longo Borghini and Geraint Thomas.

Alex Efimkin will infiltrate the breaks while the remainder of the team will be looking to finish off in sprint finishes where they will settle for no less than a win.