News

5th March 2007

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Het Volk, Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, GP Chiasso and the GP Lugano... ProCycleNews reviews the weekends races

The weekend saw the start of the spring campaign for many riders with the Het Volk and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne semi-classics in Belgium.

Saturday's Het Volk saw Italian rider Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) take the win in front of Rabobank's Flecha and a tired ex-world champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic).

The following day though saw Boonen back in winning form kick starting his spring campaign when he took first place and the major spoils at the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. Boonen powered to the finish to easily take the win ahead of Milram's Marcel Sieberg and Iljo Keisse (Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen).

The weekend wasn't all about pavéd climbs though. In Switzerland riders like Saunier Duval-Prodir's Gilberto Simoni were riding the GP Chiasso and GP Lugano races in Switzerland.

Saturday's GP Chiasso was won by Russian rider Pavel Brutt from the Tinkoff Credit Systems team who beat Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin into second with Luca Mazzanti (Ceramica Panaria-Navigare) crossing the line in third.

At the GP Lugano on Sunday it was Mazzanti who was once again on the podium. This time though he made no mistakes to cross the line as the clear winner of the sprint ahead of Barloworld's Pedro Arreitunandia Quintero  and Tinkoff Credit System's Evgeni Petrov.

For the full results from each of the races click the names of the races below:

Het Volk - Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne - GP Chiasso - GP Lugano

Some images from the weekends races (GP Chiasso and GP Lugano) appear at the sides of the page..

Toyota-United kick off the NRC calendar with a win by Press Release via Brian C. Grenier

Merced, CA… Coming off last Sunday’s monumental Stage 7 win at the 2007 Amgen Tour of California, Ivan Dominguez and the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team carried the momentum into the first race of the NRC Calendar with a victory in Saturday’s Downtown Grand Prix at the Merco Cycling Classic.

With only a few laps remaining and team Health Net dominating a three-man break that threatened to get away, Toyota-United led the assault to bring it back, finally catching it with less than a mile and a half to go. A sprint finish ensured, the team focused on setting up Dominguez for the final charge to the line and executed perfectly.

“Our guys had to do a lot of chasing to keep Health Net in check,” says Team Director Kirk Willet. “In the last three laps it was Ivan Stevic who made some big moves to take Henk (Vogels) right up where he needed to be to make it happen for Ivan.”

The fast, fifty-lap race through a .8 mile loop in downtown Merced , is notorious for breakneck speeds and feverish aggression in the peloton, and according to Willett, this year was no different.

“There was a lot of nervous anxiety out there. It’s the first race on the NRC calendar and everyone wants to win,” says Willett. “Health Net was really aggressive out there and our guys had their work cut out for them. It was a tough battle, but in the end, we delivered.”

Dominguez was thrilled with the win, but more proud of his teammates and the early chemistry with new lead-out man Henk Vogels. “With one and a half laps to go, I was right behind Henk and he took off. He was going so fast, he was incredible. He always knows when to go and how fast. After only a few races with him, I can say it’s pretty nice to have him around.”

Dominguez’s victory is his fourth of the 2007 season. Prior to his Stage 7 win at the Amgen Tour of California on February 25th, he won the Red Trolley Classic Criterium in San Diego and the Roger Milliken Memorial Criterium in Brea, CA.

Toyota-United completed yesterday at the Merco Cycling Classic with the Foothills Road Race, a 120 mile race over 5 laps of a rolling 24 mile loop.

Milram riders celebrate their birthdays

Two Milram riders will be celebrating their birthday's today. All rounder Christian Knees turns 26 today while Elia Rigotto, a strong sprinter and an all rounder, turns 25.

ProCycleNews would like to wish both riders all the best for the year ahead with plenty of success and indeed for the coming seasons!

Quick Step-Innergetic rider Hubert Schwab fractures his ankle

Quick Step-Innergetic rider Hubert Schwab was unfortunate enough to be caught up in an accident before the start of yesterday's GP Lugano.

The young rider was struck by a car when he was making his way to start the race. The result was a fractured left ankle that was immediately strapped up to support the joint.

Unfortunately though Schwab will be off his bike for at least two weeks. It is then hoped he will be able to resume light training again but it is unknown when the Swiss rider will return to competition.

ProCycleNews would like to take this opportunity to wish him all the best in his recovery and we will look forward to seeing you back in competition sometime in the near future.

Unibet.com continental team rider Jean-Marc Bideau crashes heavily

Another rider injured is Unibet.com's continental team member Jean-Marc Bideau. Frenchman Bideau crashed heavily during yesterday's Brussel-Opwijk race in Belgium, injuring his face severely.

Team manager Lucien Van Impe, speaking on unibetcycling.com yesterday, said, "Bideau fell on his face in a bad crash. We've taken him to the hospital in Aalst where he was diagnosed with a crack in his eye socket. He also broke a few teeth."

The Unibet.com continental rider was expected to return to France where he was due to get his teeth checked sometime today.

Gilberto Simoni improves towards the Giro d'Italia

Saunier Duval-Prodir's Gilberto Simoni will once again be looking to make the top sep in Milan at the end of the Giro d'Italia this year, his final appearance in the Grand Tour in which he is already a two time winner.

The veteran Italian rider has already started his season and is already making steady progress towards peak form. Over the weekend Gibo competed in Switzerland at the GP Chiasso and the GP Lugano.

Pleased with his form, the Italian Saunier Duval leader said after his weekend in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland that he 'was in good shape and getting ready for the Giro.

Still with several races to go, including some of the MTB marathon series, the Giro contender still has some time to reach his top form in time for his big race of the season. Can he win the Giro this year? Well, certainly he has the talent to do so. If he reaches top form then there's no reason why he can't. Lets wish him all the best in his preparation and we will look forward to seeing him in action when the Giro d'Italia kick's off with a 24 kilometer team time trial on Saturday the 12th of May.

Click here to check out the full schedule of the 3,442 kilometer Giro d'Italia...

Cofidis name their team for this weeks GP Fayt le Franc

French ProTour team Cofidis have named their lineup for Wednesday's GP Fayt le Franc UCI category 1.1 race in Belgium.

The eight riders rostered for the event will be: Tyler Farrar (USA), Hervé Duclos-Lassalle (France), Nicolas Hartmann (France), Michiel Elijzen (Holland), Yann Huguet (France), Damien Monier (France), Chris Sutton (Australia) and Staf Scheirlinckx (Belgium).

Good form for Rabobank's Juan Antonio Flecha at the Het Volk

Rabobank rider Juan Antonio Flecha was unfortunate not to stand on the top step of the podium on Saturday at the end of the Het Volk semi-classic. Coming into the finish Flecha was clear with only CSC's Stuart O'Grady for company. Unfortunately though both riders found themselves caught before the line by a small chase group that contained Belgian hero Tom Boonen.

The win didn't go to Boonen, O'Grady or Flecha though, instead it went to Liquigas rider and man-on-form Filippo Pozzato. Flecha did manage to finish second though ahead of a tiring Boonen.

For the Rabobank rider though the result showed good form ahead of his major targets this season, the spring classics. For the team management, they were also satisfied with their second place and the performances of all their riders. A good sign of things to come for the rest of the classics then, both for Flecha and the rest of the Rabobank squad? Lets wait and see!.

Barloworld aim high at the Giro del Capo

Even though the Barloworld team are still without a win this season they are ready and determined to change that at this week's Giro del Capo stage race in South Africa, the home of their main sponsor Barloworld.

Since the start of the season that Barloworld team have racked up numerous strong performances including over this past weekend in Switzerland at the GP Chiasso and the GP Lugano. Coming on the back of these strong performances the riders are ready and clearly on form for the biggest race on the South African calendar.

Team manager Claudio Corti said, "The Giro del Capo is a special event for us and we’re determined and convinced we can do well this year. The whole team has worked hard in recent weeks and we deserved to get better results than we actually did. I hope things will finally go our way in the Giro del Capo."

With a win in mind the teams sporting director for the event, Valerio Tebaldi, has selected a strong team that will be: Robert Hunter (RSA), Ryan Cox (RSA), Felix Cardenas (Col), Hugo Sabido (Por), Alex Efimkin (Rus) and Fabrizio Guidi (Ita).

Corti continued, "We want to do well in the Giro del Capo to make up for our disappointing performance last year. We want revenge."

Hammond, Baumann and Hansen lead a young T-Mobile team in Belgium

T-Mobile will be traveling to Belgium for Wednesday's 'Le Samyn' (GP Fayt le Franc) race with a young team that will be led by British rider Roger Hammond, German Eric Baumann and Adam Hansen from Australia.

The team for the Belgian semi-classic will be a mix of sprinters and classic specialists who, with the exception of Hammond, are all young riders.

The team's sporting director for the event Jan Schaffrath said, "'Le Samyn' is a challenging race. If it pans out like it usually does, then we should see a small breakaway group contest the finish. Eric, Roger and Adam's performances in recent races have shown that they have the legs to ride at the front over this kind of terrain."

22 teams will make up the start list with the remainder of the team being completed by Scott Davis, Aaron Olson, Frantisek Rabon and sprinters André Greipel and Mark Cavendish. "Mark and André are back on board after recovering from colds. They will have to work their way back into it," continued Schaffrath.

The T-Mobile team for the event, that was won in 2006 by Renaud Dion who will be defending his title this year in the colors of his AG2R team, will be: Eric Baumann (Ger), Mark Cavendish (GBr), Scott Davis (Aus), André Greipel (Ger), Adam Hansen (Aus), Roger Hammond (GBr), Aaron Olson (USA) and Frantisek Rabon (Cze) - The team's sporting directors for the event will be Allan Peiper (Aus) and Jan Schaffrath (Ger).

A satisfying and winning start to the season for Britain's Nicole Cook by Press Release

After finishing 2006 as winner of the World Cup and topping the World rankings, would the pressure of expectation heaped upon Nicole Cooke to defend her status affect her? No! was the answer and the Welsh woman started her 2007 campaign in familiar fashion with all guns blazing.

Cooke has spent over a month in Australia preparing for the new season and already looks to be in exceptional shape.
This time last year she was recovering from a broken collarbone sustained at the Manchester track world cup.

There have been no such obstacles to get in the way of her preparation this time around. After a great ride to take the Geelong Tour last week, she went in to Saturdays opening Geelong Classic World Cup race ready to defend her title.

"The team worked incredibly hard in the Geelong Tour, but it was hard for everyone. We decided to bring in Patricia Schwager in instead of Sereina Trachsel to give us some fresh legs. The team really did a great job again today!

We knew that T-Mobile were the strongest team and had to take control of the race which they did. We let them dictate things and the plan was to start attacking them at the end." said Cooke afterwards.

It was British riders Emma Pooley and Tanja Slater riding for the national team who Nicole also singled out for praise. "Emma was doing an amazing job driving the bunch and Tanja was putting in some big attacks off the front. It was really great to see three British riders up there in a World Cup"

On the final climb Cooke made her race winning move and found herself in front with T-Mobiles Oenone Wood, the Australian National Team did a great job to eventually get Nikki Egyed across to them.

"When Oenone and I were alone in the lead she started to sit up as she had her sprinter Ina Teutenberg in the group behind. Luckily Egyed got back up to us, I think if she hadn't we might have got caught.
It was a really frantic finale with the bunch breathing down our necks.

I just picked my moment and went. For me, I couldn't be happier with my start to the year. It's a huge achievement to start my World Cup defense with a victory like this" She concluded.

Cooke goes into the next round of the season long competition The Tour of Flanders, on April 8th once again with the World Cup leaders jersey on her shoulders.