News

9th March 2007

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Stage 2 of the Vuelta a Murcia gets neutralized due to high winds with no change to the overall

Unlike the decisive second stage of the Vuelta a Murcia that had been expected, race organizers took the decision to neutralize the stage and only ride the final 10 kilometers to the finish in Fortuna. The action was taken because of high winds again, winds that during stage one had caused numerous crashes. Indeed one of those riders was CSC's Grand Tour classification rider Carlos Sastre.

Sastre was forced to abandon the Vuelta a Murcia because of pain in his back.

So rather than racing across the finish line the race was neutralized and the complete peloton crossed the line together with no stage winner and no change to the general classification.

Instead all the prize money for the stage was given to the family of the late Isaac Gálvez who died following an accident at the Gent six-day track event over the winter.

The race continues later today with stage three, a 146 kilometer stage from Puerto Lumbreras to San Pedrodel Pinatar.

Click here for the full results from stage two of the Vuelta a Murcia...

MTN Microsoft rider Daryl Impey while Barloworld Ryan Cox takes control of the general classification

MTN Microsoft rider Daryl Impey who won the opening prologue time trial of the Giro del Capo has won the second stage of this years race, out-sprinting Barloworld's Ryan Cox. For Cox, he had the consolation of taking over the lead in the general classification from his Barloworld team-mate Felix Cardenas.

Barloworld are now in complete control of four of the top five places overall and it's only the third day of the race.

In the mountains classification Hugo Sabido (Barloworld) has extended his lead showing that he has been the strongest climber of the race so far during the races opening stages.

Second stage results
1 Daryl Impey (RSA) MTN Microsoft 2.51.19
2 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld
3 Jaco Venter (RSA) Excel 2.08
4 Steffen Radochia (Ger) Wiesenhof - Felt 2.35
5 Robert Hunter (RSA) Team Barloworld
6 Roy Hegreberg (Nor) Sparenbanken Vest
7 Konstantin Schubert (Ger) Regiostrom Senges
8 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Danish Track Team
9 Gion Manetsch (Swi) Outriders Invitational
10 Maint Berkenbosch (Ned) Regiostrom Senges
General classification after stage 2
1 Ryan Cox (RSA) Team Barloworld 6.23.36
2 Felix Cardenas (Col) Team Barloworld 1.15
3 Hugo Sabido (Por) Team Barloworld 1.18
4 Alex Efimkin (Rus) Team Barloworld 1.39
5 David George (RSA) CSC Marcello 1.40
6 Chris Froome (RSA) Konica Minolta 1.52
7 Robert Hunter (RSA) Team Barloworld 2.22
8 Alexandr Dyachenko (Kaz) Team Capec 2.29
9 Michael Mørkøv (Den) Danish Track Team 2.35
10 Tiaan Kannemeyer (RSA) Konica Minolta 2.42

Hammer to defend world title in Majorca

American Sarah Hammer will return to the track world championships with the American national team where she will be looking to successfully defend her pursuit world championship title.

The world championships will be held on the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca at the end of this month, from the 29th of March to the 1st of April.

Last year Hammer won her world championship title last year in Bordeaux, France where she set a time of 3:37.227 in the final of the event, winning the first world track title for the American's since 1996.

Hammer will be joined on the women's squad by Neva Day, who will be competing in her first world championships, Becky Quinn and Jennie Reed.

Only two men will be competing at the championships, Michael Creed who will contest the men's points race and Brad Huff who will line out in the scratch and newly added omnium races. The omnium itself will be made up by a 200 meter time trial, a 5 kilometer scratch race, a 3 kilometer individual pursuit, a 15 kilometer points race and 1 kilometer time trial which all come together with a cumulative points system to produce the winner. American team for the 2007 UCI Track World Championships -

Women
Sarah Hammer (Temecula, Calif.) – Individual Pursuit, Points Race
Neva Day (Manhattan Beach, Calif.) – Individual Pursuit
Becky Quinn (Quakertown, Pa.) – Scratch Race
Jennie Reed (Kirkland, Wash) – Sprint, Keirin

Men
Michael Creed (Colorado Springs, Colo.) – Points Race
Brad Huff (Fair Grove, Mo.) – Points Race, Omnium

Igor Astarloa to lead Milram at the Paris-Nice

Ex-world champion Igor Astarloa will lead the Milram team at the Paris-Nice stage race in France, the first ProTour race of the 2007 season.

Astarloa will the rider Milram will look towards in the second part of the race. During the opening stages though the team will look towards Mirco Lorenzetto who will be given his opportunity on the early stages and sprint finishes.

A confident sporting director Vittorio Algeri says on team-milram.com, "We can do a good race with our riders. In the first part of the race Mirco Lorenzetto will have his chances in the sprints, Igor Astarloa in the second and more demanding part."

The race, which starts this coming Sunday, the 11th of March, with a prologue time trial over 4,7 kilometers in Issy-les-Moulineaux, will see Milram field: Igor Astarloa (Spa), Ralf Grabsch (Ger), Brett Lancaster (Ita), Mirco Lorenzetto (Ita), Martin Mueller (Ger), Alberto Ongarato (Ita), Bjoern Schroeder (Ger) and Sebastian Siedler (Ger) - sporting director will be Vittorio Algeri.

Quick Step-Innergetic's Hubert Schwab improves

After being hit by a car before the start of last weekend's GP Lugano, Quick Step-Innergetic rider Hubert Schwab is now getting back to full fitness. The young Swiss rider is already back on his bike and managed about 3 hours of training even with a fractured ankle.

No doubt he will be looking forward to getting back to full fitness and enjoying a successful injury and accident free 2007

Liquigas and Cofidis announce Paris-Nice squad's

As the start of the Paris-Nice stage race draws ever nearer the Liquigas and Cofidis ProTour teams have both named their riders that will lineup at the start line this Sunday in Issy-les-Moulineaux.

Italian team Liquigas have announced that they are aiming for a stage win and will look towards Franco Pellizotti for a ride in the general classification. Speaking on teamliquigas.ie General manager Roberto Amadio said, "Our purpose is one stage while Pellizotti, already ninth in California, could enter into the 'top ten' also at the Paris-Nice."

The complete Liquigas lineup will be: Franco Pellizotti (Ita), Luca Paolini (Ita), Patrick Calcagni (Swi), Murilo Fischer (Bra), Roman Kreuziger (Cze), Ailaksandr Kuchynski (Blr), Matej Mugerli (Slo) and Alessandro Vanotti (Ita) - sporting directors for the event will be Dario Mariuzzo and Mario Scirea.

French team Cofidis will be represented by: Stéphane Auge (Fra), Frédéric Bessy (Fra), Sylvain Chavanel (Fra), Hervé Duclos-Lassalle (Fra), Tyler Farrar (USA), Steve Zampieri (Swi), Amaël Moinard (Fra) and Maxime Monfort (Bel) - sporting directors for the event will be Francis Van Londersele and Bernard Quilfen.

T-Mobile's Jakob Piil and Milram's Marco Velo celebrate their birthdays

Danish T-Mobile rider Jakob Piil will be enjoying his 34 birthday today. The rider from Odense in Denmark joined T-Mobile over the winter after riding for the world's number one ranked team, CSC.

Another rider who will be celebrating his birthday today will be Milram's Marco Velo. The all-rounder and time trial rider will be turning 33 today.

Both riders will be looking for success throughout the coming season, both for themselves and for their respective teams.

Dr Ralph MacKinnon races to the sun for charity by Press Release

Paediatric Anaesthetic Consultant, Dr Ralph MacKinnon, may not be up to celebrating his fortieth birthday in style after deciding to test his endurance and raise money for the new Neonatal Surgical Unit at Saint Mary’s Hospital, Manchester .

Dr MacKinnon will take on the ‘Race to the Sun’ cycling challenge along with his four experienced alpine cyclist colleagues. Over seven days they will cycle 1260 kilometers from Paris to Nice, cycling for up to nine hours and covering distances of around 200 kilometers a day, as they try to stay ahead of the professionals in the cycling stage race.

Dr MacKinnon, who works at Saint Mary’s Hospital, said “I’m hoping I won’t be too exhausted when I get to the end of the race as I turn forty and hope to have a little energy for celebrating that and the success of the cycle ride and money raised in aid of the new unit.”

The New Children’s Hospital Appeal aims to raise £20 million to help fund projects in the new hospitals focusing on two main areas of providing state-of-the-art equipment and parental accommodation to enable parents to stay close to their child. All sponsorship raised from the cycle race will be directed to the brand new neonatal unit.

Dr MacKinnon and his colleagues can be supported in their fundraising effort by logging on to www.justgiving.com/racetothesun.

Dr MacKinnon is kindly being supported in his fundraising by Edinburgh Bicycle Co-operative, Channel M & The Face Partnership.

Unibet.com announce their Continental team lineup's for the weekend's races

The Unibet.com team have announced their continental team's for the weekend's races, the Vlaamse Pijl tomorrow, the 10th of March and Sunday's GP de Lillers.

At the Vlaamse Pijl the team will be: Dieter Cappelle (Bel), Tom Criel (Bel), Stijn Ennekens (Bel), Viktor Folkesson (Swe), Lucas Persson (Swe) and Kenny Van Der Schueren (Bel).
On Sunday at the GP de Lillers the team will be: Jean-Marc Bideau (Fra), Dieter Cappelle (Bel), Stijn Ennekens (Bel), Viktor Folkesson (Swe), Florian Guillou (Fra), Dennis Kreder (Ned), Lucas Persson (Swe) and Kenny Van Der Schueren (Bel).