|
|
LATEST NEWS: POZZATO TAKES NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP ROAD RACE IN ITALY
Road Bike Action
June 29, 2009
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Pozzato takes the sprint
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Filippo Pozzato will wear the Italian tricolore for the next year as the new National Champion for Italy. Pozzatto took the sprint ahead of Damiano Cunego and Luca Paolini in the town of Imola at the end of a 257km race.
Late in the race, a 17-rider group pulled away from the field and was still intact with just kilometers to go. Even though Cunego had teammate and World Champion Alessandro Ballan working for him, Pozzato took was able to take the sprint.
Naturally, Pozzatto signaled his desire to win a stage of the Tour de France while wearing the tricolore jersey.
Spain: Plaza Takes the Road Race
Ruben Plaza of Liberty Seguros won the Spanish national championship at Torrelavega. The course was very mountainous compared to those of other countries, containing nearly 10,000 feet of climbing. Plaza won in a sprint ahead of Constantino Zaballa and Mikel Astarloza.
This is Plaza’s second title, following his victory in the race back in 2003.
Champion is Champion in French Road Race
Dmitiri Champion of Bretagne-Schuller, a continental team, surprised the favorites in the French national championship by taking the win ahead of former teammates Anthony Geslin and Anthony Roux, both now of Francaise Des Jeux. All three are former Bouygues Telecom riders, making one wonder about the leadership of the ProTour team.
This is Champion’s first national championship as a professional. He earned titles as a U23 rider (time trial) and an amateur (road race).
Moerenhout Takes Dutch Championship
Rabobank’s Koos Moerenhout took the Dutch national championship in Heerlen-Langraaf. In a fast finale, Moerenhout outsprinted six riders who had escaped the shattered main bunch. Kenny Van Hummel was second and Joost van Leijen was third. Their group finished 11 seconds clear of the remaining field.
For the 35-year-old Moerenhout, this is he second national championship in only three years and continues a tradition of dominance in the event by the Dutch Rabobank team, which has won the event the last four years.
Surprise! A Schleck Wins in Luxembourg
Andy Schleck of Saxo Bank gave Luxembourgers a thrilling site as he rolled to the finish in one of this year’s only solo victories in a national championship road race. He finished 1:56 ahead of Laurent Didier and 2:01 ahead of brother Frank.
Columbia-Highroad Becomes Columbia-HTC Thanks to New Sponsor
On the eve of the start of the Tour de France in Monaco, cell phone company HTC has signed on to sponsor what will now be known as Columbia-HTC.
Team owner Bob Stapleton said, "High Road Sports is elated to be partnering with HTC, a recognized leader and growing global brand in mobile phones. Team Columbia-HTC is now sponsored by two leading companies in their related industries and we are ready to show the growing power of our partnership at this year's Tour de France," he added.
New kits and vehicles will be unveiled at the start of the Tour de France.
EPO Confirmed in Pfannberger’s ‘B’ Sample
Christian Pfannberger’s “B” sample has confirmed his previous positive test for EPO. The Katusha rider tested positive following a March 19 out-of-competition test. Previously, the 29 year old was twice Austrian national champion, but he was suspended by his Katusha team when his positive test was announced.
This is not Pfannberger’s first positive for EPO. He was suspended for two years in 2004 following a positive test. As a result, this second positive for EPO could mean a lifetime ban for the rider.
Murphy solos to win in Cytomax Benicia Criterium
As John Murphy of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis noted after the Cytomax Benicia Criterium, “you don’t want to leave empty handed from a race sponsored by one of your sponsors.”
Murphy took this race by the hands and came away with the win after attacking out of a small break with four laps to go and soloing in for the victory on an afternoon where temperatures hovered around the 100-degree mark.
Murphy and teammate Roman Kilun helped make the race early, joining a 12-rider lead group just a handful of laps into the 60-minute race that would prove to be the decisive move.
With a number of top teams represented in the break, and packing plenty of horsepower, the front group steadily extended its gap to the peloton, eventually gaining 0:50 on the main bunch. With about a dozen laps remaining, the break splintered, with five riders up front group, including Murphy and Kilun along with Scott Swizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and a resurgent Chad Gerlach (Amore e Vita).
They steadily gained on their former break-mates, while former team member Mike Sayers (Amgen) spearheaded a chase out of the peloton marked by Floyd Landis of OUCH Presented by Maxxis. While the chase closed the gap a bit, they never threatened the lead group, leaving the five riders to contest the closing laps for the win.
As the five-rider group closed in on the back end of the main peloton, Bobby Lea of OUCH Presented by Maxxis dropped back to the back end of the main bunch and paced his two teammates, as well as the other members of the break, to the front of the bunch. Within a lap, the break was once again clear of the peloton.
On the fifth lap from the end, Swizanski put in a dig which Gerlach covered. When that came back, Murphy dove the first left-hander after crossing the start/finish line and drove it. The sprinter, also known to be a strong time trialist, put his engine to work and opened a 10-second gap with two laps remaining.
Swizanski and Gerlach were leading the chase while Kilun covered. Murphy went into the bell lap holding a five-second lead, with a highly motivated Gerlach trying to shut it down. Coming out of the final turn, Murphy was hanging on to a two-second lead, with Gerlach starting to close on the 300-meter, slightly uphill drag to the line. Murphy took a quick look behind him and dug deep for one last effort over the final 150 meters, holding off Gerlach by several bike lengths, while Swizanski came home in 3rd place. Kilun rolled in for 5th.
“I saw Gerlach coming after the last turn and I just put my head down and went one last time,” Murphy said. “I was really glad I had Cytomax in me today.”
White takes overall of Wyoming stage race
Brad White of the OUCH Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis ventured north from his Colorado home base to Wyoming to contest the Dead Dog Classic around Laramie, Wyoming and came away with the overall title of the two-day, three-stage race.
Brad White“It was a good, strong field,” White said. “It’s good to get the GC win here, even though it’s a smaller race.”
It’s also a race with which White is familiar, having won the Category 3 race there in 2006, the same year BMC’s Scott Nydham won the pro race.
The race opened with a challenging 86-mile road race that included passes reaching over 10,000 feet of elevation. White finished a close second on the stage to Ian McGregor (Team Type 1).
In Sunday morning’s criterium, White stayed close to the front and out of trouble, trying to conserve a bit of energy for Sunday afternoon’s decisive time trial.
His strategy paid off. White took a strong 2nd place in the TT, while putting over a minute into McGregor to jump up to the top spot overall.
The win also came with the Federation of Independent Associations for Cycling (FIAC) National Championship.
(Photo: Jonathan Devitch)
Powers, MacGregor Score Wins; Hanson, Jones Third At Criteriums
Alison Powers and Ian MacGregor each scored victories and Ken Hanson and Chris Jones added podium finishes at criteriums in California to cap a successful weekend for Team Type 1.
MacGregor took Saturday’s opening stage of the Dead Dog Classic Memorial Stage Race in Albany, Wyo., on the way to a fourth-place overall in the two-day, three-stage race that featured the largest field in its 21-year history.
MacGregor out-climbed the rest of the field on two ascents of Snowy Range Pass to solo in ahead of Bradley White (OUCH presented by Maxxis) and Ian Gray (Ciclismo Racing). White went on to win the overall crown.
Powers beat Eszter Horanyi (Waltworks/Fuentes Design) by nearly three minutes in Cross Country Super Loop, the second race of Colorado’s Winter Park Mountain Bike Race Series. The 17.2-mile (27.7 km) race featured 2,626 feet of climbing. The reigning U.S. time trial champion used it as a tune-up for next month’s USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships in Granby, Colo.
In Southern California, the odds weren’t in his favor, but Hanson said he had to take a chance when he hit the front of the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix with the finish line in sight.
“It was too early for me, but at that point we knew that was our best opportunity to win,” Hanson said, replaying the final 150 meters of the 80-minute criterium that is run a stone’s throw from the Pacific Ocean.
The reigning national criterium champion nearly made it to the line first, getting passed only by Rock Racing’s Rahsaan Bahati – who won the National Racing Calendar event for the third straight year – and Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita-Sutter Home presented by Cooking Light).
Team Type 1 Assistant Director Gord Fraser said Joe Eldridge and Matt Wilson did yeoman’s work covering and killing moves while keeping Hanson and Aldo Ino Ilesic close to the front in anticipation of a field sprint.
Hanson’s last-lap gamble was set up when Team Type 1’s four riders found themselves caught in traffic as the pace slowed.
“Matt got us to the base of the little riser on the course with 500 or 600 meters to go,” Hanson said. “Then Aldo started sprinting and we passed more than 20 guys before we came to the Rock Racing train.”
In Northern California Sunday, Jones finished third at the Fidelity Investments Burlingame (Calif.) Criterium behind Scott Zwizanski (Kelly Benefit Strategies) and Chad Gerlach (Amore & Vita McDonald's Pro Cycling Team). The result was the 50th podium finish of the season for the Team Type 1 men’s professional team.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|