First Edition Cycling News, Friday, August 28, 2009

Date published:: August 28, 21:00

Jongewaard worlds start likely despite tribunal
Article published:
August 28, 10:50
By:
Greg Johnson
Cycling Australia cite rider for misconduct
Chris Jongewaard will front a Cycling Australia tribunal for misconduct after a South Australian court found the rider guilty of criminal driving charges. The rider will likely still start next weekend’s International Cycling Union Mountain Bike World Championships, to be held in Canberra, Australia.

“A Cycling Australia Disciplinary Tribunal will be convened to hear the charge at a date to be determined but within 21 days from the date of notification to Mr Jongewaard,” announced the national governing body.

“Both parties will require adequate time to prepare for the hearing and as a result it is unlikely the hearing will occur prior to next week's World Championships in Canberra at which Mr Jongewaard has been selected to ride for Australia,” added the release.

Judge Wayne Chivell found Jongewaard guilty of aggravated driving without due care and leaving the scene of an accident. Jongewaard left Matthew Rex, a fellow cyclist and former training partner, with serious injuries after the February 2007 accident.

Jongewaard will start the elite men’s cross country race on Saturday, September five. Jongewaard will be joined by Andrew Blair, Dylan Cooper, Ben Henderson, Daniel McConnell and Sid Taberlay in Australia’s elite men’s cross country team.
Downing favours Team Sky as he hunts for contract in 2010
Article published:
August 28, 10:55
By:
Richard Tyler
Tour of Ireland winner hopes to turn success into future employment and Worlds start
Tour of Ireland winner Russell Downing will look capitalise upon his overall victory in the race as he looks to secure a contract with a major European team. Downing's manager Phil Griffiths told Cyclingnews on that the former British champion is keen to ride for Team Sky in 2010, but was preparing to speak to a number of ProTour and Pro Continental teams.

"Russ really, really would like to ride for Sky [next year]," said Griffiths. "They weren't too keen before Ireland and we don't want to make the same mistake as last year and rely on just one team. We don't want to mess anybody about, but we are going to sound out more than one team."

The CandiTV rider claimed a stage and overall victory in the three-stage Tour of Ireland. His general classification win came ahead of riders from ProTour teams Columbia-HTC and Saxo Bank, as well as Pro Continental squad BMC Racing. Griffiths said that he hopes Downing's performance, in the presence of those squads, will strengthen his claim to a position on the roster of a major squad.

"The teams and sports directors in Ireland that saw him, you know, the right guys were there. [Columbia's Rolf] Aldag, Brian Holm and [Bob] Stapleton, [Astana's Johan] Bruyneel and [Viacheslav] Ekimov, [BMC manager John] Lelangue were all there," he said. "We didn't chase hard enough last year and it's now clear that he can do this more than once, it wasn't a flash in the pan."

31-year-old Downing has ridden for several Continental teams in his career, although never yet come on board with a top-flight team. In 2005 he captured the British road championships while racing for Recycling.co.uk/MG-Xpower/Litespeed. He then spent seasons with DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed and Health Net Pro Cycling Team. Visa problems cut short Downing's career in the United States and he returned to Britain in 2008 where he has race since with the CandiTV-Marshalls Pasta formation.

Apart from a demonstration to potential employers, Downing's win in Ireland will also bolster his hopes of a start in the British team at the World championships, next month in Switzerland. Downing is currently a member of a 14-man long list from which the final nine-man team will be chosen.

The British national team's head coach, Rod Ellingworth, told Cyclingnews that with a busy schedule of racing in the month prior to the worlds he expected rider fitness and injuries to be the biggest factor in the final composition of the team. Although he indicated that Downing's performance at the Tour of Ireland had been recognised by the selectors.

"It was a good ride and obviously puts him in good stead," he said. "It was a good result for Russell. I think everyone was happy for him. We knew he was on good form and he said he was targeting that race.

"When somebody says 'this is going to be a big target for me', you've got to look at them,” he added. “When they do perform on the day they give you, that's particularly impressive. That's what British Cycling is all about: performing on a given day."
Zubeldia predicts second week thriller in Vuelta
Article published:
August 28, 10:59
By:
Richard Tyler
Astana rider says Vinokourov will fight, overall race wide open
Astana's Haimar Zubeldia expects the general classification of the Vuelta a España to be decided in the race's tough second week. In a report by Spanish newspaper Marca, the Basque rider also said the absence of Tour de France winner Alberto Contador will create a more open and exciting contest for the general classification.

"It will be critical to ride consistently in the mountains [of the second week]," Zubeldia told Marca. "With a number of successive high stages, a bad day can see you lose all options for the win."

Stage eight of the Vuelta will mark the first of six mountain stages in the brutal second week of this year's race. The stage's finish to Alto de Aitana will also provide the first indication of the true contenders for overall. The second week of the race ends with three successive mountain-top finishes, on stages 12, 13 and 14, respectively.

In contrast to Astana's dominant performance at the Tour de France, of which Zubeldia was a part, the Vuelta is expected to provide a far more modest return for the Kazakh team. Despite a return to the helm of the squad he helped launch, Astana's captain for the Vuelta, Alexandre Vinokourov, yesterday said he expected overall victory to be impossible after two years out of competition.

Zubeldia said that he while he expects Vinokourov's past experience to keep him in contention, without the presence of a dominant overall contender the race would be far more open to other teams. "With the results in his career that [Vinokourov] has, he becomes one of the riders who will fight for victory," he said. "The absence of Alberto [Contador] will be noticed, but I think there are more riders that will give excitement to this Vuelta."

Zubeldia also gave an indication of the riders he views as the favorites for the three-week race. He pointed to established favorites Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne), Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel), Ivan Basso (Liquigas), Robert Gesink (Rabobank) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre), but also included Xacobeo-Galicia captain, Ezequiel Mosquera, in his list of riders to watch.

Mosquera finished fourth overall at the 2008 Vuelta and, in the absence of Contador, Levi Leipheimer and Carlos Sastre, will return to this year's race as the highest placed finisher in the previous edition. He recently claimed victory on the final stage of the Vuelta a Burgos, on his way to a fourth place finish overall.

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Saxo Bank set for launch in Vuelta prologue
Article published:
August 28, 11:36
By:
Richard Tyler
Schlecks, Cancellara, Arvesen and O'Grady form experienced Saxo Bank squad
Andy Schleck and Jakob Fuglsang will start the Vuelta a España at the head of another formidable Saxo Bank line-up. The team will carry a wealth of experience into the race with a number of the team's star riders set to roll down the start ramp in Assen on Saturday.

Last year, Saxo Bank recorded a third place finish overall through Carlos Sastre. With the departure of the Spaniard to Cervélo TestTeam at the end of last year, Schleck and Fuglsang will now lead a two-pronged challenge for a high result on the general classification.

Supporting them will be Andy's brother Fränk Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Kurt-Asle Arvesen and Stuart O'Grady.

Cancellara will start Saturday's prologue on Saturday as one of the favourites to claim the first leader's jersey of the race. The Swiss time trial specialist will start the Vuelta as part of his preparation for his attempt at a third world time trial championship title next month in his home country.

Alexandr Kolobnev will make his third successive Vuelta appearance for the team, while Matti Breschel will return after a successful participation in 2008. Breschel won the final stage of the race in Madrid last year. The Dane has enjoyed his most successful season to date, with five wins recorded this year.

Dutchman Karsten Kroon, who has been rumoured to leave Saxo Bank at the end of the current season, will also ride in what could be his final Grand Tour for the team. He too will be make his third successive appearance at the Vuelta in Saxo Bank colours.

Click here to view the preliminary start list for the Vuelta a España.

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Gudsell to the Vuelta, hopes for end of troubles
Article published:
August 28, 12:32
By:
Jean-François Quénet
Last-minute call up gives FDJ's Kiwi rider opportunity to recover bumpy season
Were there an international ranking for unlucky riders, New Zealander Tim Gudsell would be close to the top of the list. However, the Française des Jeux rider now hopes for better days after he received a last-minute call for the Vuelta a España.

Aware of the great physical potential possessed by Gudsell, Française des Jeux re-signed him after his first two professional seasons with the team. He was ready to strike as he started his 2009 campaign in his beloved Southern Hemisphere. However, a crash on stage three of the Tour Down Under proved to be the first devastating disruption of the year.

A smashed collarbone and fractured elbow were reported from his hospital in Adelaide. "I was out for two months," recalled the Kiwi, who had been in the best form of his life when he crashed. "Then when I started training again an old sciatic injury from last year returned, though no one knew what the real cause was. In the end I believe it was all related back to my crash in the 2007 Giro d’Italia, when I sliced open my iliotibial band (ITB) and quad muscle."

Come Spring, Gudsell was back in France, unable to carry out the job for which he had migrated overseas. "It has been the hardest season of my career so far," he told Cyclingnews. "When you have a broken bone you know what you’re dealing with, but with this injury that would make my left leg fall asleep after 30 minutes of riding. I didn’t know what was wrong. Then whenever we tried something new and it didn’t work I just felt I was always getting kicked back to square one. So obviously the moral was quite low for some time, and I often feared the worst."

The medical staff of Française des Jeux continued to support him throughout his period on the sidelines. This season had offered him a big chance to make his debut at the Tour de France. "But I didn't feel like a real bike rider again until the week before the Tour of Poland in early August, I completed a six hour ride with the last two hours behind the derny and I thought: 'finally we have some progress'."

However, he had no idea of what he’d do for the last part of the season. Française des Jeux hadn’t considered him for the Vuelta a España when they put together a 10-man line-up including Sandy Casar, Sébastien Chavanel, Mikaël Chérel, Rémy Di Gregorio, Arnaud Gérard, Matthieu Ladagnous, Guillaume Levarlet, Yoann Offredo, Anthony Roux and Wesley Sulzberger. However, with Levarlet weakened by a virus and Offredo ruled out after breaking his collarbone during stage two of the Eneco Tour, the door was re-opened for Gudsell.

"I got the nod last Sunday night during the Eneco Tour," he said. "In the morning [Française des Jeux directeur sportif] Martial Gayant came to me to see if I was interested. At first I was a little hesitant, but during the stage that day I thought 'why not, I have nothing to lose'. My Vuelta ambitions are pretty simple: I want to survive as long as possible.

"I have to be realistic after the season I’ve had, but I am prepared to suffer and if I made it to Madrid I would be very happy. Hopefully it will help the form for the end of season races, but more than anything it’s a preparation for 2010. I want to start next season strong, and this is where I can start to lay the foundations."

Gudsell was joined in Holland by team manager Marc Madiot, who said: "I expect Tim to reassure himself and us about his physical abilities after all the crashes he’s had. For him to produce a result isn’t essential."

Madiot's words were ones the 25-year old Kiwi was relieved to hear. "I have no pressure from the team for the race which is really nice, though I am up for contract so that’s always a background pressure for any pro rider," he added. "To be honest if my future keeps me on my bike and out of harms way I’ll be happy. I have been working on my sprint and lead out, so I think that will be my path as rider in the future."
Creed hopes form holds for US pro championships
Article published:
August 28, 14:48
By:
Daniel Benson
Team Type 1 rider to contest time trial and road race in Greenville
Michael Creed heads into the US national road championships this weekend with uncertain form after completing a gruelling Tour of Ireland. Creed, who has three national U23 time trial titles to his name among his 22 career national championships, will compete in both the time trial and road race this weekend in Greenville, South Carolina.

Creed finished a highly credible sixth in last year's time trial, 1:27 behind winner and this year's favourite Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream). Since then Creed has had a turbulent 12 months, having lost his place at Rock Racing and finding a new home at Team Type 1 in June.

"I came into the team in June and I've been racing non-stop since then, running double duty between the stage race and crit squads, trying to prove myself with the team," Creed told Cyclingnews. "I've enjoyed it, though. At Rock I wasn't racing and I really missed that. To be honest, I'm not very confident of my chances this weekend. I'm trying to hold my form but it's going to be difficult.

"I feel like I've been on pretty good form for two months now. I was in the top 10 overall at Nature Valley but since moving to Type 1 I've raced almost non-stop."

Creed returned from the Tour of Ireland two days ago and despite the inclement weather and demanding course profile, enjoyed the experience and the chance to use the event as training. Despite the busy schedule Creed was able to find some form on the final stage, riding at the head of the field for most of the day in order to bring back a number of dangerous escapes.

"On paper it was really good to do the race. Every day was 190 kilometres and you don't get that in the States, I just hope I can rebound from that."

As for the national time trial course, Creed picked Dave Zabriskie and Tom Zirbel as the favourites. "It's a bit technical but not too bad. Someone has told me they've tried to repave the climb but that they've done a terrible job and the climb could be harder."

In the road race Creed also pointed to a possible domination from Garmin-Slipstream. "They are going to have the numbers and will try to place as many guys in the early break and they'll have the numbers at the end. They have a guy like Danny Pate who is probably the strongest guy in the race now depending how George [Hincapie] is recovering after his broken collarbone."

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Stephens shares Vuelta parcours insight
Article published:
August 28, 16:59
By:
Cycling News
Caisse d'Epargne directeur sportif details Vuelta a España stages
If anyone's familiar with the 2009 Vuelta a España parcours it's Australia's Neil Stephens, Caisse d'Epargne directeur sportif and 14-year veteran of the European professional peloton.

Through years of competition on Spanish roads with such teams as Festina and ONCE, years of living in the Basque country and time spent on recon-duty earlier this summer to best direct Caisse d'Epargne's Vuelta favourite Alejandro Valverde to victory, Stephens is intimately familiar with the day-to-day intricacies of the Vuelta's 21 stages.

"The three big areas of the race will be the time trial in Valencia, the days around Aitana and the stages surrounding the Sierra Nevada and La Pandera," said Stephens. "The norm for the race should be that the overall guys are in a good position after this point - in our case hopefully Alejandro [Valverde] is in good shape and hasn't gone back for his raincoat at a bad time - then we should be able to take it day-by-day until the end of the Vuelta."

Stephens has shared with Cyclingnews his thoughts and predictions for each day of the Vuelta, providing insight into who he thinks the contenders will be in addition to Caisse d'Epargne's plan for team leader Valverde.

"Neil Stephens says" can be seen beginning with our stage one profile.

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O Canada: Four of the nation's best hit the Vuelta
Article published:
August 28, 19:48
By:
Richard Tyler
Hesjedal looks forward to a slice of luck in Spain, then Worlds
When Canadian Ryder Hesjedal starts this year's Vuelta a España prologue on Saturday, he will do so in the company of three of his compatriots. In a season that has witnessed a gradual shift in the balance of cycling nations, it seems only appropriate that in the final Grand Tour of the year Canada should get in on the act with its own sudden spike in rider numbers.

Hesjedal has been selected alongside Garmin-Slipstream teammates Christian Meier and 2008 World time trial silver medallist Svein Tuft. While the fourth may ride for rival team, Hesjedal told Cyclingnews that he was proud to be part of the unique group.

"I don't think it's ever happened before: to have three Canadians on the same team in a Grand Tour, so there's a little bit of history there," said Hesjedal, on the eve of the Vuelta. "There's one more with Dominique [Rollin] on Cervélo and I don't think there's been four Canadians in a Grand Tour either. It's good for Canadian cycling. It's great to see and it's great to be a part of that."

Although relative minnows compared to their European counterparts, Canadian riders have experienced success since their first forays into three-week racing in the mid 1980s. As members of 7-Eleven - the first American team to race the Tour de France and the second to race the Giro d'Italia – Canadian riders Alex Stieda and Steve Bauer both enjoyed stints in the yellow jersey at the Tour de France, in 1986 and 1990, respectively.

For Hesjedal the Vuelta will be his fourth start in a Grand Tour. While his focus will be on his trade team throughout the race, his attention will turn soon afterwards to the service of his nation. He will race for Canada at the World championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, a week after the finish of the Vuelta.

"I've set my season end at Mendrisio so I want to do a last good month here," he said, adding that he had no plans to finish the Vuelta early in order to prepare for the Worlds. "A lot can happen in three weeks and you just have to address the issues when they're there. Right now I can see myself arriving in Madrid and, based on how I came out of the Tour [De France], I'm pretty confident I can be ready to race [at the Worlds] a week later."

Unlike the Tour de France, where the primary focus had been to protect general classification riders Christian Vande Velde and Bradley Wiggins, Hesjedal said he expects the Vuelta to provide a little more flexibility in terms of team tactics.

"The general will sort itself out mid-way through the race and if those guys [Tom Danielson and Dan Martin – ed.] are showing themselves well there then I'm sure the team's objectives will adapt according to that. And we also need to get through the first week with Tyler [Farrar]."

"We have a lot of guys to cover all different parts of the race, so for me I'm there to help in all aspects of the team's objectives each day. I think the team is definitely considering me to be an all-rounder that can look to contest stages when it's hard. That's what I want to do: I want to win a bike race in the next three weeks."

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