Cycling Round Up |
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Archives: May 2001
The one hour street race, based on O'Connel street and watched by a large crowd, was defined by many attacks although with the Great Britain and German teams controlling the pursuit there was little chance of success. One to try was last year's champion Julian Winn of Wales, who together with Lange established a ten second lead which was eventually reeled in. Efforts by Neil McDonald (South Africa HSBC) and former race leader Dirk Reichl (Germany Deutsche Telecom), plus a solo move by Irishman David McCann were similarly short-lived, although McCann did manange to collect the third Cycleways prime before being swallowed up. Fellow Ireland-Shannon Oaks Hotel rider Aidan Duff then went clear with Switzerland GS Ficonseils competitor Erik Saunders, but were passed by Mayo Connacht Gold's David O'Loughlin who led for two laps. <Read More Here> <See Pictures Here> <Cian Lynch's Rás Race Reports are Here> TOUGH FBD MILK RAS IN STORE: (May 19) The big guns are back on home soil, bodies ready and bicycles gleaming. Final countdown to a ferocious scrap, pride, points and prestige at stake. Exiles returning and home combatants waiting nervously, their biggest appointment of the year quickening the heartbeat and heightening adrenalin as they count down the remaining minutes. <Read More Here>
On the steep climb to the finish line, Tanner drew clear of a tiring Winn to open up an eleven second gap, while Stephens, Fox and Pritchard were engaged in their own private battle for third place. In the end it was Stephens who scooped the podium position, with Fox taking a fine fourth two seconds later, and with it, 7 world ranking points. The other Irish riders - Mark Scanlon, Eddie O'Donoghue, Martin O'Loughlin, Tim Barry and Richie Cahill were listed as non-finishers, as those losing ground to the groups up front were taken out of the circuit race. The result is an encouraging one for Fox,
who missed most of last year with glandular fever and
thus lost his professional contract with the
Tonissteiner team. The 1997 national champion has felt
progressively stronger of late, losing 6 kilos in weight
since the Circuit des Ardennes race and, today,
vindicating his national team selection for the
forthcoming FBD Milk Rás.
Any hopes of an organized chase behind faded when the main field was splintered into three groups by the back-breaking ascent of the Old Wicklow Gap, a new addition to the race. With its length, steep gradient, and poor road surface the climb served to break the resolve of the chasers; up front, however, the break rode steadily and most of the front runners were together as they raced towards Glenmalure and the feared ascent of Drumgoff. Healion broke clear alone, attempting to utilize his time trailing abilities, but was swiftly recaptured. Team-mate Peelo, however, was biding his time and struck for home on the lower slopes of the Drumgoff/ Shay Elliot ascent. First stretching out the riders, then drawing clear, he took the prime at the crest of the climb before being rejoined by Paul Griffin (unattached), Clarke and O'Loughlin on the fast descent. The quartet worked well together on the run into Roundwood, with Peelo and O'Loughlin in particular driving the group. But despite his efforts, Peelo clearly had something more to contribute; on a short drag with 500 metres to go, he surprised his companions when he jumped from the back of the breakaway and opened a 50 metre advantage. Despite a fast-closing Griffin, it proved to be a winning move. 'It is about time,' he said after the finish, a wide grin on his face. 'I have been trying to win this for years - I have been second, third, plus got a few smaller placings but today finally got there. I felt good - I held back a bit on the Old Wicklow Gap and felt okay on that, then went for it on the main climb. The race is usually won there - if you have a gap at the top, you will usually hang on to the finish and that is what happened today.' Peelo acknowledged the benefit of his local knowledge, having competed for many years with the Sorrento club. 'I know the last few miles very well from doing a lot of club races in the area, and so knew exactly where to attack,' he said. <Read Dave Walsh's Report Here> Results Genuity Shay Elliot Memorial, Roundwood: 1, Dave Peelo (Usher IRC) 80 miles in 3 hours 12 mins 10 secs; 2, P. Griffin (unattached) at 1 sec; 3, R. Clarke (Classic Walls) at 4 secs; 4, D. O'Loughlin (CC Nogent Sur Oise) same time; 5, Kieron McMahon (unattached) at 20 secs; 6, P. Healion (Usher IRC) at 22 secs; 7, S. Prendergast (Cahills Naas) at 26 secs; 8, V. Gleeson (West Clare) at 28 secs Senior 2 : 1, Matt Slattery (Killarney CC); 2, J. McCarthy (Killarney CC) Primes: Old Wicklow Gap: Griffin; Shay Elliot (Drumgoff): Peelo EVANS 4th ON STAGE 2 OF TOUR OF CORRÈZE: (May 14) Team Ireland and VC La Pomme cyclist Tommy Evans placed a fine 4th on stage two of the prestigious Tour de Corrèze stage race. He won a four man sprint at the end of the 60 kilometre stage, 13 seconds after Guillaume Lejeune of the CR4C Roanne emerged best in his own tussle with two other riders. Michael McNena finished 27th on the final stage and was best placed overall in 30th place, 17 minutes and 27 seconds behind Joona Laukka of the Bressuire AC team. DUFF 27th ON 4th STAGE OF FRENCH RACE: (May 13) Having finished a fine 6th on Friday's stage of the Tour de la Manche, Dundrum rider Aidan Duff yesterday came home as part of the main bunch in 27th place, 20 seconds behind winner Ludovic Lanceleur of the Equipe de France Poursuite team. The race concludes today with a 177 kilometre stage from St-Hilaire du Harcouët to Granville. Meanwhile, Irish riders Tommy Evans, Michael McNena and Stephen O'Sullivan missed the breakaway group which gained time over the main bunch on yesterday's opening 153 kilometre stage of the Tour of Correze. The two day event features a 60 kilometre stage based around Meymac this morning, and an 88 kilometre leg to Tulle later on today. OWENS RIDES WELL IN WORLD CUP RACE: (May 14) Irishwoman Tarja Owens yesterday showed the benefits of her season thus far with the Michela Fanini professional road team when she recorded one of her best ever performances in mountainbike competition. The Irish national MTB cross country champion finished a fine 35th in the second round of the Tissot UCI World Cup in Sarentino, Italy, despite losing time with a crash when she looked set for a top-25 placing. On the first lap, Owens had jumped from 31st on the grid to a place in the top twenty, only to be delayed at this crucial stage when she was knocked from her bike by another competitor. <Read More Here> POWER BREAKS COLLAR BONE: (May 11) Irish professional Ciarán Power broke his collarbone when he suffered a high-speed crash in the final two hundred metres of today's leg of the Four Days of Dunkirk cycling race in France. The St. Quentin-Oktos rider was part of a large group sprinting for the win at the end of the 206 kilometre fourth stage from Fontaine au Pire - Saint-Venant, but was thrown to the ground when a rider ahead of him clipped the finishing barriers and lost control. The 25 year old, who was sprinting strongly and was confident about his chances of securing a high placing, was taken to a hospital near his team base. His collarbone will be pinned at half eight tomorrow morning. Power is likely to miss the next six weeks of the season, a crucial time for those seeking a new contract for 2001. He had taken up his slot with the small St. Quentin outfit after the unexpected collapse of his Linda McCartney team, and had hoped to find a bigger team for next year. 'It is very unfortunate,' states his agent Frank Quinn. 'The timing couldn't be much worse, really. Ciarán had a very good racing programme for the next while - he was doing the Dunkirk race, then was due to ride the Tour de L'Oise and the Midi Libre races. All good showcases for him to get the attention of other teams for next year, but now he will miss all that. With St. Quentin not riding the Tour de France, it was going to be a very important period for him but it will be six weeks before he will be able to start racing again.' Today's stage was the third won by Estonian rider Jan Kirsipuu of the AG2R team who continues to lead overall. Despite the title, the Four Days of Dunkirk runs for six days and ends on Sunday. DANISH RIDER SACKED AFTER FAILING EPO TEST: (May 11) Danish rider Bo Hamburger has been sacked by his CSC World Online team after becoming the first rider to test positive for EPO under the new method of urine analysis introduced last month. The rider, whose career highlights include wearing the yellow jersey during the 1998 Tour de France and taking silver in the 1997 world road championships, provided a sample on April 19th which subsequently revealed traces of synthetic EPO. The standard blood-based hematocrit level, previously used as a rough predictor, was below the permitted threshold of 50%. Hamburger was immediately suspended by his CSC World Online team, with subsequent reports that director Bjarne Riis has fired the 30 year old. His team is one of the five awarded a wild-card place in the Tour de France last week.
The gifted 20 year old would undoubtedly have finished closer than his final 1 minute 31 second deficit to yellow jersey Frank Laurance if he had a stronger team. With three of their six finishing outside the time limit before the crucial team time trail, Scanlon, O'Loughlin and Nigel Forde went into the test at a serious disadvantage to other, more complete, squads. They ultimately finished 9th out of 14 squads which, while a good ride under the circumstances, still cost Scanlon dearly in terms of the overall classification. In addition to finishing second on yesterday's stage, his team-mate O'Loughlin was an excellent third overall in the mountains classification and is clearly coming into form after an illness-afflicted start to the season. He and Scanlon took 6th and 7th respectively in the intermediate sprints competition, while the latter was 8th in the points ranking after stage finishes of 25th, 2nd, 7th and 11th. Ireland's best performance in the event was in 1969, when Peter Doyle won the race outright.
Results Stage 5: 1, Harry Roulston (New Zealand)
155 km in 3 hours 38 mins 1 secs; 2, David O'Loughlin
(Connacht) same time; Other Connacht: 11, Mark
Scanlon at 13 secs; 54, Nigel Forde at 26 mins. TOUR OF ITALY STAGE WINNER McKENZIE LEADS FOREIGN CHALLENGE: (May 8) Following last week's announcement of the strongest-ever foreign line-up for this month's FBD Milk Rás, it has been confirmed today that Tour of Italy stage winner David McKenzie will spearhead the professional Swiss team GS Ficonseils in the 8 day event. The 27 year old former Linda McCartney rider highlighted his class when he won the 7th stage in last year's Italian Tour with a massive 164 kilometre solo breakaway. The Australian also won the final stage of the Tour Down Under in January, shortly before the team collapsed due to financial difficulties. Now in the colours of the Fisconseils squad, McKenzie will be supported in his bid for Ras victory by three Swiss - David Chassot, Julien Vergeres and Stephane Gremaud, plus the American Erik Saunders. Another serious threat is Olympic bronze medallist Chris Newton, who will lead a strong Great Britain selection. Newton is in top form, taking his best victory to date last week when he beat riders of the calibre of Jacky Durand and Christophe Bassons to win the world-ranked Circuit de Mines stage race in France. He will be supported by four of the riders from that team - Paul Manning, Bryan Steel, Stephen Cummings and Philip West. 'It is shaping up to be a fantastic race,' says organizer Dermot Dignam. 'McKenzie and Newton are two very strong riders and their presence shows the quality of the opposition which the Irish competitors will face this year.' The FBD Milk Rás begins on Sunday week in Navan (20th May) and finishes 8 days later with a criterium in Dublin's city centre.
Barry's attack came after a stage long-effort from Paddy Moriarty, who lay just fractions of a second behind the yellow jersey after the time trial stage. Moriarty and 13 others went clear 10 miles into the final leg of the race, propelling him into yellow, but were eventually reeled in by Eugene Moriarty's Cycleways team with just ten miles remaining. As one threat was negated, another materialized: Barry's group then seized the initiative and went clear, opening up a crucial 19 seconds advantage by the finish where Kieran McMahon won the stage ahead of Healion. But, after driving the escape for much of those final miles, a greater reward lay in place for Barry as he triumphed by six seconds in one of the most prestigious races of Irish cycling. <See Pictures Here> <Read Cian Lynch's Race Report Here> Results
Stage 3 - Lurgan time trial: 1, Paul Healion (Usher
IRC) 3 miles in 7 mins 58 secs; 2, A. Roche (IOM) at 4
secs; 3, R. Clarke (Classic Walls) at 6 secs; 4, E.
Moriarty (Cycleways) at 13 secs; 5, P. Moriarty (Dublin
Skip) at 15 secs; 6, B. Doherty (UCF) same time; 7, E.
O'Donoghue (Cidona Carrick) at 17 secs; 8, A. Meehan
(Naas) same time HEALION WINS Stage 2 of TOUR of ULSTER, MORIARTY INTO YELLOW: (May 6) Overall leader Martin O'Loughlin today conceded the yellow jersey on the second stage of the Tour of Ulster. The Cidona Carrick rider missed a vital 22 man breakaway which went clear on the Category 1 climb of Crankey, halfway through today's 79 mile race. With O'Loughlin closing up behind, the leading group split again 15 miles later on the day's final climb of Fews Forest, where 8 riders slipped away. On the approach to the finish in Lurgan, Paddy Moriarty of the Dublin Skip team and Usher IRC's Paul Healion jumped clear, both to profit at the finish. For Healion, the stage victory awaited while Moriarty, 6th yesterday and 2nd today, takes over the race lead with just two stages to go. Eugene Moriarty outsprinted Tim Barry 2 seconds later and is now second overall by the same margin. The event concludes tomorrow with a 3 mile time trial and a 62 mile afternoon road race. <See Pictures Here> SCANLON 2nd on Stage 2 of PRESTIGIOUS FRENCH RACE: (By Shane Stokes May 6) Connacht team rider Mark Scanlon today placed an excellent 2nd on the second stage of the Essor Breton race in Brittany. The former world junior champion broke clear with five other riders towards the end of the 155 kilometre race and in the sprint finished just behind winner Frank Laurance of the Brittany Super U team, who succeeds Team Seat's Fredie Ravelau as the overall leader. Scanlon is now 10th in the general classification going into tomorrow morning's 26 kilometre team time trial, 1 minute and 6 seconds behind Laurance. The 20 year old is leading the young rider competition and is also 6th in the points ranking However, his prospects of defending the former took a blow when 3 of the Connacht team - Michael Devins, Dave Nugent and crash victim Vincent Gleeson - were eliminated after finishing outside the time limit on the first stage. Scanlon's Connacht team-mate David O'Loughlin was 35th on the stage and lies 34th overall, while Nigel Forde placed 79th today and is the same position in the G.C. Elsewhere in France, Team Ireland rider Michael McNena today slipped out of yellow in the Elan Varois race in St. Raphael when his VC La Pomme team lost the team time trial by just two seconds to the French Police squad. However there was some consolation when his team-mate Tommy Evans rode strongly in the afternoon stage to finish 3rd overall. Stephen O'Sullivan, who along with the other two riders is funded through the Team Ireland set-up, was in a breakaway for much of today's afternoon stage but was recaptured inside the final 25 kilometres. Elan Varois race in St. Raphael: (May 5) Team Ireland rider Michael McNena today won the first stage of the Elan Varois race in St. Raphael, near Nice. McNena, who was racing in the colours of his VC La Pomme team, broke clear in a group shortly after the start of the 123 kilometre opening leg and then forged ahead with two Frenchmen and an Estonian. In the closing stages, McNena and one of the French riders escaped. 'One of the guys on the French Police team attacked and I got straight on his wheel. We rode hard in the last 5 kilometes - I was doing more work than him as I think he was hoping his team-mate would come up to us. The last 500 metres were uphill, I was in the lead but he jumped around me just before the final corner, with about 300 metres left. I got back up to him, though, and went by him before the line.' 'It is great to get a win under my belt,' he said, of his first victory abroad this year. VC La Pomme team-mate Tommy Evans was 6th. The national race continues tomorrow morning with a team time trial and concludes with an afternoon leg of about 120 kilometres. FOUR PROFESSIONAL TEAMS AMONGST RECORD FBD MILK RAS FIELD: (May 2) The strongest ever line up for the FBD Milk Rás was today announced by Minister for Tourism and Sport Dr James McDaid. Four professional squads will line out in this year's race, namely the Swiss Fisconseils outfit, Team HSBC from South Africa, Legia-Bazliszek from Poland and Canadian team Jet Fuel Coffee. These will be joined by a total of 12 other squads from the USA, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, Scotland, and Wales, with whom defending champion Julian Winn will compete. Together with the Irish national selection and 21 county teams the field will comprise a record total of 190 riders. The 8 day Irish tour has been upgraded to the international calendar this year and now offers world ranking points to successful riders. It takes place from May 20th - 27th, starting in Navan and concluding 1,119 kilometres later with a criterium in Dublin's city centre. 'The FBD Milk Rás has established itself over the years as one of the most popular events in the Irish sporting calendar,' said Dr. McDaid today. 'This year, as well as providing an exciting sporting spectacle for thousands of fans along the route, the race will be a signal to the world that our determined precautionary measures have successfully kept the foot and mouth menace at bay. Ireland is again open for tourism and extends its traditional warm welcome to our visitors". All competitors entering the republic will have to comply with a strict protocol of measures set in place by the Department of Agriculture's expert group. These include disinfection of vehicles and bicycles, plus limitations governing the importation of certain foodstuffs. PANTANI, CIPOLLINI OUT OF TOUR DE FRANCE: (May 2) It has been announced this morning that Tour de France stars Marco Pantani and Mario Cipollini will miss this year's race, with the news that their Mercantone Uno and Saeco teams have not been selected to ride the 2001 edition. The Tour de France organizers also made the somewhat controversial decision to bypass the burgeoning Mercury outfit, 11th in the world rankings, when they disclosed the five wild-card teams earlier today. The confirmed selections are the Lotto-Adecco team of Andrei Tchmil, Laurent Jalabert's CSC-World Online squad, climbing specialists Euskaltel-Euskadi, plus the second division French outfits BigMat-Auber 93 and La Française des Jeux. These five bring to 21 the total number of teams to ride this year's race, which runs from July 7th - 29th this year. The recent doping allegations concerning 1998 winner Pantani are seen as a major reason for Mercantone Uno's exclusion, with the Tour de France authorities taking an increasingly tough stance against drug use in the race. Earlier this year they announced a comprehensive list of measures to limit the use of performance enhancing substances. Pantani's poor early season form did little to convince race organizer Jean Marie Leblanc that he should be invited. The flamboyant Mario Cipollini, who has won 12 stages and wore the yellow jersey in 1993 and 1997, will certainly be missed. But the prospects of the Italian playboy were hampered by an increasingly weakened Saeco side and a disappointing 2000 season when he missed the Tour de France due to injury and was ejected from the Tour of Spain after a punch-up with Spaniard Francisco Cerezo. However, the selection of 8 French teams, five of which are second division sides, has drawn criticism from the excluded teams. Mercury team director John Wordin, stated that the final selections of the Societe du Tour de France "were not in the best interests of the sport". "It's their race, they should do what they want, you have to respect their decision. But at the same time the race takes on a certain 'globalness' and by not having the best teams in the race, it's not in the best interests of the sport," Wordin told Cyclingnews.com. Mercantone Uno manager Giuseppe Martinelli stated that he was "very disappointed. I believed until the last moment that Italian cycling would be represented by Marco Pantani, but I was mistaken." FINAL TEAM SELECTION FOR 2001 TOUR DE FRANCE: Germany: TEAM DEUTSCHE TELEKOM; Belgium: DOMO - FARM FRITES, LOTTO-ADECCO; Spain: IBANESTO.COM, KELME - COSTA BLANCA, O.N.C.E., EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI; USA: US POSTAL SERVICE; Denmark: CSC-WORLD ONLINE; France: AG2R PREVOYANCE, BONJOUR, COFIDIS LE CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE, CREDIT AGRICOLE, FESTINA, JEAN DELATOUR, LA FRANÇAISE DES JEUX, BIGMAT-AUBER 93; Italy: FASSA BORTOLO, LAMPRE - DAIKIN, MAPEI - QUICK STEP; Netherlands: MICHAEL McNENA 3rd, O'SULLIVAN 4th in FRENCH RACE: (May 1) There was a further good showing for riders from the Team Ireland set-up in France today, when Michael McNena and Stephen O'Sullivan were 3rd and 4th respectively in a circuit race near Lyon. Both riders were prominent in a breakaway group which went clear early in the GP Cycliste de Cruas, from which McNena won three prime sprints. Stephen O'Sullivan then tried to get clear with two others, and after being recaptured with a kilometre to go, had sufficient strength left to come home just behind McNena in fourth place. Their Team Ireland team-mate Tommy Evans was 13th. 'I am a bit annoyed with myself because I think I should have won,' said McNena afterwards. 'I came around the last corner in third place but was a bit overgeared for the sprint - I think if I had got it right I would have been right up there.' However, both McNena and O'Sullivan will take considerable encouragement from their performances, which show that they are now coming into good form after disruptions early this season. Meanwhile, 23 La Creuse rider Aidan Duff is 70th overall after the penultimate stage of the Ruban Granitier Breton race, also in France. The Dundrum cyclist has been using the event as preparation for his Irish team slot in the forthcoming FBD Milk Rás, which starts on May 20th. |
MANNING
TAKES FINAL YELLOW:
(May 27) Great Britain team rider Paul Manning today
entered the history books when he became the first ever
English winner of the FBD Milk Rás. Manning
successfully completed the concluding 1 hour criterium
race in Dublin's City Centre without mishap, with his
team mates successfully neutralising any attacks. The 26
year old finished in the same time as stage winner David
Kopp of the Deutsche Telecom team, who was a length
clear of Sweden's Niclas Ekstrom and former South
African national champion Malcom Lange. 
FOX
FOURTH IN LINCOLN GRAND PRIX:
(May 13) With the FBD Milk Rás now just one week away,
former professional Morgan Fox today showed a timely
return to form when he placed an excellent 4th in the
world-ranked Lincoln GP in England. The 26 year old
broke clear with 14 others approximately half-way
through the tough 102 mile race, quickly establishing a
race-winning lead over the rest of the main field. With
three laps to go British champion John Tanner and 2000
FBD Milk Rás winner Julian Winn forged ahead, opening
up a maximum advantage of 49 seconds over Fox's group.
However, this margin dropped when Fox, former Linda
McCartney pro Matthew Stephens and Premier Calendar
leader Hew Pritchard set off in chase with one lap
remaining.
PEELO
TAKES SHAY ELLIOT MEMORIAL RACE: (May 13) Usher IRC rider Dave Peelo
yesterday fulfilled a long-standing ambition when he won the prestigious Shay
Elliot memorial race in Wicklow. The 34 year old was part of a 15-strong group
which escaped after 25 miles of the race, going clear on the ascent out of
Rathdrum. Under the impetus of riders such as Peelo, Irish under 23 champion
David O'Loughlin (CC Nogent Sur-Oise), national 25 mile TT title holder Paul
Healion (Usher IRC) and former national champion Ray Clarke (Classic Walls/NCBI),
the group quickly established a decisive lead on the main bunch.
SCANLON,
O'LOUGHLIN IMPRESS IN FRANCE:
(May 9) Connaught team cyclists Mark Scanlon and David
O'Loughlin yesterday finished the prestigious French
amateur race, the Essor Breton, in style. After being in
a breakaway for much of the 155 kilometre final stage,
O'Loughlin went clear in the closing kilometres with two
other riders and in the sprint was narrowly pipped by
New Zealander Harry Roulston. Scanlon finished 11th on
the stage and ended the race an impressive 10th overall.
He also won the competition for the best young rider in
the race.
BARRY
WINS TOUR OF ULSTER: (May 7) Corkman Tim Barry today showed he is gearing up
for a good FBD Milk Rás by taking victory in the Tour
of Ulster 3 day stage race. Barry placed 11th in this
morning's 3 mile time trial, 26 seconds behind national
25 mile TT champion Paul Healion, then stole the race
lead from Eugene Moriarty when he got clear in a small
group 9 miles from the end of the final 62 mile stage
from Lurgan to Newry.