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12.10.2006/ Herald Sun Tour: Hirito wins fourth stage, Menzies defends
yellow jersey, Basso: decision today or tomorrow, Anders Lund: a young classic specialist for CSC, Maarten
den Bakker: ‘I have the chance to win a great prize myself’, Cruz and Vandborg to Discovery Channel, Liquigas
for Giro Piemonte, Milram for Giro Lombardia, Zabel starts in Six days, Koos Moerenhout back to Rabobank, Saunier Duval
interested in Mayo, Iker Camaño signed a two year deal, Bettini starts at Six Days in Grenoble, Marc Scanlon retires,
Andrea Perron retires
New: Picture gallery: Paris - Tours 08.10.2006
New: Echappé victorieuse in a sprinters's classic
Herald Sun Tour: Hirito wins fourth stage, Menzies defends yellow jersey
Stage four played out much like
yesterday's stage. After a number of attempts, a 16-man break with the right mix of teams and no GC riders got away, eventually
building a lead of six minutes over peloton.
With 25 km to go, the lead group nearly blew apart in the crosswinds. The
break split, with a lead group opening a gap of 40 seconds, until Hilton Clarke (Navigators) buried himself to close it. Finally,
it was his brother Johnny (South Australia-AIS) who initiated the decisive move out of the break, taking Peter McDonald (FRF
Couriers), local boy David Tanner (Australian U23 Team) and Satoshi Hirose (Japan National Team) with him. Hirose outsprinted
Tanner for the stage win, while Hilton Clarke succeeded in taking over the sprint competition lead from second-overall German
talent Tobias Erler (Giant Asia). Erler was able to narrow his deficit on Menzies to four seconds by placing in a early bonus
sprint.
Menzies and the main bunch came in 9:16 behind the stage winner.
"My Health Net-Maxxis teammates took up the responsibility again today," Menzies
told a reporter of Australian based website Cycling News. "Just keeping the bunch where it should be. But who knows what is
going to happen tomorrow."
Thursday's stage could prove decisive in this years Herald Sun Tour, ending
with a 22 km climb up to Lake Mountain.
Basso: decision today or tomorrow
Italian media reported that a decision about Ivan Basso will be made today
or tomorrow. It's believed that Italian anti-doping authorities will archive the case as the court in Madrid made perfectly
clear in a letter last week that it's not certain that the identifications of the riders in the Puerto documents are correct
(Cyclingheroes reported that the evidence is rather spare and vage: https://cyclingheroes.tripod.com/cyclingheroes.english/id222.html ) and that they won't hand over more material to the UCI. The Madrid court doesn't consider the UCI as as a part in
the case. They also stated in the letter that Ivan Basso is not part of their investigation and isn't accused of any wrong
doing. Italian based website "tuttobiciweb" reported that a decision about Basso would be announced at the latest on
Friday morning.
Italian daily sports "Gazzetta dello Sport" reports that Basso might even
start at the Giro Lombardia. The "Gazzetta dello Sport " is a division of the RCS company that organizes Saturdays
last Pro-Tour race and it is believed that the Gazzetta is very well informed about Basso's situation.
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| Ivan Basso during this years Giro d' Italia (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Anders Lund: a young classic specialist for CSC
For Anders Lund a dream came true as he signed his
first pro contract with team CSC. Andersen stated in an interview with the CSC team website: "It's only natural for a
young, ambitious Danish rider to aim for a contract with Team CSC, and I've never made a secret of the fact that it's been
a dream of mine for a long time. I've had an ongoing involvement with Team CSC for two years already, so it's not like it
comes as a huge surprise to me, that the team is interested, but you never know for sure until the contract is signed."
In the U23 category Andersen had some good results in various classic races:
"I don't think I'm a sprinter or a mountain specialist, but maybe more of an all-round rider, who likes the smaller climbs.
As an U23-rider I'm mostly a classics specialist, and I was second in Liégé-Bastogne-Liégé, fifth in Tour of Flanders and
13th in Paris-Roubaix, so it'll probably be in the one-day races I'll have to show my worth. But you can't really compare
being a pro to what I've done so far, because at my age a lot of riders would be happy to just make it to the finish line
at some of those races,"
Andersen doesn't think he will play a major role in the grand tours but that doensn't mean he has no ambitions:
"I'll probably never achieve major results in the big stage races, because I'm not particularly strong in time trials or on
the tough climbs, but I would like to become a good classics rider, and Liégé-Bastogne-Liégé is one of my goals for the future.
But this coming season my aim is to learn how things are done and help the team as much as I can."
Maarten den Bakker: ‘I have the chance to win a great prize myself’
Maarten den Bakker leaves Milram an will join the Dutch Skil-Shimano squad next year.
Maarten was asked by the Skil-Shimano team website why he opted for Skil-Shimano: "Skil-Shimano is a team
with spirit, a lot of young riders and a good programme, which appeals to me. At Skil-Shimano I want to share my experience
with the young lads and I have the chance to win a great prize myself. The team has performed well this past season and I
hope we are able to continue that next term. It’s going well at the moment and I may ride another two years, but I feel
Skil-Shimano is a good team to finish my career at. I’m looking forward to riding for a predominantly Dutch team again.
I would not have wanted to miss my adventure at Milram, where many Italians and Germans ride, but I have missed that Dutch
camaraderie."
He was also asked what he would like to teach the youngsters of the Skil-Shimano asked. Maarten answered:
"I wouldn’t say I’m the wisest head, but I can tell the riders a lot about my experiences in pro cycling. About
diet, training and preparing for important races for instance. They’ll have to pick out the good things themselves,
that’s what I have always done myself. Otherwise, it’s hard to say what my new teammates can learn; it differs
from person to person and from situation to situation in the race. Most riders have already acquired a considerable amount
of experience this season and the goal is for them to be able to stay with the pace in the final stages next season, so that
they learn to get a good result. That requires insight. Aart Vierhouten has naturally done well this season in that context
and I feel we complement each other very well."
About his own ambitions Den Bakker stated: "Skil-Shimano rides a programme that suits me well. I hope to do
well in the spring classics in March and April. I really feel the Omloop Het Volk is a very good classic, it would be brilliant
if we could grab attention in the Tour of Flanders, but most of all I would like to get a good result in the Amstel Gold Race.
It is the most important Dutch race and the course suits me , so I hope to be in form then."
Cruz and Vandborg to Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel announced that Antonio "Tony" Cruz and Brian Vandborg will join the Discovery team next
year. Cruz comes back to Discovery after racing one year in domestic races in the uS. Cruz was a member of the Discovery squad
from 2001 untill 2005. Bruyneel commented the return of Cruz by saying: “With Tony, I’m happy to have him back
with us as I know he left for personal reasons. It was an easy decision for me to make in re-signing him. Brian, on the other
hand, is someone new to our Team but not an unknown to me. I have watched him for a few years now and his impressive World
Championships Time Trial only confirmed to me that he was a rider I wanted on our Team.”
25 year old Brain Vandborg comes from CSC and he also had an offer from the German T-Mobile squad. Vandborg
said about his motives to join the Discovery Channel team: “Johan (Bruyneel, ed.) has a great reputation for developing
riders and I am excited to work with him and be a part of this team. There are so many great riders on Discovery and I know
I will have opportunities to learn from guys and be successful.”
Liquigas for Giro Piemonte
Liquigas is getting ready for the end of the 2006 season and promises the grand finale. Today, the green
team will take part into the Giro del Piemonte with a squad captained by the following four riders: Enrico Gasparotto, Vincenzo
Nibali, Luca Paolini and Franco Pellizotti. The squad will be completed with: Roman Kreuziger, Matej Mugerli, Andrea
Noe' and Stefano Zanini. In the team car: Mario Scirea
Milram for Giro Lombardia, Zabel starts in Six days
The Italian/German squad will start Saturdays last Pro-Tour race with the following riders: Mirko Celestino,
Alessandro Cortinovis, Matej Jurco, Andrej Grivko, Alberto Ongarato, Fabio Sacchi, Alessandro Vanotti and Giovanni Visconti.
DS is Gianluigi Stanga. Meanwhile German Milram rider Erik Zabel will start tomorrow at the SixDayNight in Büttgen, Germany. Zabel
builds a team with Bruno Risi from Switzerland. The two old hands will also start together in the sixdays races in Dortmund
(26 - 31 October) and Munich (9 - 14 November).
The SixDayNight in the Sportforum in Büttgen is taking place for the
sixth time this year and is regarded as the opening of the German winter track season.
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| Erik Zabel before the start of this years Paris-Tours (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Koos Moerenhout back to Rabobank
After along journey Koos Moerenhout will come back to the team were
he started his professional career. The Phonak rider signed with the Dutch Rabobank squad a one year deal. Moerenhout is after
Leon Van Bon and Max van Heeswijk the third rider who returns to Rabobank in 2007. The squad has 27 riders for it's 2007
roster: Léon van Bon, Michael Boogerd, Jan Boven, Thomas Dekker, Theo Eltink, Rick Flens, Robert Gesink, Bram de Groot, Max
van Heeswijk, Sébastian Langeveld, Gerben Löwik, Marc de Maar, Koos Moerenhout, Joost Posthuma, Kai Reus, Thorwald Veneberg and
Pieter Weening (all Netherlands), Graeme Brown, Mathew Hayman and William Walker (all Australia), Juan Antonio Flecha,
Oscar Freire and Pedro Horrillo (all Spain), Mauricio Ardila (Columbia), Denis Menchov (Russia), Grischa Niermann (Geramy) and
Danish climber Michael Rasmussen.
Saunier Duval interested in Mayo, Iker Camaño signed a two year deal
The Basque Euskatel squad announced on it's website that Iban Mayo will
leave the team. According to several media reports Saunier Duval is interested in signing the Basque rider. "Nothing
is signed," Saunier Duval team manager Mauro Gianetti told AFP and continued by saying: "We're hoping to pull together
an agreement within the next week." Iban Mayo told Spanish website Todociclismo.com: "The Saunier Duval team has made a big
offer. I'm very grateful to them and now it is time for us to talk it over. They have faith in me and that is important."
Iker Camaño has already signed up with the Saunier Duval squad for
the next two seasons to come. The former Euskaltel-Euskadi rider was part of the Basque team for three years, but now
he has reached a turning point in his professional career: "I´ve defended the Euskaltel-Euskadi colours for three years, and
I´m only too pleased with the team, which I´ll always fondly remember, but I feel it´s time, to make a change for the better,
to start a new stage: sort of now or never. Saunier Duval is an ambitious team and has all the characteristics I need
to reach the goals I´ve set for myself. Moreover, its sponsors are enthusiastic and supportive, and I know the Sports Directors
Joxean "Matxin" Fernández and Sabino Angoitia very well. It took me some time to make the decision and leave Euskaltel-Euskadi
but I needed only a few minutes to say yes to Saunier Duval-Prodir."
Bettini starts at Six Days in Grenoble
Fresh road race world champion Paolo Bettini starts with Marco Vila
at the Six Days in Grenoble (France). The Six days of Grenoble will take place from October 26 untill October 31.
Marc Scanlon retires
26 year old Irish rider Marc Scanlon decided to retire from professional cycling. Scanlon started his
pro career in 2001 at the Linda McCartney squad and joined the French AG2R team in 2003 were he stayed the last three years.
Scanlon had three victories as a pro and was a two times national Irish champion. In 1998 he won the junior world championships.
Andrea Perron retires
35 year old Andrea Perron (CSC) will also retire. The Italian rider
will start at the Giro Lombardia on Saturday and his final race will be Sundays Thropheo Borgomanero, a duo timetrial that
he won last year. Perron will start together with Fabian Cancellara.
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| Andrea Perron (CSC) at La Redoute during this years Eneco-Tour (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
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