Dear Readers,
Welcome to the latest edition of The Prologue, VeloNews.com's weekly summary of news from the world of competitive cycling.
The season is in full swing this week with racing underway both here in the U.S. and in Europe.
The UCI is allowing British track cyclist Rob Hayles to return to competition, two weeks after he was disqualified from the world track championships for having a high hematocrit level, the British cycling federation says. "British Cycling is very pleased that Rob has regained his license from the UCI and will be able to continue his racing program. We can now continue to concentrate on preparation for the Olympics in Beijing," British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford said in a statement released Friday.
On paper the Liquigas Team is one of the favorite teams, but general manager Roberto Amadio knows that to win the Paris-Roubaix the good leg is not enough.
SportSouth has partnered with the Tour de Georgia presented by AT&T, a seven-stage U.S. professional cycling race, to televise a series of 30-minute daily recap shows during the 2008 Tour de Georgia, which runs from Monday, April 21 through Sunday, April 27. SportSouth’s coverage of the 2008 Tour de Georgia begins on Saturday, April 19 at 10:30 p.m. ET with a 30-minute race preview show featuring in-depth analysis of the course and cyclists. Please see below for the daily race recap show debut and re-air times.
Trips for Kids (TFK) proudly announces its attendance at this year's Sea Otter Marketplace Expo selling new and used donated merchandise from its Re-Cyclery Bike Thrift Shop. Its affordable bike parts, clothing, and accessories will be available at booth #138 on Friday, April 18 through Sunday, April 20 at the Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif.
Noran Engineering, Inc. (NEi) today announced it will broadcast the 2nd part of a series of webinars that will focus on the use of finite element analysis (FEA) during the design cycle with its NEi Fusion FEA tool. This webinar will cover composites analysis in the design stage and focus on construction of finite element models with orthotropic materials, obtaining structural analysis solutions, and the subsequent post processing capabilities to pinpoint problem areas down to specific plies in a composite part. The webinar is scheduled for 11:00am U.S.
Coming back from a small bout of sickness, Ina-Yoko Teutenberg held off rival sprinters in today in the Netherlands to win Drentse 8 van Dwingeloo. Teutenberg finished off the work of the High Road Team who had chased hard to reel in a 3’40” break, coming around Nürngerber’s Regina Schleicher to take her first victory in Europe for the season and the 21st season victory for High Road Women.
Returning to this year's Tour of the Battenkill in Salem, NY on April 19 is Team R.A.C.E. Pro cycling team of Canada. Team R.A.C.E Pro returns with an expanded squad that includes one-day classic specialist and 5-time Canadian National Road Champion Mark Walters, as well as 2007 Univest Omnium Champion Ryan Roth. Both are aiming for Beijing Olympic berths in 2008. Team R.A.C.E. Pro is managed by Tour de France Stage Winner and Olympic Silver Medalist Steve Bauer and Josee Larocque of Cycle Sport Management, Inc.
Trek Travel, the luxury cycling tour operator, is offering a limited number of entries into the prestigious Etape du Tour cyclosportive, or mass participation bicycle ride, that traces the route of an entire stage of the Tour de France. This year the event, which expects nearly 9,000 participants, will take place on Sunday, July 6, and will cover Stage 10 of the 2008 Tour de France. It leaves from the town of Pau, climbs the infamous Col du Tourmalet, and finishes on the climb of Hautacam, site of one of Lance Armstrong’s greatest conquests.
HIGH ROAD POISED TO STRIKE HARD IN HELL OF THE NORTH Paris, France - 10 April 2008 - High Road is ready to strike hard in Paris-Roubaix this Sunday. “We’ve got riders like [Bernhard] Eisel, [Andreas] Klier, [Roger] Hammond and [George] Hincapie who are born to ride the cobblestones.” sports director Brian Holm said. “People seem to have forgotten but Servais Knaven is a former winner of Paris-Roubaix [in 2001]. Maybe he’s no longer in his prime as a bike rider, but he’s pretty close to it.”
The Credit Agricole team practices on the Arenberg Forest cobbles in Wallers, three days ahead of Paris-Roubaix.
MILRAM's Classics specialists with Ralf Grabsch start Sunday in Paris-Roubaix MILRAM's Classics specialists will take on the challenge of the "Hell of the North“ this coming Sunday, April 13. Led by Ralf Grabsch, the MILRAM Team will ride the 106th edition of the famous one-day Classic Paris-Roubaix. Directeur Sportif Antonio Bevilaqua will also look to Germans Christian Knees, Enrico Poitschke, Markus Eichler and Martin Müller, as well as Fabio Sabatini (Italy), Martin Velits (Slovakia) and Netherlands youngster Niki Terpstra.
Bob,
Thank you for an outstanding article on the facts and media bias in the fatal Cupertino accident. I wanted to let you know that in the wake of the accident the San Francisco Chronicle ran a story in which they analyzed accident data, and reported that "Bicyclists were twice as likely as to be at fault."
D.C.,
Napa, California
Dear D.C.,
Some start earlier than others
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Making their mark both stateside and in South America last weekend, Kona Factory Team riders proudly stood atop the podium in Fountain Hills, Arizona and the Pan-Am Mountain Bike Championships in Venezuela. Competing in three races last weekend at the McDowell Mountain Park in the second NMBS event, team riders Barry Wicks, Ryan Trebon and Wendy Simms all secured top-three finishes in at least one race. Kris Sneddon also competed and finished in the top-15 in all of his races.
Press Release: NEW CULT: FOR THE CHOSEN CYCLISTS If you're one of the chosen cyclists, you should check out the Web site, oyvelo.com. Even if you're not Jewish, you still might like the site enough to send the link to your token Jewish friend. It's a great place to discover Israeli Cycling gear and read about superhuman Jewish cyclists. Oy, Velo!
With their morale on a high after Judith Arndt’s victory in the Tour of Flanders, High Road’s women’s team now tackle the fourth round of the World Cup this Saturday, the Ronde Van Drenthe. The high point of a three-race series in and around Drenthe, the 136.6km event features a triple ascent of the notorious Vamberg climb. 750 metres long and with sections at a 20 percent gradient, the race features a number of cobbled sections. Narrow, twisting and frequently exposed roads, not to mention potentially bad weather, make the race a tough event, normally fraught with tension.
Who is the Quikest Stik in the land? That is the question that California Bike Gear intends to answer through a Nationwide Stikdown. To make the competition as intense as possible, every entry must be caught on video and uplinked to YouTube. The result is that everyone will have real time information about the time to beat.