The Fly V Australia team is a bit of an enigma. It’s an American/Australian team, sponsored by an Australian airline (V Australia, a branch of Virgin Blue Airlines) as a marketing tool to promote a new non-stop flight from LAX to Sydney.
Garmin-Slipstream took control of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour Tuesday during a 141km battle of attrition from Colac to the coastal town of Warrnambool that was marked by strong winds that fractured the peloton into pieces. By the finish only six riders remained at the front of the race, three of whom wore the blue-and-orange argyle of the American squad, including stage winner Chris Sutton.
Behind every great cycling event are its race director and management company. At the Tour de France, it’s Christian Prudhomme and ASO; the Amgen Tour of California has Jim Birrell and Medalist Sports; at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour it’s Michael Hands and TL Sports, a Victoria-based event management company that also runs several running events in Melbourne.
The beautiful Campagnolo “5-star” high-flange hub is reborn as Electra, but not threaded. It features a Shimano freehub body.
It’s been three weeks since Interbike, but I still get questions asking what really caught my eye at this year’s show. There was plenty and, until now, there really hasn’t been space in the articles I’ve done on VeloNews.com and in the print version for all of it. Aside from what I’ve already posted and put in the magazine, there were some real treasures and I’ve decided to devote today’s column to some of the other things that I found to be really cool. So here are some new components that appealed to me.
Josh Tostado and Eszter Horanyi recorded more laps than any other solo riders in the male and female division to earn solo national titles.
Tires are the least expensive component upgrades available for your bike, but one that can make a huge plus in performance.
One man competing at the Jayco Herald Sun Tour after a long spell off the radar is Garmin-Slipstream’s Trent Lowe, who has been absent from the pro peloton for nearly the entire 2009 season.
Belgian cyclist Frank Vandenbroucke has died at the age of 34, a source close to the racer told the French news service Agence France Presse. According to Belgian media, Vandenbroucke was found dead in his hotel room in Senegal, where he was on holiday. A preliminary diagnosis suggests Vandenbroucke suffered from a pulmonary embolism. "Sadly this has only partly come as a surprise, for we knew he was not doing too well," said his uncle, former racer Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke. "He was up and down, both in terms of his health and his morale. He left for Senegal on Sunday."
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I frequently encounter joggers jogging against traffic in bike lanes that are clearly marked bike lanes, not multiuse lanes, and are in the street, even though a perfectly good sidewalk also runs along the street.
A California emergency-room physician faces trial this week on multiple felony charges stemming from a 2008 road-rage case that left two cyclists seriously injured. Dr. Christopher T. Thompson allegedly braked suddenly in front of Ron Peterson and Christian Stoehr after he and Peterson exchanged words as they descended Mandeville Canyon Road on July 4, 2008. The road, a two-lane, dead-end street in the Los Angeles suburb of Brentwood, is a popular destination for local cyclists who want a climb with relatively little traffic.
Katie Compton (Planet Bike-Stevens) made it three for three on Sunday in the final round of the Cincinnati UCI3 Cyclocross Festival, while Jeremy Powers (Cyclocrossworld.com-Cannondale) used a tight corner just before the finishing straight to get the better of Ryan Trebon (Kona). The women’s race followed the script that had been written over the previous two rounds. Sue Butler (Monavie-Cannondale) got the hole shot, while Compton, who did not reconnoiter the course beforehand, was content to do her inspection during the race before riding off to another dominating win.
Proving that age is just a number, 40-year-old Estonian Jann Kirsipuu of the Malaysian team LeTua took the opening stage of Australia's Jayco Herald Sun Tour Monday in Ballarat. A four-time Tour de France stage winner, Kirsipuu out-sprinted Garmin-Slipstream’s Chris Sutton to take the stage win and the first leader’s jersey of the tour. Pre-race predictions proved correct, as strong crosswinds split the peloton just 30km into the 149km stage, with 41 riders making the selection.
Chad Gerlach’s high-profile comeback to pro cycling after five years of abusing drugs and living on the streets took a reverse this summer as he once again appeared to spiral down into addiction and panhandling. But more recently, with a new baby and assistance from family and friends, he’s off the street and back on the roads, in addiction treatment and hoping to resume his career.
David Clinger knows the sport of cycling from the highest of the highs to the lowest depths it brings. He knows those valleys and peaks depend as much on personal choices as they do on talent. It's why, when asked if he'd heard about Chad Gerlach's relapse into addiction, Clinger showed as much disappointment as sympathy.
Let the record show that upon crossing the finish line first Sunday in Rhode Island, Tim Johnson's first question was not about how his beloved Red Sox had fared in a playoff game that afternoon. Instead he asked how his Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com teammate Jeremy Powers had fared at the races in Ohio. Johnson made the Red Sox query next.