By Andrew Hood
Photo: AFP (file photo)
A week after abandoning the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, last year’s Tour de France runner up Andreas Klöden will make changes to his training program ahead of July’s Grande Boucle. His racing program, however, won’t change and he’s expected to race next week at Flèche Wallone and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The 29-year-old underwent extensive testing at a clinic in Freiburg on Monday which showed the German all-rounder is behind in his preparation for the Tour. “Andreas’s test results are not bad at all,” reported team doctor Andreas Schmid on T-Mobile’s web page. “Based on these insights, we will now alter the training program. In our opinion, the deficit can be quickly eliminated.”
Klöden said he simply didn’t feel good at the demanding Basque Country tour and opted to abandon rather than push too hard.
“It wasn’t yet the way I imagined it to be,” Klöden said. “So, to be on the safer side, I abandoned the race in Spain. I’m glad the test is behind me. Now I know on what I need to work on.”
Klöden will train in Switzerland, in coordination with his coach Thomas Schediwie.
“Now we have the information we need in order to rearrange the training,” said Schediwie. “We will take the test results into account and correct the deficits as soon as possible. The preparation for the Tour is not in danger.”
Veneberg takes Scheldeprijs
Rabobank’s Thorwald Veneberg beat Tomas Vaitkus (Ag2r) in a two-up sprint after holding off the lead bunch in part of an early breakaway. Defending champion and Flanders/Roubaix champ Tom Boonen (Quick Step) could only muster fourth after the pair remained away too long for the main bunch to bring back. GP Scheldeprijs, Belgium, 202km
1. Thorwald Veneberg (Ned), Rabobank 4:30:00
2. Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu), AG2r Prévoyance same time
3. Simone Cadamuro (Ita), Domina Vacanze +4:39
4. Tom Boonen (Bel), Quick Step +4.41
5. Nico Eeckhout (Bel), Chocolade Jacques-T Interim +4:57
Petacchi winner in Aragon
Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) won in his first race since Milan-San Remo by taking the first stage of the five-day Vuelta a Aragon in Spain. Isaac Galvez (Illes Balears) started an early sprint, but Petacchi shot past on his right to win easily ahead of Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros), who shook off injuries from his hard crash at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday. Vuelta a Aragon
Stage 1, Alcala de la Sevla to Valderrobles, 167km
1. Alessandro Petacchi (Ita), Fassa Bortolo 3:58:48
2. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros-Würth
3. Isaac Galvez Lopez (Spa), Illes Balears
4. David Fernandez (Spa), Andalucia-Paul Versan
5. Ion Del Rio (Spa), Andalucia-Paul Versan — all same time
Galdeano back after illness
Igor González de Galdeano will return to racing this week in the Vuelta a Aragon for the first time since pulling out of Paris-Nice with illness. “Still I am not physically 100 percent because I did only 10 days of training after 15 days of being stopped to recover,” Galdeano said. “In the Vuelta a Aragon this is the beginning of my preparation for the Tour of France. These past 10 days I haven’t done more than four hours on the bike because I was taking antibiotics until Sunday. From now on I hope that everything returns to normal. My calendar up to the Tour is still undecided. Initially I was going to ride the Volta a Catalunya and the Dauphiné Libéré, but that was before I got sick.”
Also lining up for Liberty Seguros will be Aaron Kemps, Koen de Kort, Iván Santos, Jesus Hernández and Daniel Navarro. Allan Davis is questionable after crashing hard in Paris-Roubaix.
Cunego to race Romandie
Damiano Cunego will ride the Tour de Romandie (April 26-May 1) as his final warm-up before defending his Giro d’Italia title in May. The ProTour stop hits some steep climbs in the Swiss Alps, providing the Lampre-Caffita rider a chance to hone his form. Uncharacterstically, Cunego is still without a win so far in the 2005 season. Also lining up is sprinter Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo), also keen to sharpen his form ahead of the Giro. Tour of Britain heads north
An expanded Tour of Britain will include an extra day and push north into Scotland, organizers said Tuesday during a presentation of the 2005 course.
The race, which returned last year after a five-year absence, will start in Glasgow on August 30 and roll south with stages in Cumbria and Lancashire, Yorkshire, the east Midlands, Birmingham and London. The race will conclude Sept. 4 with a circuit race around Westminster in London.
Richard Caborn, minister for sport and tourism, said: “I was delighted to start the third stage of The Tour of Britain and it was obvious how much real enthusiasm there was for the event among local people. I am confident that we will see more and more people taking up cycling – some to keep fit, some hopefully to produce the next generation of Olympic champions and Tour winners.”
Marathon opens mountain bike World Cup
Massimo De Bertolis (Full Dynamix) and Petra Henzi (Fischer-BMC) rolled to victory last weekend in the mountain bike marathon World Cup opener for the 2005 season. The marathon discipline will see a full eight-round World Cup schedule this year ahead of the world championships. Cross-country, downhill and 4-cross each will see eight rounds in 18 venues throughout the season.
World Cup marathon, Round 1, April 10, Cyprus, 94.6km
Elite men
1. Massimo De Bertolis (Ita), Full Dynamix 3h34:13
2. Roland Stauder (Ita), Full Dynamix +1:28
3. Dario Acquaroli (Ita), Full Dynamix +2:28
4. Alban Lakata (Aut) +4:59
5. Maarten Tjallingii (Ned), Heijdens Ten Tusscher +8:21
32. Michael Koenig (USA) +1h26:46
Elite women
1. Petra Henzi (Swi), Fischer-BMC 4h19:06
2. Daniela Louis (Swi) +1:32
3. Anna Enocsson (Swe), Ghost Intern. + 8:25
4. Esther Suss (Swi), Ghost Intern. +8:39
5. Anna Baylis (Aus), Ghost Intern. +18:32
6. Melissa Thomas (USA) +19:24