Millar and Cavendish set their targets
David Millar and Mark Cavendish will both have specific targets in the opening week of racing, with the Scottish all-rounder looking to ride strongly in Tuesday's time-trial and in the Massif Central on Thursday and Friday, hoping that he can either win a stage or that the race situation puts him in with a chance of the yellow jersey, while the Manx sprinter aims for wins in the four or five stages that he believes will end in bunch sprints.
As his High Road team's new main sponsor, Columbia sportswear, unveiled its sky-blue jersey yesterday Cavendish said he is lighter, stronger, more self-assured and more relaxed than when he turned up at last year's London start as a distinctly hyper-looking debutant, living every moment to the full but probably wasting mental energy in the process.
"I'm more confident than I was. I know it would be hard to get more confident than I was, but in the races the fact that I have a strong team behind me adds to it. I know I can win anyway." His two stage wins in the Giro d'Italia have "added to my confidence. It's knocked some of the other sprinters. I've got a psychological edge".
Cavendish said that winning up to three stages in the first week is "more than feasible if you look at it logically. I'm the fastest there at the end of the bike race, but the issue is getting to the end of the bike race. There's four stages I think will end in a bunch sprint, five possibly could, so obviously we've targeted those."
The opening stage today running south-east to the Breton cycling mecca of Plumelec should see a mass finish - although threatened rain and gales may well lead to crashes and splits in the field - but the final mile is up a short, steep climb which will not favour the pure sprinters; he will stand a better chance in tomorrow's run northwards to the coastal town of Saint-Brieuc.
With the Olympics in the back of his mind, Cavendish is determined to go as far as he can in his second Tour. "I'll aim to finish. It's not fair on the organisers, the team or the sponsor to race with the aim of not finishing. If I'm too tired I won't finish, and if I'm not good enough I won't make the time limit, so maybe I won't finish, but mentally I'm aiming to do 21 days."
For all that Millar is eight years Cavendish's senior, he too has matured in the last 12 months, thanks, he says, to the responsibility of having a stake in the Slipstream squad.
Like Cavendish, the Scot finished the Giro d'Italia for the first time, but he did so essentially as training for the Tour, following it with altitude training camps in Switzerland and Spain, losing 3kg in weight. "I came out of it mentally pinging, switched straight into Tour mode and started dieting."
There is one other Briton in the race, but he is not officially British quite yet. Chris Froome is a member of the Barloworld team and a product of the International team based at the ICU's cycling centre in Aigle, Switzerland. Froome has ridden the Commonwealth Games and world championships for Kenya, but has always held a British passport and is currently working on getting a UK racing licence in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games.
guardian.co.uk (c) Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
Mark Cavendish enjoying rides of his life in Giro d'Italia as Briton cycles into history books
Not many British sportsmen - let alone British road cyclists - over the years have warranted centre-page spreads in L'Equipe and La Gazzetta dello Sport in the same week, but that is the degree of celebrity being enjoyed by Britain's sprint sensation Mark Cavendish on the Giro d'Italia.
Cavendish - a super-quick finisher, courtesy of long hours with the GB track team and those fiery Celtic genes from his native Isle of Man - has stormed to two stage wins in the three-week Giro d'Italia and was second on a third occasion in a photo-finish that some, having studied the image for hours, still maintain he won. Now his name is as familiar in Rome and Paris as it is in Ramsey and Peel.
His head-to-head with the cycling world's other hot sprinter, Italy's Daniele Bennati, has provided much of the interest in this year's race and it would be no surprise if these two were at it again this afternoon if both can drag themselves over the Monte Carpegna unscathed in an otherwise flattish stage en route to Locarno in Switzerland.
Bennati leads 3-2 in stage wins but Cavendish, who celebrated his 23rd birthday last week, is in the best shape of his life. He has confounded some observers and fought his way through the monstrous Alpine stages over the weekend and isn't finished yet.
"It has been brilliant and I've loved taking on Bennati on his home patch," Cavendish said yesterday as the Tour enjoyed a rest day. "He is undoubtedly the tactical king but equally he admits that in pure speed over the closing stages, I am the fastest in the world. It makes for a classic clash in styles and the crowds have responded.
"Bennati is a very classy rider and a good guy so it's building into a great rivalry, one I hope will continue for many years. He's a gent. On my second stage win in Cittadella, there was a fraction of a second when I was too close to the barriers when he could have legitimately shut me out, but he played it fair and we had a proper race to the line. It was a nice gesture and one day I will repay it. Some people are saying, with luck I could have three stage wins by now, but equally with no luck at all, I could easily have no stage wins to celebrate. The luck always evens itself out. It's a pretty mad world in those bunch finishes but if you ride hard enough, long enough and put yourself in contention often enough, the law of averages will take over and you will win your share.
"Not that I could achieve anything without the brilliant team we have at High Road. Sprinters are like the goalscorers in football. Our job is to finish it off, find the net, but we are absolutely nothing without those who create the opportunity. The guys who lead me out and fight to get me in prime position for the sprint, the guys who chase down breaks all afternoon so my sprint finish can come into play, and those who drop back and nurse me over the mountains so I can beat the cut and challenge again on a flatter day."
Cavendish announced himself to the cycling world last year with a sensational total of 11 victories in T-Mobile colours in his debut season as a professional, which equals the all-time record of Italy's Alessandro Petacchi. Already this year, Cavendish has added another six and if he can stay injury-free and motivated, the Manxman has a stellar career ahead of him. Good sprinters stay competitive through to their mid-30s.
His determination to complete this year's mountainous Giro - he abandoned in the second week in the Tour de France last year - also demonstrates a desire to challenge eventually for the sprinters' big prize, the points jerseys in the major Tours. Bravo, that would be a huge boost for British road cycling.
This season began with a startling gold medal with Bradley Wiggins in the Madison, a two-man event, at the world track championships in Manchester, and the Olympics in Beijing remain a priority, along with another start, and a couple of stage wins, in the Tour de France.
Cavendish said: "It can be very tough combining the road and track. It makes extra demands as you look to peak more often, but it's a commitment I make because I enjoy it so much."
The Cavendish/Wiggins combo - the 'Little and Large' of cycling - is just as strong off the bike and they always room together with GB and High Road.
"We hit it off from the moment we first met. He completely cracks me up and he thinks I'm a bit of a case and enjoys doing impressions of me. We spend most of our time laughing. He likes to get his guitar out in the hotel room some evenings after a tough day and jam away. Brad thinks he's Paul Weller and actually he's pretty good. He wants to form a tribute band after the Olympics and do the pub circuit.
"On a three-week Tour, you have got no chance if you are unhappy and not enjoying yourself, and I am having a great time. These are the good days, right now, that you always dream about."
World beater began in BMX
Mark Cavendish has already recorded 17 road-race wins in less than 18 months as a full-time professional.
He started as a BMX rider before turning to track cycling, winning the 2005 Madison world championship with Rob Hayles in Los Angeles and taking the title again in March this year, with Bradley Wiggins, in Manchester.
On the road, he won 11 races with T-Mobile last year, beating the world's best sprinters in the Grote Scheldeprijs. This season, riding for the High Road, he retained his Scheldeprijs title, won the prologue of the Tour of Romandie and two stages of the Giro d'Italia. He lives in Manchester and Tuscany.
(c) Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2008
A special anniversary for Bruseghin
Italy's Marzio Bruseghin does not win that often. In fact, few were listing the 33 year-old Lampre rider as a favourite for the Giro d'Italia's 39.4-kilometre individual test from Pesaro to Urbino. The rider from Piadera di Vittorio Veneto did not bother himself with the pundits prognostics, instead he set about winning the stage by eight seconds over Tour de France champion Alberto Contador.
"My characteristics were favoured here," Bruseghin noted in a quiet voice following the win, only his third in the professional ranks. His other two victories also came thanks to time trials; his first win was in the 2006 Italian Championships, which allowed him to wear the maglia tricolore on the way to his second win, nearly one year ago on the slopes of Oropa.
In the 2007 Giro d'Italia, Bruseghin leapt into the spot light by taking the 12.6-kilometre mountain time trial run from Biella to Santuario Di Oropa, just ahead of climber Leonardo Piepoli.
Bruseghin knows that there are only certain days that suit his style. "The finale was adapted to me, it was a climb that demanded power. Also, [Contador] had to deal with wetter roads - I was a little lucky. It went well; it was a day like that.
"I can't take the maglia rosa, but there are certain stages, like this one, where I can take advantage." His margin was eight seconds on Contador, 20 seconds on Andreas Kloden and 36 seconds on Italian time trial champion Marco Pinotti.
The winning sensation was there on the Giro d'Italia's first rest day, just 24 hours before the stage into Urbino's walled city. "I had a little bit of feeling for this stage," Bruseghin admitted. "I heard what the reactions were yesterday and I started to think that this could be the day for me. It is not easy to understand this [feeling], even after ten years."
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Premont and Dahle do battle in Madrid
Just three races since returning to competition, Gunn Rita Dahle Flesja underlined why she is still considered the best female mountain biker in the world by coming to Madrid and winning under less than perfect circumstances. The Norwegian former World Champion outsprinted Canadian Marie-Helene Premont in a near photo finish to take victory with at time of 1:48:14. Marga Fullana, racing in her home country, finished third at 1:13. Sabine Spitz and Georgia Gould rounded out the top five.
Just one year ago Dahle Flesja was forced to stop riding after a long period of over racing and training led to a virus breaking her body down. It was only in Houffalize, Belgium, at the opening round of the cross country World Cup three weeks ago that Dahle Flesjå could return to racing at the top level. Then one week later in Offenburg, she withdrew from the race due to ill health. Nobody expected the result least of all Dahle Flesja herself.
Her husband and coach, Kenneth Flesja was equally shocked, but said after his wife's win, "Here we had a diamond and you can never crack one of those. Gunn Rita was scratched and now we have polished that diamond back into shape."
Dahle Flesja escaped with Premont, who's had a strong World Cup Season so far with a second and a third in the previous weeks. The Canadian was probably the favorite based on performances this year, but Dahle Flesja could draw from plenty of experience and a strong motivation upon her return to the front of the peloton, and it was Dahle Flesja who won out in an almost-sprint finish.
"During the first few laps, I was riding at my very limit, but I managed to keep my position in the leading group," said the Norwegian winner. "In the end, it came down to just Premont and me, so I told myself: Now I can win. This self-confidence combined with all of my experience and passion were the basis of my victory here in Madrid."
The World Cup takes a few weeks off for cross country riders before reconvening in Andorra for round four on May 31 - June 1. In the meantime, the opening round of the Gravity World Cup will take place May 10-11 in Maribor, Slovenia.
Copyrigth Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Top sprinter Petacchi to miss Giro d'Italia with virus
The Associated Press
Published: May 3, 2008
ROME: Top sprinter Alessandro Petacchi will miss the Giro d'Italia due to a virus, Team Milram announced Saturday.
Petacchi has won 24 Giro stages in his career. He contracted tracheo-bronchitis at a race in Turkey recently, Milram said in a statement.
Veteran sprinter Erik Zabel will replace Petacchi as the point-man in Milram's squad for the first major three-week race of the cycling season.
The Giro begins May 10.
"Until last night, even in this terrible condition, I was convinced I could race. But after talking it over with the team's general manager, Gerry Van Gerven, we decided not to rush back and prepare for the Tour de France instead in the best manner possible," Petacchi said.
Meanwhile, Petacchi is awaiting a verdict from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) concerning his use of an asthma drug.
The Italian Olympic Committee appealed to the CAS, asking sport's highest tribunal to annul a decision by the Italian cycling federation to clear Petacchi of any wrongdoing and impose a one-year suspension.
Petacchi registered a "nonnegative" test for salbutamol after winning the 11th stage of last year's Giro.
Petacchi is authorized by the International Cycling Union to use a certain amount of salbutamol as part of his regular medication, Ventolin. However, elevated levels of the drug can have performance-enhancing effects.
Copyright (c) 2008 the International Herald Tribune All rights reserved
French teams finalise Giro line-ups
Slovenian Tadej Valjavec will be the team captain for AG2R La Mondiale during the 2008 Giro d'Italia. The new recruit to the French ProTour team finished ninth in the Italian Grand Tour in 2004, and will therefore again aim for a good placing on General Classification in the race that starts May 10 in Palermo, Sicily.
But AG2R does not only count on Valjavec to deliver. Belarussian sprinter Alexandre Usov is also hoped to shine in the fast finishes. Italian Rinaldo Nocentini, strong in the early season, is another asset to the team, while Sylvain Calzati, short of racing kilometres, was not included in the roster contrary to previous plans.
The full line-up of AG2R La Mondiale is: Philip Deignan, Yuriy Krivtsov, Rene Mandri, Laurent Mangel, Rinaldo Nocentini, Nicolas Rousseau, Blaise Sonnery, Alexandre Usov and Tadej Valjavec.
Another French team, Cofidis, also announced its rider selection for the upcoming Giro. Belgians Nick Nuyens and Rik Verbrugghe will be the leaders of the squad. Nuyens finished second in Het Volk as well as in the Ronde van Vlaanderen this season. Verbrugghe, already scored three stages in the Corsa Rosa: the prologue in 2001, as well as two stages in 2002 and 2006.
The full Cofidis line-up is: Mickael Buffaz, Kevin De Weert, Bingen Fernandez, Nicolas Hartmann, Mathieu Heijboer, Yann Huguet, Damien Monier, Nick Nuyens and Rik Verbrugghe.
Finally, Francaise des Jeux plans to test its young riders on the Giro, with four riders included in the roster who have never participated in a Grand Tour: Frenchmen Mickael Cherel and Guillaume Levarlet, as well as Belarussian Yauheni Hutarovich and Belgian Tom Stubbe.
The full roster of Francaise des Jeux is: Mickael Cherel, Timothy Gudsell, Yauheni Hutarovich, Lilian Jegou, Yoann Le Boulanger, Guillaume Levarlet, Jeremy Roy, Tom Stubbe and Jussi Veikkanen.
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Giro d'Italia
Nyheter Tirsdag 29. april 2008:
Barloworld har laget klart.
Pressemelding fra Team Barloworld:
Mauricio Soler leads Team Barloworld's lineup for the Giro d'Italia
Team Barloworld today communicated the list of the riders who will take the start from Palermo on May 10 to ride the 91st Giro d'Italia. This is the first participation ever for Team Barloworld to the Corsa Rosa.
Colombian Mauricio Soler, after winning 2007 Tour de France's KOM classification, will be the captain for the first Grand Tour of the season, focusing on the final classification. This year's Giro is definitely hard, so it is important to have a strong team for both mountain and flat stages: Francesco Bellotti (Ita), Felix Cardenas (Col) and Christian Pfannberger (Aut) will work hard to get Soler into a good position on the mountains, whilst Patrick Calcagni (Sui), Stephen Cummings (Gbr), Carlo Scognamiglio (Ita) and Geraint Thomas (Eng) will take care of the captain on the plain. Enrico Gasparotto completes the roster: the Italian rider already wore the leader's pink jersey last year, and will look to repeat in 2008, competing for both flat and hilly stages.
John-Lee Augustyn and Giampaolo Cheula are the reserves.
Team Manager Claudio Corti will follow the riders from the team car throughout the whole Giro, and will be sided by Directeur Sportif Alberto Volpi and Valerio Tebaldi.
Team Barloworld's staff also features team doctor Massimiliano Mantovani, mechanics Giancarlo Bianchi, Giacomo Galli and Alessandro Gaia, and soigneurs Mario Pafundi, Gino Cavalcanti, Adriana Perry, Pierre Hans and Ignacio Menedez.
Copyright (c) syklingensverden.com.
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