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Wednesday's EuroFile: Fast Freddy 2nd as Chicchi wins Dunkirk opener; McCarty heads to Giro; Hondo Hopeful
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Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) just missed a victory in Wednesday’s 161km opener of the Four Days of Dunkirk after Italian Francesco Chicchi (Quick Step-Davitamon) out-kicked him in a bunch sprint.The rival Belgian teams went head-to-head not for the first time this season and once again it was Quick Step getting the better end of the bargain. It was Chicchi’s second win of the season to go along with a stage he won in the Drie Daagse Van West Vlaanderen in March.“Today I had the ‘pilot’ of Wouter Weylandt. I lost the wheel and then followed the wheel of teammate Steven de Jongh, only thinking of the best way to win,” said Chicchi, the U23 world champion at Zolder in 2002.Four riders escaped early, including Nicolas Roche (Cofidis), Claudio Cucinotta (Tenax), Mathieu Sprick (Bouygeus Telecom) and Niels Brouzes (Auber 93) and built up a six-minute lead at 96km.Team CSC, Credit Agricole and Ag2r cooperated to ruin the chances for the breakaway, which included Roche, the son of Irish cycling legend Stephen Roche. Brouzes and Roche were caught with just 600 meters to go as the sprinters came barreling down the finishing straight. Health Net was in the mix as well, putting Swiss rider Alberto Tiberio into 22nd in the sprint.With the win, Chicchi takes the leader’s jersey, also the same color as the Giro d’Italia’s pink jersey, something Chicchi noted as a good omen: “Who knows, this could be a good sign for our guys at the Giro.”The Four Days of Dunkirk – which features five days of racing near Calais in northern France – is largely tailored for sprinters, but includes some bumpy hills on the final day. There won’t be a time trial to decide the winner, so time bonuses will prove decisive.The race continues Thursday with 204km second stage from Arques to Le Cateau.McCarty heading to Giro
Patrick McCarty will make his grand tour debut Saturday and he couldn’t be happier.After two frustrating seasons at Discovery Channel, the 24-year-old Texan joined on at Phonak with the promise of getting more starts. His busy spring was highlighted by the Vuelta al País Vasco in April and now he’s slated to be one of Phonak’s top men for the mountains.
“The last week is the hardest. We’re not sure what the team is going to do, so maybe I'll have a little freedom in one of the stages,” McCarty told VeloNews. “Axel and Peña are really looking forward to doing well. Floyd isn’t doing the Giro, so that changes things for the team. I will just go into it and see what happens.”
The team will be counting on former yellow jersey holder Victor Hugo Peña to be back at his best after his debilitating fall in last year’s Paris-Roubaix. Fabrizio Guidi will try his luck in the sprints while Axel Merckx is hoping to notch another Giro stage-win.
Phonak for Giro d’Italia (May 6-28)Victor Hugo PeñaAxel MerckxPatrick McCartyMartin ElmigerFabrizio GuidiJosé Enrique GutierrezGregory RastJohann TschoppSteve Zampieri
Di Luca ready as ever for Giro
Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas) is oozing with confidence at the dawn of the season’s first grand tour and promising nothing less than overall victory.
“I will start in Seraing well aware that I did all I could to race the best Giro of my life,” Di Luca said in a team release. “That will be like a kind of first time for me, in a sense. I will face a new challenge and, for that reason, it will be very exciting.”
Last year, Di Luca roared through the spring with impressive wins at Pais Vasco, Flèche Wallone and Amstel Gold Race that laid the groundwork for his overall ProTour title.
He entered the Giro hoping to win a stage or two and perhaps grab the maglia rosa, but he never expected to challenge for the final GC. He ended up fourth overall, just one spot off the final podium, a result that prompted him to shake up his preparations for 2006.
Instead, “the Killer” largely skipped the Ardennes classics (at least in terms of planning for his fitness peak) and is taking aim for overall Giro victory.
“I am not afraid,” he said. “In 2005, I proved myself to be ready to win a grand tour and I know myself enough to say I can fight for the win. I gave up my traditional goals at the beginning of the season to face some months of very hard training starting with a long camp at altitude in Mexico. Now, I definitely think I’ve matured as an athlete and also psychologically. There are all the essential ingredients: that won’t be easy at all, but I will take my chance.”
Di Luca said he’s only worried about Team CSC and Discovery Channel as teams that could rival his own Liquigas squadra. He called the entire final week as the decisive balance of the race and said he’ll watch out for Ivan Basso and Gilberto Simoni.
“I trained especially for the time trials,” he said, referring to what could be his Achilles heel. “Today I’ve trained on the time trial bike that Bianchi has prepared for me especially for the Giro. A monocoque-carbon frame I like very much indeed.”
Liquigas for GiroDanilo Di LucaDario AndriottoPatrick CalcagniDario CioniVladimir MiholjevicAndrea NoèFranco PellizottiAlessandro SpezialettiCharles WegeliusHondo still has Tour hopes
German rider Danilo Hondo says he has not given up hope of rejoining the ProTour circuit in time for the Tour de France start on July 1.The 32-year-old Hondo finished third in the Rund um Henniger Turm classic in Frankfurt on Monday and has now set his sights on the Tour despite fighting a doping suspension."I am optimistic that I can still take part at the Tour de France," Hondo said. “Not so long ago I was receiving 99 percent jeers. This time 99 percent of the people cheered me on. That was nice. Everyone has the right to be regarded as innocent until they are proven guilty." In January 2006 the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) gave Hondo a two-year suspension after twice testing positive for the banned stimulant carphedon during the Tour of Murcia in April.Hondo protested his innocence claiming the positive test could have been caused by a contaminated water bottle and appealed the decision.The CAS has temporarily lifted the ban and Hondo started cycling again in April 2006 for German team Lamonta.However Hondo has to wait until late September for the CAS to make a final decision on the case and his chances of starting the Tour de France are slim.
from AFPBotero to make season debut this weekend
Santiago Botero has been this season’s nowhere man, but he’s poised for his first appearance of the year this weekend in Spain.
The veteran Colombian has always liked to stay close to his native Medellín and this year has been no exception.
At least year’s Dauphiné Libéré, where he won two stages and finished second overall, he explained that he can’t perform when he’s away from his family, the warmth and Colombian cooking for too long. Just ask T-Mobile, which forced him to race and train in Europe all year and Botero barely won a race in two years.
Since switching to Phonak for the 2005 season, the former world time trial champion seems back at his best. Thanks to team’s lenient attitude, Botero is spending much of his early season in sunny Colombia. A happy Botero is a winning Botero.
As for his season debut, he said he’s ready to hit the roads. His major goals this year coming in the second half of the season, with the Dauphiné, the Tour de France, the Tour of Germany and then the Vuelta a España.
“It's not that I've been vacationing at home. The climate and the altitude demand everything from me. I've trained harder than ever,” Botero said on the team’s web page. “If I want to have a good Tour and Vuelta, I have to start the season later. I've laid a very good basis and I hope to hit my peak at the Tour de France.” Phonak for Clásica Alcobendas, Spain (May 6-7) Santiago BoteroAurélien ClercBert GrabschRyder HesjedalSteve MorabitoLuis OliveiraMiguel Angel PerdigueroFlorian StalderGerolsteiner comes with Rebellin, taps Scholz to replace Montgomery
Davide Rebellin wasn’t sure if he was going to start the Giro d’Italia, but a less-than-stellar spring classics campaign might have helped change his mind.
The Italian veteran decided he has the Giro in his legs, and will be looking to grab a stage victory and the maglia rosa in the opening week before the first serious mountains
Also, Gerolsteiner’s Ronny Scholz will get the call to replace Sven Montogmery, who crashed and broke his collarbone at the Tour de Romandy last week.
According to a report on the team’s web page, sport director Christian Henn said the longest race of the year for Scholz has been Paris-Nice, but the Giro fits in nicely with his plans for the Tour de France.
The team also reported that five of the starting nine riders all live within 30km of each other in Germany. A team that trains together, wins together? Team brass hope so.
Gerolsteiner for GiroRobert FörsterTorsten HiekmannSven KraußAndrea MolettaVolker OrdowskiDavide RebellinMathias RußRonny ScholzStefan SchumacherNo Giro for Bertogliati
The preliminary start list published for Saunier Duval-Prodir was wrong as Rubens Bertogliati won’t be starting after crashing in stage three at the Tour de Romandie. According to the team, Bertogliati fractured his kneecap and will require surgery. That obviously means no Giro for the Swiss rider.
Pantani monument for Mortirolo
Officials unveiled a new monument dedicated to fallen star Marco Pantani along the flanks of the fearsome Mortirolo climb. The monument – paid for by Bianchi bikes and inspired by Felice Gimondi – is settled along the eighth kilometer of the punishing climb.
According to a press release, the “work is composed by a leaning steel blade, fixed on a wall made at the level of one of the most difficult curves of the Mortirolo. On that strip-pedestal the three-dimensional figure of the rider comes off.”
The peloton will get a fleeting glimpse when it passes over the Mortirolo on May 27.
Quick Step for upcoming racesGiroSerge BaguetPaolo BettiniDavide BramatiAd EngelsJuan Manuel GarateJose Antonio GarridoLeonardo ScarselliJurgen Van De WalleRemmert WielingaFour Days of Dunkirk, France (May 3-7) Francesco ChicchiSteven De JonghServais KnavenSebastien RosselerIvan SantaromitaKevin Van ImpeGeert VerheyenWouter Weylandt.
