November 1st in the Taunus with Guus!

As already announced the boys are going out this Wednesday.
Meeting point is Kronberg train station at approx 09:20 where Guus will lead the group to discover his local woods. The aim, as always, is to have fun while putting in a decent workout.
Kris, having put aside the racer, is now ready for his 2nd decent outing in a week with the MTB.

Stage racers: attention!

Riders who fancy racing for a whole week should consider the following international stage races:

Italy:
22-29 April 2007: Giro della Sardegna
http://www.girobike.com

Norway:
21-27 July 2007: Viking Tour
http://www.vikingtour.no/engviking.htm

South Africa:
Early October 2007: Selati AfriCycle Tour
http://www.africycle.co.za/index.asp

Let us know if you're keen, so we can build a team!

Sunny Sunday in the woods

Despite the rainy weather forecast Kris and Lorenzo went out with their MTB and they were rewarded by a beautiful sunny day. The two took the opportunity of putting in a healthy 71km ride, starting from Frankfurt. The off road tricky route to the Feldberg was still manageable despite the fallen leaves, but this just because it was not really wet. Given the public holiday on November1st, the plan is now to join Guus for an exploratory ride in his area of the Taunus!

A few dates for 2007 ...

It's the silly season and everyone's waiting to get next year's event dates confirmed. Today, the ASO announced the date and course of the 15th edition of L'Etape du Tour. It will take place on Monday, 16 July and concerns the Pyrenees' stage between Foix and Loudenvieille. Cols include the Peyresourde, Portet d'Aspet and Menté.

Closer to home, important shifts of events are scheduled for August 2007! The Vatenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg will be ridden three weeks later than usual, on Sunday, 19 August. Its traditional place on the calendar has been assumed by the Sparkassen Giro in Bochum (5 August). The Deutschland Rundfahrt will be in-between those two races.

The Leipzig race "Neuseen Classics - Rund um die Braunkohle" has been scheduled for Sunday, 28 May (pfingsten). In fact, the registrations are already open for this T-Mobile Tour race.

In June, Triberg traditionally hosts the GP Schwarzwald. A novelty has been announced for the 2007 weekend (9/10 June): a "Jedermann race" on Saturday afternoon on the pro circuit! The standard RTF on Sunday (120, 180 and 260km) remains on the programme, so climbing goats can really have a good time that weekend! More info on http://www.sauser.de

2006 T-Mobile Ranking: 4 ECB riders in top 100

Four ECB Cyclosports Team members finished the season in the top 100 of the first T-Mobile Cyclo Tour. Unable to race in Münster, Elin Amundsen just missed out on the top 15 in the women's final ranking, won by Team Agapedia's Annika Grüber. In her first racing season, Elin scored 1284 points in only four races on the Tour: two wins (Wiesbaden and the 80km event in Bad Tölz), one second-place (Frankfurt, 75km) and one fourth (Seefeld). An impressive debut!

Catherine Lane - unfortunately sidelined for the main part of the season - still kept her place in the top 100: 93th with 511 points, courtesy of her solid performances in Göttingen and Frankfurt.

Kris Van de Velde ended 27th in the men's with 1265 points out of five events, the best result being 14th in the Henninger Turm. Morten Hansen got himself up in the top 100 after the Wiesbaden race, where he closed his busy season in style (57th). Morten totalled 774 points in seven races.

The men's circuit has been won by fellow-Frankfurer Torsten Roell (RSC Mars-Rotweiss). His advantage over the second-placed rider is over 500 points. On the circuit, Roell secured podium finishes in Bochum and Dresden (3rd in both races) and narrowly missed it in Frankfurt (4th).

ECB Cyclosports Team pre-registers for Maratona 2007

The ECB Cyclosports Team has entered eight riders this week for the draw that determines the right to participate in next year's Maratona Dles Dolomites in Alta Badia. Among those, three hope to make their debut in the most popular European cyclo of the year: Cyril Monnet, Guus van Domburg and Roswitha Hutter.

They will be backed-up by experienced riders Lorenzo Borghini, Julia Bennett, Morten Hansen, Elin Amundsen and Kris Van de Velde.

The 2006 edition was a success for the ECB squad (picture left), with a.o. Elin scoring a 13th place in the women's mediofondo, while Kris managed to come home 131st in the men's granfondo. Top 10 and top 100 would be their logical goals next year.

Further information on the Maratona Dles Dolomites can be found on the excellent website:
http://www.maratona.it

Launch of the FICC Weblog

The idea of setting up a Frankfurt International Cycling Club has just been promoted by the launch of a weblog. Check the log in the upcoming weeks for more information on our objective.