APRICA - The biggest surprise of this year's GF Marco Pantani was maybe not the victory of Raimondas Rumsas, but the fifth place of Emmanuele Negrini, the dominator in the high mountain events of the past few years. Negrini, who also won the previous two editions of this Granfondo, was 16 minutes down at the finish! Rumsas needed 5:24:43 to cover the 174km across the Passo Gavia, Mortirolo and Valico di Santa Cristina, just under a minute less than Andrea Ciavatti. In third was Timothy David Jones, more than 10 minutes behind.
The GF Pantani keeps growing despite the gruelling climb of the Mortirolo, about the most strenuous climb around along with the Zoncolan. Over 3600 riders took the start in Aprica, and whether you do granfondo, mediofondo or percorso corto, there is always the Mortirolo to conquer.
Next week is Italy's most famous international cyclo, the Maratona Delle Dolomiti.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
T-Mobile Cycling Tour - Updated rankings
The T-Mobile Cycling Tour rankings have been updated with the results from Triberg now. Michael Rademacher remains firmly in the lead and will clearly be the man to beat. In the women's, Annika Grüber has taken over from Elin Amundsen, whose misfortune in Fürth costs her dearly. Here is the current top 5 and the placings of a few known riders in the Frankfurt area:
Men:
1. Michael Rademacher, Team UGS, 1896 pts
2. Alex Bauer, Team Lexxi, 1762 pts
3. Nino Ackermann, Team Blue Essentials, 1717 pts
4. Ralph Heuser, Team Lexxi, 1683 pts
5. Holm Barkmann, Team Agapedia, 1576 pts
14. Kris Van de Velde, Bobteam, 1360 pts
15. Torsten Roell, Team UGS, 1340 pts
91. Marcus Hagedorn, ECB Cyclosports, 609 pts
174. Cyril Monnet, ECB Cyclosports, 463 pts
197. Morten Hansen, ECB Cyclosports, 413 pts
559. Lorenzo Borghini, ECB Cyclosports, 249 pts
685. Alex Nikolopoulos, Team Strassacker, 237 pts
1419. Guus van Domburg, ECB Cyclosports, 173 pts
Women:
1. Annika Grüber, Team Agapedia, 1961 pts
2. Jüdith Cramer, Team Lexxi, 1813 pts
3. Katharina Reitmayer, 1789 pts
4. Sonja Ludwig, Team UGS, 1713 pts
5. Ninetta Koswig, Radon Cyclepower II, 1671 pts
7. Elin Amundsen, Bobteam, 1640 pts
Men:
1. Michael Rademacher, Team UGS, 1896 pts
2. Alex Bauer, Team Lexxi, 1762 pts
3. Nino Ackermann, Team Blue Essentials, 1717 pts
4. Ralph Heuser, Team Lexxi, 1683 pts
5. Holm Barkmann, Team Agapedia, 1576 pts
14. Kris Van de Velde, Bobteam, 1360 pts
15. Torsten Roell, Team UGS, 1340 pts
91. Marcus Hagedorn, ECB Cyclosports, 609 pts
174. Cyril Monnet, ECB Cyclosports, 463 pts
197. Morten Hansen, ECB Cyclosports, 413 pts
559. Lorenzo Borghini, ECB Cyclosports, 249 pts
685. Alex Nikolopoulos, Team Strassacker, 237 pts
1419. Guus van Domburg, ECB Cyclosports, 173 pts
Women:
1. Annika Grüber, Team Agapedia, 1961 pts
2. Jüdith Cramer, Team Lexxi, 1813 pts
3. Katharina Reitmayer, 1789 pts
4. Sonja Ludwig, Team UGS, 1713 pts
5. Ninetta Koswig, Radon Cyclepower II, 1671 pts
7. Elin Amundsen, Bobteam, 1640 pts
Friday, June 22, 2007
RTF: Sunday, 24 June: Rodgau-Odenwald, start in FFM-Niederrad
FRANKFURT - The SKG Frankfurt Radsport is organising its annual Rodgau-Odenwald RTF this Sunday. Start and finish for all tours is in Frankfurt-Niederrad. Please see and click on the images below for further information.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
KVDV's Event Report
03/06/07 - WM VeloTour in Stuttgart
Setting the scene for Bettini and co
STUTTGART - A race on exactly the same course as the upcoming professional world championship road race is a special event. It was even an interesting course, with two genuine hills in it, to be done 4 times for a total of 76km. I cancelled my registration for Fürth, another T-Mobile race held on the same day, and headed for Stuttgart.
I will be very surprised if Tom Boonen plays a factor in September. One can argue that the Herdweg climb is a Flemish climb, 700 metres long with a 13% bit. But then there is another 1.2km climb with an 11% bit followed by the 2.8km long false flat to the finish. It is a great course, but I'd bet on the Bettini's and Di Luca's of this world with local hero Schumacher as a very dangerous dark horse.
Back to my race. Foggy conditions at 8 a.m. in the morning, it rained the night before. I arrived at the starting area more than half an hour early, but discovered that plenty of riders had already taken up position in the starting block. Very annoying. As the first km went uphill, followed by a fast descent and then the Herdweg climb, I knew right away it would be vital to reach the front of the peloton as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this was not feasible. The fastest guys, 12 in total at the finish, were gone and I never saw them. I found myself in a third group at the end of the first lap. Second time around on the Herdweg I opened up a small gap and saw the second group not so far ahead. I gave it a try and chased them. But after a few kilometres and not making a lot of progress I acknowledged it was a 'chasse-patat'. Back in group 3 I did my share of the work and kept the pace high on the climbs. Third lap, Herdweg, an Agapedia-rider found some extra strength and accelerated. Just past the top I caught up and together with a third rider we chased down a few riders who had been dropped off the second group. Interestingly, two of those four guys were also Agapedia guys. That was a good thing. Willingly or not, they took responsibility and decided the pace. As such we actually caught up with the second group right at the start of the final lap. Despite a few attacks, we more or less stayed together and sprinted for 13th place. Sprinting is not really my thing, but I was happy with 25th and the knowledge the legs were excellent.
FACT SHEET:
Name: WM VeloTour
Date: 3 June 2007
Venue: Stuttgart, DE
Type: T-Mobile Cycling Tour
Distance: 76km (1600hm)
My Result: 25/650 finishers (1400 overall participants): 2:07:26 (+ 5'56")
Info: website
Event rating: 4/5
03/06/07 - WM VeloTour in Stuttgart
Setting the scene for Bettini and co
STUTTGART - A race on exactly the same course as the upcoming professional world championship road race is a special event. It was even an interesting course, with two genuine hills in it, to be done 4 times for a total of 76km. I cancelled my registration for Fürth, another T-Mobile race held on the same day, and headed for Stuttgart.
I will be very surprised if Tom Boonen plays a factor in September. One can argue that the Herdweg climb is a Flemish climb, 700 metres long with a 13% bit. But then there is another 1.2km climb with an 11% bit followed by the 2.8km long false flat to the finish. It is a great course, but I'd bet on the Bettini's and Di Luca's of this world with local hero Schumacher as a very dangerous dark horse.
Back to my race. Foggy conditions at 8 a.m. in the morning, it rained the night before. I arrived at the starting area more than half an hour early, but discovered that plenty of riders had already taken up position in the starting block. Very annoying. As the first km went uphill, followed by a fast descent and then the Herdweg climb, I knew right away it would be vital to reach the front of the peloton as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this was not feasible. The fastest guys, 12 in total at the finish, were gone and I never saw them. I found myself in a third group at the end of the first lap. Second time around on the Herdweg I opened up a small gap and saw the second group not so far ahead. I gave it a try and chased them. But after a few kilometres and not making a lot of progress I acknowledged it was a 'chasse-patat'. Back in group 3 I did my share of the work and kept the pace high on the climbs. Third lap, Herdweg, an Agapedia-rider found some extra strength and accelerated. Just past the top I caught up and together with a third rider we chased down a few riders who had been dropped off the second group. Interestingly, two of those four guys were also Agapedia guys. That was a good thing. Willingly or not, they took responsibility and decided the pace. As such we actually caught up with the second group right at the start of the final lap. Despite a few attacks, we more or less stayed together and sprinted for 13th place. Sprinting is not really my thing, but I was happy with 25th and the knowledge the legs were excellent.
FACT SHEET:
Name: WM VeloTour
Date: 3 June 2007
Venue: Stuttgart, DE
Type: T-Mobile Cycling Tour
Distance: 76km (1600hm)
My Result: 25/650 finishers (1400 overall participants): 2:07:26 (+ 5'56")
Info: website
Event rating: 4/5
Monday, June 18, 2007
Prestigio: GF Campagnolo - Rumsas wins solo
FELTRE - Raimondas Rumsas took an important win yesterday in the Granfondo Campagnolo, held for the last time in Feltre (rumour has it the granfondo will change location in 2008). On the mountainous course of 214km, Rumsas attacked on the Passo Rolle (1970m) - the second of two big mountains after the Passo Manghen (2042m) - and only got Andrea Ciavatti with him. Emmanuele Negrini, Rumsas' main rival in the upcoming mountain events and himself a former double winner of the Campa, had to let go and settle for third place at the finish, more than 10 minutes behind Rumsas. Pauliokovich and Timothy David Jones were fourth and fifth. The pace must have been blistering. Number six in the result is 22 minutes down, number seven nearly half an hour!
The GF Campagnolo was attended by 3500 riders. It is by some considered to big the toughest test of the season as it takes place mid-June, before the Pantani, Maratona or Oetztaler.
The women's race was won by Monia Gallucci, but she was given a stern challenge by Barbara Lancioni.
The next Prestigio event is the Granfondo Marco Pantani in Aprica next Sunday.
The GF Campagnolo was attended by 3500 riders. It is by some considered to big the toughest test of the season as it takes place mid-June, before the Pantani, Maratona or Oetztaler.
The women's race was won by Monia Gallucci, but she was given a stern challenge by Barbara Lancioni.
The next Prestigio event is the Granfondo Marco Pantani in Aprica next Sunday.
Grand Trophée - Morzine: Win for Nicola Roux
MORZINE - The next event in the French Grand Trophée series, La Morzine/Vallée d'Aulps, was won last Saturday by Nicolas Roux in 4:48:24. He beat Nicolas Ougier in a sprint to the line. La Morzine covers the renowned Col du Joux-Plane.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Triberg: Official results
TRIBERG - With a bit of delay the results of the GP Schwarzwald race in Triberg have been published. Winner of the 69km long A-race was Daniel Preiss from Ludwigsburg in a time of 2:00:35. He outsprinted Lipowitz, Leischner and Fischer on the final climb to the line. Marc Leischner of Team Strassacker had also finished second in Friday's time trial behind Marco Utz.
Annika Grüber was too strong on this hilly circuit for Elin Amundsen. She had an advantage of 9 minutes.
What was odd was the time limit in Saturday's race. It was exceptionally tight, to the extent of hardly being fair. After all, quite a few participants travelled to Triberg only to do the Saturday race. Not more than 101 riders have been ranked on the 3-lap or the 69km race. All the rest was requested to halt after 2 laps. ECB Cyclosports rider Morten Hansen is not a mountain goat, but he is a strong all-round rider who always finishes within the first half if not the first third of the pack. In Triberg he was close to being asked to stop after 2 laps (he finished 91st)!
Probably the police no longer had any patience to keep the roads as traffic free as possible.
Anyhow, Team UGS's Torsten Roell, Frankfurt, finished 19th, four places and seven seconds ahead of myself (2:08:12 vs 2:08:19). Torsten got dropped from the first chase group at the end, and we in the second chase group of eight riders just managed to catch him. Cyril Monnet found the climb on the Geutsche too steep for his liking and then opted to stay with Elin.
Annika Grüber was too strong on this hilly circuit for Elin Amundsen. She had an advantage of 9 minutes.
What was odd was the time limit in Saturday's race. It was exceptionally tight, to the extent of hardly being fair. After all, quite a few participants travelled to Triberg only to do the Saturday race. Not more than 101 riders have been ranked on the 3-lap or the 69km race. All the rest was requested to halt after 2 laps. ECB Cyclosports rider Morten Hansen is not a mountain goat, but he is a strong all-round rider who always finishes within the first half if not the first third of the pack. In Triberg he was close to being asked to stop after 2 laps (he finished 91st)!
Probably the police no longer had any patience to keep the roads as traffic free as possible.
Anyhow, Team UGS's Torsten Roell, Frankfurt, finished 19th, four places and seven seconds ahead of myself (2:08:12 vs 2:08:19). Torsten got dropped from the first chase group at the end, and we in the second chase group of eight riders just managed to catch him. Cyril Monnet found the climb on the Geutsche too steep for his liking and then opted to stay with Elin.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
T-Mobile Cycling Tour - GP Schwarzwald in Triberg: Great events marred by timing issues
TRIBERG - The GP Schwarzwald in Triberg offered three different events this year. An individual time trial on the Geutsche (a steep climb of 4.6km with a max gradient of 19%), a race over 70km and 1600hm counting for the T-Mobile Cycling Tour on Saturday and the traditional Radmarathon/RTF on Sunday.
The area is brilliant for cycling, although you need to like climbing. Too bad that the timing in the Saturday race turned out to be problematic to say the least. Several riders got wrong times or were not even ranked in the result list at all. One of the main reasons seems to be that the timing company that was hired for the occasion is specialised in MTB events, where riders usually do not arrive at the finish in groups... Despite all the goodwill, the timing of events seems to become a recurring issue in Germany this season.
The result of Saturday's T-Mobile race is as yet unofficial and not even formally published on the event's website. It has been announced for Wednesday. What worries me is that they were asking for feedback from the participants themselves.
On Friday night, the fastest man was not honoured as the winner. He had been overlooked as well. Marco Utz from Offenburg beat a field of 75 riders with a time of 14:49, 19 seconds faster than Team Strassacker's Marc Leischner. Frankfurt-based Thorsten Roell, winner of the 2006 T-Mobile Tour, was 12th in 15:46. I managed a time under 16:00 as well: 14th in 15:56.
The area is brilliant for cycling, although you need to like climbing. Too bad that the timing in the Saturday race turned out to be problematic to say the least. Several riders got wrong times or were not even ranked in the result list at all. One of the main reasons seems to be that the timing company that was hired for the occasion is specialised in MTB events, where riders usually do not arrive at the finish in groups... Despite all the goodwill, the timing of events seems to become a recurring issue in Germany this season.
The result of Saturday's T-Mobile race is as yet unofficial and not even formally published on the event's website. It has been announced for Wednesday. What worries me is that they were asking for feedback from the participants themselves.
On Friday night, the fastest man was not honoured as the winner. He had been overlooked as well. Marco Utz from Offenburg beat a field of 75 riders with a time of 14:49, 19 seconds faster than Team Strassacker's Marc Leischner. Frankfurt-based Thorsten Roell, winner of the 2006 T-Mobile Tour, was 12th in 15:46. I managed a time under 16:00 as well: 14th in 15:56.
Grand Trophée - Les 3 Ballons: Morizot too fast for Snel
CHAMPAGNEY, France - The classic French cyclosportive Les 3 Ballons was won by a French pro last Saturday. After 205km through the Vosges (4300hm), Florian Morizot from Team Auber 93 was 1'47" faster on the steep La Planche-des-Belles-Filles then Vosges-based Dutchman Michael Snel from Team Veltec Granfondo. Total time was 6h24'02". The podium was completed by Andreas Rutishauser. Oege Hiddema came in fifth.
1109 riders completed the long course, which was apparently struck by a thunderstorm on the Grand Ballon.
1109 riders completed the long course, which was apparently struck by a thunderstorm on the Grand Ballon.
Monday, June 04, 2007
T-Mobile Cycling Tour: Stuttgart & Fürth
Five ECB Cyclosports Team members were active this weekend in Fürth and Stuttgart, where two races were held simultaneously for the T-Mobile Cycling Tour. Fürth offered a flat course of 70km in the context of the Bayern Rundfahrt, Stuttgart a hilly 76km (1600hm) on the World Championship course.
Women's Tour leader Elin Amundsen's race in Bayern had a super annoying conclusion. About 400 metres before the finish line a number of guys crashed down in the sprint and forced Elin to jump onto the sidewalk behind the barriers and the spectactors. She also crossed the line on the sidewalk and thus did not cross the transponder mat. Instead of a rather comfortable victory, Elin does not feature in the result list.
There were more incidents in Fürth. Cyril Monnet also crashed out of contention. The number of crashes in these flat T-Mobile races is clearly becoming an issue. Newcomer Marcus Hagedorn stayed upright and finished with the first big group in 94th place. 329 riders made it into the list.
Stuttgart was much less hectic in that respect. The start was uphill and 4.6km later was already the first ascent of the Herdweg, 700m with a max of 13%. So the natural selection happened almost straightaway. Starting too far back, I never saw the first group of 11 riders get away but I was happy with my form and 25th rank at the finish. Morten Hansen concluded his race in 329th place out of 594 finishers in the A-race (4 laps). 1400 people turned up for the event, slightly more than expected. In any case, on this course it is hard to imagine Tom Boonen sprinting for the rainbow jersey at the end of September!
STUTTGART:
1. Daniel Preiss, 2:01:30 (netto 2:01:14)
2. Häfele Christian, 2:01:30 (netto: 2:01:24)
3. Michael Rademacher, 2:01:30 (netto: 2:01:19)
25. Kris Van de Velde, 2:07:26 (netto: 2:06:55)
41. Torsten Roell, 2:07:24 (netto: 2:07:15)
324. Morten Hansen, 2:27:18 (netto: 2:23:43)
FUERTH:
1. Thomas Wickles, 1:36:05
2. Michael Dehler, 1:36:08
3. Dieter Bosek, 1:36:08
94. Marcus Hagedorn, 1:36:37
Women's Tour leader Elin Amundsen's race in Bayern had a super annoying conclusion. About 400 metres before the finish line a number of guys crashed down in the sprint and forced Elin to jump onto the sidewalk behind the barriers and the spectactors. She also crossed the line on the sidewalk and thus did not cross the transponder mat. Instead of a rather comfortable victory, Elin does not feature in the result list.
There were more incidents in Fürth. Cyril Monnet also crashed out of contention. The number of crashes in these flat T-Mobile races is clearly becoming an issue. Newcomer Marcus Hagedorn stayed upright and finished with the first big group in 94th place. 329 riders made it into the list.
Stuttgart was much less hectic in that respect. The start was uphill and 4.6km later was already the first ascent of the Herdweg, 700m with a max of 13%. So the natural selection happened almost straightaway. Starting too far back, I never saw the first group of 11 riders get away but I was happy with my form and 25th rank at the finish. Morten Hansen concluded his race in 329th place out of 594 finishers in the A-race (4 laps). 1400 people turned up for the event, slightly more than expected. In any case, on this course it is hard to imagine Tom Boonen sprinting for the rainbow jersey at the end of September!
STUTTGART:
1. Daniel Preiss, 2:01:30 (netto 2:01:14)
2. Häfele Christian, 2:01:30 (netto: 2:01:24)
3. Michael Rademacher, 2:01:30 (netto: 2:01:19)
25. Kris Van de Velde, 2:07:26 (netto: 2:06:55)
41. Torsten Roell, 2:07:24 (netto: 2:07:15)
324. Morten Hansen, 2:27:18 (netto: 2:23:43)
FUERTH:
1. Thomas Wickles, 1:36:05
2. Michael Dehler, 1:36:08
3. Dieter Bosek, 1:36:08
94. Marcus Hagedorn, 1:36:37
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