Friday, February 29, 2008

Niederdorfelden kicks off Frankfurt RTF season

The Hessen RTF season gets underway in March and, in particular for Frankfurt cyclists on Sunday, 16 March with the traditional "Frühlings RTF" in Niederdorfelden (close to Bad Vilbel).

The longest distance is 115km and goes a.o. through the Wetterau. A good training opportunity for those racing in Cologne the week after!

More info on the organising club's website.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Gazzetta Challenge: La Tappone del Giro + Giro di Lombardia

The Gazzetta Challenge, organised by La Gazzetta dello Sport, enters its third year with only two events scheduled in 2008. Due to Easter, it proved to be impossible to guarantee adequate road security measures for the organisation of the Sanremo event on 23 March. Remaining are thus La Tappa della Leggenda, also known as Dolomiti Stars, and the Giro di Lombardia.

La Tappa takes place on 24 May with start in Arabba and finish in Marmolada (Passo Fedaia). It is a course for pure climbing goats and perhaps a great alternative for those not selected to do La Maratona this season. The percorso includes the climbs of the Passo Pordoi, San Pellegrino, Passo Giau, Passo Falzarego and finally the Passo Fedaia. 153 km in total and possibly tougher than La Maratona, also considering it takes place five weeks prior.

The season's closer in Lombardia takes place in and around Lake Como on Sunday, 19 October.

Link to the Gazzetta Challenge website

Friday, February 22, 2008

German Cycling Cup: Münsterlandgiro with new course

The 3rd edition of the German Cycling Cup's final race in Münster will again be held on a different course. Announced is a 140 km long race towards the west with fewer height metres (as if there were many before :-)) . For those with already tired legs, there will also be shorter distances of 110 and 70 km.

The Münsterlandgiro has quickly established itself as one of the leading events in Germany with over 3, 000 participants in 2007. The region itself, Münsterland, proclaims itself to be the cycling capital of Germany.

More info on the race's website.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

German Cycling Cup officially announced!

The successor of the T-Mobile Cycling Tour is now officially announced. The German Cycling Cup will contain 9 events, of which the best 7 results will count for the final classification. An attractive offer, especially for the many people whose budgets and time limits were overstretched by the 19 races that made up the 2007 Tour!

All details can be found on the new German Cycling Cup website. The Series kicks off with Rund um Köln on Easter Monday and ends with the Münsterlandgiro on 3 October.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Tour of Flanders: KOPPENBERG back in the race!

Cyclists in Flanders and abroad were delighted yesterday upon the announcement that the legendary Koppenberg will return to the course of the Tour of Flanders this year! The cobbled "beast" of Melden (Oudenaarde) with its +20% stretches is an integral part of the Ronde's history and was omitted from the 2007 edition because of the worsening condition of the cobblestones, which showed large gaps between them. The town of Oudenaarde has invested in the resurfacing once again (they had just done it a few years ago to get the Koppenberg back in after a hiatus of over a decade) and all lights were put on green by the race organisers yesterday.

In 2006 a large part of the professional peloton had to get off the bike on the steepest bits of the climb. The Koppenberg substitutes the Kortekeer climb on the 2008 course.

The Ronde will be held on the 5-6 April weekend. The cyclotour version on Saturday, the ProTour race on Sunday. Six riders associated with the Frankfurt International Cycling Club will make the journey down there, and will in fact stay in "Koppenberg town", Oudenaarde.

Friday, February 01, 2008

Shimano Fiets Challenge on 3/4 May

The Shimano Fiets Challenge, the self-proclaimed biggest cyclo of the Benelux countries, will be held this season on 3 and 4 May. As usual, there will be road and MTB races as well as a cyclotour. The main event, the 150km road race, takes place on Sunday.

Like last year, the finish will be on "het Drielandenpunt" in Vaals (NL), the highest point in Holland at 322m (doesn't look impressive, but the climb is rather steep).

More info on the website