Prestigio 2008: Full calendar released

The 2008 Italian Prestigio Series will again include 10 of the most prestigious Granfondos of the season. As previously announced, the new entry will be the GF Carnia Classic-Zoncolan on 13 July, and in September the GF Colnago replaces the GF Cinque Terre as the former has outranked the latter for the past three years in terms of participants.

The Prestigio calendar:

6 April:
GF Selle Italia
Cervia
www.sportur.com

1 May:
Dieci Colli Bolognesi
Bologna
www.diecicolli.it

11 May:
GF Felice Gimondi
Bergamo
www.felicegimondi.com

18 May:
Le Nove Colli
Cesenatico
www.novecolli.it

15 June:
GF Campagnolo
Feltre
www.granfondocampagnolo.it

29 June:
Maratona Dles Dolomites
Corvara in Badia
www.maratona.it

13 July:
GF Carnia Classic - Zoncolan
Tolmezzo
www.carniabike.it

20 July:
GF Pinarello
Treviso
www.granfondopinarello.com

31 August:
Ötztaler Radmarathon
Sölden
www.oetztaler-radmarathon.com

7 September:
GF Colnago
Piacenza
www.granfondocolnago.com

A traditional Ronde in 2008

BRUGGE - The route of the 2008 edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) was revealed earlier this week. It will be a traditional race of 260km including 18 hellingen. The legendary Koppenberg is not in, and replaced by the Kortekeer, but this may still change if the organisation is happy enough with the roadworks that are currently in progress on the Koppenberg (the cobblestones have again deteriorated so much that they have to be redone).

The cyclosportive edition on Saturday, 5 April also sees no major changes. There is the full distance from Brugge to Meerbeke-Ninove, and there is the 140km route with start and finish in Ninove and with all the climbs in it. For those not so familiar with the Ronde, the first 120km are flat and is more a battle against the wind. All climbs are concentrated in the final 100km.

The Frankfurt International Cycling Club will go to Flanders for the weekend from Friday to Sunday. Currently we are five riders, two of them keen on the 260km, and we will be staying in the town of Oudenaarde. That's the heart of the Flemish Ardennes, location of the Oude Kwaremont and the Koppenberg, and also host of the museum of the Tour of Flanders. During the cyclo, we will pass Oudenaarde on three seperate occasions (the last time after the Boigneberg), so it is perfectly possible to quit if anyone's legs are suddenly left with no juice:-)

Anyone keen on joing us, please just write an email to the Frankfurt International Cycling Club. Please note that we would prefer people to make their own accomodation arrangements, so there is no fuss for anyone. The idea is simply to ride together with people.

Register for the Ronde

Prestigio 2008: Enter Monte Zoncolan !

The 2008 Prestigio series will include the Carnia Classic in Arta Terme (Udine) on 13 July. This event has entered the minds of mountain goats last season because of Monte Zoncolan, the horribly steep mountain pass included in the 2007 Giro d' Italia (stage won by Gilberto Simoni). The Prestigio series traditionally supports one 'new' or 'promising' event per year. In 2007 the honour went to the GF Pantani in Aprica.

An important change is the final event of the series in September. The GF Colnago in Piacenza has managed to beat the GF Cinque Terre in number of finishers the past three years, and thus becomes part of the Prestigio.

The full calendar will be revealed soon.

Gazzetta Challenge - Giro di Lombardia closes Granfondo season

COMO - The Italian classic Giro di Lombardia also has its cyclo version since two years. The so-called mediofondo is included in the Gazzetta Challenge (together with La Sanremo and the Dolomiti Stars-Giro d' Italia) lasts 113 km and has start and finish in Como. Michel Chocol won the race in 2:56:49 (avs 38.34 km/h) in a sprint against Andrea Paluan.

As such, the long Italian season has also come to an end.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour: Alex Bauer and Annika Grüber overall winners

Münster - The 2nd Münsterlandgiro confirmed the good vibes people already felt after the inaugural edition last year. Superb organisation, great atmosphere, good roads, limited danger, hardly a better way to close the cyclo season and the T-Mobile Cycling Tour! In the end, Alexander Bauer (Team Lexxi) and Annika Grüber (Team Agapedia) were celebrated as winners of the 2007 Tour. The 130km long Münster race saw Nico Wernicke (Team Strassacker) outsprint 50 to 60 riders who constituted a first group, and Judith Cramer (Team Lexxi) claiming her biggest win of the season in the women's event.

Wernicke thus won both the season's opener in Köln and the closer in Münster. Cramer took full advantage of the absence of Grüber, who participated in the German Hochschule Meisterschaft instead (and finished fifth over 65km). The latter's lead in the ranking was anyway so big that she could not be overtaken anymore.

One critic comment should be mentioned, though. Having all three available distances merging at the end leads to unnecessary danger. I found myself sitting in the first group all race and didn't witness any crash or tricky situation until we caught up with slower riders from the other races. Unfortunately, this also led to a crash 1.5 kilometres before the finish as we suddenly had to sweep left to overtake such a slow group. There was not enough place on the left so five, six guys went down - including myself. My race ruined. In the end I got ranked 81st, but most importantly I left without injury or bike damage.

ECB rider Morten Hansen came back from a forced break to finish his season with a respectable ride over 130 km. He hung onto the first group for a while, before the lack of training made itself felt in his legs.

Picture taken from Team Lexxi's website.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour: Münsterlandgiro ends long season

Münster - The second T-Mobile Cycling Tour ends tomorrow, Wednesday, in Münster after six months and 20 races. The protagonists are tired, both physically and mentally. There seems to be a general consensus that it has been a little bit too much. All races count, so if you go for a high ranking you are bound to start everywhere. Better would be a system in which, say, the best 12 or 14 results count - allowing at least a little breather for what are still supposed to be hobby cyclists.

The men's overall ranking is led by Alex Bauer (Team Lexxi), but Michael Rademacher is not yet out of contention with his 131-point deficit. In a flat race like the Münsterlandgiro a small problem can cost you a lot of points as the groups are larger than in a race on a hilly course. Nino Ackermann (Blue Essentials) will most likely have to settle for third place nonetheless.

The women's event has been dominated again by Annika Grüber (Team Agapedia), who will in fact be riding in front of her home crowd on Wednesday. A few women, such as Elin Amundsen, gave Annika a hard time on occasion, but on the whole her second consecutive victory in the -Mobile tour was never really endangered after Elin's debacle in Fürth in June.

The Münsterlandgiro offers three different courses, and increased the max distance to 130 km. You can also ride 110 and 65 km. Over 3000 people have already registered!

Münsterlandgiro

Maratona Dles Dolomites on 29 June 2008

Next year's edition of the famous Maratona Delle Dolomiti will be held on Sunday, 29 June. In order to assign the entry tickets, a pre-registration phase will be organised between 18 October and 8 November 2007. The draw will be held roughly a week later.

Of course it will also be possible to buy a package tour that includes a starting ticket and accomodation as of November.

The maximum number of participants will once again be 8500, half of which will be Italian.

The Maratona will be organised next year to the benefit of a reforestation scheme in Ecuador.

All info can be found on the Maratona website.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour: Nürnberg

Nürnberg - The 103km event in Nürnberg was won by Thomas Wickles from Team RadioAktiv Racing. He outsprinted Team Strassacker's Nicko Wernicke and Team Lexxi's Alexander Bauer. Frankfurt-based Briton Gary Weir had his best T-Mobile result of the season with a 27th spot.

The women's long distance race went to Annika Grüber, who consolidated her 1st place in the T-Mobile ranking. She finished 4 minutes ahead of Judith Cramer and five of Martina Hausmann.

The next races are held next weekend, with a time trial in Tübingen and a tough race in Bad Dürrheim (RiderMan).

The finale will be held in Münster on 3 October.

Update: Elin's season over

With some reluctance Elin Amundsen has to allow six weeks of plastercast for her broken left hand to heal properly. Her season is now formally over, just when the desired third spot in the T-Mobile ranking is easily within her grasp (check the ranking, now updated with the Hamburg results).

Elin hopes to return to the scene in 2008, hopefully with support of an appropriate team structure.

The T-Mobile Cycling Tour continues this weekend with Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt, a flat race with a max distance of just over 100km. Close to a thousand riders have already signed up.

The final race of the season on 3 October in Münster, home of Team Agapedia, can expect already now more than 2000 participants according to latest reports.

Prestigio: Cinque Terre - Antonio Corradini wins solo

La Spezia - The final event of the Prestigio series this season was dominated by Mg.K Vis rider Antonio Corradini, who finished 3'15"ahead of Konstantin Klyuev and Gianni Fontana. Stefano Sala was alone in fourth nearly five minutes down.

In the final race of the Grand Trophée series in France, La Ronde Picarde, Jerome Minard outsprinted Benjamin Audoux and four others in a small group finish.

Interview with Elin on Challenge-Magazin

A lengthy and very fun to read interview with Elin Amundsen has been published on the website Challenge-Magazin.

The interview was taken after the race in Hamburg on 19 August. As reported yesterday, Elin broke three bones in her left hand last Sunday in a race - which she still won - in France. She has been advised to allow six to eight weeks for recovery. In any case, her participation in the upcoming races in Nürnberg, Tübingen and Bad Dürrheim is highly in doubt.

Les Ballons Vosgiens: Elin wins "Route des Crêtes" with broken hand!

GERARDMER - Despite a very heavy T-Mobile schedule in August and her nasty crash in the RegioTour last weekend, Elin Amundsen could not live without a week of competition and travelled to the French town of Gerardmèr in the Vosges for the cyclo Les Ballons Vosgiens. Equipped with her "old" LOOK-bike she raced on the 92km and 1500 Hm distance - nicked La Route des Crêtes - and took a smashing victory by nearly five minutes over her nearest rival! She finished in 2:56:01 (avs 29.31 km/h), beating a female field of 33 riders.
However, it didn't go all that smoothly. In the descent of the Schlucht, Elin missed a corner and went down for the second consecutive week... This time it's not so much the bike but the body that got hurt. After the race, doctor's diagnosed a few broken bones in her left hand. The healing process theoretically lasts six to eight weeks, so Elin's season might suddenly be over. Still, she is not giving up hope that she can at least start in the next T-Mobile events and defend her position in the rankings.

The men's 155km (3500hm) races was won by local matador Thomas Dietsch, bronze medalist in the MTB long-distance world championships, who outsprinted Cofidis-pro Nicholas Hartmann and Dutchman Michel Snel in 4:54:47 (avs 31.75 km/h). Oege Hiddema, winner in 2005, made his comeback after his big crash in the Transalp in June and finished sixth after being dropped in the descent.

Ötztaler Radmarathon: Negrini back on top!

Soelden - Bologna-based Italian Emmanuele Negrini came back from a number of shocking defeats this season to claim his second Oetztaler Radmarathon in a row. Negrini had to outsprint fellow-Italian Antonio Corradini and the surprising Dutch veteran Bert Dekker in the town of Sölden in a dramatic conclusion to the 238km race. The clock stopped at 7:03:37.

The event was held in the best weather conditions in years, resulting in overall faster times. The podium place of Bert Dekker was unexpected. The former three-time winner of La Marmotte did not make the top 10 on Alpe d'Huez this year and seemed to be on his return at the age of 37. Interestingly, the winner of La Marmotte this season, Andrea Ciavatti only managed 21st in 7:32.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour: RegioTour - Elin crashes out of contention

After a long hard summer, Elin had battled her way back to the top 3 of the T-Mobile Cycling Tour ranking... only to lose it all again in one race, the shortest race on the calendar. The 52km long race was full of incidents - an unfortunate characteristic of this season's T-Mobile events - and Elin was one of many to crash down hard. After the Texaspass Elin had found herself in second position (Annika was in a first group) when the rider in front of her made an unexpected move aside. Elin hit the rear wheel and went down, taking several other riders with her. She escaped with bruises herself, but her Cervelo suffered the most. Fork broken, handlebar bent and what have you: game over. The disappointment was huge. No points for Elin, Judith Cramer and Katharina Reitmaier are now much more comfortable in their podium slots in the Tour. Elin will now focus on the individual events and snatch a victory or two still this season.

The men's race saw a dominant performance by Nino Ackermann, who went solo on one of the climbs and reached the finish with a 1'40" advantage over Alex Bauer and the rest. Strong stuff. Markus Hagedorn also went down half-way the race and came in 74th.

There's a break in the schedule now, with the first event taking place in Nürnberg on 16 September.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour - Hamburg & Hannover

HAMBURG - Elin Amundsen is very likely to have regained her second spot in the T-Mobile ranking after last weekend's races in Hannover and Hamburg. On EDEKA Race Day Elin rebounded immediately from Friday's disappointment in Fürth, to snatch fourth place behind Annika Grüber (second) but way ahead of Katharina Reitmaier (9th) and Judith Cramer (3rd on 70km distance). The win went to a new name Gundula Henning, who managed and avs of nearly 42 km/h over the 100km distance. Martina Höllige from Team Strassacker is clearly a mountain and time trial specialist as she had to settle for sixth.

In Hamburg Elin managed sixth place but ahead of all the usual suspects including Annika (ninth). The first five places went to stars of the day. Interestingly, Elin showed the best recuperative powers over this intensive weekend as she even beat the #3 of the race in Hannover! She completed the 155km in 3:53:26 (avs 39.55 km/h). For once she was 3 minutes ahead of Annika Grüber who came in ninth. Reitmaier was 12th, Cramer 13th.

In the men's events Morten Hansen proved oncemore that Hamburg is his event. This season he finished 289th in 3:49 (avs 40.21 km/h), his best ever! In Hannover he was 107th in the 70km race. Markus Hagedorn was 96th in that race. In Hannover he finished in top 20 according to his own timing but official results are still not online due to a hick-up by Mika Timing. Markus Hagedorn also finished in top 20 on the medium distance.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour - Elin no chance without time trial machine

FUERTH - The 33km long GIANT individual time trial saw the men's winner Marcel Barth finishing with an average speed of46.83 km/h. Awesome performance. The traditional stars of the Tour turned out to be not the greatest time trialists so we may see some changes in the ranking. Alex Bauer was 30th and Nino Ackermann still stood his ground in 40th place, nearly five minutes down. Michael Rademacher was 46th. The Strassacker boys were cleary beaten too. Marc Leischner was fifth, Günter Höllige was 19th, Nico Wernicke 26th.

Markus Hagedorn managed 54th place with an avs of 41.37 km/h, 5'35" behind Barth. He was marginally quicker than Gary Weir (57th).

The women's race brought another win for Annika Grüber ahead of Martina Höllige. The Agapedia ace scored a time of 48'56" (40.57km/h). Without a time trial bike, Elin Amundsen was defenceless and had to be satisfied with 19th place, over six minutes down on Grüber. Unfortunately, Elin's two main rivals for the podium in the overall ranking finished ahead of her today. Judith Cramer was 10th and Katharina Reitmaier 17th. Let's see whether Elin can take revenge tomorrow and Sunday in Hannover and Hamburg!

Sunday 19 August: RTF Henninger Odenwald

FRANKFURT - This Sunday RV Henninger 1895 Sossenheim organises its annual RTF Henninger Odenwald with start and finish at the Henninger brewery on the Darmstädter Landstrasse in Sachsenhausen.

A great and recommended 117km tour goes to the Odenwald, where a few hills need to be climbed. A nice ride for those who don't race in Hamburg.

Check

T-Mobile Cycling Tour - Big weekend coming up

A big weekend is coming up in the T-Mobile Cycling Tour with no fewer than three events after one another. On Friday, the Deutschland Tour continues with the Giant time trial in Fürth over 32.8 km. Saturday is EDEKA Race Day in Hannover, a more or less flat race over 100km and Sunday is of course the Vatenfall Cyclassics in Hamburg, the most popular German cyclo event of the year.

Elin Amundsen will be riding all three of them in her ongoing attempt to regain second place in the overall tour ranking. After the mountain time trial in Sölden last Tuesday she is actually already back in third place, only 33 points behind Katharina Reitmaier.

Other ECB Cyclosports riders active this weekend will be Markus Hagedorn, Morten Hansen (photo) and newcomer Roswitha Hutter. Markus is the surprise of the season. A string of solid performances has put him in 74th place in the overall ranking so far, and his ambition is endless. In Fürth he is aiming high with his brand new Cervelo time trial bike, before travelling to Hannover - a course that should suit him well. Morten is doing Hannover and Hamburg, his traditional late summer goal. After a bit of a dip in his performance level during the month of June, Morten has come back strongly with a top 200 placing in Bochum two weeks ago.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour: Mountain challenge on Rettenbachferner

SOELDEN - Elin Amundsen had to settle for seventh place in the mountain time trial on the Rettenbachferner yesterday. She climbed the 13km in 1:16:18, ten minutes slower than winner Annika Grüber but considerably faster than the numbers two and three in the overall T-Mobile Tour ranking Cramer and Reithmayer. Elin is now looking forward to the flat events in Hannover and Hamburg where she has a better chance against the Agapedia lady, who admittedly is in stunning form these days. Second in Sölden was Strassacker's Martina Höllige, winner in Stuttgart this season, more than two-and-a-half minutes down on Grüber...

Slovenian Miran Cvet won the men's event with an advantage of 43 seconds over Günter Höllige.

T-Mobile Cycling Tour Update: Elin wins in Bochum!

It is summer holiday time but not for those with an interest in the points ranking of the T-Mobile Cycling Tour! Among those is Frankfurt-based Norwegian Elin Amundsen, who is still keen on a top three ending after the unfortunate Fürth debacle. Elin raced in Dresden, Nürburg and Bochum in the past few weeks. She came in second once again to Annika Grüber in the first two, but beat her rival in Bochum last week on Sunday in a sprint finish. It was Elin's first official victory of the season.

Elin will be competing today as well in the mountain time trial (13km and 1300hm) on the Rettenbachferner in Austria, which is the first stage of the jedermann Deutschland Tour. The next two events take place on Friday in Fürth (hopefully Elin will have more luck there this time!) and on Saturday in Hannover.

She warmed up for the Rettenbachferner last Saturday in Andermatt, Switzerland, where she did the 120km (3550hm) Alpen Brevet ride. Rumour has it she was second woman, but the event is officially not a race.

Two other members of the ECB Cyclosports squad were active in Bochum and Nürburg. Markus Hagedorn is continuing his amazing debut on the scene with a 51st place, preceeding seasoned powerhouse Morten Hansen who also found his legs back in 183th spot. Frankfurt-based Briton Gary Weir was 86th.
In Rad am Ring, Morten came in 77th in the 70km event won by Bad Vilbel rider Gerhard Hack.
Gary finished 80th on the 140km.