Why they abandoned We have been getting emails about the abandons of Frank Vandenbrouke and Stefan van Dijk before the final Saturday night in Amsterdam. To allay any suspicions that there might be anything sinister in their departure, Vandenbroucke has been fighting a virus and his temperature was 39 centigrade when he pulled out and Van Dijk was still suffering the effects of a fall he took a couple of nights earlier. Both riders had continued as long as they were able despite their ailments. Vandenbroucke: no neophite on the boards.. Correcting a comment we made a day or two earlier about Frank Vandenbroucke being a neophite insofar as the Six Day scene was concerned we have been advised that Frank, in his early neo-pro days, was no stranger to the tracks of Europe an in fact had previously ridden the Bordeaux and Gent Sixes. He is slated to ride the Munich and Gent events this season too in addition to his appearance in Amsterdam. So where was DeFauw? A regular on the Six Day circuit for the past several seasons, DeFauw recently signed a two year contract to ride for Quick Step. And that contract stipulates "No Six Day Racing" Mexico We have no news, neither good nor bad about the Mexico Six due to start on Tuesday, October 26th. (Source: SixDay Staff)
Japan Cup: Sinkewitz
Posted Sun Oct 24 18:44:42 2004 (EDT in North America)
Japan Cup - 151.3 km - Cat. 1.3
1. Patrik Sinkewitz (ALL/Quick Step), 4h01'30" (average: 37,59 km/h)
2. Damiano Cunego (ITA) + 01"
3. Manuel Quinziato (ITA) 44"
4. Sylvester Szmyd (POL) 46"
5. Leonardo Bertagnolli (ITA) 48"
6. Bram Tankink (PBS) 1'59"
7. Marco Marzano (ITA) m.t.
8. Fabian Jeker (SUI) 2'00"
9. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (ESP) 2'10"
10. Tomoya Kano (JAP) 2'13"
(Source: Cycle Racing)
Cycle Racing Site (English)
Malaysia Airlines Herald Sun Tour
Posted Sun Oct 24 15:34:16 2004 (EDT in North America)
Sweden's Jonas Ljungblad takes Overall WinHerald Sun Site (English)
18 year old Walker takes final Stage David's dream sours in 3km By: Michael Horan 25oct04 (Australian Time) The miracle David McKenzie required yesterday to finally win the Herald Sun Tour never came. The man who led the Tour into the second last stage on rday sat waiting for the starter's gun for the final-stage kermesse at Traralgon, knowing his second place in the general classification, 1min 33sec behind new leader Swede Jonas Ljungblad, may as well have been a month. Only something untoward -- a fall, a broken chain or Ljungblad getting struck by lightning -- would allow McKenzie to claim the race he has tried 10 times to win. And clear sunny skies put divine intervention out of the question. There was a nanosecond of excitement 100m into the race when the chain did snap on the bike of a Europcar-Pelaco team rider -- but it belonged to Ljungblad's Polish teammate Artur Krzeszoweic. Proud and a true pro, McKenzie pedalled his heart out. He won the first sprint but knew that no matter how hard or how well he rode, the race leader would follow. McKenzie finished 1min 30sec short of his ambition as the Tour went to a foreigner for the 15th time in 16 years. "I knew it was pretty close to impossible to win," McKenzie said later. "Jonas is a true professional. He followed me pretty much all day. There is always that 1 per cent chance that something could happen but as long as he did everything right it was going to be pretty hard for me to do anything. "My No. 1 goal was to protect second place, which I did on that first sprint." McKenzie also finished second in the Tour sprint title won by teammate Karl Menzies, but still claimed the trophy for leading Australian rider and the team title with Bicycle Superstore. A winner of 11 stages in his career, this is the first year McKenzie has not won a stage, but he registered his highest overall finish. The day before rday's costly Mt Baw Baw stage when, he lost more than two minutes to Ljungblad over the final 3km of the climb, McKenzie accepted the yellow leader's jersey in Jamieson and said if he was ever going to win a Herald Sun Tour, this would be the year. So is that it? Has the 30-year-old given up hope? "No never," he said. "It's an awesome feeling to compete and try to win. "It's a great feeling coming second, I feel very humble to achieve that, but the desire to win it all burns on. "Never say never." McKenzie regrets little and happily acknowledges second place was probably as good as he could have got in the end. "One thing I needed was one more super day," he said. "I had one on the first day and I needed one up Baw Baw -- I had a good climb, but I needed a super one. "At the end of the day if I'm going to lose, I want to lose to someone better than me, not to some tactical errors. "I didn't make any tactical errors, I lost to a great rider." Baw Baw climb seals it for Sweden's Jonas Ljungblad By: Michael Horan 25oct04 (Australian Time) SWEDEN'S Jonas Ljungblad yesterday continued the European domination of the Malaysia Airlines Herald Sun Tour with a comfortable victory over Victorian David McKenzie. While one of Australia's most promising young riders, William Walker, won the final kermesse stage in Traralgon, all honours were with the popular Swedish rider, who took the leader's yellow jersey on rday with a brilliant ride to the top of Mt Baw Baw. Overseas riders have won every Herald Sun Tour since 1987 bar one, with only Australian Baden Cooke in 2002 breaking the stranglehold. With an overnight lead of 1min 33sec over McKenzie, only a major catastrophe could deny Ljungblad his biggest career win yesterday. The only hiccup for him and his Europcar-Pelaco team came just seconds after the start of the 20-lap final stage when teammate Artur Krzeszowiec broke the chain on his bike. It took four laps of the 2.85km circuit before the chain was fixed and Krzeszowiec could return to the race, but then he pulled out again with a faulty pedal. But it made no difference to Ljungblad's prospects. When a breakaway of nine riders was established with 17 laps remaining, his other teammates, fellow Swede Thomas Gronqvist, Englishman Jamie Burrow and Poland's Mateusz Mroz positioned themselves at the front of the peloton and controlled proceedings virtually throughout. "It didn't look good, but we have a strong team here and I wasn't so worried," Ljungblad said. "I had 1 1/2 minutes to McKenzie and I was only looking to follow him today." Ljungblad won the Tour when he put two minutes on McKenzie (Bicycle Superstore) on rday on Mt Baw Baw, but he established his climbing credentials in the 154.8km seventh stage between Creswick and Daylesford. The Swede said he learnt from climbing Mt Baw Baw in 2002, when he did not have the proper gearing for the brutal last 6km. On that occasion he used only a 58cm rear gearing ring, but he had a 63.5cm ring on his bike on rday. With the prospect of a more lucrative professional contract looming on the horizon, Ljungblad said he was both happy and relieved that the gruelling 11-day, 1100km event was over. "Of course I'm happy, it's a big relief the Tour is over now," he said. "It would have been hard to defend the jersey for many days." McKenzie, 30, riding in his 10th Tour, found it ironic that he didn't win a stage to match his 11 previous stage victories, but had his best overall finish, 1min 30sec behind Ljungblad. "If I was going to lose I'm glad it was to a smarter, stronger, better bike rider," McKenzie said. NSW's Ben Brooks (McGee-NSW Institute of Sport) was third overall, 1min 51sec behind, followed by Frenchman Benoit Poilvet (Provincial Victoria) at 3:12, and Tasmanian Karl Menzies (Bicycle Superstore) at 3:38. Poilvet and Brooks enhanced their standings by finishing second and seventh respectively behind young Victorian Matthew Lloyd in rday's penultimate stage. Brooks, 25, raced in America for eight months this season and returned home only a month before the Tour. Menzies, 27, continued to be the surprise of the Tour. Yesterday he was involved in the breakaway move and picked up 34 bonus seconds to pip McKenzie for the Castlemaine Foods sprint championship, 62 points to 51. Walker (Jayco), the youngest rider in the Tour at 18, again belied his youth by attacking in the bell lap to win yesterday's stage from Menzies and Sydney's Chris Sutton, 20, the son of 1984 winner Gary Sutton. "This and the Warrny (Melbourne to Warrnambool classic) are definitely my best wins so far," Walker said. Stage 13 - Traralgon Kermesse - 57.0 km Place Rider UCI ID Sponsor Time Deficit 1 William Walker AUS19851031 JAYCO 1:17:07 2 Karl Menzies AUS19770617 BICYCLE SUPERSTORE 1:17:07 0:00:00 3 Chris Sutton AUS19840910 McGEE - NSW INSTITUTE OF SPORT 1:17:07 0:00:00 4 Paul Healion IRL19780603 SUNGOLD MILK - WARRNAMBOOL 1:17:10 0:00:03 5 Russell Van Hout AUS19760615 SUBARU 1:17:10 0:00:03 6 David Harrigan AUS19750526 LATROBE CITY 1:17:10 0:00:03 7 Eric Wohlberg CAN19650108 ACTIVE FOR LIFE 1:17:10 0:00:03 8 Domenic Gatto AUS19740328 VICTORIAN STATE HOME LOANS 1:17:17 0:00:10 9 Dean Downing GBR19750124 BENDIGO 1:17:22 0:00:15 10 Jonathan Cantwell AUS19820108 HALF MILE CREEK 1:17:30 0:00:23 11 David McKenzie AUS19740806 BICYCLE SUPERSTORE 1:17:30 0:00:23 12 Jonas Ljungblad SWE19790115 EUROPCAR - PELACO 1:17:30 0:00:23 13 Scott Guyton NZL19760611 BICYCLE SUPERSTORE 1:17:30 0:00:23 14 David Tanner AUS19840930 McGEE - NSW INSTITUTE OF SPORT 1:17:30 0:00:23 15 Mark Roland AUS19780112 VICTORIAN STATE HOME LOANS 1:17:30 0:00:23 16 Luke Roberts AUS19770125 LATROBE CITY 1:17:30 0:00:25 17 James Meadley AUS19840204 MITCHELL BUILDING SUPPLIES 1:17:33 0:00:26 18 Matthew Lloyd AUS19830524 MITCHELL BUILDING SUPPLIES 1:17:33 0:00:26 19 Thomas Gronqvist SWE19751002 EUROPCAR - PELACO 1:17:33 0:00:26 20 Jorge Libonatti URU19810328 ACTIVE FOR LIFE 1:17:33 0:00:26 21 Timo Scholz GER19720630 MALAYSIA AIRLINES 1:17:33 0:00:26 22 Ruber Marin COL19680607 SUBARU 1:17:33 0:00:26 23 Craig McCartney AUS19800930 PROVINCIAL VICTORIA 1:17:33 0:00:26 24 Glen Mitchell NZL19721019 ACTIVE FOR LIFE 1:17:33 0:00:26 25 Daniel McConnell AUS19850809 VICTORIAN STATE HOME LOANS 1:17:33 0:00:26 Final Overall after Stage 13 Place Rider Sponsor Time Deficit 1 Jonas Ljungblad EUROPCAR - PELACO 26:39:55 0:00:00 2 David McKenzie BICYCLE SUPERSTORE 26:41:25 0:01:30 3 Ben Brooks McGEE - NSW INSTITUTE OF SPORT 26:41:46 0:01:51 4 Benoit Poilvet PROVINCIAL VICTORIA 26:43:07 0:03:12 5 Karl Menzies BICYCLE SUPERSTORE 26:43:33 0:03:38 6 Glen Mitchell ACTIVE FOR LIFE 26:43:36 0:03:41 7 Timo Scholz MALAYSIA AIRLINES 26:43:39 0:03:44 8 Simon Gerrans JAYCO 26:44:22 0:04:27 9 Matthew Lloyd MITCHELL BUILDING SUPPLIES 26:44:25 0:04:30 10 Luke Roberts LATROBE CITY 26:44:42 0:04:47 11 Scott Guyton BICYCLE SUPERSTORE 26:45:03 0:05:08 12 Rob Sharman SUNGOLD MILK - WARRNAMBOOL 26:45:29 0:05:34 13 Kristian House BENDIGO 26:46:03 0:06:08 14 David Tanner McGEE - NSW INSTITUTE OF SPORT 26:46:18 0:06:23 15 Phillip Thuaux JAYCO 26:46:56 0:07:01 16 Kieran Page BENDIGO 26:47:01 0:07:06 17 Dominique Perras ACTIVE FOR LIFE 26:47:27 0:07:32 18 William Walker JAYCO 26:47:48 0:07:53 19 Jamie Burrow EUROPCAR - PELACO 26:48:22 0:08:27 20 Domenic Gatto VICTORIAN STATE HOME LOANS 26:49:35 0:09:40 21 Tomas Buchacek LATROBE CITY 26:49:41 0:09:46 22 Eric Wohlberg ACTIVE FOR LIFE 26:49:56 0:10:01 23 Chris Bradford CGU INSURANCE 26:50:32 0:10:37 24 Corey Sweet LATROBE CITY 26:50:37 0:10:42 25 Peter Milostic ARGON 18 BIKES - CARAVELLO 26:52:44 0:12:49 The Stages: Thu 14 Oct - Stage 1 - Melbourne Criterium- 33.0 km (30 laps x 1.1 km) Fri 15 Oct - Stage 2 - Werribee Criterium - 36.0 km (30 laps x 1.2 km) Fri 15 Oct - Stage 3 - Werribee-You Yangs - 77.7 km Sat 16 Oct - Stage 4 - Portarlington Circuit - 117.0 km (10 x 11.7 km) Sun 17 Oct - Stage 5 - Geelong Kermesse - 77.0 km (35 x 2.2 km) Mon 18 Oct - Stage 6 - Colac Tour of the Otways - 178.7 km Tue 19 Oct - Stage 7 - Creswick-Daylesford- 154.8 km Wed 20 Oct - Stage 8 - Bendigo Kermesse - 69.0 km (30 x 2.3 km) Thu 21 Oct - Stage 9 - Nagambie-Mansfield - 151.8 km Fri 22 Oct - Stage 10 - Mansfield Criterium- 33.0 km (30 x 1.1 km) Fri 22 Oct - Stage 11 - Mansfield-Jamieson - 38.0 km Sat 23 Oct - Stage 12 - Warragul-Mt Baw Baw- 87.7 km Sun 24 Oct - Stage 13 - Traralgon Kermesse - 57.0 km (20 x 2.85 km) (Source: Herald Sun)
Men Only
Posted Sun Oct 24 15:04:45 2004 (EDT in North America)
Here's recently retired Emmanuel Magnien (Source: Six Day staff; Photo Courtesy: Cyclinfo Site (French))
Ladies Only
Posted Sun Oct 24 14:44:57 2004 (EDT in North America)
Here's Kimberly Smith (Source: Six Day staff; Photo Courtesy: Cyclinfo Site (French))
Happy Birthday - Men
Posted Sun Oct 24 14:39:30 2004 (EDT in North America)
Levi Leipheimer (1973) USA 3rd 2001 Tour of Spain (1st. Angel Casero; 2nd. Oscar Sevilla, both Spanish) (Source: Six Day staff)
Happy Birthday - Women
Posted Sun Oct 24 14:35:41 2004 (EDT in North America)
None Today. Sorry (Source: Six Day staff)
Today's Menu
Posted Sun Oct 24 14:29:10 2004 (EDT in North America)
Sunday, October 24 Main Events:
MEN:
Stage Races:
Stage 13 - Malaysia Airlines Herald Sun Tour - Australia - Cat. 2.3
Single Day races: None
Japan Cup - 151.3 km - Cat. 1.3
Six Day Races: None
WOMEN:
Stage Races: None
Single Day races: None
(Source: UCI)
UCI Calendars: Track Road Women UCI Home Page (Multilingual)