Affable Evans could deliver Australia's 400th Olym
Cadel Evanss's last media commitment before today's Olympic road race was a somewhat haphazard affair that lasted under a minute.
After he completed a three-hour training run around the spectacular Beijing course on Thursday, an American TV type thrust a fluffy microphone towards the elfin Australian cycling star's mouth.
The session doubled as a fitness test for Evans who, after initially being the man that the Australian men's road team was to be built around, almost withdrew from the Olympic team because of injury. The inquisitive talking head from the States asked how he was feeling in the wash-up of becoming a successive Tour de France runner-up.
''Oh, that's fine,'' Evans replied breezily, stalling ever so briefly on his way to joining his four Australian teammates on a bus out of the competition site. ''It's the knee injury that's been causing me a fair bit of stress lately.''
Indeed, earlier that morning, a request from a photographer to shoot the Aussie team standing at the top of a flight of stairs was politely declined on account of the crew's main man who, while able to compete, is still a notch off his best.
Back in the media working area after the ad-hoc Evans doorstop, another American cycling journalist expressed pleasant, though sarcastic, surprise that the Aussie rider who has earned himself a reputation of late for occasional volatility with the media corps had just got through an exchange with scribes without incident. Evans, when he does speak publicly, is nothing if not frank, but seems more bemused by the attention and is perhaps sometimes overawed by it than a reluctant performer.
On the Tour, his Silence-Lotto team employed Lance Armstrong's old body guard to help smooth the Australian's path. In China, the cycling team's media attache has seen fit to place a protective arm behind Evans's small frame when he speaks.
Upon landing in Beijing early on Wednesday morning, he was again besieged by arms, microphones and cameras.
Straight out of Chinese customs, Evans was probed about his now well known sympathetic views regarding the Tibetan's fight for freedom.
''I'm here to ride my race and play my role as part of the Australian Olympic team, not to upset anyone. But of course, yes, I have my opinions,'' Evans said, simultaneously signalling resolve about his politics while indicating sensitivity given his environment.
Regardless of his recent Tour de France let down, Evans's drive to achieve today would have always been high, Australian cycling's national performance director Shayne Bannan said yesterday.
''He's said publicly that there were two events driving him this year the Tour de France and the Olympic games. And there hasn't really been much talk at all in our pre-Olympics camp and training about the Tour to be honest,'' Bannan said.
Yesterday afternoon, the men's road team met to set race tactics for today's event.
The Australian Olympic Committee will watch the race with heightened interest because a podium finish from Evans in the day one event could yield the country's 400th Olympic medal.
Copyright (c) 2008. Fairfax Media.
Australia pushing for pro-cycling team
Australian cycling's latest bid for a team in the Tour de France had its first baby steps, complete with Federal Government blessing.
But the Melbourne-based Australian Road Cycling (ARC) operation is still trying to scale the major hurdle - securing the big-name sponsors who will finance the required 15-20 million euros ($A24.71m-$A32.94m) per year budget.
"We would like to get an Australian company, but the reality is there's a lot of money off-shore, certainly in Asia and North America," said ARC director Benjamin Fitzmaurice.
"The next big push for cycling is into Asia, North America and Russia."
As cycling in Australia has boomed over the last decade, there have been several attempts to create a fully-fledged Australian professional team.
ARC's ambitious goal is to have a team with ProTour status - road cycling's premier league - in operation by the 2010 season.
The super-team's main goal would be a start in the Tour de France, which currently operates outside the ProTour calendar
It would aim high for star recruits, targetting Australian cycling stars such as Cadel Evans, Stuart O'Grady, Michael Rogers and Robbie McEwen.
ARC will apply for a ProTour licence in July next year, around the time of the Tour de France, and will receive an answer around September.
ARC had their official launch at the MCG's National Sports Museum.
They have deliberately started slowly and their first step was to present the ARC domestic squad, a group of seven youngsters who are emerging junior riders.
To emphasise the enormity of ARC's main goal, this initial squad's budget is only around $200,000.
Federal Minister for Sport Kate Ellis and Cycling Australia (CA) chief executive Graham Fredericks were at the launch.
ARC has signed a memorandum of understanding with CA, meaning it can draw on the national governing body's technical and development expertise.
The close tie with CA led to the federal government's endorsement, although the government will not directly fund any ARC venture.
CA's contacts have also made the job easier for ARC in their still-informal, and delicate, discussions with Australian professional riders.
"You have to be surreptitious, you have to be careful, because they've got responsibilities under their current contracts with their current teams," Fitzmaurice said.
"We deal directly with the cyclists, but we do it carefully and respectfully.
"Everyone wants to see an Australian team get up and we're just facilitating that.
"We have discussed it with a lot of riders and they know of us."
Fitzmaurice said ARC would want at least 90 per cent of the 25-28 riders on the ProTour team's roster to be Australian - another ambitious target.
The Queensland-based Roamfree.com bid to create a ProTour team, announced last year, is still in operation.
But their campaign has stalled because of the inability to find a big partner sponsor.
Copyright (c) 2008. The Sydney Morning Herald.
Injured cyclist slams drivers
SYDNEY's motorists have been branded the world's worst by professional cyclists after a near-lethal road rage attack on the cream of Australia's cycling ranks.
Dozens of the nation's best riders were scattered across an arterial road in the path of high-speed traffic after a deliberate assault on the pack.
Among those thrown off their bikes were Olympians Ben Kersten and Michelle Ferris, and Kate Nichols, who was hurt in the 2005 accident in Germany that killed Amy Gillett.
Passing motorists jeered at the cyclists as they lay on the road.
Kersten said it was a miracle nobody died in the incident and described the actions of the driver involved as akin to "attempted murder".
"He should be put away for a long time," Kersten said. "He was a psychopath who had a clear intent to harm us. What he did was nothing short of attempted murder."
As he lay dazed on the road, fearing someone might have been killed, passing motorists yelled: "Go get a car, you tight arses" and "Sucked in", he said.
Nursing a heavily-iced left elbow, Kersten said his training schedule for the Olympic trials in less than three weeks had been "stuffed up" while he recovered and looked for a replacement for his mangled bike.
Nichols suffered scratches and bruises to the right side of her body.
Kate's father, cycling legend Kevin Nichols, was also on the ride and came face to face with the motorist, who was driving a green Commodore.
"I told him to pull over and he uttered some smart alec response," said the 1984 Olympic 4000m team pursuit gold medallist. "He initially pulled over and then he took off."
Nichols said the pack began its bi-weekly dawn ride at Bar Coluzzi in Darlinghurst and was heading south on Southern Cross Drive - the main link between the city and airport - when the motorist approached.
The cyclists were travelling at about 60km/h when the car began swerving into the pack.
"He sped ahead and pulled in front of the pack. I thought, 'Uh oh' and began warning riders around me to slow down. I also got his rego number.
"Then suddenly he slammed the brakes on and it was too late for anyone to get out of the way."
Kersten said the incident has pushed him to the brink of moving overseas to escape what he views as the world's worst city to ride a bicycle.
Police interviewed a man, 34, at a residence in Claymore, in Sydney's southwest, in relation to the incident. Officers also examined a Ford Falcon sedan at the premises.
No arrests were made but a police spokesman said officers were continuing their investigation.
Copyright 2008 Premier Media Group Pty Ltd.
Australian Champion Lloyd changes Giro objectives
Australian Champion Matthew Lloyd is backing off his plans for the 91st Giro d'Italia's overall and shifting his focus to a possible stage win due to knee problems. The Silence-Lotto rider, who will celebrate his 25th birthday this Saturday when the race hits the high mountains Manghen and Pampeago, does not want to risk further injuries.
He rolled in with the gruppo into Cesena to finish stage 11 and, like all 169 finishing riders, showed the signs of a hard day out. "It was pretty exciting at the start, the weather was incredibly bad," he commented to Cyclingnews. Intermittent rain showers made the 199-kilometre parcours even more difficult to manage, but luckily, Lloyd was not one of the day's many crash victims; however, he is nursing his knee as the race continues with two flat stages on Thursday and Friday.
"I managed to destroy the collateral ligament in my knee so I just can't do anything. We were climbing today and it was just ridiculous. I am not going to destroy my leg to try to keep up when I can try to fix it at least and may finish well in a stage later on [in the Giro d'Italia]."
Lloyd, 61st overall last year and third in the 2006 Under-23 Giro d'Italia, will now shift his focus from a high place overall to a chance at a stage victory. "There is no point in injuring yourself, trying to do stupid things when in reality you can try to make the situation better, not only physically, but mentally as well, for next week. Hopefully, it will turn out okay and hopefully there is not too much damage."
He is currently in 112th, at 21'54" behind the race leader, Italy's Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step).
Lloyd and his Silence-Lotto team's morale are bolstered by the performance of Jurgen Van den Broeck. The 25 year-old Belgian is the top ranked rider for his nation, holding 15th overall and fourth in the young rider's classification. Van den Broeck made sure he was present in all the key charges through stage 11, staying with the likes of Danilo Di Luca and Riccardo Ricco on the Monte Carpegna.
"Jurgen is dong a fantastic job," Lloyd added. "Everyone is stoked about that. If we can keep him going well... Everyone is still motivated; it will be good. And, the weather can't get any worse!"
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Road rage crash shocks Sydney cycling fraternity
Sydney's cycling community was rattled when over 50 riders in a popular training group became victims of a hit-and-run crash this morning. The group included Australian Beijing Olympic Games hopeful Ben Kersten, former Olympian Michelle Ferris and Kate Nichols, one of the Australian Institute of Sport riders injured in the 2005 training accident that claimed the life of Amy Gillett.
Riders have expressed outrage at the actions of the erratic driver, which they described as being deliberate and premeditated. Nobody was seriously injured in the accident however the equipment damage bill is expected to run into the tens of thousands of dollars and has upset the run into Kersten's Olympic trials in two weeks time.
While traveling south - the opposite direction to the morning's city-bound traffic - on Southern Cross Drive, Mascot at 6:30 AM, a grey sedan approached the bunch and demonstrated erratic behaviour as it passed. Once ahead of the group, the sedan pulled in front of it and braked hard, forcing the group to slam into the vehicle travelling at over 50 km/h.
It was intentional, I have no doubt about it," said Matt Bazzano of the incident. Bazzano, a highly experienced cyclist is an executive with Shimano Australia and former winner of the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic. "The fact is that after he did it, he (the driver) then took off, which he shouldn't have done. But then I wonder what could have happened had he stopped...you don't know what someone may do."
The crash caused traffic behind to take evasive action as riders spilled across the road, including a semi-trailer which jack-knifed under braking forces. The prime mover's driver skillfully brought the vehicle under control to avoid slamming into the fallen riders.
"I'm just glad nobody is dead," admitted Kersten, who was left with the imprint of a chain ring on his back. "I went flying through a group of about 20 people and 20 more hit me."
Bazzano, who's trained on the roads of Sydney for well over two decades, said it was the most extreme example of road rage he'd yet witnessed. "You'd have to go a long way to do worse than this," he said. "You know, things happen on the road and it can be accidental or careless, but this was intentional."
Kersten joined his fellow riders in saying the driver's actions were deliberate at a press conference called near the scene of the incident shortly after midday. "It's totally no accident, this guy is a psycho," he said.
Copyrigth Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
Flight Centre moves into cycling sector
May 5, 2008 - 4:11PM
Flight Centre Ltd has made a small investment in the bicycle business, securing Australian distribution rights for the Merida and Indi bike brands.
The travel agency company has secured the exclusive wholesale distribution rights for Taiwan-based Merida's bikes, for three years from July - and permanent rights to the Indi brand.
Flight Centre said the investment, for which it paid $150,000 plus stock at cost, was not material and was part of a strategy to diversify the company's revenue streams.
Merida is one of the world's biggest manufacturers of road, mountain, hybrid and electric bikes, while Indi produces a range of entry-level bikes.
The brands are distributed through about 120 retail bike shops in Australia.
With around 1.4 million bikes sold in Australia last year, Flight Centre merger and acquisitions manager, David Smith, said the acquisition gave the company a real opportunity to tap into a large market.
"This investment represents a very small but exciting opportunity for Flight Centre to broaden its traditional revenue base in a sector that continues to experience strong growth," Mr Smith said.
Flight Centre said that it was also in discussions with Gainsdale Pty Ltd about a joint venture involving the 99 Bikes retail chain.
It said these discussion were incomplete.
The Merida and Indi investment is the third under Flight Centre's diversification strategy after Flight Centre Travel Money and Employment Office Australia.
Flight Centre said these investments have recorded healthy growth following their acquisitions.
(c) 2008 AAP
Volksbank on probation in MPCC
Thomas Kofler, the general manager of the Austrian Volksbank team, wanted his squad to participate in the German races, like Henninger Turm and the Deutschland Tour. With the teams at the mercy of the race organisers, Volksbank did not want to jeopardise its chances and joined the MPCC, which stands for Movement pour un Cyclisme Credible or movement for a credible cycling. This agreement is not binding, but a Pro Continental team like Volksbank is risking not being invited to races like Henninger if it doesn't adhere, as the race organiser is fighting hard against doping in cycling.
Kofler's squad finally got approved in April, but it was not easy. The Austrian stated that "It was not a cakewalk to be able to join the group. But especially for us as a second-string team it is important to fight for a credible and clean sport." It actually gave him motivation to stay involved in a troubled sport. "I think the MPCC should be a defining step into the future," he emphasised his commitment to fight for a clean bill of health.
There were two aspects that made joining the movement difficult. One problem was the language. "I am not too fluent in French," Kofler smiled and thanked his colleague, Gerolsteiner's manager Hans-Michael Holczer, who was able to function as a translator.
The other problem was that unlike the Code of Ethics, which is only a signature, the MPCC is very careful in who they approve. Volksbank was the 12th team to join, but they aren't even a full member yet. Kofler explained that "We were able to join on a probationary term. We will try everything ... so we can become a full member [in the future]."
The probation period is not an unknown concept to the Austrian. He compared it other sectors in the work life, "where employers hire people on probation." Kofler used to be involved in skiing, so he has a different background and didn't grow up running a cycling team. But he is not completely unknown to cycling, having tried his feet as a sprinter.
Kofler got involved in the sport back in 1999, which shows continuity. From a small team to the Pro Continental Volksbank, the next step seems logical. "We want to go to the Tour [de France]. We want to go where the ProTour teams are."
For that to happen, he will need the help of sponsors and that is not easy. "In Austria, the problems are similar to Germany, but the budgets are ten times smaller. We have competition from skiing and from the European Football Championships [held in June in Switzerland and Austria - ed.]," Kofler detailed the problems with securing sponsorship. But he is drawing hope from the fact that cycling is bigger than skiing in terms of recreational activity in Austria.
Overall, his outlook is rather positive. "If we [as a team] continue our way, we should be able to secure sponsorships in the future." And joining the MPCC will help that quest along, as long as they will survive the probation period without a scandal.
Copyright Future Publishing (Overseas) Limited, a Future plc group company, 1995-2007. All rights reserved.
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