Elite Circuit Series 2006

The first two rounds of the British Circuit series kicked off this weekend and some exciting racing ensued. It looks like it should be an good series with Malcolm Elliott, Rob Hayles and crit specialist Warrick Spence (all from different teams) all finishing in the top ten on both days. Plenty to play for in the rest of the series.

The Elite Circuit Series 2006 is Sponsored by Trek Bikes, Club La Santa, Sports Tours International

Saturday – Hillingdon – RESULT

1. Malcolm Elliott Plowman Craven/Leica Geosystems/Opera RT 1.50.44.8
2. Mariusz Wiesiak Tm Nippo – KFS Special Vehicles/Poland
3. Warrick Spence London Dynamo/Cycle Fit
4. Tony Gibb Plowman Craven/Leica Geosystems/Opera RT
5. Ross Muir Evans Cycles RT
6. Joel Stewart AgiskoViner.com
7. Robert Hayles Tm KLR 1.52.15.5 (@1.22.6)
8. Wesley Cole Plowman Craven/Leica Geosystems/Opera RT
9. Jason Edwards Wildside RT/Ewhurst Controls
10. Ed Whitehorn Glendene CC/Bike Tra

Sunday – Brentwood – RESULT

1. Mariusz Wiesiak, Team Nippo 1:08:01
2. Robert Hayles, Team KLR
3. James Taylor, Plowman Craven RT
4. Malcolm Elliot, Plowman Craven RT
5. Fred Johannson, Plowman Craven RT
6. Karl Freeman, Team Milton Keynes/Phil Corley
7. Warrick Spence, London Dynamo/Cycle Fit
8. Ross Muir, Evans Cycles
9. Martin Form, Team Lloyds TSB
10. Diego Garavito, Team Milton Keynes/Phil Corley

The remaining series rounds

7th of June – Crawley Town Centre Criterium
23rd of June – Beverley Town Centre Criterium
28th of June – Otley Town Centre Criterium
5th of July – Guildford Town Centre Circuit Race
19th of July – Colne Grand Prix
2nd of August – Clitheroe Town Centre Circuit Race
16th of August – Rochdale Town Centre Circuit Race
28th of August – Glasgow Grand Prix
3rd of September – Bob Chicken London GP
17th of September – Travelwise Warwick Town Centre Race

Points system for overall

Points will be awarded to the first twenty places in each event as follows:
1st 100;2nd 85;3rd 75;4th 66;5th 58;6th 51;7th 45; 8th 39;9th 34;10th 29;11th 25;12th 21;13th 18;14th 15; 15th 12;16th 10; 17th 8;18th 6; 19th 4; 20th 2.
Points of 1st 3; 2nd 2 & 3rd 1 awarded on 2 designated sprint laps in each round.
Series to be decided on the seven best points tallies achieved by each rider

2005 Series Overall

1. Dean Downing, recycling.co.uk/MG-Xpower/Litespeed 218
2. James Taylor, www.sports-coaching.com 213
3. Warrick Spence, London Dynamo 188
4. Ian Holt, Vinerbikes/Agisko Sports Nutrition 177
5. Russell Downing, recycling.co.uk/MG-Xpower/Litespeed 165
6. Rob Hayles, recycling.co.uk/MG-Xpower/Litespeed 131
7. Ross Muir, Vinerbikes/Agisko Sports Nutrition 130
8. Chris Newton, recycling.co.uk/MG-Xpower/Litespeed 127
9. Ben Hallam, Team DFL 117
10. Steve Cummings, Landbouwkredit- Colnago 85

EVENT WINNERS 2005

The Bike Show: Dean Downing
Crawley Town Centre: Russell Downing
Brentwood Town Centre: Phil Dixon
Hillingdon GP: James Taylor
Guildford Town Centre: Warwick Spence
Colne GP: Chris Newton
Milton Keynes GP: Dean Downing
Clithero Town Centre: Russell Downing
Glasgow GP: Peter Mazur (Poland)
Bob Chicken GP: Ian Holt
Newport Nocturne: Chris Newton
Warwick Town Centre: Steve Cummings

58th Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré

The traditional warm-up for the Tour de France and a suitably tough one. This year’s race will cover the Col du Galibier and Mont Ventoux. So expect a worthy winner. The prologue kicked it off yesterday and George Hincapie returned to high level competition, he just missed out on the win to compatriot David Zabriskie. Bradley Wiggins was hoping for a good ride but only managed 21st place.

We’re heading off to the race today so expect some pictures and news from the roadside…

Prologue – June 4: Annecy – Annecy, 4.1 km – Results

1. David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 4.35.84 (53.509 km/h)
2. George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team @ 0.01.88
3. Stuart O’grady (Aus) Team CSC 0.06.07
4. Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.06.91
5. Joost Posthuma (Ned) Rabobank 0.07.35
6. Stijn Devolder (Bel) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.07.40
7. Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears 0.07.61
8. Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.07.70
9. Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.08.00
10. Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Würth 0.08.19
11. Peter Mazur (Pol) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.08.50
12. Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2R Prevoyance 0.08.96
13. Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.09.01
14. Thor Hushovd (Nor) Credit Agricole 0.09.32
15. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Würth 0.09.62
16. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Phonak Hearing Systems 0.09.67
17. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne-Illes Balears 0.10.26
18. Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 0.10.37
19. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0.10.46
20. Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0.10.99
21. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis, le Credit par Telephone 0.11.02

RTTC National 25 Championships

An interesting result for the blue ribband time trialling UK title, especially going on the previous few champs. Michael Hutchinson lost his crown to Jason Macintyre and Chris Newton narrowly missed out on gold as the top two were over a minute clear of the bronze medallist Matt Bottrill.

RTTC Championship 25 Men 04/06/2006

1. Jason MacIntyre Equipe Velo Ecosse 00:50:43
2. Chris Newton recycling.co.uk 00:50:59

3. Matthew Bottrill De Rosa RT 00:52:17
4. Gethin Butler Preston Wheelers 00:52:21
5. Ben Instone A3crg 00:52:39
6. Paul O’Mahoney Ghyllside Cycles 00:52:40
7. Craig Simpson Blue Sky Cycles 00:53:10
8. Michael Hutchinson In Gear Quickvit RT 00:53:23
9. Richard Prebble Pinarello RT 00:53:26
10. Mark Atkinson Equipe Velo Ecosse 00:53:33

RTTC Championship 25 Women 04/06/2006

1. Wendy Houvenaghel Bike Chain/Ricci Ltd 00:57:38
2. Julia Shaw GS Strada 00:58:05
3. Ruth Eyles Beacon Roads CC 00:59:16 37

4. Tanja Slater Science in Sport.com 00:59:46
5. Caroline Kloiber Rapha Condor 01:00:03
5. Ruth Elliott In Gear Quickvit RT 01:00:03
6. Helen Carter Science in Sport.com 01:01:17
7. Avril Swan Wheels in Wheels 01:01:41
8. Lynn Hamel Kent Valley RC 01:02:24
9. Angela Hunter GS Strada 01:02:27
10. Melanie Williams www.agiskoviner.com 01:02:42

RTTC Championship 25 Juniors 04/06/2006

1. Alex Dowsett Glendene CC 00:54:10
2. Richard Meadows Cleveland Wheelers CC 00:55:26
3. Pete Vincent North Devon Wheelers 00:57:43
4. James Boyman www.agiskoviner.com 00:57:50
5. Oliver Graham Wyre Forest CRC 00:57:59
6. Michael Rudling SP Systems/Wightlink RT 00:59:11
7. Robert Bowles Bicester Millennium CC 00:59:59
8. Warren Stokes North Bucks RC 01:01:11
9. Callum Lister Corinium CC 01:01:14
10. Matthew Jennings Stone Wheelers CC 01:01:22

National Derny Championships – Reading

Full report on www.londoncyclesport.com

Probably one of the more niche championship events but still hard fought and won. Multi-British champion and world class sprinter Victoria Pendleton showed a clean pair of heels in the women’s race whilst Bryan Taylor retained the Men’s championships.

Men’s Derny Championship

1. Bryan Taylor, VC Londres – Paced by Colin Denman, Time: 34.08.92
2, James Holland-Leader, Agiskoviner – Paced by Colin Garnham
3. Simon Gaywood, CC Luton – Paced by Derek Marloe

Women’s Derny Championship

1. Victoria Pendleton, Science in Sport – Paced By Sean Bannister Time: 18.10
2. Laura Bissell, GS Strada – Paced By Ian Smith
3. Leda Cox, Onimpex – Paced By Paul Spender

National titles

The first National road championships were decided over the weekend. Glendene CC riders dominated the Junior’s title whilst foreign based riders dominated the Under 23 title.

In an extremely tough under 23 event, with an impressive line up, it was Peter Bissell who eventually shook free from the final selection to win alone and exausted.

Juniors – RESULT

1. Russell Hampton, Glendene C.C./Bike Trax, 3:39:28
2. Jonathan McEvoy, Kinesis UK, st
3. Peter Kennaugh, Glendene C.C./Bike Trax, st
4. Alex Dowsett, Glendene C.C/Bike Trax, @ 02
5. Adam Bonser, Le Coq Sportif-Dolan-SIS, @ 03
6. Andrew Griffiths, Glendene C.C./Bike Trax, st
7. Jonathan Bellis, Glendene C.C./Bike Trax, @ 14
8. Matt Rowe, Glendene C.C./Bike Trax, @ 26
9. Louis Charity, Team Corridori/Specialized, @ 1:32
10. Liam Holohan, Batley C.C./Hargreaves Cycles, @ 2:50

Under 23 – RESULT

1. Peter Bissell, Arctic Shorter Rochford R.T. 4:33:27
2. James Spragg, Tarbes Pyrenees Cylisme @ 00:12
3. Alistair Stoddart, Bouwel Cycling Team, Belgium @ 00:53
4. Thomas White, UVCA Troyes @ 00:55
5. Sean Poison, V.C.Azzurri @ 02:15
6. Dale Appleby, Recyling.co.uk Race Team/Pinarello/RudyProj/DMT @ 03:43
7. Matthew Brammier, DFL-Cycling News-Litespeed @ 04:58
8. Tomas Swift-Metcalfe, Centro de Cicllsmo de Loule st
9. Tobyn Horton, Guernsey Velo Club @ 05:20
10. Steve Lampier, Tarbes Pyrenees Cylisme @ 05:29

Backstedt’s Back!

Rider’s lining up for the Racing Club Omega circuits held at Castle Combe Motor Circuit on Sunday would have got a bit of a welcome, yet slightly nasty, shock. Liquigas professional Magnus Backstedt, promptly made a winning return to racing following knee injury and surgery last month. That must have upped the average speed a little then!

Results – Thruxton Circuits – 29/5/06 – E/1/2/J1/J2

1. Magnus BACKSTEDT Liquigas
2. Joe BAYFIELD awcycles.co.uk
3. Neil COLEMAN agisko – dart – Cycling.tv-xpower

4. James TAYLOR Plowman Craven RT
5. Greg SANDY Team Tor 2000
6. Nic TILLING GWR Team / Scott Wilson / Total Bike
7. Tom SMITH awcycles.co.uk
8. Lee DAVIS Pinarello RT
9. James CUSDEN Mid Devon CC – Colin Lewis Cycles
10. Danny AXFORD Artic – Shorter Rochford RT

Geraint Thomas wins Fleche du Sud

As part of the GB team’s preparation for the ‘Baby’ Giro (June 9 – 18), riders in the Great Britain Olympic Academy headed off to compete in the Fleche du Sud stage race in Luxembourg.

World Junior Pursuit Champion Andy Tennant, Ben Swift, Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas (Silver medallist at the 2006 Track Worlds) along with Ben Greenwood from the Recycling racing team, made up the squad for the four day, UCI ranked stage race.

The GB team joined National teams from Luxembourg and the Netherlands, plus many others from around Europe including Team Sparkasse (Germany).

So a clearly strong British (who said we were just trackies?) team took on a pretty impressive peloton and Geraint Thomas won a stage on the way to his overall victory and the team (a mixture of mainly youth and the experienced Rob Hayles) managed to protect the lead until the final stage.

Fleche du Sud – FINAL OVERALL

1. Geraint Thomas (GBr) Great Britain National Team 16.14.27
2. Wolfram Wiese (Ger) Regiostrom – Senges 0.13
3. Andrew Tennant (GBr) Great Britain National Team 0.48
48. Ben Greenwood (GBr) Great Britain National Team 16.06
56. Ben Swift (GBr) Great Britain National Team 25.16
59. Robert Hayles (GBr) Great Britain National Team 28.06

Read the in depth report on British Cycling’s website

Cooking up a storm

Nicole Cooke really appears to have put her injury woes behind her as she takes over the lead in the season-long Women’s World Cup. Cooke had won the prestigious Women’s Fleche Wallonne last week showing that she was back to her best and a 5th place at the Tour de Berne cemented her return to the top spot in the rankings.

Tour de Berne – Result

1. Zoulfia Zabirova (Kaz) Bigla Cycling Team 3.02.06 (41.12 km/h)
2. Oenone Wood (Aus) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 0.02
3. Olga Slyusareva (Rus) Russian National Team
4. Judith Arndt (Ger) T-Mobile Professional Cycling
5. Nicole Cooke (GBr) Univega Pro Cycling Team
6. Modesta Vzesniauskaite (Ltu) A.S. Team F.R.W
7. Marianne Vos (Ned) Dutch National Team
8. Annette Beutler (Swi) Elk Haus Nö
9. Edita Pucinskaite (Ltu) Nobili Rubinetterie Menikini Cogeas

10. Trixi Worrack (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung

World Cup standings

1. Nicole Cooke (GBr) Univega Pro Cycling Team 144 pts
2. Oenone Wood (Aus) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 130
3. Ina Teutenberg (Ger) T-Mobile Professional Cycling 120
4. Zoulfia Zabirova (Kaz) Bigla Cycling Team 105
5. Judith Arndt (Ger) T-Mobile Professional Cycling 95

40th Tour de Bretagne Cycliste

Many of the recycling team have headed out to France for a spot of stage racing. Kristian House ran out the winner of a hard stage three yesterday and Russell Downing has already podium-ed on stage two.

DFL’s British Champion Russell Downing has also been showing good form in the race and is well placed overall to contend for the lead.

Results – Stage 1 – April 25 – Saint-Brieuc to Saint-Brieuc – 142 km

1. David Le Lay (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 3.14.19
2. Peter Velits (Svk) Team Konica Minolta
3. Viktor Folkesson (Swe) Team Malarenergi
4. Maxime Vantomme (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step
5. Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen
6. Cédric Drouet (Fra) U.C Chateauroux
7. Alain Van Katwijk (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert

8. Julien Simon (Fra) Super Sport 35 Acnc

9. Marcel Belma (Ned) Procomm -Van Hemert

10. Cédric Herve (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch

Results – Stage 2 – April 26 – Saint-Brieuc to Concarneau – 160.2 km

1. Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 3.40.29
2. Cédric Herve (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 0.04
3. Russell Downing (GBr) DFL-Cyclingnews 0.06
4. Jérémie Derangere (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre
5. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step
6. Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants
7. Peter Velits (Svk) Team Konica Minolta
8. Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team U Nantes Atlantique
9. Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch
10. David Le Lay (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch

Results – Stage 3 – April 27 – Concarneau to Hennebont – 158.3 km

1. Kristian House (GBr) Recycling.Co.Uk 3.56.43
2. Gianni Meersman (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step
3. Jurgen Roelandts (Bel) Bodysol-Win For Life-Jong Vlaanderen
4. Fabrice Jandesboz (Fra) Cotes D’Armor Cyclisme Maître Jacques
5. Médéric Clain (Fra) V.C De Roubaix
6. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step

7. Andreyi Pchelkin (Rus) Espoir Cycliste Saint Etienne

8. Peter Velits (Svk) Team Konica Minolta

9. Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants

10. Russell Downing (GBr) DFL-Cyclingnews

General classification after stage 3

1. David Le Lay (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 10.51.27
2. Andrey Mizurov (Kaz) Cycling Team Capec 0.02
3. Peter Velits (Svk) Team Konica Minolta 0.04
4. Russell Downing (GBr) DFL-Cyclingnews 0.06

5. Cédric Herve (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 0.09
6. Dries Devenyns (Bel) Wielergroep Beveren 2000 – Quick Step 0.10
7. Pavel Brutt (Rus) Tinkoff Restaurants
8. Stéphane Petilleau (Fra) G.S Bretagne Jean Floch 0.15
9. Jonathan Dayus (GBr) Team U Nantes Atlantique 0.18

10. Jérémie Derangere (Fra) S.C.O Dijon Team Lapierre

Shay Elliott – Results – 163.5 km

Malcom Elliott continues to show the youngsters a thing or two about bike racing, in this classic hardman’s race in Ireland last weekend. He rides the Chas Messenger stage race this weekend followed by the Lincoln Grand Prix (that he won 23 years ago!) and then the Melton-Rutland the following weekend. No sign that he’s getting tired then…

1. Andrew Roche (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) 3.57.32
2. Malcolm Elliot (Plowman Craven) 0.09

3. Conor Murphy (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) 0.11
4. David McCann (Giant Asia) 0.15
5. Ryan Connor (Scott-Ballymena) 0.18
6. Tommy Evans (Terry Dolan) 0.29
7. Neill Delahaye (Usher IRC) 1.03
8. Paídi O’Brien (Sean Kelly – ACLVB M. Donnelly Racing Team)
9. Daniel Lynch (Kanturk Credit Union)
10. Paul Healion (Murphy and Gunn/Newlyn Group) 4.52

Jan heads to Romandie

It’s been a slow start to the 2006 season for Jan Ullrich. But he finally made it to a race the Swiss tour of Romandie. It’s been a shaky start so far as he’s 117th overall and 10.26 back on the current leader Chris Horner. Clearly still a bit of work to do then. Roger Hammond is sitting in the wheels and is 142nd overall some 10 minutes back too. We’ll keep you posted…

Back to her best
Nicole Cooke was devastated after her lacklustre performances at the Olympics. But she’s bounced back with victory last week at the San Francisco T-Mobile International. Building on this form she’s won a stage of the Tour of Tuscany this week and currently lies 4th overall, ten seconds back. She seems to be all set for the World Championsip road race on the 2nd of October.
more here

And for more on the World Championships in Verona (starting on the 27th September) go to www.mondiali2004.com

Masters World Championships
Golds galore for UK riders in Manchester this week. So far Russell Williams has won Gold in the 40-44 age group Points race, Brian Dacey also won the 60-65 group. Michael Hutchinson made light work of the 30-35 pursuit, setting a new Masters World record in the process. Marco Librizzi, Neil Porter and Steve Cronshaw won 500mTT Golds. Geoff Cook and Greg Crayford both won Sprint Golds. There’s two days left so get down to the Cycling Centre in Manchester for some excellent track action.
Details and results at www.cyclingmasters.com

Millar wants a reduced sentence
According to his website, www.itmillartime.com:
David has lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration in Sport. He is appealing against both the length of his ban and its start date. The appeal is a clear indication that David does intend to return to racing and hopes to be able to race the 2006 Tour de France. If the ban is shortened even by a few months or the start date changed to the date of his confession he will be able to ride the 2006 Tour. David does not, however, contest the decision by the UCI to strip him of his world title.

There has been a lot of chat about Millar in the cycling press, his current two-year ban will end on August 4, 2006. So what do you think – Has he been fairly treated? Or should his ban be longer? Do you think he deserves a second chance? Or should he be made an example of? We want your views, so please discuss this on the forum