BiciRace.com :: News :: September 2005

News :: September 2005

5 September 2005

Heras Penalized in TT

Heras Looked Good, photo: © Unipublic

Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros-Würth) joins a list of riders who were penalized in Sunday's TT. The Vuelta a España race officials made the late ruling that riders would be penalized for going outside the traffic cones. That sounded fair enough, but then there were thousands of cones put on the stage 9 course, and they were place in strange lines. This meant that many riders would come out of a corner to find they needed to break or weave trough the cones. A lot of riders dodged the cones on the wrong side, and were thus penalized. The race jury decided not to give any breaks in the ruling, and penalized Heras 10". This nullified his sprint bonus points that he won just the day before.

Here is a full list of time penalties:
Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros-Würth) - 10"
Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears) - 2"
Manuel Beltrán (Discovery Channel) - 2"
Michael Barry (Discovery Channel) - 10"
Gerrit Glomser (Lampre-Caffita) - 10"
Juan Miguel Mercado (Quick-Step) - 2"
Jurgen Van Goolen (Quick-Step) - 10"
José Antonio Pecharroman (Quick-Step) - 5"
Rik Verbrugghe (Quick-Step) - 10"
Luis Pasamontes (Relax Fuenlabrada) - 5"
Andrea Peron (Team CSC) - 2"

José Ivan Gutierrez Did Not Start

José Ivan Gutierrez (Illes Balears) did not start Sundays's stage 9 TT of the Vuelta a España. The Spaniard had his share of falls in this year's Vuelta and decided he had enough. Stage 8 was the icing on the cake for José, his hands slipped off he bars when he hit a bump. Medical officials had to help him back on his bike and continue.

Ale-Jet Focuses on Vuelta Stages

Alessandro Petacchi (Fassa Bortolo) won his third stage Saturday in Lloret de Mar, but he aims for more wins. "I am feeling good, with good condition ... I aim to get over the mountains, and I want to win more stages," said the Italian after winning stage 8.

The World Championships are nearing and Ale-Jet is the man everyone is talking about for a win. "I don't want to talk about the World Championship, because I'm at the Vuelta for the moment." On his mind will be the two small climbs on Madrid's Worlds circuit, they could be enough to dislodge the sprinter.

Team CSC Rocked The TT

Vande Velde Warms, photo: BiciRace.com

Carlos Sastre headed Team CSC in the standings in stage 9 of the Vuelta a España. The team showed its TT force by placing four riders in the top 20 of the day's standings. This effort place the team top in the day's team classification.

Carlos Sastre (4th), Andrea Peron (11th), Jakob Piil (12th) and Christian Vande Velde (19th) all showed strength. Now the team will have to focus their energies on Sastre in the high mountains. If Sastre is to stand a chance against Heras or Menchov, then his team will have to control the race. They will need to make sure the Spaniard has enough time in hand before going into the final TT.

60th Vuelta a España:
Startlist
Stages and Maps, Key Stages, Overall Map
Photos, Dust Devil's Daily Wrap

4 September News ...