BiciRace.com :: News :: February 2006

News :: February 2006

1 February 2006

Merckx, Leblanc and Cancellara on Boonen

Boonen Heads for Win, photo: Quick-Step

Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) is winning and impressing at the 5th Tour of Qatar. Yesterday he took out his 2nd stage win, making it three wins for three in 2006. Helping organize the race in the Mid-East are Eddy Merckx and Jean-Marie Leblanc, both of whom are very impressed with the Belgian's force.

"Boonen is one of the best classics riders of all time," said the undisputed cycling god, Eddy Merckx. "He is much better than Johan Museeuw because he is faster. He reminds me of Rik Van Steenbergen. He has the same build and structure ... He is tall with short legs. His center of gravity remains low, which is perfect for the pavé."

"I think Tom could win many one-day races," continued the Cannibal. "The only question is for Liège because he is not able to handle the St. Nicolas. But maybe if he programmed his season he could do well in this race too. I like the devotion and he way Tom reads this sport. He races with my same sort of inspiration ... Always to win."

"The Maglia Ciclamino at the Giro and Green at the Tour are at his door," explained Leblanc. "Boonen is good for cycling because he is young ... He has the image of a modern racer, but classic in his approach to the discipline ... There is no doubt that he is the number one cyclist right now."

Boonen's adversaries are not giving up and young Fabian Cancellara (Team CSC) hopes to be the next rider on the top of the podium. "It isn't easy but he's not a machine. He's a person like us," said the Swiss. "He isn't perfect but he's very strong, that's the problem. I'm not afraid ... I know him very well. I've competed against him for many years so I know what I can do to beat him."

Read:
Boonen Blasts Off in Qatar, 31 January
World Champion Rocks Middle East, 28 January
Better Condition for Boonen in Qatar, 27 January
Boonen Builds Il Treno Quick-Step, 20 January
Quick-Step Practice Boonen Train, 16 January
Boonen Kicks Off with Qatar, 21 December

Tour of Qatar, 30 January - 3 February
Preview and Photos

GP Marseillaise: Cooke Wins and Gerrans Down

Baden Cooke (Unibet.com) gave his new green team a fine win yesterday in the Euro season opener, the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise. The Aussie handled the sprint finish with fineness on his Ridley machine, while behind there was some ruckus.

One rider on the French pavement and to the hospital was Simon Gerrans of Ag2R Prévoyance. It was a bad fall for the Aussie who recently won the Tour Down Under and was looking forward to a strong spring campaign starting with the Tour Méditerranéen.

This morning Gerrans (25) was sitting in his hospital bed in Aix-en-Provence wondering what happened. "I remember sitting in second wheel with 300 meters to go and that's the last thing I remember," Gerrans said. "I hadn't even kicked off the wheel or anything and then there I am in the back of an ambulance. ... I wouldn't mind asking some of the guys who were around me what happened because I have no idea."

"I have definitely broken my left collar bone and it seems I have some damage to the ligaments in my right shoulder," said Gerrans who also needed stitches in his head. "My head's as hard as nails so that's not a concern. ... I will see the specialist later today to try and resolve the mystery of my right shoulder injury."

"Maybe my right shoulder will just need strapping and the ideal scenario would be that I'm back on the home trainer within a week or so and back to racing as soon as possible," he said. "The team will need to adjust my racing program now as well because I was due to line up in the Tour Méditerranéen next week and that's not going to happen."

Read:
The French Opener: GP Marseillaise, 31 January

Milram Train of Petacchi Debuts in GP Etruschi

How will Alessandro Petacchi respond to the hammer of the Belgian god? Surely Ale-Jet has taken note of Tom Boonen's triple in Qatar and will want to come out with his Milram guns blazing this Saturday for the GP Costa degli Etruschi. The Italian sprinter from La Spezia will call on his treno to answer Boonen's Qatar roar. The Milram henchmen for Petacchi will be Marco Velo, Fabio Sacchi, Alberto Ongarato, Mirco Lorenzetto, Fabio Sabatini, Giovanni Visconti, Elia Rigotto, Alessandro Cortinovis and Volodymyr Dyudya.

Petacchi will have his work cutout for him to win in Toscana. Including his German/Italian team there will be 16 teams on the start line: 4 ProTour (Liquigas, Lampre-Fondital, Saunier Duval-Prodir, Milram), 9 Professional (Acqua & Sapone, Barloworld, Ceramica Flaminia, Miche, Naturino-Sapore di Mare, Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi, Tenax-Salmilano, Vorarlberg), 4 Continental (Amore & Vita, OTC Doors-Lauretana, Team Endeka, Universal Caffè-CB Immobiliare).

Read:
The Italian Opener: GP Etruschi, 31 January

Lampre-Fondital on Monte Serra

The first day of training for the Lampre-Fondital squadra was hard but went well. The Italian team of Damiano Cunego are gathered in Montecatini Terme though the end of the week (4 February).

"We really put in some good work, we joined quality with quantity," said Giuseppe Martinelli, Team Manager. The squadra covered 188K in optimal temperatures (18°C) under the Toscana sun. The finale included the tough ascent of the Monte Serra (917m), the same climb used by Cunego's Giro rival, Ivan Basso of Team CSC, in January to measure his performance.

Read:
Lampre-Fondital in Montecatini, 30 January
Lampre-Fondital Ends in Terracina with TTT Win, 26 January
TTT Training for Lampre-Fondital, 19 January
Lampre-Fondital in Terracina, 17 January
Last Day in Sicilia for Cunego, 12 January
Time Trial Work for Cunego, 3 December
Terme Time for Lampre-Fondital, 1 December
Damiano Cunego and Lampre Schedules, 2 November

31 January News ...