April 29/00 2:21 am - World Cup Preview

Posted by Editor on 04/29/00
 

World Cup Preview

We just finished a telephone conversation with Neil Ross and the Canadian squad who are over in Belgium for tomorrow's World Cup race at Houffalize. Peter Wedge talked to us for a few minutes about the circuit:

"It has dried out a lot, and will be pretty firm. The course will be very hard, with lots of climbing (3 major climbs per lap). The start shouldn't be a problem here, because most of the Canadians have good positions, and it begins climbing right away to open it up."

Peter said that some well-known names will be starting at the back, after having to do a qualifier today. For example, Filip Meirhaeghe (Subaru-Specialized) will start in 94th place, Dario Cioni 100th and Lennie Kristensen 108th - none have any World Cup points to date. No Canadians had to qualify, luckily. Almost all of the top riders are here, with one notable exception: Jerome Chiotti (Giant). Chiotti made his EPO revelation late last week and, although he hasn't been sanctioned yet, the speculation is that he is lying low for a while.

Canadians at the race:

Men
Roland Green (GT)
Eric Tourville (Oryx)
Peter Wedge (Kona)
Ryder Hesjedal (Gary Fisher-Saab)
Andreas Hestler (Ford-Devinci)
Seamus McGrath (Haro-Lee Dungarees)
Mathieu Toulouse (Ford-Devinci)

Women
Alison Sydor (Volvo-Cannondale)
Lesley Tomlinson (RLX Polosport)
Trish Sinclair (Marin)
Melanie McQuaid (National Team)
Nadine Petit (National Team)

The women race 3 3/4 laps, the men 5. The action starts at 10:30 am Europe time with the women (4:30 am EDT), we will begin picking up reports from Neil at approximately 5:45 am EDT.