August 7/02 14:49 pm - Jeanson at Road Nats, Cipollini Un-Retires

Posted by Editor on 08/7/02
 

Jeanson at Road Nationals
Courtesy Rona

After staying away from competition for a little more than a month, Geneviève Jeanson of the RONA cycling team will resume racing tomorrow, in the Canadian Road Championships in Oxford County, in Southwestern Ontario.

Suffering from a tendonitis behind her left knee, Geneviève Jeanson had to retire from the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic during its second stage on June 28. This injury not only kept her out of racing, but even off her bicycle for more than two weeks. Jeanson climbed back on her machine around mid-July and then carefully intensified her training.

Jeanson's comeback will be the Individual Time Trial, tomorrow Thursday. The 25-km race will be held in Tillsonburg, near London. Saturday she will compete in the 108-km road race, which will be held in Harrington.

For the road race Jeanson will be flanked by her RONA Canadian teammates - Andrea Hannos from Vancouver, Amy Jarvis from Victoria and Manon Jutras from Montreal. Hannos, Jarvis and Jutras will not enter the time trial, as team manager André Aubut would rather have them rest after their performance in the demanding seven-stage International Stage Race which ended last Sunday in Pennsylvania. Team RONA racers finished 10th and 11th in GC and got three stage podiums, including two stage wins.

"I feel good and the pain is gone", said Jeanson. "But I'll have to race to find out how competitive I really am. I can't wait to compete, I have pins in my legs!"


Cipollini Returns!

Mario Cipollini has "un-retired", approximately 3 weeks after his dramatic announcement that he was leaving the sport. Fuelled partially by the perceived snub he and his Aqua & Sapone team received from the Tour de France when they were not given a wildcard entry, the flamboyant sprinter said that he would retire. However, even then he left the door open for a return, saying that he might change his mind after a few weeks. Apparently he has now done so, and is tentatively scheduled to race the Vuelta and the Worlds. More cynical observers are to be forgiven for commenting that Cipollini is a master at manipulating the media...