May 30/00 3:41 am - Giro, Cali Track Report, Mississauga Monday Night

Posted by Editor on 05/30/00
 

Giro

Stage 16 - Brescia to Meda 102 km

1 GUIDI Fabrizio ITA La Francaise des Jeux
2 DE JONGH Steven NED Rabobank
3 CONTE Biagio ITA Saeco - Valli & Valli
4 ZANOTTI Marco ITA Liquigas - Pata
5 DI BIASE Moreno ITA Cantina Tollo
6 POWER Ciaran IRL Linda McCartney Racing Team
7 BRAIKIA Tayeb DEN Linda McCartney Racing Team
8 TRENTI Guido USA Cantina Tollo

Casagrande still leads overall.


Track World Cup #2 - Cali, Colombia
(courtesy Kurt Innes)

Day 3 racing and summary.

Finally made it home last night. Phew, what a trip. Left our hotel at 3 AM last night, transported to airport no problemo ( at 100 KM / hour with machine gun toting escorts on motor bikes!) and then began the process of checking in with the Colombian airport staff. Oh, my ….. what a slow and frustrating country. We literally took 2 hours to check in, get thru security and make it to our gate. In most instances this should only take 15 minutes. But in Colombia they only were letting in one person at a time thru the customs line up for approx 1 hour straight. Then all of the athletes and staff started making a huge line up and they finally let us thru…. Approx 70 tired, cranky, hungry and homesick people trying to get home and these people are only letting one at a time thru customs …. BRUTAL.

And... We all left the country together. Jimmy (Fisher) got his passport, plane ticket, bank card all returned to him at the track on Saturday morning. Totally strange. we showed up on Saturday, and there was an unmarked envelope on one of the chairs in our stall at the track. Inside was his stuff. What a country!

Anyways, back to the fun.

Racing on Sunday was again….. incredible.

The morning started off with the women's 500 Meter time trial with Lori Ann placing a very solid 4th (36.0). Mandy rode out of competition and rode 37.4 - also a very good ride for Mandy. The Men's Keirin heats were next, and Kyle Hudson was our representative. He rode a very good ride but didn't automatically qualify thru to next round (he needed to be top two in heats). This meant into the reps for Kyle. His rep ride was even better tactically than the heats. He rode from the front, holding off everyone till the last turn. Kyle didn't make the semi finals, but he did ride with the skill and aggression that he has been looking for this season. Well done Kyle !!

Men's Olympic Sprint was our next event. The team of Lars Madsen, Doug Baron, and Jim Fisher had very high expectations placed on them prior to the start of the event. They all came thru and delivered their best efforts. The team ended up 8th overall (and earned 3 very valuable world cup points towards World Championship qualification) and rode their 2nd fastest time ever in the process (47.015). Their best time was set last year at the Worlds in October after a full season of racing and preparation. This early season result, time and points total is very exciting for the team for our preparation towards World Cup # 3 in Mexico City, Mexico later this month (June 16 - 18).

Mandy Poitras was our last and final competitor in the Cali World Cup. Not only did Mandy wrap up the world cup for our team (as our last rider in the races) she also wrapped up the actual Points Race in style. Mandy won the last points sprint, vaulting her into 3rd overall and onto her 2nd podium performance at a world cup event two years in a row. The overall points race was super fast and very competitive, 20 women started and finished, and the entire time there were attacks, counterattacks, fast sprints, and lots and lots of action. Going into the last sprint 14 of the 20 girls had collected points in the race, this meant a huge final sprint was needed to make any headway into the top 10. Mandy showed tons of patience, fitness, and confidence as she set herself up for the final sprint. As the bell started to ring, Eric and I were watching on the back straight and we knew that she had a shot at it. Man oh man, there is no more exciting a finish than what we saw from Mandy. Blasting her way thru the pack on the backstraight, and coming around the others on the final corner for the win ! That's the way to end the world cup !!!

I would like to say a special thanks to Mandy, Lori Ann, Kyle, Lars, Jim and Doug for the awesome trip, and fantastic results to write home about. Also thanks to Eric Van den Eynde ( head coach) for the support and leadership he always brings. Thanks to Pierre and Kris and the rest of the staff at the CCA for their organization and support as well.

Our next trip abroad is to Mexico City, Mexico for World Cup # 3. This event is June 16- 18.

More news then.

Kurt Innes


La Bicicletta Midweek Criterium Series - Ontario
(courtesy Peter McCaffery)

Novice Event 5 - May 29/00 39.6 km Average speed 35.6 kph

Position	Team	Positions	Points	Time
1	GREEN	4, 5, 7	13	1:06:43
2	YELLOW	1, 5, 10	16
3	BLUE	2, 9, 11	22
4	RED	7, 8, 9	24

Entry Breakdown:  Seniors-9, Women-5, Masters-8, Cadet-2.  11 NEW FACES TONIGHT! Primes: Mike Kosche, Paul Tolomiczenko

Thanks to all the rider coaches who come out to help on their rest day, to coordinator, Jeff Archbold, marshall - Earl Dukes, Laps - Mr. Hurley. Congratulations to Mike Kosche and Paul Tolomiczenko for being upgraded to Tuesday series

 

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