October 22/97 23:28 pm - UCI Announcement, Quebec Awards

Posted by Editor on 10/22/97
 

National Colours for 'Cross World Cup  (UCI official announcement 22/10/97)  The UCI is enforcing a decision this season that competitors in World Cup cyclo-cross competition will wear national jerseys, not those of their trade teams. The UCI's co-ordinator for cyclo-cross, Mr Luuc Eisenga explained the thinking behind this move. "The UCI wants to develop cyclo-cross by making it more available to a wider audience. We believe that associating World Cup riders with national teams will help to raise the sport in the public perception."  "We accept that in the short term particular sponsors might be disadvantaged, but in the longer term the sport will grow and everybody will benefit. This will lead to better opportunities for young riders and those in road and mountain bike racing using cyclo-cross as a complementary discipline."    BEST CYCLING ATHLETES HONORED BY THE FQSC - THREE MEMBERS JOIN THE QUÉBEC CYCLING HALL OF FAME   The Fédération Québécoise des Sports Cyclistes will honor its best athletes, coaches, officials, organizers and volunteers at the annual brunch of the "Mérite cycliste québécois" that will be held next Sunday in Montréal. The FQSC will also invite three members to join the Québec Cycling Hall of Fame: Jules Béland (Drummondville) and Yves Landry (St-Rédempteur) in the "athlete" category and Joseph "Tino" Rossi in the "builder" category.  The Mérite Cycliste Québécois celebrations  In the "Male Athlete" category the road rider Czeslaw Lukaszewicz (Chateauguay) will be honored , the mountain bike rider Eric Tourville (Ste-Foy), and the BMX racer Dominic Therrien (Pointe-du-Lac). In the women's category, will be recognized Mélanie Dorion (Deux Montagnes) in mountain bike, Annie Gariepy (Bromont) on road and track and Mélanie Desrochers (Crabtree) on BMX.  The "Espoir" male category title will be awarded to Jean-Philippe Provost (Boisbriand) on mountain bike, Charles Dionne (St-Rédempteur) on road and track and Guillaume Jetté (Crabtree) on BMX. In the women's category, the award will be offered to Geneviève Jeanson (Lachine) on road and track and Valérie Houle (St-Gérard des Laurentides) on mountain bike.  The best coaches of 1997 are Patrick Lajoie (Charlesbourg) on mountain bike, Eric Carmichaël (St-Romuald) on road and track and Dylan Vanier (Montréal) and Yvon Therrien (Pointe-du-Lac) on BMX. The best officials are Giovanna Malnig (Beauport) for road and track, Pierre Morrissette (Montréal) for mountain bike and Nathalie Doucet (Pointe-du-Lac) for BMX.  In the "High Performance Club" category, the prize goes to Club Sportif Bromont for mountain bike, club Espoirs de Laval for road and track and Club de vélo-cross Pointe-du-Lac for BMX. The "Development Club" category recognize the efforts of Club Sainte-Foy Québec Métro in road and track, Club cycliste Beauport for mountain bike and the Association de vélo-cross Trois-Rivières for BMX.  The Québec Road Development Championships in Contrecoeur, the Québec Regional Mountain Bike Circuit and the Québec BMX Championships in Iberville will receive the prize for the best "Regional-Provincial-Interprovincial Event" category. In the "National-International Event" category, the Grand prix de Beauce and the Mont Ste-Anne Mountain Bike World Cup event will be recognized.  In the "Volunteer" category Michel Bujold (St-Siméon) in mountain bike, Pierre Mathieu (St-Thomas d'Aquin) in road and track and Gilles Landry (Iberville) will receive the award. A special presentation will be made to the Elita Cycling Team for its support to the development of women's bicycle racing in 1997.  Béland, Landry and Rossi join the Québec Cycling Hall of Fame  Racing from 1964 to 1971, Jules Béland was known as a tough guy. He participated to the Tour of Mexico in 1966 at 18 years old. He finished ninth at the road race of the 1967 PanAmerican Games. He took part in the road and team time trial events at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. He finished sixth at the Paris-Egreville race on that year. In the province of Québec, he won the GP de Portneuf three times, the Tour du Lac St-Jean twice and earned many podium positions in races has Québec-La Malbaie, GP de Montréal, Canadian Road Championships, Québec-Montréal Classic. He was recognized the best cyclist of the province in 1970 and retired the next year because of job obligations.  Yves Landry was a road racer from 1965 to 1971. Agressive and always racing to the front of the pack, he was member of the national team from 1967 to 1971. He finished sixth at the road race of the 1967 PanAmerican Games. He took part in the 1968 Olympic Games with Jules Béland, Joe Jones and Marcel Roy in the two road events. He raced at the road events at the 1969 and 1970 World Cycling Championships. Back home, he won the Québec-La Malbaie race in 1966, the Tour de Nouvelle France in 1967, the Québec Road Championships in 1967 and 1969, the Tour de Chambord in 1969, the GP de Québec in 1970. He was declared best cyclist in the province by a journalist's panel in 1969.  Joseph "Tino" Rossi is well knowned as the founder-organizer of the "Mardis cyclistes de Lachine" taking place since twenty years now. Racing for few years, he started getting into bicycle racing organizing when he was involved with the team taking care of the track events at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montréal. From 1977 to 1983, he directed the track cycling school at the Montréal velodrome where he also held many track events. He also organized many road events as the GP de Lasalle for twenty years, the GP de la Petite Italie from 1977 to 1983, plus various events taking place in Pierrefonds, Ile Bizard, Ile Perrot and Laval. Professionalism and high quality organizing have been the trade mark of Joseph "Tino" Rossi for 21 years now.  (courtesy of the FQSC and Pierre Thibault)   That‚s all the news for tonight. We are getting ready for the Canadian Cyclist Mountain Bike Weekend at Rocky Crest resort (near Parry Sound) this coming weekend. There are still a few spots open if you want to join us - contact Rocky Crest at 1 800-263-5763 for more details.