July 27/02 3:52 am - Commonwealth Games: Men's ITT Story & Photos, Canadians in China

Posted by Editoress on 07/27/02
 

Commonwealth Games Manchester, UK

Men's ITT, 46.8km - Rivington Park, Bolton

Photos

Canada may have dominated the women's time trial, but it was all Australia for the men's event. Aussie riders finished 1-2-3 in the 46.8 kilometre, 4 lap race, led by Cadel Evans. Behind Evans it was his Mapei team mate Michael Rogers (recent winner of the GP Cycliste de Beauce), and in third Nathan O'Neill. Defending champion Eric Wohlberg initially finished fifth, behind Stuart Dangerfield of Great Britain, however, Dangerfield was disqualified for taking pace from O'Neill.

"I've been working a lot on the time trial this year, because I knew it was my weakness for the Grand Tours. So, I've been working hard on position and technique, and it has improved a lot. I was really motivated to do well here, and I have been doing specific training for the last 4 to 5 weeks for this event, since I knew this was my best chance to win here. The time trial was definitely my main goal."

Eric Wohlberg was disappointed with his ride. "There's not much to say. I was just tired on the hills - I felt okay in the warmup, but it is a lot different at 50 kilometres an hour then on a windtrainer. On the second lap through the hills I was hurting pretty bad; I got it back together for the third and fourth lap, but the damage was done. I was surprised at how well Cadel did; I thought it would be between Nathan and Michael."

More Commonwealth Games

Lars Madsen sent us this photo from Manchester.

Some members of the Canadian Track Cycling Team (l to r: Erin Carter, Lars Madsen, Steen Madsen and Tyler Hansen) at the opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games.


Tour of Qinghai Lake China, July 27 to Aug. 5
CourtesyBob Cameron

Prologue: 1.5 km ITT

GREAT NEWS! Alex Lavallee has won the 1.5 km prologue and taken the first yellow jersey of the race. He destroyed the rest of the field with a time that was 2 seconds faster then the next rider, notwithstanding the the time trial was 1.5 kms and he was up against a top class field with European professionals! He was resplendent in jersey on the podium and was then interviewed by about a dozen reporters and TV personel. He will be big news across China for one billion people.

Carter Hovey rode an excellent race to finish 8th. Cory Lange, Matt Decore and Glen Rendall crashed heavily but were okay to start the circuit race. Cory Jay was our last rider and was forced to ride a conservative race after hearing that over 2 dozen riders had gone down. He still finshed with a strong placing.

This race is absolutely huge. There were tens of thousands of people watching the races today. The European managers have told us that this is bigger than the Tour de France!

Team
Matthew Decore
Carter Hovey
Cory Jay
Cory Lange
Alexandre Lavallee
Glen Rendall.

manager - Bob Cameron
mechanic - Peter Vallance
soigneur - Heather Cameron.