December 12/03 12:39 pm - CC Awards, CC Store, Team Coastal, UCI News

Posted by Editor on 12/12/03
 

CC Awards

Voting for the 2004 Canadian Cyclist of the Year Awards is now closed. We are tabulating the votes (and removing the attempts to "stuff the ballot box"...), and will announce the winners on Monday morning, December 16th.


Christmas Shopping at the CC Store

We are still accepting orders for items from the CC Store which will be shipped to arrive in time for Christmas. However, the cut-off dates are rapidly approaching. For western and eastern Canada (Manitoba and west, the Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador), the cut-off for most items is December 16th. For Ontario and Quebec it is December 18th. Time to stop procrastinating!

There are still a couple of pairs of small Santini Worlds bib tights left, a few pairs of Hamilton 2003 armwarmers and a new shipment of Hamilton 2003 socks has just arrived (the final one).


Team Coastal for 2004

Todd Hansen, Director of Racing, is pleased to announce the 2004 line up for Team Coastal Racing. Todd says "Our Team is small but we're organized, motivated, and love what we're doing. That sounds like a recipe for some wins!" Veteran rider, Larry Zimich, will lead the newly formed team. Larry brings his 18 years of riding and racing experience to Team Coastal Racing and will be the anchor for the team. As well, a young talented rider from Saskatchewan, Derek McMaster, will bring his skills and abilities to compete with the team while he isn't away on National Team projects. Derek will be based out of Victoria but will be making Vancouver his second home during the racing season. Contributing to the team program will be Damien Waugh, another young and talented rider who is just starting to come into his own. As we hit the climbs, we will be looking to Damien to use his natural climbing prowess to excel! Rounding out the team is Jim Tsilemos, a local Vancouver rider who has trained and raced closely with Larry this past season. Larry describes him by saying, "Watch this guy when he's on his game. He's awesome! Jim's a bit of a gentleman, so we need to get him a little more AGRO . . . then lookout!" The Team is also fortunate to have a strong contingent of Category 2 riders that will be assisting with team tactics.

Team line-up 2004

Larry Zimich (Captain)
Derek McMaster
Damien Waugh
Jim Tsilemos

For more information on Team Coastal Cycling, contact: 604-788-1873 or visit: www.teamcoastalcycling.com


UCI News
Courtesy UCI

New cyclo-cross coordinator at the UCI
As part of its project to reform cyclo-cross, the UCI has just appointed a new sports coordinator for this discipline. Peter Van den Abeele, a 37-year-old Belgian and former professional cyclo-cross and MTB rider, took up the post on the 8th of December 2003 within the Sports Coordination Department of the federation. Prior to this, he was Team Manager of the Vlaanderen-T-Interim-Eddy Merckx team (cyclocross). Following the appointment of Peter Van den Abeele, Régis Alexandre, who until now has played the dual role of cyclo-cross and MTB coordinator, will now concentrate his activities on the latter discipline.

Athens 2004 Olympic Games: organisation of "test" track events
On the 12th of November 2003, the UCI track Technical Delegate, Gilles Peruzzi, visited the velodrome worksite in Athens to assess progress of the construction. In collaboration with the Athens Organising Committee (ATHOC), he finalised the programme of the "test" track events which will take place from the 22nd to 25th of April 2004.

Decisions of the MTB Commission for 2004
Following the meeting of the MTB Commission on the 8th of December 2003, the following decisions were taken for 2004:

- Starting procedures for Marathon MTB events:
The men's race will start one hour later than the women's in order to prevent any unlawful arrangements. (Editor's Note: this is in response to some blatant pacing taking place at the Worlds to move certain women up)

- Change to race times:
After a survey of cross-country athletes by Mrs Laurence Leboucher, the MTB Commission, of which the former athlete is a member, has reduced the race times of the Olympic format. This measure is intended to make the races more spectacular and exciting. They are now as follows:

Men Elite, 2 hrs - 21/4 hrs
Women Elite, 13/4 hrs - 2 hrs (reduction of approximately 15 to 30 minutes)

The race times of the Marathon format have been increased to a minimum of 4 hrs for the World Championships, Continental Championships and the UCI MTB Marathon World Series. For all other Marathons, the minimum race time is 3 hrs.

2003 UCI Women's Road World Cup: a prize for the best organiser
The trophy for the best event in the 2003 UCI Women's Road World Cup was awarded to the organiser of the Flèche Wallonne. Mr. Pat McQuaid, member of the UCI Management Committee and President of the Road Commission, gave the award to Jean-François Pescheux, Director of the competition and John Lelangue, his Assistant, at the World Cycling Centre on the 27th of November 2003. The ceremony took place in the presence of Mr. Jean-Marie Leblanc, the Director of the Tour de France. For the past 6 years, the ASO has organised the Women's Flèche Wallonne race every April in Belgium.

The following riders have been sanctioned for doping offences:

Robert NUNEZ, sanctioned by Federacion Costarricense de Ciclismo, disqualification of Vuelta Ciclista a Costa Rica 2002 and suspension of 4 years from 11 June 2003 to 10 June 2007.

Jean-Marc DOLLIN, sanctioned by the Fédération Française de Cyclisme, disqualification of Tour de la Guadeloupe 2002 and suspension of 6 months from 10 May 2003 to 9 February 2004.

Ana Paola MADRINAN VILLEGAS, sanctioned by Federacion Colombiana de Ciclismo, warning and disqualification of Pan-American Games 2003.