August 24/98 7:49 am - Redden Reports on Mt Snow, Ireland, New Velodrome?, Italy
Posted by Editor on 08/24/98
Report From Mount Snow
(courtesy Chrissy Redden, Team Ritchey)
Well, the Norba season is officially over! The final event was held in Mt. Snow, Vermont, the host of many world cup and norba events. Although, just when we all thought we knew the course, the organizers threw us all and completely changed the course. The addition of a brand new hotel on the race site was the focal point for the start/finish area and the course was run in the opposite direction. The new course was very challenging both on the ascents and the descents (typical for Vermont), so I was very excited and ready to do well! The race started out very fast, as it narrowed to some steep single track climbing only 2 km in. I had a very good start and rode with Paola (Pezzo) and Alla (Epifanova) on the first lap, both Alisons (Sydor and Dunlap) with a slight gap ahead of us. On the second of three laps, Paola woke up and charged forward, Alison D., (having trouble with the technical descending) fell back and Alla slowly created a gap ahead of me. The last lap I rode quite strongly, until a slight mechanical and then a stick lodged into my rear derailleur, allowing Alison D. to overcome me. But, after regrouping myself, I charged forward and overcame her on the final descent to cross the line in fourth place. This result was good enough to put me into 3rd place overall in the NORBA series. I am very happy with this overall result, especially since I was ranked 10th overall last year.
Credit Union Junior Tour, Ireland
Stage 2 - Belfast to Downpatrick, 106.8 km
| Position | Name | Team | Time/Time Behind |
| 1 | Kurits,Marko | Estonia | 2:38:02 |
| 2 | Curtin,Willie | Nth. Cork CU:s | at 0:02 |
| 3 | Scanlon,Mark | Dixons Ireland | |
| 4 | Schoonacker,Joachim | Belgium | |
| 5 | Flavin,Marcus | Cork C.C. | |
| 6 | Barker,Yanto | Great Britain | |
| 7 | van der Linden,John | Holland | |
| 8 | Raats,Rolf | Belgium | |
| 9 | Brown,Christopher | Ulster C.F | |
| 10 | van Katwijk,Ferdie | Holland | |
| 15 | Pinsonneaut,Jean-Charles | Canada | |
| 24 | Lange,Cory | Canada | |
| 32 | Salois,Marc-AndrÈ | Canada | |
| 53 | St. Laurent,Martin | Canada | all s.t. |
| General Classification | |||
| Position | Name | Team | Time/Time Behind |
| 1 | Scanlon,Mark | Dixons Ireland | 5:00:34 |
| 2 | Barker,Yanto | Great Britain | s.t. |
| 3 | van Katwijk,Ferdie | Holland | 1:45 |
| 4 | Wiggins,Bradley | Team Brite | |
| 5 | McGowan,David | Great Britain | |
| 6 | Alberts,Jamie | Great Britain | |
| 7 | van der Meulen,Lee | Belgium | |
| 8 | Raadom,Erik | Estonia | |
| 9 | St. Laurent,Martin | Canada | |
| 10 | Prendergast,Shane | Dixons Ireland | all s.t. |
| 12 | Lange,Cory | Canada | 3:53 |
| 16 | Pinsonneaut,Jean-Charles | Canada | 4:21 |
| 24 | Salois,Marc-AndrÈ | Canada | 4:36 |
| Points Competition | |||
| Position | Name | Team | Points |
| 1 | Scanlon,M | IRL | 18 |
| 2 | Barker,Y | GBR | 14 |
| 3 | Kurits,M | EST | 10 |
| 4 | Curtin,W | NCU | 9 |
| 5 | Wiggins,B | TBR | 8 |
| 10 | St. Laurent,M | CAN | 5 |
| Team General Classification | |||
| Position | Team | Time/Time Behind | |
| 1 | Great Britain | 15:05:12 | |
| 2 | Dixons Ireland | at 2:55 | |
| 3 | Estonia | 5:51 | |
| 4 | Canada | 6:29 | |
| 5 | Belgium | 7:08 |
New Velodrome Project Announcement
This is the first public notice from Intersports Inc. a relatively new company formed by Jeff Walker and Chloe Black from Peterborough and developer Henry Heidebrecht from Virgil, Ontario of the purchase of 147 acres of land at highway 115 and 28 for the development of a large sports and entertainment complex. The property purchase completes this week and will include an indoor 250 meter velodrome to seat 5000. The project also includes two ice pads an Olympic sized swimming pool, soccer fields, football fields and three baseball diamonds - one under a bubble for winter use. In addition there will be three restaurants and bars, a food court, memorabilia shop and equipment and goods outlets. An athletes village is included in the main design. The complex is being financed by Investcap Canada Inc. a public company currently preparing a public stock issue for presentation to the Toronto Stock exchange.
The (lengthy) announcement goes on to say that Intersports will be developing a program for rider development that will include high school and college racing, and university scholarships. The Center will also host concerts and other events to raise funds.
A Canadian in Italy
Paul Kelly, an Alberta road racer, is currently racing in Italy with the SC Reda Baggioni Team. Here is his report from a race he took third in on Sunday (August 23rd).
Sunday's race -The 16th G.P Sportivi Di Pondenzano- went very well. Fifty kilometers of dead flat circuit racing marked the first section of the 150 km competition. Breaking from Italian tradition, the section was ridden quite slowly, and except for a few attacks, the speed seldom exceeded 40km/hr.
The peloton then made for a longer 25 km circuit. Each of the prescribed four laps shot up a 2.5 km climb -a road so steep and rough, that a few riders actually fell over when their little momentum was stolen by potholes or fissures in the pavement. The pack was decimated on the third lap, when Emmanuel Negrini (SC Reda Baggioni, double stage winner from the Giro d'Italia Dilletanti), took to the front.
The flat section following the climb was marked by a flurry of attacks and counterattacks, as teams with 2 or more riders remaining tried to gain an advantage in breakaways. 10km from the final climb, a break went clear with Gabriel Moreau (Italfine Podenzano), Mirco Marini (L'Edile OK Baby Gaverina), and myself (SC Reda Baggioni).
10 minutes later, Marini attacked to gain a 15 second lead going into the climb. Shortly after, Angelo Boselli (also L'Edile OK Baby Gaverina) broke clear of the chase group behind us. He worked his way through the lead caravan to bridge up to Moreau and I, and caught us a kilometer beyond the crest of the climb. With 10km remaining to the finish, Moreau and I worked to reel in Marini, but the gap held fairly even. Boselli enjoyed the free ride -with a teammate up the road, he had no obligation to pull.
5km to go, I jumped 20m clear of Boselli and Moreau, hoping that with Moreau showing signs of fatigue, I could maybe catch Marini on my own, or at least finish 2nd. Moreau tried to chase back on, but expired in the process, succeeding only in bringing Boselli within striking distance. A fairly fresh Boselli jumped Moreau, took my wheel for a kilometer, then struck again to catch his teammate, leaving me to chase solo for the last 2km.
The two teammates worked together to hold their gap into the finish, where Boselli handily outsprinted Marini for the win. I finished 3rd, 28 seconds back, and Moreau dropped to 1:12, 10 seconds clear of the remainder of the chase group. Eliseo Dal Re (SC Reda Baggioni) took the group sprint for 5th.
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