September 1/97 22:20 pm - Interbike `97, Killington Final, B.C. News, Letter from Italy

Posted by Editor on 09/1/97
 

Interbike `97  On Wednesday, September 3rd, we will head off to Anaheim, California for the first (and largest) of the North American fall trade shows - Interbike. We will be reporting daily from the show, complete with photos of the new stuff you can expect to see at your local bike shop later this fall and next spring. Keep your eye on the Canadian Cyclist homepage for the Interbike `97 link.   HAMILTON, JACKSON TAKE OVERALL TITLES AT KILLINGTON STAGE RACE; MCCORMACK, PRYDE, VAUGHTERS CLAIM SEASON HONORS  For Immediate Release, Sept. 1, 1997 Contact: Frank Stanley, USCF Communications Manager, (719) 578-4581 or (802) 422-3731  KILLINGTON, Vt. -- Tyler Hamilton (United States Postal Service) and Linda Jackson (Saeco-Timex) took the overall titles at the Killington Stage Race, the final major U.S. stage race of the season.  The two riders, who will both be representing their countries at next month‚s World Championships, maintained their leads through the final day Saab Road Race. Jackson, of Nepean, Ont., Canada, won the 65.6-mile women‚s race, while Levi Leipheimer (Comptel-Colorado Cyclist), Windsor, Calif., won the 105.8-mile men‚s race.  The Killington Stage Race also decided the National Racing Calendar overall winners for the season as Jonathan Vaughters (Comptel-Colorado Cyclist), Englewood, Colo., and Susy Pryde (Saeco-Timex) of New Zealand secured those titles. Saturn and Saeco-Timex won the men‚s and women‚s team NRC titles, respectively.  Frank McCormack (Saturn), Leicester, Mass., won the USPRO Tour individual title, while his Saturn squad came from behind to win the team honor.  Leipheimer, along with Mark McCormack (Saturn), North Easton, Mass., and Scott Moninger (Navigators), Boulder, Colo., were in a breakaway for almost 100 miles. Initially, the trio were joined by Kent Bostick (Shaklee), Corrales, N.M., Peter Pape (One Plus) and Canadian Jacques Landry (Everfresh) for the first 60 miles of the race.  Moninger attacked with four miles remaining, but McCormack and Leipheimer were able to catch him, only to see the former Killington Stage Race winner attack again. This time, the other two riders caught and passed Moninger. McCormack then jumped with about 300 meters remaining, but Leipheimer was able to come around him for the win.  „I put forth my work just as much as the other guys, but I made sure I had enough at the end,‰ Leipheimer said.  It was his fifth national win of the season.  Hamilton, who brought a 33-second lead over Chann McRae (Saturn), Plano, Texas, and Mike Engleman (Navigators), Hesperus, Colo., into the race, was content to sit in the pack and let the break swallow up the victory and the time bonuses.  „It would have been nice to win the stage, but it‚s better to be safe,‰ Hamilton said.  McRae finished second overall and Engleman third.  Jackson again rode away from the women‚s field, earning her third stage win of the race. The Canadian Olympian topped the women‚s field by 1:13. Pryde won the sprint for second over Canadian Sue Palmer (Saturn).  Jackson won the overall by a whopping 12:00. Palmer was second and Pryde third.  It was a fitting end to the U.S. season for the Saeco-Timex team, which dominated throughout the year, finishing with four of the top six riders in the season-long NRC standings. Pryde won the Redlands Bicycle Classic to begin the year and was only second briefly in the standings this season -- to her teammate Kendra Wenzel, McKenzie Bridge, Ore., who finished second overall.  Canadian Olav Stana (Spokemotion) won the final stage and the overall for Masters 40+  Saab Road Race, Sept. 1  Men, 105.6 miles  1. LEVI LEIPHEIMER (COMPTEL-COLORADO CYCLIST), Windsor, Calif.; 4:35:58 2. Mark McCormack (Saturn), North Easton, Mass.; s.t. 3. Scott Moninger (Navigators), Boulder, Colo.; @:10 4. Chann McRae (Saturn), Plano, Texas, @:12 5. Tyler Hamilton (United States Postal Service), Nederland, Colo., s.t.  GC  1. TYLER HAMILTON (UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE), Nederland, Colo., 14:27:31 2. McRae, @:33 3. Mike Engleman (Navigators), Hesperus, Colo., @:33 4. Jacques Landry (Everfresh), St. Bruno, Quebec, Canada, @4:01 5. John Lieswyn (Shaklee), Asheville, N.C., @4:19 6. Frank McCormack (Saturn), Leicester, Mass., @4:24 7. Mat Anand (Espoires Laval), Calgary, Alb., Canada, @4:24 8. Jonathan Vaughters (Comptel-Colorado Cyclist), Englewood, Colo., @4:26 9. M. McCormack, @4:30 10. Sylvain Beauchamp (Everfresh), St. Bruno, Quebec, Canada, @4:53  Women, 65.6 miles  1. LINDA JACKSON (SAECO-TIMEX), Nepean, Ont., Canada, 3:27:06 2. Susy Pryde (Saeco-Timex), Auckland, New Zealand, @1:13 3. Sue Palmer (Saturn), Hamilton, Ont., Canada, s.t. 4. Pam Schuster (Klein), Northridge, Calif., @1:24 5. Cybil Diguistini (Canadian National), Canada, s.t.  GC  1. LINDA JACKSON (SAECO-TIMEX), Napean, Ont., Canada, 10:37:09 2. Palmer, @12:00 3. Pryde, @12:29 4. Schuster, @12:59 5. Kendra Wenzel (Saeco-Timex), McKenzie Bridge, Ore., @13:16 6. Diguistini, @13:27 7. Christina Redden (Canadian National), Canada, @13:43 8. Cheryl Binney (Potomac Racing), Los Angeles, Calif., @14:00 9. Giana Roberge (Saeco-Timex), Saratoga Springs, N.Y., @14:03 10. Lynne Bessette (Canadian National), Canada, @14:14   The Comox Valley Cycle Club, in conjunction with Mt. Washington Resort, held the 1st Annual Mt. Washington Hillclimb on Sun. Aug. 31. Thanks to Ed Schum, President, Comox Valley Cycle Club for this info.  The big challenge was to find out if a cyclist can climb the newly black-topped road faster than it took in a car before the road was paved (often 45 min. to 1hour in particularly bad an pot holey condintions). The winner, Cat.1 rider Jim Mackie of Vancouver was right on target with a time of 47:29 with Cat. 5(!) rider Lucien Ervington of Powell River about one and a half minutes behind.   COMOX VALLEY CYCLE CLUB   FIRST ANNUAL MT. WASHINGTON HILL CLIMB AUG. 31/97   CAT. 1/2  BIB No. name town time 173 JIM MACKIE STEVESTON 47:29 170 DARREN VOGLER JUAN DE FUCA 50:35 171 HENDRICK WOUTERS NANAIMO 53:31  CAT. 3  361 MIKE VINE VICTORIA 49:02 363 CHRIS JOHANNES COURTENAY 52:53 360 LORNE MORROW POWELL RIVER 58:36   CAT. 4  471 FRED HODGSON NANOOSE 50:43 472 ADAM SLOAN VANCOUVER 58:31 478 PIERRE ST. JAQUES VANCOUVER 59:50   CAT. 5  582 LUCIEN ERVINGTON POWELL RIVER 48:51 580 GABOR HERNER VICTORIA 50:41 583 CURTIS HAHN COURTENAY 58:21  Distance 18 km - vertical 3500 ft.    Letter from Italy by David Gluzman  Date: August 30-31, 1997  Mission: 27th Trofeo E. Paganessi (2 days of racing, Not a Stage Race)  Status: 180 International Riders  Course: Cobbles, In-out city, mountains, and not to count out gravel  Past Noteables:  Moreno Argentin, Gianni Bugno, Stefano Zanini, and a lot of Russians.   SATURDAY 80KM RR/CIRCUIT:   I felt good today, and I knew that with such a large international field the race was going to be fast from the gun.  I also knew that there was only one place that I wanted to be, and this would be the front.   The race was simple to read; go with anything that looks dangerous (more than 3), and don't crash, simple.  The course was insane enough that loads of riders crashed, and the race was held at over 45km/h for the whole of the race.   To sum it up, the race was fast paced with very little breaks succeeding (including my own), and it thus came to a sprint.  With 3 km to go, I would say that there was less than 80 riders left, and I was in the first 20.  I started to move up by the time we hit the 1 km flag, and I was ready to sprint.   As luck would have it, while sprinting for the line with 250m to go, I was in 5th place or so, and moving up.  Then someone touched wheels and a Spinergy exploded just beside me.  He right away launched himself over onto myself.  At the moment the inertia pushed him ahead of me, thus I was going to go right through him.  Somehow I managed to crash without hurting myself to badly (some help from the rails).  I don't know how I ended up as I crashed across the line, but I couldn't really care after..   I ended up cleaning up and riding back to my hotel (about 20km away) as a good warm down, and to clear my legs for Sunday.   SUNDAY 120km RR/CIRCUIT:   Starting in the morning (just for a change), with over 200 riders ready for round two.  Today's race included some bigger climbs than yesterday (up to 900m), but I was ready for it.   After the start of the first climb two Russian riders were away.  I decided that if two Russians were away I should be away too.  So I bridged up on my own and we had a breakaway of 3 going up the climb.  I felt good, and was easily climbing away from the pack.   Once this little break eventually got brought back, I felt really dead.  I couldn't recover.  I ended up staying in the pack holding on to the wheels.  Although there was less than 100 riders left at this point and we just hit the half way mark, I didn't think I would be going great for the rest of the race. :(   I eventually got dropped once, when I almost crashed on the Downhill at 85km/h, then when someone crashed in front of me, and then when the pack stopped on a uphill (cobbles).  All these times, I got dropped yet put enough energy to come back each time.  But the last time, I caught a small pack that dropped off the main peleton (of 30 40), and that was it.  We all ended up stopping since the race didn't want us in the race anymore (we started to do laps of the circuit).   I ended up racing 95km of the 120km race.  I felt like crap, but I think I gained a lot for my next challenge.. Tour di Luigiana.   Over and out.   David Gluzman