Tom Copeland : Racing on the Continent

With what looks like on paper a fairly "easy" world road race course i think we can still hope for some surprises. With firstly a long point-to-point section where we're sure to see a typical long break form which will cook themselves out front before hitting the final 11 finish laps of the 15.9km circuit, leaving the riders with over 262.7km in the legs by the finish.

The pre-race hype is all about a sprinters race with the typical names being thrown about but looking at the course profile with the 2 short sharp climbs each lap a "puncheur" could take the race from a reduced peloton having shedded the big name bunch kick riders. You've only got to look at the recent Australian selection for the race. Leaving out Robbie McEwen shows that they are in no way putting their chances down to a bunch sprint. They have selected a variety of riders with several names who could take home the win on home soil. 

GB's hopes are surely to be set upon Mark Cavendish; having once again shown he is nearly untouchable in the bunch sprints at the Tour de France this year, can he pull off a win such an important one day race like this? He's shown before at Milan San Remo that he can get over the late race climbs in such a long race but with only 2 other team mates (unless Team GBmanage to get more riders in the race) to take him to the finish line he will have to race a clever and perfect race to take home the honours. This is his chance to show the rest of the peloton that he desn't always need his lead out train to get him to the finish before kicking to the line.

Other such sprinters who could I think could potentially get over the line fastest are Tylar Farrar, Greg Henderson or even a rider like Edvald Boassen Hagen who has shown recently in the Eneco Tour that he is still up there in the bunch sprints despite not being a big specialist in that type of finish. 

A final possibility ... the one rider who could achieve the impossible and take off on his own to finish solo ... Fabian Cancellara! Already having cited that he is going to focus on both the Road Race and the Time Trial, if he still has enough zipp in his legs after the solo effort a few days before, we could see this man take off and spark off some fireworks. Apart from Spartacus i can't see who else could.

Fingers crossed for some surprises, nobody likes a dull race!

Licking my wounds. Again. Only two weeks ago i got intimate with the road surface at the Kreiz Breiz Elites 2.2 in the final stage, causing a drop down from a promising 20th place on GC to a rather unattractive 30th. Then last weekend i had a breif encounter with a raised pavement in the middle of the road on the third stage of the 4-day Mi Aout Bretonne 2.2. Resulting in a long slide down the road, another significant loss of skin and being seriously pissed off, followed by a 90km chase on my own to finish in the time limit!!

That ruined the good legs i was starting to find during the race and scared my dad pretty well who was out in France spectating.

This weekend i was down at the Grand Prix Plouay where i was scraping together a bit of form to finish in a counter attack a fair way down, but i managed to stay upright which made for a nice change! Then the following day i was a lot further down south in a place called Saintes, near Bordeaux i think, where i ended up nearly hitting the tarmac again as a big bunch crash brought down loads of riders, but i managed to steer clear ... steering myself straight intot he grass then into the ditch where i proceeded in flying over the handlebars and landing on my head! Sweet, "jamais 2 sans 3" as they say here in france, never 2 without 3.

Thats my crashing days over and done with for the season, i've had my fair share!!

Bring on "la suite!"

Yesterday in Italy, Olivier Le Gac, housemate Laurents "petit frère" went out there and did it with style. After winning most races he's entered this season, his first full racing season, was quietly confident and in his world "was on the start line to win, thats it!". What race am i talking about? Well, its only the biggest race on the junior racing calendar, one where you win a jersey for life ... a memory which will rest with you for the rest of your life, something which has surely just opened up a LOT of doors for his future. Yesterday Olivier Le Gac won the Junior World Race Championships!

After keeping his cool for most of the race, he slipped into a decisive break of five at about 20km from the finish before giving it everything in the last five kms in a bold solo move ... his final bid for glory. Make or break. It worked ... Chapeau! He even managed to nearly ruin all chances of victory when he dropped his chain in the last 800m with the chasing group at about 10 seconds behind him, breathing down his neck, chasing him with all their worth. He didn't let this bother him however, as he cooly reached down and slipped the chain back onto the big chainring by hand before finishing his great exploit and raising his arms for the most important victory in his young and promising career, a cycling career which in my opinion is only just beginning.

While he was breaking down on the highest step of the podium thousands of miles away in a different country, overwhelmed by the moment, Laurent, Sylvain Le Gac (third brother) were racing back here in Brittany with Laurent taking 2nd and only finding out about his brothers moment of agic as he crossed the line. Anger at missing out on the victory, quickly forgotten with tears of joy as he joined his dad and brother as they tried to get in contact with the new junior world champ.

After Johan Le Bon European and World champion 2 years ago, the jersey is coming back to Brittany, definately one of the European homes of cycling!

Bravo Olivier!

British Cycling has confirmed that Dan Staite has tested positive for EPO and an aromatase inhibitor - a drug used in cancer treatment.

Staite, who rode for the Cycles Dauphin Racing Team early in the year, was tested after the Roy Thame Cup, a National B event in Buckinghamshire, on March 13 and the urine sample showed traces of both banned drugs.

An investigation by the UK Anti-Doping Agency confirmed that an anti-doping rule had been broken and the National Anti-Doping panel has suspended Staite from competition for two years, a ban which runs from May 1, 2010 to May 1, 2012.

Bob Howden, chairman of British Cycling's anti-doping commission, said: "We are naturally disappointed that a cyclist has been found guilty of doping, however, this case shows that the comprehensive testing programme which operates at all levels of the sport is delivering results.

"We have a no tolerance policy towards doping and we are committed to working close with UK Anti-Doping to eradicate the use of performance-enhancing substances from our sport. Mr Staite's example is a warning to all athletes, both amateur and professional, that cheats will be caught and that cycling must be and must be seen to be a drug-free sport."

Staite's best result this season was second place in the Jock Wadley road race in March, where he was behind Jonathan Tiernan-Locke of Rapha Condor Sharp.

So the national champs has come and gone with a new winner Geraint Thomas, Team Sky, heading up a Sky 1,2,3 with Peter Kennaugh coming 2nd for the 3rd year in a row! The main talking point of the race though isn't the actual result but the number of people on the results sheet! With 120 odd starters there were 31 finishers ... 4th place was already 8mins down on the winner with the first U23 rider coming in nearly 14minutes down ... think the race was blown apart by Team Sky! Its nice that amateur riders over here can get to race with the likes of Mark Cavendish and David Millar but isn't it about time that the organisers followed the rest of Europe and put on seperate amateur championships and professional championships? Maybe there wouldn't be enough riders to race the professional race making it not worthwile but then how about making a separate U23 championships like there always was up to about 3 or 4years ago ... im sure there would be well over 100 starters, not a continental sized field but if they like limiting numbers over here then it would fit in perfectly.

From the list of starters there were only about five U23 riders who finished the race meaning that the U23 road race medalists only really needed to get round the race to be in with a hot chance of a medal. I'm not taking anything away from their rides especially Andy Fenn, the U23 champion who took 8th on the day, a good result given the race conditions and circuit too with riders racing in 30degree heat and the roads didnt give much respite with, it seems, very little flat.

I woudl obviously have loved to race but seeing as so many suffered in the conditions and pulled out, it could well have been a wasted journey for me too. Saved a few pennies there i guess! So i spent my sunday afternoon watching another english sporting Flop! with the footy team showing not how to play football against the Germans! A good way to spend the last day of my rest period. Finally i can now get back out on the bike!

364 days until the next national championships in which i will hopefully have an entry ... if i can find out how i get an entry into the race!

Off to top up the tan lines !!!

ciao 4 now

Lors de la présentation des équipes en février dernier, les dirigeants du B.I.C 2000 avaient annoncé leur intention d’accéder à la DN1 en 2011.
Le travail et les démarches engagées par Christophe LE MEE (Président) et Sylvain LE LEZ (trésorier DN Espoirs) durant toute cette saison portent leurs fruits.
La confiance renouvelée des  partenaires actuels,  l’arrivée de nouveaux partenaires privés associés au fort soutien de la Ville de BREST permettent un franc rapproché des exigences de la DN1 en termes de structure et de budget.
Le concept de fond de la DN1 sera basé sur un lien étroitement renforcé entre  parcours scolaire ou universitaire et l'épanouissement de l'athlète de haut niveau. Un partenariat avec l'U.B.O devrait permettre aux coureurs d'avoir un vrai projet professionnel en parallèle à leur cursus sportif.

Toujours passionné par les challenges et le BIC 2000, Yvon CAER s'associe à la finalisation de notre projet et pourrait pourquoi pas, à très court terme, en assurer le management.

Nous espérons, dans les prochaines semaines, vous présenter le projet finalisé.

(Source bic2000.net)

http://www.veloresults.co.uk/2010/06/can-someone-explain-this-to-us-please/

Good article on my National Champiionships!

So it's 2 and a half weeks before the National Championships and training is building up towards the big objective of the season ... flights home are booked, accomodation is booked, travel arrangements arranged ... all that is left is to finish of my preparation and get to the start of the race. Well so i thought.

This tuesday (8th June) i see a link on the internet to the first published start list for the race ... exciting stuff, looking down the list at all the big name pro's racing this year make me even more excited about the race ... i get to the bottom of the list and realise that something is missing, or more like quite a lot is missing. Firstly there are only 129 riders on the list and secondly my name is not amongst them. I read through it again and again but its definately not there. Next stop was the organisers website and this is where the bombshell hit ...

"The field for this race has been finalised. Due to the nature of the circuit, it has been necessary to limit the size of the field. The selection criteria were a follows: Elite Riders; 1st category riders within the top 100 B.C. Ranking as at  1st June 2010"

Gutted.

Not being professional, neither having ridden in the UK for 2 seasons meaning i have no BC points to bump me up the rankings ... it left me off the radar. Even with 2 top 30 finishes in the last 2 champs (top 10's in the U23 catagory) i get forgotten.

Having spoken to the organiser, i got no-where and was even told that i should have lied on my entry form and put down that i am an Elite rider in BC rankings!! The whole affair becomes even more of a joke.

I spoke to BC and to sum up their reply, it was along the lines of : Unfortunate you've booked your accomodation and flights already ... go and do the cyclosportive on the saturday and then watch the race on sunday as it will make for good watching on the side of the road!! Thanks.

I always felt that as soon as you try to race at a higher level outside of the UK ... trying to do it the hard way ... you are quickly forgotten by the british cycling federation and Co. and this JOKE confirmed my thoughs ...

As i said ... Gutted!!

National champs with 129riders ... only about 20 U23 riders to fight for the U23 title ... i hope the race will be as crap as it looks on paper.

This isn't the last you've heard of this, i'm going to make a point of getting my point across to those involved and i have spoken to others and it seems that i'm not the only one who's been shafted by that bunch of ... ill leave it there.

Forgot to mention, Laurent got his second win of the season on saturday at the Tour du Leon. Good stuff lad! Me and gwenael have got some catching up to do... however Gwen wont be far from a win this weekend at the Brittany Track Champs tomorrow.