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| Tel: 0870 8712000 ........................British
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Paulo Bettini grabbed gold for Italy with a splendid break in the closing stages of the Men’s Road Race in Athens. In partnership with the Portuguese rider Sergio Paulinho, the classics specialist rode clear of the main field two laps out and stayed clear to win the sprint for the line. Axel Mercx claimed the bronze with and impressive solo attack in the last half lap. British fans also had something to shout about as Roger Hammond finished in a really impressive seventh place after a strong race, in which he received excellent support from his teammates. Talking to team manager John Herety afterwards, he said everyone was smiling and that he knew Roger was capable of a top and a medal. The British riders had mixed fortunes in the event with Charley Wegelius crashing and John tells me they are taking him to hospital tonight to have his wrist looked at. Of the otehr riders, Stuart Dangerfield looked after Roger's needs early on before retiring to prepare for the time trial whilst Julian Winn also rode well as he helped bring the peloton back together after it split and Roger was in the wrong half. The effor of bringing the slpit back though took its toll on Julian on a day when the manager said, one big effort and you were cooked pretty much. The race was then left to Roger and everything went to plan until the finish when Hammond took McEwen's wheel and by the time he realise the Aussie wasn't going anywhere in the sprint, it was too late to make up the ground required on the riders in front. John Herety did say though Hammond was pleased with his effort and it gives him great confidence for the future in a year when he retained his British title and was third in Paris Roubaix. In other news related to Britains road star, PA Sport reports that Roger Hammond has confirmed he is likely to join the American Discovery team next season. The same team that Lance Armstrong will be riding for. With a big smile Hammond says that although the details are yet to be finalised, he will be riding with the biggest name in cycling in the modern era. Talking about the fact that his training camp will probably be California, Roger is reported to have replied "It makes a change from Ostend. Last year we had a weekend in Ostend for our training camp!" The race in detail An early break and a promising one came from Sweden’s Magnus Bäckstedt winner of this year's Paris-Roubaix, who went away on lap two and had well over 3 minutes on the field at one stage, but was obviously uncomfortable in the hot sun. He was joined by Richard Virenque (France) and Laszlo Bodrogi (Hungary) at the start of lap 9, by which time the main field were beginning to pull them back, with the Germans and Aussies working hard. They pegged the leaders back to 2 minutes, held them there and then, with some aggressive attacks coming from several nationalities, the main bunch pulled them in. Backstedt, the one away longest, had been out there for 115km, an awesome effort in the Athens’ sun. A 10 man group then got clear, but with no Germans or Australians, it was doomed. A more co-ordinated group of six, including Robbie McEwen of Australia) and Ciaran Power of Ireland got up to a minute, but the rest of the field simply weren’t going to let them get any more time and they were pulled back after three laps away. Finally, with one and a half laps to go came the crucial split. Bettini and Paulinho got away on the main climb and forged a small gap over the main field. They pushed on and to everyone’s surprise they had 26 seconds over the main field at the bell. The two riders immediately sorted themselves out and worked well together, with Bettini looking especially good. The chase, as so often happens at the end of a lot hard race, suddenly became a lot less co-ordinated. Eric Dekker of Holland was one of several riders to try and bridge, but with Russia, Germany and Kazakhstan well represented at the front of the field, it was still difficult to escape. With the shadows really beginning to lengthen, Bettini and Paulinho continued to work in harmony and their lead continued to grow. Perhaps Bettini’s mind went back to the last Italian winner of the event, Fabio Cassattelli, champion in Barcelona, but killed in the Tour de France a few season later. Anyway, the Italian with the expressive face was a picture of focussed concentration as he continued to work hard: too hard one was tempted to think. Back in the main field the Italians were doing a good spoiling job and the rest of the riders were getting nervous. There was a sense they had realised they had missed the boat and were at a loss as to how to galvanise their efforts. This often happens and to the watching public it seems strange to put in so much effort throughout the race, only to prevaricate with the line almost in sight. But it happens so often. Up the climb for the last time Bettini pulled clear for a few seconds but judging it better to continue to work together he let Paulinho get back to him. At the top of the climb the lead was up to 49 seconds and although it began to come down from then on, it was clear that the gold was going to one of the two riders. Axel Merckx then made a fine solo effort to break clear with about 3km to go and quickly broke the elastic. Going under the 1km banner, the leaders were talking to each other – what wouldn’t you give to be a fly on the top tube in these situations? Then the inevitable tactical riding began. Both looked back long and hard, making sure they were indeed clear. Turning into the final straight, it was Paulinho on the front, with Bettini crawling behind. Behind, Merckx was chasing hard with the peloton at his heels. Paulinho finally went with about 300m to go and for a second he seemed to have caught Bettini napping, but the Italian charged after him and came round in a decisive manner to claim the biggest prize in one-day racing. An exultant Merckx held on to take the bronze. Erik Zabel was the second man to get to Bettini after Paulinho and he gave the little Italian a hug which spoke volumes for the spirit in which the race had been ridden. Tomorrow, Rachel Heal, Sara Symington and Nicole Cooke compete in the womens road race where like Bettini was today, Nicole Cooke is one of the favourites for a medal, very probably Gold. Good luck to all the women in tomorrows event from everyone in Great Britain. RESULT 1. Paolo Bettini (Italy) 5.41.44 2. Sergio Paulinho (Portugal) 0.01 3. Axel Merckx (Belgium) 0.06 4. Erik Zabel (Germany) 0.12 5. Andrej Hauptman (Slovenia) 6. Kim Kirchen (Luxembourg) 7. Roger Hammond (Great Britain) 8. Frank Hoj (Denmark) 9. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Norway) 10. Alexandr Kolobnev (Russia) 11. Robbie McEwen (Australia) 12. Markus Zberg (Switzerland) 13. Ciaran Power (Ireland) 14. Marcus Ljungqvist (Sweden) 15. Julian Dean (New Zealand) 16. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg) 17. Max Van Heeswijk (Netherlands) 18. Tyler Hamilton (USA) 19. Jan Ullrich (Germany) 20. Thomas Voeckler (France) 21. Serhiy Honchar (Ukraine) 22. Georg Totschnig (Austria) 23. Kyrylo Pospyeyev (Ukraine) 24. George Hincapie (USA) 25. Bo Hamburger (Denmark) 26. Tadej Valjavec (Slovenia) 27. Nuno Ribeiro (Portugal) 28. Bobby Julich (USA) 29. Martin Elmiger (Switzerland) 30. Gerhard Trampusch (Austria) 31. Santiago Botero Echeverri (Colombia) 32. Michael Barry (Canada) 33. Stuart O'Grady (Australia) 34. Unai Etxebarria (Venezuela) 35. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) 36. Luis Felipe Laverde Jimenez (Colombia) 37. Evgeni Petrov (Russia) 38. Daniele Nardello (Italy) 39. Luca Paolini (Italy) 40. Peter Van Petegem (Belgium) 41. Erik Dekker (Netherlands) 42. Romans Vainsteins (Latvia) 43. Gorazd Stangelj (Slovenia) 44. Laurent Brochard (France) 45. Benoit Joachim (Luxembourg)
GREAT BRITAIN OLYMPIC TEAM IN BREIF Rider (potential events) Oli Beckingsale (Mens Mountain Biking) Nicole Cooke (Women's Road Race) Steve Cummings: (Team Pursuit) Stuart Dangerfield: (Men's Road Time Trial) Emma Davies: (Womens Individual Pursuit/Womens Points Race) Ross Edgar: (Sprint, Keirin) Roger Hammond: (Mens Road Race) Rob Hayles: (Mens Individual Pursuit/Team Pursuit/Madison) Rachel Heal: (Womens Road Race) Chris Hoy: (Kilo/Team Sprint) Jeremy Hunt: (Mens Road Race) Liam Killeen: (Mens Mountain Biking) Craig MacLean: (Kilo/Team Sprint) Paul Manning: (Mens Individual Pursuit/Team Pursuit) Chris Newton: (Team Pursuit/Mens Points Race) Victoria Pendleton: (500TT/Womens Sprint) Jason Queally: (Kilo/Team Sprint) Jamie Staff: (Kilo, Team Sprint, Keirin) Bryan Steel: (Team Pursuit) Sara Symington: (Womens Road Race) Charly Wegalius: (Mens Road Race) Bradley Wiggins: (Individual Pursuit/Team Pursuit/Madison) Julian Winn: (Mens Road Race)
The Great Britain Cycling Team for the Paralympics Tandems
(click for bios) Aileen
McGlynn - 22.06.73/Glasgow Ian
Sharpe - 27.10.70/Ramsey, Isle of Man Solos Gary Williams - 05.03.68/Bickerstaffe, Lancs
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