Contact:
Nicola Cranmer, General Manager
Email: ncranmer@aol.com
Tel: 415.246.8791

NATIONAL TEAM RIDER SHELLEY OLDS’ BIKE IS STOLEN TWO DAYS BEFORE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN PREPARATION FOR WORLD CUP
September 30, 2008 – Grave misfortune has struck within the PROMAN Women’s Professional Cycling Team and UCI Professional Track Team. Shelley Olds determined this morning that her bike was stolen from her car in Gilroy, California, Her car was parked in a driveway near the Eagle Creek Golf Course.

“I love that bike,” explained Olds, shaking her head in disbelief. “You work hard to get yourself set up on a bike, then you get used to it and grow to appreciate everything about it. It wouldn’t be quite the tragedy it is if not for Track National Championships just two days away. I don’t know yet what I’ll do. We hope to recover the bicycle and I am offering a reward”

Bike Specs:
BMC Trackmaster 47cm Carbon frame, Cane Creek 50mm Carbon wheels, white Ritchey Syncros stem, 38cm FSA Bars, Dura ace 165mm cranks, gold Izumi Chain

Read the rest of this entry »

 Women’s USA Crits Finals Las Vegas

Jenn McRae (Advil-Chapstick)
photo by Ken Conley

“Every Thursday night in my hometown of Austin, I have a race course just like this to train on. Today felt like routine, like it was Thursday night. I was just out there doing my thing. Colivita had a counter and then Cheerwine, and then I countered that. It was really good timing and good luck. I was actually so motivated because I’ve been third season long. This is the spectacle here….being in Las Vegas. I couldn’t be happier. Las Vegas rocks.  It’s like what you hear that everyone is here to have a good time. When we rolled out today I thought I am so grateful doing what I do.”

“The teams did not have quite the depth. There were teams like Colivita and Cheerwine but were actually missing the Brooke powerhouse of Tibco. We usually have Tibco to throw down the muscle when we need it. That’s where more opportunities came up. When they came back that was the opportunity for me to go. People were staring to get tired. I saw nine to go and really thought it was a good time. No one was really cutting any seconds into me so I thought maybe this gap will stick. It kinda works on you a little bit when you are consistent but then you are the bridesmaid all season. It feels so good to win.”

McRae wins in a solo break
 photo by Ken Conley

“It is not my last year of racing. I am not really sure what is next. Advil is not sticking with it. This is another reason to come to Vegas….to talk to some sponsors for the following year.”

Hilton Clarke (Toyota-United)
 photo by Ken Conley

“It feels amazing,” stated Clarke. ”Tonight was a really sketchy course and I have the best cornerer in the business with Ivan Stevic and he just looked after me the whole race and the word of the night was composure. I just really, in the last three laps, had to keep my composure, it was just crazy out there. So just in the corners, every time, I just gave  a bit of  distance, I really made sure I had that last corner though, everyone else I think on every corner could outcorner me  but that last corner, I kept waiting for it and I kept watching it, going through it and knowing I could do it in that last corner.”

“When they fired that gun I got to the first corner in third place and a guy crashed in front of me so I never went further back than about tenth position the whole race just it was too hard to move up and I had two guys just looking after me the whole race, I never had to do a thing, I just had to finish it off.”

“I’m looking for a job, I’m riding as hard as I can, I’m not finishing my season until I’ve got a job so it’s not the best thing for US cycling but all I can do is try and win races to get myself a job. It’s really disheartening that this brilliant team is going and I really feel for all my teammates because there’s not one guy on my team that’s got a job, so we are all looking for a job.  I’m going to keep racing,  if I have  a black jersey on  I’ll keep on racing around until I get myself a team. I’m going to do the Sun Tour, keep racing until I get a job.”

Men’s podium
 photo by Ken Conley

“You know, it’s a long season, it’s a lot of races, I don’t win all that often but I’m in the top ten or in the top twenty in every race that I do and that’s what a series like this [USA Crits] is all about, I was there every weekend,” commented Myerson. ”You could go back in the results and look at all the little places where I… you know after leading out Barlevav in Harlem, I stopped to put my hands up instead of  pedaling ten more feet, I lost five places and that would have won the whole thing for me. It’s little things like that but you can’t manage every point in detail. This course, it has to be one of my favorite criterium in the country, it’s really the coolest parking criterium I’ll ever do. The course is perfect for me, it rides like a cyclocross race, I never left the top fifteen guys all day long, it feels like play out there, I had a really good time in this race, I had good legs. ”

Elite Women
 
1 Jen McRae (Team Advil-ChapStick)                    1.04.25
2 Tina Pic (Colavita/Sutter Home)                        0.31
3 Laura Van Gilder (Cheerwine Cycling)                      
4 Martina Patella (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team)           
5 Samantha Schneider (Colavita/Sutter Home)                 
6 Kelly Benjamin (Cheerwine Cycling)                        
7 Sabrina Savage (Veloforma)                                
8 Jennifer Wilson (Vanderkitten Racing)                     
9 Christina Smith (LoneStarWorks.com)                       
10 Tiffany Pezzulo (Park City Iron Man)                     
11 Beatriz Rodriguez (SC Velo)                              
12 Katie Compton (Spike Shooter)                            
13 Taitt Sato (ValueAct Capital Cycling Team)               
14 Meredith Miller (Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team)               
15 Lauren Franges (Team Tibco)                              
16 Melissa Sanborn (Vanderkitten Racing)                    
17 Kacey Manderfield (Verducci/Breakaway Racing)            
18 Kendall Ryan (Major Motion Junior Development)           
19 Melodie Metzger (Vanderkitten Racing)                    
20 Carrie Cash-Wootten (Team Revolution)                    
21 Shontell Gauthier (Colavita/Sutter Home)                 
22 Liza Rachetto (TEAM TIBCO)                               
23 Elizabeth Morse-Hill (Hub Racing)                        
24 Alicia Boland (Banning’s Bikes- Ducati)                  
25 Nicky Wangsgard (Colavita/Sutter Home)                   
26 Yukie Nakamura (Team Kenda Tire)                         
27 Shannon Koch (Metro Volkswagen Cycling Team)             
28 Jessie Maclean (Verducci/Breakaway Racing)               
29 Leigh Valletti (Vanderkitten Racing)                     
30 Liz Hatch (Vanderkitten Racing)                       0.44
31 Allyson Brandt (Cheerwine Cycling)                    0.49
32 Hilary Crowley (Banning’s Bikes, Ducati Women’s)      1.00

In the women’s race, Katie Compton (Spike Shooter ), Katerina  Nash (Luna Chix Racing Team) and Georgia Gould (Luna Chix Racing Team ) broke away from the field early. Compton stayed in control and took advantage of Gould’s mid-race mishap to keep the Luna riders separate. Compton then powered away from the Nash in the final sprint.

Katie Compton (Spike Shooter)

“Katie is definitely the strongest rider in the field,” commented Nash. ”I decided to stay on her wheel. She is a true cross racer. My team just finished mountain biking. We need a couple of weeks to get into cross racing. I just kept on her wheel and tried to attack her. I couldn’t get away. We did try to put some pressure on each other. We were pretty equally matched today so neither of us could open a big gap.  I had a great time racing today.”

Katerina  Nash (Luna Chix Racing Team)

“It was really hard because Katerina rode really well,” stated Compton.  “It was a challenging race and the course was really tough. I tried everything I could to go fast. We were trying to attack each other and we also tried to have a pace that we both could sustain. It’s pretty hard to get in front on this course. We are just naturally fast starters so we just kept the pace on and we really got a good start. It feels really good to win.”

Compton and Nash keep it close.

Compton, who won a UCI World Cup event last season and finished second at the world cyclocross championship in 2007, said she would be focusing her 2008-09 efforts on European racing.

Elite Women
 
1 Katerine Compton (USA) Spike Shooter                                41.58
2 Katerina Nash (Cze) Luna Chix Racing Team                            0.03
3 Georgia Gould (USA) Luna Chix Racing Team                            0.07
4 Kelli Emmett (USA) Giant Bicycles                                    0.18
5 Rachel Lloyd (USA) California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized          0.19
6 Susan Butler (USA) Monaviecannondale.co                              1.26
7 Wendy Simms (Can) Kona                                               2.12
8 Deidre Winfield (USA) Velo Bella - Kona                              2.25
9 Meredith Miller (USA) Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team                       2.26
10 Kari Studley (USA) Velo Bella - Kona                                3.31
11 Laura Van Gilder (USA) C-3 Sollay (Cross Team) Cheerwine            3.52
12 Kathy Sherwin (USA) Velo Bella - Kona                               4.09
13 Shannon Gibson (USA) Velobella                                      4.16
14 Barbara Howe (USA) Velo Bella                                       4.26
15 Natasha Elliott (Can) Emd Serono/Stevens                            4.29
16 Sarah Maile (USA) Ventana Mountain Bikes                            4.36
17 Josie Jacques-Maynes (USA) Specialized/KMC Pb Cal Giant             5.00
18 Tiffany Pezzulo (USA) Park City Iron Man                            5.18
19 Eszter Horanyi (USA) Waltworks/Fuentes Design                       5.25
20 Melodie Metzger (USA) California Giant / Specialized                5.48
21 Kate Scheider (USA) Bikes Belong-Mafia Racing                       5.55
22 Kendall Ryan (USA) Team Cicle Presented By Voler                    6.10
23 Kelli Jones (Can) Sugoi                                             6.22
24 Jennifer Tilley (USA) Velo Bella                                    6.39
25 Kris Walker (USA) Krieg Cycling                                     6.47
26 Lana Atchley (USA) Bailey Bikes                                     7.52
27 Marian Jamison (USA) Velo Bella                                     8.47
28 Dorothy Wong (USA) Team Cicle Presented By Voler                    1 lap
29 Deb Sweeney Whitmore (USA) BMW-Bianchi
30 Heidi Kanayan (USA) Team Cicle
31 Christy Blakely (USA) BMW-Bianchi

All phots copyright Stephanie Gutowski

The 2008 road season is coming to a close, and with it, comes time of looking back and thinking about the future. I caught up with 6′ 4″, 194-pound Tom Zirbel of the Bissell Pro Cycling Team on the eve of the Tour of Missouri where we chatted about his season and his wish to go “race the best and biggest races” in Europe.

Returning from an almost aborted 2007 season due to a blood clot, his  third season as a professional started off strong for the 29-year old rider nicknamed Thor. In May, he was leading the Tour of the Gila when he crashed and broke his collarbone amongst other injuries and had to take a break to recover. The time trial specialist came back to win the Tour of Elk Grove prologue, the Tour of Utah time trial and topped it off with a second place finish, just 5 seconds behind winner David Zabriskie (Garmin-Chipotle) in the US Pro Time Trial Championship.

You were coming on strong this year and then crashed at Gila and broke your collarbone.
Tom: Collarbone, three ribs and a hand.

And then, you recovered and came back strong again. How do you handle all that?
Tom: I was just kind of feeling sorry for myself the other day, I’m feeling tired, I can tell it’s been a long season, the break I had was ‘the breaks I had’. It was just after Gila, that was my break trying to recover from those broken bones, it wasn’t like a true restful break. I’m starting to feel the effects of a long season but it’s a good thing that this [Tour of Missouri] is a big race, that I’ve never done it and I’m excited about it, the hard rolling stages suit riders like us. I’m just trying to suck it up and come in with a good attitude and put in my seven days of racing and go out with a bang.

Read the rest of this entry »

Stage 18 Results
1 Imanol Erviti Ollo (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 3.53.17
2 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole
3 David Herrero Llorente (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia - 0.01
4 Vasili Kiryienka (Blr) Tinkoff Credit Systems - 0.05
5 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team CSC - Saxo Bank - 0.10
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto - 0.13
7 Enrico Franzoi (Ita) Liquigas
8 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step
9 Andry Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram
10 Jose Ruiz Sanchez (Spa) Andalucía - Cajasur - 0.20

General classification after stage 18
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana - 73.54.38
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana - 1.17
3 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank - 3.41
4 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia - 4.35
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank - 5.49
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 6.00
7 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 6.11
8 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - 8.56
9 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone - 9.32
10 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Gerolsteiner - 10.01

Read the rest of this entry »

Stage 17 Results
1 Wouter Weylandt (Bel) Quick Step - 3.18.48
2 Matti Breschel (Den) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
3 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
5 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner
6 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence - Lotto
7 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Gerolsteiner
8 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole
9 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre
10 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Liquigas

General classification after stage 17
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 69.53.52
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 1.17
3 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 3.41
4 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia 4.35
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 5.49
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 6.00
7 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 6.11
8 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 8.56
9 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 9.32
10 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Gerolsteiner 10.01

Read the rest of this entry »

Ramsey wins SF Twilight CritTIME PRO Cycling’s Daniel Ramsey took the penultimate leg of the 2008 USA CRITS Series in San Francisco yesterday at the inaugural running of the San Francisco Twilight Criterium. Ramsey, one of the more experienced members of the TIME squad, was the beneficiary of a mechanical that that took 3rd place finisher Jorge Alvarado (Kahala/Lagrange) out of the final moments of competition.

 Photo by Ken Conley

“I was just trying to keep pressure on the other teams so mine could make a move.  I bridged up on the final break and no one came with me.  Alvarado and I started working well together. He’s a strong rider but he broke his saddle…unlucky for him. He told me to go ahead. So the win was easy.”
 
118 men initially rolled to the line of the one-kilometer course on Union Street in downtown San Francisco to contest the $10,000 prize purse. Alvarado was aggressive from the start, figuring into a five-man break that also included Alessandro Bazzano (Successful Living). Bazzano spent much of the evening out in front of the field, continually chasing down moves and eventually nabbing the mid-race prime. Every break that managed to establish even a momentary gap over the main field, however, caused a high-speed reaction from the pack. At one point, those riders who had yet to call it a night were stretched out on course in a 15-second-long single file.
 
With three laps remaining, Alvarado, Ramsey and Successful Living’s fast man Ricardo Escuela established what would be the evening’s winning effort. The trio held a 13-second gap over the remainder of the peloton, but Alvarado’s unfortunate mechanical put the race in Ramsey’s hands.

 Photo by Ken Conley

This is the second USA CRITS victory for the TIME squad, whose Eric Barlevav won a dramatic sprint finish at this year’s Harlem Skyscraper Classic in early June, flying off of his bike as he threw his frame forward at the line.

The series now heads to its thrilling conclusion at the USA CRITS Finals in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 25th. Organized in conjunction with cycling’s biggest industry event, Interbike, the race will once again be held beneath the glimmering façade of the Mandalay Bay Resort, and will be broadcast live and on-demand at Universalsports.com.

Videos and photos from the inaugural San Francisco Twilight Criterium can be found at www.CyclistVillage.com.

Stage 16 Results
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step - 5.21.16
2 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas
3 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner
4 Mickael Delage (Fra) Française des Jeux
5 Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) Astana
6 Koldo Fernandez De Larrea (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi
7 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Mauro Santambrogio (Ita) Lampre
9 Oscar Gatto (Ita) Gerolsteiner
10 Sébastien Hinault (Fra) Crédit Agricole

General classification after stage 16
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana - 66.35.04
2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana - 1.17
3 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank - 3.41
4 Ezequiel Mosquera Miguez (Spa) Xacobeo Galicia - 4.35
5 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank - 5.49
6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 6.00
7 Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne - 6.11
8 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - 8.56
9 David Moncoutié (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone - 9.32
10 Oliver Zaugg (Swi) Gerolsteiner - 10.01

Read the rest of this entry »

Dominique Rollin Wins KOM Competition; Ivan Dominguez Places 2nd in Stage 6

Team Racks up 66 victories and 146 podiums in 2008

Team Wins 162 Races and 355 Podiums in its Three-Year Existence

Bend, OR – In what was the teams final official team race under the Toyota-United moniker, the boys in red, white and blue didn’t disappoint as they fought hard all week to keep their stage win streak alive, currently holding the record at 9 stages in America’s largest grand tours; Amgen Tour of California, Tour de Georgia Presented by AT & T and the Tour of Missouri, the most stage wins of any team world wide. Unfortunately, the team came up a little short with Ivan Dominguez placing 2nd in Saturday’s stage 6, losing to Mark Cavendish (Team Columbia), arguably the world’s fastest man with four stage wins at this years Tour De France and three stage wins at this year’s Tour of Missouri. “I tried so hard to beat Mark on Saturday, my boys set me up perfectly, but when we arrived at the finish Mark hesitated with 200 meters to go due to the headwind sprint and I waited on him when I should have jumped him instead and he beat me to the line” said Dominguez.

Read the rest of this entry »

Lafayette, CO, – Polar, the leader in heart rate monitoring and fitness assessment technology is offering an exclusive promotion of 50% off training plans authored by Joe Friel, founder of TrainingPeaks, expert coach and international Best Seller of books on endurance training with the purchase of select Polar units. Included with every training plan is a free subscription to Peaksware’s online software product TrainingPeaks, the ultimate training and nutrition log.

The training plans, available at TrainingPeaks.com/Polar contain all of the elements necessary for success and may be selected from a library of more than 60 based on experience from novice to expert and targeting events in marathon, cycling, duathlon or triathlon. The day to day schedule removes the guesswork from training and includes daily emails to provide motivation. Workout files from the Polar unit are uploaded directly to TrainingPeaks to track and confirm progress. By participating in this promotion, consumers receive the complete package to help them achieve their training goals.

Read the rest of this entry »