Archived posts for February 2012

Ill Cavendish triumphs in Belgium

Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish overcame illness to sprint to victory in the 195km Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne one-day race in Belgium on Sunday.

Britain’s world road race champion

was perfectly delivered to within 250m of the line by team-mate Chris Sutton before sprinting away from the field.

“When I got to the final corner, I knew we’d win,” said Cavendish who also won

two stages in February’s Tour of Qatar.

“I was ill all day and kept vomiting,” the 26-year-old added.

“I talked to CJ [Sutton] after the climbs and I told him you should be prepared to sprint.

“With 50km left I still didn’t feel marvellous but just kept going and was being kept out of trouble all the time.

“They controlled it at the end to deliver me and with 250m to go I kicked and that was it.”

Sky riders controlled the race from the off with Juan Antonio Flecha and Mathew Hayman joining a breakaway group.

When that group was caught with around 60km remaining, another breakaway attempt was covered by Bernhard Eisel as Sky worked tirelessly to keep Cavendish in with a shout of victory.

Alex Dowsett, Jeremy Hunt, Eisel, Flecha, Ian Stannard and Hayman then led out Cavendish in the closing stages with Sutton sitting behind and prepared to sprint if his leader could not.

“The team worked the whole day for me,” he said. “The break went, when we got it back, they started riding immediately and just stayed there to the finish. I’m so proud.”

A clearly delighted Cavendish then

tweeted after the race: 

“First win in Europe this year. Absolutely buzzing. Team Sky controlled it like a video game. Looks like the train is on track. So proud.”

Cavendish’s win is a second successive victory in the race for Team Sky after Sutton won in 2011.

And the Australian

added on Twitter: 

“What a day. Team Sky was so strong. The boys gave the perfect lead out. I dropped Mark Cavendish with 250m to go. What a win. Congrats Cav.”

FDJ-Big Mat’s Yauheni Hutarovich was second ahead of Vacansoleil-DCM’s Kenny Robert Van Hummel.

Article source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/cycling/17173440.stm

Cavendish victorious in Belgium

Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish sprinted to victory in the Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurn one-day race in Belgium on Sunday.

Britain’s world road race champion

was perfectly delivered to within 250m of the line by team-mate Chris Sutton before sprinting away from the field.

“When I got to the final corner, I knew we’d win,” said Cavendish who also won

two stages in February’s Tour of Qatar.

FDJ-Big Mat’s Yauheni Hutarovich was second ahead of and Vacansoleil-DCM’s Kenny Robert Van Hummel.

A clearly delighted Cavendish

tweeted after the race: 

“1st win in Europe this year. Absolutely buzzing. @TeamSky controlled it like a video game. Looks like the train is on track. So proud.”

Cavendish’s win is a second successive victory in the race for Team Sky after Sutton won in 2011.

And the Australian

added on Twitter: 

“What a day. @TeamSky was so strong. The boys gave the perfect lead out. I dropped @MarkCavendish 250m to go. What a win. Congrats Cav.”

Sky riders controlled the race from the off with Juan Antonio Flecha and Mathew Hayman joining a breakaway group.

When that group were caught with around 60km remaining, another breakaway attempt was covered by Bernhard Eisel as Sky worked tirelessly to keep Cavendish in with a shout of victory.

Alex Dowsett, Jeremy Hunt, Eisel, Flecha, Ian Stannard and Hayman then led out Cavendish in the closing stages with Sutton sitting behind and prepared to sprint if his leader could not.

“I didn’t feel good earlier on, I was vomiting,” explained Cavendish. “I talked to CJ [Chris Sutton] after the climbs and I told him you should be prepared to sprint. But then I felt OK.

“The team worked the whole day for me. The break went, when we got it back, they started riding immediately and just stayed there to the finish. I’m so proud.”

Article source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/cycling/17173440.stm

Cycle safety: Minister backs key aims of Campaign

A call for every city to appoint a cycling commissioner responsible for making cities fit for cycling won Government support today, when the Transport Minister endorsed the plan at a packed Parliamentary debate on cycle safety. Norman Baker said it would be a “good idea” to introduce the role even in parts of the country without an elected mayor, as he backed seven out of eight manifesto points proposed by The Times cycle safety campaign. Mr Baker said that the final decision to adopt cycle commissioners would rest with local authorities. Mr Baker also endorsed corporate sponsorship of new cycling infrastructure. He said that Mike Penning, the Road Safety Minister, was leading attempts in Europe to improve safety features on lorries, following this newspaper’s suggestion that all trucks entering cities should be required by law to fit sensors, extra mirrors and safety bars to guard against accidents involving cyclists. Mr Baker said that while the Government needed to do more to promote cycling, it was committed to improving road junctions, would publish new data on cycling, encourage increased training and the uptake of 20mph zones around the country. However, he baulked at a proposal to ring-fence 2 per cent of the Highways Agency annual £4.9 billion budget for state of the art cycle infrastructure. Like many of the 77 members gathered in Westminster Hall for today’s debate, Mr Baker praised the Cities fit for cycling campaign. “I very much welcome The Times campaign. I think it is very helpful,” he said. The Opposition embraced the funding mechanism rejected by ministers. Maria Eagle, Shadow Transport Secretary, said that Labour would commit to ring-fencing £100 million of the highways budget each year to finance infrastructure for cyclists. Ms Eagle also promised that Labour would provide dedicated funding to increase cycle training for children and urge councils to extend 20mph zones in residential areas – both areas that this newspaper has highlighted as priorities. Many MPs sought to highlight the health benefits and enjoyment of cycling. Julian Huppert, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group who secured today’s debate, said he hoped the debate would reinforce the “joys of cycling”.He said: “Government policy has tended to be reactionary and that has put people off cycling.”Several MPs said that the campaign should be expanded to secure increased safety on rural roads as well as the most congested city streets. Paying tribute to the cross-party support given to the debate, Ian Austin, co-chair of the cycling group, said: “The Times has achieved a breakthrough in a few short weeks for which we have been campaigning for years.”Oliver Colevile, MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, was one of several to pay tribute to Mary Bowers,The Times reporter who was hit by a lorry as she rode to work last November. She remains in hospital and is still not conscious.

Mr Coleville, along with other MPs, suggested making bicycles with fitted lights as a possible safety improvement.

The chair of the debate turned down a request to extend the three-hour session to give all MPs present a chance to speak.

The debate marked a watershed for a campaign that has garnered more than 30,000 written pledges of support. Six Olympic Gold Medalists, sporting personalities and celebrities from music, entertainment and industry have all signed up.

More than 2,000 signatories have written to their MP urging them to commit to measures to improve cities for cycling. Almost 70 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion supporting the campaign. Users of Twitter networking site have posted more than 21,000 tweets using the #cyclesafe hashtag.

Ms Eagle said: “This is campaigning journalism at its best.” She publicly endorsed a petition from cycling’s governing body, British Cycling, calling on Government to consider the impact on cyclists of all road and transport projects.

Post your comments and stories and support the #cyclesafe campaign here: thetimes.co.uk/cyclesafe

Hindes replaces Edgar at Worlds

Ross Edgar will miss April’s World Championships in Melbourne as 19-year-old Philip Hindes gets the chance to stake a claim for an Olympic place.

Sir Chris Hoy will lead a team of 15 riders when Great Britain compete at the last major track cycling event before this summer’s Olympic Games.

Edgar was part of

the British sprint squad that took bronze

at last week’s World Cup event in London.

But he has been left out the Melbourne squad to pursue gym and road training.

Britain topped the medals table at the World Cup but the men’s team sprint performance was disappointing, with the line-up of Edgar, Jason Kenny and Hoy losing at the semi-final stage.

Matthew Crampton and the German-born Hindes will vie for the now-vacant place on the team in Melbourne, with performances set to play a major part in Olympic selection decisions.

“We have selected a very similar team to travel to the World Championships; the only difference is in the men’s sprint squad,” said Dave Brailsford, British Cycling performance director.

“In London, Ross Edgar was in the early stages of recovering from an injury and we think the best option for him now is to focus his training in the gym and on the road over the next few months and as such he won’t travel to Australia – this doesn’t mean we have ruled him out of selection for the Olympic Games.

“The sprint coaches also feel that Philip Hindes has shown great potential in training and therefore it would be good for his development to shadow the World Championships team this year.”

Reigning world champions Wendy Houvenaghel, Dani King and Laura Trott are joined in the women’s team pursuit squad by Joanna Rowsell, who replaced Houvenaghel as the team broke the world record in winning gold in London last week.

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Hoy roars to sprint gold

Victoria Pendleton and Jess Varnish are likely to face Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch in the women’s team sprint once again, having also broken the world record as they beat the Australians to gold at the World Cup.

Article source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/cycling/17158532.stm

Houvenaghel focus on London 2012

Cornwall’s Great Britain pursuit rider Wendy Houvenaghel says there is still a lot of work to do ahead of London 2012.

The 37-year-old, who won silver in the 3000m pursuit in Beijing, raced at World Cup at London’ Olympic Velodrome.

The team

won gold

but Houvenaghel was left out of the trio that competed in the final after losing their heat.

“As an overall team performance we’ve done very well considering that none of us particularly rested up for the event,” she told

BBC Radio Cornwall

.

“We have got a lot of work still to do, there’s definitely still room for improvement, but at the moment we’re right where we need to be”

She played down her omission from the final after Great Britain were

beaten by Canada in the heats

before taking revenge in the event climax.

“Because all four of us need to experience racing on the track every one of us had the opportunity to ride,” said Houvenaghel.

“I was given the task of performing the qualification heats and then Dani [King] had the opportunity to ride in the final heat,” she said.

The team are now in Spain preparing for April’s World Track Championships in Australia.

“We need to put the World Cup behind us and focus on the next goal,” she said.

“Our long term goal, which is not that far away now, has always been to win the gold medal at the team pursuit at the London Olympic Games.

“The closer we get to it the more focused we are on the actually goal itself so really we’re us the World Championships as a stepping stone to take us a little bit closer to the Olympic Games,” she added.

Article source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/sport1/hi/olympics/london_2012/17153566.stm