The Coffee Ride #27 with Reece Homfray
THE UCI Track World Championships begin in Columbia on Wednesday and could be heading to Melbourne next year.
IT’S SHOWTIME — AND MELBOURNE COULD BE NEXT
THE UCI Track World Championships begin in Cali, Columbia, on Wednesday and could be heading to Melbourne next year.
The Coffee Ride understands Cycling Australia is considering a bid to host the 2015 world championships which have been pencilled in for February 18-22.
The 2016 world titles have already been awarded to London where they will take place in the Olympic velodrome, but a ‘TBC’ remains over the host city for next year.
Melbourne last hosted the world championships in 2012 in the lead-up to the London Games and it’s also rumoured Adelaide could be in line to host a world cup meet in 2016 on the road to Rio.
Cycling Australia provided the following statement when asked about bidding to host next year’s world titles or a world cup for 2016:
“There are a number of positive cycling initiatives currently being considered but until they are confirmed we are not in a position to comment,” the statement read.
A CA insider said there were “rumblings” that a major track cycling event may return to Australia as soon as next year.
But for now, all the focus is on Cali where the Cyclones burst into action today starting with the men’s team pursuit and team sprint.
Australia’s team faced a 55-hour trip to get to Cali, which included a stopover in LA, and some members of the team were without their luggage for a day-and-a-half when they arrived.
But training was not interrupted on a testing track which has a roof, but is without sides, meaning the wind could play havoc with riders and their bikes.
In her 12th world championship campaign, Anna Meares is chasing her 11th crown.
“I think it gets harder mentally more so than physically,” Meares said.
“Because I’ve got such a foundation of training history under me, the most difficult part of getting older is dealing with little niggles that come along with wear and tear on the body.
“That can sometimes make it mentally more difficult to push through those tough days at training, to have to really go and do the little finer details.
“But it’s that lure of competition, of world championships and Olympic Games that pushes me through some really hot summer days and cold, dreary winter days. For that imagery I have in my head of standing on that podium.”
Meares said she was driven by the fear of not wanting to let down people around her — coaches, teammates, support staff and family — who have sacrificed a lot for her to remain at the top level.
“I do not want to see the time wasted, I want to make sure I get a reward that in my mind is just for the effort that I put in,” she said.
“Age is nothing, you win or lose based on your preparation and that’s what it comes down to for me.”
In a major boost for Aussie cycling fans, SBS is showing all night sessions from Cali live which start about 10.30am our time in most states.
Finals Wednesday:
Women’s 10km scratch race
Men’s team pursuit
Women’s team sprint
Men’s team sprint
Finals Thursday:
Women’s 500m TT
Men’s 15km scratch race
Men’s individual pursuit
Men’s keirin
Women’s team pursuit
Finals Friday:
Men’s 1km TT
Women’s individual pursuit
Men’s 40km points race
Finals Saturday:
Women’s 25km points race
Men’s omnium (final event)
Women’s sprint
Finals Sunday:
Women’s omnium (final event)
Women’s keirin
Men’s 50km madison
Men’s sprint
Note: The Coffee Ride is about to go on another mid-season break for a couple of weeks while I’m in Sochi covering the Paralympic Winter Games from March 7-16, so this is our last edition until then.
RED-HOT DRAPAC TEAM FOR ADELAIDE TOUR
HOW’S this for a cracker Drapac Professional Cyling team for the Adelaide Tour in April.
The ‘red machine’ will be represented by former WorldTour riders and emerging young stars when the race roars into town from April 3-6.
Will Clarke, Jonathan Cantwell, Jack Anderson, Jai Crawford, Ben Johnson, Lachlan Norris, Bernard Sulzberger and Wes Sulzberger have been named for the four-stage race which includes two road races, a kermesse and criterium.
Drapac Professional Cycling has a pro continental licence for this season and in January made its debut in the Santos Tour Down Under.
RAPHA’S BRAVE RIDE FOR TESS
RAPHAEL McGowan was cycling halfway across the United States in 2011 when he got a phone call from his family saying his older sister Tess had been diagnosed with melanoma.
“Her husband noticed a mole on her back and she had it removed but the doctors said it (cancer) may spread and she could have chemotherapy,” Raphael said.
“But she was three months pregnant at the time and decided she would wait.
“The baby (Mabel) was born healthy and Tess went in a week later but the doctors told her the cancer had spread to her vital organs and she had months, not years, left to live.
“She was fair skinned and quite sun conscious but ...”
Tess lost her brief battle with melanoma in June 2012 and after a difficult time for his family, Raphael — an IT consultant from Sydney — is getting back on his bike to do something about it.
He wants to help Tess’s friends and family in their grieving process by doing something to honour his sister, while at the same time raising money and awareness to fight melanoma which kills more than 1500 Australians each year.
He decided he would put his love of cycling into action by riding 1900km from Adelaide to Sydney in a bid to raise $100,000.
“It was very difficult in the beginning,” he said of his sister’s death.
“The whole family had relocated to Sydney to be with Tess, then everyone had to go back to their own lives which was tough.
“People found the more they spoke about it, it helped them, so I wanted to do something so our friends and family could remember the good times.”
At 10am today, Raphael, 30, will leave Parliament House on North Terrace in Adelaide and start his 24-day journey which will take him through Melbourne, regional NSW and on to Sydney.
The self-described “novice cyclist” isn’t a complete beginner, having ridden 7000km from coast to coast in the US in 2011.
But he says that was a very casual ride on a touring bike without a schedule to follow.
This time Rotary and Lions Clubs have promised fundraising morning teas and cycling clubs will be waiting to greet him when he arrives in each town so he must stay the course.
Riding a custom-built road bike and with a full support team behind him, Raphael plans to average 85km a day.
“The gift of her (Tess’s) incredible voice and spirit will be in my thoughts and in my heart throughout the ride I’ve dubbed ‘Cycling to March’,” he said.
All money raised goes to the Melanoma Institute of Australia, which ran a trial in 2012 and brought Tess an extra three months of life.
To support Raphael on his ride, visit www.cyclingtomarch.com
NEYLAN’S PEARLY WHITE SMILE RETURNS
RACHEL Neylan has shared her story about the close-knit cycling community, particularly in Adelaide, which has brought a pearly white smile to her face that was seriously injured in a training crash four years ago.
Neylan was injured on the Stelvio when she crashed at 70km/h while training with the national team ahead of the 2010 world championships.
She had a front wheel blowout and the crash left her with facial fractures and broken teeth.
After flying back to Australia she had ongoing dental work and root canal to save her teeth but just before Christmas in 2012 she underwent emergency surgery to remove two of her front teeth after the root canal failed.
Adelaide dentist Dr Chris Hodge — himself a keen cyclist on his road and mountain bikes — worked to provide Neylan with temporary teeth which have now become a permanent fixture to her smile.
Because it was two years after the accident, Neylan said her insurance policy no longer covered the work and she faced thousands of dollars in medical bills but Dr Hodge absorbed the cost for the final crowns.
“It was an absolute random act of kindness,” said Neylan, a silver medallist at the 2012 world titles.
“It goes to show that not all support is given under lights or on show ... relationships are formed and lessons learned that go way beyond the pedals in this journey.”
Neylan heads to Italy next month and will race the Italian world cup with the Australian women’s team on March 30.
One of her early-season targets is La Fleche Wallonne which has been owned by superstar Marion Vos who has won five of the past seven editions.
JONES A MODEL OF CONSISTENCY THIS SUMMER
IF THERE was an award for consistent excellence over the domestic summer, Team Avanti’s Brenton Jones would be hard to beat.
The 22-year-old started by winning the Bay Criterium Series in January, was in the breakaway for 14 laps in the elite men’s road race at the national titles, won a stage and podiumed three times at the New Zealand Cycle Classic then finished third in the Oceania road race championship on the weekend.
Not a bad six weeks’ work.
Jones says there is no secret to his recent run of form, no radical overhaul of his pre-season training, diet or coaching ... just hard work and plenty of it. Five years’ worth in fact.
“I think I’m maturing as a bike rider and it’s more due to the hard work over the past five years,” Jones said.
“Now I’m going ‘okay, you’re at the level’ so if it all comes together I can get results.
“After Bay Crits I was pinching myself with the result and a lot of people were congratulating me and saying I shocked a few.
“But myself, my close family and manager Jason (Bakker) said it wasn’t a surprise, it’s my hard work paying off.”
Bay Crits was big but even bigger was his first UCI stage win and podium at the New Zealand Cycle Classic where Jones was second on Stage 1, third on Stage 2 and won Stage 3.
It erased any disappointment he had at missing out on selection in the UniSA-Australia team for the Tour Down Under.
“You could say I was disappointed but I wasn’t dropping my head and giving up,” he said.
“I went to New Zealand, got a win and it’s spurred me on to say ‘hey it’s happened for a reason’.
“With the heat it was a tough race in Adelaide and racing the pros would have been pretty daunting.
“This year is another development year for me and to be thrown into the deep end could have been detrimental more so than for the experience I would have got.”
Jones will start his NRS season with the Jarvis Subaru Adelaide Tour from April 3-6 ahead of his two major goals for the season — Jelajah Malaysia in May then Melbourne to Warrnambool in October.
HOW I ROLL ... GARTH TANDER
IN KEEPING with the motorsport theme from last week, and with the Clipsal 500 set to take over Adelaide’s streets from tomorrow, Holden’s Garth Tander is the latest athlete featured in ‘How I Roll’.
I love to ride ... “For four good reasons, firstly riding is perfect for my fitness program with its long periods of high heart rate being good for endurance which is extremely important for events like the Clipsal 500. Secondly, because I actually enjoy being out on the road with the wind in my face. Third, riding is something you can enjoy with a group or by yourself so there’s a great social aspect to it, and also the ability to get out on the road by yourself to clear the head. And finally, because cycling also involves my family — Leanne and I regularly hook up our kids’ cycling trailer and bring Scarlett and Sebastian along for rides.”
I’m currently riding ... “A BMC Team Machine 01. A real nice bike.”
Each week I’d clock up ... “We’re now in season so it’s a little less than off-season. In season I’ll ride around 250-300km per week, but in off-season it’s 350-400km.”
My favourite place to ride is ... “The Dandenong Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne. I don’t enjoy the hills but it’s just a nice place to go riding.”
The best coffee stop is ... “The Cold Cafe. It’s an old converted tram on the Warburton trail just outside Melbourne. You can’t get to it by car, only by bike, so it’s made for cyclists.”
I’m a big fan of ... “All the Aussie cyclists and we’re lucky to know most of them. Obviously Cadel’s a big favourite of ours, not only because he’s a Holden ambassador and we’ve got that association, but because he’s an all-round nice bloke. We talk quite often and I’m very proud to call him a mate. The guy’s a legend.”
QUOTES OF THE WEEK ...
“The time trial didn’t go my way on Friday. I had a bit of a body break down. It was really, really hot. I was the fastest at the turnaround, but I overcooked it on the way back. My body started to shut down. My heart rate went up. I couldn’t really time trial the way I normally can on the way home. When I punctured at three kilometres to go, it was just the icing on the cake of a pretty bad day on the bike.”
- Newly crowned Oceania road race champion Luke Durbridge explains why he was happy to bounce back from a difficult time trial two days earlier.
“I had my family down here today which was great, they haven’t watched me race since the Olympics.”
- Queenslander Shara Gillow after winning her fourth Oceania TT title in Toowoomba last week.
“Our climber Sebastian (Henao) is going to be riding on that one today because it’s a sprint stage and we’ve had to work with what sizes are available, and then CJ (Sutton) is probably going to ride it tomorrow. CJ will ride my bike today and then swap it with Sebastian.”
- Team Sky coach Shaun Stephens explains the logistics with riding Tour du Haut Var after its 16 bikes were stolen at the race.
“I’ve been in contact with the agencies and AOC and said ‘whenever they’re ready and I’m ready ...’ they’ve been quite good with that also that when I’ve settled in and got the chance, I’m more than happy to help out.”
- Stuart O’Grady says he has written to the Australian Olympic Committee and ASADA following his doping confession.
TWEET, TWEET ...
Let's go racing. That's how you should look like, when you are in shape!@Roman86_K #TourofOman pic.twitter.com/8kTjAAW1qh
— Matti Breschel (@Mattibreschel) February 22, 2014— Saxo-Tinkoff’s Matti Breschel gets a snap of teammate Roman Kreuziger who is obviously in good condition before the Tour of Oman.
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