Melbourne World Cup through the eyes of Bont Rider Kaarle McCulloch

Last weekend the Melbourne World Cup took place at Hisense arena. Having just come from Manchester and craving a bit of home crowd support it was highly anticipated amongst our very large Australian team. We had over 20riders and pretty much a staff member per athlete, we were very well equipped and ready to rock.

As usual the first day saw for me the sprint and I was looking forward to some quality racing after my devastating early exit in the sprint in Manchester. I qualified in 5th place in an average time of 11.501, but the sprint is much more than just the qualifying and I was determined to ride hard and fast. In the first round I met a very aggressive Wei Lee Ze from Hong Kong, whose coach likes to sit right next to the opponent (me in this case) and talk about how hard she has worked and how she can 'do this'. Thing is her coach doesn't realise how hard I work and how I show no mercy. I beat her easily in the first round. This was a good result but it also meant a tough match up for me in the quarter finals against the faster qualifier of Jin Jie Gong from China. Jin Jie is a world class opponent and she is very fast but not very fast. I am happy to say I beat her in 2 straight tough rounds to make it through to the semi's. In the semi's I met another Chinese opponent in Shuang Guo, the Olympic bronze medallist and the fastest qualifier. I can honestly say that I rode her very well and I didnt do anything crucially wrong, I just didnt have the gas to match her and she beat me in two straight rounds. This meant that I rode off fro bronze against Willy Kanis from the Netherlands. I raced Willy in Perth only 2 weeks prior and new that I had what it took to beat her, she didnt phase me at all and I was prepared to go down with a fight. She beat me in the first round just and in the second I was able to do the same to her and pip her on the line. In the decider I had the race under wraps until the last lap when I had a bit of a brain explosion and she came underneath me and consequently it was enough of a mistake to give her the win. I was quite angry and disappointed as I new I could have beaten her, but this is racing. All day I cant say I did a thing wrong, I was cool calm and collected and raced hard so even though I was disappointed to come away as the biggest loser (4th place!) I made some steps to becoming a better racer.

On the second day I was fortunate enough to have a rest day and I spent it with my family. It was much needed as I miss them dearly and cant wait until my christmas break when I get to spend more than 12hours with them.

The third day proved a tough one with the Keirin and 500m TT on the same day. In the morning was the keirin heats and I breezed through easily to take the win. The first event that night for me was the 500m TT and I came second to Anna Meares in a new Personal Best time of 34.267, a PB by 0.009 hundredths of a second! Still I will claim that! It was my first TT of the year and to begin on a PB isnt too shabby, the best thing is that there is so much room for improvement and I can tell you right now I will ride faster than that this season. From that result I am setting my eyes on a podium finish at the world Championships...it will be a tough ask but I think it is a realistic one. After the 500 I had about 30min before the semis for the Keirin. I had a tough heat with 3 of the Australian girls! I was able to comfortably take second place behind Anna, to set myself up for a chance at a medal in the final. In the final it was a little sketchy, I nearly crashed about 3 times thanks to a much larger and rougher Christin Muche from Germany. She wasnt afraid to give me an elbow here and there and my lack of racing experience saw my try and back out and come round. I was pushing a very big gear and it wasnt so successful and I finished 5th.

All in all it was a very successful meet for me, a 2nd, 4th and 5th are my best individual results at a World Cup and it gives a load of confidence going into the business end of the season. I have a christmas Revolution race in Melbourne in mid december followed by a brief break back home before heading over to Beijing for the last world cup of the year. After Beijing comes nationals in Adelaide and then the best part of the season is the World Championships in Denmark. Its very exciting and I cant wait! I hope everyone is well.

Bont rider Luke Roberts wins overall Grenoble 6 day title…

Luke Roberts put together a consistent showing at the Grenoble 6 day in France. With a 3rd in the points race a 1st in the TTT and a 1st in the Madison, it amounted to a total of 296 points giving Luke and his partner the overall title at the Grenoble 6 day. Next stop Gent.

Bont Rider Chris Sutton Continues His Winning Ways

Sutton (Garmin Slipstream) scored another sprint victory to make it three in a row for the Bont rider in this years Jayco Herald Sun Tour on Thursday. On a day that started and finished in pouring rain, it was again all about Sutton and his Garmin-Slipstream team. Once again it came down to wire with a sprint deciding the stage victor.

It was the sprinter Sutton who reigned supreme for the third day in a row, just nudging out Jonathan Cantwell (Fly V Australia) and Garmin teammate, Bradley Wiggins in a desperate lunge for the line.

Its making for a very exciting last 2 days with a 10K technical tt scheduled for Friday and ending with Saturday's circuit race. We will keep you informed as the race heads into Saturday's final day.

Bont's Chris Sutton Doubles Up Down Under

Stage 3 was a repeat victory for Chris Sutton. A great day for Bont as they had two riders in the top five of today's stage with Bradley Wiggins in 5th. Today's stage win of the 2009 Jayco Herald Sun Tour, also delivered him the yellow jersey.

Sutton plans of retaining the leader’s jersey through to Melbourne on Saturday. Sutton now sits one second ahead of Cantwell, with Wiggins third, at 35 seconds, Matt Wilson fourth, at 45 seconds, and Svein Tuft fifth, at 55 seconds. Should Sutton win the overall, it would complete the first father and son Tour victories, complementing father Gary's 1984 success.

Sutton Picks up Stage Win

Bont's Chris Sutton picked up his first stage win of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour. For Sutton it was the continuation of a family tradition that stretches back to 1983, when his uncle, Shane, won the title. The following year brother Gary claimed the win.
Now finding himself in a position to continue the 'dynasty', Sutton knows what's ahead if he wants to make his mark on the race. "Whilst it is always sweet to get a win, especially in Australia, hopefully I've got another couple in me yet," said Sutton.
"I've still got hopes of winning overall so we can become the first father and son combination to do it."

Felt / Bont team Member Jake Duehring 2nd at US Nats!

Felt factory team/ Bont Rider Jake Duehring (above) made us proud last night with an impressive performance at the 2009 USA Cycling Track Nationals in Los Angeles. Jake scored a silver medal in the Omnium, an overall competition combining five different events—both sprint and endurance—in one night of competition at the Home Depot Center.

Here’s the thing: It was Jake’s first time competing at nationals. He killed it in the 3km individual pursuit, winning with a time of 3:32.775, and also finished second in the flying 200-meter TT (his first time racing the event); fifth in the Scratch Race; third in the Kilo; and eighth in the Points Race. Jake finished the night with 19 points, just 3 behind national champion Cody O’Reilly.

Felt bikes and Bont shoes were out in force at the opening night of the Track National Championships.

Bont Rider Chris Sutton Wins in Britain!

Chris Sutton (Garmin-Slipstream) won the battle of the sprinters in York today at the end of stage one of the Tour of Britain. Sutton held off Michel Merlo (Barloworld) and Ben Swift (Team Katusha) as the peloton thundered down the narrow finishing straight in the Yorkshire city.

Sutton was delighted to have won the sunny 173km stage, which averaged nearly 42kph. "Wearing the yellow jersey is one of the highlights of my career," said Sutton afterwards. "I came so close to winning a couple of stages last year and to sprint for myself and win one is kinda nice. Our team is on a roll at the moment with three victories in the last 24 hours."

Garmin-Slipstream rode on the front for long periods to bring Sutton into contention for the sprint.

"The team knew I was motivated," said Sutton: "I told them I could win three or four stages here. They stuck their heads out into the wind and rode on the front. It is hard to control a bike race with only six riders but everyone is in the same boat and we pulled it off today.

"Anything is possible now and I just have to take it day by day. You can have good legs one day and bad ones the next. It's a good sign for me because I didn't feel super great today but still pulled off the win and I can only get better from here, I hope. For me to win the overall is a big ask. I would love to win the stage in London."

 

Bont`s Hendy wind Veulta stage 3!

They say that only two things in life are inevitable: death and taxes. Most forget to add that in cycling there's a third inevitability - the break on a dead-flat stage of a grand tour is always going to be swallowed up as the sprinters chew up the offerings available.

Today in Venlo that preordained fate met those brave enough to break away. Another day in Holland - albeit via Germany - tailored to sprinters delivered more rich rewards for the fast men. It wasn't without a trio of souls whose intentions were good, but in reality the three escapees never stood a chance.

What was unpredicted was the day's winner - New Zealander Greg Henderson benefited from the work done by his Columbia-HTC teammates in the final five kilometres to take his first win in a grand tour. The affable kiwi wasn't the intended 'go to man' but when he found himself in second wheel, sitting behind Borut Bozic, with only a handful of metres remaining, it was going to be Henderson's day.

Just as compatriot Hayden Roulston has enjoyed a fantastic resurgence this season with Cervélo TestTeam, his former national track teammate Henderson has carved himself a solid position in Columbia-HTC's squad and his win in Venlo is evidence of this. The 2004 scratch race world champion showed the speed he is capable of, finishing ahead of Bozic and Oscar Freire.

It moved Henderson to second on the overall standings, just six seconds behind Fabian Cancellara, who will wear the golden jersey heading into tomorrow's tricky stage to Liège. Gerald Ciolek moves down to third overall, a further two seconds behind Henderson.

"We were setting up the sprint for [André] Greipel - all day we were saying, 'Let's set it up for André'. Just after a k to go though, there was a sharp corner and Vacansoleil came flying through," said Henderson. "I was waiting and looking for Greipel but it was 150 metres to go so I thought I better go myself."

Henderson was jovial when informed it was the team's 72nd victory this season before paying tribute to the work done by team owner Bob Stapleton and directeur sportif Rolf Aldag. "Whenever there's a sprint stage, Columbia-HTC is always well represented," he added.

UPDATE FROM VBR TEAM

Hello all, The team has been doing pro track racing over the short NRC/USA crits break with already plenty of wins. Back to the Crits and to North Carolina for the Presbyterian Hospital Invitational the richest race in America. The race in Charlotte is 25miles on a fast downtown course and a prize purse of $25,000. Race was super fast with many attacks, VBR powered by D7S girls sat and waited for the finish sprint with the exception of Theresa Cliff-Ryan who was on a 4 rider break. In the finish Theresa came from 10th to place 3rd in the race. Jessie was the next best finisher coming in at the back of the lead bunch. Winner was Brooke Miller from Tibco, 2nd was Tina Pic from Colovita. The event was live televised on Time Warner and had a estimated 20,000 crowd. Thanks to all for your continued support. Gary Ryan VBR Powered by Delta 7 Sports __________

Congratulations To Bont`s Greg Henderson on new Arrival!

Greg  Henderson and Katie Mctier gave birth to a baby girl Charlie Margot Henderson on the 5^th of August . Both Charlie and Mum Are doing well. Congratulations from everyone at Bont.

Bont`s Roulston 3rd in tour Stage!

  

18-Jul-2009: Cervélo Test Team was once again in the thick of the action Saturday at the 2009 Tour de France as Hayden Roulston joined the winning 12-man breakaway and attacked to finish third in the 199km 14^th stage from Colmar to Besancon.

 

Russian rider Serguei Ivanov attacked with about 11km to go to solo to victory. Roulston chased in vain, but the Russian crossed the line 16 seconds clear.

 

“I was there to win the stage. You had to be strong and smart to win today, and I just missed out, so I am a little bit disappointed,” said Roulston, a winner of two Olympic medals on the track last summer in Beijing. “It’s always a 50-50 thing (when a rider attacks out of break), do you or don’t you. Do you chase and let someone else attack you or do you wait? There was still 10km to go (when Ivanov attacked), so I waited. It turns out it was a harder day than people thought.”

Albasini Wins Tour of Austria wearing Bonts!

 

The Columbia-HTC team added to its tally of victories in the Tour of Austria on Sunday, delivering Andre Greipel to the sprint victory and safely ushering Michael Albasini to the overall win in Vienna. Greipel secured the win in the sprint classification thanks to his third stage victory.

"I'm very proud of this win because it's the first stage race victory for Columbia-HTC this season, and it was a real team effort, too" Albasini said. "We only had six riders for a lot of the race, and that made it difficult to control at times, but we managed to do it. I'm very grateful to my teammates for all the hard work they did. Over the last two years I've worked hard to improve my climbing and that has helped me win here. It's very encouraging."

Coming into the penultimate stage, Albasini had just 11 seconds on Italian

 

Giampaolo Caruso, but put in a strong performance to extend his lead in the overall. "Time trialling remains my biggest weak point, but I managed to get through the race's time trial and then after that I could begin to think about celebrating overall," said Albasini

Bont`s Albasini extends overall lead on penultimate stage

Team Columbia-HTC's Michael Albasini pulled himself closer to the overall victory in the Tour of Austria with a solid time trial on Saturday. With his fifth place, the Swiss rider was able to extend his lead in the general classification to 1:12 over Ruslan Pidgornyy (ISD). 

Rabobank's Koos Moerenhout was the victor on the day, edging out Garmin-Slipstream's Svein Tuft by just two seconds.

Albasini, who does not normally excel in the time trial, was surprised with his result on the day. "Today it was an absolute surprise for me. I have done the best time trial ever," he said. "Now we have to ride well at tomorrows stage to Vienna and I can celebrate my first victory of this tour."

Time trial specialist Pidgornyy moved into second overall thanks to a poor performance by previous second place rider Giampaolo Caruso, who lost three minutes to Albasini. Yet the day was still a disappointment for the Ukrainian, who had hoped to win the stage

Bont`s Greg Henderson gives his take on the Tour

Hey there.

 TDF. My dark horse is Bradley wiggins. He won't beat Contador. Noone will actually. But he has stripped so much weight and now shows his class on the road switching from the track.

I really believe Astana will have 2 on the podium. This can be dangerous as everybody knows you need teammates to win the Tour. I still believe Contador will win.

Our GC hope will probably be Tony Martin the young German. He also has stripped a ton of weight but still has so much power and strength. Unfortunately Kim won't be ready in time and Mic wasn't up to scratch for a good GC after such a long season already including the Giro. He is a class rider but a sprained verterbrae isn't helping things now and is struggling to put power through the pedals.

Kiwis in the tour is so cool. I think if we design a road program with some proper guidance or direction and try to move away from our track orientated mentality then we can definitely see more guys riding the tour.

Julian is pure class. He has been racing at this level for so long now and delivers time and time again in positioning Tyler in the sprints.

Roly is going to have a hard time because I know the pressure he puts on himself. Its unfair to think for one minute that he can support sastre in the mountains. And then TDF sprints are crazy and finding the front to guide Hushovd will be very difficult for him also. I really hope Roly doesn't stress himself about these situations and just concentrates on riding from day to day. If Sastre get the Jersey then Roly will be perfect to ride the front. He is as strong as a ox on the flat.

Green jersey will be won by Cav if everything goes along incident free. Too many guys haven't scored points on some days. And our train is too good for anyone ...bar Julz...to come close too. But even Julz would have a problem competing against our boys.

Poor ol Cadel. Has the legs for the podium but unfortunately is let down by his team. He has no support up high in the mountains and his ttt was poor. But he is a fighter and will never say die.

I'm interested to see if there will be any in house fighting in Astana. You would think under Bruynel he will have this under control. If there is any then that's when other teams could take advantage. But...Kloden looks already set to ride for LA and AC.

I think Tony Martin will ride our GC. Maybe Kim will get better but the others will be looking for stages or helping Cav in the groupetto

Later,

Greg.

 

 

Sky-lee`s Report

 

Hi Everyone,

 

I have now been in Holland for a week now and had three races. I am over here with a great bunch of girls and i'm very honoured to be part of a very highly respected cycling group which includes : Josephine Tomic , Tess Downing, Sarah Kent, Ashlee Ankudinoff and Belinda Goss will be joining us after the Giro.

 

Our first race saw us in a small town called Epe which had some really great cafe. As 40mins before our race we were all having a cafine fix so we would be ready to rock and roll for our first race. As we got of the plane the day before the race our coach Gary Sutton didn't put to much stress on us about getting a great result at this race as we all were still abit jetlag. For four of us this was our first europen race Josie raced here last year so she know what to exspect. When we all got to the start line and looked up and the lap counter said 60 laps we look at each other and said ach. The race sure it start from the gun shoot. The girls at the front of the start line took off like rockets making it pretty hard for the once that got called up last like myself.It didn't take us to long to get into the swing of thing as we all slow moved up to the front. Josie and tess found the front of the bunch quite early in the race but myself it took me a while. Once i got to the front i look up at the lap counter and i saw 25 to go i don't think i should of as i think this played with my head abit. The next thing i saw was Josie pulling off to the side of the road with something wrong with her bike.. As she done this the chef told her she can still hop back in the race but she couldn't race for a place or couldn't help your team mates. This really put a blow to this as with 5 laps to go Josie and i were in great spot to help each other out but then she tells me i have to go to the back i can't help you. So then for the next couple of laps i tried to stay in the top 5. We get the bell lap  i was sitting second wheel thinking to myself i have a great chance from here. But coming into the 3rd last corner i lost to many place through the corner and finished up 7th. At the end of the day we were all happy to get through the race since it was our first race and all. Sarah had a great ride since she was sick for the race with just dropping off with 10 to go.

 

The next day we were lucky and had no racing. Then came along Saturday were we heading to a town called Zwijndrecht for our second race. The course was diffrent to what we have race on before as every straight was cobble stone. Sarah sat out for this race as her health wasn't 100%. Having the cobble stone meant no free pedaling at all.With this race i was happy how i rode the race for once i rode the 10 ten in the bunch nearly all day covering what i could. With 7 laps to go saw Josie and one other girl up the road so for the rest of the race saw myself and the other girls chasing everything. Then with a lap to go Josie attacked the other girls endede up taking the win solo. And my finishing 14th.

 

Sunday saw us turning up at Leiderorp for our third race. This race had a U turn init and lot of us found this a bit tuff. Before 10mins into the race see Tess in a break with one other girl. So for the rest of us it saw as on the defensive. Tess stayed out there to 10 to go then Josie and three other joined her. Josie ened up second and Tess 5th. Tess and Josie had a great day and Sarah, Ash played a great team role.

 

 

 Thats all to next time.

 

 

Skye-lee

BONT`S Albasini Holds on to Tour of Austria Lead

Czech rider Jan Barta (KTM Junkers) claimed the first win of his professional career when he attacked out of the breakaway group on the Tour of Austria's longest stage. Barta powered away to the win nine seconds ahead of Cervelo's Joaquin Novoa.

Both riders were part of a five man breakaway that escaped the field after a rapid and aggressive start to the 217.2km stage. The group, also containing Oliver Kaisen (Silence-Lotto), Reto Hollenstein (Voralberg Corratec) and Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni), went clear 70km into the stage.

With none of the riders a threat to Michael Albasini's overall lead, the Columbia-HTC team was content to let the five men roll away and gain large chunks of time.  Hollenstein was the best placed on GC, some 20 minutes behind Albasini. The break was allowed to gain up to 14 minutes before the Columbia-HTC team got to work.

The five men worked together until the final mountain sprint with 20km to go, then the gloves came off. After a series of attacks and counter-attacks, Barta broke free with 4.5km to go and only Menedez continued to chase. Barta took the sprint easily, while the remaining three finished a minute behind.

The peloton was led home by Columbia's Andre Greipel nearly 11 minutes

 

Bont`s Albasini Wins in Austria !

Swiss rider Michael Albasini took the overall leader from his teammate Andre Greipel on the second stage of the Tour of Austria. The Columbia-HTC rider took the stage win atop the Kitzbuehler Horn five seconds in front of last years winner in the mountain general classification Giampaolo Caruso and Ruslan Pidgornyy to give his team its second stage and second yellow jersey of the race.

"It was a spectacular victory. Michael managed to wear out all the other guys in a break on a really steep 10km final climb and finally he went for the win," said Columbia-HTC directeur sportif Tristan Hoffman. "He and [teammate] Gert Dockx had been away most of the day in a 13-rider break that always looked like it might be able to stay clear, and that's what happened.

Albasini broke away with 12 other riders in the first 20km of the stage, and was the sole survivor on the demanding 7.7km ascent to the finish line. Coming into the climb with a 2:30 deficit, Caruso rocketed from the bunch in search of the stage victory, but lost all chances when he suffered a flat tire. He finished just five seconds behind Albasini, and is now in second on GC at nine seconds.

"But it was a real team effort because Gert did a lot of the work to ensure the break stayed away," continued Hoffman. "Then Michael helped a bit because we wanted to be sure the move had a good few minutes at the bottom of the final climb. After the break started the ascent, Michael kept in front, and the group shrank to four and then two. He just wore them out!

"Finally Michael was able to win the stage, although it was close because a rider caught him with 200 metres to go. And now he's race leader as well."

It wasn't all good news for Columbia-HTC - the squad lost two of its riders, which makes the overall victory a harder task in the coming days. "We lost two riders today. Adam Hansen is sick and Kanstantsin Sivtsov pulled out because his wife is just about to give birth, so we'll have to play our cards right. Still, two wins in two days is a great result, and whatever happens it's been a very good race for us," said Hoffman.

Team VBR Performs in Fitchburg.

Hello all, Just completed the 4day stage race Fitchburg Classic, the 2nd oldest race in the USA. 113 riders competed in the 2009 event making it the biggest in history. All the top teams and riders in the US were present including the 7 time World Champion Jennie Longo. Team VBR powered by D7S won the Green points jersey easily by 55 points. Riders attending event were: Theresa Cliff-Ryan Jessie Maclean Trica Carnilla Davina Summers Sarah Maguire Stage 1 ITT Best placed rider 27th with Davina followed by Jessie, Theresa, Sarah then Trish. Stage 2, 5km/lap circuit race with a 12% grade hill on the finish straight. Theresa points sprints: 1st, 3x 2nd and 1x 3rd. Finish saw Theresa 4th, followed by Jessie, Sarah, Davina and Trish Green jersey: Kelly Benjamin (Colivita), Theresa 2nd by 10 points Stage 3, 64mile Road race 20km lap with rolling hills and a 3km climb to finish. Theresa scored a 3rd place points sprint putting her only 5 points down on Benjamin. Best placed rider was Theresa with a bunch finish pushing her into 27th overall followed by Jessie, Sarah, Davina and Trish. Green Jersey: Kelly Benjamin 70, Theresa 65 Stage 4, Criterium 1.5km/lap. Total of 28 laps. Theresa won 5 points sprints, 1x 2nd to win overall Sprint jersey by 35points. Finish saw Davina the highest place followed by Theresa, Jessie, Trish and Sarah. Green Jersey Overall: Theresa 180, Kelly Benjamin 125 Thank you all for your help to make this possible. Next the USA crits series or Iron Hill twilight. Gary Ryan VBR powered by Delta 7 Sports __

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