News

Australians triumphant at Canada World Cup (June 26)
From Cycling Australia: Queenslanders Chris Kovarik, 28, and Katrina Miller, 30, have both claimed wins in the Mont Sainte Anne round of the MTB World Cup in Canada. Kovarik (MS Intense Factory Racing) was triumphant in the downhill final with a winning time of 4min44.20sec to edge out South African Greg Minaar who was .32 seconds slower and fellow Australian Sam Hill who took third in a time of 4:45.44. A third Australian, Nathan Rennie was eighth in 4:50.73. The World Cup standings after the fourth round now see Hill (579 pts) and Rennie (546 pts) placed third and fourth respectively with Kovarik seventh on 485 points. Great Britain's Steve Peat leads the series on 698 points. In the women's 4-cross competition Miller, who had qualified fifth, dominated in the final to claim the round. Miller remains second in the World Cup rankings where she sits with 480 points with two rounds remaining. Series leader American, Jill Kintner, has amassed 810 points after winning the first three rounds. Rider profiles, results and information are available on the Cycling Australia website www.cycling.org.au

Australian trifecta in 29km bike race (Mar 21)
Australia won all three medals in the Commonwealth Games women's 29km cycle race today. Oenone Wood claimed the gold with veteran Kathy Watt coming second and Sara Carrigan taking third.
One of the favourites going into the event, New Zealander Sarah Ulmer, boosted Australia's hopes of a clean sweep of the event by withdrawing with a back injury minutes from the start of the race.
"I'm very satisfied with the way I rode. I've only had a couple of weeks preparation for this as before that I was focused on the Road (Race)," said Wood.
Australia has now won nine cycling gold medals (men and women) for the Games out of a possible 14.

Swimmers & cycling dominate day 1 Games (Mar 17)
The first day of competition, watched by approximately 110,000 sports mad fans, saw new Commonwealth Games records set in both Swimming and Cycling. A total of 10 gold medals were awarded, with Australia early leaders on the medal tally.
Australia won a total of 12 medals in four sports – three gold, five silver and four bronze. Stephanie Rice smashed the Games record in Swimming with gold in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley and on the Cycling track Anna Meares claimed the Games record from her sister Kerry. Anna is now the holder of both the Commonwealth and world records. Also at the Cycling, Ben Kersten claimed gold in the Men’s Individual Pursuit.
Games story

Downhill for UK award (Nov 21)
British junior downhill cycling champion Rachel Atherton has taken out the UK Sportswoman of the Year award.
The Sunday Times sponsored gong would normally be expected to go to a more mainstream sport, and completely surprised the 17-year-old.
"I was in shock. This was a real surprise. I honestly had no idea that I would win. It is a real honour to be nominated against other such impressive sports women, such high profile sports, so I'm really happy for the sport that we got noticed this way,” she said.

Wood pursues German powerhouse (Oct 6)
Australian cyclist Oenone Wood claimed bronze in a tight sprint finish at the 2005 World Championships held in Madrid recently. The plucky Australian finished behind second placed Nicole Cooke of Great Britain and winner and new world champion Regina Schleicher of Germany.
Held on an undulating course highlighted by a tight switchback corner 400m from the finish, Wood was part of the inevitable bunch sprint that was to decide the mens result the following day.
A warm but hazy Spanish morning greeted competitors at the startline in what was to be a tight run contest, with almost half the main bunch finishing in the winning group.
Germany looked to retain the title after Judith Arndt's win in the Italian city of Verona last year.
Strong challenges were expected from the classy Italians, the emerging team from Great Britain and the Australian's, led by World Cup winner Wood were always in the hunt.  
The main teams in the bunch controlled the race, and apart from a heavy fall involving Great Britain's Emma Pooley, only the late push by America's Amber Neben worried the bunch.
With Neben reeled in, it came down to a bunch sprint and with Germany controlling the train it was a matter of picking which team member would win.
Schleicher proved too strong in the finish, powering away for a convincing win.
Wood's bronze meant Australia finished atop the medal table with one medal of each colour following Michael Rodgers win in the Elite men's time-trial and William Walker's silver in the U23 men's race.
By Peter Trevaskis

Features

Links

International federation http://www.uci.ch/english
Mountain bike site http://www.womensonly.com/
Online mag http://www.cyclingnews.com/
US site http://www.ladiescycling.net/
Women's site http://www.teamestrogen.com/