Posts from — June 2010

Cycling Events: Mountain bike

Intro:

The first mountain bike competitions were held in California (USA) in the early eighties. Since then the discipline has grown very fast, in all aspects. The first World Championships to be officially recognized by the UCI dates back to 1990. A World Cup was set up the following year.

Mountain bike events are split into four specialities :

Cross-country

Cross-country, generally over a closed circuit of 5 to 9 km : depending on the category, this race can last from 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours and 30 minutes. There are narrow tracks, paths through forests, rocky paths and the riders even have to ford streams

Cross-country marathon is a long version of cross-country (from 60 to 120 km) raced in the mountains.

Downhill

Downhill, against the clock or in line. In its individual form, the downhill rider negotiates a succession of sections some of which are steep and require great technique.

4-Cross

4-Cross is the baby of the family, 4 riders compete over a fast downhill run including jumps and banked corners.

Event:

Source: UCI.ch

Cycling News: Italian cycling remembers Franco Ballerini

Franco Ballerini

Franco Ballerini 2

Franco Ballerini 3

Pozzato and Nibali to memorial criterium on Saturday

Italian cycling will remember former national coach Franco Ballerini on Saturday, with the first edition of the Franco Ballerini Day criterium.

Ballerini twice won Paris-Roubaix as a rider and was in charge of the Italian team that won gold in the Athens Olympics with Paolo Bettini and won three world titles with Bettini and Alessandro Ballan. He was killed in a car rally accident on February 7 near his home in Tuscany.

The 103.4km race will cover 22 laps of a 4.7km circuit around Ballerini’s home town of Cantagrillo.

Several big name riders have promised to ride including Italian national champion Filippo Pozzato (Katusha), Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) and Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo). Other riders who completed the Giro d’Italia are also expected to take part, especially those who rode with or under Ballerini in the Italian ‘azzurri’ team at world championships and Olympics.

Teams set to ride include Astana, Quick Step, Lampre – Farnese Vini, Liquigas, Team Katusha, ISD – Neri, De Rosa – Stac Plastic, Carmiooro, Ceramica Flaminia, Colnago – Csf, Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli, CDC Cavaliere and Amore & Vita.

Before the race a special memorial service will be held at the cemetery where Ballerini is buried.

Source: cyclingnews.com