This Week in Road Cycling: Sept 29 to Oct 5

Howdy kids, it's been a fun week in the world of road bikin'. This past week was the world championships! Follow along as we take a look at the weeks festivities.

But first.

Local Racing:

Week in Review:
-AZ Hill Climb Championships: Mt. Graham, AZ- Sept 28; I bet it was really hilly, but to my knowledge no ASUCTC members went.
-AZ Cyclocross Race #1: Payson, AZ- Sept 28; Results haven't been posted yet, so I'll update those at a later time. I was a little under the weather, so maybe Niko could write a supplement recapping the fun.

Races in October:
-AZ Cyclocross Race #2: Gilbert, AZ- Oct 4; http://azcross.com/content/races/october_4th2c_2008.aspx
-Tour De Scottsdale: Scottsdale, AZ- Oct. 5; http://www.dcbadventures.com/recent/eventDetails.php?id=46
-AZ Cyclocross Race #3: Mesa, AZ- Oct. 12; http://azcross.com/content/races/october_12th2c_2008.aspx
**This race is going to be run by the club, so look out for an email with more information in the coming weeks.
-AZ Cyclocross Race #4: Cave Creek, AZ- Oct. 25; http://azcross.com/content/races/october_25th2c_2008.aspx

*Cyclocross Practice: Thursday 5:30pm @ Kiwanis Park

Pro Racing:

World Championships:

Sept 23: U-23 Men's Time Trial: Adriano Malori of Italy took the win. Patrick Gretsch of Germany was second, and Cameron Meyer (Australia) was third.

Sept 24: Women's Time Trial: American Amber Neben took the win. Chrisitiane Soeder (Austria) took silver on the new P4, and Judith Arndt (Germany) got the bronze.

Sept 25: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) decided that he was too tired to race Worlds, so the race was pretty wide open. Bert Grabsch (Germany) ended up taking a solid win with a gap of 42 seconds to second place, Svein Tuft (Canada). By the way, Tuft ended up getting a flat in the last six kilometers and ended up riding in on his road bike. American Dave Zabriskie rounded out the podium.

Sept 26: U23 Men's Road Race: Young Colombian Fabio Duarte won the gold medal in a suicide attack in the final kilometer. Simone Ponzi (Italy) and John Degenkolb (Germany) rounded out the podium.

Sept 27: Women's Road Race: Nicole Cooke (Great Britain) out sprinted Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Judith Arndt (Germany). An attack in the last 15 k made the race essentially between these three, with only two other riders finishing within a minute of the trio.

Sept 28: Men's Road Race: With the news that defending world champion Paolo Bettini would be retiring, the road race was expected to be a show a force by the Squadra Azzurra who were going to deliver the win to their retiring champion. That's wort of how it worked out. The race was an amazing show of force for the Italians, but it wasn't Bettini who won -- it was Ballan. On the last lap, a break that included three Italians managed to make it up the road. Missing from the break were the three pre-race favorites; Bettini, Valverde and Freire. These three spent so much time marking each other, that a break of six riders (Alessandro Ballan (Italy), Joaquin Rodriguez (Spain), Thomas Lövkvist (Sweden), Fabian Wegmann (Germany), Matti Breschel (Denmark) and Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)) managed to sneak up the road. The presence of the Italians and Rodriguez meant that the two powerhouse teams (Italy and Spain) weren't going to take up the chase. That last lap became a lap of honor for Bettini, who spent time riding shaking hands and waving to fans. Meanwhile up the road, the three Italians took turns attacking the break. In the last 3k Ballan launched an insane attack and managed to stay away till the end. Damiano Cunego (Italy) and Matti Breschel (Denmark) rounded out the podium The main group rolled in 5 minutes down with Bettini and Erik Zabel (bff and fellow retiree) holding hands. I look forward to seeing Ballan attack on Muur the in the rainbow jersey next year.

Cyclocross:

Cross Vegas - Sept. 24: Lance Armstrong got 22nd. I'm not to sure anything else really matters. I guess further up on the course there was some sort of fight between two guys for the win. I think one was really tall, and another one was dressed in a Captain America outfit. I can't be sure but this picture seems to indicate that the tall guy, I think his name is Ryan Trebon won. Adam Craig got third, and still has a mustache.

Jonathon Page's Planet Bike Cup - Sept 27 & 28: In Belgium, the Belgians like to name bike races after their heroes. These heroes don't even need to necessarily be dead either. For example, the GP Sven Nys -- won 7 of 9 times by Sven Nys. I mention this, to give a little context to why there would be a race series in Wisconsin, named after a guy who isn't dead yet. Page is the top American cyclocrosser, and in true form he dominated his own race series winning both races.

And I'm spent,

Anthony

*All photos courtesy of Cyclingnews