Photography by Jered Gruber, Cor Vos, Kristof Ramon

Rocacorba Daily

Monday November 3, 2014

by Matt de Neef - November 3, 2014

Good morning and welcome to today's Rocacorba Daily news digest. In today's headlines: Two podiums in two stages for Jesse Kerrison at the Tour of Taihu Lake; Belgian pro cyclists implicated in blood doping investigation; Bradley Wiggins to attempt the hour record; Tatiana Guderzo signs with Hitec Products; USA Pro Challenge to add multi-day women's race in 2015; Controversy reigns at Koppenbergcross; Canberra cyclist ordered to pay $1.7 million over collision with fellow rider; The Week in Bike #42 – Why Cook Leftovers?; Le Tour Utrecht - Bon Voyage!; A bike with ice wheels?

Two podiums in two stages for Jesse Kerrison at the Tour of Taihu Lake

Australia’s Jesse Kerrison (Budget Forklifts) has started the UCI 2.1 Tour of Taihu Lake in style, claiming two podium finishes in the first two stages.

Kerrison won the opening stage in a bunch sprint ahead of Czech rider Alois Kankovsky (Dukla Praha) and Russia’s Boris Shpilevski (RTS) after the bunch averaged 47.3km/h for the day.

The victory put Kerrison into the overall lead going into stage 2 of the nine-stage Chinese race. On that particular stage the Queenslander finished second behind Kankovsky in another bunch sprint. The result sees Kerrison drop down to second overall, two seconds behind the Czech rider.

Today’s third stage is raced over just 63.5km in and around Nantong and will almost certainly finish in a bunch sprint once again.

Click through for results from the 2014 Tour of Taihu Lake.

Shannon Johnson and Kimberly Wells take out the Noosa Crit

Former Superbike champion Shannon Johnson (CharterMason) has won the men’s Australian Open Criterium in Noosa in a bunch sprint, narrowly ahead of Alistair Donohoe and Brenton Jones.

“[My teammates] gave me an arm-chair ride so I think if I didn’t win, it would have been really disappointing to let the boys down,” Johnson said post-race. “The Charter Mason Giant Racing team rode flawlessly to take control of the back half of the race and we had some guys in each of the moves.”

Meanwhile in the women’s race, 2013 national criterium champion Kimberly Wells (Specialized-Securitor) took victory after escaping solo in the closing stages of the race. Reigning criterium champion Sarah Roy was second while Peta Mullens was third.

Click here to read more at the Sunshine Coast Daily.

Belgian pro cyclists implicated in blood doping investigation

Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad is reporting that a Belgian blood doping investigation, focusing on 19 athletes and Dr Chris Mertens could be set to go to trial in the coming months.

The paper reports that a public prosecutor in Belgium is seeking a trial following a two-and-a-half-year investigation into Dr Mertesns and 19 cyclists; some of which are reportedly famous road and cyclocross riders.

It is alleged that Mertens doped riders’ by drawing their blood, enriching it with ozone then transfusing it back into their bodies.

“Three criminal acts were committed,” Sarah Callewaert, representative for the prosecutor’s office in Leuven, told Belgium’s Sporza television. “First, there is ozone therapy, transfusions and encouraging athletes in violating doping rules.”

Click here to read more at Het Nieuwsblad.

Bradley Wiggins to attempt the hour record

The Diario de Mallorca newspaper is reporting that Bradley Wiggins could be lining up for an attempt at the Hour Record in mid-2015 with the attempt reportedly to take place at the El Palma Arena in Mallorca.

It is believed that Wiggins met with the velodrome’s technical director a week ago, at a celebration hosted by a former soccer player, Tomeu Llompart.

“Wiggins wants to break the record of the time in Mallorca in Palma Arena and fill the public velodrome. And he is convinced that this will mobilise thousands of English fans to travel on holiday to the island to see his attempt,” Llompart told the newspaper. “He considers Mallorca as his home and therefore wants to face the record on the island.”

Click here to read more at Diario de Mallorca.

Tatiana Guderzo signs with Hitec Products

Winner of the 2009 Road World Championships, Tatiana Guderzo, has signed a one-year deal with the Norwegian-based Hitec Products team.

Guderzo, who has ridden for Ale Cipollini and its various incarnations for the past four years, is a strong climber but has also won the Italian national ITT championships four times. Guderzo was also a bronze medallist at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Click here to read more at Procycling.no.

USA Pro Challenge to add multi-day women’s race in 2015

Organisers of the USA Pro Challenge have announced that a multi-day women’s race will be held alongside the 2.HC men’s event in 2015.

The race’s CEO, Shawn Hunter, expects the race to attract the best female riders in the world, to race on a course that will feature many of the same roads as the men.

“We’re very excited about it. Some of the great riders, not only just in the US but from Europe, probably will be racing here in Colorado next August,” Hunter said in an interview with KUNC.com, a Colorado community radio station.

“It would be the same week, much of the same roads. And we’re working on those details now. It’s a big undertaking and we want to do it right.”

The announcement comes just weeks after the Tour of California announced it would be expanding its women’s race offering to four days, including a three-day stage race.

The USA Pro Challenge will be held between August 17-23 next year.

Click here to read more at Cyclingnews.

Controversy reigns at Koppenbergcross

There was controversy at the Koppenbergcross CX race over the weekend with runner-up Sven Nys visibly upset about seemingly being blocked by a teammate of eventual winner Wout van Aert in the final sprint. Nys felt he was blocked by Jan Denuwelaere, who was in the process of being lapped by the leading duo.

“Look, I think it’s fair to say I’d like to sprint in normal circumstances,” Nys said in the post-race press conference.

“I thought I had a good line, but then Denuwelaere made a move, and I lost van Aert’s wheel… Ultimately, I don’t want to take anything away from van Aert’s win, who was super strong.. but the commissaires really should have taken Denuwelaere off the course earlier to avoid a situation like this even happening.”

Canberra cyclist ordered to pay $1.7 million over collision with fellow rider

A Canberran cyclist has been order to pay a fellow rider nearly $1.7 million after the man was knocked from his bike before being hit by a car back in 2009.

According to court documents, David Blick was riding slightly ahead of Michael Anthony Franklin when Mr Blick hit a tree stake lying in the bike lane, and veered into his friend. Franklin reportedly fell from his bike and into the path of an oncoming car.

Franklin suffered pelvis and spinal fractures and spent 28 days in hospital. He would go on to suffer from chronic pain as a result of the accident. Eventually Franklin sued Blick for negligence, claiming the latter hadn’t been watching properly for dangers ahead.

“Bearing in mind the size of the piece of wood and the lighting in the area, I am satisfied that if the defendant had exercised reasonable care he would have seen and avoided the piece of wood”, Justice John Burns said. Mr Blick was ordered to pay Mr Franklin $1,659,392.75 in damages, plus legal costs.

Click here to read more at the Canberra Times.

The Week in Bike #42 – Why Cook Leftovers?

As he noted on Tumblr earlier this week, Cosmo found Matthias Brändle’s Hour Record attempt a welcome distraction from stories that seem to sound … familiar around this time of year. It’s important to pick out on new distinctions in the headlines, be they different concepts in how to manage the sport, or new takes on dodging the doping rap.

We hope you enjoy Cosmo Catalano’s latest episode of The Week in Bike.

Le Tour Utrecht - Bon Voyage!

The 2015 Tour de France will start in Utrecht, in the heart of the Netherlands on the 4th and 5th July . Here is a short promo video that the region has put together in anticipation.

A bike with ice wheels?

This is definitely worth a watch. Great fun.

And here’s a behind the scenes video.

The Rocacorba Recap

And finally this morning, here are a few things you might have missed at CyclingTips:

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Today’s feature image was taken by Jered Gruber in Kyoto, Japan.

Tags: Rocacorba Daily

jules

wiggo should put the record out of reach of others for a while..
- velocite
  
  The hour record is interesting but not much of a spectacle. How about a one hour pursuit with Wiggins and Tony Martin?
  - Robert Merkel
    
    Not sure, but I think that may be against the rules, as having another cyclist on the track would be a pacing aid.
  - Dave
    
    Maybe not an hour, but a longer pursuit could be an entertaining event. 10km would be perfect for TV, you’d have it show the first kilometre, throw to an ad break and come back just around the time it starts turning from a bike race into a battle of wills.
Sean

$1,659,392.75 because he was overlapping wheels with a bloke who didn’t know how to ride? golly gosh. Drivers in Canberra must surely also get sued regularly for similar amounts when they hit a rider?
- Komo
  
  This now sets a very dangerous precedence, can’t say I agree with the verdict. If you don’t have insurance that covers 3rd parties, might be time to act.
  - Dave
    
    It will not set a precedent, for that to happen the judge needs to explicitly say that he is creating case law and then have it upheld during an appeal to a higher court.
- velocite
  
  Sounds like a Darwin Award, just stupid. Cyclist/violinist Richard Pollett was killed by a cement truck in Brisbane but the driver got off because “he was under “the honest and reasonable belief there was enough room”, while this cyclist pays a heavy price for not seeing some garbage on the road. I realize that this was civil and the Pollett case was criminal, but there seems to be a lack of any common principle here. Are there any signs that the law is responding to the new situations arising because of the increasing number of cyclists?
  - Dave
    
    Don’t forget that the Pollett criminal case involved the Queensland police system, with its history of systemic corruption.
    
    A civil case there might have been more successful, as it would require only the balance of probabilities rather than proof beyond reasonable doubt.
    - velocite
      
      Agreed. But the Pollett case was a jury trial, so I’m not sure if police corruption figured. And of course a civil case must be brought by the individual, at possibly ruinous financial risk.
      - Dave
        
        A criminal case is very much dependent on the wishes of the police, as the legal system generally (i.e. the exceptions are rare and well-defined) places the burden of proof on the prosecution.
        
        If not enough resources are put into the case, it will fail to convince the judge to direct the jury to return a guilty verdict.
- bracksy
  
  Say hello to “Australian Law” that does everyone “equal” justice apparently…
- Jim
  
  Can this be appealed - if he was overlapping wheels he’s at least as responsible for his accident.
  Does the Bicycle Victoria (or NSW/ACT equivalent) cover this type of incident ?
  - Dave
    
    If it was only $1.6m then that could well be a reduced award due to shared liability, the CT story doesn’t give too much detail.
    
    Or it could be mostly symbolic, if Blick is not so loaded that he has $1.6m cash in hand to pay the full judgement. If he can’t afford the judgement then he can’t afford the cost of making an appeal to a higher court either, and I’d personally rather he pay Franklin as much as possible (so we the taxpayers don’t have to support Franklin via welfare payments) than the same money going to pay for his lawyer to get a new Mercedes.
    
    At the end of the day, this is what third party liability insurance is for - I have mine through BikeSA. It sucks when you do the right thing so you get nothing for your premiums (in a fair world, I should get a credit next time around in return for using my skills to prevent a number of crashes during Amy’s Ride yesterday) but you wouldn’t want to be without it the one time you make a mistake and somebody gets hurt.
- Philip
  
  I am guessing that there is more to the story. Who would sue their friend?
  - Dave
    
    Nobody (not in Australia at least) goes to court because they want to, they only do it if they are desperate to pay their medical bills and keep food on the table.
    
    If we had a proper socialised medical system like the NHS in Britain, only the loss of income would have been a problem for Franklin and that’s something his superannuation fund should have been able to cover.
  - NJDr
    
    You sue your friend or your family when they are insured! While on paper you are sueing the person, it is the insurer that ‘stands in the shoes’ of the insured. Full text of judgment here: http://www.courts.act.gov.au/supreme/judgment/view/8482/source/rss where you will notice some discussion of Mr Blick dealing with his insurer, so presume they came to the party (or Mr Blick is wealthy enough to satisfy that judgment). Also note the quantum was generally agreed between the parties.
    - Sean
      
      cool, i’m insured through several bike orgs. How else am I covered? super? life insurance? health insurance? no idea never read the fine print. The question is, does anyone wanna come training? 50/50 split - nice and easy. NJDr? bro? no? yeah nah?
- Ralph
  
  This is bizarre, why wouldn’t the defendant bring in any respectable cycling coach / experienced athlete to testify that overlapping wheels is poor form. If they were riding side by side then it’s a bit different, although in the judgement it says.. ” I remember David’s bike coming across and him – his body
  hitting me and I was thrown on the road.” If you’re riding next to someone and the LHS rider has an obstacle in front of him (e.g. wood on the road / parked car), it’s up to the RHS ride to either slow down to let the rider move around the obstacle or speed up to allow the LHS rider to move behind to adopt single file (assuming entry into next lane is not possible). It’s your obligation to make space as the RHS rider, otherwise you’re essentially riding the LHS rider into the obstacle, in my opinion.
  
  Given the obligation on the RHS rider (as the LHS rider can’t move left due to the gutter), it’s up to both assume responsibility for scanning the path ahead. The judgement says: “the defendant was aware of the need to observe the cycleway in the
  direction of his travel in order to avoid such objects.” It’s up to BOTH riders ‘to observe the path if they’re riding side by side, due to the obligation the RHS rider has to create space for the LHS rider.
  
  What a dud judgement.
  - Sean
    
    Perhaps you would be interested in coming training with me? consider it a business opportunity.
  - Dave
    
    It looks as if the defence lawyer deliberately put up a weak case, knowing that the insurer would pay for it all.
900Aero

The Canberra incident sounds nasty but jeez, suing for $1.7m? That is nuts. The beginning of the end of bunch rides in the ACT?

Bold move for Wiggo to annex Mallorca in the interests of Team GB. Sounds like he’s pulled it off though. Next we’ll hear Richie Porte declaring that “Monaco is my home and that’s why I’m going for the trackstand world record down on the footpath near the casino” .
- Dave
  
  “Bold move for Wiggo to annex Mallorca in the interests of Team GB.”
  
  Of course, if he did it at Manchester, London or Glasgow there would be the risk of his hour record turning into an individual pursuit between him and the UK tax man. And in Glasgow also the problem of being reminded he’ll forever be vying for the title of the UK’s second most popular cyclist every time he sees a sign with the stadium’s name.
John

Will there be any tour of southland coverage?
Rich

Not knowing the details but it seems that Mr Franklin expects everyone to be at fault when shit happens and happy to blame others - I mean shit happens and crashes happen when you ride in a bunch.
- Sean
  
  Yeah i’d be worth 30+ million with the number of times i’ve hit the deck because of others and my own stupidity.
  
  Maybe CT would wanna come training with me this arvo? was thinking of heading down a tree lined road.
Ralph

this hour record thing s looking like becoming the new ice bucket challenge
sss

Franklin sounds like a twat. You ride in a group be prepared for the consequences. Suing someone because shit happens is a crock.
Chris Andrews

No coverage of the (New Zealand) Tour of Southland?
Sigmund Freud

Anyone else notice all the characters in the Tour promo video look like little pills?!? Dopers everywhere!?!