Photography by Jered Gruber & Cor Vos

Rocacorba Daily

Monday December 15, 2014

by Matt de Neef - December 15, 2014

In this morning's edition of the Rocacorba Daily news digest: Scott Sunderland wins elite men's Shimano Supercrit; Kimberley Wells continues criterium dominance with Shimano Supercrit win; Angus Morton returns to racing with a podium; Nibali’s coach Paolo Slongo sues over Ferrari links; Europcar's license denial to cause havoc; Europcar out of the Tour Down Under after WorldTour license denied; The ISSUL Performance Criteria; Spectacular crash photo; Matt Stephens' best crashes; Melbourne cyclist vs horse-drawn carriage driver.

Scott Sunderland wins elite men’s Shimano Supercrit

Scott Sunderland has reached the top step of the podium in his first race with the Budget Forklifts team, winning St Kilda Cycling Club’s Shimano Supercrit in a bunch sprint yesterday.

Scott Sunderland takes the @ShimanoSupaCrit win!!! @stkildacc @BudgetForklifts pic.twitter.com/snHfVfCDpN

— Kirsty Baxter (@kirstybaxter79) December 14, 2014

Sunderland’s track sprinting background saw him easily overpower his more-fancied rivals in the final kick, including Steele von Hoff (Garmin-Sharp) and Brenton Jones (Avanti) who finished second and third respectively, several bike lengths behind.

The race was held in perfect conditions in front of a large crowd in South Melbourne and despite several breakaway attempts throughout the race, it more or less stayed together until the final sprint. Australian road champion Simon Gerrans was among the high-profile riders trying to animate the race, as too were Greg Henderson (Lotto-Belisol) and Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo).

But in the end it was Sunderland who kicked clear to victory, beginning his time with Budget Forklifts in style.

Click through for results from the elite men’s race at the the 2014 Shimano Supercrit.

Kimberley Wells continues criterium dominance with Shimano Supercrit win

Earlier in the day Kimberley Wells continued her winning ways when she took out the elite women’s race at St Kilda Cycling Club’s Shimano Supercrit.

Congrats to @kimbers_wells #roxsolt - winner of the Elite Women's #Supercrit pic.twitter.com/1o4yetZjiZ" Good Job! #canberrawomenrule

— health-search2retain (@S2R_Health) December 14, 2014

Wells, riding for the Roxsolt Racing Team, stayed quiet in the bunch for virtually the entire race before taking yet another sprint victory. Her Roxsolt teammates, including Chloe Hosking and national criterium champion Sarah Roy, controlled much of the race and claimed several of the intermediate sprints along the way. But in the final sprint it was left to the in-form Wells to contest the victory.

Wells duly delivered, adding to her victories in the Noosa Crit and Stan Siejka Criterium in Launceston, while British national criterium champion Eileen Roe (Wiggle-Honda) was second and Chloe Hosking was third.

Click through for results from the elite women’s race at the the 2014 Shimano Supercrit.

Angus Morton returns to racing with a podium

In the lead-up to his return to racing with the Jelly Belly squad in 2015, Angus Morton (older brother of Garmin-Sharp rider Lachlan), has claimed a podium place in the opening stage of the UCI 2.2 Jelajah Malaysia, his first race back after several years away from racing.

Racing for the St. George Merida Cycling Club, Morton was part of a 12-rider breakaway which disintegrated somewhat towards the end of the stage but which left the former Drapac-Porsche rider in a position to sprint for third.

Earlier this year Angus and his brother Lachlan rode from their hometown of Port Macquarie in New South Wales to Uluru in a ride that they called “Thereabouts” and which was documented in a film of the same name.

Angus and Lachlan will race at Jelly Belly together in 2015 and plan to do several more Thereabouts rides throughout the year.

Click through for results from stage 1 of the 2014 Jelajah Malaysia.

Nibali’s coach Paolo Slongo sues over Ferrari links

Vincenzo Nibali’s trainer Paolo Slongo has sued the La Repubblica journalists who claimed that he was in “frequent contact” with banned doping doctor Michele Ferrari.

“La Repubblica says that there are many exchanges, but I’ve never done anything. I read it, too, but it almost had me laughing when they come up with something like that”, Slongo told VeloNews.

“It ruins my image. If you don’t know someone, you can be misled to thinking it’s true. La Repubblica‘s journalists have been sued, so we’ll see how they respond.”

The La Repubblica report focused on the investigation in Padua which was centred on Dr Ferrari and the clients he worked with between 2010 and 2011.

According to Slongo, Vincenzo Nibali and his helper Paolo Tiralongo have also sued the journalists involved.

Click here to read more at VeloNews.

Europcar’s license denial to cause havoc

Europcar sprinter Bryan Coquard has told French newspaper L’Equipe about the turmoil that’s likely to result from Europcar being denied a WorldTour license for 2015.

“It’s a real blow being [denied] a WorldTour licence. It’s hard to take and changes everything,” Coquard told Equipe.fr.

“I had planned a race program that meant I’d do the biggest races this season and now everything is up in the air”, Coquard said. “I was going to start my season at the Tour Down Under but now I have no choice but to start at the Etoile de Bessèges.”

Coquard told L’Equipe that he’s certainly not the only rider affected.

“It’s going to be difficult for the whole team because with 28 riders we’ve got to find races for everyone and wait for invitations from the organizers”, Coquard told L’Equipe. “I’m afraid that apart from the Tour de France we will not do another Grand Tour in 2015 and that’s a pain.”

Europcar general manager Jean-René Bernaudeau told L’Equipe that riders could well leave the team following the news that Europcar won’t race the WorldTour, although it’s not clear where they’d go at this late stage.

“If any of them have got offers, what do you want me to tell them?” he said. “There are three second division teams that have a bigger budget than ours. My riders aren’t paid what they are really worth.”

Click here to read more at L’Equipe.

Europcar out of the Tour Down Under after WorldTour license denied

Meanwhile organisers of the Santos Tour Down Under have confirmed that Europcar won’t be in attendance at the season’s first WorldTour event in 2015, after the team was denied a WorldTour license.

We confirm that @TeamEuropcar_fr will not start the 2015 TDU. We wish them well for the season.

— Tour Down Under (@tourdownunder) December 12, 2014

CyclingTips understands that there are no plans to fill the space left by Europcar and that 19 teams will contest the race: the 17 WorldTour teams, Drapac (which was granted a wild card entry a week ago) and the Uni-SA-Australia National Team.

The ISSUL Performance Criteria

One of the conditions that the UCI and its license commission imposed when granting Astana a probational WorldTour license for 2015 was that the team would adhere to “the internal operational requirements which will be compulsory for all UCI World Teams from 2017 as part of the reform of men’s professional road cycling”.

The UCI press release didn’t make it entirely clear what those 10 requirements were, but The Inner Ring has published a piece which goes through them all and provides some valuable context. Here, to quote The Inner Ring, are the requirements:

“

1. Take control of training, have a full time coach for every eight riders and ensure riders coached by someone outside the team submit their regime to the team’s performance manager
2. Give every rider a training plan with their race programme, training blocks and recovery periods
3. One directeur sportif for every eight riders and ensure the DS doesn’t have other roles like coach or a rider agent that could cause a conflict of interest*
4. Ensure a team doctor is responsible for care and first aid and that no team doctor is tasked with coaching
5. An internal charter for the team to explain the dos and dont’s of medical care, when to use who and what
6. Know every rider’s home doctor
7. Team managers are responsible for ensuring no rider races for more than 85 days a year*
8. No more than 22 riders in a team*
9. Have an internal secure communication system so managers and riders can communicate, a team must get in touch with a rider at least twice a week
10. Team managers, coaches and team doctors must all be UCI-certified *

According to The Inner Ring, the items marked with asterisks are “still up for debate between the teams and the UCI”.

Click through to read the full article at The Inner Ring.

The Week in Bike #48 – Grossly Disproportionate

A week of big announcements and bigger reactions. Is it the same old story in cycling, or is the UCI successfully threading needle between future expectations and past mistakes?

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

Spectacular crash photo

We’re not quite sure how the rider in this photo managed to end up in that position, but it certainly makes for an impressive shot.

RT @rebecca_slack: Wow…. bit of an exciting moment in the Imperial Series 1,2,3 race today by the High Wycombe guy. pic.twitter.com/WQBbYSlihi

— GCN (@gcntweet) December 13, 2014

Matt Stephens’ best crashes

You’ve gotta love a good crash video, particularly when the rider involved just gets straight up and starts laughing.

Melbourne cyclist vs horse-drawn carriage driver

To us, this seems like one of those situations that could have been avoided had the cyclist just been a little more patient. What’s your take?

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 shot somewhere in Italy by Jered Gruber. We’d love to tell you more but that’s all the information we have!

Tags: 2014 St Kilda Supercrit, 2015 Santos Tour Down Under, Angus Morton, Astana, Europcar, Kimberley Wells, Paolo Slongo, Rocacorba Daily, Scott Sunderland, Vincenzo Nibali

StevoRacing

Matt - well done for having the lack of ego to put those clips up for all the world to see.
We’ve all stuffed up, fallen off, blown up etc. but how many people are either prepared to admit it, or brave enough to publicize it?
Good work, mate.
Simon Gamble

What was the final verdict of who actually finished 2nd? The podium result had Steele von Hoff third.
- Guest
  
  Photo confirmed Steele finished 2nd.
  Brenton’s transponder came off his bike on the last lap which contributed to the initial confusion with the final two podium positions.
jules

i agree the cyclist could have avoided conflict with the horse-carriage driver by being patient, but his complaints about the driver were valid - based solely on the driver’s actions. people have different views on this but sometimes it’s worth speaking up, even when you weren’t directly put in danger. the driver needs a serious attitude adjustment.
- Sean
  
  It’s a case of two idiots meeting.
  - jules
    
    i have to disagree. the coach driver’s use of bike lanes and sailing through red lights pose a risk to everyone - regardless of how safely you may be cycling, or walking.
    - Sean
      
      Yeah he was a bit of an fool.
      - James
        
        I think the situation could have been avoided. Two bad attitudes meeting. It’s the holier than thou cyclists that make the rest of the world think we’re all a bunch of prats.
        
        waskalls
        
        It like that accumulative thing as a cyclist you can stay quiet for only so long!
        But in this case I would have stayed quiet as it is a no win, Though giving the footage to the Police might help.
        In the early days I would get upset with traffic now I avoid places that can kill me and know that I might be right but its better to be alive and unhurt.
    - Peter
      
      Those guys are all cowboys. You should see them when they head back to their staging area in Kensington, I only know because the thing is at the end of my street. It’s an interesting place. I’m surprised they can legally keep them there. it’s in the middle of suburbia. Crap everywhere all over the road, the whole neighborhood stinks now.
Neil

Not from Melbourne and have no experience in riding with horse drawn carriages. What does the law say regarding carriages overtaking on the inside and using bike lanes?
- jules
  
  it’s a vehicle - treated like a car.
fletch62

Wade, did you see the protest in the womens C grade about lack of equality in prize money across all grades?
- http://www.cyclingTipsBlog.com cyclingTips
  
  Sorry - I didn’t hear about that. If the argument is as simple as you say, I can’t imagine who rationalised that. There’s no way that C grade should get the same prize money as the elite field. If it were up to me, prize money for amateur racing would be completely done away with. I can’t think of another sport that gives prize money to amateurs.
  - Sean
    
    I agree, there is absolutely no need for prize money at club races. Perhaps except for a couple of feature races throughout the year. I’ve donated my prize money back to the clubs every time i’ve won some. I would prefer the entry money go toward running races safe environment and covering the cost of volunteers who drive tail and lead cars or give up the opportunity to race.
    - Robert Merkel
      
      SKCC surveyed its members a few years ago.
      
      I took a similar view to you but it seems that the majority of members like their $60 in an envelope.
      
      Personally, I’d prefer a cheap plastic trophy for anything below A grade; if you’re good enough to win multiple races you’re either a sandbagger or you’ll end up in A grade soon enough anyway.
      
      On the specific issue, for the $100 it would have cost save the argument and make the prize money equal. Geez, for the cost I’d sponsor it and get a chance to hand out prize money. Only time I’m ever going to get near an SKCC podium, in any grade.
      - echidna_sg
        
        another option - “refund” entry fee value for winner, 50% refund for 2nd, 25% for third - all “profits” for any given grade go to fund the organization running the event and junior development. simples.
  - jules
    
    i love coming home with prize money and saying to the wife “well i’ve been out earning a living this morning, what have you been up to?”
  - fletch62
    
    The protest was about the prize money discrepancy between C grade men and women.
    - jules
      
      rider limit:
      women 25
      men 60
      
      although i’m unsure why the limit is different
    - Al
      
      Just out of interest, do they ride the same distance?
      - jules
        
        no. but good point, a shorter race can by more exciting.
    - Tim Ashton
      
      Entry fee was less for women C grade than Men C grade.
  - Andy b
    
    Have to agree, who races in c grade for the money?? tough way to make a living!!
    I just see my entry fee as a donation to the club I would never be disappointed with not getting prize money unless you are at the elite level and even then I love the sport too much to be in it for the money
    Its also a simple case of mathematics as to why men can win more than women, until women start bringing larger sponsors and crowds it will be the same.. it is a business after all
  - MK
    
    I don’t know if giving women’s events equal prize money is the best way forward. Maybe the argument should be about proportional prize money and equal investment. What do I mean? Well if you have 120 men in Elite with teams paying $600 entry fee and only 80 women in the Women’s race then surely it’s a no mbrainer that prize money can’t be equal.
    What about the sponsors I here you all cry? Well perhaps if say Shimano paid St Kilda $X for the naming rights 50% of the prize money component of the sponsorship could go to the Elite Mens event and 50% to the Womens. However should it all be prize money? Maybe not.
    Maybe for the women’s some of the money could be used to bring across
    some other women from interstate or reduce the cost of team entry (increasing participation) or maybe for an advertisement in the Herald Sun etc etc.. etc….
    
    What a heap of the elite women don’t realise is that due to the lack of depth in their racing, other women just don’t want to pay big entry fees to see the money go to the same people.
    
    I think the argument about equal prize money is wrongly
    directed. Women’s cycling and men’s cycling are at different evolutionary stages and therefore the money being spent on each sex needs to be in different areas. I question if equal prize money is the best investment to promote and grow women’s cycling.
    - jules
      
      “What a heap of the elite women don’t realise is that due to the lack of depth in their racing, other women just don’t want to pay big entry fees to see the money go to the same people.”
      
      how is this different to Gerro leading out Caleb Ewan, who was being challenged by Olympic track star Scott Sunderland? should we also be concerned at the lack of depth in the men’s elite race and whether the domestic riders were being overcharged to fill the pros’ pockets with prize money? or is that a bit patronising?
      - echidna_sg
        
        in elite, I’m sure not too many of the riders are paying their own entry fees - and for those that are, I’d assume 9/10 of them just want the bragging rights to say I lined up against gerro et al on the weekend… or at least I would!
      - MK
        
        Avanti (a domestic team BTW) took it to Gerro and Ewan. Local club teams, Artisan (6th) Total Rush and O2 Racing, all seemed to have a fair crack during the race. Then you have the non pro NRS teams who performed very well. When Greenedge don’t finish in the top 10, I think my arguement about their being good depth in the Mens field is pretty spot on. Yes I know the GreenEdge team or in the off-season…….But at least almost every team in the mens field started tha race thinking they had a shot at a top 5 finish. How many of the women thought this?
        
        jules
        
        well the top 25 women finished together, compared with the top 17 for the men - so I’d say More.
    - Dave
      
      How about reduce the men’s prizemoney to the level of the women’s, and also reduce the entry fees for the men so that the total profit/loss is the same for both races?
      - MK
        
        I think we should aim to bring the womens up….rather than the mens down. My whole point is why not spend the money on other aspects of womens racing until such time as it makes economic sense to have equal prize money. My fear is that the prize money debate/payouts are/is destarcting from other types of investment in womens cycling, which will attract more participants and create a more sustainable future
        
        Dave
        
        But the problem is that cycling is no different to the majority of other sports, where women’s events make losses and depend on being cross-subsidised by profitable men’s events. There’s a very good reason that double-header events in every major sport have the women’s event on first before the men’s event - how many people would stay tuned in for La Course if it was after the Tour de France stage, or for Sharapova v Williams if it was following Nadal v Djokovic?
        
        If you want to throw more money into women’s sport, that money has to come from somewhere and something else gets less of it as a result. In my opinion there needs to be a balance between cross-subsidies that rob Peter to pay Pauline and of allowing women’s sport grow up and stand on its own two feet.
  - Gavin Adkins
    
    On prize money for club races, it has always been a tricky issue and you can never please everyone. I’m generally for it mainly because if you’re a young/new rider trying to rise up the ranks, even if you have some sort of sponsorship/assistance, a lazy $50 for a decent result can make a big difference. If you’re just racing for the fun of it and want give something back, simply hand the envelope back after the presentation, it will be appreciated.
    
    Also, having run a few bike races, I can tell you that trophies are a pain in the arse to organise.
  - Dan Wilkins
    
    no prize money Wade, no races like this in Melbourne! It’s double edged. Hard one to deal with.
  - AMK
    
    Club racing prizes should be directly proportional to the number of entrants. A set percentage for 1st, 2nd and 3rd. More entrants, more prize money. Fair to all concerned.
- jules
  
  this has been an ongoing issue, not just at the Supercrit. usually in club races the prize money is set pro rata by entry fees - i.e. the more riders in a race, the more prize money. in the past this has caused angst among participants in races with a low number of entries, as the lesser sum was seen as discriminatory. I think that’s taking equality a bit too far.
  - Dave
    
    Maybe include a tax-deductible donation form in the envelope with the cheque?
- Sam
  
  They could have also justifiably protested the way St Kilda CC promoted the women’s races on instagram with a picture of Farrah Fawcett with a bike displaying a playboy logo. Atrocious.
  - Chris Lee
    
    Farrah Fawcett was racing? I knew I should have watched.
- Dave
  
  15 seconds of fame.
  
  Couldn’t blame the club if they accidentally lost her paperwork in the office if she tries to enter one of their races again.
jon

Eruopcar can’t get a license, and Astana got one?! Money sure isn’t everything, but it sure solves a lot of things; I’m not implying Astana made financial contribution in anyways BTW, just feel bad for the guys on Europcar that’s all.
- donncha
  
  Bare minimum standard for a team is being able to pay your riders. Europcar couldn’t scrounge up the bare minimum of funds, so don’t get a licence. Don’t see the problem with that. They’ll still get a Tour invite.
  - jules
    
    the problem is that they are failing to secure sponsorship funds due to being beaten by teams like Astana.
    - Dave
      
      But there are plenty of other teams which don’t have a problem beating Astana, if you look at 2014 you will see that Astana only won one WorldTour event (the Tour de France) while Europcar was one of only two teams (FDJ was the other) to not win a single event.
      
      What comes next? Your alarm clock doesn’t go off in the morning and you’ll blame Astana for that too?
  - Dave
    
    Given that there were no other applicants for the 18th WorldTour license, I had hoped that the UCI could issue a derogation allowing a part-year WorldTour license to be granted to allow Europcar to operate as a WorldTour team for the early part of the season.
    
    Set them a deadline of April 30 to find enough extra cash to make that bare minimum standard or face the cancellation of their license at the end of the Tour of Romandie which finishes on May 3.
Tim

My prize money from 6 months of bike racing in B/C grades (half a dozen podiums) exceeds my prize money from ten years of athletics (mostly in A grade - only prize money was $25 in an u20 state championships road race) by a factor of 3. I’ve got to say I’d prefer cheaper race entry fees than the chance to win $20 in an envelope.
TV Time Tommy

Not sure what to make of Slongo’s decision to sue La Repubblica journalists. We’ve all seen this kind of aggressive, ‘see you in court’ approach from pro riders before (especially from a certain Texan). It reeks of the kind of indignant, sanctimonious response you get from a naughty child caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

Surely there are other, more considered ways to respond - if the journalists are wrong or are peddling only half-truths, Slongo, Nibali et al. need to come clean (forgive the pun) and provide, say via a press-release, the sort of compelling evidence that will make the journalists look stupid. Taking them to court just makes me think there is a lot more on the line here than a damaged reputation.
- Daveo
  
  The sport is much cleaner now days, there is no need for cookie jar analogies or any other wild accusations like that. Pull your head in before you do damage to the sport.
Robert Merkel

Stupid question - is Scott Sunderland the SuperCrit winner any relation to Scott Sunderland, former road pro and now NRS race director?
- Guest
  
  no he’s the trackie of same name
- Dave
  
  father and son.
AJ

Aside from several flagrant traffic violations, for which the carriage operator should be prosecuted, whoever regulates him as a tourism operator - Vic Gov or CoM - should withdraw his license. The abusive language and dangerous behaviour is about the worst sort of advertisement for Melbourne as a tourist destination. He put the passengers into a very dangerous situation that could have got worse if the whole thing escalated.

If I’d been the passenger, I would have been taking action against him.

And I don’t think the rider did anything wrong. He asked the carriage operator to stay out of the bike lane, didn’t swear or be abusive. I hope he provides the footage to the relevant authorities and the operator is dealt with. From my experience around Swanston and Flinders Streets, the carriage operators seem to use the roads as if they have some special set of rules.
Michele

Look, I’m not going to get into a debate about who was the biggest idiot; the bike rider or the horse driver, but I will say this.

Why does the Horse-Drawn carriage operator sound like his a jockey, but is built like a tank?