6 novembre 2002

Italian Federation in Hamilton

Rob Jones

The Italian Cycling Federation sent a delegation to Hamilton this week to check out the course and the facilities. Members of the delegation have been inspecting hotels in the area to determine which one will be suitable for the team next year (they will be taking approximately 50-60 rooms). One member of the delegation was Franco Ballerini, former pro (who won the Paris-Roubaix, among many other races) and Italian Team Director for the 2002 Worlds. He is credited for keeping the normally fractious Italian pros from fighting among themselves so that they could do their amazing job of controlling the race for eventual winner Mario Cipollini. We had a few minutes to speak with Mr Ballerini before he went out for a ride of the circuit.


Franco Ballerini with Steve Bauer
photo : Rob Jones, The Canadian Cyclist

"This will be a hard race - not as hard as Lugano (Switzerland, 1996) or Colombia (1995), which was very hard, but it will be difficult. It is hard to say how the race will develop because it depends upon how the riders interpret the race, what tactics they make. But the second climb is where the race is going to be won - you go up and then straight down, with no time to rest. This is where it will happen."

Note: We also spoke with him, halfway through the ride, when he admitted that the circuit "is harder then it looks, when you are on a bike compared to a car. The second climb has a lot of wind, so it will be quite difficult."


Ballerini taped a video camera to his handlebars, to keep a record of the course
photo : Rob Jones, The Canadian Cyclist


une page mise en ligne le 6 novembre 2002 par SVP

Guy Maguire, webmestre, SVPsports@sympatico.ca
Qui sur SVP?