Canberra Cycling Corner

It has been a while since my last Canberra Corner post. It is not surprising that Adam Phelan (Drapac Porsche) leads the roundup.

Phelan - Chasing down a worlds berth

20 year old Adam Phelan returns to Europe to race in a number of smaller European races.  A series of crashes have marred the start of his season, the worst being a crash in training in the Victorian Alps that smashed his helmet and led to swelling of the brain. Thankfully, he fully recovered and we saw him return to the Canberra Criterium races. It was not long before he back on the world stage showing that he is Canberra's next star of the World Tour. He secured a second spot in the opening time trial of the Tour of Langkawi.  But a crash on the second stage led to him withdrawing from the event. 

Check out a great article on Phelan on the Cycling Central Website.

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/road/news/36559/Phelan%20doing%20all%20he%20can%20to%20earn%20worlds%20berth
 
Phelan is ripping it up at the Fleche du Sud in Luxembourg at the moment.  He secured a third spot on Stage 3 from Tandel to Wiltz before going one better in the Individual Time Trial to move into overall fourth position and second in the U23 classification.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=944611&l=7db1ed644a&id=157548020961450

With a strong contingent of aussie u23 cyclists in 2012, spots in the World Championships team will be tight and very competitive.  But results like this in Europe will ensure that Phelan is at the front of the queue for selectors.

Rory Sutherland - Working his magic in the USA

Rory headed over to Europe with United Health Care team earlier this year.  Races at the Giro Del Trentino certainly put him in good stead to win the biggest race of his career - The Tour of Gila (USA). All taking the leaders jersey after the first stage, the team put everything on the line for Rory to ensure that he took out the overall race honours. 

http://uhcprocycling.com/2012/05/06/rory-sutherland-wins-26th-annual-sram-tour-of-the-gila/

He is backing up this great result at the Tour of Gila at the Tour of California, where he is currently 8th after six stages.  He is expected to finish in the top 10 for the third year in a row.

Chloe Hosking - Continues to win in Europe

A strong string of strong performances by Hosking has guaranteed Olympic selection in the road race, even with a strong GreenEDGE womens team. Hosking rides for the Specialized-Lululemon team and has already secured two big victories.  She backed up victory at the Drentse-8 to win the Halle Buizingen on 15 April.  The solid start to the season started with a 5th place at the Women's Tour of Qatar.

Solid Olympic representation

Canberra riders are likely to be well represented across all disciplines at the London Olympics with Caroline Buchanan and Chloe Hosking likely to be our best medal hope.  Likely team are:

Caroline Buchanan - BMX
Chloe Hosking - Cycling
Matt Hayman - Cycling
Alex Bird - Cycling (Track)
Michael Rogers - Cycling

Paralympics

Brandie O'Connor - Cycling
Kerry Knowler - Cycling
Sue Powell - Cycling