Pieter Henning

I remember he was one of the foreign riders on the original team Barloworld back in 2003, along with Freddy Bichot, Hilton Clarke, Eric Berthou and Sean Sullivan. He's probably the one who has had the most success since.

No Tour de France for Calzati By Jean-Fran?ois Qu?net in Ch?teaulin http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/news/jun08/jun03news2Calzati/DSCN0930tn.jpg AG2R rode the Tour de France around one designated captain last year, but Christophe Moreau is no longer with the team directed by Vincent Lavenu, who is building a squad around four climbers for the July event. Cyril Dessel, Vladimir Efimkin, John Gadret and Tadej Valjavec are the men for La Grande Boucle. The other probable members of AG2R for the Tour will be the experienced St?phane Goubert, Jos? Luis Arrieta and Martin Elmiger, with two spots remaining open. However, Sylvain Calzati seems out of the picture. The rider from Lyon who became famous for winning stage 8 to Lorient two years ago had a hard weekend in Brittany. He didn't have a good showing in Plumelec and Ch?teaulin. "My motivation is not right," he admitted. His relationship with the management of AG2R is also not at its best. Therefore, his race program this year faced a lot of uncertainties. He might do the Tour de Suisse after his Breton weekend. "But I'm not going to ride the Tour de France this year," he predicted. Calzati is clearly on the cycling market. "Some French teams are interested in signing me for next year, but I don't rule out an experience in a foreign team," said the 28 year-old. While he doesn't know yet where he will end up next season, he already has some ideas about his final year. "In a couple of years, I'd love to quit cycling after racing for one year domestically in South Africa. At the end of 2002, I was going to quit already because I couldn't find a pro contract and I was given one by Barloworld. I have fond memories of racing in South Africa and it would be great to take my family living there for one year and enjoy cycling the same way I've started, riding for a domestic South African team." Calzati has more to show in Europe yet before heading south.

I think missing 2 or maybe 3 weeks of school is do-able. With a little bit of hard work and some help from your teachers, catching up the work won't take that long at all. So a trip of 6 weeks (providing that 3 weeks are in the holidays and the other 3 are in a school term) is feasible, and shouldn't drastically affect a youngster's academic performance. However, HOME-SCHOOLING CAN BE A VERY BAD IDEA, and the decision to do it should not be taken lightly. I say this from personal experience. I was a first year junior in the year that it became popular for juniors in SA to leave school, do home-schooling and spend 3 or so months racing in Europe. Naturally, there are those who are dedicated enough and still do very well studying on their own, and some others with exceptional talent who have furthered their cycling careers by leaving school early, BUT a lot of the riders who jumped on that bandwagon sat with matric marks that leave them very limited options for further study. School forces you to stay up to date with your work, by means of regular tests, assignments and homework, whereas if you are home-schooled it is your own responsibility to keep up and that takes a lot of self-discipline. It gets very easy to procrastinate, since exams are only at the end of the year, and you also miss out on a lot of social skills that are developed in a school environment. Parents, just keep this in mind. Good luck to the young riders for their stint in Europe - I'm sure it will be an awesome adventure!Phen2008-05-29 09:46:07

Clips of Ricco tossing his bike

Hugo Jansen is Barend from TCS's younger brother. Well done Hugo!!! Keep it up lad.

Ask Austin, Peter Velits did it on roller blades in under two hours if I remember correctly.

One day when I grow up I'm also gonna ride a custom painted frame

Erik is turning 26 later this year. Max Knox is 21 and he had a decent ride, finishing something like 7th overall. But there is a vast difference in the body of a 17/18 old if you compare it with a 21 year old. Doing a hard 7 hours every day for 8 days when you're only 18 can't be good. You might manage, but there will be physical and mental side-effects afterwards, methinks. I reckon 20 years is a good age for your first one (although 21 or 22 will be better) - Jacques and Jaco from Neotel did it last year when they were 20, and they seemed to be fine and doing well, but keep in mind they are some of the strongest roadies in the country, i.e. way above the average 20 year old. Hopefully I'll do my first one next year. Just my opinions.

I'm not entirely sure, but I think there are two different types: Oxygen chambers (for enhanced recovery) that have a higher percentage of oxygen inside them. VS. Altitude Tents (for training) which re-creates the effect of breathing at a high altitude when you are inside them. Anyone know more about this?Phen2008-04-09 13:56:02

Just out of interest sake, who finished second and third behind Michelle in the tour's ladies category? Winning the TT by two minutes already says a lot, so I doubt a push (if it happened at all, and I doubt that it did) would have changed anything. Well done Michelle

Not sure if this has been posted, but just so that you all know - Barloworld again got one of the wild card entries (the others went to Agritubel and Slipstream, therefore no Astana).

using it for initiation at Bloem hostels! LMAO. I think the doping labs are actually in Bloem?

They did' date=' 3 times at the Giro.[/quote'] o ok, maar net nou die dag is daar gese SA het nie die fondse om enige sulke toetse te doen..very contradictary.... Weet nie waar hulle dit ges? het nie, maar SA het wel die geld - Hulle toets dan selfs die tandems by party races, haha.

David spat at Hunter. Saw it with my own eyes. Although Hunter pulled him by the helmet and slapped him on the back before he spat.

In with the old, out with the loops - Own Correspondent An uncompromising 600km route awaits the anticipated field of 150 cyclists set to participate in South Africa?s foremost international cycling stage race, the MTN Giro del Capo. The mountainous regions of the Boland and Durbanville Winelands will set the stage for the 5-day itinerary - which will break away from the 2007 looped approach in favour of the 2006 route format ? and appears to favour those participants with exceptional climbing skills. The first Wellington-to-Wellington stage will finish a few kilometres from the top of the scenic Bains Kloof Pass and the first Powerade King of the Mountain Prime of the race. The Pass? narrow twists and turns down to the finish promises to be one of the early highlights of the event, as the climbers will try to maintain any advantage they may have built up on the steep climb to the top. The rolling circus will then move on to the Durbanville-based second stage on 5 March. The Durbanville route, with its Vissershok climb, has become somewhat of a Giro institution, as the climb has featured in every single Giro to date. This stage is just over 179km long and will take cyclists over Vissershok three times. One nagging obstacle that is guaranteed to make the Durbanville stage very difficult for sprinters and riders who are still in early-season condition is the Van Schoorsdrift Road section, some 21km into the race. With its many potholes and uneven road surface, the Van Schoorsdrift stretch will provide cyclists with their very own version of the Paris-Roubaix. The 175km Paarl third stage features two major climbs in the form of the Franschhoek and Du Toits Kloof Passes. At 40km into the race the Franschhoek Pass features too early in the race to have a telling effect on the stage?s results, but it will serve to spread the peloton. Weather conditions will also play an important part in the cyclists? performance and non-climbers can only pray that it isn?t a scorching Boland day. The start of the Du Toits Kloof Pass will lie in waiting after about 120km of racing and may make or break cyclists? overall classification. And it is here that David George of Team MTN Energade is hoping to give a repeat performance of his spectacular 2002 win. The third day of any stage race is usually seen as the most difficult and this is going to be no exception. It is an extremely trying stage and is sure to take its toll on those riders who struggle to adjust to the demands of multi-day tours. Stage 4 sees the cyclists start and finish in the historic town of Stellenbosch, otherwise better known as the home of rugby legend, Danie Craven. This 148km stage will include five laps of the 10km Helshoogte circuit, which is sure to be the ultimate punishment for the non-climbers on the day. The circuit includes a fast descent down the Old Helshoogte Pass, which was officially restored and re-opened in 2007, and a gruelling climb up the new Pass. Spectators are also in for a treat as cyclists risk life and limb during the hair-raising descent and hike up along the Old Helshoogte pass to watch all the action. The time-honoured 5.5km Signal Hill individual time-trial in its traditional Saturday slot will this year represent the final stage of the MTN Giro del Capo. This stage is a crowd pleaser year on year and a massive turnout is once again expected. Fans hoping to catch a glimpse of David ?The King? George capturing the first place yet again are advised to get there early as the race will start at 9AM. While the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour will not serve as the final stage of the 2008 MTN Giro del Capo, teams will not be able to rest their finest sprinters in preparation for Cycle Tour Sunday. Only the MTN Giro participants who ride in and finish all the stages will have the opportunity to form part of the Invitation start group on Sunday, 9 March.

Mr Hunter is not a GC rider. He's never won the Giro, and I doubt he ever will. They'll ride for their climbers. Hunter will most probably win Argus (and if one of the stages in the Giro ends up to be a bunch gallop, probably that too).

Hubbers taking part: Myself Jason du Preez (a.ka. Jason) Jaco Fereira (a.k.a. Kakaa) Petri Strydom (a.k.a. Shammy_Rash) Alexander Lamberts (TCS) Barend Burger (TCS) ????? (a.k.a. Who knows who...) Erik Kleinhans (a.k.a. Erik Zaber) Dan Craven (a.k.a. Craven) Anyone else? Is Titus riding?Phen2008-02-26 05:54:58

Crux has a list, but I think he has already left for Sani2C. I'll put my money on Cardenas, Pfannberger and George for top 3 on GC (not necessarily in that order).

I'm not 100% certain, but I think we don't do the dirt section this year.