News
Photos: Yuzuru Sunada
BreakawayKennaugh to skip
Commonwealths
Peter Kennaugh has announced that
he is to forego the Commonwealth
Games this April, focusing on the
Ardennes Classics instead.
“Unfortunately I won’t be able to
compete at the Commonwealth Games
as they clash with the Ardennes Classics
which are races I am targeting this
season,” Kennaugh told BBC Sport.
As the only Isle of Man medal winner
of the last Games in Glasgow (silver
behind New Zealand’s Tom Scully in the
points race) Kennaugh may have been
regarded as something of a talisman by
the squad, which will be headed up by
Mark Cavendish in Australia.
“We fully understand Pete’s position,”
said Trevor Taubman, Isle of Man
Commonwealth Games Association team
manager. “We wish him every success.”FundraiserCampaigners to buy MP
bike after driving ban
Green campaigners with a sense ofhumour and, perhaps, a point to prove
have set up a crowdfunding page to
buy a bike for an MP who was banned
from driving after being caught texting at
the wheel.
Tory Richard Benyon, MP for
Newbury, was banned for six months,
after being caught in London in April. In
response West Berkshire Green Party
chair Steve Masters set up the page,
which will donate any surplus money to
the Eight Bells charity for mental health.
“Living in rural West Berkshire he
now faces a diffi cult task commuting
into London without a car. He will also
fi nd he is increasingly unable to get
around his constituency as readily as
before after the recent cuts to rural bus
services in West Berkshire imposed by
the Conservative led West Berkshire
Council,” reads the page highlighting real
issues at the same time as delighting in
having a dig at Benyon’s Tories.
But Benyon has seen the lighter side,
even donating £10 himself.BurgledPensioner’s steed stolen
A campaign to reunite an 88-year-old
Nottingham cyclist with his “faithful
friend” has been launched after
the Rotrax tourer he’d ridden since
1949 was stolen from a garden shed
over Christmas.
His daughter, Elizabeth Lovatt, shared
the story of her father’s stolen bike on
Facebook, together with a photo, which
has since been shared more than 1,
times on the social media site.
“My dad has had this faithful friend
since 1949, riding over 300,000 miles
on it and maintaining it with the utmost
care,” she wrote.The bike is described as a brown/
bronze touring bike with a distinctive
Rotrax frame made in 1949 from
Reynolds 531 steel tubing, equipped with
a black leather Brooks saddle, Stronglight
triple chainset, and white bar tape.Wild cardTour invites in the post
Tour de France organiser ASO has
announced the wild-card teams for this
year’s race, with
French outfi ts
scooping three
of the four
available
places.
Lining up
alongside
the 18
WorldTour
teams, who
are automatically
given spots in all
WorldTour races, will be the Cofi dis,
Direct Energie, Fortuneo-Samsic, and
Belgian squad Wanty-Groupe Gobert.
They are Professional Continental-level
teams, the same four wild-card teams
that competed in the 2017 race, with
Wanty in particularly being memorable
for their do-or-die efforts to light up the
race in their fi rst ever participation.
However, Irish squad Aqua Blue,
who had been hoping for an invite,
missed out.ChapeauDennis and Garfoot scoop
Australian national titles
It was business as usual in the Australian
National Time Trial events, with both
Rohan Dennis and Katrin Garfoot taking
the honours for a third year running last
week in Ballarat, Victoria.
Garfoot’s victory was particularly
impressive — she caught fi ve riders
on the way to a two-and-a-half-minute
winning margin, fi nishing
the 29.5km course in 41.45. Lucy
Kennedy (Mitchelton-Scott) and
Shara Gillow (FDJ Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Futuroscope) took silver and
bronze respectively.
Rohan Dennis (BMC) triumphed on
the men’s 40.9km course after catching
two-time winner Luke Durbridge and
fi nishing in 51.14.Have you seen this bike?Kennaugh:
no GamesCofidis:
Tour bound16 | January 11, 2018 | Cycling Weekly