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Oct 30. 2004 |
Jonathan got 4th today, behind Commeyen, De Clerq, and Sven
Vanthorenhout. Bart Wellens was 5th, Nijs crashed out. A
reporter told me that normally he would have been podium, but had
a flat tire and a heavy crash late in the race.
I will post more when I know it. Tomorrow is the Super
Prestige again. Lots of racing. Jonathan told me
yesterday he was gonna win today. Darn. Sounds like it
was pretty close to being true.
Lots of photos already. Check them out. |
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Oct 29. 2004 |
Just talked to Jonathan on the phone, as they just got back (9 hrs
driving each way with the 2 week old).
So, he lined up THIRD row cause the start was very narrow and so
the rows were really short. He had a fast start, as usual, and was
in the top ten pretty quick.
The course was very tough, but very fast, so a strange mix of hard
group racing ensued, with pretty big time gaps, but with groups.
He, of course, got a flat at the beginning of the second lap, I
think, cause he was a long way from the pit he said.
Anyway, he had to ride a long way to the pit, and lost about 40
seconds. He then "rode like the wind" chasing forever, but it took
till a couple laps to go before he made it back to the chase
group. This group ended up sprinting for 9-18th.
Unfortunately, and he thinks the reason for the groups/gaps, is
the course ended with a really hard muddy hill, that he was
swinging on each lap once he got back to the group, cause he said
he was really spent from the chasing. After the hill was a long
series of he said 6-8 corners, and narrow, and then the only like
20 meters and then the road sprint area. So there was no chance
for sprint positioning, and the guys who had it on the hill could
hold a gap all the way thru.
I guess this really broke up the chase groups efforts as well, and
helped Ausbuher hold his gap all day.
Anyway, several guys got off the front of the group by a few
seconds, and then the little remaining pack sprinted for 13-18th.
He said he was just pretty spent so didn't do great in what should
have been him and Commeyne then the rest.
HOWEVER - UCI placed him 18th when in fact he was 16th!! He or
some one watched the tape or something ending in a protest, and
the UCI guy called him just now and told him they placed him
wrong, and he was 16th, ahead of the two French riders, Gadret and
Labbe (not Kenny). The series pays pretty good this year, so he
was happy to get bumped.
That's pretty much it. He said he has great legs, for example
Groenendal, who is doing well right now, got a flat or something
after him and he never made it back (JP passed him chasing back).
He said he was pretty much the only guy who had an incident to
make it back to the group. So the world cup curse continues.
All in all, he said it was a good race and a really good course,
which led to exciting racing!
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Oct 14, 2004 |
Just got the phone call!! Jonathan made his first UCI Podium
in Europe! He was 3rd today in Ardooie (Cat 2). Sven
Vanthourenhout was off the front. JP, Ben Berden, and Davey
Commeyne were chasing. Ben made JP and Davey do all the
work, hoping to get close and jump across for the win. JP
was willing to work as he wanted the break to work.
CORRECTION: Ben and Davey made JP lead out the sprint and Berden
nipped JP. Sven stayed away for the win by 20 seconds.
From what I hear and see, it was a real cross course, with mud,
sand, stairs, barriers, etc. More when I get it. Cori
called from the race, of course!! Two more races this week
so hang on! |
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Oct 14, 2004 |
JP signed with Colla Vita this week for the 2005 road season!
He is excited about it as he finally gets to race WITH his great
friends the McCormack brothers. Frank is retired and is the
team manager, and Mark (Maahk) is team captain. He raced a
couple races with them this summer, as it was mutually beneficial,
and did very well. Read the full press release
here. You have to scroll down a bit. Just to be clear, this
is ROAD SEASON only, he is still racing NOW for Cervelo/Mavic/Adidas. |
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Oct 11, 2004 |
Jonathan got 22nd in the World Cup opener with a giant field of
about 60 riders!! If you have ever seen a World Cup start,
you can appreciate what it is like with 60 crazy euros going
ballistic on the first lap. 22nd is a disappointment, as he
felt strong but had broken shoe, shifter, and wheel and as he
expects to be with the top group this year.
He was leading the race into the first corner, with his usual
great start, but then Vervecken came by and took everyone out
behind him. He soon broke the main buckle on his shoe, and
was unable to fix it so he had floppy foot the rest of the race.
Cori tried handing up a toe strap, but he couldn't deal with it
while riding.
Later, he was taken into the barriers by some big as a house
Czech dude (becoming a Czech specialty, all the Belgians have a
chuckle over it) and broke his shifter. Finally, 'nother
Czech dude crunched his wheel. Sad to see a beautiful Mavic
Ksyrium SL get damaged...
So, he chased back to the lead group at least once between all
this, but in the end it was too much. He finished just off
the lead group by 15 seconds on a very road racing type course,
similar to a crit. Not the kind of course you can chase solo
on and make up time on the field. He sprinted with Glajza
just behind the lead bunch, and the rest of the field was dribs
and drabs after that. So I guess he showed some good form,
but The World Cup equipment curse continues. Oh well.
When it turns his way, its gonna stay that way.
In other news, the Czech rider Mlynar beat the Belgians for the
victory. He is THE rider to watch this year, a former Junior
World Champ who has been focusing on road racing this year.
This was his first race out of his home country this year.
He should add some excitement to the racing this season. Of
course, he is also coming off a doping suspension in April, which
also may explain why he has not been in the headlines
recently...par for the course I suppose.
Anyway, Jonathan races Thursday, Saturday, and the Super
Prestige opener on Sunday so stay tuned, ALOT of action!!!
Also, he did a Journal for
Bike.com this week, so please
go there to read his take on the weekend. We will not be
publishing it here, as we want to support people that support him!
So go bury them with hit count. They check that stuff you
know!! |
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Sep 27, 2004 |
Jonathan stopped during the race in Erpe-Mere as Cori was witness
to the horrible accident, or whatever it was, of Tim Pauwels.
If you did not read it elsewhere, he had a massive coronary
incident and died, presumably at the venue. It happened
right in front of Cori, and by her estimate, it took 21 minutes or
more for emergency personnel to arrive. She was obviously
shaken up and yelled to JP to stop, which he did. I did get
some photos, which I have posted in the Photo Albums page.
Click the link in the black header above to jump to that page.
Everyone associated with JP, Cori, and TJP.com want to extend our
sympathies to the Pauwels family. |
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Sep 22, 2004 |
Jonathan got 4th today in the UCI
Cat 2 season opener. He was in the lead group from the
start. Nijs got away solo, with De Clerq and
Vanthourenhout, but they had
mechanicals and fell back. Later Berden and
Vanthourenhout got away from the
group, but JP hung tough to win the sprint for 4th! Pretty
big result, especially since its the first race, and he told me
yesterday he did not have great legs and is hoping to be really
good in about a month! I
hope to get a report from the man, which we will put in the
Journal area. This will be our standard format for the
season. My words here, JP's words in the journal.
Full report on
Cyclocross.info - the first one up! I have photos from
the great cyclocrossprosport.be site in the albums page, which is
now LIVE and ONLINE!
Woohoo!! Can you tell how glad I am that cross season is
finally underway? Naaaaahh
1.S.Nys 58'37"
2.B.Berden 37"
3.S.Vanthourenhout st
4.J.Page (VS) 57"
5.D.Commeyne st
6.T.Van Nuffel st
7.M.De Clercq 1'14"
8.C.Heule (Zwi) st
9.D.Willemsen 1'26"
10.W.van Gils (Ned)
1'36" |
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Sep 20, 2004 |
JP and Cori are just getting
settled in Belgium in their new house, with lots of privacy, and
room for their soon to be new baby!! They are due in late
October. Everyone is very excited about this little
development. Stay tuned for the first pictures available of
the little tyke.
They have not been able to setup
their internet connection, so I dont have much from them yet, but
once they get back in the groove, it will be all good.
Jonathan has not been able to
race in the warm-up events, as with the new UCI rules, a rider can
only race in non-UCI events in his home country. Basically,
JP cannot do any races in Europe except big, UCI registered
events. That's fine, as he has a full schedule once things
get rolling. Just too bad for him that he can't do the
shake-down races.
Last I heard, things were coming
together for him with all the equipment, clothing, bikes, etc.
It always seems to be a bit of a crunch at the end to get it all
together. People don't realize how many suppliers and
sponsors a rider has to have and organize to build up a roomful of
bikes, and have clothes, parts, pedals, seats, stems, forks,
wheels, tires, shoes, helmet, glasses...it goes on and on.
In Jonathan's case, as a cross rider on an independent program, he
and Cori have to pull all this together. Toby Stanton of Hot
Tubes has been a huge help with this end of the business as well.
If you need a sick new paint job for your bike, or want a full
custom, go no farther then Toby. Coolest jerseys on the
planet, and he puts everything into supporting his world class
Junior team. He has helped develop some of our best riders.
Check out HotTubes.com.
Lastly, lets start using this
guestbook! We all like to know who is a regular here at TJP. |
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Sep 20, 2004 |
From
Cyclo-Cross.info - A
great site, and with an English Language area.
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Next Wednesday, a lot of top cyclo-cross riders will
participate in the first international race of Aalter. The
organisation is in the hands of the municipality of Aalter
in co-operation with former cyclo-cross rider and now UCI-coordinator
Peter Van Den Abeele.
First international race on the UCI-calendar
After the two national races in Dudzele and Genk, Aalter
will host the first international race. Peter Van Den Abeele
took care of the contracts of the participators and the
track.
Van Den Abeele: "The first three of last weekend’s race
in Genk - Berden, Nys and Vanthourenhout – will also
participate on Wednesday together with Mario De Clercq. To
be an international race, we also contracted Swiss Beat
Wabel, Christian Heule (Swiss champion) and Jonathan Page
(American champion). I think it’s very important for the
cyclocross scene that we don’t forget the non-Belgian
riders.”
The track is located at the sport venue in the Lindenstraat.
Van Den Abeele made sure that the 2.5 km long track is
selective enough to give the fans some spectacle.
Nico Dick - 09-20-2004
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