HEPBURN WINS QATAR TIME TRIAL AS TERPSTRA TIGHTENS HIS GRIP
LOSAIL: Australia’s double world pursuit champion Michael Hepburn (Orica) won the Tour of Qatar’s third stage, a 10km time trial at the Losail motor circuit, ahead of Dutch rider Lars Bloom and Italy’s Danielle Benati, yesterday.
Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma) of the Netherlands came in fifth to stretch his lead in the overall standings. Going into the final two days’ racing, Terpstra is 21 seconds up on Belgium’s Jurgen Boelnadts with Bloom at 24sec and Tom Boonen, his main rival, 28sec behind.
“It’s a good scenario for Niki, he’s in a favourable position and all the more so as our team is in good form and is doing well at defending the jersey,” said Omega Pharma sporting director Wilfried Peeters.
In Tuesday’s race agianst the clock, Hepburn set off 12th of the 150 riders and posted a time of 13 minutes 28 seconds, which was never bettered. The gold medallist in individual and team pursuit at the world track championships in Minsk last year denied Bloom by one second with Benati a further five seconds back.
“This Tour of Qatar didn’t start well for me with two punctures and a fall. But this morning I was feeling really good,” said the rider from Brisbane. “I controlled my effort well to put a lot of power into the second part.”
Favorite to prevail at the circuit which is home to the Qatar motorcycling Grand Prix was Fabian Cancellara, who had to settle for fourth. The Swiss Trek team rider said: “The last three kilometres were very hard, clearly I was missing some strength.
Not worried
“But I’m not worried, this is my seventh day of racing on the trot and it’s normal when you’re in the middle of preparing to have off days. “It’s in April that you have to be ready.” Today’s fourth and penultimate stage is a 135km ride from Dukhan to Mesaeeid.
Meanwhile, an inquiry commission set up by cycling’s global governing body the UCI on Tuesday appealed to riders who were doped in the past to come forward in exchange for reduced punishment. “The primary purpose of our investigation is not to punish doping offenders but to learn from the past so we can help ensure a better future for cycling,” commission chief Dick Marty said in a statement.
“We will treat all witnesses fairly and so I urge anyone in the cycling community with information that can help our investigation to come forward,” he added.
The three-member Cycling Independent Reform Commission was set up in January to investigate historic doping in cycling and allegations that the UCI had been involved in previous wrongdoing. The commission said its main goal is to determine how a culture of doping was perpetuated between 1998 and 2013, and to establish who was to blame.
Reduced sanctions
It has the power to propose reduced sanctions to any rider, official, agent, race organiser or team staff member who admits to an anti-doping offence. It can reduce the sanction further if the individual provides valuable information concerning doping practices, and is also empowered to let those who confess keep past prize money.
And it also has the power to propose case-by-case reductions for anyone currently suspended from the sport and who reveals more details-though any such softening will have to be approved by the original sanctioning body, the UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Its probe is to conducted on a strictly confidential basis, it underlined. The commissioned was created after the ugly UCI leadership contest of September 2013, which saw Briton Brian Cookson oust Irishman Pat McQuaid.
McQuaid was in charge for eight years, succeeding Dutchman Hein Verbruggen, in the saddle from 1991 to 2005. They have rejected claims that while they were in power, the UCI did too little to stem doping and beat the cheats, notably disgraced US rider Lance Armstrong.
“The Cycling Independent Reform Commission will not only help us learn from the past, but will also play an important role in shaping our future processes and practices,” Cookson said on Tuesday.
Swiss member of parliament and former prosecutor Marty was a heavyweight choice to head the commission. He has also headed a Council of Europe probe into US “rendition” flights and secret prisons for al-Qaeda suspects, and an inquiry into human organ trafficking in Kosovo involving serving politicians. The other members of the commission are German anti-doping and legal expert Ulrich Haas, and Australian Peter Nicholson, a former United Nations criminal investigator. — Agencies