Who says cyclists aren't tough?

Sunday, February 20, 2011 0 comments
Azizulhasni Awang won a bronze medal at cycling’s Track World Cup on Saturday, and boy did he earn it.


The Malaysian rider managed to get back on his bike after a high-speed crash in the Keirin final and stagger across the line, but it was only afterward that the full extent of his injury became clear.

Pictures showed a large splinter of wood from the track had gone right through his left calf.

Awang was given third, but missed his moment on the podium because he was on his way to hospital. His bronze was enough for him to capture the series title ahead of Britain’s Chris Hoy, who won Saturday’s race.

Hoy was one of only two riders who completed the race without falling. He said he did not realize what had happened behind him until he crossed the line. “I was punching the air and showboating as I always do and when I came by the scoreboard I saw the officials pointing,” Hoy was quoted as saying by the Press Association. “I saw one guy, then two and then three, but with the noise of the crowd I couldn’t hear.

“It was pretty nasty.”

The crash involved four riders: Awang, Poland’s Kamil Kuczynski, Edward Dawkins of New Zealand and Juan Peralta Gascon of Spain. Awang got back on his bike, while Dawkins pushed his over the line. Peralta ran to the finish line without his bike and was disqualified. “Awang is always in there with the rough and tumble so it’s almost inevitable it’s going to happen to him at some point,” Hoy said.

A splinter is seen through the leg of Malaysia's Azizulhasni Awang after a crash in the Men's Keirin Final during the Track Cycling World Cup at the National Cycling Centre, Manchester, England, Saturday Feb. 19, 2011. Awang finished third in the race.

New cobbles sections included in Paris-Roubaix

Tuesday, February 8, 2011 70 comments

The Hell of the North Gets Harder
Organizers of the Paris-Roubaix classic have included five new cobblestone sectors which are expected to make the 259-kilometer race known as the Hell of the North even harder.
The 108th edition of Paris-Roubaix, which will take place on April 10, will feature 31 cobblestone sectors totaling 53.4 kilometers.
Organizers, who completed the new route on Thursday, wanted to make the section leading to the demanding Tranchee d’Arenberg forest cobblestone path more difficult.
Riders will also experience a new section about 70 kilometers from the finish which “should be one of the strategic moments of the race,” organizers said.