Off The Map?

As I sat in the INTERBIKE media center last Thursday, a gentleman sitting across the table smiled at me, and with a bit of an astonished look on his face said, "Its crazy, we are at INTERBIKE and the Worlds are going on right now, but no one is talking about it. The papers in my hometown of Stuttgart [Germany] didn't even have a write up or announcement about the World Championships!"

Although many fans had forgotten about the Worlds, the riders certainly didn't as several defending champions really peaked in time to show their form.

Squadra Azzurra
The tifosi are smiling on both sides of the aisle today as Italy swept both the Women's and Men's road races.

Marta Bastianelli claimed the rainbow jersey on Saturday, but it could have easily gone to any of her teammates as the Squadra Azzurra Donne controlled the race, placing three riders in the top five. Marianne Vos (Netherlands) took silver and Giorgia Bronzini the bronze.

Il Grillo, Paolo Bettini (Image: Roberto Bettini), defended his title making easy work of the field. The highest placed American was the T-Mobile bound George Hincapie. Alexandr Kolobnev (Russian Federation) and Stefan Schumacher (Germany) finished in second and third, respectively.

The time trial events went to Germany's Hanka Kupfernagel and Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara. Women's defending champion, America's Kristin Armstrong finish second to the surprising Kupfernagel, with Austria's Christiane Soeder coming in third. The American women were exceptionally strong in this year's event with Amber Neben and Christine Thorburn placing just off the podium in 4th and 5th, respectively.

Image: Roberto Bettini

Cancellara (Image: Robert Bettini), like Bettini, defended his rainbow jersey. David Zabriskie was America's highest placer, coming in 12th. Hungary's Lazio Bodrogi and the Netherland's Stef Clement rounded out the podium.

Image: PhotoSport International