Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Who’s the Big Wheel in town?

That’s likely Nathaniel Beams, who is back in Lexington after competing in the Tour del l’Abitibi in Quebec, Canada. The seven-stage competition featured international elite junior cyclists (ages 17-18).

Competing for Pro Chain Cycling/Team Turner, Beams finished 56th in a general-classification field of 128. Beams, 17, had a composite time of 13 hours, 56 minutes, 56 seconds. That was 7:12 off the pace set by the winner, Andrew Barker of the U.S. National Team.

Team Canada won the team competition, followed by Team USA, New Zealand, Denmark and Austria. Pro Chain, based in the Cincinnati tri-state area (Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana) finished 21st, 1:33 behind the Japanese National Team.

For full results, check out Tour results.

Cyclist Nathaniel Beams, probably the best-kept secret among elite athletes in Lexington until this month’s Tour of the Red River Gorge, competed this week in the Tour del l’Abitibi in Quebec, Canada. Beams, 17, is a junior elite (ages 17-18) competitor.

Here’s an update, received via e-mail, from Pro Chain Cycling/Team Turner Coach Mike Murdock. (Editor notes in italic.)

Lexington cyclist Nathaniel Beams (2009 file photo, Jonathan Palmer)

“The Tour de l’Abitibi trip started early Sunday morning with a 12-hour drive to North Bay, Ontario,  followed by an early Monday morning, 6-hour drive to Val d’Or, Quebec. We arrived before noon, got registered and spent the day getting our room and trailer set up. Monday night we had team presentation and got prepared for our first race. Weather was excellent, sunny mid-70’s. 

“Tuesday’s race was a 100K (62-mile) race from Preissac to Val d’Or. The races are all afternoon / evening races so that the locals can come out and enjoy the entertainment. (Yes, that is what we are, entertainment for the local crowd.)

“The local towns we ride through are lined with crowds cheering and having fun watching the young kids work their tails off on the bike. We started from an old church with a ‘neutral’ wooden bridge, taken at 28 mph. The race was on and the tempo was steady and building.

“Eventually the race got to a steady 44 – 46 kph (app. 27 mph) until we entered Val d’Or. All the races end with a triple 3 or 5K (metric ‘two-mile’ or ‘three-mile’) circuit of the downtown areas of Val d’Or. The route takes the boys by most of the bars and outdoor restaurants in the city.  The triple circuit gets very fast and our team finished in mid pack. Good first day, no wrecks, no flats, no dropped riders. A good day indeed. … Nathanial was giddy with experiencing such a big and fast moving race. … Our team had all been to the front and was able to hang with the big boys, pull, stay in the mix and most importantly, have fun. This was a huge improvement over last year, where we were just hanging on and never near the front.  Additionally, the boys got feeds and worked the car pretty good. Also excellent experience for the car driver.

“Wednesday’s race was 116K (app. 72 miles) from Mt. Mathieu to Val d’Or. Again sunny warm weather for the race. This race was faster to start and quicker to develop into a break.

“The break began with a move from the U.S. national team and Nathaniel followed, help build on, and then faded, as he did too much work. The break had one or two of all the important teams in the race, and we were not represented. Oh, well. The break started at 15 and faded to 8 but it stuck to the end.  We finished again in the pack with similar results from the day before. …

“Thursday was a double day  - TT (time trial) and 50K (31-mile) road race.  The TT was pretty much a disaster. We lost significant time in the individual and team GC (general classification) due to the fact that we really really stink in the TT. The winning time was 20:30 or so and our fastest time was 23:30 or so. Midway through the TT the winds picked up but the best time was turned in during that time frame so it was not a serious factor. 

“By mid afternoon, the rain had begun and our afternoon 50K RR was going to be wet.  We (the caravan) believed this was going to be a bad race with spills etc. it turned out to be uneventful with the exception of just one wreck caused Taylor, who got his tire caught in a groove or edge of the road surface. He went down, his bike went right and he went left right into the pack, sliding on his back kind of flailing his arms and legs as he traversed the road at 20Kph taking out several other riders, and narrowly missing most of his team. … By the time we got there, (we are almost at the end of the caravan) Taylor was back on his bike pedaling like mad to get back in the pack. There was several other kids down on the ground or trying to get rolling. Taylor was able to make it back into the pack working his way car by car in the rain soaked caravan by himself. He sustained no injuries, nor did his bike. Amazing.

“The other (Team Turner) guys were not so successful. Nearing the finish the USA team (now in the lead with the fastest TT time) was controlling the tempo. At one point Nathaniel attempted to stage a breakaway but no one went with him.  Despite several guys feeling pretty good … we did not try a lead-out due to concerns with the rain and the crowded road.  … We are heading into the final three races and we are going to try to pull together some alliances with a neighboring team. 

“Everyone is feeling good and, in balance, I think we are doing much better than last year (with the exception of the TT) and we are all still in the race. We are better prepared as a bike team and as a support team. … The teams we are racing against are the best in the world and we are holding our own. We do need to get something going and get on the podium, though.”

For full results, see: cycling results

Amber Neben, who earlier in the week won the elite women’s time trial, was the top American cyclist in Saturday’s road race in the UCI Road World Championships at Varese, Italy.

Neben, from Irvine, Calif., finished 22nd, 1:56 behind the winner. Kristin Armstrong of Boise, Idaho, placed 39th and Kori Seehafer of Louisville, Colo., took 67th. Californians Brooke Miller, Katheryn Curi-Mattis and Christine Thorburn did not finish, the latter because of an early crash.

Olympic gold-medalist Nicole Cooke of Great Britain added the world title with a time of 3 hours, 42 minutes, 11 seconds for eight laps over a 17-kilometer circuit. Marianne Vos, the 2006 world champion from the Netherlands, and Judith Arndt of Germany finished 2-3 in the same time as Cook.

Tejay Van Garderen of Fort Collins, Colo., had the top finish by an American cyclist Friday in the UCI Road World Championships at Varese, Italy.

Van Garderen wound up 25th out of 167 riders in the 173-kilometer men’s U23 road race. He, along with Chad Beyer (39th, from Anaheim, Calif.) and Peter Stetina (52nd, from Boulder, Colo.) finished in the main peloton, 33 seconds behind the six-man lead breakaway. Kirk Carlsen (96th, from Sandown, N.H.) finished 12:01 off the pace. Chris Barton (Ojai, Calif.) dropped out after working to chase the breakaways.

Fabio Andres Duarte Arevalo of Colombia claimed the gold medal, with Simone Ponzi of Italy taking the silver. The bronze went to John Degenkolb of Germany. All the medalists were timed in 4 hours, 17 minutes, 2 seconds.

Olympic cyclist Amber Neben of Irvine, Calif., captured first place in the elite women’s time trial Wednesday at the UCI Road World Championships in Varese, Italy.

Neben’s time of 33 minutes, 51.35 seconds for 25 kilometers was seven seconds faster than Christine Soeder of Austria. Judith Arndt of Germany was another 14 seconds behind, taking the bronze medal in a field of 43 riders.

Neben placed fifth in 2005 and fourth in 2007. She is the fourth American to win an elite women’s time trial world title. The others are Beijing Olympics gold-medalist Kristin Armstrong (2006), Mari Holden (2000) and Karen Kurreck (1994). The U.S. is tied with France for most world titles since the event became a World Champs discipline in 1994.

Neben’s win Wednesday and Armstrong’s win at Beijing mark the first time one country has won women’s World and Olympic cycling titles in the same year in the same event.

Armstrong finished fifth Wednesday, 25 seconds behind Neben and two seconds back of fourth-place Tatiana Antoshina of Russia. Christine Thorburn of Sunnyvale, Calif., finished 12th.

A late-race mechanical mishap kept Neben from a shot at an Olympic medal last month. Since then, she also won the five-day Tour of Ardeche in France and had top-five time-trial finishes in Italy and Switzerland.