2001ヨーロッパ選手権

2001EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

★TRACK (Oerlikon, Zurich)
9 SEP 2001 Sun　 Motohashi/Sasaki Qualified for Sprint

Men's Tandem Sprint Qualification (200m, Only qualified teams are shown)
Position	Name	Nation	Time
1	SZOJKA Jan/PETROVIC Juraj	Slovakia	10.996
2	SENMARTIN Patrice/JANOWSKI Frederic	France	11.240
3	ALLEN Robert/STOREY Richard	Great Britain	11.325
4	INGIANNI Daniele/RAMPINI Andrea	Italy	11.472
5	GROSZKOWSKI Henryk/MATUSIAK Sylwester	Poland	11.997
6	TABOADA Francisco/STOLLER Cedric	Switzerland	12.013
7	JANOVJAK Vladislav/DRAPAL Ales	Slovakia	12.113
8	MOTOHASHI Akihito SASAKI Masahiro	Japan	12.176

　
2001 European Championship Cycling for the Disabled kicked off at Oerlikon, Zurich. Cold wind and early winter temperature surprised Team Japan who came form late summer climate. Oerlikon Velodrome is where Mr. Koichi Nakano achieved 9-straight year victory in ablebody's World Championship (professional sprint) 16 years ago. Track is of 333.33 m, with Max 44.2 degrees and 10 degrees on straight lines. The very first event was Tandem Sprint qualification 200m halon.
Team Japan had a trouble before its first ride, as Japan had to wait more than 45 minutes until shuttle bus showed up at hotel. The bus finally came, however, it went to wrong places. As the result, Japanese tandem duo Akihito Motohasi/Masahiro Sasaki had only 30 minutes warm-up on track. Having spun wheels on roller for 40 minutes, the Japanese duo made its qualification trial and finished with a time of 12 seconds 176, almost equal to its record made during Friday's training.　Although the time was not satisfactory to Motohashi/Sasaki, the Japan's tandem secured 8th place in qualification, barely managed to proceed to quarter final.

Men's Tandem 1k Time Trial Result (Only Top 8 and Japanese are shown)
Position	Name	Nation	Time	Medal
1	ALLEN Robert/STOREY Richard	Great Britain	1:08.030	Gold
2	SENMARTIN Patrice/JANOWSKI Frederic	France	1:08.448	Silver
3	IOSET Raphael/HOWALD Beat	Switzerland	1:08.527	Bronze
4	DE BIASI Toni/MULLER Peter	Switzerland	1:09.881
5	BLANCAR Martinez Migue/ORIOL Guinart Mauri	Spain	1:10.070
6	CLEMENTE Solano/GONZALEZ Franco Valentin	Spain	1.10.134
7	MOLL Achim/BOSCH Martin	Germany	1:10.174
8	GALLI Giancarlo/DALLA Pellegrina Emanuele	Italy	1:10.295
18	MOTOHASHI Akihito SASAKI Masahiro	Japan	1:12.601

Japan's Shigeo Yoshihara/Koichi Mizusawa, world record holder and Sydney Paralympic gold medallists did not enter the Championship. Cyclists and coaches of many nations praised the duo's great performance, and wondered why the world record holder did not come to Switzerland this time. Only if Japanese cyclists had been financiallly blessed and supported.
UK's Robert Allen who ended up in silver won a gold with his new pilot. Cheered by Japanese supporters who reside in Switzerland, Motohashi/Sasaki was ready to show better ride. Unfortunately, the Japanese team finished 18th place. The duo may have been troubled by shocking result of sprint qualification in the morning.

NEW! Is our flag waving and alive?

What a track!

NEW! Warm-up on Bank

We Needed More Warm-up...

1K TT

10 SEP 2001 Mon　 Accident Mars Sprint

Men's Tandem Sprint Final Result (Semi-Final and Final on 11 Sep)
Position	Name	Nation	Medal
1	SENMARTIN Patrice/JANOWSKI Frederic	France	Gold
2	SZOJKA Jan/PETROVIC Juraj	Slovakia	Silver
3	INGIANNI Daniele/RAMPINI Andrea	Italy	Bronze
4	ALLEN Robert/STOREY Richard	Great Britain
5	GROSZKOWSKI Henryk/MATUSIAK Sylwester	Poland
6	TABOADA Francisco/STOLLER Cedric	Switzerland
7	JANOVJAK Vladislav/DRAPAL Ales	Slovakia
8	MOTOHASHI Akihito SASAKI Masahiro	Japan

　
As a result of qualification standing, Akihito Motohashi/Masahiro Sasaki had a quarter final match against Slovakian Jan Szojka/Juraj Petrovic, the same quarter final match as Sydney Paralympic. At 1st heat Slovakia took the lead at one and half lap to go by passing Japan on the left, and successfully escaped. 2nd heat Japan's tandem spurted ahead at final one lap through inside and took a lead, however, Slovakia started making final sprint. Crash occurred at final 1st center area as Slovakian tandem was about to get ahead of Japan (but Slovakia did not have a clear cycle-length lead.) Slovakian rear wheel hit Japan's front when Japan seemed to be still in sprinter lane.　Motohashi/Sasaki despite this crash chased Szojka/Petrovic but could not catch Slovakian duo. As it seemed Japanese tandem was still in sprinter lane for final sprint when crash occurred, Japanese team made complaints three times, which were not accepted.

NEW! 2nd heat, JN tries to enter inside lane.

2nd heat, one lap to go. Crash occurred after this..

Men's Tandem Indiv. Pursuit, Final Result(Only Top 8 and Japanese are shown. Final was on 11 Sep.)
Position	Name	Nation	Time, Final	Time, Qualification
1	GONZALEZ Montanes/SANCHEZ Montes	Spain	4:41.270	4:42.408
2	CLEMENTE Solano Miguel/GONZALEZ Franco Valentin	Spain	4:42.140	4:42.890
3	DIAZ Montava Manuel/DeLa CRUZ Ruiz Oscar	Spain	4:45.100	4:53.469
4	IOSET Raphael/HOWALD Beat	Switzerland	4:47.680	4:43.881
5	COTE Stephane/BOILY Pierre-Olivier	Canada		4:48.805
6	JOSSO Cyrille/BIZET Alexandre	France		4:57.141
7	ERIKSEN Mattis/HOLMVIK Bjorn	Norway		4:58.076
8	GALLI Giancarlo/DALLA Pelleggrina Emanuele	Italy		4:58.397
16	MOTOHASHI Akihito SASAKI Masahiro	Japan		5:14.112

Unfortunately, men's tandem individual pursuit became final event for Team Japan in this championship. It is not a favorite event. Japan's opponent was changed one hour prior to the qualification; strong hometown duo, Raphael Ioset/Beat Howald, the duo who can usually finish 4K around 4 minutes 40 seconds.
Japan made a good start finishing 1st lap within a time as planned, however, Motohashi/Sasaki was not able to keep the planned pace in the remaining laps and was finally caught by Ioset/Howald. Tandem duo from far east failed to proceed to quarter final and to break through a time of 5 minutes. Motohashi/Sasaki, with track's final day left, was forced to leave Oerlikon.

NEW! Individual Pursuit Starts.

NEW! Got to say good-bye to pit.

★ROAD(Neuchatel)
14 SEP 2001 Fri　Ogawa Revives and Wins Silver in TT

CP DIV2 Road Time Trial (Approx: 4.3K): Results　(Only Top 8 are shown.)
Position	Name	Nation	Time	Medal
1	Le FLOHIC Mark	Australia	8:01.7	Gold
2	OGAWA Mutsuhiko	Japan	8:28.3	Silver
3	HILLERS Andreas	Germany	8:29.1	Bronze
4	FLACKS Stuart	USA	8:31.0
5	CULOT Guy	Belgium	8:47.4
6	JALBERT Paul	Canada	8:57.1
7	DIRK Nel Adriaan	South Africa	9:08.3
8	WINKLER Josef	Czech	9:20.6

Men's Tandem Road TT: (5 laps, 21.5 K) Results (Only Top 8 and Japanese are shown.)
Position	Name	Nation	Time	Medal
1	MULDER Jan/GORTER Heerko	Netherlands	27:38.7	Gold
2	DIAZ Montava Manuel/DeLa CRUZ Ruiz Oscar	Spain	27:58.9	Silver
3	De BIASI Toni/ROTHENBUHLER Urs	Switzerland	28:01.3	Bronze
4	IOSET Raphael/HOWALD Beat	Switzerland	28:13.2
5	GALLI Giancarlo/DALLA Pelleggrina Emanuele	Italy	28:13.6
6	PORTO LAGO Jose Enrique/ALVAREZ Trujillo Antonio	Spain	28:26.7
7	JOSSO Cyrille/BIZET Alexandre	France	28:44.5
8	PEREZ Hornero Fernando/VELASCO Nalencia Miguel	Spain	28:47.6
22	MOTOHASHI Akihito SASAKI Masahiro	Japan

11 months have passed since the disappointing result of Sydney Paralympic Games. Mutsuhiko Ogawa having trained hard aiming for revival won a silver medal in CP2 road time trial, stiff competition against strong European and American tricyclists.
Ogawa was not so nervous as he was in Sydney. He sprung from starting platform and made a good start on the first 1.5K of narrow and rough. As his eyes caught previously started cyclist, he got accelerated and went into long straight line with follow-wind. He was not able to catch earlier starter, but his speed never died down. Ogawa finished TT with 8 minutes 28.3 seconds, more than 10 seconds earlier than anticipated. Australian Mark Le Flohich overwhelmed others in this category by finishing 8 minutes 1 second and won a gold. German and American came to goal line with a time very near to Ogawa's record but both failed to reach Ogawa's 28 seconds. He became the first Japanese who won a medal in the European Championship.

In Men's tandem road TT, Motohashi/Sasaki made 5 laps of the 4.3K course. Their ride was steady all the way, however, the result was not satisfactory to them.

Ogawa 30 seconds prior to TT Start.
"You will be OK!"

Ogawa Goal to Silver

CP2 TT Medal Ceremony.
Ogawa receives silver medal.

Motohashi/Sasaki makes Men's Tandem 21.5K Time Trial.

Narrow road ahead along with farming field is a part of road course.

15 SEP 2001 Sat　Ogawa Secures Silver in First Road Race

CP DIV2 Road Race (17Km): Results 　(Only Top 8 are shown.)
Position	Name	Nation	Time	Medal
1	Le FLOHIC Mark	Australia	29:30.94	Gold
2	OGAWA Mutsuhiko	Japan	32:50.22	Silver
3	FLACKS Stuart	U.S.A.	32:50.73	Bronze
4	CULOT Guy	Belgium	33:35.75
5	DIRK Nel Adriaan	South Africa	33:59.90
6	JALBERT Paul	Canada	34:27.71
7	NAGELS Ken	Belgium	36:28.06
8	WINKLER Josef	Czech	36:35.16

Men's Tandem Road Race (104.5Km): Results (Only Top 8 are shown.)
Position	Name	Nation	Time	Medal
1	CLEMENTE Solano/GONZALEZ Franco Valentin	Spain	2:25:54	Gold
2	MULDER Jan/GORTER Heerko	Netherland	2:25:54	Silver
3	GONZALEZ Montanes/SANCHEZ Montes Fernando Antonio	Spain	2:26:14	Bronze
4	JOSSO Cyrille/BIZET Alexandre	France	2:28:33
5	KOSIKOWSKI Krzysztof/PILCH Robert	Poland	2:30:56
6	PEREZ Hornero Fernando/VELASCO Valencia Miguel	Spain	2:30:56
7	PORTO Lago Jose Enrique/ALVAREZ Trujillo Antonio	Spain	2:31:47
8	IOSET Raphael/HOWALD Beat	Switzerland	2:31:47
25	MOTOHASHI Akihito SASAKI Masahiro	Japan	2:38:55

Final day of the Championship. Mutsuhiko Ogawa's revival story continued in CP Division 2 17K road race, a new event of IPC Cycling. Ogawa made his road race debut in this Championship. Time trial's gold medalist Flohic (Aus) made an unbelievable escape from the beginning and travelled all the way by himself. Ogawa chased him but was absorbed into the 2nd peleton for silver and bronze battle. Ogawa and Flacks (U.S.A.) successfully broke away from the peleton. The Japanese escaped and the American drafted him all the way to the final corner 400 meters to the goal, where Ogawa made a final sprint spurt. Flacks despite got a little away from Ogawa at the corner chased him with all his might for goal sprint. Ogawa successfully completed his escape as he reached the goal only by 0.5 seconds in front of Flacks, and won 2nd silver in the Championship.　The Japanese tricyclist broke three spokes during the race, but his escape was splendid and powerful. Ogawa stayed calm, made proper judgments, and tactfully coped with turns during the race. He proved he is now mentally strong, 　　

The final event of the Championship was Men's tandem 104.5K road race. It consists of 6 laps of technical 17.1K course, full of small but continual ups and downs, sharp corners, and narrow and rough surfaces, and 1.9 K back to Marin Sports Centre, start/finish area. Japan's Motohashi/Sasaki was revved up aiming to avenge their humiliating result in Sydney Paralympic, where they were lapped by gold medal duo at a few kilometers to the goal line. The duo was able to stay in the long line of leading group in the first lap, however, pilot Sasaki began to lose leading peleton from his eyesight. The Japanese tandem team, despite that, continued to climb up a number of hills. There many local supporters including those who came all the way from Zurich along the course cheered Motohashi and Sasaki. The duo finally reached the goal. Finish. "Good job," said supporters, handing a cup of champagne.

CP2 Road race starts.	Final sprint to silver medal	Surrounded by supporters	Top 3, CP2 Road Race	Men's tandem road starts.
Supporters in break	GOAL!	"Good job"	It's over.......	We all did it well.

Closing Ceremony, Dinner, and Final Night in Switzerland

Closing ceremony and dinner

Sasaki joins U.S.A.

"Would you like a Manjyu?"

Dual Silver Medalist

Night of 15 Sep 01

(Note: "Manjyu" is Japan's traditional sweet cake.)

16 Sep 2001 Sun 　Auf Wiedersehen.... Au Revoir.... Got to Go Home

At a restaurant in Zurich Airport

Time to say good-bye...
Thank you very much..

From Team Japan for 2001 European Championship Cycling
　　
We have received support and encouragement from a number of people on our participation to 2001ECC. We hereby express our hearty gratitude to those who have supported us. Your enthusiastic supports enabled us to secure satisfactory results including but not limited to two silver medals. The results were more than we previously expected. We have learned and experienced a lot through our participation to the championship. We will take advantage of the experience for our future activities.
We were forced to enter the championship held in Switzerland (12-hour air travel from Japan) with our own money without any subsidy. It was very difficult. However, Team Japan for 2001 ECC was blessed with one source; supporters. We have been encouraged by many; we have received some donations from individuals, and people in Switzerland provided us a variety of help from transportation to food supply. With this great source, we could manage to go through difficult situations.
We will do our best so we can show better performance.
　　
Thank you very much.

Akira Kurihara
Team Leader, Head Coach
Team Japan for 2001European Championship Cycling for the Disabled　　

Special Thanks to a Serviceman!!
Team Japan for 2001 EC Cycling received donation from Commander Robert McWhorter, U.S. Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Japan on Aug 9. Thank you very much, sir.

　
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