Sicard wins under-23 road cycling championships

By: JournalNow Staff | JOURNAL STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
Published: September 27, 2009

MENDRISIO, Switzerland -- Romain Sicard has won the under-23 race at the road cycling world championships.

Sicard, a 21-year-old Frenchman, was timed in 4 hours, 41 minutes, 53 seconds and crossed the finish line 28 seconds ahead of the field.

He also won the Tour de l'Avenir for young riders this month.

Carlos Alberto Betancur of Colombia beat Russia's Egor Silin in a sprint finish for the silver medal.

The 166-rider lineup repeated the circuit 13 times for a total distance of 111.5 miles.

Also yesterday, Tatiana Guderzo of Italy was the winner in the nine-lap women's race. Kristin Armstrong of the United States finished fourth, 19 seconds back. Evelyn Stevens of the U.S. was 15th and Mara Abbott of the U.S. was 18th.

The elite men's race over 19 laps ends the championships today.

More cycling

■ Mark Hekman of the Winston-Salem-based Mountain Khakis cycling team won the U.S. Criterium Series national championship last week in Las Vegas, and teammate Adam Myerson took third in the season-long series. Hekman had four top-10 finishes during the season and finished with 1,202 points. Myerson was third with 1,170 points.

Basketball

■ The Minnesota Timberwolves have promoted Fred Hoiberg to vice president of basketball operations and demoted Jim Stack, the assistant general manager, to a scout.

Hoiberg has been an assistant general manager for the past three seasons. The team said yesterday that he will oversee day-to-day operations and report to David Kahn, the president of basketball operations.

Stack will become one of the team's six regional scouts.

In other moves, assistant coach Jerry Sichting became the director of pro player personnel. Rob Babcock, the assistant general manager, will be the director of scouting/administration.