Craven competes well at world champs

NAMIBIA’S Dan Craven finished 51st in the Elite Men’s Time Trial event at the Cycling World Championships in Varese, Italy, late last week.

Craven completed the 43,7-km event in a time of 57 minutes 40 seconds, which gave him an average time of 45,45 km per hour. Craven finished 5 minutes 39 seconds behind the winner, Bert Grabsch of Germany, who completed the time trial at an amazing average speed of just over 50 km/h.Craven was the only cyclist from Africa to compete in the time trial event at the World Championships.Craven told Namibia Sport that he was satisfied with the result, considering that his preparations were far from ideal.”Considering that I was one of the very few amateur riders to compete I cannot be unhappy with the result, especially when considering that this was the first proper time trial that I competed in since the World Championships last year.There were no time trials on my race calendar this year and finding any time trials in Italy or Switzerland is virtually impossible, so it was not out of choice, but just how things work here, which is a great pity,” he said.”The route started on a descent with some tricky corners that I lost time on as I am not good at cornering.Then the long midsection was mainly on wide open and slightly rolling roads where I struggled to maintain a good rhythm.The final section then gradually climbed back up to the start and by that time I was having a hard time and probably lost a lot of time there,” he added.Craven said he was sick last month, which hampered his preparations.”I also became sick at the end of last month which disrupted my training completely and so my preparation was far from ideal.So I am disappointed with the result, but as an amateur and considering my situation I cannot really expect more,” he said.The cycling website cyclingnews.com did an interview with Craven at the World Championships.It said Craven, who races at amateur level for Swiss Team FidiBC.com, based just 50 kilometres from Varese, has nevertheless had some good results as well as a victory this season and is hoping to turn professional in 2009.”It’s a lovely team to develop, but now it’s time to move on.I’m currently hoping for a pro contract.There is a tiny possibility in a European professional team – but it’s taking its time and I’m starting to get a little bit uncomfortable.I’m 25, in my last year as an amateur, so I’ve got to turn pro or look for something else to do,” he said.Namibia SportCraven finished 5 minutes 39 seconds behind the winner, Bert Grabsch of Germany, who completed the time trial at an amazing average speed of just over 50 km/h.Craven was the only cyclist from Africa to compete in the time trial event at the World Championships.Craven told Namibia Sport that he was satisfied with the result, considering that his preparations were far from ideal.”Considering that I was one of the very few amateur riders to compete I cannot be unhappy with the result, especially when considering that this was the first proper time trial that I competed in since the World Championships last year.There were no time trials on my race calendar this year and finding any time trials in Italy or Switzerland is virtually impossible, so it was not out of choice, but just how things work here, which is a great pity,” he said.”The route started on a descent with some tricky corners that I lost time on as I am not good at cornering.Then the long midsection was mainly on wide open and slightly rolling roads where I struggled to maintain a good rhythm.The final section then gradually climbed back up to the start and by that time I was having a hard time and probably lost a lot of time there,” he added.Craven said he was sick last month, which hampered his preparations.”I also became sick at the end of last month which disrupted my training completely and so my preparation was far from ideal.So I am disappointed with the result, but as an amateur and considering my situation I cannot really expect more,” he said.The cycling website cyclingnews.com did an interview with Craven at the World Championships.It said Craven, who races at amateur level for Swiss Team FidiBC.com, based just 50 kilometres from Varese, has nevertheless had some good results as well as a victory this season and is hoping to turn professional in 2009.”It’s a lovely team to develop, but now it’s time to move on.I’m currently hoping for a pro contract.There is a tiny possibility in a European professional team – but it’s taking its time and I’m starting to get a little bit uncomfortable.I’m 25, in my last year as an amateur, so I’ve got to turn pro or look for something else to do,” he said.Namibia Sport