30-year-old on cycling comeback trail
Walking away from your chosen sport for almost a decade is certainly not the recommended path to Olympic team selection.
Windsor's Daniele DeFranceschi knows he's bucking the odds as he attempts to make Canada's national cycling team and earn a place on the track in London for 2012.
A former member of the national junior team, DeFranceschi, 30, gave up racing for eight years while he concentrated on a budding career as an automotive engineer.
Now, he's taking part in a national development program aimed at grooming Olympic talent for 2012.
This weekend, under the watchful eye of Canadian coach Richard Wooles, DeFranceschi will compete in the winter indoor nationals in London, Ont.
"He's got lots of potential," Wooles said. "Although his age is against him."
DeFranceschi got back in the saddle in 2006 but he really emerged on the national scene with an impressive showing at the 2008 summer nationals in British Columbia.
He was third in the madison and fourth in the points race and the only guys to finish ahead of him were Canada's Olympians.
DeFranceschi was invited to a national training camp in B.C. last November.
He was invited to a Los Angeles camp just a few weeks ago.
"I haven't trained this hard in my whole life," he said.
DeFranceschi was the oldest rider invited to LA.
"The coach has said he doesn't care how old you are, just how fast you are," DeFranceschi said.
"They say the peak age for riding for endurance racing can be between 28 and 31. For not having trained in my middle 20s, hopefully, I can push that a little further."
Wooles has been impressed by DeFranceschi's rapid success to date.
"For someone coming back and being able to perform at a fairly high level already, without a lot of high-level coaching is pretty good," Wooles said.
"He's a fairly naturally gifted speed athlete. You can work on endurance but it's much harder to train the kind of speed that he has."
GOOD CHANCE
Wooles won't handicap DeFranceschi's chances of being an Olympian but did say "outside of one rider (Zach Bell) his chances are as good, if not better than anyone else's. We'll see how he develops. We'll know a lot more in the next year and a half."
Wooles said the first step would be making Canada's Pan American team.
The trials take place April 5-6 in Los Angeles with the games set for May 4-7 in Chihuahua, Mexico.
DeFranceschi feels closer to his goal with each passing camp.
"It's amazing to see how you can gain five per cent more power, which is a huge number because races are won by the smallest of margins," DeFranceschi said.
mcaton@thestar.canwest.com or 519-255-5726
The Windsor Star 2009
Walking away from your chosen sport for almost a decade is certainly not the recommended path to Olympic team selection.
Windsor's Daniele DeFranceschi knows he's bucking the odds as he attempts to make Canada's national cycling team and earn a place on the track in London for 2012.
A former member of the national junior team, DeFranceschi, 30, gave up racing for eight years while he concentrated on a budding career as an automotive engineer.
Now, he's taking part in a national development program aimed at grooming Olympic talent for 2012.
This weekend, under the watchful eye of Canadian coach Richard Wooles, DeFranceschi will compete in the winter indoor nationals in London, Ont.
"He's got lots of potential," Wooles said. "Although his age is against him."
DeFranceschi got back in the saddle in 2006 but he really emerged on the national scene with an impressive showing at the 2008 summer nationals in British Columbia.
He was third in the madison and fourth in the points race and the only guys to finish ahead of him were Canada's Olympians.
DeFranceschi was invited to a national training camp in B.C. last November.
He was invited to a Los Angeles camp just a few weeks ago.
"I haven't trained this hard in my whole life," he said.
DeFranceschi was the oldest rider invited to LA.
"The coach has said he doesn't care how old you are, just how fast you are," DeFranceschi said.
"They say the peak age for riding for endurance racing can be between 28 and 31. For not having trained in my middle 20s, hopefully, I can push that a little further."
Wooles has been impressed by DeFranceschi's rapid success to date.
"For someone coming back and being able to perform at a fairly high level already, without a lot of high-level coaching is pretty good," Wooles said.
"He's a fairly naturally gifted speed athlete. You can work on endurance but it's much harder to train the kind of speed that he has."
GOOD CHANCE
Wooles won't handicap DeFranceschi's chances of being an Olympian but did say "outside of one rider (Zach Bell) his chances are as good, if not better than anyone else's. We'll see how he develops. We'll know a lot more in the next year and a half."
Wooles said the first step would be making Canada's Pan American team.
The trials take place April 5-6 in Los Angeles with the games set for May 4-7 in Chihuahua, Mexico.
DeFranceschi feels closer to his goal with each passing camp.
"It's amazing to see how you can gain five per cent more power, which is a huge number because races are won by the smallest of margins," DeFranceschi said.
mcaton@thestar.canwest.com or 519-255-5726
The Windsor Star 2009
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