News for October 16, 2002Edited by Jeff Jones The phenomenon Cipollini
Cycling journalists all over the world couldn't have a more grateful job this year in the days after the World Championships. Mario Cipollini is an athlete with that many colourful aspects of his personality to be written about, the newspapers dedicate page after page to the great Italian god of Cycling. Mario the Top Athlete, Mario the Super Star, Mario the Show Man, Mario the Fashion King, Mario the Family Man... It is true that the cyclist Mario Cipollini has given international cycling another dimension over the last few years. From the time he became Junior World Champion in the Team Time Trial in '85 Cipollini proved he had IT, he was going to be a Top Athlete. The four of them went as fast as 70km/h and that means that one has to be able of doing more than merely sprinting. Cipollini seemed satisfied for a long time with getting wins in the Giro and the Tour and limited his spring campaign to the lighter and shorter races. Gent-Wevelgem, the Scheldeprijs and that was it. He never rode the World Championships. Too late, too heavy, too tired; there were enough reasons to be found. "He didn't train enough to handle the hard one-day spring classics then," former team-mate Wilfried Peeters said to Het Nieuwsblad today. "Two hundred kilometres was his limit in racing. He didn't want to do any more anyway; he took enough wins as it was." So why such a change? Milan-San Remo, a gigantic race; just under 300 km. Gent-Wevelgem in which he impressed thoroughly by crossing the distance to the leading group and not letting it come to a bunch sprint. Never before did the cycling fans see such a Cipollini. And then Zolder: an unforgettable effort from a very strong and powerful sprinter, leaving all others to grovel in his shadow. Mario Cipollini does everything with style, with an Italian macho flair often copied but not to be matched, and a body and looks which makes him a favourite with women. Mario the Playboy explains that first of all he is a family man: The three women in his life are his beautiful wife Sabrina and his two little girls Lucrezia and Rachele. Although Mario glowed with pride when he posed with one of his daughters on the podium after winning Milan-San Remo this year; the images of Mario and spouse are rare. In contradiction to other wives who love to get in the picture with their victorious man, Sabrina Cipollini hardly ever shows up at races and shies away from the press hype surrounding her famous husband. Rumour has it that's because Mario doesn't like the lustful looks gorgeous Sabrina gets. Mario likes to play the Show Man and Fashion King. With his trendy hairdo and designer outfits, his tall (6'3) and well muscled body, Mario is a fantastic tool for Italian designer Laura Biagiotti, who he walked the catwalk for. Much to the joy and liking of women all around the world, he poses butt-naked for Reebok publicity; or is photographed dressed like an Arabian sheik in the midst of a scarcely dressed harem. There's nothing too crazy for the Tuscan sprint king: dressed as Julius Cesar, on board of a Roman chariot he was brought to the start of the Tour stage in Le Grand Bornand in 99. Il Magnifico's motto is truly "Vene, Vidi, Vici" and he proved just that last Sunday: He came, saw and won! Mario the Super Star amongst super stars was congratulated immediately after the race on Sunday by no-one less than Master Lance Armstrong himself and even Brazilian Soccer legend Ronaldo picked up the phone to tell Mario: "Think man, we're both World Champions now!" It goes without saying that Cipo celebrated his World title in style too. Even though we saw an almost devoted Mario on the podium in Zolder, by the time he got to the hotel in Riemst, the Cipo we all know emerged again. No-one of the team was to go to their room to rest and if one sneaked of anyway he was lifted from the bed by the Lion King himself. "Now is not the time to sleep, you need to party!" he explained. Champagne flowed and the bonus of 500,000 euro was extra motivation for the whole Italian team to be singing and celebrating until early morning. Manager Vincenzio Santoni had 17 Rainbow Jerseys in the boot of his car. "Seventeen because that's my birthday and Mario rode with the number 17 today". Santoni didn't show the jerseys off though "No" he said "Only tomorrow I'll start giving them away, as presents to people I see on our way home!" The day after, a sleepy group arrived in Linate, the Milanese airport, from where they were taken to the offices of La Gazetta dello Sport. For an hour Mario spoke to the Italian readers. "It was immense," according to the journalists there "Everyone wanted to get a word from him, congratulate him, thank him" "Cipollini Imperiale" was the title with which the paper headed the news section that day. "Imperial Cipollini" indeed! Cipollini's future
Having won the World Championships in his first attempt, Mario Cipollini is looking at new challenges for 2003 and beyond. The 35 year old believes that he has enough in his legs to continue for a few more years, much to the dismay of his wife Sabrina who told him to quit after Sunday. As well as adding to his 181 career wins, Cipollini wants to ride alongside the 1998 Tour de France champion Marco Pantani in a new team. Pantani has struggled ever since his ejection from the 1999 Giro d'Italia on suspicion of drug taking, and hasn't raced for four months since pulling out of this year's Giro. "Marco gave a lot to cycling and cycling needs someone like him," said Cipollini according to Darren Tulett of Bloomberg News. "I would like my victory to give him courage." Cipollini said a new team may be created with the support of Flavio Briatore, who won Formula One's motor race championship twice in the 1990s as head of the Benetton team and now heads up French team Renault. Renault is already a co-sponsor of Acqua e Sapone, and the team structure could continue with the full support of the French car manufacturer. "Briatore would have no problems making Renault the sponsor of my group," Cipollini said. "Maybe after my win, I will have more power and influence." Cipollini will race in this Saturday's Giro di Lombardia, complete with rainbow jersey and a new rainbow-coloured bike. Next year, he says he would like to win Milan-San Remo while wearing the rainbow jersey, as well as beating Alfredo Binda's record 41 victories in the Giro d'Italia. Cipo needs just two more stages to accomplish this. "Beating Binda's record with the rainbow jersey on my back would be quite something," Cipollini said. "May the dream continue." 87th Milan Turin previewWednesday, October 16 will see the 87th edition of the Italian late season classic, Milan-Turin. Held over 199 kilometres of largely flat terrain, the race culminates with the ascent of the Colle di Superga (620m) which has its summit at 16 km to go. The climb comes at a crucial point in the race, however bunch sprints are still possible. Last year, winner Mirko Celestino had to wait until the final kilometre when he attacked with Niki Aebersold and Eddy Mazzoleni to successfully hold off the bunch. Celestino will wear number one this year, and will be supported by a strong Saeco line up which includes Danilo Di Luca, Gerrit Glomser, Gilberto Simoni and Fabio Sacchi. The rest of the field is strong however, and includes riders who are eager for results after missing out on the World Championships. Fassa Bortolo's Michele Bartoli is one of these, and we can expect an attack from him on the final climb if he's feeling up to it. Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) is likely to be up there as well, having also missed the World's squad. With his recent success in the Giro di Lucca, Fabiano Fontanelli will carry the flag for Mercatone Uno. Phonak's charge will be led by Oscar Camenzind, who featured in an important three man breakaway during the World's. One of his escape companions, David Millar, will also be riding Milan-Turin. Millar, who didn't finish the road race in the end, said he was using the World's as training for the Italian races this week. Another man to watch is Tacconi Sport's Dario Frigo, who excels on these types of courses. Gianluca Bortolami, who was part of the formidable Italian azzurri last Sunday, will also be riding Milan-Turin for the Tacconi team. The Danish CSC-Tiscali team has sent Jakob Storm Piil and Michael Rasmussen as part of its line up, with Piil brimming with confidence after his recent Paris-Tours win. Why Freire chose RabobankOscar Freire's decision to join the Dutch Rabobank team rather than ride for iBanesto.com at home was motivated primarily by sporting reasons than financial ones. In a recent interview with Marca, Freire said that "The only Spanish team that had a real interest in me was iBanest.com. I was offered two years at Rabobank, compared to one at iBanesto.com. The financial conditions were practically the same. Banesto was more publicity for me, but I chose a team that does the style of races that I like." Freire described Rabobank as "a safe and stable team, and one of the leaders in the World Cup and that is most important. In sporting terms I am going to have more support than in Mapei." As for what Rabobank expects from Freire, "They have no doubt about my sporting value. On Saturday I spoke with Theo de Rooij and the only thing he said to me was that I had to learn English, because they want me to integrate me quickly into the team." Freire was also asked to comment on the World Championships, where two broken spokes in his front wheel after he got them caught in Erik Zabel's quick release with 2 km to go cost him any chance of defending his title. "I believe that I could have been on the podium. My strength was good enough to obtain a medal. It was very difficult to beat Cipollini, but if McEwen hadn't lost the wheel of Cipollini I think that he might have beaten him...And I already beat McEwen in the Tour." Otxoa races againJavier Otxoa will race in the 13th edition of the Criterium de la Comunidad Valenciana on November 10. The former Kelme cyclist was seriously injured in a training accident 21 months ago which killed his brother Riccardo. He spent two months in a coma and has since then undergone a slow recovery back to full health. Otxoa was present at the inauguration of an exhibition in L'Eliana (Valencia) dedicated to the Otxoa brothers, which features photographs, memorabilia and trophies from their racing careers and the efforts of Javier to recover from his accident. "I want to recover as fully as possible and the best thing I can do is to get back on the bike on that day. To be with the team will bring back memories of when I was a professional and to be surrounded by companions is going to make me feel at home again," he said. Tour de Langkawi route for 2003The Telekom Malaysia Le Tour de Langkawi will start on Friday, January 31 with a 9.4 km time trial around the island of Langkawi. It finishes 10 days later on February 9 with the traditional Kuala Lumpur Criterium, over 75.3 km, ending in Medaka Square. The penultimate stage to Genting Highlands will no doubt be significant. Save for the first stage, the entire tour will be held on the Malaysian peninsula. The Stages
Final NRC rankings for 2002USA Cycling has released its final National Racing Calendar standings for 2002. The rankings determine who the most consistent male and female riders and teams are on the US domestic circuit. The men's rankings were secured by Chris Horner (Prime Alliance), who was unstoppable in most of the early season races, and managed to build up such a buffer on the competition that even a broken foot and collarbone couldn't prevent him from taking the overall title. His teammate Danny Pate finished second, 269 points behind him, while three Mercury riders filled the next three spots - Gord Fraser, Henk Vogels and Chris Wherry. After a see-sawing season long battle in the women's rankings, top sprinter Laura Van Gilder (Trek Plus) finished on top with a 39 points margin to Saturn's Kimberly Bruckner, with Judith Arndt (also Saturn) taking third. In the men's team rankings Mercury emerged on top with a 300 point lead over Prime Alliance, while 7UP/NutraFig and Saturn were a distant third and fourth. The women's rankings were completely dominated by Saturn, the world's number one women's team, with Rona in second followed by Diet Rite. Rankings
Elite Men 1 Chris Horner (USA) Prime Alliance 1266 pts 2 Danny Pate (USA) Prime Alliance 997 3 Gord Fraser (Can) Mercury 894 4 Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury 821 5 Chris Wherry (USA) Mercury 815 6 John Lieswyn (USA) 7UP/NutraFig 761 7 Charles Dionne (Can) 7UP/NutraFig 629 8 Mark Walters (Can) Navigators 577 9 Plamen Stoyanov (Bul) Mercury 447 10 Ivan Dominguez (Cub) Saturn Cycling Team 442 11 Vasilli Davidenko (Rus) Navigators 417 12 Soren Peterson (Den) Saturn Cycling Team 388 13 Scott Moninger (USA) Mercury 386 14 Mark McCormack (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 343 15 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Saturn Cycling Team 339 16 Chann McRae (USA) U.S. Postal Service 331 17 Damon Kluck (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 328 18 Mariano Friedick (USA) Jelly Belly 321 19 Oleg Grishkine (Rus) Navigators 311 20 Tom Leaper (Aus) Navigators 311 Elite Women 1 Laura VanGilder (USA) Trek PLUS 1012 pts 2 Kimberly Bruckner (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 973 3 Judith Arndt (Ger) Saturn Cycling Team 965 4 Lyne Bessette (Can) Canadian National Team 956 5 Tina Mayolo-Pic (USA) Diet Rite 914 6 Genevičve Jeanson (Can) Rona Cycling Team 804 7 Heather Albert (USA) Goldy's 610 8 Nicole Freedman (USA) Rona Cycling Team 499 9 Petra Rossner (Ger) Saturn Cycling Team 495 10 Jessica Phillips (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 485 11 Susan Palmer-Komar (Can) Talgo America 397 12 Anna Millward (Aus) Saturn Cycling Team 365 13 Leah Goldstein (Can) Bianchi USA 356 14 Tania Miller (USA) Freddie Fu 321 15 Valen Polkhanova (Rus) Itera 316 16 Kimberly Anderson (USA) T - Mobile USA 302 17 Amber Neben (USA) T - Mobile USA 299 18 Suzanne Sonye (USA) Saturn Cycling Team 289 19 Ina Teutenberg (Ger) Saturn Cycling Team 288 20 Nicole Demars (USA) Bianchi USA 281 Men's Teams 1 Mercury 3363 pts 2 Prime Alliance 3067 3 7UP/NutraFig 2167 4 Saturn Cycling Team 1840 5 Navigators 1815 6 U.S. Postal Service 1268 7 Jelly Belly 829 8 Schroeder Iron 743 9 West Virginia GoMart 519 10 OFOTO.com/Lombardi Sports 511 Women's Teams 1 Saturn Cycling Team 3283 pts 2 Rona Cycling Team 1866 3 Diet Rite 1498 4 Trek PLUS 1248 5 Talgo America 1153 6 T - Mobile USA 1084 7 Goldy's 913 8 Canadian National Team 895 9 Freddie Fu 821 10 Boise 502 Dates Set for NORBA 2003USA Cycling in conjunction with GaleForce Sports Marketing, has announced the dates for the 2003 Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Mountain Bike Series. The 15th season of the NORBA Nationals will consist of a five-race series, with the first race set for May 15. Please note that only dates have been set. Specific venues have yet to be determined. NCS 1: May 15-18 An alternate date of Aug. 24-27 has been set to accommodate any late changes to the schedule.
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