The off the back of a truck columnUnreleased news: A new team is supposed to be starting up in the UK in 1998. The sponsor is Richard Branson's 'Virgin Records'. A track and road team is being formed that is signing up UK riders for the forthcoming season. This was described by source as being "Very Big by our standards"The Official Word on Spinaci BarsRecently, it was reported that the UCI had decided that it was too dangerous to use Cinelli Spinachi bars in the peloton and that riders were going to quick with them.A report was then circulated by some press agencies that the UCI had altered its decision in the face of legal action and had made a financial arrangement with Cinelli, who were allegedly, according to the report, threateningd to pull out all sponsorship of Professional and Amateur teams if the new rule went ahead. A further allegation waws that Cinelli had agreed to pay a royalty on bars sold to the UCI. I can now say that all the statements in the last paragraph above are categorically false, and were never true or even close to being true. I had personal confirmation from Luciano at Cinelli that the company intends to maintain its sponsorship of teams and will definitely not be paying royalties to anybody. Later today, I received official news from the UCI along the following lines. Despite numerous rumours about the use of Spinaci bars there has been no change from the UCI meeting held in San Sebastian in October. This is confirmed in a fax to Ray Godkin from Alain Rumpf, UCI Road Co-ordinator on 15-12-97 where it states "I confirm that short handlebars like 'Spinaci' will not be allowed in mass start events from 1st January 1998, as decided by the Management Committee in San Sebastian." And further Ray Godkin told me: "In no way would the Board of Management or the President, Mr Verbruggen compromise cycling in this manner." I hope that completely clears up the situation. Take the bars off in the next few weeks. Ullrich's 1998 Program1997 Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich's race programme for 1998 will begin with the Majorca Trophy series (February 4-8) followed by the Tour of Valencia (February 24-29). Ullrich will then ride Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy (March 11-18) in preparation for the first classic of the season, the World Cup scoring Milano-San Remo (March 21). Ullrich is then expected to take a short break from racing, resuming with the Tour of the Basque Country (April 6-10). Ullrich has left open a choice of Spring Classics to ride after Milano-San Remo, having pencilled in rides in two out of three from Liege-Bastogne-Liege (April 19), the Amstel Gold Race (April 25), and the GP of Frankfurt (May 1).Should he feel in particularly good form, Ullrich may decide to ride all three. Ullrich, a product of the German Democratic Republic's sports system, is sentimentally attracted to the old Eastern bloc classic stage race, the Peace Race** and is considering putting this on his calendar (May 8-17). The only other near-definite race in his run-up to the Tour de France is the Tour of Switzerland (June 16-25). **This year's Peace Race starts in the Czech Republic and finishes in Erfurt, Germany. Ullrich said of it: "Sentimentally, it's important to me but I'm aware that to take part wouldn't be altogether rational. It rains a lot during the race and were I to abandon Germans wouldn't take it well." |