Latest News for July 8, 2003

Edited by Jeff Jones

Courage and pain for Hamilton

Photo: © C.Henry/CN

A day after breaking his collarbone in a crash in stage 1, CSC's Tyler Hamilton amazed everyone by taking the start of stage 2. An even bigger surprise was that he finished the stage, albeit in no small amount of pain.

"I guess time will tell if I made the right decision. I tell you, it was a hard day. I didn't get much sleep last night. It was difficult, really a dull ache, all day," Hamilton said after finishing in 100th place in the same time as the stage winner.

On Sunday night after the crash, Team CSC's physical therapist, Ole Kare Foli, worked on Hamilton for two hours, and another one and a half hours Monday morning before the start. "I'll be taking it day by day. I want to get to the team time trial so I can help Carlos Sastre to repay him for the help he's been giving me all season," Hamilton continued. "Ole worked on me two hours last night and an hour and a half this morning. He's a magician."

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Photo: © C.Henry/CN

Hamilton benefited from the fact that the stage was slow at the start. "Fortunately for me, the stage was ideal. It started real easy and just progressed and the pace picked up throughout the day," Hamilton said. "Had it gone flat out from the start, I'd have been in trouble."

Team CSC manager Bjarne Riis was impressed at Hamilton's courage too. "Sunday night I was so distraught I wanted to cry," said Riis. "I know how hard Tyler worked to be ready for the Tour, how much he suffered and trained. Things have to get better the next couple of days before we can talk about anything else. The entire team will help him every day."

McEwen on French team conspiracy

Right after the stage yesterday, Robbie McEwen (6th) was silently fuming. When he was first asked for a reaction by the Belgian journalists he barked, "I've got nothing to say." But after the protocol the Australian rider admitted that "I was nowhere in this uncontrolled sprint."

"If Fassa and us didn't ride, then Finot would have won...big joy for the French, who seem to have made a deal not to chase each other. Also FdJeux.com didn't want to help, because they would have lost yellow today: Petacchi or myself would have grabbed yellow. That's while the riders in the lead were threatening the jersey too! And in the end they win the stage with Cooke and hold onto yellow as well!"

"I'll talk about this with [Lotto director Marc] Sergeant, because we can't hold this up as a team. I am still leading in the PMU classification by one point, but that doesn't yet interest me at the moment." Lotto-Domo team director Marc Sergeant is also surprised at the tactics of the peloton. "Everyone who feels like it gets ten minutes. If we didn't chase, what would have happened?"

Extra motivation for Bodrogi

According to Het Nieuwsblad, Laszlo Bodrogi has got more than one reason to perform well in the Tour. The Hungarian Quick.Step-Davitamon rider is hunting for a lion for his pregnant French girlfriend Cathérine.

"It seems like a terrific cuddly toy for Bodro Jr.," explained Cathérine, whose baby is due around the 26th of October. "So they have to win yellow or hope that Quick.Step-Davitamon leads the team classification for a few days. At the World's he'll get two more chances with the time trial and the road race. A mini-rainbow jersey appeals to me too!"

Simeoni to sue Armstrong

Domina Vacanze rider Filippo Simeoni is set to take Lance Armstrong to court for defamation, according to a Reuters report. Simeoni said that he was offended by remarks made by Armstrong in an interview with French paper Le Monde in April. "I want a public apology. He Armstrong can't say what he wants and not be punished," Simeoni said. Armstrong's comments concerned Simeoni's testimony in the trial of Dr. Michele Ferrari earlier this year.

Knee injury hits Kiwi Roulston

By Alan Messenger

New Zealand's Pursuit Squad for the World track Championships at Stuttgart later this month has encountered a second problem with a knee injury hitting squad strong man Hayden Roulston. Roulston, in his first year with the European Cofidis road team, flew home this week to seek treatment from Nelson based Sports Medicine Specialist Eddie Saxon, after injuring his knee in a training accident in Belgium. The 22 year old Kiwi spent two days with Saxon and has now flown back to Europe. He learned about the knee specialist after sustaining a similar injury last year.

"I went to just about every specialist I knew last time and it didn't get any better," Roulston told NZ Press Association. "I went up to Nelson and Eddie took the pain away almost instantly." At Stuttgart Roulston will ride the teams pursuit and is an emergency for the madison.

Earlier the squad received a bombshell when its most experienced member Lee Vertongen pulled out and announced his retirement from the sport. Team Coach and Lee's father, Max Vertongen received a call from Lee in Belgium telling him of the decision. Vertongen Sr. said that he knew that his son had been restless and unhappy but the decision came as a surprise to him.

Vertongen has been replaced in the track squad by Te Awamutu 19 year old Peter Latham. Latham, the National Individual Pursuit Champion, represented New Zealand at the Oceania Track Championships at Sydney and was called into the team at the Sydney World Cup meeting to replace an ill Greg Henderson in the madison.

20 cyclists injured in St Petersburg, Florida

A motorist that ploughed into a Sunday morning bunch ride in St Petersburg, Florida has injured 20 cyclists, 14 of whom were hospitalised. The driver, Joseph D. Pastore (60), blamed "water in his eyes" for the accident, which occurred at 8:40 a.m. on 30th Avenue N just west of 53rd Street. The bunch contained as many as 40 riders, most of whom were part of the St. Petersburg Bike Club or the St. Pete Mad Dog Triathlon Club.

"There's no way he could not have seen us," Debra Ryder told the St. Petersburg Times. "He went to pass, he accelerated and he never slowed down." However it is still not clear how the accident happened, and whether it could have arisen due to a medical or mechanical problem. No charges have been filed against Pastore yet.

The injured cyclists were taken to Bayfront Medical Center, Bayfront, Northside Hospital and St. Anthony's Hospital. Eight of them remain in hospital, but are expected to make a full recovery.

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