Latest Cycling News for April 20, 2004

Edited by Chris Henry

Landis does his spring thing

By Chris Henry

From Roubaix to the Ardennes
Photo ©: Cyclingnews

With US Postal Service heavy-hitters Lance Armstrong and George Hincapie leading the charge at the Dodge Tour de Georgia this week, fellow American Floyd Landis has been given more freedom to play his own cards at the tough Ardennes classics. While any American would be happy to race on home soil in a major event like Georgia, Landis relishes his chance to play a leadership role in some World Cup events.

Landis rode with the leaders for much of the Amstel Gold Race, supported by Michael Barry and José Luis Rubiera and ultimately finishing 29th, 1'28 behind race winner Davide Rebellin. He was satisfied with his effort, which followed a very different day out at Paris-Roubaix last Sunday and another solid stage race ride at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco the week prior, particularly since he doesn't consider himself to be well suited to the Amstel parcours. Speaking to Cyclingnews from the team's hotel in Liège Monday, he offered his take on what he found to be a "strange race".

"I'm happy... I felt good, and it's not really a climber's race," Landis explained, already thinking ahead to the next two tests in the Ardennes. "It's a good race, but Liège is better. Though that's not perfect either."

Amstel Gold Race has no lack of climbing, featuring 31 ascents over the 250km parcours, but the repetition of short, steep climbs doesn't favour Landis as much as the longer climbs he'll tackle in Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

"Amstel doesn't suit climbers real well to start with," he said. "The climbs aren't long enough, which is sometimes worse for climbers than no climbs at all. It's a beautiful race, but it's just not my thing."

That said, he was more than pleased with the support he had from US Postal, with riders like Benoît Joachim, Michael Barry, and Ryder Hesjedal as his designated helpers. The rest of the team, including an in-form Chechu Rubiera, had more free reign.

"It was a strange race," Landis added. "Last time I did it it was broken up much earlier. This time there were 60 guys with 20 kilometres to go. But we still had five guys then, and Chechu and [José] Azevedo were still in the group at the end."

The Flèche Wallonne is next on the menu for Landis and US Postal, a race he considers more straightforward than Amstel. While Landis still be looking for a result, the team will likely stick together more and see who's strong at the finish rather than focus on one particular leader.

"We'll probably just let everybody do their own thing," he said of the team's tactics. "The race rarely comes to the bottom of the Mur with a big group. From my perspective it's better to give the guys a chance. Chechu is really good, Azevedo, Barry... We've got a good team."

If there's one thing Landis does hope for this week, it's better weather. "I've had enough rain," he said referring to the less than hospitable conditions in the Basque Country, adding that the cold weather at Paris-Nice in March was no picnic either. "I'll be happy to take my tights off and get some sun!"

Ullrich in la Flèche

Germany's T-Mobile team will tackle the next round of the Ardennes classics, Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne, with former winner Mario Aerts, Alexandre Vinokourov, and a slowly improving Jan Ullrich, who took a pass for Amstel Gold Race but declares himself ready for the next step in competition.

"In the last few days I've been able to train under ideal conditions," Ullrich explained on his personal website. "I rode Thursday with Andreas Klöden and Matthias Kessler for several hours. The past three days I rode alone, between 160 and 180 kilometres a day. I feel like I'm coming into better form. After discussing with Rudy Pevenage and Mario Kummer, I'll start the Flèche Wallonne on Wednesday. The next phase of my Tour preparation is beginning..."

Ullrich maintains that his training is going according to plan, despite lacklustre spring results in races such as the Circuit de la Sarthe in France, and he appears to have kept the confidence of team director Walter Godefroot.

"Jan is going according to plan, why should I be dissatisfied?" Godefroot asked in a Sport 1 interview. "He's riding well in the field. His form has to come up slowly before the Tour."

T-Mobile for Flèche Wallonne: Mario Aerts, Giuseppe Guerini, Serguei Ivanov, Matthias Kessler, Andreas Klöden, Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov, Christian Werner

Jaksche back for Liège?

Deprived of a start in the Amstel Gold Race and Flèche Wallonne after a freak accident in training left him with a fractured arm, Team CSC's Jörg Jaksche could be back in action much sooner than expected at this Sunday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The winner of the Tour Méditerranéen and Paris-Nice collided with another rider at the end of a training ride the day before Amstel Gold Race, landing heavily on his arm. Jaksche had targeted the Ardennes classics and the upcoming Tour de Romandie after his already successful early spring campaign.

Following a visit to physiotherapist Ole Kåre Føli in Denmark, Jaksche has hope of returning to racing in the coming days, even if his expectations will be tempered.

"Before the first treatment I almost couldn't move my arm, but now I can almost fully stretch it," Jaksche explained on the team's website (team-csc.com). "I've been told that it won't do further damage to ride a bike, however, it will be quite painful to begin with.

"I have no ambitions for Liège-Bastogne-Liège., if I'm in the line-up, "Jaksche added, "and if I have to be realistic... I probably won't be in great shape before the Tour of Germany at the beginning of June."

Phonak for Flèche Wallonne

The Swiss Phonak Hearings Systems team will present one of its strongest line ups for the Flèche Wallonne Wednesday, gearing up at the same time for Liège-Bastogne-Liège. on Sunday. American Tyler Hamilton returns to the Ardennes, along with former world champion Oscar Camenzind, victim of a crash at Amstel Gold Race last weekend. Hamilton has shown improving form this spring and will no doubt be looking to defend his title at Liege after becoming the first American winner of "la Doyenne" in 2003.

Phonak for Flèche Wallonne: Niki Aebersold, Oscar Camenzind, Martin Elmiger, Bert Grabsch, Kike Gutierrez, Tyler Hamilton, Oscar Pereiro, Gregory Rast

Saunier Duval to Flèche and Liège

The Spanish Saunier Duval-Prodir team has received an invitation from the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) to compete in Wednesday's Flèche Wallonne, as well as Sunday's fifth round of the World Cup, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The team arrives as a replacement for top-ranked French team Cofidis, which remains out of voluntarily competition in the midst of a doping affair.

Six for Illes Balears

The Spanish Illes Balears-Banesto team will present a team of just six riders for the mid-week Flèche Wallonne: Toni Colom, Iván Gutiérrez, Joan Horrach, Pablo Lastras, Unai Osa, Vicente Reynés.

O'Grady hopeful

Stuart O'Grady, a new arrival this season in the embattled Cofidis team, remains hopeful that a positive outcome will emerge from the team's voluntary suspension in light of widening accusations of doping sparked primarily by the revelations of former professional Philippe Gaumont in the French press. Cofidis team management decided to withdraw from competition on the eve of Paris-Roubaix, a major objective of O'Grady's.

"It's probably been the hardest week of my life, not knowing what is happening or going to happen," he explained on his personal website. "But at the end of the day I think the team will come out bigger and better than before. This is just a character test. I've got a strong character... I'm keeping my chin up and trying to think positive."

O'Grady expressed hope that his teammates could show a unified front in an effort to persuade the company's board of directors that sponsorship should continue. The company is expected to meet this week to discuss the situation.

"A meeting between the board members of Cofidis will be presented all the information submitted by the riders and team members as to why the team should continue," he explained. "We have to prove the allegations are not true. Surely we can't all suffer because of one person's word against an entire team's.

"The best way to prove our innocence I think is to supply every rider's drug test results to the board," O'Grady added. "They will see only one rider who has ever gone positive. And not once... but three times. No other rider has a positive result. That in itself is conclusive evidence."

Saeco eyes Millar

With a number of teams interested in hiring world champion Igor Astarloa, currently sitting out competition in the midst of Cofidis' internal evaluation of the drug scandals facing the team, other riders are sparking interest in teams looking to reinforce their rosters. Mr. Bookmaker-Palmans has its eye on David Moncoutié, while Saeco has hinted it would happily hire reigning world time trial champion David Millar if possible.

"Millar represents the type of rider we're missing: someone who's good in the time trial," Saeco manager Claudio Corti commented this week. "He would be very useful for us in the grand tours..."

Corti indicated he would hold off on making direct contact with Millar and Cofidis, pending further developments in the French team's position on whether or not to return to competition. At the same time, Corti downplayed interest in rehiring Astarloa, who left Saeco to join Cofidis this year.

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