Latest Cycling News for April 28, 2004

Edited by Jeff Jones

Lefevere: VDB will never be top again

Frank Vandenbroucke (Fassa Bortolo)
Photo ©: Gunnar Mjaugedal

Frank Vandenbroucke's former team director Patrick Lefevere believes that the Walloon will never reach his former level of 1999, which saw him win Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Het Volk, two stages in the Vuelta and finish second in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. "He couldn't follow the best in the spring," said Lefevere to Het Laatste Nieuws. "Last year he became second in the Ronde and now 44st. When Zabel came back in the Gold Race, he had great difficulty following the second group. And in Liege shouldn't he have kept the wheel of Rebellin?"

Lefevere added that, "Frank is a normal rider who still gets a lot of publicity. I find all that attention uncalled for and understand that Van Petegem has difficulty with it."

Gaumont, Clain and Sassone back in court

Former and current Cofidis team members Philippe Gaumont, Médéric Clain and Robert Sassone have been summoned to appear in court in Nantes by judge Richard Pallain on Wednesday, April 28 for more questioning. Although all three riders have already testified, the judge wishes to cross-examine them further.

Several other people are involved in the case, which caused Cofidis to suspend the operations of its team until further notice: Oleg Kozlitine (ex-Oktos director), Boguslaw Madejak (ex-Cofidis soigneur), Marek Rutkiewicz (ex-Cofidis rider), Daniel Majewski (amateur rider) and Cédric Vasseur (Cofidis rider).

Godefroot and Pevenage talking again

There have been some "peace talks" between Walter Godefroot, the manager of Team T-Mobile, and Rudy Pevenage, ex-Telekom director and now Jan Ullrich's personal adviser. The pair became estranged when Ullrich left Telekom together with Pevenage at the end of 2002, but with the return of Ullrich to Godefroot's team this year, relations between the two Belgians have gradually improved.

"The talks were an initiative of Jan's," Pevenage told Het Laatste Nieuws. "He felt really uncomfortable with my position in the team. From now I am no longer persona non grata, but I remain just a companion, nothing more."

Godefroot added, "Actually, nothing has changed. Also in the future we will have direct contact. But we want Ullrich to win the Tour."

Luc Leblanc to Jacques

Ex-professional Luc Leblanc, winner of the World Championships in 1994, has been named as the fourth sports director for Chocolade Jacques. He will join Johan Capiot, Jef Braeckevelt and Walter Planckaert in the team and his first appointment will be the Giro d'Italia.

Last test for Simoni and Cunego

Damiano Cunego (Saeco)
Photo ©: Olympia

Saeco's Giro candidates Gilberto Simoni and Damiano Cunego will face their last pre-Giro tests this weekend. On Saturday, May 1, they will ride in the GP Industria & Artigianato in Larciano, Tuscany, along with Leonardo Bertagnolli, Juan Fuentes, Paolo Fornaciari, Evgueni Petrov and Andrea Tonti. The same team will also ride the Giro di Toscana race on Sunday May 2.

Saeco will also be in action in the Rund um den Henninger Turm on May 1 with Mirko Celestino, Giosue Bonomi, Antonio Bucciero, Salvatore Commesso, Eddy Mazzoleni and Nicola Gavazzi. Danilo Di Luca will not race because he is still recovering from a prostate inflammation.

Alessio-Bianchi for Denmark

The Alessio-Bianchi team has been named for this weekend's two Danish races, the GP SATS and CSC Classic. The team will include Paris-Roubaix winner Magnus Bäckstedt, along with most of the rest of the northern classics contingent: Scott Sunderland, Fabio Baldato, Martin Hvastija, Marcus Ljungqvist and Claus Møller.

Dutch team for Track World's

The Dutch national track team for the World Track Championships in Melbourne, Australia has been named. For the Dutch, the Track World's will be an important selection race for the Olympic Games in Athens.

The team will include Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel, who intends to defend her Olympic gold medal in the individual pursuit, but not her silver in the points race. Adrie Visser will instead ride the women's points race as well as the scratch race, while Yvonne Hijgenaar will do all the sprint events. In the men, Theo Bos will ride the Olympic Sprint, Keirin and 1 km TT, as will Teun Mulder. Speed skater Jan Bos will do the Olympic Sprint as well. The men's Team Pursuit will be composed of Jens Mouris, Levi Heimans, Peter Schep and Jeroen Straathof, while Jos Pronk will ride the Points Race and Danny Stam and Robert Slippens the Madison.

Top field expected for Museeuw criterium

The send-off criterium for Johan Museeuw, which will take place in his home town of Gistel on Sunday, May 2, will attract a top quality field of riders. Apart from most of the Quick.Step-Davitamon team (including Bettini, Boonen and Paolini), the race will also see Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner), Michael Boogerd, Erik Dekker and Sven Nys (Rabobank), Frank Vandenbroucke (Fassa Bortolo), Peter van Petegem, Leif Hoste and Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo), Andrea Tafi (Alessio-Bianchi), Nico Mattan (Bodysol), Mario de Clercq (MrBookmaker-Palmans) and possibly Mario Cipollini (Domina Vacanze) will all be among a total of approximately 50 riders.

The race will start at 15:55 in Gistel's Markt and run for 75 minutes. Afterwards there will be a big post-criterium party.

Chann McRae to lead cyclosportif at Tour of Connecticut

Past USPRO Champion Chann McRae will lead a recreational Cyclosportif ride before the start of the Tour of Connecticut on May 16. The event, which is based on the popular "Gran Fondo" rides of Europe, is open to anyone who can tackle the 35 or 60 mile course in Torrington, CT. It starts at 9:00 am and follows the pro race course before turning back to Torrington.

The entry fee is $20 and proceeds will benefit the ITP Foundation, which aims to raise awareness and funding for this serious bleeding disorder that inhibits blood clotting. McRae is helping to build an ITP team, and will train and race with the ITP logo. "People with ITP have to be very careful about participating in sports, because of the bruising and possible internal bleeding," said McRae. "Sports are a huge part of my life, so that really hits home with me, that kids with ITP can't do a lot of the things that I just take for granted."

More information about the Tour of Connecticut: www.tourofct.com or www.spartacycling.com.
More information about the ITP Foundation: www.itpfoundation.org.

CapTech course gets longer

The CapTech Classic is set to take place on Saturday, May 8 in the city of Richmond, Virginia, USA. The race is a criterium that will be run on a tough 2 km circuit that features eight corners and 40m of climbing each lap. The circuit starts and finishes on Canal St. between 7th and 8th and runs through the heart of Richmond's CBD, a change from last year's 1.5 km circuit just outside the downtown area. The elite men will do 50 laps for a total of 100 km, while the women will compete over half that distance.

This year's CapTech Classic will be the first even in the inaugural World Cycling Series, and will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.

Cyclist dies after ramming truck

35 year old cyclist Jeffry John Harrington, from Fort Gratiot, MI, USA, died on Monday morning, April 26 after colliding with a parked truck, The Times Herald reported. The accident happened on Lakeshore Road, Burtchville at approximately 7:00 am, when Harrington hit the back of a removal van that was parked at the edge of the road with its four-way flashers on. Harrington died at the scene before he could be taken to hospital.

He is survived by his wife, Dawn, and children Baylee, Brandon and Brooke. His funeral will take place at 11:00 am on Thursday, April 29 at the Colonial Woods Missionary Church, and he will be buried in Lakeside Cemetery.

Previous News     Next News

(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2004)