Latest Cycling News for February 25, 2004

Edited by Jeff Jones

Boonen and Museeuw reacquaint themselves with Het Volk

Taking advantage of the good weather conditions on Tuesday (it's snowing in Belgium on Wednesday), members of the Quick.Step-Davitamon team rode over most of the parcours of the Omloop Het Volk, which is scheduled for this Saturday. "Just as much to test the equipment and legs as to get used to the Flemish roads again," said Tom Boonen, who is regarded as one of the favourites. "Last year I showed myself in the Omloop Het Volk, this year I have a new engagement."

Johan Museeuw, who has been suffering from diarrhoea and stomach problems the Spanish races, is improving, and did not have any problems with the training ride. "I still rode the race," he said of the Ruta del Sol. "I came out of it better, but I am not yet at the top of my form."

Team director Wilfried Peeters thinks that Het Volk will unfold differently to 2003, when Quick.Step had four riders in the top five. Peeters considers Peter van Petegem (Lotto-Domo) and the T-Mobile, Cofidis and Rabobank teams to be the main threats.

Landbouwkrediet caught in a snowstorm

The Landbouwkrediet-Colnago team's planned reconnaissance of the Het Volk parcours on Wednesday had to be cut short due to a snowstorm that hit them before the Muur van Geraardsbergen. The team's intention was to ride the final section of the parcours, but when the storm hit they headed home as quickly as possible.

U.S. Postal confident

The U.S. Postal presented by Berry Floor team is confident of a solid classics season, with George Hincapie, Max van Heeswijk and new signing Stijn Devolder all in form. Van Heeswijk and Devolder will carry out their reconnaissance of Het Volk today, although the team as a whole will not conduct a group training session.

Team director Dirk Demol explained that, "Most of our riders will come to Belgium on Thursday. To train fast on Friday would not be that smart. Besides, our preparation has all been done."

Botero puts 2003 behind him

Colombian Santiago Botero (T-Mobile) is looking forward to being back to his best in 2004, after a fairly lacklustre season last year. The 31 year old's main objectives will be the Tour de France in July, where he will try and help Jan Ullrich win, and the Olympic Games in August, where he is a strong candidate for the gold medal in the time trial.

"I have recharged my batteries, as they say," Botero told Todociclismo. "I've forgotten the previous bad season where injuries and illnesses forced me to give up many of the goals I had set myself, including the Tour de France and World Championships, due to a strange virus. I have not lost the motivation, although several things have changed in my life. I moved house and now live in Madrid, in Las Rozas, I changed my preparation and the team has recovered Jan Ullrich."

"The German team contracted me to try and fill the hole left by Jan Ullrich and things didn't go well," said Botero. "Neither for me nor for him. I think that this year everything will change and the best thing is that with his coming on board, I will have less responsibility in the big tours. I believe that we form a good trio, since the Kazakh Alexandre Vinokourov has made it clear that he is also a rider for the long stage races. There is a place for everyone. The American Lance Armstrong...is the rival to beat."

Botero added that his training plan has seen him cover less kilometres than in the past. "I did nearly two months of rides of two and three hours, but without forcing it. The Vuelta Comunidad Valenciana is my season debut and I don't think I will be fighting for a podium position [Botero finished 33rd, in the front group, in stage 1]. Subsequently I will do Paris-Nice."

French and Spanish sports ministers discuss anti-doping

Jean-François Lamour and Juan Antonio Gómez-Angulo, who are respectively the French and Spanish Ministers of Sport, have met in Paris to discuss anti-doping measures, paying particular regard to the Tour de France and the Vuelta España. Lamour will also meet his Italian counterpart, Mario Pescante, in a similar vein.

In a communiqué, Lamour stated that the two ministries agreed to commence a series of "national initiatives relating to the running of the Tour de France and the Vuelta, and other cycling races." They will put in place "a mechanism of consultation and bilateral information that will meet regularly to better coordinate the fight against doping and the traffic of prohibited substances."

Other points of note are the requirements of teams to have officially accredited soigneurs, and an expected increase in the number of surprise drug tests in Spain before the Olympics.

Tour de 'Toona looks forward to a big year

Grand plans for the future

By Kristy Scrymgeour

The International Tour de 'Toona, scheduled for July 26-August 1 this year, is back on an even keel after problems that surfaced last year involving allegations that former race director, Kirk Leidy, had been involved in the embezzlement of money from the race organisation. Rick Geist, who was one of the four people who started the race back in 1985 and later became the race promoter, told Cyclingnews that in fact, "last year the race was the smoothest it has been since we started the event and Larry Bilotto [current race director] has done a great job of keeping us on track."

Geist, who is a member of the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania, was introduced to the sport of cycling for rehabilitation, after a near fatal ultralight crash many years ago. He became so addicted to cycling that he eventually entered a race on his Fuji touring bike and decided it was such a good sport that he should develop a race of his own.

"We introduced the race to the city of Altoona in during the dog days of summer to bring tourist money into the region," said Geist. "For the first two years we were not a part of the USCF, and after that we started working with the federation. I really got hooked on the sport as a promoter and we had all the right chemistry to grow. From a one day crit to the now seven days of the International Tour de 'Toona we have grown each and every year."

One thing that attracts many riders in the US is not only the large prize purse, but also the fact that there is equal prize money for men and women. The organisers pride themselves on making this a race that features women first and foremost. "Very early on we started to feature women and found that there were only a few promoters who even wanted to bother to have women in their races," explained Geist. "We were the first big event to have equal money and equal courses and over the years it has worked very well."

What the race organization really aims to achieve each year is to create a race that is "the very best event for all categories in the USA and to make any and all racers feel that they are all special. For women in particular, we would like to be the premiere event in the world, and the race that all elite racers and teams want to be tested on."

With courses designed to be tough [speaking from experience after having lived and trained and raced in Altoona in 2001 - KS], this race is perfect for an international field, which is exactly what the organisation is aiming for it to be. "This year, with the race being the last big race before the Olympic Games in Athens, we hope to have the best field ever," said Geist, "And in the future we would hope that we could extend the race to ten days and be a world test for men and women with a purse of six figures for each group."

The courses are also designed to have something for everyone. "The Johnstown course is for the sprinters, and has been a bunch sprint each year for both men and women," said Geist. "Our course from Johnstown to Altoona is a World Cup type of course and is not for the faint of heart. And then there is the day that sticks in most people's minds and involves lots of climbing featuring the climb to Blue Knob within a 100 mile (160km) point-to-point road race. As well as this, the races are set in and around some of the most beautiful farms in America. The Amish and other sects come out in their Sunday finest to watch the race."

Even with the hard climbing, there have been times where the race has been decided in the final criterium in downtown Altoona. "No one will ever forget Eve Stevenson beating Alison Dunlap by one second after seven days of racing a few years back," remembered Geist.

As in past years, the organisation not only concentrates on the elite races, but also puts on races for other categories. This year the race expands to include a category 5 race. "We will have over 900 cyclists for all the categories throughout the week," said Geist.

The community gets involved in the Tour de 'Toona as well: Families in the area host teams and over 1000 community members come out on the days of racing to work at the race and make it run smoothly and safely.

Geist agrees, commenting that this is what has really made the race successful. "From the evening of the last day of racing for the next 365 days, all parts of the committee work on their area to make improvements for the next race," said Geist. "Folks who host racers seem to bond with these young riders and you see them all week long, taking good care of their second families. In an area that elevates local athletes and is famous for producing football stars, our community has really taken to the racers who comes from all over the world and they in turn see our warm and open lifestyle."

U.S. National Trials series announced

USA Cycling has announced a national trials series in conjunction with the 2004 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series and the American Mountain Bike Challenge (AMBC) calendar. The series returns after a five year absence to give the nation's best trials riders a season long competition.

The 2004 U.S. National Trials Series begins at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear Lake, California on May 22-23 and will consist of five events culminating with the series finals in Durango, Colorado, August 27-29. Along the same lines of the 2004 NORBA National Mountain Bike Series, trials athletes will also compete in a stand-alone U.S. National Championship scheduled for September 23-26 in Mammoth, California.

The second stop on the series will be held outside the confines of a competitive mountain biking venue in the South Colorado Indoor Expo Center in Colorado Springs on May 31. The third event in the series, at Mt. Snow, Vermont, will act as a selection event for the World Championships this autumn in Les Gets, France.

The series will be organised by J.P. Sickler, who has acted as the trials coordinator for USA Cycling since 1999.

2004 U.S. National Trials Series schedule

Round 1 - May 22-23: Snow Summit Resort, Big Bear Lake, California
Round 2 - May 31: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Round 3 (selection race) - June 18-20: Mt. Snow Resort, West Dover, Vermont
Round 4 - July 16-18: Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival, Eureka Springs, Arkansas
Round 5 (series finals) - August 27-29: Durango Mountain Resort, Durango, Colorado
U.S. National Trials Championships - September 23-26: Mammoth Mountain Resort, California

Previous News    Next News

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