First Edition Cycling News for February 10, 2005

Edited by Hedwig Kröner and John Stevenson

Ullrich ill in Tuscany

Jan Ullrich at the 2004 Tour of Switzerland
Photo ©: Reuters

Jan Ullrich has been forced to step off the bike in his training camp in Tuscany, Italy. The German has been ill with a cold since Monday and is taking antibiotics, T-Mobile's website reports. Ullrich has been known as being susceptible to colds in early season preparations. "He will continue his training programme as soon as he's back on his feet," said T-Mobile manager Olaf Ludwig.

Manzano case dropped

Madrid judge María Antonia Torres Díez-Madroñero has dropped the case involving ex-Kelme rider Jesús Manzano due to lack of evidence. Manzano has been making serious doping allegations against his former team since Spring last year, and the Spanish Cycling Federation had transferred the case to court.

During the judge's investigation, former pros Pedro Diaz Lobato and Dario Gadeo gave evidence, as well as team manager Vincente Belda and the team's former doctors Walter Viru, Eufemiano Fuentes, Alfredo Cordova and Gerardo Villa. According to Spanish sports newspaper Marca, the case has been dropped because it had reached a dead end, where missing evidence made the case's documentation worthless. Mutual accusations were all that remained.

Manzano, meanwhile, maintains that systematic doping existed at Kelme, and has declared to Marca that he "knew this would happen. But I will continue to fight to get more people to testify. I will appeal the decision within the next six days."

Bayley out of track world's

Australian track sprinter and dual Olympic gold medallist Ryan Bayley will not be racing at the track world championships in Los Angeles next month after tests revealed a crack in his scapula bone in the back of his shoulder. This along with the two broken ribs he also sustained in a crash in Rockhampton in January has put him out of action for several weeks, ending his hopes of competing in Los Angeles.

Sean Eadie, the 2002 track sprint world champion and famous beard-wearer is also out of action, withdrawing from the Australian track championships, currently being held in Adelaide, South Australia, with a back injury.

Wish me luck: Wismilak's 10 year plan

Wismilak at the Tour de Langkawi
Photo ©: Cyclingnews

While teams like the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team used the Tour de Langkawi as a warm-up race to gain form and race fitness, others took the race far more seriously. Wismilak (pronounced wish-me-luck) fell into the latter group, and as Anthony Tan discovered, Indonesia's one and only professional cycling team has a 10-year plan of making it into the big time.

The tension at the start was palpable. It was a cloudy day, but being the dry season in Malaysia, there was no escape from the heat.

There was also no way out for the 129 riders left in the race, who were about to tackle the hardest stage of the 10th edition of the Tour de Langkawi, a 97.9 kilometre leg from Kuala Kubu Bahru to Genting Highlands. The 17 kilometre, 1716 metre ascent to Genting invariably decides the ultimate winner, so it was no surprise to see nervous chatter among riders, teams and the media.

Maybe it was nervous energy that led to Wismilak's Tonton Susanto attacking from the base of the climb the year before, staying away until five or six kilometres to go. "With Tonton, we've had to hold him back," says director Scott Guyton about his team's strategy for the day. "We've told him this year, he can't do anything until three k to go. We've told him to let the big boys play; if he can follow them, then that's great."

Click here for the full article.

T-Mobile, Fassa and Discovery for Ruta del Sol

Starting next Sunday, February 13, the fifth edition of the Vuelta a Andalucia, also known as the Ruta del Sol will take the professional peloton from Benalmádena to Chiclana de la Frontera by February 17, covering a little more than 800 km. German team T-Mobile is using the Spanish stage race to shape up its Classics riders, and Fassa Bortolo is sending its best sprint train to go for stage wins. All in all, the riders will tackle 12 categorised mountains during the race: three Cat. 1, two Cat. 2 and seven Cat. 3 climbs. Discovery Channel will also be participating in the event, sending "Triki" Beltran as team leader for general classification.

Racing the Ruta del Sol 2005 will be:

T-Mobile: Rolf Aldag, Sergey Ivanov, Andreas Klier, Stephan Schreck, Oscar Sevilla, Steffen Wesemann and Erik Zabel.

Fassa Bortolo: Andrus Aug, Fabio Baldato, Fabian Cancellara, Alberto Ongarato, Alessandro Petacchi, Roberto Petito, Matteo Tosatto.

Discovery Channel: Manolo Beltran, George Hincapie, Viatcheslaw Ekimov, Max Van Heeswijk, Benoit Joachim, Stijn Devolver and Leif Hoste.

Wiggins & Six-day stars to ride Revolution 8

Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins will head an all-star line-up of top Six-day riders at the final round of the Revolution track series at Manchester Velodrome on February 26. Other top riders scheduled to appear include Franco Marvulli and Bruno Risi, with organizers promising more famous names to be announced over the coming weeks.

In the Madison - expected to be the evening's highlight - Wiggins will be paired with Tony Gibb rather than his usual partner Rob Hayles, while Hayles will team up with new road team mate Chris Newton. Risi and Marvulli will make up one of four international pairings and three international riders are also promised for the sprint events.

Hayles for one is looking forward to it. "It's a great way to finish off the Revolution season," he said. "It's been brilliant being able to ride at the events this winter and I'm a bit disappointed to have missed Revolution 7 which sounded great, but I reckon 8's going to top it anyway! Not riding with Bradley in the Madison is going to be interesting, Chris and I are set to try and rip some legs off though so it should be good…as long as I stay on the bike!"

For more information see www.cyclingrevolution.com.

Sports marketing award for Gerolsteiner

The German mineral water company Gerolsteiner Brunnen was awarded the "Sports Marketing 2005" silver award for its cycling sponsorship on Wednesday, February, 9. The award presented jointly by Sponsors magazine and a European sponsorship network, Europäische Sponsoring-Börse (ESB). The vote took place on the Sponsors website, with readers being asked which sports sponsorship concept pleased them most.

Tyler Hamilton Foundation launches Online auction

The Tyler Hamilton Foundation has announced an online auction to raise money for multiple sclerosis and youth cycling. The auction is live at www.thfgala.cmarket.com from Wednesday, February to March 3 with new items added daily.

Anyone can log on and support the foundation with bids on vacations, sports gear and other offerings, such as a dinner for four at the home of Tyler Hamilton and his wife, Haven, with Tour of Italy champion Andy Hampsten as chef, a 7-night trip to Hawaii or a coaching session with 2-time Ironman winner Tim DeBoom.

Ford-Basis announces 2006 line-up

The Ford-Basis Women's Cycling Team has officially announced its roster for the 2006 season. Yes, two thousand and six. "I realized how late I was in posting our 2005 Ford-Basis team announcement, so I decided to be the first to post a 2006 announcement," said team director, Nicole Freedman. "This legally binds our sponsors to another season, correct?"

2000 US Olympian and 2-time US National Champion, Freedman continues to mentor the developing squad. "..and this is how to wear a training bra," she has been heard to encourage after a race. In 2004, Freedman posted five NRC victories including the Cascade Classic Twilight Criterium, the Atlanta WCCC 10k and a stage of the Valley of the Sun Road Race.

Also returning is the rider formerly known as Kristin Johnson, now Kristin Danielson. A two time collegiate mountain bike national champion, Danielson capped off her first road season with a 4th place finish in the Estes Park Time Trial. Danielson recently married professional cyclist, Tom Danielson who races for Lance Armstrong's Discovery Team. "I am so glad to have Tom on board, so I can get climbing tips from Kristin," said Armstrong. "Okay, I made that quote up," admitted Freedman.

Equally electrifying, Kele Hulser (Seattle, WA) is marrying an engineer. She raced well too.

Chrissy Ruiter (Durango, CO), 14th at the Olympic Trials Road Race, 5 NRC podium spots in her first season, 5'9" 105lb, blonde, all her own front teeth, single is currently accepting proposals. Applicants must earn over 6 figures, not including the decimal point and have at least 12 letters and/or numbers following their names (e.g: John Smith III, MD PHD…)

Rounding out the team, but not literally, are:

Lauren Gaffney (Nasvhille, TN) Collegiate National Road Champion, 2003
Alisha Little, (Holly Springs, North Carolina) 4th Tour of the Gila criterium, 2004
Marissa Asplund (Durango, CO) 1st Overall Tour of the Gila, Cat 3/4, 2004

In 2004 the Basis team won 5 NRC events and earned 15 podium spots. The logical next step, the team has decided to win every single NRC stage, one-day race and general classification in 2005. As a secondary goal, "I would really like to see at least one rider move somewhere where it is possible to ride in the winter… and subsequently take over the house and relocate the entire team there," says one rider wishing to remain anonymous.

Feel free to visit www.ford-basiscycling.com.

Freedman gets fishy

Nicole "fish-face" Freedman

Meanwhile, in other Team Basis news, Freedman has announced a radical new look. After thinking about it for 2+ solid years, the Basis leader decided to get a full-facial tattoo that combined the markings of several species of tropical saltwater fish: the mahogany snapper, the queen angelfish, and the queen triggerfish . Although Freedman finds she is frequently asked why she got a permanent face mask that makes children explode into tears when she puts on helmet safety clinics at schools, she says the decision was an easy one: because of her "love and respect for saltwater fish."

"Tropical saltwater fish are beautiful creatures and they roam underwater in complete tranquility - they are at one with their oceanic environment," said freedman, further noting that, "racing a criterium is a lot like swimming around a saltwater reef waiting for a great white shark to attack...and then at the last second swimming out of the way quickly so one of your teammates can be swallowed up instead." For Freedman, the nexus between her tattoo and winning races will be a significant motivating factor this season - not only for herself, but for her teammates and sponsors as well.

University of Colorado names coach

The University of Colorado cycling team has named Ainslie MacEachran to serve as its head coach for the 2005 season. MacEachran brings 20 years of racing experience to the team and spent four years as a collegiate cyclist at rival Colorado State University. As a collegiate cyclist, MacEachran rode in three Collegiate National Championships, finishing fifth in the team time trial in 1995. The Buffaloes, Team Overall National Champions in 2000 and Women's Team Time Trial Champions in 2004, are in pursuit of becoming 2005 Collegiate National Champions. They will be focusing on team tactics and fine tuning of their team time trial.

For more information on the CU Buffaloes, visit www.cucycling.com.
Learn more about Ainslie MacEachran at www.geminitrainingsystem.com.

NYC team looking for riders

Amino Vital has announced the formation of a New York City based cycling team for 2005. Amino Vital, an amino acid based sports supplement product, is committed to the sport of cycling and helping cyclist's achieve their full potential. The team will be a cat 2/3 team competing in all of the NYC races as well as al of the big New England classics.

As a number of roster spots remain open, any interested riders should send their race resumes along with a 2005 race schedule to aminovitalcycling@gmail.com.

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