First Edition Cycling News for January 20, 2006Edited by John Stevenson Genevieve Jeanson banned for lifeBy Rob Jones
Canadian cyclist Genevieve Jeanson has received a lifetime ban from the US Anti-Doping Agency after testing positive for EPO at the prologue of the Tour de Toona in July 2005, according to reports from Montreal's La Presse newspaper. The positive result from Toona would officially be her second, after Jeanson failed to report for a doping test at the Fleche Wallonne World Cup in 2004. While she did not test positive there, failure to appear counts as a positive. Jeanson denied doping, but told La Presse that she was retiring from cycling, even though she plans to fight to clear her name. "It's over," she said. "I don't want anything to do with cycling. I'm tired of fighting and repeating that I have never taken EPO or any banned substance." Jeanson and her lawyer suggested that she had produced a rare 'false positive', like recently vindicated Belgian triathlete Rutger Beke (see Serious concerns over urinary EPO test). Jeanson's defence also drew attention to the negative result of a test 60 hours after the Toona prologue. The first test (both A and B samples) showed extremely high levels of EPO and the second none, which Jeanson's lawyer argued was impossible. The US Anti-Doping Agency has jurisdiction over Jeanson's case because she holds a US license following a battle with the Quebec federation (FQSC) after the 2003 Worlds in Hamilton, when she was not allowed to start the road race due to an elevated haematocrit level (she passed subsequent doping tests). UCI & sponsors call for Grand Tour 'peace talks'After two days of meetings in Geneva on Wednesday and Thursday, the UCI, the ProTour teams and their sponsors have issued a joint declaration calling for peace talks between the UCI ProTour and the organisers of cycling's three major tours, the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana. In a statement issued by the UCI, the organisation, teams and sponsors proposed, "a round table in which they would participate, as well as the organisers holding a UCI ProTour license, the representatives of the riders, the UCI and the organisers of the three major tours." "The aim of this round table will be to put an end to the current conflict as of the beginning of the season and to organise together the development and the continuity of the UCI ProTour, to which the sponsors as well as the teams give their support." While the UCI has enlisted the support of the teams and their sponsors for its ProTour series, it has been unable to convince the organisers of the grand tours to participate on its terms. Without them the ProTour would lack one-day Classics such as Paris-Roubaix and Liege-Bastogne-Liege (organised by Tour de France owner ASO) and Milan-SanRemo (organised by the Giro promoter RCS) and stage races such as ASO's Paris-Nice and RCS' Tirreno-Adriatico, as well as the three grand tours.
Cyclingnews' recent coverage of the ProTour-Grand Tours split
October 4, 2008 - New ASO chief to maintain values Cyclingnews' complete coverage of the ProTour-Grand Tours split Rogers & Ullrich to ride the GiroBy Susan Westemeyer T-Mobile newcomer, world time trial champion Michael Rogers plans on riding the Giro d'Italia this year. "I have discussed the decision with all the team directors and decided to insert the corsa rosa in my program for 2006," he told www.bicirace.com. "The prologue in Seraing and the time trial stage in Ponedera are very much suited to my style," he said. "Plus there are some medium mountain stages. I think I am in the position to play a role in the overall classification, even though the last week has a very hard profile." In an interview on cicloweb.it, T-Mobile directeur sportif Giovanni Fidanza confirmed that not only Rogers, but Jan Ullrich will take part in this year's Giro. "Of course Jan will be there," he said, though Ullrich will, "only participate to prepare for the Tour." Sergey Honchar will also line up, Fidanza said, but none of the team's Italian riders are currently rostered to take part, though Daniele Nardello remains a possibility. "The rest of the team will be made up of our young riders, who are looking for experience." Team spokesman Luuc Eisenga originally said, "Michael would like to ride the Giro. We're only in January now and it's a long time until May. At some point before then the team will decide whether it can fulfil Michael's wishes," but later confirmed to Cyclingnews that "normally he will ride" the Giro. US trade teams and Commonwealth countries target LA track World CupBy Rob Jones The third round of the Track World Cup will start today in Los Angeles, the site of the 2005 world championships. After two rounds in Europe (Moscow and Manchester), the series has moved to the U.S. west coast, before heading to Sydney for the final round. For Commonwealth Games countries, the event provides one of the few remaining opportunities to compete internationally before the Games get underway in Melbourne, in March. Australia has sent a strong contingent, including double Olympic gold medalist and 2001 keirin world champion Ryan Bayley, multiple kilo world champion Shane Kelly, reigning World Cup series kilo champion Ben Kersten, Oceania Keirin champion Kerrie Meares and multi-talented road and track rider Rochelle Gilmore. New Zealand has also named a large squad: Anthony Chapman, Jason Allen, Sam Bewley, Richard Bowker, Matthew Haydock, Darren Shea, Dale Tye and Jo Kiesanowski. Canada will be using the Los Angeles World Cup for final Games team selection. Depending upon results, the Canadian team will either name 1-2 male endurance track athletes, or more road riders (to a total team of 19 riders). One gaping hole in the Canadian squad will be the absence of Olympic sprint champion Lori-Ann Muenzer, who has taken a year off from competition. For the host Americans this will be the first time that U.S. trade teams will participate in a Track World Cup, with TIAA-CREF and Spike joining the national squad. Spike will field former medal winner Jennie Reed, while TIAA-CREF brings road pros Michael Creed and Danny Pate. "The way [the U.S. national team, Spike and TIAA-CREF] have been able to work together as we approach this event is a good sign of things to come," said Pat McDonough, director of Track Programs for USA Cycling. Racing begins Friday morning with the women's sprint and men's keirin preliminary rounds, and concludes Sunday afternoon with the Madison, women's keirin and team sprint. The Los Angeles round of the track World Cup series will be held at the ADT Event Center at The Home Depot Center in Carson, CA. As well as the high-quality Australian team, the LA round will host the largest ever contingent of U.S. riders at a World Cup. For tickets, call 1-877-AEGTICKETS (877-234-8425) or visit www.aeggrouptickets.com or www.ticketmaster.com. UCI approves five Pro Continental teams for 2006The UCI has announced that it has processed and approved the applications of five of six Professional Continental squads for the 2006 season. Three Spanish teams (Andalucia-Paul Versan, Comunidad Valenciana and Relax-GAM), one Italian (Team Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi) and one Austrian (Elk Haus-Simplon) should be approved for licenses after the UCI Road Commission and the governing body's auditors Ernst & Young favourably reviewed these applications. However, Italian team Naturino-Sapore Di Mare's Professional Continental application was not approved by the UCI Road Commission and would be put on hold until additional documents are produced that satisfy UCI Road Commission requirements for Continental Pro teams. (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2006) |
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