Latest Cycling News for June 14, 2007Edited by Gregor Brown and Bjorn Haake Matxin denies communication of Mayo's Giro test resultsBy Antonio J. Salmerón
The three riders who produced 'non-negative' results during the three-week Giro d'Italia were Spaniard Iban Mayo and Italians Alessandro Petacchi and Leonardo Piepoli. For the Spaniard from the Basque country, winner of stage 19 to Comano Terme, the urine sample tested produced high levels of testosterone. The preliminary tests were carried out by the Italian Federal Sports Medicine anti-doping laboratory (FMSI) in Rome. As reported yesterday, the agency is sending samples to a Barcelona lab for further studies, particularly for the evidence of synthetic testosterone. Thursday morning, Basque Joxean 'Matxin' Fernández noted to Cyclingnews that there has not been any official communication from UCI on the subject. "Firstly, I have not talked to anyone from the Spanish daily sport's newspaper AS [that had published Mayo's name - ed.]. The only thing that is true is that I phoned the UCI yesterday for advice on the supposed 'non-negative' of Iban Mayo," said Saunier Duval's Directeur Sportif. "The UCI assured me that there is nothing about him." Matxin noted the existence of a certificate from the UCI that confirms the Spaniard naturally produces high values of testosterone. "We still have not had any notification on the subject," assured Eugenio Bermúdez, General Secretary of the Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC), to AS. It is unlikely that these cyclists are going to be sanctioned. The UCI uses "the non-negative" to define the cases in which a prohibited substance is detected but one that can be used with medical prescription (in the case of Salbutamol for asthmatic purposes) or can be produced in a natural way. Mayo was previously studied before being allowed a certificate for this anomaly. The Spaniard reportedly has had past oscillations of his T/E (Testosterone/Epitestosterone) ratio.
Cyclingnews will cover the 60th edition of
the Dauphiné Libéré live
as of stage 4 on Wednesday, June 10, at approximately 15:00 local Europe
time (CEST)/ 23:00 Australian time (CDT)/ 9:00 (USA East). According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Barcelona lab will study if the Salbutamol found in the test results of Petacchi and Piepoli was inhaled or injected under the skin. Buendía signed with BarbotBy Antonio J. Salmerón Former 3 Molinos Resort member Jesús Buendía has reached a contractual agreement for the rest of the 2007 season with the Portuguese squad Barbot-Halcon, which is led by the veteran Claus Michael Möller. The Spaniard was born in Mula (region of Murcia) in 1982, and made his debut in 2006 with 3 Molinos Resort. From the beginning of this season Buendía was riding for the amateur team Avila-Rojas, and has won the Trofeo Guerrita, a race that is part of the Copa de España as well as the Vuelta a Cartagena. "First I have to show to my director that I am in good enough form to be selected for the team riding in the Volta a Portugal, which is the main goal for us and where Möller will be our leader", Buendia expressed to Cyclingnews.com yesterday. "I am very happy because the most important thing is to return to professional competition again. The truth is that in these hard days for cycling, it has been like a great triumph for me," the Spaniard added. Valverde sees performance positiveAlejandro Valverde finished 1'18" behind Kazakhstan's duo of winner Alexandre Vinokourov and runner-up Andrey Kashechkin, both from the Astana squad, in yesterday's time trial in the Dauphiné Libéré. But he was not unhappy with the time difference, saying that "the gaps are not very important between the other riders who are here to prepare the Tour." He did acknowledge that the two Astana riders "confirmed their possibilities in the time trial." But he also made clear that this was his first long time trial since the Vuelta a España last year and the French race is his first competitive encounter after taking off a few weeks from racing. Valverde went on to say that by analysing the time splits he realized that most of Vinokourov's gains came in the first 17 kilometres. After that he held steady against the strong performance of the Astana leader. Valverde also acknowledged that he doesn't like to warm up too much when the weather is hot. "Maybe I made a mistake [by not warming up too much], but I am happy [with my race] anyway." Kohl "hedging" in the time trial
Team Gerolsteiner's Bernhard Kohl wanted to do as well as possible in the Dauphiné's time trial, to check out his form and his new position. The team reviewed the route in the morning, to know how to ride it best and handle the difficulties it might present. Unfortunately, the little Austrian misinterpreted some of those difficulties. "From the very start I had a good feeling," he wrote on his website, bernhardkohl.at. At the first intermediate timing he was only five seconds down and in the second climb he was even in the lead. But the descent proved to be his downfall. "After viewing the course I thought that I could ride the first curve full out. Well, that wasn't the case. At 60 km/h, I went off the road into a hedge. Thank goodness it was a hedge and not a wall. I came away with light bruises and one little scratch from the plant." His visit into the vegetation cost him "20 to 30 seconds," but he still finished in a respectable 18th place, 2'30" down. Rabobank "more than satisfied"
Team Rabobank was "more than satisfied" with Denis Menchov's ride in Tuesday's Dauphine time trial. "Denis and I had agreed that he would really put himself to the test and that went better than expected," said team manager Erik Breukink. "The upward trend that began in Catalunya is still going on." The Russian finished fifth, not quite 40 seconds behind the winner. "But I think it is weird to say things like 'Denis is at that and that percentage of his abilities.' You cannot determine that. He is just doing fine. He is certainly showing that here," Breukink continued, on the team's website, rabobank.nl. "The Tour de France is coming closer and his form is improving but that also goes for the competition, of course. No one is standing still and that makes it nice to see that Denis is able to compete with the specialists here." The next big test comes in today's stage with its finish atop Mont Ventoux, a climb which Menchov has won twice. . "But just because he won there so impressively last year does not mean he will do it again this time. I do expect Denis to finish in the front, however," Breukink said. Garzelli scores in SloveniaStefano Garzelli (Acqua & Sapone-Caffè Mokambo) scored victory in yesterday's 163-kilometre stage 2 of the Tour of Slovenia. The 33 year-old Italian, winner of the Giro d'Italia stages to Bergamo and Lienz, finished ahead of compatriots Enrico Gasparotto (Liquigas), Paolo Bossoni, Giampaolo Caruso (both Lampre-Fondital) and Massimo Giunti (Miche). The rider from Varese took advantage of the change in gradient in the finale. "I knew that there was a one-kilometre section of seven to eight percent," he said to La Gazzetta dello Sport. He will now aim toward the Italian Road Championships. AIGCP: No Tour for ethics violatorsThe International Association of Professional Cycling teams (AIGCP) met yesterday in Anneyron, the site of stage three of the Dauphiné Libéré, and re-stated the necessity to adhere to the Code of Ethics put in place in 2005. The meeting started with all 19 ProTour teams (Unibet.com was not invited). Discussions were lively according to LePoint.fr, and Bouygues Telecom (Jean-René Bernaudeau) and Cofidis (Eric Boyer) left the meeting before it concluded. The remaining representatives voted unanimously that any of the teams who have not respected the Code of Ethics would not be allowed to race in the Tour de France. The French paper went on to report that if by next Tuesday, when the UCI will meet with AIGCP, Caisse d'Epargne, Saunier Duval and Discovery Channel (due to their riders being allegedly involved Operación Puerto) do not uphold the ethics agreed upon, the other teams will quit the AIGCP and create a parallel association. Three riders implicated in Operación Puerto are said to be collaborating and will provide more details on the Eufemiano Fuentes network. Chadwick plays the tells
New Zealand's Glen Chadwick may be a long way from home racing with his Navigators Insurance Professional Continental team, but that's not stopping him from stamping his mark on the North American racing scene. Cyclingnews' North American Editor Mark Zalewski spoke with the 30 year-old after his stage win in Vallée-Jonction, Québec. It would not be surprising to think that Navigators Insurance's Glen Chadwick lost a bet or ran over director sportif Ed Beamon's dog at some point - at least by the way he races his bike. Seemingly every stage race Chadwick is entered in results in the Kiwi (with a hint of Aussie) setting out in every other breakaway, and often ending up solo on the front. Most of the time the gamble does not pan out, but not for a lack of trying and usually with the finish line in sight. However, today in Vallée-Jonction Chadwick cashed in those times where the line was too far away with a well-earned solo win from a long breakaway. "Luck is starting to go my way maybe?" Chadwick said in response today's win, as well as another recent solo win in Mt. Hood. "I did a lot of work for Phil that day to get that break back. I eventually got across to it but it came back together. Then I just found the right moment when everyone is gasping for air. That is the time to go." Read the full interview. Milram to donate to NADANordmilch AG, sponsor of Team Milram, will donate 150,000 euro to the German national anti-doping agency (NADA), "in order to support the control system," according to Martian Mischel, head of marketing, in an interview on Welt.de. Mischel also acknowledged that the company "has an exit strategy" in place if needed. "If we see that there is damage to our brand names then we will react. The media's opinion isn't as important as that of the consumers." "In Zabel's case, we received a massive positive reaction within 24 hours. They all said: keep him, at least someone is being honest," Mischel said, while emphasizing, "We are against any form of doping. If the Erik Zabel case would have been a more recent one then there wouldn't have been any discussion with him. He would have been thrown out." Volksbank for Tour de SuisseTeam Volksbank is excited and proud about its debut in the Tour de Suisse, starting Saturday. "For the first time, an Austrian team will participate in one of the four prominent tours of the UCI ProTour calendar." The team especially hopes to do well in stages three and four, which go through Austria. "We are well prepared, the riders area ready and know what is coming," said sport director Patrick Vetsch. "We have respect but we are not afraid and we won't hide ourselves." Gerrit Glomser and Florian Stadler are leading the team, but "there is no team order. Everyone will have their chance to meet their own goals," Stadler said. "A stage win is my dream." The Volksbank riders heading to Switzerland are Gerrit Glomser, Andreas Matzbacher, Harald Morscher, Josef Benetseder, Mariusz Witecki, Pascal Hungerbühler, Florian Stalder and René Weissinger. Caisse d'Epargne announces riders for Tour de SuisseCaisse d'Epargne is heading to Switzerland will be under the guidance of José Luis Jaimerena and consists of Vladimir Efimkin, Iván Gutiérrez, Vladimir Karpets, Pablo Lastras, David López García, Alberto Losada, Joaquím Rodríguez and Rubén Plaza. Zabel to help younger ridersErik Zabel is turning his time, attention and money to the future of cycling -- the young riders. "The youngest are the ones who suffer the most from the damage to cycling's image caused by our doping and lying. They have trouble finding money from sponsors." He told the German tabloid BILD that he will donate 100,000 euro "to go directly into the work with the younger riders." He also wants to work closely not only with the young riders on his current Milram ProTour team, but also with the Continental Milram Team, which rides in the Europe Tour. After his EPO confession last month, the sprinter said that the reaction from his colleagues has been mixed. "Some found it good, others say they wouldn't have believed it, others look the other way when they meet me." He reconfirmed that he doped only in 1996. "That is the truth. I lied for 11 years, but not any more." Liquigas camp for kidsThe Liquigas cycling team is offering a camp for kids aged seven to twelve. The focus of the six-day camp is on teaching the kids more about the sport and bicycling in general. The course is limited to 25 children and is taught by professional coaches, staff and professional riders from the ProTour team. In each of the four sessions that are currently scheduled one of the team's top riders will attend. The kids in the first wave that is already under way got to meet with Danilo Di Luca. For the other sessions, Filippo Pozzato, Franco Pellizotti and Murilo Fischer will attend the respective camps to be held in July, August and September. Liquigas's goal with the camp is to offer the ability to learn about the exciting world of cycling in a secure environment. The one-week long "vacation" is held near Treviso. Different disciplines of cycling (road, mountain, cyclo-cross and track) will be explored. Staff includes mechanics, doctors, coaches and entertainers who will make sure the kids don't get bored after the day in the saddle is over. (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2007) |
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