First Edition Cycling News for April 6, 2004Edited by Jeff Jones Tears for Museeuw
Johan Museeuw's last Ronde van Vlaanderen was an emotional experience for the "Lion of Flanders", who finished 15th in Ninove. "When I saw so many banners on the side of the road, it was too much for me," he was quoted by VRT. "Fantastic, thank you everyone! I was riding sometimes with tears in the eyes. But through my glasses, no-one noticed it." Museeuw described the Ronde as one of the strangest he had ever ridden. "I've ridden here 17 times but what happened today, I've never encountered before. The early break with so many riders and without a real big name made it strange. And it was also strange that it was so long before one of the favourites made a real attack. That actually shows what I said last Friday at the press conference, namely that there is no-one at the moment in the peloton who really stands out." "For myself it was perhaps disappointing that our group closed the gap so late on the Muur. Then I sat a little too far back. But granted, my explosivity is not what it used to be. Still I'm satisfied that I could play an important role at 38. And as far as the team is concerned: Boonen and Bettini will win here one day." A minute's silence for Briek SchotteOn Wednesday before the start of Gent-Wevelgem, the peloton will observe a minute's silence for Briek Schotte, the Belgian legend who passed away on Sunday, aged 84. Schotte won the race in 1950 and 1955, and organiser Bernard Langedock said that, "This is the least we can do for such a monument." Teams for Gent - WevelgemQuick.Step-Davitamon will start Wednesday's Gent-Wevelgem with Tom Boonen and Johan Museeuw, but without Paolo Bettini, who crashed in this race last year. The full team is: Laszlo Bodrogi, Tom Boonen, Davide Bramati, Wilfried Cretskens, Kevin Hulsmans, Servais Knaven, Johan Museeuw and Nick Nuyens. Chocolade Jacques will start Gent-Wevelgem with Gerben Löwik, who crashed and suffered bruised buttocks in Sunday's Ronde van Vlaanderen. It's expected that he will be OK to ride by Wednesday. The full team: Igor Abakoumov, Michael Blanchy, Bert Hiemstra, Jans Koerts, Gerben Löwik, Chris Peers, Francesco Planckaert and Geert Verheyen. Landbouwkrediet-Colnago will take Ludovic Capelle, Geert Van Bondt, Yuri Metlushenko, Tony Bracke, Johan Verstrepen, Lorenzo Bernucci, Thomas Vaitkus and Maxime Monfort to Gent-Wevelgem. Ludo Dierckxsens, who crashed and broke his collarbone in this race last year, will skip it and instead concentrate on Paris-Roubaix. Latest UCI rankingsThe status quo has more or less been maintained in the latest release of the UCI rankings. Erik Zabel (T-Mobile) still sits atop the men's individual rankings with 2282 points, ahead of Alessandro Petacchi (2147) and Paolo Bettini (2102). Lance Armstrong has moved up a couple of places ahead of Gilberto Simoni and Davide Rebellin, thanks to his podium performance in Criterium International. Ronde van Vlaanderen winner Steffen Wesemann (T-Mobile) jumped up from 86th to 44th, while Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (90th - 46th) and George Hincapie (135th - 70th) also made big moves. In the women's rankings, Mirjam Melchers (Farm Frites-Hartol) is looking stronger on top of the table in front of World Champion Susanne Ljungskog (SATS) and Judith Arndt (Nürnberger). Women's Ronde winner Zoulfia Zabirova (Let's Go Finland) moved up from 15th to 9th. In the teams rankings, Rabobank and CSC still hold the top two men's spots, although T-Mobile jumped a few places to move into 3rd. Of the women's teams, SATS is still number one, although Nürnberger and Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan are not far behind.
UCI Rankings as of April 4, 2004Elite men 1 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 2282.75 pts 2 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2147.00 3 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick.Step-Davitamon 2102.00 4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1817.00 5 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service presented by Berry Fl 1684.00 6 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco 1622.00 7 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner 1574.00 8 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 1493.50 9 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1409.00 10 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 1327.00 11 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 1259.20 12 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 1258.00 13 Igor Astarloa (Spa) Cofidis, le credit par Telephone 1210.00 14 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 1201.75 15 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Lampre 1199.00 16 Isidro Nozal Vega (Spa) Liberty Seguros 1165.00 17 Francisco Mancebo Perez (Spa) Illes Balears-Banesto 1121.00 18 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Nobili Rubinetterie 1107.00 19 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 1046.60 20 Baden Cooke (Aus) FDJeux.com 1036.00 Elite Women 1 Mirjam Melchers (Ned) Team Farm Frites-Hartol 774.50 pts 2 Susanne Ljungskog (Swe) Team S.A.T.S. 715.50 3 Judith Arndt (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 617.00 4 Nicole Cooke (GBr) Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan 535.00 5 Edita Pucinskaite (Ltu) S.C. Michela Fanini Record Rox 457.00 6 Joane Somarriba Arrola (Spa) Bizkaia-Panda Software-Durango 401.00 7 Oenone Wood (Aus) 382.00 8 Anita Valen (Nor) Team S.A.T.S. 343.50 9 Zoulfia Zabirova (Rus) Team Let's Go Finland 321.10 10 Regina Schleicher (Ger) Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan 301.00 11 Lyne Bessette (Can) 295.00 12 Nicole Brändli (Swi) S.C. Michela Fanini Record Rox 282.00 13 Diana Ziliute (Ltu) Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan 259.00 14 Olivia Gollan (Aus) 257.50 15 Olga Zabelinskaia (Rus) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 248.40 16 Geneviève Jeanson (Can) Equipe Cycliste Rona 241.00 17 Sara Carrigan (Aus) 212.30 18 Olga Slyusareva (Rus) Nobili Rubinetterie-Guerciotti 197.40 19 Trixi Worrack (Ger) Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 176.00 20 Deirdre Demet-Barry (USA) T-Mobile Professional Cycling Team 174.00 Teams Men's Division I 1 Rabobank 2253.00 pts 2 Team CSC 2094.00 3 T-Mobile Team 1772.00 4 Quick.Step-Davitamon 1613.00 5 Cofidis, le credit par Telephone 1453.00 6 US Postal Service presented by Berry Floor 1419.00 7 Gerolsteiner 1296.00 8 Fassa Bortolo 1276.00 9 Saunier Duval-Prodir 1113.00 10 Lotto-Domo 1072.00 Men's Division II 1 Domina Vacanze 901.00 pts 2 Kelme-Costa Blanca 841.00 3 Ceramiche Panaria-Margres 498.00 4 Colombia-Selle Italia 393.00 5 Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 391.00 6 Team Barloworld-Androni Giocattoli 334.00 7 L.A.-Pecol 275.00 8 Costa De Almeria-Paternina 227.00 9 Cafes Baque 178.00 10 Vlaanderen-T Interim 146.00 Women 1 Team S.A.T.S. 1298.00 pts 2 Equipe Nürnberger Versicherung 1212.40 3 Safi-Pasta Zara Manhattan 1207.00 4 Team Farm Frites-Hartol 1051.00 5 S.C. Michela Fanini Record Rox 929.50 6 Team Let's Go Finland 543.10 7 Nobili Rubinetterie-Guerciotti 512.80 8 T-Mobile Professional Cycling Team 508.00 9 Bizkaia-Panda Software-Durango 402.00 10 USC Chirio Forno d'Asolo 315.00 Full rankings: Elite Men, Elite Women, Teams, Nations Riis defends his teamBy Jeff Jones
In a press statement released Last week, CSC team manager Bjarne Riis expressed his opinion on the Jesus Manzano revelations, which have been both praised and condemned by different parts of the cycling community. Riis said that it was "frustrating" to have to constantly deal with these scandals, when the sport of professional cycling is suffering from an image problem and difficulties in finding sponsors. Riis knows this all too well, as he has been forced to let star riders (like Tyler Hamilton) go to other teams, mainly because the money isn't available in Denmark hold onto them. Interviewed before the Ronde van Vlaanderen last Saturday, Riis told Cyclingnews that his statement wasn't motivated by anger. "Angry? No. I felt I had to say something and express my opinion. We have to get rid of it [doping] and we hope others will take the same stance," he said. Team CSC has itself been accused of doping, after it swept all before it in the Tour of Med, Paris-Nice and Criterium International so far this season. But Riis didn't think that people were saying these things merely to upset the team. "To say something you need a reason and proof," he said. "It's easy to say good results come from doping, but it shouldn't be that way. The team leaders should take it more seriously and think about the consequences of what they say and don't say. I see it far too often. We have a very beautiful sport. It's popular, but the big companies keep waiting because of all this." Asked about what he thought of Jesus Manzano's comments, Riis said, "I don't care. It's very awful if what he is saying is true. But is he telling the truth or is Kelme telling the truth? I shouldn't judge about these things. It's every single person's responsibility. I take responsibility for myself and my team, not everyone else." Riis added that he is not sure what the sport's governing body, the UCI has to do to get rid of doping. "I don't know. It's a hard job. They can't save the world but the most important thing is that they're doing something. They have to do whatever they can to make the sport as clean as possible." As for his own team, "I can't guarantee that everyone is clean, but they know the rules in our team. We control our riders and we can't do any more than that. I do the best I can to make them as fast as possible. Good training, good material and good supervision. If somebody is 'digging too deep in the box' then I guarantee they are doing it 100 percent of their own accord." Leblanc: Cofidis and Kelme differentTour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has reiterated his organisation's position on the cases of Kelme and Cofidis, two teams which are under the doping spotlight at the moment. After the recent revelations of ex-Kelme rider Jesus Manzano, who claimed he was not solely responsible for his own doping, Leblanc opted to exclude Kelme from the Tour, as well as any other events organised by ASO. In any case, Kelme had only been granted a provisional invitation, subject to its sorting out its financial affairs. Cofidis has also been involved in a doping affair, with ex-rider Philippe Gaumont admitting that he had used performance enhancing drugs during his time with the team, and other riders now being questioned in court. If anything, the Cofidis case is more extensive than the more recent Kelme affair. However, Cofidis has automatically qualified for the Tour and will not be excluded, according to Leblanc. "If Cofidis had been on the list of invited teams, doubtless we would have reflected and we could have taken a prudent decision," Leblanc told L'Equipe. "If grave faults reveal themselves, we would act, but that is not the case now." "I'm discovering things, some are frightening, some are old, some appear to me to be fuzzy. For the moment, we have few elements of certitude," finished Leblanc. Reinerink may return in Veenendaal-VeenendaalDutch rider Rik Reinerink (Jacques), who cracked his shoulder blade whilst training two weeks ago, hopes to be back racing soon. His team management has planned his re-entry for Veenendaal-Veenendaal on Friday, April 16.
(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2004) |
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