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Edited by Jeff Jones
The transfer season for 2001/2002 has been moderately active this time around, with only 17 riders from the UCI top 100 changing teams. Principal among these was Italian Davide Rebellin, who spent some time as the top ranked rider last year before succumbing to the two Eriks (Zabel and Dekker) to finish in third place. Rebellin's Liquigas team liquidated at the end of 2001, and there was a lot of competition for his signature. Eventually, German team Gerolsteiner managed to snare him and moved themselves up into Division I.
It was once thought that Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni was a sure fire bet to stay at Lampre-Daikin. However, late in the season he began talks with Saeco and eventually accepted their offer. He hopes to gain the Maglia Rosa again this year, and is also aiming at a ride in the Tour de France if Saecois invited.
Dario Frigo (ex-Fassa Bortolo) became the fallen angel of Italian cycling when he was expelled from the Giro d'Italia while in second position, and sacked by his team for being found in possession of illegal drugs. Frigo was suspended from racing for the rest of the year, but kept all of his UCI points, considered the trading commodity of cyclists. He finished the year in a remarkable 11th spot, despite not having raced since early June. Tacconi Sport picked him up towards the end of the season, and he is now their highest ranked rider.
Another late season transfer was American Levi Leipheimer, whose value went up considerably after he finished third in the Vuelta España. The US Postal rider got an offer from Rabobank and it did not take long until the contract was finalised. He will be one of Rabobank's key men in the Grand Tours this year.
The fifth rider in the top 20 to transfer is Raimondas Rumsas, the highly talented Lithuanian from Fassa Bortolo who missed out on all of the Grand Tours last year despite his good results in 2000. He left Fassa for Lampre-Daikin, and will surely be given more room to move there.
Name UCI rank From To Davide Rebellin (Ita) 3 Liquigas Gerolsteiner Gilberto Simoni (Ita) 5 Lampre Saeco Dario Frigo (Ita) 11 Fassa Bortolo Tacconi Sport Levi Leipheimer (USA) 18 US Postal Rabobank Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) 20 Fassa Bortolo Lampre Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa)23 iBanesto.com Phonak Serguei Gontchar (Ukr) 26 Liquigas Fassa Bortolo Oscar Camenzind (Swi) 29 Lampre Phonak Christophe Moreau (Fra) 31 Festina Crédit Agricole Danilo Di Luca (Ita) 32 Cantina Tollo Saeco Gianni Faresin (Ita) 35 Liquigas Gerolsteiner Mario Cipollini (Ita) 47 Saeco Acqua e Sapone David Plaza (Spa) 49 Festina Team Coast Florent Brard (Fra 53 Festina Crédit Agricole Angel Casero (Spa) 65 Festina Team Coast Felix Garcia Casas (Spa) 70 Festina BigMat Benoît Salmon (Fra) 72 AG2r-Prevoyance Phonak Sven Montgomery (Swi) 130 La Française des Jeux Fassa Bortolo Bobby Julich (USA) 162 Crédit Agricole Telekom Tyler Hamilton (USA) 342 US Postal CSC-Tiscali Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) - Lampre Domo-Farm Frites
Newly crowned World Champion Mario De Clercq has taken over from Sven Nijs as the number one ranked cyclo-cross rider in the world. De Clercq jumped ahead of former champ Erwin Vervecken and Sven Nijs courtesy of his World's win.
Individuals 1 Mario De Clercq (Bel) 1,784 pts 2 Sven Nijs (Bel) 1,742 3 Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 1,468 4 Bart Wellens (Bel) 1,391 5 Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 1,239 6 Tom Vannoppen (Bel) 887 7 Gerben De Knegt (Ned) 810 8 Peter Van Santvliet (Bel) 581 9 Jiri Pospisil (Cze) 557 10 Wim De Vos (Ned) 499 11 Ben Berden (Bel) 467 12 Dominique Arnould (Fra) 448 13 Beat Wabel (Swi) 423 14 Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) 400 15 Sven Vanthourenhout (Bel) 384 16 Vaclav Jezek (Cze) 357 17 Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 354 18 Maarten Nijland (Ned) 340 19 Arne Daelmans (Bel) 305 20 Bjorn Rondelez (Bel) 293 Nations 1 Belgium 7,272 pts 2 Netherlands 3,134 3 Switzerland 1,448 4 Czech Republic 1,432 5 France 1,149 6 Italy 1,096 7 U.S.A. 836 8 Great Britain 560 9 Poland 448 10 Germany 419 Full rankings
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By Julie Walsh in Mallorca
World Champion Oscar Freire and Tom Steels, both of Mapei, bested the German übersprinter Erik Zabel today in a field sprint of 170 riders in downtown Cala Millor, Mallorca. The pair finished first and second in the bunch sprint, with Zabel third. However, the German had some consolation in taking over the lead in the general classification.
Click here for the full report.
Two early season Spanish races, the Trofeo Luis Puig (February 24) and Vuelta Ciclista a la Comunidad Valenciana (February 26-28) have received a 90,000 euro boost from the Valencian community. An agreement was signed today between the organising company, Depergo, and the new sponsors, 'Valencia, Terra i Mar'.
Valencia, Terra i Mar will sponsor the final kilometre of each stage, the teams trophy in both races, as well as having their name on one of the jerseys awarded to the riders. They are hoping that the race will continue to improve tourism to the area, as it has done so in the past.
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By Steve Thomas in Bentong
South African Robert Hunter (Mapei-Quick Step) has kept his leader's yellow jersey after finishing second in stage 4 from Tapah to Bentong. Hunter showed his excellent form by making the 15 man lead group after the peloton split on the Fraser's Gap climb. The leaders eventually finished two minutes in front of the peloton, with Moreno Di Biase (Mobilvetta) taking the stage win in front of Hunter and Frédéric Amorison (Lotto).
Click here for the full report.
Tommy Campbell's latest update from the Tour de Langkawi includes: Ride with Tafi, Pay the fines, Live TV, Tour Personality - Mario Aerts (Lotto-Adecco), Music festival, Public interest, Japanese aggression pays off, Vestöl on the up and Radio Tour
Click here for the full report.
Last Saturday Andrea Peron (CSC Tiscali), gave a statement to the NAS in Florence, in relation to the police raid in San Remo during last year's Giro d'Italia.
The product which was found in Peron's possession was a pain killer that contained caffeine. The amount of caffeine in each pill was below the limit set by the UCI. It was noted in Peron's file that these were the only products found in his possession, and that at the time of their discovery, Peron had not used any.
The CSC-Tiscali team, which has a strong anti-drugs policy, believes that there has been no criminal conduct on the part of Peron. "We have absolute confidence in Peron and in his statement today, he demonstrated that he is a good team representative. All anti-doping initiatives have our full support and all our riders are aware of our uncompromising position on the use of illegal substances", said team manager Bjarne Riis.
1999 World Champion Edita Pucinskaite is leaving Alfa Lum to join the Figurella Dream Team this season, based on the old GAS Sport Team. The 26 year old will be joined by former GAS riders Roberta Bonanomi, Gabriella Pregnolato, Silvia Parietti and Greta Zocca with a total of 11 riders in the Figurella line up. The directeur sportif is ex-Mapei and Mercatone Uno pro Stefano Della Santa, fiance of Roberta Bonanomi.
Cyclingnews team database guru Theo Muller has now almost completed the women's trade team rosters, including the as yet unregistered Deia-Pragma team, but not the Acca Due O-Lorena Camicie team, which is expected to register with the UCI soon.
The full Cyclingnews teams database can be found here. The Division III teams will be posted soon.
The Webcor/Alto Velo Elite Cycling Team, one of America's top amateur cycling teams, is pleased to announce its 2002 roster. Led by California State Champ James Mattis, Dario Falquier, and ex-Olympian Ted Huang, the team has significantly bolstered its roster with the addition of former national champion Patrick Heaney, former U.S. Postal Service Team member Darren Baker, and Levi Leipheimer's training partner, Marc Hagenlocher.
The team will target National Calendar races and major local events throughout the West Coast, as well as U.S. Elite Nationals. In addition it hopes to repeat its performance at last year's San Francisco Grand Prix, where four riders finished in the top 25.
Webcor Builders, a multi-billion dollar corporate construction firm based in San Mateo, CA, will sponsor the team again, with additional help from Diversified Fire Products. The team is riding Bianchi EV2 frames.
Cat. 1
Darren Baker
Dario Falquier
Patrick Heaney
Mark Hlady
Bob Hooks
Mark Hagenlacher
Ted Huang
James Mattis
Cat. 2
Tracy Colwell
Gordon Daniell
Jason Fernschuss
Brian Heneghan
Brain Lamb
Chris Montague Breakwell
David Pierce
Graham Simpson
Erik Sperling
Graham Simpson
Keith Szolusha
Financial Sponsors
Webcor Builders
Diversified Fire Products
MCR, Inc.
Bicycle Outfitter
Peet's Coffee and Tea Co, Inc.
Voler
Republic of Anaerobia
Chris Norris Photography
Scaled Up Productions
Equipment Sponsors
Bianchi USA
Carnac Shoes
Giro Helmets
Ritchey Logic
Rudy Project
UltraNectar
Boeshield T-9 Lubricants
This Sunday, February 10, sees many of Australia's best cyclists competing at the Dunc Gray Velodrome, Bass Hill with the program commencing at 1:30pm and expected to finish at 5:30pm.
Current World Keirin Champion Ryan Bayley (Western Australia), will contest a Sprint Grand Prix over four rounds plus Keirin and Team Sprint competitions. His opponents include current Australian Sprint Champion Jobie Dajka (South Australia), four times World Champion Shane Kelly (Victoria), Goodwill Games Sprint Champion and 2000 Olympic bronze medallist Sean Eadie (Bankstown), Italian sprint representative Greg McFarlane, New Zealand World Keirin Championship bronze medallist, Anthony Peden, Queensland sprint star Danny Day and current World Junior Olympic Sprint Champions Mark French and Jason Niblett of Victoria,together with Kial Stewart of the ACT.
In addition the sprinters, the field includes Australia's best endurance track cyclists headed by Bradley McGee who will be racing over 4000m to qualify for the Australian Commonwealth Games and World Championship cycling squads. Joining McGee will be his brother Rodney on his comeback trail, US track cyclist Mike Tillman, triple World Champion Mark Renshaw (Bathurst), Queensland's Oceania Champion Ashley Hutchinson, triple Australian Champion Stephen Wooldridge of St George together with Australian Team Pursuit Champions Brent Dawson (Dubbo) and Jonathan Davis (St George) plus the Hopkins brothers Jeffrey and Shaun.
The field also includes Australian Champions Katherine and Natalie Bates, Rochelle Gilmore, USA's Tanya Lindenmuth, plus many other female stars.
The program includes Sprint, Keirin, Team Sprint and Derby racing, while the endurance riders will contest motor paced, scratch and elimination racing. Motor paced racing, a new addition to Australian track cycling, will be conducted with six motor cycles on the track with one rider behind each, .
All net proceeds will assist Australia's 2002 Commonwealth Games athletes. All the competing cyclists have generously forfeited their appearance and prize money.
Ryan Bayley (WA) 2001 World Keirin Champion Shane Kelly (Vic) 2000 Olympic Games Medallist, 3 Times World Champion Bradley Mcgee (NSW) 2000 Olympic Games Medallist, Former World Champion Jobie Dajka (SA) 2001 Australian Sprint Champion Sean Eadie (NSW) 2001 World Championship Silver Medallist Mark French (Vic) 2001 Dual World Junior Champion Jason Niblett (Vic) Dual World Junior Olympic Sprint Champion Danny Day, Queensland Former Multi National Champion Mark Renshaw (NSW) Three Times Junior World Champion Rodney Mcgee (NSW) Former World Champion Kial Stewart (ACT) 2001 Junior Olympic Sprint World Champion Ashley Hutchinson (Qld) Oceania Madison Champion Stephen Wooldridge (NSW) 2001 Triple Australian Champion Brent Dawson (NSW) Oceania And Australian Champion Jeff Hopkins (NSW) Former Junior World Champion Shaun Hopkins (NSW) Former Junior World Champion Greg Mcfarlane (Ita) World Championship Representative Ben Brooks (NSW) Former Junior World Champion Jonathan Davis (NSW) 2001 Australian Team Pursuit Champion Anthony Peden (NZl) World Championships Bronze Medallist Mike Tillman (USA) Katherine Bates (NSW) 2001 Silver Medallist World Points Race Rochelle Gilmore (NSW) Oceania Champion, 2001 World Cup Medallist Tanya Lindenmuth (USA)
The website of the Association of British Cycling Coaches has been set up at www.abcc.freeserve.co.uk. It contains a full register of ABCC Coaches in their respective Regions, details of how to become a coach and join the ABCC, coaching articles, book reviews and abstracts of scientific papers, and up to date news items.
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