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Edited by Jeff Jones
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The Rabobank team of Jan Raas held its team presentation in Vijfhuizen yesterday. With top riders such as Erik Dekker, Michael Boogerd, Beat Zberg and new signing Levi Leipheimer, it's clear that the Rabo team will be amongst the top ranks again in 2002.
The team that started in 1996 is guaranteed existence for at least the next two years, with a budget of 10 million euro this year alone - an increase of 3 million euro. However, Jan Raas thinks that the team will continue until 2005, when they aim to place a rider on the podium of the Tour de France. The expectations are high from new signing Levi Leipheimer, who the team hopes might achieve this goal.
Last year, the team won the World Cup (both individual and team classifications), with Erik Dekker the king of the hill. Dekker will follow a similar program to last year, focusing on the big one day races with a free role in the Tour de France.
Levi Leipheimer and Michael Boogerd will ride in the Giro d'Italia this year, partly as preparation for the Tour de France. In the Tour they will be joined by Erik Dekker.
Boogerd's early season preparation will include the Tour Mediterranean and the classics such as Liege-Bastogne-Liege and the Amstel Gold Race. The Tour of Luxembourg will be on his agenda as final Tour de France preparation.
Rabobank also sponsors a strong amateur team, directed by Nico Verhoeven. This year it will be registered as a trade team III, so it can compete in 1.5 and 2.5 races. However, the riders from this squad will not be able to race in the same events that the pro's do.
More pics from the Rabobank presentation
The Lampre-Daikin team held two press conferences today in Rotterdam (The Netherlands) and Oostende (Belgium). The team is in its fourth year (as Lampre-Daikin) and will feature 23 riders from 11 countries in its line up in 2002 - a truly exotic mix. The Giro, the Tour, the Vuelta and all the Classics of the World Cup are the goals of the team.
Six riders have left: Gilberto Simoni, Oscar Camenzind, Robert Hunter, Frank Vandenbroucke, Marco Della Vedova and Matteo Algeri. Six riders have signed on: Pavel Tonkov, Raimondas Rumsas, Milan Kadlec, Alessandro Cortinovis have signed all together with two talented Italian neo-pros: Manuel Quinziato (European Champion Under 23 in the time trial) and Alberto Loddo (eleven wins in 2001).
The management consists of general manager Giuseppe Saronni, and team managers Pietro Algeri, Brent Copeland and Maurizio Piovani.
Ludo Dierckxsens and Raimondas Rumsas are going to target the Classics, supported by Spruch, Sciandri and Serpellini. For the big tours, there will be Pavel Tonkov in the Giro and the Vuelta, Rumsas' debut in the Tour, and perhaps some good exploits from Jan Svorada, Mariano Piccoli and Marco Pinotti
The average age of the 2002 team is 28.6 years, with the youngest rider being Manuel Quinziato (30.10.1979) and the oldest Ludo Dierckxsens (14.10.1964). The tallest rider is Marco Serpellini (1.88 m), the shortest is Gabriele Missaglia (1.66 m). The heaviest rider is Jan Svorada (78 kg) and the lightest Juan Manuel Garate, Alberto Loddo, Gabriele Missaglia and Mariano Piccoli (all 62 kg).
Early season races include the Tour of Qatar (Piccoli, Sciandri, Verstrepen), Volta ao Algarve (Dierckxsens, Tonkov), and Tour Méditerranéen (Rumsas, Serpellini, Spruch, Svorada)
Mario Cipollini's Acqua & Sapone squad will next week debut in the Tour of Qatar (January 21-25), with Claudio Astolfi, Daniele Bennati, Gabriele Colombo, Cesare Di Cintio, Miguel Martin Perdiguero, Simone Masciarelli, Michele Scarponi and Guido Trenti.
Immediately after this, the team will hold another...er...team presentation, this time in the discotheque "Lola" in Porto Recanati on January 26. The team's official jersey will again be shown, but we don't know yet in what form.
The Saturn Cycling Team arrives in Buellton, California tomorrow for the start of the 2002 season. For the fifth consecutive year, the team returns to the Santa Ynez Valley, in the Santa Barbara region, to train on the surrounding roads through the expansive vineyards and horse farms.
From January 18 - 31, the camp will begin with several days of road training as well as sponsor and media visits. The athletes will meet individually with the team's physicians, optometrist, and orthotic specialist.
The second half of the camp will include corporate training for the riders, including a media training day, several photo shoots and a team building day on a high ropes course. The final two days of camp will be spent at Universal Studios in Hollywood where camp will conclude with two photo shoots.
The Saturn Cycling Team will begin racing in February at the Valley of the Sun in Phoenix, Arizona before they turn their sights on the early season California Races including the Redlands Bicycle Classic and the Sea Otter Classic.
In the coming cycling season, Polish professional team CCC will start with its strongest squad yet. Its leaders still will be Piotr Przydzial and Tour of Poland winner Ondrej Sosenka, but some very experienced riders will be arriving: Serguei Outschakov and Andrej Teteriuk. Both will try to help the team advance to Division I.
"Last season, like in World Cup race Meisterchaft von Zurich, we showed (Przydzial's performance) that we are able to compete with the best," said the team's directeur sportif, Andrzej Sypytkowski.
"The general director of the CCC shoe factory, Dariusz Milek, set clear objectives for the team - to reach the highest position possible in Division Two, that would ensure automatic qualification to the elite in 2003. That's why we have strengthen our line-up," added Sypytkowski.
35 year old Teteriuk is a good stage racer, winning races such as the Vuelta a Galicia and stages in Settimana Bergamsca e Lombarda, Dauphine Libére, and last year was third overall in the GP du Midi Libre.
Serguei Outschakov, living in Italy (Bergamo) but born in the far north Russian town of Archangielsk, is one of the riders who has won stages in all three Grand Tours: Vuelta (93, 99), Giro (95, 96) and Tour de France (95).
Ondrej Sosenka, winner of the last Tour of Poland, is applying for Polish citizenship, but the case will still take some time. Sosenka and Przydzial should have a lot to say in stage races.
The sprints are Jacek Mickiewicz's duties, who last season rode for Atlas team. "Jacek hadn't the best last season, but his health problems are gone now, and I think he'll now show what he's worth," claims Sypytkowski.
Good results are also expected from the Champion of Poland, Radoslaw Romanik - called "Grandpa". New additions are Jaroslaw Zarebski, current U-23 Polish Road Champion. We'll also see former Tour of Poland stage winner, Portuguese Quintino Rodrigues.
The CCC team will hold a training camp in Spain at the end of January. The first starts are planned for February in Portugal. Obviously, most important for Sypytkowski's boys are starts in Poland, (Tour of Poland the Wyscig Pokoju (Peace Race)), but highly likely is a start in the Tour de Suisse, a race considered as the fourth most prestigious in the world.
Full team roster and sponsors.
There is a good chance that one of the most important early season races, Paris-Nice, will go ahead this year. Race director Laurent Fignon is currently negotiating with Tour de France boss Jean-Marie Leblanc, with an outcome expected within the next week.
Nothing is decided yet between the two, and the event is scheduled to take place from March 10-17. It needs at least another 300,000 euros to guarantee its survival.
The 2002 Vuelta España (September 7-13) will count on the participation of at least 13 of the 30 division I teams. In total, the race will see 21 squads on the start line in Valencia. The teams include eight of the top 10 club (Fassa Bortolo, Telekom, Mapei, iBanesto.com, Cofidis, ONCE, US Postal Service and Domo-Farm Frites) as well as Lampre - Daikin, Kelme, CSC Tiscali, Euskaltel-Euskadi and Alessio. It is likely that Team Coast (containing last year's winner Angel Casero) will also get an invitation.
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