News for March 31, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Museeuw still going strong

The Lion of Flanders, Johan Museeuw, is still going strong at age 36, and is in good form approaching his favourite classics. Museeuw is a three-time winner of the Tour of Flanders and twice winner of Paris-Roubaix, and would dearly love to add another of those monuments to his palmares - he has made no secret of that. So too does his Domo-Farm Frites team, which has been decimated this year due to injuries and needs Museeuw to perform well in the next few weeks.

Despite missing Milan-San Remo, this week the indications have been good: 9th in Dwars door Vlaanderen on Wednesday and 3rd in today's GP E3-Harelbeke, a race that he has also won on two occasions. After Wednesday's ride he declared to La Derniere Heure newspaper that he was "very satisfied, not only with my condition but also that of the team. We were there on each climb....I do not feel any more pain from my left knee and am at the level I envisaged. And what makes me even more happy is the ease at which I can get over the climbs."

Today was even better, as he made the final selection in Harelbeke, only to see a strong Dario Pieri escape in an opportunist move with Jo Planckaert able to get across to him. Museeuw still won the sprint for third place, and he later admitted that he was going for the win.

"Last year I was satisfied with a side role, but now I am certainly in form again. You saw it on the climbs: I am back - I will say it myself - the old Museeuw."

Injuries and sickness hit Team Coast

German Team Coast may have started the 2002 season with a bang, but is now back-pedalling after several of its top riders have been taken out of action. First there was Thorsten Wilhelms, winner of the Tour of Qatar in January, who broke his shoulder in a fall in the Volta ao Algarve, and still hasn't recovered.

Then there was Alex Zülle, winner of the Tour of Valencia. He had a fall out training which caused light concussion, and he had to have several stitches to his chin. When he resumed training he experienced knee problems, and didn't start in this weekend's Criterium International (along with a lot of other riders).

Manuel Beltran has an inflammation in his knee and is also not riding. That's not all, as the team lost Fabrizio Guidi just before Milan-San Remo with an intestinal virus, while Steffen Radochla and Anton Chantyr pulled out of Setmana Catalana due to fever.

On the positive side, Fernando Escartin's fifth placing at Setmana Catalana was a good sign, and Guidi, and Radochla are both back in action and will ride in the Rund um Köln on Easter Monday.

Team fakta online

The official website for Danish team fakta, www.teamfakta.dk, is now up and running. The site has both a Danish and English section, and features the latest news and results from the fakta team, along with a selection of photos, team and rider details, a sponsors page, racing program, links and a contact page. The site is updated on a regular basis and will have plenty more added to it in future.

Mapei for upcoming races

March 31 - Brabantse Pijl, Belgium

Riders: Elia Aggiano, Laszlo Bodrogi, Fabien De Waele, Paolo Fornaciari, Pedro Horrillo, Robert Hunter, Tom Steels. DS: Eric Vanderaerden

April 2-4 - KBC Driedaagse van De Panne, Belgium

Riders: Laszlo Bodrogi, Fabien De Waele, Oscar Freire, Robert Hunter, Daniele Nardello, Tom Steels, Andrea Steels Tafi, Stefano Zanini. DS: Eric Vanderaerden, Serge Parsani

Young Riders

April 1 - Rund um Koln, Germany

Riders: Fabian Cancellara, Allan Davis, Bernhard Eisel, Evgueni Eisel Petrov, Michael Rogers, Patrik Sinkewitz, Frederik Willems, Leonardo Zanotti. DS: Luca Guercilena

Vélo Club La Pomme Marseille

Tommy Evans Photo: © VC La Pomme Marseille

The Vélo Club La Pomme Marseille is a French national division 3 team based out of Marseille. The 18 man team contains a few foreigners, notably Ireland's Tommy Evans and Mark Scanlon, and Japan's Fumiyuki Beppu and Yasutaka Tashiro, not forgetting Algerian Hichem Menad. French espoirs Martial Ricci-Poggi and Philippe Shard are part of a solid French contingent, which will aim to contest the major races on the UCI U23 calendar, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Mantes, La Côte Picarde, Paris-Tours, eight 1.6 races, and the FDB Milk Ras in Ireland.

Team roster

Fumiyuki Beppu (Jap)
Benoît Brochier (Fra)
Cécil Coridon (Fra)
François David (Fra)
Hubert Dupont (Fra)
Tommy Evans (Irl)
Samuel Guillon (Fra)
Vincent Herbaut (Fra)
Denis Lynch (Irl)
Jean-Marc Maurin (Fra)
Florian Mellet (Fra)
Hichem Menad (Alg)
Stéphane Mifsud (Fra)
Alexis Mingot (Fra)
Frédéric Pedersoli (Fra)
Lionel Pitaval (Fra)
Martial Ricci-Poggi (Fra)
Grégory Richeda (Fra)
Mark Scanlon (Irl)
Yasutaka Tashiro (Jap)
Philippe Tesson (Fra)

President: Jean-Pierre Carminati
Director: Frédéric Rostaing

Help a cyclist in North Carolina

Mark Herndon, the manager of the Cycling Spoken Here bike shop in Cary, North Carolina, was diagnosed three weeks ago with meningitis and a staph infection in his spine. Unfortunately he is now permanently paralyzed from the chest down. He fought over the last few weeks to save his life and now faces a long rehabilitation in order to learn to live again.

There will be a benefit ride on April 14 at 9:30 AM to raise funds to help Mark and his family. The ride will start/end at the new shopping center on Olive Chapel Hill Road near NC 55 in Apex, NC. Several routes from 10 to 62 miles will be fully supported. Donations will be collected - all donations will go to Mark and his family.

A special fund has also been set-up for any donations not associated with the ride - please call Daren Marceau (919-677-2039) for more info on the fund.

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