News for April 5, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Tchmil vows to return

Andrei Tchmil says that he does not want to end his career in a hospital bed, after his crash on the Kemmelberg resulted in a torn quadriceps muscle and two broken fingers, one on each hand. He has flown home to Italy to recover, and will certainly miss the Ronde Van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, but wants to return in time for the Amstel Gold Race on April 28.

Team manager Jos Braeckevelt announced in De Panne that Tchmil will stop his career after the World Championships in Zolder, Belgium, instead of after the spring season. "He will ride a little longer, he still wants to win something. He is an iron man, he has never broken anything. This was the first time he visited a hospital."

The Lotto team for Sunday will be: Peter Van Petegem, Nico Eeckhout, Serge Baguet, Hans De Clercq, Stefan Van Dijk, Glenn D'Hollander, Aart Vierhouten and Thierry Marichal.

Ronde Van Vlaanderen information

Preview and history
Course map, profile, route descrption and timetable
Start list

Mapei without Freire in RVV

Mapei-Quick Step will have to do without Oscar Freire in this weekend's Ronde Van Vlaanderen, as the Spaniard is still suffering from an inflamed Achilles tendon. The Mapei team for Sunday will be Laszlo Bodrogi, Fabien De Waele, Tom Steels, Robert Hunter, Daniele Nardello, Andrea Tafi, Stefano Zanini and Paolo Bettini.

Freire hopes to be back for Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Mapei teams for upcoming races are as follows

Top Team

April 6 - 4th G.P. Miguel Indurain, Spain

Riders: Elia Aggiano, Davide Bramati, Paolo Fornaciari, Pedro Horrillo, Eddy Ratti, Luca Scinto, Charly Wegelius. DS: Jesus Suarez Cueva

April 8-12 - Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco, Spain

Riders: Elia Aggiano, Dario Cioni, Cadel Evans, Stefano Evans Garzelli, Andrea Noé, Luca Paolini, Luca Scinto, Stefano Zanini. DS: Jesus Suarez Cueva

Young Riders

April 7: Tour du Lac Leman, Switzerland

Riders: Fabian Cancellara, Gian Paolo Cheula, Aurélien Clerc, Bernhard Eisel, Evgueni Eisel Petrov, Filippo Pozzato, Patrik Sinkewitz, Frederik Willems. DS: Luca Guercilena

Kristof Trouvé also badly injured

Amongst the riders injured in yesterday's crash on the descent of the Kemmelberg was Palmans-Collstrop rider Kristof Trouvé. Unfortunately, it turns out he was actually one of the worst hurt. Teammate Roger Hammond supplied the details to Cyclingnews:

"He suffered a broken nose, broken hand (2 places), lost three front teeth (causing gum damage), ruptured ligaments in his ankle (requiring 6 weeks in a cast), several stitches in his lips, both knees and an elbow. Plus concussion. I think he was able to leave hospital today."

"On behalf of a team who wishes him the speediest of recoveries. We miss your help already!"

Ditto from us at Cyclingnews!

More out of competition anti-doping controls

The UCI have announced that they will be stepping up their anti-doping program with more out of competition testing. The action comes after pressure from certain teams and riders, who asked the UCI directly to improve this aspect of drug testing. Their request was made official via the association of sporting teams.

The controls will start in the month of April and will run through August, in an attempt to stop riders using illegal drugs to prepare for the classics and major tours. The testing will be carried out in cooperation with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

UCI president Hein Verbruggen believes that the increased controls are working, saying in an interview with AFP that "The average hematocrit [last year] for the peloton was established at 44."

The average has been steadily declining over the years since health testing started, although some medical experts believe that it is still too high to be natural.

"Controls will be combined with blood tests," said Verbruggen, who added that "In parallel with this step, the number of anti-doping controls taken during competition will be maintained."

The UCI introduced EPO testing, both in and out of competition, on April 1 last year, with Danish rider Bo Hamburger being the first rider to test "non-negative". Several other riders followed throughout the year, proving that EPO is still a problem. Hamburger was later cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport for technical reasons, as the results of his counter-evaluations were not consistent.

UCI to unveil new Centre Mondial du Cyclisme

The UCI will officially open its "Centre Mondial du Cyclisme" on April 14 in Aigle, Switzerland, the same day as the 100th Paris-Roubaix. One day prior on April 13, a track meeting will be held at the brand new Aigle velodrome, featuring triple Olympic champion Florian Rousseau and Swiss star Bruno Risi.

Later that evening, a Hall of Fame will be unveiled, which will honour 44 champions of cycling, including Kubler, Van Steenbergen, Adorni, Merckx, Moser, Saronni and Indurain). International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge will be present, along with his predecessor Juan Antonio Samaranch and of course UCI president Hein Verbruggen.

6 Days of Zurich ends

The 6 Days of Zurich, which is normally held in the months of November-December each year, has been forced to stop. The board of directors at the Hallenstadion have decided not to hold the 50th edition this year due to not being able to meet the 888,400 euro budget, combined with the lack of spectator interest (4000 people per night in 2001).

Swiss Cycling issued a statement expressing their regrets at the end of Switzerland's only Six Day event, despite them investing a lot in track cycling in recent years. This includes the opening of a new track at the UCI's Centre Mondial du Cyclisme in Aigle, which is envisaged as both a top level racing and training centre. The statement was critical of the directors of the Hallenstadion for not allowing the use of their track for anything other than the Six Days of Zurich.

Swiss Cycling will now concentrate its efforts on the track in Oerlikon, as well as the velodromes in Geneva, Lausanne and Aigle.

Route Adélie preview

Round five of the Coupe de France will take place on Friday, April 5 in Vitré. The Route Adélie is a 184 kilometre race sandwiched between Paris-Camember (April 2) and GP Rennes (April 7). French teams Cofidis (Moncoutie), Credit Agricole (Voigt, Moreau), La Française des Jeux (Casar), Jean Delatour (Brochard), Bonjour (Rous), BigMat (Heulot), Oktos-St Quentin (Paumier) and AG2R (Agnolutto) will take part, along with foreign teams including fakta (Ljungqvist), Relax Fuenlabrada, Lotto, Gerolsteiner, CCC Polsat, CSC-Tiscali, Index-Alexia, De Nardi, Navigators and a French national team.

Paris-Roubaix shown around the world

This year's centenary of the Paris-Roubaix will be broadcast by French TV station TV5 Monde over its entire global network save for North America, where other channels own the rights. The broadcast will start at 1055 GMT in Africa, Middle East, and Latin America, and at 1220 GMT in Asia.

Archer International Grand Prix preview

By Gerry McManus

The second counting event in the British Cycling Premier Calendar takes place on Sunday April 7th in Buckinghamshire. The 118-mile event again has a 1.5 UCI status with international visiting teams from Holland, Australia, Denmark, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The inclusion of the iTeamNova.com squad sees Aussie professionals David McKenzie and Brett Lancaster riding with Britain's Russell Downing in the six-man team managed by former professional Sean Yates. The Holland and Denmark teams are largely unknown but Dane Peter Gaarde was a prolific winner at home last year and expected to be team leader.

The four-man team from Ireland sees Tommy Evans seeking to improve on his third place of last year along with Timmy Barry and Eddie O'Donohue who have not been out of the placings at home this year. Martin O'Loughlin is the other in the line-up. He has just returned from riding in the Tour of Saudi Arabia and should benefit from riding at altitude.

Eddie Keogh and Paddy Moriarty are the only two riding for the Carrick-Cidona team following the upgrade to Team Ireland for O'Loughlin, O'Donohue and Barry.

Last year's winner New Zealander Gordon McCauley is back with the Belgium based RDM-Flanders team and is said to be keen to make the race difficult for his opponents.

The new British team of Compensation Group sees John Tanner, Mark Lovatt and Kevin Dawson riding together and just about winning everything at home this year and well as taking the first three overall places in the recent Tour of Munster in Ireland.

Northern Ireland is fielding two teams with this race forming part of the calendar being used to select the road team for the Commonwealth Games in July. Senior Irish road champion David McCann rides for the ‘B' team before travelling to the Tour of Majorca the following week with Brendan Doherty and Tommy Evans. All of the riders are expected to seek to impress the selectors and discover the standard of event and competition that would face them if they were successful.

With over forty riders having their entries returned, this looks like the strongest field for many years, however local riders Paul Crook (Sigmasport RT), Colin Roshier (Team Quest) and Rory Wyley (www.sdeals.com) are expected to use their excellent recent form to put up a challenge.

Roshier was forth in last year's event and knows the local roads intimately. The race is on two circuits with the first being a 20-mile lap that takes in the long climb of Longdown and the short steep climb at Great Missenden. After three laps, the race proceeds onto seven laps of the finishing circuit with a climb up to Penn Street village every time. It is here that the race-winning move is likely to be made.

The race starts at 11:00 from the Hazlemere HQ and will be neutralised until they reach the circuit proper.