News for April 18, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Fleche Wallonne post-race comments

Mario Aerts (Lotto, 1st)

Mario Aerts
Photo: © Sirotti

"Axel Merckx attacked on the descent at the same place that I wanted to. Claude Criquiélion [DS and former winner] told me in my earpiece to stay calm. If I had not done this, the result would not have followed. I respected his advice to the letter. When he gave me the green light, I attacked. I then thought I could win."

"I was afraid of Bartoli and Noè, who weren't working in the break. Before the Mur, Merckx and I did the most work. I thought that Bartoli was the strongest but apparently not."

"This is, of course, my biggest victory. I never felt bad in the legs. I can now calmly go to Liege: now I don't have anything to lose. I will try to win Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Before the start, Rik [Verbrugghe] told me that I was going to win today in La Fleche and he in Liege. This success gives me confidence."

Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo, 3rd)

"I was not the best on the Mur, but it is still a very good result. I used a lot of energy when bridging up to Axel Merckx in the decisive attack."

Axel Merckx (Domo, 6th)

"It was necessary to try something. It was a little bit of poker, I staked everything for everything. I needed about 10 seconds lead at the foot of the Mur."

"If at the start someone had predicted this result, I would have signed straight away. The most important thing was the fact that I rediscovered good legs in the finale."

Claude Criquiélion (Lotto director)

"We have invested in the ear-pieces since the Tour of Flanders and that is what enabled me to inform Mario, via Jose Braeckevelt who was posted in front of the television...The investment has been reimbursed I think."

"I told Mario to calm down. I thought it was David, not Unai [Etxebarria] in front of him. If I had known..."

Rik Verbrugghe was under antibiotics. Mario's victory will remove the pressure from him for Liege-Bastogne-Liege. We don't know if he can exceed himself there."

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A quick chat with Tyler Hamilton

By Jeff Jones

CSC-Tiscali's Tyler Hamilton was looking fairly relaxed and cheerful before the start of today's Fleche Wallonne in Charleroi. Cyclingnews caught up with him for an update on his health and the season so far.

CN: How are you feeling today?

TH: I'm feeling a bit better. I've been a little sick this spring with some really bad allergies. I've been living in Spain - the climate's a little bit different there.

CN: Is the form coming along a little more slowly than you hoped?

TH: Yeah it's coming up slowly. I haven't raced that much. I think I've had 14 or 15 days which isn't too many. I did Pays Basque, GP Primavera...it's building up. Every day I feel better and better. It's hard to say I'll be a big factor in a race like today because I haven't raced that much.

For me, I'm scheduled to do the Giro and the Tour, so those have been my big focuses for the year.

CN: How have the classics been for CSC?

TH: We've had a little bit of a slow start to the season. A lot of bad luck with sickness and injuries. But the other day in Paris-Roubaix Tristan Hoffman got fourth, so that's a step in the right direction.

CN: How is the new team?

TH: It's been great. I'm really enjoying it. A great bunch of guys and Bjarne Riis is a great leader of the team. I'm having a lot of fun and that's the most important thing.

Zabriskie DQ'd

David Zabriskie (US Postal) fell foul of the commissaires in La Fleche Wallonne when he "attempted to classify himself without finishing the entire route." In addition to his disqualification, Zabriskie also copped a 200 Swiss franc fine.

Pantani to front CONI commission on April 24

Marco Pantani
Photo: © Jeff Jones

Marco Pantani will have to answer the questions of the CONI anti-doping commission next Wednesday, April 24. CONI anti-doping commission head Giacomo Aiello will hear Pantani in relation to the Giro blitz, where it is alleged that a syringe full of insulin was found in his hotel room at the time of the police raids in San Remo.

Pantani raced in today's Fleche Wallonne, finishing 81st in a group of riders 5'37 behind the winner.

De Clercq has a broken wrist

Hans De Clercq (Lotto-Adecco), one of the men driving the main breakaway in last Sunday's Paris-Roubaix, managed to break his left wrist during the race. De Clercq had to undergo an operation in Deinze on Monday evening, after he realised something was wrong.

"I had a lot of pain in the left wrist on Sunday evening," he said. "On Monday that X-rays confirmed it. It was a visible fracture. It may take up to five weeks to heal."

De Clercq also broke some fingers in that same hand after a fall in the GP La Marseillaise in February.

Paris-Roubaix a TV winner in Belgium

Johan Museeuw's triumph in last Sunday's 100th Paris-Roubaix was also a win for the country's national broadcaster, TV1. The station recorded a total of 950,000 viewers for the entire four and a half hour coverage, rising to 1.2 million in the final 20 minutes. Finally, around 1.3 million viewers saw Johan win his third Paris-Roubaix.

By comparison, Canvas which broadcasted the Tour of Flanders the previous week, recorded an average of 775,000 viewers for their entire program, bearing in mind that there were probably more people out on the course.

This represents a significant portion of fans in a country with around 11 million people, and station figures say that it was a 69% audience market share. That means that this year's Paris-Roubaix was the most popular early season classic ever on Belgian TV.

Team PH Presentation

Team PH
Photo: © Frank Rud Jensen

Team PH is a Danish Junior Cycling Team that was started in 2002 by well known ex-pro Jesper Skibby. It is the first team of its kind in Denmark and aims to gather the best junior riders in Denmark to compete as a team with professional conditions.

Team leader Jesper Skibby is still the only Dane who has won stages in the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and the Vuelta España. Together with Danish businessman, Poul Hansen, Skibby has made his dream of running a junior team come true.

The directeur sportif is Tom Breschel, who rode in the top Danish league for several years. Breschel retired from cycling after the 2000 season. His assistant director will be Jesper Fredsgaard, former Team manager for Copenhagen Cycling.

Four of the riders are already members of the Danish National Team, and therefore familiar with racing at international level. The other four are some of the biggest talents at the moment in Denmark.

Riders

Mads Christensen (17): Danish Champion in the elite 4 km individual pursuit 2001, 2nd in the Junior Peace Race, 4th in the Danish TT championships, 2nd overall in the Danish Junior Cup 2001.

Chris A. Sørensen (17): 3rd in Danish Road Championships in 2001, 7th overall in the Danish Junior Cup 2001.

Matti Breschel (17): Danish Junior Road Champion 2001; 3rd in the Danish TT Championships in 2001. Overall winner of the Danish Junior Cup 2001.

Andreas Finnerup (17): 2nd in the Danish TT Championships in 2001. 14th in the Danish Road Championships in 2001 after hard working job for teammate, Matti Breschel.

Anders Lund (16): A new talent, who just started cycling four years ago. Finished 29th in the road race at the Danish Championships 2001 in his first start as a junior rider.

Mike Olsen (16): A talented uphill racer because of his light weight.

Kristoffer G. Nielsen (16): A talented rider with a sense for working for the team.

Christian Finnerup (16): Younger brother to team mate Andreas. Hard working man for the team.