News for April 30, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Amstel Gold Race news

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Michael Boogerd (Rabobank, 3rd)

Michael Boogerd
Photo: © JJ/CN

"In my Rabobank team I miss riders like Peers and Farazijn. Men who can still close a gap in the final. I was beaten but I comforted myself with the thought that I did force the final move. More wasn't possible. I can't be unhappy with the outcome. I tried to thin out the group on the Keutenberg but I didn't succeed; that's racing."

Note: Boogerd signed for another year today with Rabobank.

Oscar Freire (Mapei, 5th)

"I didn't do badly here," said World Champion Oscar Freire after the Amstel Gold Race, where he finished 5th. "Having 76 points puts me in the 10th spot in the World Cup rankings. I can win that title."

The Spanish rider, who started last week with a sore throat, didn't have to look far for a reason why he didn't sprint in the final: "I had to change bikes twice. It cost me a lot of energy. I was too far back when the decisive move was made, the best guys were at the front."

Peter Van Petegem (Lotto, 6th)

Peter Van Petegem (Lotto) has ridden very consistently in the spring classics, finishing 15th in Milan San Remo, 3rd in Ronde Van Vlaanderen, 7th in Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and 6th in the Amstel Gold Race. That puts him in third overall on the World Cup table on 121 points, behind Museeuw (170) and Bettini (134).

On his Amstel performance, Van Petegem commented: "I didn't have the legs I had in Liege, but I did gain some good points. It's not leaving me cold; that World Cup. But if you want the overall, you have to win at least one I think. Amstel was very hard, the rain and the wind made the first part a lot harder than you can imagine. And I didn't have the same legs as last week. The best of my form has passed. That explains it all. I was sitting back to far when that group went. That is what makes the difference between super and just good. With my best legs I could have crossed the gap, but now there was no way I could have jumped."

In the coming months Van Petegem is going to back off and aim for the second half of the season. "I don't want to complain about what I did these last few months. I did get two very nice wins on the board with Het Volk and the Three Days De Panne. On top of that I managed a few honourable places in the Classics. Only the bad luck I had in Paris-Roubaix is a bit hard to digest."

Jo Planckaert (Cofidis, 7th)

"Seventh, not bad hey! I did pick the wrong wheel in the sprint, but hey, I'm happy with the start of my season. This is racing without stress. When I manage not to be nervous, it all works out, otherwise it never does. I don't even feel wrecked. I saw Museeuw being dropped, as well as Merckx. I realized I had good legs."

"Fourth in Milan-San Remo, eleventh in the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. It's a pity I had a few bad days in the week between the Ronde and Paris-Roubaix. In the mean time I have gathered 480 UCI points, last season I only managed 330. The big boss Migraine is happy; so am I."

"What's my place in the WC ranking? 8th? Now, that means something nice can come out of that too. If I can climb like I did now in the latter part of the season, I should be able to handle San Sebastian."

Mario Aerts (Lotto, 21st)

"It has been nice. Now I'm going to Miami for ten days holiday. I had better legs then I did in Liege. I don't understand why only Telekom was riding with us. There were a few guys from Cofidis and Mapei with us in that group but they acted uninterested."

Serge Baguet (Lotto, 55th)

"I should have stayed at home. The whole day I rode with pain in the right leg. It's still a consequence of the fall in Pino Cerami. I'm afraid I might have torn a muscle or something. On top of that, I fell because of a silly supporter who suddenly jumped off the sidewalk."

Bjørnar Vestøl (EDS-fakta, early breakaway)

"It was a good start for me in Amstel, thought I would do a good race. But this Bram Schmidt killed me in the hills, I was disappointed not to be able to follow them longer, my legs were perfect!"

Peter Sejer Nielsen (manager EDS-fakta)

"I am proud of the way our riders performed. They took an active part to make it an interesting and really tough race. I did not expect this. What Marcus did [11th] was outstanding, but also the rest of the guys with 6 out of 8 finishing shows me a fantastic team spirit. Bjørnar and Manu [l'Hoir] did a good job for the team, so the success was really well deserved and a good motivation for the coming month with a lot of important races on the agenda."

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UCI rankings: Zabel holds, Bartoli climbs

As Erik Dekker slipped down to equal third place in the UCI rankings, Telekom's Erik Zabel still maintained a comfortable lead over Paolo Bettini (Mapei), following the latest release post-Amstel Gold Race. Zabel is now more than 300 points ahead of Paolo Bettini, despite a seemingly quiet start to the year. Bettini however leads the "UCI top 100" - the riders who have scored the most points since January 1, rather than the usual 12 month rolling scale.

Michele Bartoli (Fassa Bortolo) gained a heap of places with his Amstel win, moving up from 33rd to 18th, his highest since coming back from his crash in 1999.

In the teams rankings, Fassa moved into 3rd place, but still trail Lotto by 330 points, and Mapei by 1700(!). Giorgio Squinzi's team which started racing in January will take some catching this year. In division II, EDS-fakta has an 84 point lead over Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, with Bankgiroloterij-Batavus not far behind in third place. Finally in Division III, Mapei's Young Guns are simply far too good for anyone this year, having over triple the points of second placed Mercury and third placed Saturn.

UCI rankings as of April 28, 2002

Individuals

1 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Telekom                  2,398.00 pts
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step           2,077.20
3 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank                     1,770.00
3 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport      1,770.00
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service        1,731.00
6 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Telekom                 1,705.00
7 Oscar Sevilla Ribera (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca  1,520.00
8 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) Team CSC Tiscali        1,314.00
9 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo       1,263.00
10 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Gerolsteiner            1,258.00
11 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step     1,247.00
12 Joseba Beloki Dorronsoro (Spa) ONCE-Eroski    1,160.00
13 Jens Voigt (Ger) Credit Agricole              1,152.50
14 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Saeco-Longoni Sport      1,103.00
15 Juan Miguel Mercado Martin (Spa) iBanesto.com 1,067.00
16 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R Prevoyance           1,020.00
17 Mario Cipollini (Ita) Acqua & Sapone          1,009.00
18 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo             991.95
19 Didier Rous (Fra) Bonjour                       990.00
20 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Team Telekom         979.00

Top riders in 2002

1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step             869.00 pts
2 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Lotto-Adecco             696.00
3 Robbie Mcewen (Aus) Lotto-Adecco                 648.00
4 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Telekom                    611.00
5 Johan Museeuw (Bel) Domo-Farm Frites             609.00

Division I

1 Mapei-Quick Step                               4,467.00 pts
2 Lotto-Adecco                                   3,114.00
3 Fassa Bortolo                                  2,787.00
4 Rabobank                                       2,469.00
5 iBanesto.com                                   2,220.00
6 Cofidis                                        2,160.00
7 Domo-Farm Frites                               2,110.00
8 Team Telekom                                   2,059.00
9 Alessio                                        1,829.00
10 Team Coast                                    1,565.00

Division II

1 EDS-fakta                                        852.00 pts
2 Landbouwkrediet-Colnago                          768.00
3 Bankgiroloterij-Batavus                          750.00
4 Palmans-Collstrop                                569.00
5 Jazztel-Costa De Almeria                         507.00

Division III

1 Mapei-Quick Step                               1,392.50 pts
2 Mercury Cycling Team                             443.00
3 Saturn Cycling Team                              358.00
4 Elk Haus Radteam Sportunion Schrems              325.00
5 Volksbank Ideal                                  265.00

Nations

1 Italy                                         12,070.35 pts
2 Spain                                          9,457.00
3 Germany                                        8,231.50
4 Belgium                                        6,681.00
5 France                                         6,601.00

Full rankings

Pantani heard by CONI

Marco Pantani today answered the questions of CONI's anti-doping commission, in relation to the Giro d'Italia raids where he is accused of possession of illegal products: A syringe of insulin was reportedly found in his hotel room when officers of the NAS searched it last June.

Pantani was questioned for an hour by Giacomo Aiello, and answered all questions put to him. He reaffirmed his story that the syringe could not have belonged to him, as "I did not stay in the room [401] that it was found in."

His lawyer, Federico Cecconi added that "Mercatone Uno has always released a fictitious room list to hide the real one. It is true that the room 401 was attributed to Pantani, but does not mean that it was his".

I have a clear conscience," said Pantani. "And I have given my complete collaboration so that we can establish the truth."

56th Tour de Romandie

The 56th edition of the Tour de Romandie starts on Tuesday, April 30 with a 3.2 kilometre prologue time trial in Geneva. The favourites for this event will most likely be the riders who are looking at the Giro d'Italia: Danilo Di Luca (Saeco), Dario Frigo (Tacconi), Wladimir Belli (Fassa Bortolo), Pavel Tonkov (Lampre), Rik Verbrugghe (Lotto), Guiseppi Guerini (Telekom) and Cadel Evans (Mapei). In total there are 136 riders from 17 teams taking part in the five day race.

Several riders will not take part, including Swiss riders Oscar Camenzind (Phonak), Sven Montgomery (Fassa Bortolo), Beat Zberg (Rabobank), Laurent Dufaux (Alessio) and Italian Mario Cipollini (Acqua e Sapone).

The race starts and finishes with a time trial, with the final stage of 18.3 kilometres finishing outside Lausanne's Olympic Stadium. The toughest stage looks to be stage 4, from Sierre to Leysin, with three large climbs.

The stages

• Prologue - April 30: Genève ITT, 3.2 km
• Stage 1 - May 1: Genève-Malleray/Bévilard, 187 km
• Stage 2 - May 2: Bellelay-Charmey/La Gruyère, 172.8 km
• Stage 3 - May 3: Pringy/La Gruyère-Sierre, 180.3 km
• Stage 4 - May 4: Sierre-Leysin, 144.4 km
• Stage 5 - May 5: Lausanne-Lausanne ITT, 18.3 km

Saeco-Longoni Sport for upcoming races

Danilo Di Luca will take part in the Tour of Romandie in Switzerland which starts tomorrow, April 30, finishing on Sunday, May 5. Di Luca is trying to get back to his top level after not doing so well in the World Cups. Director Guido Bontempi will have Salvatore Commesso, Biagio Conte, Oscar Mason, Cristian Pepoli, Igor Pugaci and Andrea Tonti as the rest of the team in Romandie.

Meanwhile in Germany, Mirko Celestino and Igor Astarloa are the two leaders for the Rund Um Den Henninger Turm (GP Frankfurt) on May 1. The three Germans (Joerg Ludewig, Torsten Nitsche and Christian Wegmann) will also ride, along with Leonardo Bertagnolli, Brad Davidson and Fabio Sacchi.

Giro contender Gilberto Simoni will be at the Giro dell'Appennino race on May 1. After three stage races (Vuelta a Pais Vasco, Settimana Lombarda and Giro del Trentino), Simoni will use the three one-day races (Giro dell'Appennino, GP Industria e Artigianato, Giro di Toscana) scheduled in Italy this week, as final preparation for the Giro d'Italia which starts on May 11.

The other riders with Simoni will be Juan Fuentes, Marius Sabaliauskas, Justin Spinelli, Brad Davidson, Alessandro Spezialetti and Alessio Galletti.

Lampre-Daikin for upcoming races

Pavel Tonkov will approach the Giro d'Italia by taking part in the Tour de Romandie, which starts tomorrow with a prologue time trial in Genève, and finishes on Sunday, May 5 with an ITT in Lausanne. Lampre-Daikin will line-up for this race with a similar team as in the Giro del Trentino. Rubens Bertogliati will race instead of Sergio Barbero and Marco Serpellini instead of Manuel Quinziato.

Tour of Romandie: Pavel Tonkov, Juan Manuel Garate, Massimo Codol, Mariano Piccoli, Marco Serpellini, Rubens Bertogliati, Simone Bertoletti, Milan Kadlec, Team manager: Maurizio Piovani.

Giro dell’Appennino (May 1): Raimondas Rumsas, Gabriele Missaglia, Maximilian Sciandri, Raivis Belohvosciks, Sergio Barbero, Alessandro Cortinovis. Team manager: Pietro Algeri.

Gp Industria e Commercio di Larciano and Giro di Toscana (May 4) and Giro di Toscana (May 5): Raimondas Rumsas, Gabriele Missaglia, Maximilian Sciandri, Alberto Loddo, Luciano Pagliarini, Sergio Barbero, Alessandro Cortinovis, Raivis Belohvosciks. Team manager: Pietro Algeri.

Fassa Bortolo for upcoming races

Tour de Romandie (April 30-May 5): Wladimir Belli, Ivan Basso, Volodimir Gustov, Sergei Gontchar, Nicola Loda, Matteo Tosatto, Marco Velo, Denis Zanette, DS: Stefano Zanatta.

Rund um den Henninger Turm Frankfurt (May 1): Michele Bartoli, Serguei Ivanov, Kim Kirchen, Dmitri Konychev, Alessandro Petacchi, Roberto Petito, Gorazd Stangelj. DS: Alberto Volpi

Giro dell'Appennino (May 1): Filippo Casagrande, Fabio Baldato, Rinaldo Nocentini, Oscar Pozzi, Tadej Valjavec, Marco Zanotti. DS: Mario Chiesa.

Mapei-Quick Step for upcoming races

Tour de Romandie (April 30-May 5):Laszlo Bodrogi, David Cañada Garcia, Cadel Evans, Paolo Fornaciari, Robert Hunter, Andrea Noè, Luca Paolini, Eddy Ratti. DS: Roberto Damiani, Jesus Suarez Cueva.

Giro dell'Appennino (May 1): Elio Aggiano, Paolo Bettini, Davide Bramati, Miguel Martinez, Luca Scinto, Gerhard Trampusch. DS: Serge Parsani.

Rund um den Henninger Turm Frankfurt (May 1): Fabien DeWaele, Oscar Freire, Pedro Horrillo Muñoz, Daniele Nardello, Andrea Tafi, Charly Wegelius, Stefano Zanini. DS: Eric Vanderaerden

Elite CA cyclist murdered

Ryan Smith, a US rider who rode for the Division III Sierra Nevada cycling team, was murdered on Sunday in Sacramento, California. Smith was stabbed just after midnight at his girlfriend's apartment, and died later in UC Davis Medical Center. The prime suspect was Smith's girlfriend's ex-boyfriend, 21 year old Ryan Moreno, who was later arrested by police after a high speed chase.

FBD Milk Ras Honours Joe Christle

By Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent, Evening Herald, Sunday Independent

In a poignant move, Dermot Dignam now at the helm as organiser of the FBD Milk Ras 8 Day International Cycle Race, which takes place from Mat 19-26, has decided to dedicate the race to the memory of the late Joe Christle.

A dynamic organiser, Christle was the driving force behind the concept of an Irish multi-stage race. The concept became a reality in 1953 when the first RAS TAILTEANN took to the roads of Ireland, with Christle as Race Director, a position he held for many years. He contributed hugely to all aspects of the development of cycle racing in Ireland in the fifties and sixties. A legendary and sometime controversial figure, Christle used his powerful organisational and oratorical talents to the best effect in promoting Irish cycling and furthering the cause of his republican beliefs.

In further tributes, in this the Golden Jubilee of the race, seven of the eight stages will be dedicated to cyclists and officials who were closely involved in the race and, who, sadly, are no longer with us.

Stage 1, Dublin - Ballinamore will honour Noel McGuill, a young Dunleer cyclist fatally injured in the 1972 race. Stage 2, Ballinamore - Nenagh and Stage 3, Nenagh - Killorglin will honour Dublin team helpers, Donal Roche and Ando Christle fatally injured in motorbike accidents in 1963 and 1954 respectively. The Stage to Castletownbere honours Jim Killean, for many years President of the National Cycling Association. Stages to Midleton, Arklow and Baltinglass will honour three former great winners of this gruelling cycle race, Joe O'Brien, Ben McKenna and Paddy Flanagan respectively.

Volunteers needed for 2002 First Union Cycling Series

Hundreds of volunteers are needed for the First Union Cycling Series races, which will be held in early June. The Series consists of four races: First Union Invitational in Lancaster, PA, June 4th, First Union Classic in Trenton, NJ, June 6th, First Union Liberty Classic in Philadelphia (for women), June 9th and the First Union USPRO Championship (the national road cycling championship for men) in Philadelphia, June 9th.

The organisers are looking for volunteers to help with marshaling, security, pressroom, stage crew, event headquarters and hospitality, amongst other things. Marshals are located throughout the course, in prime viewing areas, to help make the race safe for spectators and competitors. Security volunteers are placed in positions to protect race equipment and check credentials to restricted areas. Volunteers must be 16 years of age or older and will receive an official event t-shirt.

To sign up for one or more of the races within the First Union Cycling Series go to www.firstunioncycling.com and download the volunteer form. Or contact Chris Spaeth at 610.676.0390 ext 113 or via email at cspaeth@thresholdsports.com

NORBA National 24 Hours of Adrenalin at Laguna Seca

Tinker Juarez and Rishi Grewal will be two of the names set to do battle at the 24 Hours of Adrenalin NORBA National Championships. The event will take place at Laguna Seca Recreation Area, Monterey, California on May 18-19, 2002.

Amongst his numerous accomplishments, Juarez (Volvo-Cannondale) has represented the USA twice at the Olympics and has won 4 NORBA National titles including the first 24 Hours of Adrenalin NORBA National Solo Championship in 2001. Juarez is looking to win his fifth NORBA National title, but has one main adversary that could steal the show from him. Grewal (Klein) a top 24 Hour cycling endurance athlete in the USA, is a six-time National Team member and the 1999 World Solo 24 Hours of Adrenalin Champion.

Each rider is aiming to win both the 24 Hour of Adrenalin NORBA National title and the World Solo 24 Hours of Adrenalin Championships, which will take place on August 31­September 1, 2002, at Silver Star Mountain Resort, Vernon, British Columbia, Canada.