News for July 16, 2002

Edited by Jeff Jones

Cipollini wants more support

Mario Cipollini held a press conference today in Firenze to announce his retirement from the sport of cycling. The news, first announced on his website last week, has been met with disbelief by his peers and fans, but he's serious - for now.

"I am retiring because there are not enough sponsors prepared to invest in me and because there is not the right atmosphere for me in the team," said Cipollini who rides for the Acqua e Sapone team. The same team that helped him win six stages of the Giro d'Italia, and is built around leading him out for the bunch sprints.

He is still smarting from not being invited to this year's Tour, and has been forced to watch his colleagues Zabel, McEwen, Kirsipuu and Cooke fight out the glory on the flat stages. However, Cipollini did not do himself any favours when he was specially invited to this year's Paris-Roubaix in order to defend his World Cup jersey, only to turn it down at the last minute.

"Paris-Roubaix is run by the Sociètè du Tour de France," he said at the time. "Last year, I was not invited to take part in the Tour. Consequently, I hardly want to answer an invitation of a company which did not want me a year ago."

"Following Cipollini's decision not to participate, ASO has decided not to retain the application of Acqua e Sapone," read a statement from the organisers, Amaury Sports Organisation. "The team asked to be included so Cipollini could defend his World Cup leader jersey."

The ASO no doubt remembered the embarrassing snub when it came time to decide the final five wild card teams for the Tour de France. At the time, only one Italian team was selected (Saeco), but even this was changed later in favour of the French squad Jean Delatour, following the Gilberto Simoni case in the Giro.

Cipollini may have had regrets about his earlier comments, but it was a little too late as he was again sidelined for the Tour de France. He said today that "I am a cyclist who has given more to cycling than cycling has been able to give to me and who is now forced to watch events on television at home."

The door is still open: "For the moment this is my decision. Maybe in two weeks I will wake up and think of those who have followed me throughout all these years and decide to come back."

Cipollini's career spans nearly 14 years, starting in 1989 with Del Tongo. He has collected nearly 180 wins in that time, including an amazing 40 stages in the Giro d'Italia, 12 Tour de France stages, Milan-San Remo, three Gent-Wevelgems, and stages in numerous other races. This year, he has already won 10 races and is still considered a favourite for the World Championships in Zolder. Time will tell.

Italian anti-doping head to resign

The head of the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping commission, Giacomo Aiello, has handed in his resignation in the wake of the Pantani acquittal. On Sunday, July 14, Marco Pantani was successful in his appeal to get his eight month suspension for insulin possession lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The CAS declared that there was no certainty that Pantani was in possession of illegal substances, as there was no witness to see him enter or exit his alleged hotel room where the syringe was found.

Aiello told La Gazzetta dello Sport that "My resignation is irrevocable and I am not changing my mind. Formally I will send a letter to president Gianni Petrucci today. In that letter I will explain my decision."

Aiello has been in charge of investigating potential doping cases, including the recommendation of sanctions to the relevant sporting federations. However for the most part he has been ignored, or his recommended bans greatly diluted by the federations.

"When sporting justice bodies have to judge famous personalities, either they reduce the sanction or they just give up. The acquittal of Pantani was the final straw. Either you apply the rules to everyone or it is better just to forget about it."

Aiello also dealt with football cases, which were just as bad, if not worse due to the massive amount of money involved. He was again frustrated by his lack of power to enforce the sanctions that he believed were rightly deserved.

Finally, there are the conflicting standards between national and international federations. " "The IOC and CONI have rules that carry certain sanctions with them, while the differing national federations respond on the basis of their international bodies who have more generous regulations."

Hunter offered a two year contract by Rabobank

South African Robert Hunter has been offered a two year contract by the Rabobank team, after a couple of months of negotiations. Hunter, who currently rides for Mapei-Quick Step, has not yet decided to take the offer. He has only ridden for Mapei for a year, after switching from Lampre-Daikin. He has won two stages in the Vuelta España, 2 stages of the Ronde van Nederland and 3 stages Tour of Langkawi amongst his career total of 11 victories.

"We want him in our team to strengthen the squad for the early season. He is an aggressive rider, he fits in with our concept," said team leader Theo De Rooij.

UCI downgrades Giro d'Italia Femminile

The UCI has decided to downgrade one of the biggest races on the women's calendar to a National Event (NE), after it didn't meet certain criteria for 2.9.1 races. The race in question is the Giro d'Italia Femminile, which was won by Russian Svetlana Boubnenkova (Team Aliverti Kookai). That means no UCI ranking points for the winners.

The UCI issued a press release to this effect, citing the lack of foreign teams as the reason. A 2.9.1 race needs more than three foreign teams to participate, and that was not the case this year.

NORBA Round 4 Preview

As Durango readies to host the fourth round of the Chevy Trucks NORBA Nationals, organizers are looking both forward and backwards. The Colorado town of Durango hosted the first US national mountain bike championships in 1986, the first world mountain bike championships in 1990, and several NORBA nationals and world cups. This year, the Chevy Trucks NORBA Nationals will be held in Durango between August 1-4.

"We have invited all the past winners to attend," said Ed Zink, the chairman of the organizing committee. "Durango is very proud of its mountain bike heritage."

While the town became excited about the upcoming race, much of the attention and energy of this community has gone into battling a nearby wildfire. Though the community has struggled, the fires are reportedly contained and pose no threat to the event, the course, or the air quality, Zink said.

"No blankety-blank fire is going to set us back," said Zink, noting he expects a solid turnout for the event. "They can count on a first-class athletic event; they can count on a first-class mountain bike experience."

The five-race series opened May 9-12 at Snow Summit, Calif., and moved to a new venue, Alpine Valley Resort in Troy, Wisc., June 13-16. The series went to Snowshoe, W. Va., June 20-23; and goes to Durango, Colo., Aug. 1-4; and finishes at Mount Snow, Vt., Aug. 15-18.

Australian Junior World's team announced

Cycling Australia announced the Australian Junior Road Cycling team which will contest the World Cycling Championships in Belgium from October 8-13. Six junior men and four junior women were named in the Australian team.

Only five starters will be allowed to start the junior men's race at the World Championships. There will be strong competition in pre-worlds racing within the male team to secure one of the five spots on offer. Selections for the men will be complete two weeks from the Worlds.

In the women's team, all four riders named will qualify for a start at the World Championships for the road race.

In the Worlds Time Trial events, only two riders can start in each division. Tasmanians Belinda Goss and Mark Jamieson are very strong contenders to start in the World's time trial following their performances Nationally this year.

Goss and Jamieson will also do the Worlds double, competing in track cycling and road cycling. Both riders are part of the National Junior Track Team which compete in the World Junior Track Championship to be held in Melbourne from 21 - 25 August. They will get just a few days following the Track Worlds to recover before heading straight to Europe to commence their road racing campaigns with the National road team.

Australian Junior Road Cycling Team

Junior Men

Richard Moffat (NSW)
James Meadley (Act)
Nic Sanderson (Vic)
Mark Jamieson (Tas)
Ryan Sullivan (Tas)
Jon Clarke (Vic)

Junior Women

Alex Rhodes (SA)
Stephanie Williams (Tas)
Belinda Goss (Tas)
Sally-Ann Cowman (Qld)

Coaches:
National Coach: Kevin Tabotta (Tas/TIS)
Assistant National Coach: Warren McDonald (ACT/ACTAS)

(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2002)