News for September 19, 2002Edited by Jeff Jones & Chris Henry Armstrong hits Capitol Hill
Following his final race of the season, the San Francisco GP, Lance Armstrong spent three days in Washington, DC this week promoting cancer awareness. President Bush nominated Armstrong for the President's Cancer Panel, and this week was Armstrong's opportunity to become acquainted with various public health officials. The Lance Armstrong Foundation also began lobbying members of Congress in support of its proposed Cancer Survivorship Research and Quality of Life Act, which aims to create new funding for cancer research. The bill has already received support from Senators Edward Kennedy and Bill Frist. Armstrong was expected to meet with the president at the White House on Wednesday. French to keep Edita in prisonEdita Rumsas, the wife of Tour de France third place getter Raimondas Rumsas, will have to stay in prison until at least September 26, during which time the French Appeals Court in Chambery will consider an appeal to set her free. That means Mrs Rumsas will have been incarcerated for nearly two months, following her arrest on July 29 for possession of certain illegal drugs. Raimondas was questioned last week in Italy by French police in relation to the matter, but so far has refused to travel to France for fear of being locked up. His mother-in-law, who was the intended recipient of the drugs according to Raimondas and Edita, was also questioned. The Rumsas family lawyer Alexandre Varaut said in comments to Darren Tulett/Bloomberg News that "We hoped the fact her husband has been questioned would be a determining factor, but the court decided otherwise. Eight more days of deliberation means eight more days of incarceration for Edita Rumsas." Last week L'Equipe published a list of 37 types of drugs that were found in Edita's car. Most of them were legal (some with restriction), with the exception of testosterone and growth hormone products. Also, six syringes found in an envelope with Raimondas' name on it were found to contain EPO, according to L'Equipe. Edita may be detained for up to eight months under the French legal system. She was visited by her three children on Friday, the first time that she has seen them since being locked up. Coast contract disputes continueAlex Zülle and other members of Team Coast have appealed to the UCI to solve their wage disputes with the team. Team Coast manager Marcel Wüst confirmed the salary concerns, but was quoted in Europa Press saying that agreements had been reached with Zülle and fellow Swiss Mauro Gianetti. Differences remain, however, with Lars Michaelsen. "The contracts of the riders signed in 2001, and specifically of three riders, Zülle, Gianetti and Michaelsen, are based on a number of points for the season," Wust explained. "If the riders surpass the points level, their salaries increase. If they fall below, wages are reduced. Our mistake is not to have specified the reduction, but it is in proportion to the increase." Both Zülle and Gianetti are reported to have accepted a wage reduction. No dream team in GP TellBy Tomas Nilsson, Cyclingnews correspondent This year a contingent of top East European riders from the Italian amateur peloton was supposed to ride the GP Tell led by Giancarlo Ghillioni under the name of GHIA-Fasco. The team was however stopped due to "licence problems". Even the UCI was engaged to solve these problems but without success. The team included world ranking leader Mikhail Timochine (Russia) as well as Ukrainians Ruslan Gryschenko and Yuriy Symonenko, Muradjan Khalmuratov and Sergey Lagutin of Uzbekistan and Slovenian Mateij Mugerl. The Swiss U23 stage race GP Tell is important for many nations in the build up for the World Championships. The Swedish Team are title defenders but last year's winner Emil Arnell was caught in an Italian drug test, and withdrew from cycling just days before the World's in Portugal. This year Fredrik Modin of Team Mälarenergi, third in the tour of Sweden and an excellent climber, rides with number one, while the rest of the team consists mostly of riders from Team Crescent. National teams from Sweden, Italy, France, Switzerland, Slovenia, USA, Denmark, Australia, Austria, Germany, Kazakhstan, Ireland and a Swiss B mixed team are taking part as well as Swiss elite teams Hörmann-Romer's, Hadimec Electronics and Mendrisio Mapei, RDM Bianchi from Belgium and as a late replacement German Hofbräu-Stuttgart strengthened with a couple of Cottbus riders. Swiss pre-selection for the World'sThe Swiss will be allowed a maximum of 12 riders in the men's World Championship Road Race on Sunday, October 13. 23 riders have been named to the long team as follows: Niki Aebersold (Team Coast) Hungarian selections for the World ChampionshipsRoad Race Laszlo Bodrogi (Mapei-Quick Step), Balazs Rohtmer (Amore e Vita-Beretta) Time Trial Laszlo Bodrogi (Mapei-Quick Step), Csaba Szekeres (Colombia-Selle Italia) U23 Road Race Benedek Vörös (Mapei-Kanizsa KK), Zoltan Csomor (Mapei-Kanizsa KK), Zoltan Madaras (P Nivo-Betonexpressz-FTC), Tamas Lengyel (P Nivo-Betonexpressz-FTC) U23 Time Trial Zoltan Csomor (Mapei-Kanizsa KK) Courtesy of Roland Gombkoto Colombian selection for the World Track ChampionshipsWith 10 men and one woman, the Colombian selection looks strong for the upcoming World Track Championships in Ballerup, Denmark (September 25-29). The team includes Wilson Meneses, who finished as the number one ranked kilometre time trial rider after the five rounds of the World Cup. Also present will be Leonardo Duque, winner of the Points Race in Monterrey, Mexico and other bronze medal in the Scratch Race in Melbourne. The teamSprint/Kilometre TT Wilson Meneses Team Sprint Victor Hugo Alvarez Team Pursuit Alexander Gonzalez Peña Scratch Race/Points Race Leonardo Fabio Duque Madison Leonardo Fabio Duque Women's Individual Pursuit/Points Race Maria Luisa Calle National Coach Jose Julian Velazquez De La Cuesta Medical Service Doctor Luis E. Contreras Physiotherapist Miguel Angel Blanco Montes Mechanic Luis Fernando Rodriguez Gutierrez Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross SeriesKicking off Auburn, Maine on Sunday, October 6, 2002 is the Verge New England Championship Cyclo-Cross Series. The series boasts over $25,000 in prize money, and all six races are internationally sanctioned by the UCI. Riders to compete in the Verge Series include reigning U.S. national champion Todd Wells (Mongoose/Hyundai), and Canadian champion Peter Wedge (Kona). They'll be challenged by last year's Verge Series winner Mark McCormack (Saturn), brother Frank McCormack (Saturn), former U.S. national champions Tim Johnson (Saturn) and Marc Gullickson (Mongoose/Hyundai), local favourite Josh Huseby (Independent Fabrications), and last year's Round 1 winner Jonny Sundt (K2). On the women's side, Saturn's Lyne Bessette will be hard-pressed to defend her title against likely challenges from U.S. masters national champion Emily Thorne and a host of others, including Canadian national champion Shauna Gillies-Smith, U.S. collegiate champion Alicia Genest, U.S. 30+ champion Katrina Davis and NCC-BikeReg.com's Kathryn Roszko. The program
St Kilda Cycling Club End of Year BallTop international women's cyclist Anna Millward will be the guest speaker at St Kilda Cycling Club's End of Year Ball, to be held on Friday November 8 at 7:30pm at the Melbourne Aquarium. Millward was the first female cyclist to be named Australian Cyclist of the Year and the first cyclist ever to break the Hour Record under the new UCI rules. Cost per ticket $100 (GST incl.) includes three course dinner, wine, beer, soft drinks and wines from the Mornington Peninsula courtesy of sponsor Tucks Ridge. Please RSVP by 25th October 2002 to reserve your place by filling in the details below and either fax to 03 9620 0166, mail to SKCC, PO Box 420, Elwood, Vic 3184, or email info@skcc.com.au. Please forward payment with your booking confirmation and make cheque payable to "St Kilda Cycling Club". Booking confirmation: Yes, I/we would like to attend the SKCC Annual Ball 2002 at a cost of $100 (GST incl.) per person Number of people attending (please advise name of your guests): Number of vegetarian meals requested (if applicable): Name:
(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2002) |
|
January 2009 |
Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Mont Ventoux Photo ©: Sirotti |
