First Edition Cycling News for April 9, 2004

Edited by Chris Henry

Lefevere looks for eight

Quick.Step-Davitamon manager Patrick Lefevere is in the hunt for his eighth Paris-Roubaix title as a director, after victories in the Mapei and Domo-Farm Frites days from Johan Museeuw, Franco Ballerini, Andrea Tafi and Servais Knaven, including four sweeps of the podium since 1996.

This year Lefevere will watch his master at work for the last time, as Museeuw bids adieu to the cobbles of northern France before retiring as a professional rider. At the same time, Tom Boonen, viewed by many as Museeuw's heir apparent, enters Sunday's race in excellent form and fresh off his biggest classic win to date at Wednesday's Gent-Wevelgem. A changing of the guard is at hand, even if Museeuw remains determined to try for a record-tying fourth win in Roubaix.

Lefevere counts Museeuw, Boonen, Knaven and Stefano Zanini as his possible winners, calling Zanini his 'secret weapon'. His team put on a convincing display of power in numbers at Gent-Wevelgem, even if Lefevere wonders if his roster for Roubaix has the depth of years past.

"Perhaps that's fewer [leaders] than in years past, but times have changed," Lefevere said in a l'Equipe interview. "This year we built a bigger team. We took on four Spanish riders for the grand tours and we also have Richard Virenque, Michael Rogers, Patrik Sinkewitz and Jurgen Van Goolen, who are more suited for stage races.

"It bothers me that everyone finds it normal the way we've been so strong in Paris-Roubaix," Lefevere added. "When we win, it's normal. When we don't win, people ask me what happened."

As for the all-important weather forecast for Sunday, does Lefevere have a preference for the conditions the riders will face?

"Weather from hell, the worst possible," he said happily. "Paris-Roubaix should remain Paris-Roubaix."

Cofidis for Roubaix: O'Grady in

Cofidis tests pavé
Photo ©: AFP

Suffering through the Tour of Flanders and initially uncertain for Paris-Roubaix, thanks to a cracked rib sustained in the E3 Prijs in late March, Stuart O'Grady will line up for the start of Paris-Roubaix Sunday.

"I was hoping the rib wouldn't cause too much drama," O'Grady told Cyclingnews after a tough outing at the Tour of Flanders, "but I found that pave and broken bones just don't go together."

Meanwhile, members of the team engaged in the pre-race ritual of testing several sections of pavé along the Paris-Roubaix parcours Thursday.

The Cofidis roster for Paris-Roubaix includes Jimmy Casper, Arnaud Coyot, Jimmy Enngoulvant, Peter Farazijn, Stuart O'Grady, Staf Scheirlinckx, Matthew White. The team will be directed by Alain Deloeuil.

Hayman waits another year

While disappointed over his forfeit from Paris-Roubaix, Australian Mathew Hayman (Rabobank) has not sustained any broken bones or fractures from his crash in Gent-Wevelgem Wednesday, where he injured his hip and leg. Hayman has raced Paris-Roubaix four times, noting improvement in each outing, but recognised that this year would simply not be possible.

"The decision was made after I left the Hospital on Wednesday that I wouldn't be fit to race on Sunday in Roubaix," Hayman told Cyclingnews Thursday. "It's a shame because I really like that race and was looking forward to it. But even though all the x-rays showed that I didn't break anything in my leg or hip there is no way I could race well on Sunday. The race is hard enough without carrying an injury.

"Last year was my best result by far," Hayman added, referring to his previous Roubaix performance when he finished 26th, 2'28 behind winner Peter Van Petegem.

"It was one of my goals for this year, and I was starting to get a little better after being sick in Paris-Nice. Looks like I will have to wait another year."

FDJeux.com counts on Guesdon

Frédéric Guesdon, the last French winner of Paris-Roubaix in 1997, will once more lead his FDJeux.com team Sunday in hopes of bringing the glory of the Hell of the North back home to France. Guesdon will be the team's sole leader, due in part to Baden Cooke's forced forfeit after a crash in the Tour of Flanders last weekend.

Guesdon, 32, has the full confidence of his director Marc Madiot, himself a former victor over the pavé of Paris-Roubaix. Now it seems the French veteran needs just to instill some confidence in himself.

"I don't think I've ever had legs this good," Guesdon told Gilles Le Roc'h in a Reuters interview. "Then again, something always seems to go wrong. I was sick at A Travers la Flandre (Dwars Door Vlaanderen), I crashed at the GP E3, I had to put a foot down at Flanders right when everything was starting. I'm well aware, Sunday I need good weather and some luck."

Madiot won't need to give Guesdon a pep talk, however, as the two share a close relationship.

"We don't need to talk to understand each other," Madiot said of his team leader. "If there's one rider I never have to worry about, it's Fred. He's a true professional."

Nonetheless, when Madiot thinks back to Guesdon's surprise win in 1997, which he took in a larger than usual sprint in the Roubaix velodrome, he doesn't see the performance of someone who really took the race in hand.

"That day I told him he didn't understand what he had just won," Madiot said. "I hope he can win a second time so he can really enjoy it."

Guesdon, for his part, hopes for success on Sunday, and hopes for a unified team for the unique race. "I'm going to be the team leader, but only counts when you're really supported by everyone," he explained. "In foreign teams, being a leader means something. In France, it's more complicated."

Roubaix equipment

The brutal, high-speed beating riders take over the pavé of Paris-Roubaix often calls for unique measures when it comes to equipment choices. While radical solutions such as front suspension (or even full suspension) bikes have come in and out of favour, more subtle changes are often made to standard road bikes for Roubaix, or indeed non-standard frames are provided for the race.

An early glimpse of what some teams will try can be found in the Belgian team camps. Lotto-Domo will reportedly ride slightly longer frames, with an extra centimetre of tubing to offer some additional comfort over the cobbles. The team will also use 25mm width tubular tires.

Mr. Bookmaker-Palmans will use normal road frames, though mechanics will swap conventional inner chainrings for 46t rings, given the flat parcours of Paris-Roubaix, while Chocolade Jacques will take the opposite approach, outfitting its riders on cyclo-cross frames for the pounding of the pavé.

Peers back for Roubaix

Despite crashing in Gent-Wevelgem and receiving stitches in his knee Wednesday night, Chris Peers (Chocolade Jacques) will line up for the start at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.

Spanish federation interviews more

The Spanish cycling federation will listen to testimony from cyclists Dario Gadeo and Pedro Diaz Lobato, each of whom spoke out in defense of Jesus Manzano after the ex-Kelme rider's sweeping allegations of drug use within the team, at a hearing scheduled for Monday, April 12th. The two cyclists will be heard at 4:30pm, while Kelme director Vicente Belda, who has yet to appear before the federation, is scheduled to appear at 6pm.

Manzano is expected to appear before the federation's lawyer Enrique Franch on Tuesday, where he is to begin providing evidence to support the claims he made in his first appearance before the federation on Monday.

French federation seeks more dialogue

Pitallier calls for round table

French cycling federation president Jean Pitallier has called on representatives in all aspects of the sport to meet for a round table discussion on April 16, to address what he considers to be a "serious crisis" in cycling. Marked most notably by recent doping scandals, notably that surrounding the Cofidis team since the beginning of the year, French cycling has begun 2004 on less than stable footing.

"We need to start over on better terms," Pitallier said, "The laws and the rules must be respected, at all levels."

Pitallier's effort also comes on the heels of resignations from Roger Legeay (Crédit Agricole) and Philippe Raimbaud (Brioches La Boulangère) from AC 2000, the association of French professional teams. Both team representatives have expressed their frustration over what they consider to be irregularities and inconsistencies in the comportment of other team managements.

Pitallier has called on riders, team managers, race organisers, and other federation representatives to talk at the meeting, to be held outside of Paris.

New course for CapTech Classic

Organizers of the CapTech Classic announced Thursday changes to the race course, and the events inclusion in the inaugural World Cycling Series, a collection of criteriums in the United States this season. The CapTech Classic, scheduled for May 8th in Richmond, Virginia, will be the first race in the new series, and will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports Net.

Expanding from last year's 0.9km circuit, this year's race will be run on a 2km circuit in downtown Richmond, beginning and ending on Canal Street between 7th and 8th Streets . The course features eight turns and 125 feet of climbing per lap, using roads used in the former Tour du Pont when the stage race visited Richmond. More information is available at www.captechclassic.com.

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