Cycling photography for January - Part II

The Local East Coast Australian Time is plus 30 minutes

La Francaise des Jeux team presentation
RONA training camp
Colnago-Landbouwkredit training
Saeco- Longoni Sport team launch
Telekom team launch
Cyclo-cross World Cup #6, Heerlen
AG2R Prévoyance team launch
Team COAST launch
Alessio team launch
More Mapei team presentation
Acqua&Sapone team launch
Mapei team presentation
Crédit Agricole team presentation

Copyright notice: The photo's that appear here are all subject to copyright, and may not be reproduced in any form anywhere else without the owner's permission. Copies, either print or electronic, of the photographs can be requested by contacting the photographer in most cases, as email or website addresses are usually provided with the images. The exceptions are AFP photo's, which are not available for individual sale.

La Francaise des Jeux team presentation

• Team director - Marc Madiot presents his squad
• Française des Jeux president - Christophe Blanchard-Dignac speaks during the team launch
• Jacky Durand - takes the mike for FDJ at the launch
• Jacky Durand - and the team's sprinter Jimmy Casper
• Frédéric Guesdon, Jean-Cyril Robin, Christophe Mengin and Jacky Durand - form the experienced core of the team

Equipe Cycliste Rona training camp

Jonathan Devich/Thefastrack.com was at the RONA training camp in January, and took these very nice shots of the team.

• Presenting the 2002 RONA Cycling Team
• The team - fully decked in new clothes, cars, and the very nice Colnago CT-1's
• The team - poses in their leasure wear
• Genevieve Jeanson's - knee problems all seem behind her
• The girls ride up from Bartlett Lake - on the same route the USPS team took two weeks earlier
• Team rider Melissa Holt - sporting her new colors
• Team manager and coach - Andre Aubut doesn't just tell the girls what to do, he shows them.

Colnago-Landbouwkredit training

Roberto Bettini sent in these pics from Colnago-Landbouwkredit's sunny training camp.

• Members - of the Colnago-Landbouwkredit team enjoy some early season training
• One of the team's biggest young stars - Yaroslav Popovych, with his new Colnago.
• Team Colnago-Landbouwkrediet - has several young stars in its lineup

Saeco-Longoni Sport team launch

Fotoreporter Sirotti was at the Saeco team launch.

• The Saeco presentation - in Milano's Spazio Sironi
• Riders and directors - of the Saeco-Longoni Sport team
• Danilo di Luca, Gilberto Simoni and Mirko Celestino - three of Saeco's stars.
• Gilberto Simoni - Gerrit Glomser and Danilo di Luca
• Sergio Zappella - president of Saeco Macchine Per Caffe, and Gilberto Simoni
• Team boss - Claudio Corti voices his words
• New signing - Guisseppe Martinelli
• Saeco - will once again be riding Cannondale bikes this year

Telekom team launch

• No 'in the pink' gags, thanks - the whole Telekom 2002 squad
• Erik Zabel and Jan Ullrich share a laugh during the press conference.

Cyclo-cross World Cup #6, Heerlen

Richard Groenendaal covered with mud clenches his fists as he crosses the finish line to win the sixth round of the cyclo-cross World Cup

AG2R Prévoyance team launch

Daniel Schamps took these pictures at the French team's presentation

• The full assembly of AG2R 2002
• The AG2R Former Eastern Bloc Mafia: Lauri Aus, Innar Mandoja, Jaan Kirsipuu, Linas Balciunas and Alexandre Botcharov

Team COAST launch

Noticing that we had just one pic of the Team COAST launch, Anne Richter, Alex Zülle's webmaster sent these images

• Alex Zuelle, resplendent in his new strip, gives an interview
• Alex Zuelle shares a joke with a team-mate
• Alex Zuelle looks for an escape route after being asked a tricky question
• Daniel Becke, the second-youngest member of the team
• Angel Casero, Coast's Great Hope for 2002
• Aitor Garmendia studies his lines
• Aitor Garmendia looking relaxed
• David Plaza Romero and Jaime Javier Hernandez Bertran
• Thorsten Rundt does 'pensive'
• Steffen Radochla, one of seven arrivals from Festina

Photos by AFP

• Fernando Escartin, Luis Casero and Alex Zuelle present to the media their new Team COAST jerseys

Alessio team launch

A busy weekend for Roberto Bettini - these snaps from Alessio's team presentation

• Pietro Caucchioli, Ivan Gotti, Laurent Dufaux
• Raffaele Ferrara, Ivan Gotti, Davide Frattinio

Acqua&Sapone team launch

Fotoreporter Sirotti took these shots of the slightly more conventional (than their kit launch) Acqua&Sapone team launch

• The bike of Damocles?
• Mario Cipollini goes for the 'rugged and windswept' look
• Mario Cipollini and friends. It's a tough life being a pro.
• Mario Cipollini with his new bike.
• Team members - Mario Scirea, Simone Masciarelli, Mario Cipollini, Giovanni Lombardi and General Manager Vincenzo Santoni
• Mario Cipollini looks thoughtful as he is interviewed
• Simone Masciarelli, Mario Cipollini, General Manager Vincenzo Santoni
• Mario Scirea, Mario Cipollini, and Giovanni Lombardi bonding as blood brothers
• Gabrielle Colombo and friend
• Cristian Gasperoni and friend
• Massimiliano Gentili and friend
• General manager Vincenzo Santoni
• Filippo Simeoni and friend
• The management announces the team
• Cipo and the team is interviewed
• The massed ranks of the Acqua&Sapone team

Mapei team presentation

Mapei assembled its full line-up yesterday. These images by Fotoreporter Sirotti

• A brace of Italian models shows off the new Mapei kit
• Paolo Bettini
• Paolo Bettini looking more cheerful
• Paolo Bettini and Oscar Friere
• Mapei's Big Three – Bettini, Fiere and Garzelli – with team owner Giorgio Squinzi of Mapei
• Oscar Friere and friends
• All for one – Friere, Garzelli and Bettini do their Three Musketeers impression
• Friere, Garzelli and the team car
• Garzelli speaks
• Robert Hunter on the mic
• The whole team assembled
• Miguel Martinez, new recruit
• Head honches: the presidents of Quick Step and Mapei
• Mapei owner Giorgio Squinzi
• The very shiny team car

More pics from Roberto Bettini:

• Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers, the team's Down Under posse
• Robert Hunter and friends
• The team out on the road in their winter training pyjamas, er, team strip

Additional pictures (added January 29) from the presentation and after-party shenanigans, also by Roberto Bettini

• Mapei shows off its champions Daniele Nardello and Oscar Friere
• Oscar Friere takes off for a lap of the presentation
• Daniele Nardello smiles as he's interviewed
• How many pro cyclists, presenters and team managers does it take to cut a cake?
• Paolo Bettini liked the cake so much he decided to wear some of it
• After an intensive search, Charles Wegelius confirms that there is no girl in the cake
• … and that's when my drinking problem started

Crédit Agricole team presentation

Thanks to Daniel Schamps for these pictures

• The sharp-dressed men of Crédit Agricole pose with their new team bike
• The espoir squad
• The 2002 team bike is a Look KG 381 with full Shimano Dura-Ace.
• Jens Voigt and Thor Hushvod discuss the pros and cons of hitch-hiking.

Want some more?

For more cycling photography, with events such as GP de Suisse - CX World Cup 5, Tour of Qatar, Fassa Bortolo Team Presentation, Lampre-Daikin Team Presentation, Buena Vista Cyclocross , Rabobank Team Presentation , Team Telekom Training Camp, Cofidis team launch, Saeco Longoni Sport Training Camp, Australian Open Men's TT Championships, Centrum Cross Surhuisterveen, Dutch National Cyclo-cross Championships, Mapei Quick Step Training Camp, Acqua&Sapone Team Launch, Nommay Cross WC, Skilled Geelong Bay Classic - NE, Tasmanian Carnivals, New Year's Day Criterium please consult our monthly archives