News for February 7, 1998

Gianni Bugno Interview

This is an interview between Guy Vermeiren (Het Belang Van Limburg) and Gianni Bugno. Translated from the Dutch. "Riding in the company of youngsters. It is the life, I have no trouble with it. I am 34, and I have a 15 year gap on the youngest in the team. A little older, I get less results."

So says Gianni Bugno, undoubtedly brilliant, and on the threshold of his last season as a professional cyclist. Two world titles, one Giro, wins in the Ronde van Ronde van Vlaanderen, Milaan-San Remo, Wincanton Classic and Clasica San Sebastian - the last real "god" in Italian cycling.

Q: Pre-season preparation, Classics, Giro and Vuelta, Worlds: you will do them all one more time. Have you that wish?

Gianni: Goodbye, the whole time. For the moment I am just racing and not really staying still. That will come later in the season. At this moment I have too much to do to be melancholy. I have not done any 6-Day races, no exotic trips to the Tour of Malaysia, just all hard training. At the moment, everyone is talking about it but me.

Q: What are you going to place emphasis on this season?

Gianni: First and foremose the Classics. The Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are not really for me. They are races for power racers, chaps with lots of technique also. They are not really for me at my age. Milaan-San Remo, Luik-Bastenaken-Luik or the Amstel Gold Race are more my type of race. I hope, taking the team's success as the goal, that my own chance will come in one of those three.

Q: You recently said you would default from the Tour. What are you aiming for the Giro and the Vuelta?

Gianni: First and foremost to help Pavel Tonkov to win. Two major national stage races is very hard work, I know that. But I shall ride sensibly and on each mountain I will climb as quickly as I know I can. (laughing)

Q: In the Tour of Spain will you be getting yourself ready for the World Championship?

Gianni: Even after 12 years in the professional ranks I still dream about that. A third world title and then retirement - a great way to leave cycling. That would be the best. And also, with the rainbow jersey on my shoulders for the Tour of Lombardy, my last race...

Q: What do you say about the myth of that is is a so-called fluke who ends up with the rainbow jersey? At that time you were one of the riders who was disappointing during your world championship reign. Twice at that.

Gianni: To say it is a so-called fluke is "stuff and nonsense", who says that. Enough people have seen how hard it is to have the jersey. I had it for two years on my shoulders. Tell me that isn't so. And the world champion does not really have any peace. At the beginning of the winter, with the whole fuss and all the interviews. Then at the beginning of the season. At the start and finish of every race I have to pay attention to the fans and the sponsors. I am not left to ride my bike and when I am on the bike I am the most watched rider in the peloton. I have never got a centimeter to myself. That naturally makes it very difficult to win the great races.

Q: You have said "just because I have one good day, can I always have good days". But the great days last season were few and far between.

Gianni: Normal, no. I won my first big race when I was 24. That continued until I was around 30. Don't forget that I am one of the last riders who can present themselves for racing from the beginning of February to the end of October. I am an allrounder and I don't just pick specific races. Now we see riders like Jan Ullrich who only uses the pre season to prepare for the Tour of France. That was not the way 15 years ago. I rode all the classics, the major tours - always to win. That makes it normal that you will get the possibility of physical tiredness.

Q: Will you leave the top sport a contented man? Verlaat je de topsport als een gezond man?

Gianni: Why not? Cycling is terribly difficult, that is clear to me. But I would be foolish to say that I have not done good things. I did not pick over each sport to decide on my career.

Q: What are you going to do at the end of October?

I hope I can actively remain in cycling. In what capacity I don't yet know. Not as as sports director, no. Talking with, listening too and motivating riders - I do not see myself doing that. That is the quality that a Sports Director requires.

Q: Looking back on your career, is there anything that you regret?

Gianni: I am completely at peace with myself (laughing). Well indeed, that is all I can say. I have committed no sins to be sitting around moping. There were many races that I did not win. I am sure that cycling is not the most important thing in my life. From October I begin a new life, cycling is not the number one priority in my life.

Jack and Jones to Midi Libre

After yesterday's stage victory and the good results in GP Marseillaise and Etoile de Besseges, the new Danish Team home Jack & Jones has received an invitation for the GP Midi Libre (cat. 2.1 - May 19-24).

But perhaps the team will have to say "no thanks" to the invitation, even though it's a great opportunity to gain valuable UCI points. The important Danish races GP Midtbank in Herning and GP Aarhus is on their schedule in the period of MidiLibre, and they have already made sponsor-contracts for these two races.

Cross at Winter Olympics - More

The UCI will probably request that cyclo-cross be included in the program of events for the winter Olympics, indicated Laurent de Backer, president of the Cyclo-cross Commission in the UCI and head of the Belgian Cycling Federation. According t him, the UCI is going to pay more attention to cyclo-cross, which up to now, has most adepts in Europe. It is expected that there will be 7 new 2nd and third class races in the USA, around Colorado Springs, as well as some races in Japan.

US Postal for the Tour

The 1998 Tour de France will begin in Dublin, Ireland, on July 11 and will conclude in Paris on August 2.

Following the conclusion of the Tour of Italy and the Dauphine Libere stage race in France on June 16, the Societe du Tour de France will then chose 4 or 5 "wild card" teams to compete in the Tour de France, bringing the total number of teams for the race to either 20 or 21. By virtue of finishing among the top 16 teams in the world rankings in 1997 and starting the season among the top 20 teams in 1998, the U.S. Postal Service team earned its automatic bid. Last season, the team was chosen as a "wild card" for the race.

The U.S. Postal Service team won 39 races in 1997, including individual stages at such prestigious French stage races as Paris-Nice and the Dauphine Libere. At the Tour de France, the team's top rider finished in 15th place overall and the team placed 10th out of 22 teams. The U.S. Postal Service team, along with the German Telekom team and the French Festina squad, were the only three teams to complete the 3,943 kilometer race with all nine of its riders.

For the 1998 season, the U.S. Postal Service team added several new riders to the team, including former world champion and two-time Tour de France stage winner Lance Armstrong. Following his successful battle with testicular cancer, Armstrong re-joins the professional peloton in the hopes of regaining his stature as America's top cyclist.