Former Belgian Pro admits to EPO useFormer cyclist Eddy Planckaert has admitted on Belgian TV that he had taken the banned substance EPO during his career.Planckaert, who rode in teams managed by Peter Post, won some of the great classics in his career, including the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix and also won the green points jersey as the best sprinter in the Tour de France. In the last year the widespread use of EPO among riders has been exposed. The product increases the percentage of red blood cells in the blood and allows the rider to transport more oxygen. EPO provides enormous performance improvements. EPO users experience a thickening of the blood and increased chance of blood clotting. In the cycling world it is very rare that a former rider will make any disclosures about doping. For the BRT (Belgian TV) cameras, Planckaert did just that. He said that during a period of his racing career he had used EPO. He said: "It is a fantastic product, but dangerous to your life. But perhaps I was stupid. And had I used under medical control more EPO than I did? I would have been very rich right now." The Latest Truth from CinelliI have been receiving a lot of enquiries about the Spinaci saga. The latest I received officially from both the UCI (via Australian delegate) and Cinelli themselves is that the bars were outlawed for mass start races from January 1, 1998.Luciano from Cinelli has sent me the latest update for the benefit of all the road riders who read my pages. Cinelli has now created a WWW page - http://www.cinelli.it/Spinaci_story/english/index.htm - which outlines the history and current position of the spinaci bars with respect to the UCI and its rulings. If you have comments on the bars which you wish to send to Cinelli, please use the following email address - spinaci@cinelli.it. Please note that I have no stake in whether the bars are legalised or not, except that I like them, use them and think Cinelli, generally make good stuff for serious road racers. Hence I am prepared to provide these addresses on my site. I am not connected in anyway with Cinelli. Jan Raas comments on the World's ParcoursJan Raas won the World title in 1979 when the Championship was last held in Valkenburg. After 13 years (he ended his career in 1984), Raas got on a bike again and rode over the 1998 Championship route. He commented: "It's a very beautiful parcours. It's nearly the same as in 1979; only an extra part in the city of Maastricht. It's a honest parcours for a climber, a classements rider and a classic-rider. For a complete rider. While its one of the easier parcours of the last 10 years, it is still selective enough to mean that a top rider will win the World Championship. The Bemelerberg and the Cauberg are the two important points. The Bemelerberg will be painful, at least after 200 kilometers. If you think you're at the top; you are not. The 'vals plat' (False Flat) continues on until the village of Sibbe. This is a fantastic part for an attack. And the Cauberg is - with a 12 percent gradient - good enough to be the 'executioner'. It is no problem in the beginning, but after 150, 180 kilometers you will feel the Cauberg in your legs."Adelaide Superdrome, Olympic Event Night, January 17, 1998After a scorching hot day a late change in the weather invited a near capacity crowd to the Adelaide Superdrome. The hot track enabled some surprise Australian records to be broken and Olympic qualifying times met.
Event 1 Junior U/17 Div 2 Heartstarter 2000m Time 2m54.53s 1. A. Dauk 2. R. Braithwaite 3. K. Bryant Event 2 Women's Heartstarter 2500m Time 3m8.27s 1. L. Tyler-Sharman 2. K. Barrow 3. J. Robinson Event 3 National Team Qualification Trial 4k Team Pursuit Qualification time 4m12s or less. Team 1 Time 4m8.12s (New Australian Record) L Roberts, B Aitken, B Lancaster, N Grigg Team 2 Time 4m11.39s T Lyons, M Rogers, N Clarke, B Cooke Event 4 Junior U/17 Div 1 Heartstarter 2500m 1. M Lyons 2. M Dowling 3. N Graham Event 5 Australian Record Attempt Standing 500m Jobie Dajka 34.07s Event 6 Open Heartstarter 3000m Time 3m35.28s 1. M Neiwand 2. G Bates 3. K Felix Event 7 Open Keirin 2000m 1. J Katakasi 2. J Dajka 3. K Selin Event 8 Junior U/17 Div 2 Scratch race 2500m Time 3m44.09s 1. A Dauk 2. S Headlam 3. R Braithwaite Event 9 Women's Keirin 2000m 1. L Tyler Sharman 2. R Gilmore 3. K Parker Event 10 Australian Record Attempt Men Indoor Flying 1000m Shane Kelly 59.12s (New Australian Record) Event 11 Junior U/17 Div 1 Scratch Race 3000m Time 3m51.69s 1. M Lyons 2. N Graham 3. T Dajka Event 12 Women's Scratch Race 3000m 1. L Tyler Sharman 2. C Zucker 3. K Barrow Event 13 Open Sprint Match Heat 1 K Selin SA def. T Kelly Vic 11.13 Heat 2 J Katakasi SA def. G White Vic 11.77 Heat 3 S Eadie NSW def. M Heath SA 11.61 Heat 4 J Dajka def. M Benjamin Holland 12.05 Event 14 Open Elimination 1. B Aitken 2. B Cooke 3. S Kelly Event 15 Australian Record Attempt Junior Women indoor 2000m individual pursuit Alayna Burns 1k 1m14.22s 2k 2m28.41s (new Australian Record) Event 16 Open Match Sprint 5-8 ride off 5 M Benjamin 11.75 Event 17 Open Match Sprint Semi Final Heat 1 J Dajka def. K Selin (disqualified) 11.92 Heat 2 S Eadie def. J Katakasi 11.29 Event 18 Women's 5 km Points Race 1. K Barrow 9 2. R Gilmore 7 3. S Johinke 5 Event 19 Open Sprint Match Finals 3rd K Selin def. 4th J Katakasi 11.31 1st S Eadie def. 2nd J Dajka 11.90 Event 20 Mark Quinn Memorial 20km Points Race 1. Brett Aitken 30 2. Baden Cooke 24 3. Nathan Clarke 13 Only 9 riders of 34 finished this Event 20. Brett Aitken's sprinting was spectacular coming from the rear of the field with 230 metres to go weaving his way through the field with consummate ease to win by centimetres. Stay tuned for next week's Bertholini Cup, Interstate Challenge and Australia Day Carnival. Results and analysis from Graham Fowler. Cyclo Cross Summary for 1998Wim (Spreadsheet) van Rossum has tried to bring together the various Cyclo Cross classification into a meaningful comparative index for all the riders. There are two rankings, the World Cup (6 races) and the Super Prestige (9 races). It is a bit difficult to make a comparison of the different riders in the 15 major races (apart from the World Championship). So, Wim "as a data and cycling fanatic" made his own ranking for these 15 races and the World Championship, which is yet to be held.The points for each of the 15 major races are for the first 15 riders: 25-20-16-13-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and twice as much points for the World Championship. After 13 of the 15 major races (6 World Cup and 7 SuperPrestige) he calculates the following rankings (with some added detail from Bill):
1. Richard Groenendaal (Ned) 291 points 2. Adri van der Poel (Ned) 228 3. Daniele Pontoni (Ita) 139 4. Mario de Clercq (Bel) 129 5. Erwin Vervecken (Bel) 111 6. Marc Janssens (Bel) 98 7. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 93 8. Peter van Santvliet (Bel) 83 9. Sven Nijs (Bel) 82 10. Bart Wellens (Bel) 64 11. Wim de Vos (Ned) 58 12. Dieter Runkel (Swi) 54 13. Ben Berden (Bel) 45 14. Jan Pospisil (Cze) 37 15. Luca Bramati (Ita) 35 15. Danny de Bie (Bel) 35 15. Beat Wabel (Swi) 35 18. Arne Daelmans (Bel) 33 19. R. Schätti (Swi) 22 20. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) 20 21. Emmanuelle Magnien (Fra) 17 22. A. Moonen (Bel) 12 23. J. Chiotti (Fra) 11 23. Christophe Mengin (Fra) 11 25. Dominic Arnould (Fra) 10 25. Gretinus Gommers (Ned) 10 16 other riders with less than 10 points.So, for example, Sven Nijs (Bel) is no. 24 in the World Cup and no. 5 in the SuperPrestige, but no. 9 in the major races combined. |