The current team leader Cees Priem, who is being held in France still after the Tour de France drugs scandal had already said that the 1998 season would be his last in terms of "following the races in the first car" and that he aspired to higher management duties with the team. Even though he is still under the control of the French justice system, Priem still has this ambition. He said a few weeks ago: "I have built this team over 11 years and I am not going to see it ruined in a couple of months. When I finally get out of France, I hope that I can work for the team in the future."
In the process of finding a new team leader (on the road) over the last few months, TVM has interviewed many candidates. Rooks, who spent the last 2 years of his career with Priem's team, has strong ambitions to serve in this role. He had a strong career with a second place in the 1998 Tour de France behind Pedro Delgado. He has recently been a commentator for the Dutch TV program Studio Sport. He said of this position: "The team leadership is a new challenge."
The organisers of the Sydney Olympic organizers, who are petrified that the event will be tainted by drug scandals, have placed doubt on a medical report from released by the Drug Control Centre at Kings College, London, that they have reliable tests for HGH and EPO.
An Irish newspaper interviewed the Centre's director Dr. David Cowan who said that unless the organisers use blood tests there is no chance of keeping up with the drug cheats.
The SOGOG released a statement saying that the IOC does not intend performing blood tests because apart from the problems with invasion and the like, they are not yet 100 per cent reliable for detecting EPO and HGH. The statement said: have questioned a report from Dublin "Our understanding is that research is still continuing into finding a totally reliable test for these substances but it hasn't been achieved yet."
SOCOG is on record as saying they will perform blood tests if they can be shown to be reliable and they are endorsed by the IOC.
Cowan, told a large sport's conference in Dublin last weekend that urine tests had failed. He claimed they had found reliable ways of detecting EPO and HGH via blood tests. The ICO had helped to fund the research.
TVM allegations
The French newspaper Aujourd'hui has said that the riders from TVM were loaded up with EPO and also used steroids and growth hormone. Others used amphetimines and cannabis. The statement was dismissed by the lawyer for the TVM team, Joost van Mierlo as "90 per cent nonsense". Okay, so 10 per cent is true!!
The newspaper cited a report from Pierre de Coubertin of the hospital in Albertville. All the riders were taken into custody after the 16th stage of the Tour de France (Vizille - Albertville) and were given exhaustive tests. The riders have always publicly denied using any banned substances.
Joost Van Mierlo, was speaking at a press conference in the Netherlands which only allowed Dutch journalists to attend. He conceded that the medical report would state that the riders had used EPO. But he said he rejected the conclusions.
The report, which will be given to the judicial authorities next Friday. Mr. Van Mierlo said it was outrageous that 'Aujourd'hui' had published a medical report from the hospital which was part of the judicial process and would have a bearing on the fate of Priem, and the other two in detention.
He said he would put the report in the rubbish bin. He had short replies to the questions about the specific substances. On EPO: "The French judiciary said that only a minorit of the 12 tested riders spoke about EPO. The conclusions of the tests cannot be taken seriously." On Anabolic Steroids: "No comment". On Amphetimines: "The traces of amphetamines which were detected in the hair of a rider can go back over an eight month period. What has this got to do with the team?" On cannabis: "There were traces of cannabis found. What has this got to do with the team?" On corticoids: Up to now, it is not clearly established if they are authorized corticoids or not"
Van Mierlo said that none the products quoted according in the medical report came from the doctor of TVM, Andrei Mikhailov. He also added that he was not going to answer any questions about anabolic substances or HGH. The newspaper had said that traces of these two products were detected in the TVM riders in addition to EPO, corticoids, amphetamines and cannabis.
The campaign is about the right to the presumption of innocence until a fair trial and a judge has determined otherwise.
There is $100,000 in bonus prize money for the top ranked athletes from the sponsor. They are expecting to sign more sponsors which will obviously increase the prizes.
Criterium Championships, Regency Park, November 8 Men: Division 1 1. R. Upton (NSW) 2. G. Davis (SA) 3. G. Nugent (SA) Division 2 1. R. Lang (NSW) 2. D. Stacker (SA) 3. P. Taylor (SA) Division 3 1. I. Lovell (NSW) 2. R. Hadley (NSW) 3. M. Glasholm (SA) Division 4 1. A. Bishop 2. E. Tranent (SA) 3. D. Fahey (NSW) Division 5 1. M. Mathe (NSW) 2. D. Issel (Vic) 3. A. Kuckper (NSW) Division 6 1. D. Barrett (SA) 2. L. McGarry (NSW) 3. A. Stanford (Vic) Division 7 1. R. Plaice (SA) 2. B. Thew (NSW) 3. G. Cady (NSW) Women: Division 1 1. V. Birks (SA) 2. K. Howard (Vic) 3. S. Thomson (NSW) Division 2 1. T. Bosch (NSW) 2. K. Codrington (SA) Division 3 1. K. Logan (SA) 2. H. Phillips (Qld) 3. R. Craigie (NSW) Division 4-8 1. J. Thomas (NSW) 2. R. Hastings (NSW) 3. R. Cady (NSW Individual Time Trial Championships, Mallala, November 9 Men: Division 1 1. P. Hughes (NSW) 2. G. Nugnt (SA) 3. P. Moore (SA) Division 2 1. K. Parslow (NSW) 2. D. Stocker (SA) 3. G. Chivers (SA) Division 3 1. D. Gomer (SA) 2. D. Sutton (ACT) 3. M. Clasholm (SA) Division 4 1. B. Howell (SA) Division 7 1. F. Moore (SA) 2. G. Cady (SA) 3. B. Worden (SA) Division 8 1. L. Hering (Qld) 2. D. Whitehorn (SA) 3. K. Anderson (SA) Women: Division 1 1. V. Birks (SA) 2. K. Howard (Vic) 3. S. Thompson (SA) Division 2 1. T. Bosch (NSW) 2. K. Codrington (SA) Division 3 1. R. Craigie (NSW) 2. K. Logan (SA) 3. K. Rowe (NSW) Division 4 1. R. Hastings (NSW) 2. D. Davies (SA) Division 8 1. L. Ruffle (SA)The road racing is on today (Wednesday) at Lobethal