There is some pain now for Festina given that Virenque is due to leave the team as soon as he can find a new contract.
For the first year, the Spanish Cycling Federation has established an official ranking for elite without contract and under-23 riders. To do it, they decided to merge with the unofficial ranking established some years ago by the cycling journal Meta2Mil, known as the "Antonio Martin Trophy".
The winner in 1998 was Catalan rider Ramon Medina, who will join Vitalicio Seguros for 1998. He was contracted by the sponsor despite some reservations by the team's sporting director, Javier Minguez. Pedro Jimenez finished close to Medina in second place and is expected to ride with Estepona-Brepac next year. Third place went to Aitor Silloniz, who was also the first Under-23 rider. He has been contracted by Euskatel-Euskadi next year. Veteran rider Jose Urea came fourth with Catalan rider Josep Jufre coming 5th. Jufre is a former pro rider and in 1999 will return to the pro ranks with the uncertain new team Detec Competition. Australian rider Jonathan Hall (now with Festina) is sixth despite only riding half the events on the calendar as an elite.
The Autonomous Federations ranking was won by Catalonia, over the Basque Country, Madrid and Valencia. The teams winner was Alcosto-Level (Madrid), but close were Porcelanatto (Valencia) and Pinturas Banaka (Basque Country).
Elite without contracts and Under-23 Ranking: Points Born 1999 Team 1. Ramon Medina (Cat) Ideal Olimpic 864 1975 Vitalicio 2. Pedro Jimenez (Spa) Alcosto-Level 760 1974 Estepona-Brepac 3. Aitor Silloniz (Eus) Banaka 673 1977 Euskadi 4. Jose Urea (Spa) Avila Rojas 631 1967 5. Josep Jufre (Cat) Porcelanatto 578 1975 Detec 6. Jonathan Hall (Aus) Banaka 558 1972 Festina 7. Gonzalo Bayarri (Spa) Sodexho 535 ? 8. Jose M. Vazquez (Spa) CAI 497 1974 9. David Bernabeu (Spa) Porcelanatto 478 1975 Recer-Boavista 10. Igor Astarloa (Eus) Cafe Baque 473 1976 11. Mikel Artetxe (Eus) Olarra 472 1976 Euskatel-Euskadi 12. Romes Gainetdinov (Rus) Plastimer 467 1967 Detec 13. Cesar Garcia (Spa) Burgos 464 ? Recer-Boavista 14. Roger Lucia (Spa) CAI 452 ? 15. Carles Torrent (Cat) Vestisport 442 1974 Detec 16. Julian Usano (Spa) Lotus-Vinarocense 436 1976 17. Frederic Ivars (Spa) Sonia 421 ? 18. Juan M. Cuenca (Spa) Nules 418 1977 19. Pablo Fernandez (Spa) Alcosto 417 ? 20. Martin Garrido (Arg) Alcosto 410 ? .. 25. Eloi Coca (Cat) SportTer-Tadesan 379 1976 Detec 27. Marc Prat (Cat) Porcelanatto 350 1976 28. Joan Fuentes (Cat) Ideal Olimpic 350 1977 29. Joan Horrach (Cat) SportTer-Tadesan 339 ? Detec 38. Duncan Smith (Aus) Banaka 296 ? 40. Rafael Milà (Cat) SportTer-Tadesan 296 1977 Teams: 1. Alcosto-Level 2,255 2. Porcelanatto 2,044 3. Pinturas Banaka 2,002 4. Avila Rojas 1,599 5. Plastimer 1,555 6. Ideal Olimpic (Cat) 1,520 .. 10. Sport Ter-Tadesan (Cat) 1,246 13. Vestisport Hospitalet (Cat) 1,088 Autonomous Communities Federations: 1. Catalonia 2,613 2. Basque Country 2,292 3. Madrid 2,227 4. Valencia 2,205 5. Castilla y Leon 1,905 Junior Ranking - Top 5: 1. Xavier Lindez (Cat) 599 2. Ruben Plaza 406 3. Mario De-Sarraga 393 4. Rafael Navalon 350 5. Raul Baeza 329 Women Ranking - Top 6: 1. Dori Ruano 377 2. Rosa Bravo 266 3. Izaskun Bengoa 220 4. Cristina Roza 162 5. Gema Pascual 128 6. Marta Vilajosana (Cat) 125
In the men's race, an attack on the first lap instigated by Corey Sweet opened up a 200m gap. Assisted by SA Criterium Champion Matt Donnon and Gene Bates the three looked like they had the race won, but ACT star Deane Rogers put in a string solo effort to bridge the gap just before the half way point. Later in the race, a determined effort by Brett Aitken and skater Chris Luxton saw them also bridge the gap to the 4 leaders. Sensing that his chances of placing were limited with the amount of sprinters present, Sweet attacked with Gene Bates on his wheel. Opening up a 50 break allowed Bates to take his share of pace. However Bates promptly sat up forcing Sweet to go around him dangerously close to the cars parked on the course. This thwarted the break and the chasing riders closed the gap. Sweet attacked again with 1 lap to go but was soon swamped. The hot-dog course gave the first around the corner the advantage and the win went to Bates.
In the women's race, Thai Rider Ranna Compu struggled from the start and lost contact with the class field early in the 30 minute race. All remaining riders rode strongly easily bridging any attacks. Unfortunately, promising young Joanne Robinson went too fast into the last corner and caused most riders to baulk with only 200m to go allowing Renee Heinrich to take the advantage and the race. SA Criterium Champion Chelsey Zucker was disappointed after a similar incident robbed her of any opportunity in last week's National Criterium Championship when a rider dived under the bunch and fell with just 600m to go in the race.
Men: 1. Gene Bates (Adelaide CC) 2. Brett Aitken (Palmans-Ideal) 3. Deane Rogers (Canberra AIS) Women: 1. Renee Hienrich (Kilkenny CC) 2. Alayna Burns (Adelaide CC) 3. Chelsey Zucker
Tim Gabriel: .....Another issue confronting swimming, and in fact, all Olympic sports in the lead up to 2000, is a review of their funding with a final decision to be made on the 24th. There's $47 million up for grabs(!!!) In assessing where the money will go the review committee is looking at directing funds towards individual events where Australia has a chance to win medals. There are also two reviews underway involving individual sports. The inquiry into the track cycling program has so far received around 20 submissions including one from former Olympic gold medalist Kathy Watt. The deadline for submissions closed yesterday, but review panel member Jim Ferguson says it is flexible.
Jim Ferguson: Well, we're not going to extend it officially but we understand that there are still a few people who want to put submissions in, so I think if they come in next week we'd be inclined to accept them. This is not a highly formal process and we understand it's sometimes difficult for people to meet these deadlines so, provided they come in next week, I think we'd be prepared to accept them.
Tim Gabriel: The review wrote to 54 people currently involved in Australian cycling. Former cyclists and officials were not directly approached but Mr Ferguson says they are welcome to provide information and submissions.
Jim Ferguson: They weren't specifically invited individually but we did issue a blanket invitation for anybody who wanted to make a submission. I'm not sure, because I haven't looked at the list to see who has made submissions, but they would certainly be welcome.
Tim Gabriel: At this stage six former cyclists have presented information to the inquiry. But, the panel will not be interviewing everybody who presented a submission.
Jim Ferguson: We'll be speaking to some of the people who have put in submissions, if we think there is further information that we can gather, or where we want clarification on an issue but if the submission appears to stand in it's own right then we wouldn't want to necessarily duplicate that. And there are a few people who probably won't put in submissions that we would want to interview.
In recent years, rumors of erythropoietin (EPO) use by distance runners have circulated widely. Because proof of EPO use is currently impossible via sports drug testing, those rumors have continued to haunt the sport, just as they did the sport of cycling prior to this year's Tour de France.
Thus, while athletes and organizers fine tune their preparations for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, there is another race going on--one that will have a lot to do with how the results of those Games are perceived. Groups of scientists are attempting to solve the most vexing puzzle that faces the IOC drug testing system--how to develop a reliable test for substances such as Human Growth Hormone (hGH) and EPO.
And any test they develop can't wait for 2000; it must be ready by next year. Prince Alexandre de Merode, the head of the IOC's medical commission, recently told Runner's World Online that the deadline for acceptance of a test in time for Sydney is sometime in 1999. He said the IOC medical commission would first have to determine that the test is sound scientifically, which he said could take as short a time as 10 days.
After that, the new tests would face a potentially larger hurdle, the IOC's lawyers. The reason being that the tests being developed to detect hGH and EPO are blood tests, and blood tests raise more complicated legal issues than the current urine testing. There is already much debate about whether or not the IOC can implement an extensive drug testing program. Neither the limited blood testing done in past winter Games on cross country skiers, nor that done by the international cycling federation, the UCI, has proven an effective deterrent to EPO use. Some would even argue that it has encouraged monitored usage of the drug because the test merely sets an upper limit of how high an individual's red blood cell count can go.
Even the Winter Olympic blood testing was in doubt prior to the 1998 Games in Japan. At first the IOC announced that it was not going to do blood testing. When some of the skiers threatened not to participate without it, the IOC backed down and did testing.
But resistance is not limited to the officials of the IOC; some athletes are also wary of blood testing. Nancy Ditz, a 1988 Olympic marathoner and former executive committee member of USATF, said during a meeting at last year's USATF convention that she did not believe athletes would approve of blood testing because of the potential danger in the procedure. A contaminated needle, a botched attempt to draw blood, or other complications from the invasive procedure constitute real fears to athletes, she said. Blood testing would be particularly troublesome in a Third World country, where sanitary conditions are inconsistent, said Ditz.
Dr. Arne Ljungqvist, head of the IAAF medical commission, is also skeptical that a blood test can be implemented. He has noted that, particularly in the U.S., civil liberties issues would be brought up by lawyers objecting to the procedure. De Merode disagrees, saying that if a scientifically reliable test was developed, he believed the IOC would accept it. In his mind, the main question is the reliability of the test.
Scientists working on GH-2000, the research project dedicated to developing a test for hGH, believe they are in the final stages of developing such a test. Some of their preliminary data has been published, and more has been submitted for publication. Professor Peter Sonkson, the head of the project, is cautiously optimistic the research will be done in time. Another group of scientists, those working on an EPO test at the Australian Institute for Sport in Canberra, are worried. They are having trouble finding subjects for one of the final stages of their research, and have had to push back their tests until February of 1999. The AIS sports sciences director, Ross Smith, says the delay could endangering the project's chance for developing a test in time for the Sydney Games.
The AIS was slated to spend $200,000 on their trial of their screening test for EPO. The funding for GH-2000 was roughly $2 million, noteworthy because $1 million came from the IOC, the first time it has invested in research.
The question is: Will it be too little, too late? Can the scientists finish their work in time? Will it withstand the scrutiny of the lawyers? The answers to these questions will largely determine the credibility of the IOC drug testing in Sydney. No testing program can totally eliminate cheating, but effective tests for hGH and EPO would dramatically reduce the incentive to cheat, and restore some credibility to a drug testing system that desperately needs such a boost.