News for December 16, 1999

Vandenbroucke sues Cofidis

Frank Vandenbroucke will seek legal action for damages caused to him by his team Cofidis, which he left at the beginning of the month, despite a running contract. He will seek compensation for losses he says he suffered as a result of being suspended for two months after giving evidence in a doping affair where he was questioned as a witness by French police. Vandenbroucke was later cleared of any involvement.

According to his manager, Paul De Geyter of Sports & Entertainment Management the two sides have failed to reach an amicable agreement.

"One of the most important elements in the case is the suspension he suffered in May and June after he was called to the inquiry. For Cofidis, this was enough to suspend him, which is totally unacceptable," De Geyter told Reuters.

Fassa Bartolo 2000

Fassa Bartolo is a company that sells construction materials and it has provided "enough money" to give legendary Giancarlo Ferretti the possibility to form a new major team.

Ferretti has been in the business, off-saddle, for 25 years and was the coach of Gimondi, Baronchelli and Contini with Bianchi in the late 70's. He built up Ariostea in 1986 with Moreno Argentin supported by youngsters Järmann, Sørensen and Richard. Giancarlo Ferretti led MG Technogym in 1997 when doping substances were found at one of the hotels where his team stayed during the Giro d'Italia. Ferretti was not considered to be involved but was suspended for a month since he didn't report the incident. After that the sponsors withdrew and he obviously needed a couple of years to recover.

He has expressed admiration for sports directors like Cyrille Guimard and Peter Post and also Italian Luciano Pezzi whom Ferretti has worked with in the beginning of his career. The team that he has built this time, he says in an interview by Frank Gonzales, should be "a team of aggressive and attacking winners more than a stars-and-supporter act."

He has worked with several of the riders before: Baldato, Ferrigato, Tosatto and Loda. Among the others he names Rumsas as a possible surprise. Belli and Frigo are names for the Giro while the team seem better equipped for the one day races with Balducci, Baldato, Konyshev and Petito. Of the four newcomers Leonardi Giordani is most merited as U 23 World Champion.

The team:

Manager: Giancarlo Ferretti

Sports directors: Alberto Volpi, Stefano Zanatta, Oscar Pirazzini.

Riders:

From Ballan: Fabio Baldato, Andrea Ferrigato, Matteo Tosatto,
Nicola Loda
From Cantina Tollo: Luca Mazzanti 
From Festina: Wladimir Belli 
From Mercatone Uno: Dmitri Konyshev (Rus), Marco Fincato
From Mrox: Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu)
From Navigare: Gabriele Balducci, Alessandro Petacchi
From Once: Andrea Peron
From Saeco: Dario Frigo, Roberto Petito
Neos: Leonardo Giordani Paolo Tiralongo, Volodomir Gustov (Ukr),
Tadej Valjavec

Saturn signs Jansen

The Saturn Cycling Team has signed Harm Jansen for the 2000 season. The 32-year old Dutchman, who has been racing in the United States since 1996, won stages in both the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic and the Tour of Wellington in 1999. He also finished third in the First Union U.S. Professional Championship in Philadelphia, and won the Fresca Invitational series in 1997.

Lance Man of the Year?

Courtesy of Jon Jay Neufield

The Lance Armstrong awards cabinet may gain in size if the man wins Time Magazine's internet poll for "Man of the Year". He is currently running sixth in the general classification (at time of this update), and needs public support to move himself up the rankings. To vote, just go to :http://www.pathfinder.com/time/moy/ . He has to beat Kenneth Starr who is currently ranked number one, closely followed by Bill Gates(!).

Loup on the road again

Jean Jaqcues Loup, founder of pro team PMU-Romand and leader of the Post Swiss Team, where he was sacked late this season, has done it again. Now he is starting a new second division team with the Phonak group as the main sponsors under the name Phonak Hearing Systems. Additional sponsors: Scott, Castelli, Time and others. Their budget is 2.5 million Swiss francs for the first season.

According to Swiss Velopages, the team will race mostly in Switzerland and France but will begin the season at the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia. A ticket for the Tour de Suisse is one of the main goals for the first season. However, their ambitions on a longer term are somewhat higher:

"We must be in first division within two years," said Loup to news agency Sport-Information, Zürich.

The team:

Pierre Bourquenoud from Post Swiss
Christian Charrière, Post Swiss
Cedric Fragnière, Post Swiss
Lukas Zumsteg, Ericsson Villiger
René Stadelmann, Ericsson Villiger
Jérôme Delbove (Fra), Cofidis

Neos:

Stefan Richner
Uwe Straumann
Matthias Buxhofer (Aut)
Jochen Summer (Aut)
Alexander Usow (Blr)
Dominique Perras (Can) 

Villiger by car

Courtesy of Olivier Senn

Korean car manufacturer, Kia is continuing to support Swiss cycling along with the bicycle manufactuer Villiger. When the team Ericsson-Villiger folded this fall, it was rumoured that Villiger was to come back with a pro team in 2001. However, after discussions with the sponsors of the national amateur team, Kia, they have enlarged their sponsorship to start a third division pro-team which will be called Kia-Villiger. The team is managed by the same people as in the last few years and has only one pro: Mario Vonhof - all of the others are amateurs (so far). There is no connection between Team Ericsson-Villiger and Kia-Villger Suisse.

Wirsbo gets new sponsor

Sweden's top amateur squad, Team Wirsbo, has got a new sponsor for the coming three years: Mälarenergi, an energy company. The name of the team will be Team Mälarenergi and Wirsbo Bruk will stay as a minor sponsor in the future.

Caravello for Kiwi tour

Courtesy of Jorge Sandoval

One of Australia's leading teams, Caravello, has confirmed their place in the NZ Fuki Xerox Tour of Wellington from January 11-15 next year. The team, led by the well performed Bart Hickson will comprise five members and are the first international team to confirm for the event.

Hickson, 28 is one of Australia's most consistent domestic riders, and has several top performances to his credit including three top-six places in the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic. The other members of the team include former AIS representative, Kelvin Martin (stage winner of this race in '94), Chris White (winner of the Tour of Perth '99, Tour of Bright 98, Melbourne to Warrnambool 98, Midlands Tour 97, Bendigo Madison 97 as well as a fourth place in the Suntour in 1996.

The above three will be supported by Stuart Terrell, winner of the Mt Isa Time Trial and Guy Dundas.

MTB World Cup changes

The fifth round of the MTB World Cup Downhill/Dual, July 15-16, which was due to take place in Squaw Valley, California will be run in Vail, Colorado. Round six, July 22-23, which was planned to go in Vail has been moved to Arai Mountain, Japan. Squaw Valley's withdrawal is mainly due to financial reasons.

Downhill/Dual round two, may 27-28, will be moved from Nevegal to Cortina in the same Italian region. The same weekend, the Giro d'Italia will be passing through Cortina, making for a spectacular weekend of cycling.