News for December 20, 1999

Lance update

The power of the cyclists on the internet continues: Shortly after cyclingnews posted the URL to vote for Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" (formerly "Man of the Year"), thousands of Lance Armstrong fans managed to push the man up from a lowly eighth position on the GC to first by a long way.

He started (at the time of the post last week) with approximately 300 votes, however has now accumulated over 17,000, well in advance of Kenneth Starr and Bill Gates, and over half of the total votes counted. Interestingly his namesake, lance armstrong (small letters) has dropped out of the running - obviously this glitch has been corrected by the pollsters. Can the man do it before Time realises that cyclists obviously have a lot of time on their hands?

Pantani submits evidence

The public prosecutor's office in Turin has received documents from Mercatone Uno-Bianchi rider, Marco Pantani, in his defence of the doping allegations against him. Pantani has been accused of "sporting fraud" - i.e. falsifying results due to having taken illegal substances.

The investigation was started after Pantani was hauled out of the Giro d'Italia after failing a hematocrit test on the penultimate day. When Pantani was summoned to give evidence in Turin recently, he remained silent, preferring to submit a written defence. The accusations have also questioned his alleged high hematocrit measured in hospital after his accident in the Milan-Turin race in 1995.

In the 20-page document, Pantani has attempted to explain that his high values are a results of hard training in combination with the many serious training and racing accidents that the rider has had over his career. Upon examination of the documents, prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello passed them on to his expert who will return his assessment of them to determine whether Pantani needs to be summoned a second time.

In his explanation for his 1995 hematocrit, Pantani held that prior to the race [Milan-Turin], he had been training at altitude in Colombia for several days. This, combined with dehydration from the race was enough to yield an "over the top" hematocrit when measured at the Turin hospital. The question remains whether this will be strong enough evidence to reassure the medical expert in the case.

Dierckxsens appeal rejected

34-year old Belgian cyclist, Ludo Dierckxsens, who was unceremoniously turfed out of the Tour de France this year by his Lampre team, has had an appeal to reduce his six month doping suspension rejected by the UCI.

Dierckxsens admitted to taking corticoids without the proper authorisation from the team doctor after he won his Tour stage in St Etienne on July 15. Although his mandatory doping test after the stage showed a negative result, the rider had indicated on the test form that he took the drug for a knee injury, some six weeks earlier. This confession was treated as a positive dope test, as he could not show the correct medical certificate to prove that he'd taken it under a doctor's supervision.

The Belgian federation subsequently suspended the rider for six months, and he will not be able to compete until May 17, 2000. He then appealed to the UCI for a sentence reduction, but it was rejected in the latest instance on the grounds that he did not have anything new to add to the facts.

The current Belgian champion is still with the Lampre team, and is training at the moment with them for his delayed return to racing.

Darryn Hill fined

[Singing: 'tis the season for court cases, fa la la la la, la la, la la]

Top Australian sprinter, Darryn Hill was fined $6000 ($US4000) after being found guilty of three counts of assault causing bodily harm. However, he was acquitted of two further charges.

The case, which prevented Hill from contesting the track events at the Oceania Games a week ago was heard in Perth, Western Australia. The charges came about as the result of a fight in which Hill was involved in in 1995 outside a Perth nightclub.

Despite the incident and the court case, Hill maintains that he still intends on competing at the Olympic Games next year.

Spanish Federations meet

The Spanish Association of Professional Cyclists (ACP) and the Association of Organisers (AEOCC) had their annual general meetings yesterday. The ACP reviewed the past season, which they thought had a general "positive balance". They supported the UCI's moving of contracts to run from December 1 to November 30, rather than January 1 - December 31 as it is now. They were also supportive of the new Council of Professional Cyclists (a.k.a. the Superleague) which will come into force next year.

In its meeting, the AEOCC discussed accident insurance of cyclists in races as well as rider salaries. Insurance to professional cyclists is important, however most insurance companies will not insure for accidents. Javier Ugarte, organiser of the Tour of the Basque Country put forward a rough draft of a proposal to make the riders an insurable "company".