News for December 28, 1999

UCI stops VDB

UCI president Hein Verbruggen is not willing to recognise Frank Vandenbroucke's termination of his contract with Cofidis. "The UCI will not allow that Vandenbroucke signs for any other team," Verbruggen told French sports daily L'Equipe.

Verbruggen said that the UCI under no circumstances will recognise the breaking of the contract but admitted that Belgian law allows contracts to be broken if due compensation is paid. But he will in any case not bring his ranking points with him if he goes to another team. Vandenbroucke went in 1995 from Lotto to Mapei under similar circumstances with the support of Belgian law. "The story shows the character of this person," said Verbruggen. Frank Vandenbroucke said in a release on December 1 via his agent company "Sports et Entertainement Management" that he was leaving Cofidis. His attempts to find a new team have been far from successful. He was too expensive for new Italian Fassa Bortolo and Spanish Once might have been "a bit crowded" with VDB accompanying Jalabert and Olano.

Bank backs Batavus

BankGiroLoterij will be the head sponsor of the Batavus-team in 2000. They decided after the Batavus-team contracted three new riders: Wim van de Meulenhof, Lars Teutenberg and Wim Omloop. With more sponsor funds, the team hopes to compete in bigger races while they're virtually assured of a start in Gent-Wevelgem and Brussel-Kuurne-Brussel.

Alexandre Moos to Kia-Villiger

27-year old Swiss rider Alexandre Moos is leaving Festina for the new Swiss third division team Kia Villiger. Moos is currently ranked around 800th on the UCI list.