Pantani will now continue to ride in Spain where he will participate at la Vuelta a Valencia (February 23-27), la Clásica de Almería (February 28) and la Vuelta de Murcia (March 3-7). For this last competition, Ortenzi and Fontanelli will return to Italy and will be substituted by Sergio Barbero and Stefano Garzelli.
TVM-Farm Frites team manager Cees Priem has said that the death of Henk Vos was the end of a hard worker who always put himself second. Priem said: "Vos gave me great support in France last year. He rang me in Epernay and my wife at our house i Wemeldinge at least once a week. He worked day and night for me and this was despite the fact that he had great problems himself. After the scandal broke he tried to help me in a political sense."
Vos was taken to the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Clinic on January 28 after his won specialist ordered a special examination just before the presentation of the TVM team for the new season in Oudenbosch. Priem said: "We gave him a special team cap for his head as he was having chemotherapy."
The secretary of the VVBW, Gerrit Vixsebokxe said that Vos will leave a lasting mark on the sport. He was a great promoter for the organisation and also the new sport's federation FNV Sport.
Lefevere told the Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws: "It was totally unnecessary and has been given too much significance. My cyclists were called as witnesses and were certainly not arrested as I have read. Tonkov and Merckx were questioned because of their past association with sports doctor Michele Ferrari. Mapei has nothing to do with Dr. Ferrari. Our team has its own doctors and anyone in our team found consulting with Michele Ferrari or any other doctor outside the team would be fired."
Paolo Savoldelli was successful in the Trofeo Laigueglia. He is now confirming the great talent he showed as a stagiaire. He will join Cipollini for the Tour of Valencia with Salvatore Commesso, Giuseppe Calcaterra, Mario Scirea, Harald Morscher (Austria), and new signings Alessio Galletti and Gian Matteo Fagnini.
The team can be contacted at:
February 21-25 - Hotel Feria (Valencia), telephone: +34-96-3644411
February 26 - Hotel Emeralda (Calpe), telephone: +34-96-5836101
Another squad from the team has been racing in France over the past weekend under the direction of Guido Bontempi - on Saturday at the Tour de Haut Var and on Sunday at the Classic Haribo. Best placed rider was Massimiliano Mori (17th at 8.48).
The first lap was social hour, everyone catching up on what their off season was like, who they're dating, where they're living. Personally during my first lap I received tons of 'Congrats' on my new name, my new team and I enjoyed a clif bar for lunch. I laughed when Anke (in a south african accent) was like 'this is nice just rolling along you enjoying your Clif Bar' I said all I need is a cappacino. We were going so slow, the women's 3-4's passed us at the end of the 1st lap. With thoughts of a good workout and avoiding crashes, we started the attacks on the 2nd lap.
Pam had a great break going with a girl from Simply Fit, Anke had a great solo counter. With 2 laps to go we realized the breaks were most likely not going to work and it may come down to the sprint. (which meant I would have a lead out) Anke had a great move on the final lap about 5 k to go over the last rollers. She probably would have held it but she missed the second to the last turn. We all saw her go straight but she couldn't hear us yelling so the van had to catch up to her. She couldn't believe it, she was shocked. Meantime, the field took the proper turn, with about 3k to go. Cheryl Binney unfortunately took herself out on this eventful corner. I was disappointed that Anke went the wrong way; I was so excited when the pressure was off of me for the sprint. It was a weird sprint with a fast slippery final turn. I'm positioning myself near the front with Pam and Julie; it was important to be up front, but you didn't have to be the first one through the final turn to win it. Everyone was so cold, wet and dirty. I looked at Julie and she had dirt slobber all over her face. I was just thinking about the warmth of the van and hoping my legs would be with me on the final sprint. They felt heavy and cold.
On the previous lap there was a bad crash in the masters race so with 1 k to go for us, there was still carnage before the final turn and the official basically neutralized us. They said to go single file by the ambulance. So as it worked out, Pam went first, Aleka from Celestial was 2nd, Nicole Freedman 3rd, I was 4th. We bottlenecked without having to slow down too much. The finish was weird, about a 2 step power hill for 300 meters from the final turn. Pam had a good gap but Aleka who was second going in to the final turn was reeling her in. Just as she was about to catch her I went up the left side. I heard someones breath on my right so I dug deep and won by several bike lengths. Cool. The first sprint of the season is behind me. (I've still got it - you always worry that somehow you may lose it, poof, vanished, gone). An early season victory for Timex.
1. Jen McRae 2. Nicole Freeman .. 7. Pam Schuster 8. Catheryn Cardwell 9. Julie Young
Kirk Willett and Scott Moninger took off in the last 10 miles with Floyd Landess (Chevy MTB) and held off the rest of the hard charging field Which included Last weeks winner Jesus Zarate (Mercury) who took 4th.
In Sunday's Criterium, The field was in no mood to let the Mercury Men ride away and several long chases brought back every breakaway chance. The Mercury Green wave took control 4 laps to go occupying the first 8 positions on way to a 1-2-3-4-5 finish with Mike Sayers taking the Victory. Despite riders from Nutra-fig, Saturn, and Smart Talk.
Monday was the Cantua Creek Road Race, again an early break took off, and again the field put up a big fight. On the last lap a group of 5 including Gord Fraser, Christian Valenzuela of Mercury, Chad Gerlach, National Road champ Patrick Haney and Floyd Landess held off the main field that was reduced to nothing in the strong cross winds.
Snelling Road race: The weather finally turned bad, but not the windy blizzard conditions of last year when only 17 riders finished. This year saw a 2 man Mercury wave of Thurlow Rogers and David Clinger escape with 1 lap to go. Despite a chase from the nutra-fig team, the duo stayed away to the end with Rogers taking the win. The Mighty Mercury Men had the train set up and brought home the next 3 places as well. This was their second sweep of the top 5 this year. The team never took top 3 last year.
Merced Criterium: Sunday's Merced Criterium was held under sunny skies. The action was fast paced as all the major teams tried to set up their top riders. The Mercury Men took control with 4 laps remaining when a field sprint was inevitable. With Rogers: Knickman; Willett; Wordin; and Zarate setting the pace, Soon its was the power of David Clinger who brought Derrick Bouchard- Hall to the line to take his 1st Victory in a Mercury Uniform. Gord Fraser was 3rd.
He continues: "My beginnings were not lucky. I came from Banesto's amateur team and in 1995 I had the dilemma of continuing as an amateur or becoming a Pro with Santa Clara. I made the wrong decision. But it is so difficult to make the jump to professional and when the opportunity arises you think that you have to do it. That year with Banesto's amateur team I was riding with Santi Blanco, 'Chente' García, Rubiera, Eduardo Hernández and Igor González de Galdeano".
Pascual's luck started to change when he joined Kelme. He explained: "After Paris-Roubaix I started to prepare for the Tour with the encouragement that, even if I was new, maybe I would be chosen. I came in second, behind Heppner at a stage at the Dauphiné. At the Tour I read well. I made it to the top of the Tourmalet first, together with Hervé and finished 14th in one individual time trial and 16th at the other. I finished 36th in the overall".
But his career fell apart again in 1998. He said: "Mononucleosis stopped me for most of the year. That's probably the reason that I am only in my 5th season as a professional even though I'm 27 and I'm still practically an unknown. Given my history it is fair to say that I am practically a new rider".
His first win allows him to go up one step in his career. He said: "It's very important because it allows me to gain self confidence and the directors now know that they can have confidence in me. In this job victories generate confidence and that makes it easier to win again. But it is also true that my team played a decisive part in my win at Andalucia. They have defended me very well, both when we were attacked and when they had to pull the peloton".
Pascual's objectove now is to "maintain this peak in my form. I will race at Valencia & Murcia and after that the preparation races for the Tour de France. There we will have to try for Escartin to improve his previous placings. That will be our objective".
Javier Pascual still lives in Virgen del Camino, the town where he was born. He was studying to be an electrician, but he left everything for cycling. He dedicated his first professional victory to his mother. He said: "She had an operation on her back the day before I left for Mallorca and is now recuperating."
Meanwhile, the championships which started yesterday in Perth at the Midvale Speed Dome will see some major showdowns as riders attempt to get ahead in the struggle for Olympic selection in 2000.
Two veterans - Kathy Watt and Gary Neiwand - will be returning to track competition with Sydney in mind. Kathy Watt will be aiming to topple LTS in the individual pursuit. Watt has been unable to contest the nationals in the last two years because of various injuries and has put her efforts into road racing. LTS has risen from the ruck to become the pursuit world champion (in France last year) but has also been through a major fall out with Australian track coaches and administrators.
For 34-year old Kathy Watt it will be an attempt to win her 8th national jersey in the pursuit. But if the two think that it will be only a fight between them they had better not discount the rising Alayna Burns, who was prominent in the recent Commonwealth Games.
In the sprint championships, some major changes in the guard are expected. Gary Neiwand, who has won 3 world titles as a sprinter, is returning to prepare for Sydney after he failed at the Atlanta Olympics. Several questions were asked about his sudden withdrawal from the nationals in Adelaide last year. Whatever was going on then he is now back in the national squad and keen to go fast. His arch-rival Darryn Hill, who also has not had a happy relationship with officials in the recent years will push him all the way.
But in both male and female sprinting the old guard is being strongly challenged by the younger riders who are about to make their marks. Riders like Jobie Dajka, Kane Selin, Lyndelle Higginson and Rosalee Hubbard have shown great potential at the national training centre in Adelaide. They will give Michele Ferris a hard time for sure.
Australia needs a filip in its sprinting. Even though Darryn Hill won the gold at the Commonwealth Games and Ferris silver there and at the Worlds, the days at the top are over. In particular, riders like Jobie Dajka are showing real speed - he recently set 10.82 seconds over a flying 200 which is equal to Darryn Hill's junior national mark.