News for January 17, 1999

Swedish rider banned for drug use

Tomas Nilsson, who reports for cyclingnews.com from Sweden writes that Swedish MTB cyclist Dan Kullgren has been banned for two years by the Swedish Cycling Union. Traces of amphetamine were found in his test after Finnmarksturen, Sweden's premier long distance MTB race. Kullgren denies the charge and said that he had received two water bottles and one can of Coca Cola from persons unknown during the race.

During the early 1990's, Kullgen was a promising road cyclist but after a season in the amateur team built around Michael Andersson (TVM last season) he tired of cycling. Soon after he made a come back in MTB. Since then he has pursued a combined career with the emphasis being on MTB racing and has became Swedish MTB champion in 1997 and 1998. He also raced for the national team in the European championships in Belgium last year. He did not participate in the Worlds. He also won the Swedish long distance MTB series in 1998.

Jiménez has an appointment with the tunnel

José María Jiménez will undergo aerodynamic testing at a wind tunnel on January 20th. El Chaba will go into the machine at the Instituto Nacional de Técnicas Aeroespaciales (INTA), at Torrejón de Ardoz, to obtain scientific data with the purpose of improving his position on the bike for the individual time trial.

Since this first testing will be experimental, Banesto has arranged for other riders to attend. Pablo Lastras and Francisco Mancebo were selected to participate. Lastras, however, has a broken bone and Mancebo is in Alicante, so it is not clear if they will keep their appointment with the scientists. It was hinted that Chente García, the team's best rolleur could be a candidate.

Banesto also has the wind tunnel reserved for an additional week following Jiménez's test. It is suggested that Alex Zülle could be tested.

Banesto has already used the wind tunnel with Miguel Indurain, although he underwent this testing in Italy under the supervision of Sabino Padilla. The team no longer has the records for that testing period. Jiménez will be tested by Dr. Jesús Hoyos.

The big yellow machine

Many people feel that 1998 was not a good year for Team ONCE. Manolo Saiz, their team director doesn't like to look at it that way: "I prefer to think of it as the closing of a very important chapter for ONCE, a period of success. But many of the riders associated with that success have inevitably grown older". This is a reference to riders like Melcior Mauri, Herman Díaz Zabala, Johan Bruyneel, and Leanizbarrutia. All of them have left the team. According to Saiz this is: "because the sport is like that and it forces us to renovate".

ONCE's metamorphosis is headed by Abraham Olano, ranked number three in the world and who will share leadership with Laurent Jalabert, the number two in the world. Saiz said: "Olano has won many important races in 1998 and I don't want to say that he will improve on these results, even though I would like it if he did. I will be happy if he performed along the same lines."

ONCE won't be as obsessive as they've been in the past about the Tour. Saiz said: "Can Olano win the Tour? Certainly he can win it, but he would need the necessary conditions to accomplish it. That is, for Abraham to win the Tour he needs to have all his abilities working for him and have some of his rivals in trouble. But one has to look for those circumstances".

Saiz also said they won't try to regain the number one ranking that Bartoli took from Jalabert in 1998: "We've had the number one for four years and it is no longer a main objective, especially if we have Jalabert in second and Olano in third".

There are still doubts that ONCE will participate at the Giro. Saiz said: "I want to talk to the riders at the training camp and there we will decide. The Tour de France and the Vuelta a España are certain, although it isn't confirmed if the two leaders, Jalabert and Olano, will participate in both. It seems pretty clear that Abraham will ride both, but we have time to think about Laurent. If he decides that he one wants to race one major stage race this year, we will accept that. And it is logical that the one race will be the Vuelta a España".

Meanwhile ONCE continues their intensive training. Three and a half hours on Wednesday; four and a half on Thursday and on Friday six hours.

Mapei truck detained

A truck from the Mapei cycling team was detained for a little under an hour in the French region of Marseilles, when it was returning from Spain after a training camp. The truck was allowed to continue after nothing unusual was detected.

Cofidis presents their 1999 line-up

Belgian rider Frank Vandenbroucke was the star at the presentation of French team Cofidis in Paris on Friday. Vandenbroucke is one of 26 riders who will ride for Cofidis this season. The directors of the team believes that the 26 is the appropriate number which will allow them to run two separate squads: one to prepare for the Tour de France and the other to prepare for the Vuelta a España.

The 24-year old Vandenbroucke told the assembled press that his main objectives this year would be Het Volk and Paris-Nice. "This year I will concentrate on the Classics, the World Cup overall and the World Championships." The 1999 Tour de France is not amongst his goals for this season. He said: "in terms of the Tour I hope to ride it in the year 2000".

The team for Tour, given the loss of Italians Francesco Casagrande and Maurizio Fondriest and American Kevin Livingston, will be built around American Bobby Julich and the Swiss riderRoland Meier. Frenchman Christophe Rinero, who won the mountain's jersey in the 1998 Tour will again aim to capture that part of the competition.

Cofidis will have 10 new riders for 1999. Here is the new lineup: 

Steve De Wolf (Bel)
Peter Farazijn (Bel)
Claude Lamour (Fra)
Thierry Loder (Fra)
Nico Matttan (Bel)
Arnaud Pretot (Fra)
Anthony Rokia (Fra)
Janek Tombak (Est)
Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel)
Jerome Delbove (Fra)
Laurent Desbiens (Fra)
Philippe Gaumont (Fra)
Grzegorz Gwiazdowski (Pol)
Nicolás Jalabert (Fra)
Bobby Julich (USA)
Massimiliano Lelli (Ita)
Roland Meier (Swi)
David Millar (GBr)
David Moncoutie (Fra)
Francis Moreau (Fra)
Samuel Plouhinec (Fra)
Christophe Rinero (Fra)

Tour of Malaysia struggling

With just three weeks to go for the Tour de Langkawi, the organisers are now facing a crisis - they have received on 10 per cent of the promised sponsorship funds. Race organiser Wan Lokman Datuk Paduka Wan Ibrahim said: "We need RM14 million to organise the 12-day race but so far we only have 10% of that amount. Although several private companies have agreed to sponsor the tour, they have yet to release the money. We need the money badly and we hope they will release it as soon as possible. We need RM12.5 million to organise the tour. The rest (RM1.5 million) is for the prize money. Because of the financial woes, we could not increase the prize money this year although the tour has been upgraded to a 2.4-ranking."

Last year, First Cartel had similar financial problems before the start of the tour but managed to scrape the funds together just before the start.

Last year's overall champion Gabriele Missaglia will not be defending his title. at next month's Tour de Langkawi. The Mapei rider has decided to miss the race this year. The Mapei challenge will be led by Andrea Tafi, who is currently the World No. 7. He will be supported by Leif Hoste, Paolo Fornaciari Dirk Muller, Ronaldo Nocentini and Fred Rodriguez.

Two professional teams, Brescialat and Gerolsteiner, are expected to make their debut in the tour although no official reply has been given after an indication of interest.

There will be 23 teams - 9 professional and 14 national teams.

The nine professional teams are: Mapei-Quickstep (Italy), Saturn (USA), MROZ (Poland), Acceptcard Pro Cycling (Denmark), Navigare Gaerne (Italy), Agro Adler Brandenburg (Germany), TVM-Farm Frites (Netherlands), Cantina Tollo Alexia Alluminio (Italy) and Linda McCartney (England).

Festina and Banesto turned down invitations to participate.

The national teams are from Malaysia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Kazakhstan, Japan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Korea, Denmark, China and South Africa.

The 1,773.5km race, beginning in Langkawi and ending in Kuala Lumpur, is made up of 12 stages and offers a prize money of RM1.5 million (maybe!). The 12-day race will start in Kuah, Langkawi on February 3.