"I am a clean rider. I have a clear conscience. I have never used substances that are banned and I train in the mountains a lot. I am one of the rare riders in the peloton who does not have a personal soigneur."
"I am in a moment of reflexion, in which I'm trying to comprehend many things that have happened. As to my future I will decide later." Pantani answered questions from the press for about 40 minutes but overall it was disappointing. He didn't clarify anything about his high hematocrit levels and avoided concrete questions about the future. He did attack the "cycling system" and left doubts about a possible "conspiracy" against him. What Pantani did say on more than one ocassion is that he considers himself a "clean" person and rider with a clear conscience. The Italian said that he had nothing to do with doping and everything to do with "climbing mountains to win".
"At this time I'm not thinking about the Tour de France or la Vuelta, I only want to get some internal order." Pantani also said that he will return to competition when he feels like "a winner" again. "I believe that I'm a winner, but I have been defeated in the last week. I don't know the motive and I want to know find out what happened. I don't know what has happened. Neither have I said that anybody has done this. But I can say that I am surprised by the levels that have come out of those tests, since we all knew, almost with mathematical certainty, that there were going to be blood controls, that normally the first ten have to undergo and I was the leader and that my day for testing was going to come either at Madonna di Campiglio (Saturday), or the next day. That is why it would have been illogical to have peacefully undergone analysis, without having a clear conscience. And I had a clear conscience. And I still do."
"Two and a half hours after the control was done at Madonna di Campliglio I went to get one done privately at Imola, where they took two blood samples and I had 48% of hematocrit and 16.5 of hemoglobin, which represents a proper level and is in order. The hemoglobin is what makes you go fast on the bike, not the hematocrit. That is why, something strange has happened."
In addition, he wanted to talk about the counter-analysis ordered by the Court of Trento: "I didn't have the chance of having an authentic counter-analysis since what they examined was from the original slide. When it is a proper counter-analysis they use samples from different test tubes.
Pantani repeatedely asked for "transparency" in his case: "It is important for my morale that things are clear and are able to understand. My conscience is clear. Many know me well, how I think and know the battles that I've had to fight all these years for the good of cycling. This blood controls were requested and wanted three years ago by a group of riders which included Bugno, Chiapucci, Fondriest and myself. Now, I'm being penalized for my own actions since I've been one of the ones that fought for their establishment. Later, the technicians were the persons who defined 50% as the value to be within".
Pantani openly complained about those who have associated his case with doping and laid special blame on the media: "I have heard and read during these days many things and many accusations about who is doping. They have not taking into account my version of the events. In the last months cycling has been muddied by too much imprecise information. I'm one of the few cyclists that doesn't have a personal trainer. I have nothing to do with doping. My morale right now is that of somebody who has been defeated, who doesn't know what has beaten him. I started this Giro with people that were looking for problems with me. I've been riding for more than 19 years and have undergone thousands of antidoping controls, without a problem with doping or the judges. I have always being a clean rider and I am sure of my good faith. It would be good for people to look a little more at themselves and not shoot in the dark without ever getting to the bottom of the real problems. It is necessary for the doping investigations to be more transparent and not to be creating so much confusion. Something is not going well. This environment requires real technicians - people that know the rules and that know what doping means."
When pressed about his future: "Now, I am not thinking of the Tour or La Vuelta, or anything else until I can bring some order to myself. These days many people have tried to talk to me, but right now solidarity doesn't help. Initiatives are more important than telephone calls. There need to be new initiatives, the same rules for everyone, not only for cycling and not be measured by two different methods". Pantani, said that he was satisfied that his sponsors and team had confirmed their confidence, to attack those who "until recently raised me to the stars and now are dumping me to the deepest part of the abyss."
After 3 days with his family in Cesenatico and the consolation of his fiance Cristina, Pantani is still not clear about things. He had forcefully stated his innocence but will not elaborate on the test or reading. He has received widespread support from people like the Government minister Massimo D'Alema and former champion Felice Gimondi, who won the Giro three times (1967, 1969, 1976) and the Tour de France in 1965.
Gimondi said: "I can see by the way he has reacted that he is a person of character and I think he will continue as a racer."
This seems like a tradition, says Nicklas who got a pneumonia after last year's Giro with the same effect on his racing programme.
So, who is Niklas Axelsson?
Sweden's most unknown world sports star. That's Nicklas Axelsson according to Sweden's leading news paper Aftonbladet. The most promising cyclist since Tommy Prim, says Roberto Vacchi, spokesman of Swedish Cycling Union.
The 27 year old Axelsson has, quite discreetly, taken a position among the top ten in the Giro. He first came into focus in last year's Giro, stage 19 with an attack that gained him the GPM at Goletto di Cadino, (1943 m) and the sprint at Boario Terme, to finish 38th overall with pneumonia and a 40 centigrade fever.
Other results last year: 7th in Vuelta Aragon (Cat 2.2) and third in Tour de Langkawi (Cat 2.5). His best result this season has been a fifth place in Settimana Ciclistica Lombarda Gran Premio Vismara (Cat 2.4). In this year's Giro Axelsson has been more anonymous, just tagging along as far as possible in the mountains. Best stage so far: Ninth in the TT around Monte Conero.
But Nicklas' career could have been curtailed ten years ago. In a qualification race for the national team selection he smashed into the front of a car, hit the wind shield, bounced over the car and hit the ground. He lay in coma for a week with brain injuries and a broken thigh bone. One year later he became Swedish junior champion after a remarkable rehabilitation. He has been racing for a number of amateur teams in Sweden as well as the continent. He got a stagiaire contract with Palmans and then a contract for 1998 with Scrigno Gaerne, now Navigare Gaerne.
The not so talkative Swede - he is discreet off the road as well as on - started this Giro with a fall on stage two, wich caused a slight rib injury. This might be the reason for his subdued performance in the early stages. But his final outcome - 6th overall is the best Swedish cycling performance, measured in UCI points, since the early eighties when Tommy Prim, twice second in the Giro, and Sven-Åke Nilsson, fifth in the tour, was among the worlds top riders.
1. Debby Mansveld (Ned) 3.20.17 2. Sonia Van Kuyk (Ned) 3. Vonckx (Bel) 4. Marielle Van Scheppingen (Ned) 5. Daniele Jansen (Bel) 6. Anglea Hillenga (Ned) s.t.
In fact I was ready to sleep all day after that. Trenton was the race that I have done well in before and suits me the best out of all the build up races so I was itching to get a big result there....Ha, Ha. Bad luck was still with me after my bike falling apart on me in Lancaster and then with 3km to go in Trenton I had all the spokes taken out of my front wheel, after sitting in all day waiting for the sprint, I had to limp back to the start line and watch the finish while sulking.
Then the big day the Pro Champs (255km) Feeling more than a little nervous and praying that all my bad luck was over it was on to the big one. Our team was ready for the race we all were happy with our build ups not as good as some teams but we felt we had done enough to at least be in with a fighting chance. But it was not to be Shaklee's day we keep missing the groups and fighting to get back to the front groups all day. In a nut shell we missed the boat. Not by much but by enough. I was first from our team at 23rd after trying to chase for the last 30kms to catch a group of 13 who were only 30 sec ahead but no one in my small group of 7 were into chasing as they all had team mates up the road.
So it was a very disappointing week for me as I had set myself a goal of to do well here this week. So it is now time to sit back and reflect on what went wrong and how to improve. This is always the hard part IF's, BUT's and WHAT's. Next up is the Beauce Tour in Canada which starts 15th thru 20th.