News for November 3, 1999

Japan Cup followup

Courtesy of Maric Shoji

Mercatone Uno's team manager, Martinelli said he was going to take Pantani with him for the Japan Cup next year. The Japan Cup association will have to come up with $50,000 to invite him though. Martinelli looked very happy because it was his 4th win at Japan Cup.

The attendance at Japan Cup was around 61,000.

The Japan Cup was started in 1992 as a memorial race that was held for the World Championships in 1990. The course is almost the same as that used in 1990. Claudio Chiapucci scored the trifecta by winning in 1993, 1994 and 1995. In 1996 it temporarily gained World Cup status as the last event on the calendar.

Van Eijden hopeful

German sprinter, Jan van Eijden, suspended from the recent World Track Championships for having an excessively high hematocrit, is positive that he did not take any prohibited substances. "I did not take either EPO (erythropoetin) or any other banned substance," he told SWR regional television in Mainz on Monday.

The 23 year old sprinter's case is being investigated independently in Lausanne, Switzerland and he hopes to be cleared at the beginning of next week. He also offered himself to be the subject of a longitudinal study in order to determine his natural hematocrit and variations thereof, possibly granting him an exemption to the 50% rule.

His case is a little out of the ordinary, as sprinters normally would not greatly benefit from raising their RBC count, compared to the risks involved.

Spanish signings

Spanish riders, Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero, Jose Luis Rebollo and Luis Perez, all from the ONCE team, will be riding next year for of Jose Mingues' Vitalicio Seguros team.

Also, according to Spanish press, Miguel Angel Pena (Banesto) has signed a contract with ONCE for next year. Banesto will keep the majority of its riders for next season, except for Manuel Beltran (leaving to Mapei), Miguel Angel Pena (leaving to ONCE) and Jeremy Hunt (VC Saint-Quentin). Banesto's manager, Eusebio Unzue, announced that his team will be riding next year in the three biggest tours: The Giro (with Jimenez and Piepoli), Tour (with Zulle) and Vuelta (with Zulle and Jimenez).

Martin Cotar (Croatia), last year's European under 23 ITT Champion will be probably riding next year for the Post Swiss Team, but hasn't confirmed.

Linda McCartney takes shape

The British vegetarian professional cycling team, Linda McCartney have confirmed the following riders for next year:

Continental squad: David McKenzie (Aus), Ben Brooks (Aus), Matthew Stephens (Gbr), Bjornar Vestøl (Nor) and Tayeb Brakia (Den). Their biggest "name", Max Sciandri is likely to confirm his contract by the end of the week.

Other riders that may join the team next year include Ciaran Power (Irl), Spencer Smith (GBR) and reigning Olympic Champion Pascal Richard (Swi).