News for August 10, 2000Doped or not? Some reactionsAfter the French Council for Prevention of Drug Use (CPLD) stated yesterday that "45 percent of doping controls in the Tour de France were positive", arguments have come from all sides as to what actually comprises doping. The general announcement was made yesterday following the assessment by the CPLD of the Tour drug tests made at the French laboratory at Chatenay-Malabray. Of 96 samples, 28 were found to contain traces of corticoids, 10 salbutamol and terbutaline, and 5 had both substances. 43 "positives" from 96 samples equals 45 percent. The UCI were quick to release a statement explaining that the CPLD announcement was inaccurate, because many of the samples came from riders who had permission to use the substances for "therapeutic reasons", as allowed for in the UCI rules. "All tests were negative," they said last week. The CPLD had carried out their assessment independent of any knowledge of who was allowed to take what. French newspaper, L'Equipe carried a headline "Doping on Prescription", France Soir called it "The Tour of the Hypochondriac", La Provence, "Le Tour 2000 remains a big hoax", the German paper, Die Welt said that it looked like a larger scandal that 1998, ONCE boss Manolo Saiz called it "a conspiracy...someone wants to poison the climate", the Spanish media state that "once again, the attacks on cycling are coming out of France", while the UCI maintain that there was no doping. The facts are that all the products are on the forbidden list, but are allowable within limits. This is where the boundaries between conventional medicine and doping are often hard to define, with pseudoephedrine being a common example. Lotto's directeur sportif, Claude Criquelion was "indignant" about the suspicions. "Today, all doctors know that asthmatics and victims of allergies are on the increase. But there are people who consider it strange or even scandalous if a bicycle racer has asthma or is allergic to something. As if a racer would not be worried about being sick or about his health?" "In my heart I'm very annoyed. This morning I heard in a radio program that the peloton is composed solely of patients. It is incredible that people want to transmit this view," said the former World Champion. Lance Armstrong's doctor, Luis Garcia del Moral told Spanish paper, El Mundo that "the riders all had to submit their medical certificates before the Tour, in order to use these products that were on the forbidden list. If the use is indicated for medical reasons, then it is not doping, but therapy." Armstrong himself wrote in "It's Not About the Bike" that he was given EPO during his cancer treatment because his hematocrit and red cell count were too low. Del Moral was not surprised at the stance of the French government funded CPLD: "At the moment it is a battle between the government and the organizers of the Tour, and I consider it unjustified to sound the alarm at this point". Former Festina Soigneur, Willy Voet said in "France Soir" that it was "easy to obtain a medical certificate so that cyclists can take restricted substances. Each team doctor is charge of each rider's report and medical certificates. It is only necessary to go to the controls with the certificate and everything is fine," he said. French Jean Delatour rider, Christophe Bassons, who is a well known anti-doping campaigner within the peloton, denounced the abuse of medical prescriptions that according to him, are equivalent to tolerance of doping. "There has been progress, but with these prescriptions the abuse continues," he said in an radio interview with France-Infó. "I don't believe that 45 percent of the peloton takes corticoids because they are injured," he added. Jean Marie Leblanc, Tour director has sided with the UCI experts, saying to AFP that "Dr Schtattenberg (UCI) presented me some very interesting explanations as to therapeutic justifications. The CPLD can dispute the conclusions of the UCI experts. However, one cannot say that the UCI are being lax on corticoids when they are fighting so hard against EPO." Essentially, it is a battle between the CPLD and the UCI over the same set of data. The French government have always been strongly against doping, applying themselves to the fight with religious fervor. The UCI on the other hand have set down certain rules about drugs that they base their policy on. The bottom line seems to be that the CPLD want tougher restrictions and controls, especially with regard to obtaining medical certificates for restricted substances. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to work out that it is one of the team doctor's best interests to keep their athletes going, maybe not in a strictly "performance enhancing", but "performance recovery" sense. Virenque, Gotti and Cipollini to VueltaMore teams have announced their rosters for the Vuelta a España, starting August 26, and it looks to be one of the strongest fields in recent history. Polti will take Ivan Gotti, Richard Virenque, Pascal Herve, Daniel Clavero, Jose Manuel Uría, Rafael Mateos, Mirco Crepaldi, Oscar Pellicioli, Enrico Cassani and Cristiano Colleoni. Three of these are top climbers and will certainly be trying to contest the overall. Mario Cipollini will be there for Saeco, whose members include Daniel Atienza, Giuseppe Calcaterra, Massimiliano Mori, Salvatore Commesso, Biagio Conte, Francesco Secchiari, Laurent Dufaux, Armin Meier and Igor Pugaci. Fassa Bortolo will take Wladimir Belli, Andrea Peron, Fabio Baldato Gabriele Balducci, Leonardo Giordani, Paolo Tiralongo, Nicola Loda, Andrea Ferrigato, Vladimir Gustov and Raimundas Rumsas. Other top riders include Jan Ullrich, Andreas Klöden, Oscar Camenzind, Gilberto Simoni, Angel Casero, Abraham Olano, Joseba Beloki, Roberto Heras and Santi Botero.
Boardman, Millar in British Olympic teamThe British have finalised their team selection, with Olympic gold medallist Chris Boardman joining four others, David Millar, Jeremy Hunt, John Tanner and Max Sciandri in the men's road team. The women will be led by Yvonne McGregor (who is also riding the track), Ceris Gilfillan and Sara Symington. Predictably, Boardman and Millar will contest the individual time trial on September 30, while the other three will ride in the road race as well as Millar (Boardman will not). It will be Boardman's last big chance for glory, as he has indicated he will retire at the end of the year. Eight years ago in Barcelona in 1992 he became the first British rider to win an Olympic Gold Medal in the 4000m individual pursuit, however he will be doing just one event this year. Boardman has not had a huge year in 2000, an eighth in the Circuit de la Sarthe, and 39th in La Fleche Wallone World Cup (but being in a long early break). His potential start in the Tour de France was hampered by injury and sickness, and he has not raced a great deal at the top level since. He is down to start in the Classica San Sebastian on Saturday. The remaining four members of the team consist of a time trialist (Millar), a sprinter (Hunt), and two rouleurs in Max Sciandri and John Tanner. Millar is probably the best chance for a medal after his Tour performances and Boardman would dearly like to be on the Olympic podium one last time. Men Jeremy Hunt (Big Mat - Road) Women Ceris Gilfillan (Road/TT) For all the teams so far, please try out our Olympic Team link. Dutch offer Olympic moneyThe Koninklijke Nederlandse Wielrenunie (KNWU) has offered their riders some extra performance incentives for the Olympics: 25,000 Dutch guilders ($US 10,000) for every gold, 15,000 for a silver and 10,000 for a bronze medal in Sydney. Joop Atsma, KNWU chairman and chef de equipe for the Olympic cycling team said that "we expect a minimum of three medals".
Post proposesPeter Post, the advisor of Farm Frites, is working on a proposal for the future of the team for the sponsor, which aims to finish soon. "I hope to finish my proposal this week, but it's a lot of work. There are a lot of troubles in the group - you can say that. Certain things you can solve easily, other things you can't. I cannot yet give more details about my proposal, but you can't make everybody satisfied in this situation. I don't know if the management of Farm Frites will follow my proposal, but I've got a certain mandate."
Winnen writesFormer professional cyclist, Peter Winnen from the Netherlands, who won three Tour de France stages and finished third in the 1983 edition, has become a writer. He has written a book about his cycling career, called "Van Santander naar Santander" ("From Santander to Santander"). Santander was the place where his career both started and ended. It is written as if it were letters to a friend, and is published only in Dutch at the moment. Peter Winnen made the news last year when he talked openly about drug use in the peloton. The book however is not only about drugs, this is only a part of it. It is also about races (of course), about women, training and practically everything else from the world of professional cycling. Thanks to Martijn Grooten (who also recommends the book) for this info
NRC rankingsAfter the latest US National Series race, the Tour de 'Toona, Mercury's Gord Fraser extended his lead in the NRC rankings published by USA Cycling. Fraser's lead over teammate Henk Vogels is over 200 points, and he looks set to clinch the overall title this year. John Lieswyn, of Shaklee is in 3rd on 919 points, and he might be able to close the gap a little if Fraser and Vogels take time out for Olympic commitments. Five out of six stage wins in the Tour de 'Toona was a nice little boost for Fraser though... In the women, autotrader.com's Tina Mayolo-Pic is now number one, overtaking World number one and two, Diana Ziliute and Anna Wilson. Mayolo performed consistently well during 'Toona in the wake of Sarah Ulmer and Lyne Bessette's domination. Ulmer is now up to fourth after winning four stages in that event. In the team rankings, there is absolutely no surprise in the men, with Mercury leading the way on 3,967 points, a massive 1,700 ahead of next team, Saturn. Shaklee are just behind Saturn though in third and will push them close for that position up to the end of the calendar. Saturn are well ahead in the women's teams, with riders like Anna Wilson, Petra Rossner, Nicole Reinhart and Lyne Bessette. Autotrader.com are second, with a big gap to Elita in third. NRC Rankings (including Tour de 'Toona) 1 Gord Fraser (Can) Mercury 1,237 pts 2 Henk Vogels (Aus) Mercury 1,023 3 John Lieswyn (USA) Shaklee 919 4 Scott Moninger (USA) Mercury 860 5 Trent Klasna (USA) Saturn 818 6 Eddy Gragus (USA) Jelly Belly 694 7 Antonio Cruz (USA) Saturn 674 8 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Mapei-Quick Step 648 9 Eric Wohlberg (Can) Shaklee 572 10 Chris Horner (USA) Mercury 563 11 Vasily Davidenko (Rus) Navigators 512 12 Clark Sheehan (USA) 7-Up/Colorado Cyclist 420 13 Graeme Miller (NZl) Shaklee 373 14 Mark McCormack (USA) Saturn 367 15 George Hincapie (USA) U.S. Postal Service 364 16 Adham Sbeih (USA) Navigators 339 17 Nicolaj Bo Larsen (Den) Memorycard-Jack&Jones 327 18 Harm Jansen (Ned) Saturn 299 19 Piotr Wadecki (Pol) MROZ-Supradyn 290 20 Derek Bouchard-Hall (USA) Mercury 284 Women 1 Tina Mayolo-Pic (USA) autotrader.com 1,108 pts 2 Diana Ziliute (Ltu) Acca Due O-Lorena/HP LF 1,090 3 Anna Wilson (Aus) Saturn 1,026 4 Sarah Ulmer (NZl) Elita 882 5 Petra Rossner (Ger) Saturn 798 6 Nicole Reinhart (USA) Saturn 796 7 Mari Holden (USA) Timex 720 8 Pam Schuster (USA) autotrader.com 674 9 Lyne Bessette (Can) Saturn 664 10 Jeannie Longo (Fra) Vitall/Office Depot 645 11 Karen Dunne (USA) Elita 502 12 Karen Kurreck (USA) Alto Velo 500 13 Julie Young (USA) autotrader.com 496 14 Dede Demet Barry Saturn 465 15 Katrina Berger (USA) Charles Schwab 464 16 Kimberly Bruckner autotrader.com 455 17 Tracey Gaudry (Aus) Timex 408 18 Vera Hohlfeld (Ger) Acca Due O-Lorena 394 19 Kim Smith (USA) Timex 372 20 Annie Gariepy (Can) Elita 370 Men's team rankings 1 Mercury 3,967 pts 2 Saturn 2,370 3 Shaklee 2,352 4 Navigators 1,438 5 Jelly Belly 1,133 6 7-Up-Colorado Cyclist 1,100 7 U.S. Postal Service 927 8 Mapei-Quick Step 708 9 MROZ-Supradyn 705 10 Memory Card-Jack&Jones 662 Women's team rankings 1 Saturn 3,749 pts 2 autotrader.com 3,100 3 Elita 1,843 4 Charles Schwab 1,728 5 Timex 1,653 6 HP Lithuania/France 1,235 7 German National Team 816 8 Great Britain National Team 736 9 Office Depot 638 10 Master Carpe Diem 510 |