News for August 15, 2000Casagrande slipsBy Jeff Jones, online editor After he failed in his attempt to win the Clasica San Sebastian for the third time on Saturday, Vini Caldirola's Francesco Casagrande has moved back down the UCI rankings scale. He's still number one, but the 240 points he won last year were not replaced in 2000, as he picked up a measly 5 points for coming 22nd. He did at least snatch back some (40 points) by winning the 1.4 Subida Urkiola the day after. This means that Jan Ullrich is next in line for chief buyer, at 165 points behind the Italian. He in turn has some work to do though, as he'll have to win the World or Olympic TT championships as well as the Vuelta to maintain status quo. Further down is Erik Zabel on 1796 points, and it is theoretically possible for him to take the lead by the end of the year. Romans Vainsteins, Paolo Bettini and Lance Armstrong continue to shuffle around while the rest remain quite steady. One rider on the up is Rabobank's flying Dutchman, Erik Dekker who backed his San Sebastian win on Saturday with a win in the 1.4 Joseph Voegli Memorial on Sunday in Switzerland (with partner Marc Wauters). He is now up to 13th place and worth a lot more. Oscar Freire (Mapei) is also making moves again, now up to 16th from 21st after his 7th in San Sebastian. However, he's got some work to do toward the end of the year like Ullrich. The teams rankings see Mapei consolidate their lead once more to Deutsche Telekom, while Banesto have moved up a notch behind number 3 ranked Kelme. The upcoming races in Spain should see a see-sawing battle between these two, while there is almost no change in the other team rankings. In division II, Credit Agricole hold their slender lead over Euskaltel-Euskadi and these two will likely fight it out until the end of the season. The nations rankings will be dealt with in a separate article below. UCI Rankings as of August 14 1 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola - Sidermec 2,343.00 pts 2 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 2,178.75 3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1,796.00 4 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola - Sidermec 1,512.00 5 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei - Quick Step 1,456.00 6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 1,453.00 7 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 1,408.00 8 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 1,386.00 9 Marcus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 1,278.25 10 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 1,264.25 11 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Kelme - Costa Blanca 1,219.00 12 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) O.N.C.E. - Deutsche Bank 1,210.75 13 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 1,199.00 14 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 1,175.00 15 Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 1,156.00 16 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei - Quick Step 1,126.00 17 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 1,098.00 18 José Maria Jimenez Sastre (Spa) Banesto 1,097.00 19 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Fassa Bortolo 1,056.00 20 Abraham Olano (Spa) O.N.C.E. - Deutsche Bank 1,047.75 Teams, first division: 1 Mapei - Quick Step 7,562.45 pts 2 Team Deutsche Telekom 7,278.25 3 Kelme - Costa Blanca 4,827.00 4 Banesto 4,678.00 5 Fassa Bortolo 4,622.00 6 Rabobank 4,511.75 7 O.N.C.E. - Deutsche Bank 4,316.75 8 Vini Caldirola - Sidermec 4,178.00 9 Lampre - Daikin 4,034.00 10 US Postal Service 3,510.20 Teams, second division: 1 Credit Agricole 2,569.00 pts 2 Euskaltel - Euskadi 2,483.00 3 Cantina Tollo 1,883.00 4 Bonjour 1,467.00 5 Jean Delatour 1,354.00 Nations rankingsBy Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent 33 nations are qualified for the World Championships road race in Plouay in October. The ranking of August 15 decides which nations that will participate, but since no major races are held in the two days from the latest official ranking until August 15 we are taking the liberty to present the teams already. There is a new system from this year. The top ten nations will be represented as before with 12 riders, and 8 from the next five nations. However, beforehand the rest of the field was completed by personal invitation to the top 40 ranked riders from all other nations. Now these 40 come from the next 15 nations, with four riders each from nations ranked 16-20 and two riders each from the rest. All other nations that have a rider among the world's top 400 will have an extra spot in the World Championships peloton. This time Luxembourg, thanks to US Postie Benoďt Joachim, Hong Kong with the help of amateur Kam Po Wong and Croatia, represented by Krka Telekom's Vladimir Miholjevic, will have riders. The only other additional invitation is to last year's World Champion - Oscar Freire should he wish to. This means that Spain can take 13 riders. Therefore 203 riders can take the start in Plouay, or 204 if last year's Champion Oscar Freire from Spain starts. Continental championships are no longer used as qualifying for the World's. For the first time Sweden will have an eight man squad in the race while nations like Great Britain, Colombia will only have four. Nations rankings as of August 14 1. Italy 12,242.35 12 riders 2. Spain 9,213.35 12 (13 with Freire) 3. Germany 8,366.75 12 4. Belgium 8,076.00 12 5. France 6,400.75 12 6. Netherlands 6,343.60 12 7. Switzerland 5,016.50 12 8. U.S.A. 4,700.75 12 9. Russia 4,141.00 12 10. Denmark 3,658.85 12 11. Poland 2,563.00 8 12. Latvia 2,547.50 8 13. Kazakhstan 2,298.25 8 14. Australia 2,163.00 8 15. Sweden 2,048.20 8 16. Czech Republic 1,891.00 4 17. Great Britain 1,763.50 4 18. Colombia 1,746.00 4 19. Austria 1,714.00 4 20. Ukraine 1,547.00 4 21. Lithuania 1,465.00 2 22. Slovenia 1,400.50 2 23. Estonia 1,300.00 2 24. Portugal 1,249.00 2 25. Norway 705.00 2 26. Venezuela 658.00 2 27. South Africa 611.00 2 28. Canada 572.00 2 29. New Zealand 544.00 2 30. Moldavia 422.50 2 31. Slovakia 332.00 32. Luxembourg 293.85 1 33. Argentina 247.00 34. Japan 225.00 35. Yugoslavia 217.00 36. Cuba 192.00 36. Ireland 192.00 38. Croatia 187.50 1 39. Hong Kong 185.00 1 40. Mexico 180.00 Mattan after Museeuw
Nico Mattan (Cofidis) will substitute for the injured Johan Museeuw (Mapei) in the Belgian squad in the Olympic Games in Sydney. Museeuw was injured in a motorcycle accident Sunday evening. Mattan, age 29, has shown good form this summer in the absence of team captain Frank Vandenbroucke and his assignment was more or less expected. However, it's not going well with Museeuw: an edema is developing in his brain near his bruised skull, and the situation still hasn't stabilized. It appears that an operation isn't necessary yet, but that may be because the doctors do not want to take any more risks at the moment.
Olympic selection: Cycling Australia's responseLast week, cyclingnews published an edition of Scott Sunderland's diary where he described his unsuccessful appeal to be selected in the Australian men's road squad. He felt that there were issues in the appeals process and the selection procedure that needed addressing by Cycling Australia, and was quite critical of the whole process. One of the key national selectors for Cycling Australia is Italian based Shayne Bannan, who was on the receiving end of some of the criticism. The personal issues between himself and Scott Sunderland will be left for them to sort out, however Mr Bannan sent us the following response regarding the team selection. Sunderland was not the only top rider to miss out, and the five certainly comprise the strongest Olympic road team that Australia has ever fielded. Will it be enough to beat the world? You can be guaranteed that if Stuart O'Grady wins the road race on September 27, then Crowd Goes Wild. Thank you for the opportunity of response. Selection is not always an easy process particularly when it is Olympic Games year, and more so when the Olympics are in your own country. The depth of Australian Professional Cyclists in past years has had a rapid increase and whilst we do not have the same depth as an Italy or France, Australia's Pro's have had some remarkable international performances. With only 5 riders to be selected for the Olympics, selection was never going to be clear-cut. It is my belief that the selectors have chosen the best possible Australian Team according to the criteria as set out by Cycling Australia and personally I am very excited about the potential results that this team has the ability to achieve in Sydney. At the same time I do feel for the like's of David McKenzie (Stage Winner Tour of Italy 2000), Jamie Drew (Current Australian Champion and recent winner of the Mi-Aout Series France), Patrick Jonker (Australia's highest placed Pro in any World Cup event in 2000 thus far) and Scott Sunderland (Who has had recent stage placing's in Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos). I respect that all concerned have pursued their Olympic dream vigorously as the case should be. The efforts of those cyclists that missed selection are appreciated, now the emphasis is on those cyclists that will represent Australia in Sydney. Regards, Shayne Bannan
Zülle closer to SaecoNext year could see Alex Zülle finally ride for a Swiss team, after he has received a serious offer from Saeco-Valli&Valli. The offer is attractive for the 32 year old who currently rides for Banesto, as it involves a two year contract reportedly for $US 1.1 million per year. Zülle's poor results in the major tours have not pleased Jose Miguel Echavarri who invested a good deal in the former Festina rider after the disaster of 1998. His propensity to fall off at regular intervals puts him at a big disadvantage when going for the overall classification. After this year's Tour de France, when he fell in the early stages, Echavarri berated him publicly and the end was night. Saeco on the other hand are attracted to him, both by his nationality and class - he certainly performs well in highly ranked tours that are not Grand Tours. They are negotiating with him at the Tour of Galicia where he is competing at the moment. The offer is equivalent to his Banesto salary, and he will be the team leader for the Vuelta and the Tour, while Savoldelli would remain leader for the Giro.
Kelme holds offFernando Escartin, Kelme's number one rider, will not start negotiating his contract until after the Vuelta finishes on September 17. The team manager, Joan Mas told European press that "they have not reached an agreement yet," and will negotiate "based on the results of the Vuelta". This will of course put a good deal of pressure on Escartin, who crashed out of the Vuelta last year during the stage to Angliru, and waited a long time until re-signing with the team. His contract runs out at the end of the year, and he will perhaps be too expensive to keep depending on what happens in September. Number three ranked team, Kelme run on a very tight budget and have also expressed interest in ONCE's David Cańada.
Portuguese Olympic teamFour riders will represent Portugal in the men's road race in Sydney, with one riding the time trial. Vitor Gamito (Porta da Ravessa) will do the double, while next year's ONCE recruit, Jose Azevedo (Maia-MSS), Orlando Rodrigues (Banesto), and Bruno Castanheira (LA/Pecol) will just rider the road race. Jose Azevedo, 26, was the winner of this year's Grand Prix Telecom Portugal, second in the Volta ao Algarve (behind Alex Zülle) and fourth in the Volta a Portugal. He leaves Maia/MSS for ONCE and has signed for two years. Azevedo is a complete rider, he was the best Portuguese rider in 1998 (and a serious candidate in 2000) and twice Portuguese time trial champion.
Kyneb riddle solved?Michael Holst Kyneb (Memorycard-Jack&Jones) has not been able to work at 100 percent this season. The reason might be gluten allergy. "Since I stopped eating food containing wheat flour my stomach is better, I don't suffer from diarrhea any more, I have gained energy and am capable at training well. I'm not exaggerating if I call this first half of the season a nightmare. But now my motivation is high again," the 28 eight year old Dane said to news paper BT. Kyneb's biggest win came in 1999 when he won the 2.4 Tour de la Région Wallonne/Ronde van het Waalse Gewest.
Ampler hangs it upAt age 36, German Uwe Ampler has decided to quit racing. His last race will be in Wismar on August 27. Ampler has won the Peace Race four times and he has an Olympic gold medal from 1988 in the team time trial. His career hasn't been absolutely spotless however with two doping suspensions, the last ending this spring. This year he has been racing for the amateur group Bunte Berte Leipzig, but injured himself shortly after the Peace Race. That was enough for Ampler to stop.
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