News for August 28, 2000Lance Armstrong interviewIn just over one month's time, Lance Armstrong will tackle his second major goal for the year, the Olympic Time Trial in Sydney. Today he contested one of his last races before the Olympics, the GP Eddy Merckx paired time trial, which he won convincingly with the help of teammate Viatcheslav Ekimov. It was a good sign for the American, who beat many of the top Olympic contenders in that race. Armstrong is a rider who doesn't just rely upon racing to get him into condition - he follows a meticulous training program, assisted by his coach Chris Carmichael. In the following interview, courtesy of Chris Brewer at Lancearmstrong.com, he answers questions relating to the new USPS lineup, the Olympics, the Tour and plenty more. CB: What's your reaction to the upcoming changes in Team USPS, in particular the loss of Kevin and the additions of Victor Hugo Peña and José Luis Rubiera? LA: It's a tough situation with Kevin but in the end perhaps it's normal for championship teams to be "picked" apart. When a rider is offered an exorbitant amount of $$$ there is only so much his team can do. It comes down to the athlete to decide between financial or sporting rewards. In Peña and Rubiera we have a lot of HP (horsepower) but they will never fill the role of Kevin because he is also a close friend. CB: Can you talk about how the Olympic road race strategy plays out? With only 5 guys - all strong - how is the decision on who goes for the "win" determined? LA: It's a good question, one that we have yet to discuss as a team, since we haven't been together as a team before. I suspect that since the course isn't very demanding we will rely on our faster guys (George and Freddy). CB: Looking back on the Tour this year vs. last, how would you rate the media's coverage of the event and how they treated you? LA: Night and Day. Basically there was no suspicion and innuendo this year. CB: Many people see you and Jan Ullrich setting up to be a classic rivalry in years to come. Do you agree with this? LA: I agree that we will both be around for years to come and that he is always going to be a great champion. Time will tell if it was a great rivalry. Those things are better reflected back on, than predicted. Plus we don't know who else is going to come along in the next couple of years. CB: The bottom line - is there some "bad blood" between you and Pantani, or was this more media hype? LA: Bottom line? I think it would be incorrect to say that we are close friends now. I over rated him personally and physically. But in the end it's not worth sparring for the media. CB: What was your reaction to being ESPN The Magazine's first "Internet Athlete of the Year"? LA: My first reaction was, "Great job, Brewer." CB: Do you foresee 2001 being more of the same approach for yourself and USPS - i.e. working towards the Tour and using many events for training and gathering form? or will there be some renewed emphasis on the Classics and winning more events? LA: No, nothing will change. We will try to win the Tour and George will focus on trying to win his first Classic. CB: If you had to pick one place to train in, where would it be and why? LA: Boone, North Carolina. Because I renewed my love for the bike there, and the roads are great. CB: Your latest training regimen includes weight lifting - was this a big surprise to you, and how's it going? LA: It was a bit of a surprise but I think a 3 week stage race isn't necessarily good for power so perhaps it was necessary. I will say that I am doing very little weight training. CB: What's on the radar scope for you in terms of a cycling goal(s) that you have yet to attain? LA: The 3,600 second record...you can figure it out...
Verbrugghe in for SteelsThe Belgian Olympic team has been hit by injury and sickness to two of its stars, Tom Steels and Johan Museeuw. Fortunately, national coach Jose de Cauwer has plenty of talent to pick from in his country and already nominated Nico Mattan as the replacement for Museeuw. With Steels' recent withdrawal, he had to choose again, and the name of Andrei Tchmil was strongly touted. However, Tchmil's big aim this year is the World Championship and he refused to alter his plans which were respected by De Cauwer. Considering the emphasis that many riders are placing on the Olympic road race, 37 year old Tchmil has the best chance in a while of winning a world title. The final Belgian selection was made after today's GP Eddy Merckx, and Rik Verbrugghe got the nod in front of riders like Geert Van Bondt, Chris Peers, Hendrik Van Dyck and Jo Planckaert. It was an interesting choice seeing as Belgium has two good time trialists already in the team: Nico Mattan and Marc Wauters. The team is now relying on Peter Van Petegem as their sprinter, with the rest riding an attacking race.
Dekker off the boilAlthough he could not quite manage to win the GP Eddy Merckx two man time trial the following day, Dutchman Erik Dekker could still be extremely satisfied with his overall win the the Ronde van Nederland. Things weren't that easy for the recently turned 30 year old Dekker last week though. Apart from his rivals, Robert Hunter and Servais Knaven in the Ronde, Dekker was also suffering from a painful saddle sore, or a "third ball". It was so painful that Dekker even thought about abandoning, "If I wasn't the leader, I would have abandoned. But on Wednesday I thought, how can I stop while my teammates are working so hard for me? So I couldn't stop."
Brooks/Stephens updateLinda McCartney suffered a double blow on Saturday in the Giro del Veneto in Italy where two of their riders, Ben Brooks and Matt Stephens fell. Both are in Padova hospital at the moment but are expected to leave within the next day or so. Matt Stephens broke his collarbone after falling on a slippery descent, "almost a year to the day since I had that accident in Canada, and it looks like I have broken it again in exactly the same place." It was his seventh serious accident this year although he still intends racing the Circuit Franco-Belge at the end of September and the World Championships in Brittany. A few kilometres later, Ben Brooks was collecting some bottles from the team car where he was told that Matt had crashed. "No way! Poor Matt!" said Ben, who then crashed into a ditch shortly after. "I'd landed on my head and was talking nonsense when they got there, passing out and stuff, so they took me off in the ambo," he said from his hospital bed. "I feel fine now, but I have to wait here 48 hours - that's what they do when you've had a knock like this. I'm really pissed off 'cause I was looking to give these next few races a big nudge. I'm in pretty good shape and my folks are here from New South Wales to see me race. Now this happens. I'm never rooming with Lucky Stephens again!" The team's next few outings will also be in Italy, with the Trofeo Melinda (August 31), Coppa Placci (September 2) and Giro di Romagna (September 3).
Russian Olympic Track TeamThe Russian Federation have named their team to contest the track events in Sydney (road and MTB to come tomorrow). The men's team looks to be very strong, with the famous St. Petersburg Quartet to ride the team pursuit. This team, trained by Alexander Kuznetsov, won the Russian title in Moscow in a time of 4.01.158. Kuznetsov has also coached the Russian team pursuit to victory in the 1980 and 1988 Olympics and these will be the Russian's main hope for Gold in Sydney. The team have already flown out to Australia to acclimatize and are currently in Adelaide. Men Alexey Markov (Individual/Team Pursuit/Points race) Reserves: Vladislav Borisov Svetlana Grankovskaja or Festina's new signingsFrench team Festina have announced the following new riders for their 2001 lineup, confirmed by team director Juan Fernandez. German Sven Teutenberg will come across from the second division Gerolsteiner team. He is currently ranked 304th and has 16 career victories, including stages in the Tour du Pont, Commonwealth Bank Classic, Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt, Rapport Toer, and Bayern Rundfahrt. He is 28 and has previously ridden with US Postal (1996-1998). Spaniard Jose Luis Rebollo has been recruited for two years from the Vitalicio Seguros squad. Although he is currently ranked higher than Teutenberg (296th), he has just three career wins including the Vuelta a Mallorca in 1999. Also with three wins is Frenchman Arnaud Pretot (now Cofidis) who has signed for one year. Finally, neo-pro Paco Lara (Spain) has signed a two year contract, and he is currently competing at the U23/dilettantes level and is considered a promising young rider. |