News for August 30, 2000

55th Vuelta a Espańa news

Freire: why stop?

World Champion Oscar Freire has now won two of the four stages in this year's Vuelta, and is looking good for more provided his back holds out. A good win for him would be stage 13 from Santander to Santander, which is located near his home town.

"I will continue with the plan to win more stages and to help the leaders Tonkov and Beltran in the mountains. That work is more valuable than to come 28th in a stage like the one to Catí (tomorrow). And when the time comes for me to win, I will do so," he commented after his win.

"I do not have the objective to dispute all stages, although if I am well placed, then it is necessary to take advantage of that. I think I took Cipollini's wheel yesterday and held it for too long. Today, I didn't follow anybody, although I knew that Lombardi was going to sprint well and I stayed near him."

His Mapei team have not been giving him full sprinter support, but he hasn't objected so far and is talented enough to find his own way across the line in first place. His team director, Jesus Suárez Cuevas said that they will give him the help when he needs it but their main goal is the overall with Tonkov and Beltran.

Kelme loses

On today's short but windy stage from Valdepeńas to Albacete, the big losers were the Spanish team of Kelme, none of whom made the front group. Roberto Heras, Fernando Escartin, and Santiago Botero all came in the second group, 1'21 behind the 40 or so strong lead group. Although it was not in the same league as the Passage du Gois in the tour a year ago, it's never easy to make up 1'21 on riders like Zülle and Ullrich.

Escartin rued the time loss, saying that "it happened again and it's already hard to bear that this city (Albacete) is always a judge. It is not a great deal of time, but it is a failure that we will surely pay for in the end."

Escartin's team director, Vicente Belda was similarly not amused, "The balance is lo longer positive: When there is a wind and 40 get away, the truth is that we are not riding properly at the front. It was very bad because they were lacking concentration. Now it is necessary to keep up the morale and wait a couple of days," said Belda.

The split occurred when ONCE, Telekom and Mapei sent their teams to the front in strong crosswinds. First, 80 riders made it, then 40 and no Kelmes. The team may have suffered somewhat through lack of a sprinter as it is not necessary for them to be as prominent in the peloton. However, when a crosswind hits, there is no room for hiding.

Interestingly, Zülle had 'lost' his leader's jersey to Jan Hruska (Vitalicio) who won enough time in the intermediate sprints. However, the Czech rider was caught behind when the split occurred and the seconds gained turned into several minutes lost.

Zülle does not count out Kelme yet, as "now they are upset and will ride harder." He is now Banesto's greatest hope, as Jose Maria Jimenez lost 12 minutes today. He is still suffering from injuries and sickness sustained last week, and blamed his time loss on lack of form, not bad luck. However, there are still a few mountains to climb and "El Chaba" might have a moment of glory in the coming two weeks.

One González de Galdeano off the back

The González de Galdeano brothers had a 50 percent success rate today, with Igor making the front group, but Alvaro losing three and a half minutes. The latter, although not happy, was satisfied with the performance of Igor who is Vitalicio's team leader.

Cerezo and Vicario also made it, and they helped Igor in front. "I sacrificed myself at first but I could not make the top group. Kelme was confused and at the back," said Alvaro of the move that went with about 40 kilometres to go.

Security in the Vuelta

While it is not quite on the same level as Le Tour, with its army of gendarmes, the Vuelta still has its fair share of security. Each day, the Spanish Civil Guard deploys 121 men, a helicopter, 2 buses, 19 vans and 53 motorbikes to accompany the peloton during the stage. This is in addition to all the local officers and men that each town along the course route provides.

Domo has a deal

The Domo-Farm Frites team merger has been sealed after the contracts went to each party for singing on Monday. Domo, the new team of Patrick Lefevere, will definitely join with Farm Frites next year. However, the number of riders that will make it across from Farm Frites is not yet clear. The two team managers, Marc Sergeant and Hendrik Redant, are not counting on Jans Koerts (winner of yesterday's Vuelta stage) after Peter Post said a few weeks ago "Jans Koerts was too old for a new contract". Additionally, Peter van Petegem is unlikely, as he is still looking toward Cees Priem, and possibly Mapei for a contract.

A confirmed Domo rider, Johan Museeuw, who left hospital over the weekend is optimistic that he can once again make a comeback to racing. His future team director, Marc Sergeant has outlined a one month training program for him from mid-November to mid-December, and he will conduct this in Spain.

UCI and drug trafficking in Italy

The International Cycling Union (UCI) has been requested by Italian justice to yield the records of 15 riders who were subject to antidoping tests at the time of the 1999 Giro d'Italia. In Switzerland today, the Federal Court overruled the UCI's earlier stance, saying that the information was necessary for the "open investigation in Italy for traffic of doping products," according to Associated Press.

15 riders underwent an antidoping control before the start of the penultimate stage (from Pedrazzo to Madonna di Campiglio on June 4) of last year's Giro. The medical report revealed that 13 of the 15 samples taken (and seized by Italian authorities) showed the possibility of the presence of EPO. However, the UCI kept the names of these riders secret as they owned the samples under UCI rules.

In October last year, an investigation in Italy was opened into eight people who were accused of trafficking dangerous drugs. At the time, the prosecutor in Brescia asked the UCI for help in the matter, specifically asking for the names of the riders. The UCI did not agree, taking their case to a state court which they lost. The matter was eventually taken to the Federal Court, and again was unsuccessful.

According to the court, it was not actually the aim of the investigation to implicate the riders who potentially violated the code of sporting ethics. The real reason was to determine whether the eight suspects were involved in drug trafficking.

The Federal Court ruled that the UCI could not call upon the medical secrecy act, as the European Convention holds that the provision of mutual legal aid overrides this. The information was required to facilitate the Italian investigation, however in this case the riders do not have to worry, as the investigation was not aimed at stopping the use of EPO. The UCI were also asked to pay FF 5,000 ($US 700) towards the court costs.

McEwen update

Hi all,

My shoulder injury is coming along well and I'm planning my comeback to racing this Saturday in the Ronde van Midden Zeeland in Holland. My injuries are/were a luxation of the left acromio clavicular joint (torn ligaments where the collarbone meets the shoulderblade), a sprained wrist (left) and a sprained elbow (left).

I started rehab physio last Thursday, one day after my crash in stage 3 of the Tour of Holland. That was the one day I didn't ride my bike but have been doing 3 hours a day on the home trainer every day since and tomorrow (Tuesday) I'm back on the road and continuing my physio treatment here in Belgium. I have been having 2 hours physio per day to mobilise all my joints, get the injured muscles supple and doing stabilising exercises. I'll be riding the Tour of Poland from Sept. 4 till 10th then returning to Australia on Sept. 12 for the final lead to the Olympics.

It has been a setback but fortunately hasn't kept me from training hard and I will still have a good preparation for Sydney.

Robbie McEwen

Totschnig to Gerolsteiner

Telekom's Austrian climber, Georg Totschnig will ride with the second division Gerolsteiner team next year. He has secured a two year contract and will be a valuable boost to this German team, as his services are no longer required by Telekom. The main goals of the 29 year old 2000 Tour of Austria winner will be the Tour de Suisse and the Midi Libre.

Gerolsteiner have also re-signed Michael Rich, Torsten Schmidt, Tobias Steinhauser, Uwe Peschel, Peter Wrolich, Rene Haselbacher and Thomas Muehlbacher for next season. They will acquire the services of Ronny Scholz, Steffen Weigold and Italian cyclocrosser Frederico Morini, however Norwegian Svein Gaute Holestol is retiring and Sven Teutenberg is leaving to Festina.

No renewal for Vermaut & Jonker

Next season, US Postal will not be renewing the contracts of Patrick Jonker and Stive Vermaut. The latter will talk to Lotto later this week about a future deal with the Belgian team, but Jonker's moves are as yet unknown. Both riders have spent just one year at US Postal.

The American team will gain the services of Australian Matthew White, who currently rides for Vini Caldirola. White, a member of the Australian Olympic team, is known for his domestique efforts and had several good performances in the early season classics this year.

Superprestige controversy

The organisers of the cyclocross Superprestige series are defintely not happy about having nine races this year, as opposed to 12 last season. In protest they cancelled the SP in Wetzikon (Swi) after they had already cancelled races in Heerlen, Surhuisterveen (Ned) and Silvelle (Ita).

The Dutch KNWU, the organisers and 9 riders sent a protest letter to the UCI. Jantienus Warners (SP in Gielen, Ned) said UCI chairman Hein Verbruggen and former cyclocrosser Adri van der Poel are the wrongdoers behind this "redevelopment."

They are particularly angry about a quote from Verbruggen, who said "the Superprestige is an illegal circuit, it doesn't exist for me." Additionally, Van der Poel was selected as a member of a special UCI committee to represent the riders.

Warners says that "there is a controversy between Van der Poel and the riders. Nine riders have writtern a letter explaining that it wasn't necessary to shorten the Superprestige races. Meanwhile, Van der Poel says that it is necessary."

Adri van der Poel has a different opinion: "I love cyclocross. The UCI don't pay me, but I sent an questionnaire in March to the riders, and three of the four riders preferred six to eight SP races. Richard Groenendaal was the only rider who wanted 10 races. The other three, Nijs, Wellens and Declercq, wanted six to eight SP's."

Groenendaal commented that "it wasn't a clear questionnaire. There were more open questions, like 'What do you think about the SP?' If the riders had known that the UCI would use this to reduce the races, some of them would have thought twice about answering the open questions."

Van der Poel added that "the UCI is not killing the SP. The reason races have to disappear was that riders said there were too many races."

Melbourne to Warrnambool

One of Australia's few UCI ranked one day road races is the 1.5 Melbourne to Warrnambool, on September 9 this year. "The Warny" as it is known is one of the toughest events in Australia, with a race distance of 270 kilometres and very windy. At the moment, the race has 120 entries, but the closing date for the race has been extended to 12 noon, August 31. Please contact CycleSport Victoria if you wish to enter.

There is significant prizemoney for all grades, time medallions for all finishers and full spare wheels support for the duration of the race. Live radio coverage will be provided by 3YB, and The Standard newspaper will be producing a special Melbourne to Warrnambool pull out.