News for December 1, 2000UCI Road RankingsBy Jeff Jones The final UCI rankings for the year have been released by cycling's governing body, after the various forays into Australia, Burkina Faso and Japan this month. Following his win in the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic, Mroz rider, Dariusz Wojciechowski moved from 342nd to 228th, while Scott Suckling (2nd overall) leapt from nowhere to 601st position. 3rd placed Gregorz Wajs climbed from 649th to 291st. As a result of the Burkina Faso tour, overall winner Mikhayl Khalilov (Selle Italia) leapt from 1449th to 621st on the UCI rankings, while his team-mate (and second overall) Dimitri Pavi Degl'innocenti moved into 669th spot. Best Burkinese, Hamado Pafadam, actually lost 70 places (dropping from 1191st to 1262nd), as he placed sixth in the 1999 event. While all this activity was going on underneath, the riders at the top experienced no ripples whatsoever, as most had finished their seasons after the World's. Francesco Casagrande remained number one, from World Cup champion Erik Zabel and World Road Champion Romans Vainsteins. Tour de France winner, Lance Armstrong finished in fourth, in front of future team-mate and winner of the Vuelta, Roberto Heras. Olympic road race winner, and second place getter in the Tour, Jan Ullrich, ended as 6th. Team Mapei-Quick Step easily held their number one ranking at the close of the year, despite briefly losing it to Telekom at one stage. The consistent Italian Fassa Bortolo team were a couple of thousand points behind in third, just in front of Lampre-Daikin and Kelme-Costa Blanca. In division II, the winner was Euskaltel-Euskadi, who earned automatic division I status for 2001. They beat Credit Agricole who it seems will remain in division II for another year. Finally, in division III it seems that success is not a guarantee of continuation, as first and second place getters, Shaklee and Bosch-Kärnten will no longer exist next year. Rankings, 30/11/2000 Individuals 1 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 2,467.00 pts 2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 2,181.00 3 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 2,099.00 4 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 1,895.00 5 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1,767.00 6 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1,671.75 7 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 1,612.00 8 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) O.N.C.E.-Deutsche Bank 1,493.75 9 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 1,457.00 10 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,437.00 11 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 1,323.00 12 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 1,266.00 13 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1,211.00 14 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno-Albacom 1,192.00 15 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,175.35 16 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1,128.00 17 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 1,127.00 18 Abraham Olano Manzano (Spa) O.N.C.E.-Deutsche Bank 1,074.75 19 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mapei-Quick Step 977.00 20 Axel Merckx (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 938.00 Div. I 1 Mapei-Quick Step 9,727.25 pts 2 Team Deutsche Telekom 8,271.25 3 Fassa Bortolo 6,570.00 4 Lampre-Daikin 6,441.00 5 Kelme-Costa Blanca 6,402.00 6 Rabobank 5,808.75 7 Vini Caldirola-Sidermec 5,764.00 8 O.N.C.E.-Deutsche Bank 5,716.75 9 Banesto 5,167.00 10 Festina 4,237.00 Div. II 1 Euskaltel-Euskadi 3,306.00 pts 2 Credit Agricole 2,924.00 3 Cantina Tollo 2,239.00 4 Jean Delatour 1,894.00 5 Bonjour 1,804.00 Div. III 1 Team Shaklee 482.00 pts 2 Bosch Hausgeräte-Sport Kärnten 379.00 3 PSK Unit Expert 377.00 4 Stabil Steiermark 197.00 5 Kia-Villiger Suisse 188.00 Nations 1 Italy 12,887.75 pts 2 Spain 9,533.75 3 Germany 8,222.75 4 Belgium 7,571.50 5 France 6,753.25 Giro 2002More information regarding how the Giro d'Italia was brought to the Netherlands (start in Groningen) in 2002 has come to light. The instigator of the move is Dick Heuvelman, who is a journalist with the local daily "Het Nieuwsblad van het Noorden." He started discussions with the Giro in 1997. He gave four principal reasons for starting in Groningen:
There will be no prologue in the Giro 2002, as the first stage (3 laps of 60 km) is through the provinces of Groningen and Drenthe. Stage 2 goes from Groningen to Münster in Germany and Stage 3 goes from Münster to Belgium. After this stage, the parcours is straight on to Italy. "Groningen becomes pink," promises journalist Heuvelman. Groningen-Münster The second edition of Groningen-Münster (Sept. 6, 2001) has received an upgrading from the UCI to 1.4. This race will be identical to stage 2 in the Giro 2002. But no Rabobank... Erik Dekker was guest in a forum at the so called Sportcafé in Roden (Groningen/Netherlands). He said that the Rabobank team will not start in the Giro d'Italia 2001, and it isn't even sure that the Rabobank team will start in the Giro 2002, with its start in the Netherlands. "The Giro is a heavy mortgage for the rest of the season. We did it in 2000 with a group of young riders. That was a perfect experience for the young ones, but afterwards they weren't valuable in other races for two months." Personally, Erik Dekker would like to start in Groningen. "But I guess that only the fact that the Giro 2002 starts in Groningen is the reason for starting. In any case you will get problems with priorities for the rest of the season," he said. "But maybe Rabobank will make the choice for the Giro 2002 because of the publicity." Volta a Catalunya to AndorraAndorra will host the last stage of the 'Hors Categorie' stage race, Volta a Catalunya (June 21-28, 2001). On June 27, the stage will finish in Cortals de Encamp, and on the following day there will be a mountain time trial that finishes at the Ski Station of Rabassa in Sant Juliá de Lória. Andorra still hasn't secured a Vuelta a España stage in 2001, but this is expected to be known by December 12. They wish to host a stage finish, a rest day, and a mountain TT possibly finishing in Coma d'Arcalís. Nacht van ValkenburgDe Nacht van Valkenburg (the Night of Valkenburg) is back on the calendar in 2001. This race for professionals had some big names as winners in the past: Eddy Merckx, Francesco Moser, Jan Raas. The last one, in 1981, was won by Leo van Vliet, the present director of the Amstel Gold Race. More MoserBy Jeff Jones The three way battle for the Italian FCI presidency is likely to be dominated by two men, the existing president Gian Carlo Ceruti, and his challenger Francesco Moser. The highly charismatic Moser is hoping to convince the councilmen of the federation that he is the man for the job, using the enthusiasm of the public as a base to build momentum in his campaign. He has also the support of several of his cycling friends, such as Gimondi, Adorni, and Baldini. "Evidently, they [the public] want a former cyclist to be the head of the Federation," he said after he announced his candidature. He intends on running on a 'back to grass roots' platform, appealing to the younger riders in particular. "We want to bring back a new spirit into the clubs and a new need to search for the champion. In essence, it gives more satisfaction to discover a young person who can win a race than to buy them from goodness knows where," he said. That will be the focus of his campaign, as well as the standard "we need to find a solution for the doping problem". There is increasing awareness in Italy of this, with the latest development being the anti-doping law that was passed in parliament. Now it is possible for be imprisoned for three years if a sportsman is caught doping, whereas before there was no such 'direct' law in place. Problems with Dutch women's cyclingThe daily, Het Parool published an article about the problems in women's cycling in the Netherlands. It seems that the main reason that Jean-Paul van Poppel didn't stay with the KNWU as national coach of the women, was his relationship with Mirjam Melchers. Van Poppel has now signed with an Italian team, and Mirjam Melchers did the same. Three years ago, Jean-Paul van Poppel and Ingrid Haringa started as national women's coaches, but Haringa left within just one year, after she started a relationship with one of the riders. KNWU director Peter Nieuwenhuis said that, "Wherever people are, there are sympathies and feelings. Sometimes things go in the way they go. But with Van Poppel the situation wasn't workable any more." Leontien Zijlaard-van Moorsel commented about the team in Sydney, "Jean-Paul only had his eyes focused on Mirjam. No problem for me, because I had my own coach and husband (Michael Zijlaard) with me always. But Chantal Beltman was the victim, she had to do everything on her own." USA Cycling gets new COOUS national governing body USA Cycling has announced the appointment of Dr Stephen C Johnson as its new Chief Operating Officer. Johnson began working with USA Cycling in 1998 in a consulting role as the director of Project Triad, a program that consolidated athlete development and other sport services. He joined the organization full time in July 2000 as the director of the USA Cycling Development Foundation, an organization established to raise money for athlete development programs. Johnson's appointment comes after a nine month period of re-evaluation of its core mission at USA Cycling. "As a result of that process, we have emerged with a renewed commitment to international excellence, our bicycle racing community and the growth of competitive cycling in this great country," Johnson said. Johnson's previous national governing body experience includes director of sports science for the US Ski and Snowboard Association and membership of the FIS (international skiing federation) Medical Committee. He is a cyclist at heart, though, and was US cycling Federation Masters Athlete of the Year for 1989. Thorsten Rund signs for Team CoastZülle's team starts training Monday The final addition to the revamped German-based professional team Coast - led by Alex Zülle and Fernando Escartin - is neo-pro Thorsten Rund, who signed with the team on Thursday. The 22 members of Team Coast assembled for the first time this weekend in good spirits, despite the November weather, in Germany's Ruhr district. The mixed nationality team, comprising Germans, Swiss, Danes and Spaniards, soon arrived at a working mixture of German, French and Italian, with the Spanish contingent around Fernando Escartin appointing Mauro Gianetti as their interpreter. The team's new Colnago C40 bikes met with approval, but the team strip is not yet ready, so for the moment the riders are clad in their current team jerseys. Team Coast travels to Italy this weekend for three weeks of training, then on to Mexico. Sevilla signsKelme's Oscar Sevilla has signed for another three years with Kelme-Costa Blanca, after finally reaching an agreement with the team. Earlier, he had threatened to make use of "Decree 1.006" in order to break his contract and perhaps depart to Banesto. Money was a problem, as Kelme have a comparatively lower budget than other first division teams, making it tough to retain riders when they start earning UCI points. Sevilla will be the main leader of the team now that Escartin, Heras and Rubiera have left, and will have the complete support of the team for his program. His three year contract is worth roughly 200 million pesetas ($US 500,000). Lebreton extendsLylian Lebreton has extend his contract with Big Mat-Auber 93 for another year. It was thought that former Francaise des Jeux rider (and now with Big Mat), Stéphane Heulot wished to have his friend by his side in the team. Capiot's new role
With no job in Farm Frites any more, former Belgian Classics specialist, Johan Capiot (80 career victories) has accepted a job as an assistant team manager in BankGiroLoterij-Batavus next year. Streb to SunRace?US downhiller Marla Streb, noted for very tastefully nuding up in Outside magazine earlier this year, is rumoured to have signed for Taiwanese derailleur manufacture SunRace, according to Stikman. Also linked to the squad are Australians Tai-Lee Muxlow and John Waddell. New Swiss Elite Amateur TeamGS Atzmaennig-Bianchi-Fiat is a new elite amateur team, managed by Marco Wyser, with Ernst Meier as directeur sportif. The team consists of seven elite amateurs and four espoir riders: Elite team: Giuseppe Atzeni (Siebnen), Roman Burkhard (Zug), Patrick Dubacher (Wilen), Thomas Kupper (Steinhausen), Yves Portmann (Ipsach), Marcel Spichiger (Thun), Christian Wasmer (Teningen/De). Espoir team: Thomas Atzeni (Siebnen), Reto Gmünder (Gossau), Antonio Milano (Staufen), Alain Rothen (Blumenstein). Courtesy of Swiss Velopages
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