News for December 9, 2000Bartoli awardedMichele Bartoli was officially awarded the first "Gino Bartali Prize" today in Montecatini, Pistoia. The prize was given by Bartali's son, Andrea after he was voted the best "international" rider from a reader poll in an Italian magazine, "Tuttobici". Behind him placed Massimo Podenzana and Paolo Bettini, with honourable mention going to Andrea Tafi and world road champion, Zinaida Stahurskaia of Belorussia. If you would like to vote in cyclingnews.com's Gobsmackingly Brilliant rides/performances of 2000, then please drop us a line in the next week or so. The votes will be tallied up according to Florida ballot box standards, and the winner will be announced in the week leading up to Christmas, along with cyclingnews' staff 'picks of 2000'.
Domo-Farm Frites in trainingDomo-Farm Frites is currently in Mallorca for off-season training, but without Mario de Clercq who is busy with cyclo-cross and Robbie McEwen who has permission to train in Australia. The team is also without manager Patrick Lefevere who is recovering from an operation. The team has two more sessions in Mallorca planned this winter: January 6-13 and 20-27. Team spokesperson for Domo-Farm Frites, Rik Vanwalleghem, commented on Johan Museeuw's potential to come back to his best. "He recently passed a physical fitness test conducted by professor Hespel in Leuven," said Vanwalleghem. Museeuw came back from a terrible crash in Paris-Roubaix in 1998 to win the race again in 2000. However, a motorbike accident in August spelled the end of his 2000 season, but he is now able to train properly. "Museeuw has been training without any problems with the group," said Vanwalleghem in Mallorca. On Friday (today), they did some hill training, before having a meeting on the weekend with team leaders, Marc Sergeant and Hendrik Redant, where the riders will discuss their programs for next year.
Petrov's futureDual Russian U23 World Champion, Evgeni Petrov, is about to embark on a new career with Mapei-Quick Step as the leader of its U23 development squad. Currently at home in Russia, Petrov will return to Italy in two days for a training camp. There, he will meet the cream of the world's espoirs, who have been signed by Mapei with a secure eye on the future. Fabian Cancellara, Giampaolo Cheula, Bernhard Eisel, Graziano Gasparre, Michael Rogers, Patrick Sinkewitz and Pavel Zerzan are all new signings with great potential, not the least being Petrov. The past few weeks has seen him concentrate on his studies and exams at the Academy of Omsk, where he still needs another year in order to graduate. To keep fit, he has played soccer, swam and run. There has not been much cycling for Petrov in the 25 degrees below zero temperatures. Petrov has had an impressive last two seasons in the espoir ranks, gaining a bronze medal at the World's TT in Verona last year, winning two gold medals this year in Plouay, as well as the Russian and European championship time trials. Who could forget his 14th place at the elite time trial at the Sydney Olympics behind his compatriot Viatcheslav Ekimov? Of course, the step up into the elite ranks will be tough, and usually takes at least two years for most promising neo-pro's to adapt. The average speeds might be lower than a typical U23 race in Tuscany, but the distances are much greater and there tends to be lot of action in the last couple of hours. But Petrov has an excellent pedigree - he held off the world's best in Plouay for the last 30 kilometres of the 170 kilometre race, at an average speed of over 46 km/h. He beat the Vellutex duo of Yaroslav Popovych and Lorenzo Bernucci, riders who he is quite familiar with from racing in Italy for the San Pellegrino club. The latter will be sorry to see him go of course, as he has netted them 11 victories during his time there. However, an offer from Mapei is hard to turn down.
Tour of Germany route announcedWill Ullrich start? The 2001 Tour of Germany will kick off in Hamburg on May 29 and end 1,236 km later on Stuttgart on June 4. There will be stage finishes in Hannover, Goslar, Erfurt, Bad Neustadt/Saale, Mannheim, Heppenheim, Weinheim, Offenburg, Freudenstadt in the Schwarzwald and finally Stuttgart. Manfred Boehmer, president of the German Cycling Federation, said it was an interesting route that made its way from north to south and so presented the entire country. It's currently not known whether German Telekom star Jan Ullrich will take part as the Tour of Germany clashes with the Giro d'Italia (May 19 to June 10). Boehmer says Telekom will probably split its team in two and race both events: "The only question is: Where will the top man start?" he added. The Tour of Germany features one seriously hilly section, the penultimate Offenburg to Freudenstadt stage, but it may be that Ullrich and Telekom will see the greater length and bigger mountains of the Italian tour as better preparation for Ullrich's main aim of the year, "Project Yellow Jersey". On the other hand, the sheer length and severity of the Giro can be a hindrance - the record books are littered with riders who have included the Giro "for preparation" only to exhaust themselves for the Tour. The Coast team has confirmed it will bring Zulle and Escartin to the German race, and for German division II teams Nuernberger, Gerolsteiner and Cologne this is a season highlight anyway. They will be hoping Telekom brings Ullrich - the reduced chance of a win by a division II team in the presence of a full-strength Telekom is more than compensated by increased media interest. Tour of Germany 2001 Map
Route Stage 1 - May 29: Hamburg - Hannover 2002 Tour de France to start in Luxembourg?Tour de France boss Jean-Marie Leblanc was recently in Luxembourg making final arrangements for the opening of the 2002 Tour. An official announcement is planned for January 18. The Tour last started in the European mini-country (population 415,000) that nestles between France, Germany and Belgium in 1989. Lemond confirmsAccording to Belgian teletekst and Dutch newsagency, ANP, Greg Lemond has confirmed he will be the new head manager of the Mercury team, after raising the funding to launch a brand new team of his own proved impossible. Alain Gallopin (ex-Cofidis) will be a team manager and Johan Lammerts will be media contact. This raises questions as to John Wordin's role in the team next year, however a formal statement is expected sometime next week, after the team has been registered with the UCI for next season. Peter van Petegem will make a public statement about his future on Monday - he is still waiting for a decision on his contract with Farm Frites.
Kupfernagel may go to Farm FritesHanka Kupfernagel (26) will probably join the Farm Frites team of Leontien van Moorsel, although she is also talking with the US Saturn-Timex team. Kupfernagel has split with her husband/trainer/manager Torsten Wittig. There were already some problems between the two, and Wittig gave an interview in which he said his wife was angry and disloyal. Kupfernagel's new manager/advisor is Wolfgang Strohband who also manages Jan Ullrich. Jeanson's new teamYoung Canadian star, Geneviève Jeanson, will have a new team built around her in 2001. RONA, one of Canada's top distributors and retailers of hardware products, home renovation, building materials and gardening supplies, provided assistance to Jeanson to fund her Olympic campaign this year. However, they have expanded their sponsorship to support a six woman team that will contest all the major races in North America in 2001. The team fills the gap created by the defunct Elita team, and will be directed by André Aubut, Jeanson's current coach. Aubut is "very confident that the team will achieve great heights in the very first year." In addition to Jeanson, the team roster contains Amy Jarvis, Manon Jutras, Raphaële Lemieux, Melanie McQuaid, and Mélanie Nadeau. However, these riders will only contest domestic races with Jeanson. For any international events, Geneviève will ride with the national squad. North American calendar March 13-18: Redlands Bicycle Classic The RONA team will be co-sponsored by Groupe LGS Inc, ScotiaMcLeod, Honda Canada, Colnago, Cycles Lambert, Michelin, Mavic and the Club Médico Sportif. Polish teams updateDaniel Marszalek writes in from Poland with the latest information about the Polish professional teams for 2001. Atlas Lukullus Ambra Wojciech Pawlak *There could be two or three more foreigners. Piotr Przydzial *There should be approximately 17 riders in total. Zbigniew Piatek *Unsure of Dariusz Wojciechowksi's future team, presumably he will
stay. Robert Koj *G. Mrozinski out to Konin (track future), on the other hand there
is the possible signing of Ukrainian Wiktor Klimienko - former World's
silver medalist in 4km team pursuit. Grzegorz Krejner (1km track) * The future of the team's most talented young rider, Zbigniew Wyrzykowski (20) should be known in the next few days. Van den Abeele's aimsBelgian mountain biker and cyclo-crosser, Peter Van den Abeele (34) ends his racing career at the end of this month, but moves straight from racing to management as the head of a new cyclocross team with Kipcho Volckaerts and Arne Daelmans. From the beginning of 2002, Roel Paulissen will be the team's main rider, with Filip Meirhaeghe scheduled to join in 2003.
Killen seeking dealCross-country MTBer Jimi Killen, who rode for Schwinn in 2000, is still without a deal for 2001, according to Stikman. The recently-married Killen just returned from honeymooning in Jamaica and is believed to be still in discussions with Schwinn. Courtesy of www.stiksandstones.com |
