News for December 16, 2000Jacques Goddet dies at 95One of cycling's true visionaries Tour organiser and journalist Jacquse Goddet has died at the age of 95. Born in Paris June 21 1905, Goddet was founder and owner of the French sporting newspaper l'Equipe from 1946 to 1954 and director of the Tour de France from 1947 to 1987. L'Equipe was in turn the heir to l'Auto, owned by Goddet's father and Henri Desgrange, and the paper responsible for the creation of the Tour de France in the first place. Goddet's achievements included involvement in the organisation of 44 Tours, 12 Olympic Games, and the creation of the skiing World Cup and football's European Cup. Goddet started at l'Auto in 1928 as a reporter on the Tour de France, and just eight years later he took the reigns of the Grande Boucle as interim director while Henri Desgrange was ill. In 1932 Goddet was the sole French journalist at the Los Angeles Olympics, a far cry from the enormous press corps at the modern Games. He was a frequent innovator as a sports promotoer, constantly looking for events that would help boost circulation at l'Equipe. To this end he was involved in boxing and hockey as well as owning the Paris six-day track for a while. In 1956 he sold l'Equipe to concentrate on running the Tour. During his reign as race director and in retirement, Goddet preferred to look forward rather than back and always presented visionary ideas for the development of the Tour. The status of the cycling's biggest event as one of the world's greatest sporting spectacles is in no small way down to Goddet's relentless innovation. He believed the 2003 Tour —which will mark the event's centenary — should visit significant historical sites of the twentieth century and suggested the 2010 Tour start in Moscow and the 2020 Tour in Peking. Goddet also believed passionately in a national element for the Tour and in 1982 suggested the event should be turned over to national teams every four years. "But I am not sure that it is possible," he concluded. Goddet was always a passionate fan of cycling and all sports, relishing "the unexpected and the beautiful" and modest about his achievement. "The past only matters when compared to the future," he once said. EPO problem will be solved by MarchUCI president Hein Verbruggen announced on Friday that the problem of detecting EPO will be solved by March. Saying that he did not want to go into detail — presumably so that those using EPO can't immediately start working on a way to circumvent the new system — Verbruggen said that the French method of detection of EPO via a urine test played "a significant role" in the solution to the EPO problem. "It is almost certain that in March this problem will be solved," Verbruggen said. "The French method plays a significant role in it. I do not want to get too far ahead with this because for the moment there are uncertainties about exactly what we will do, but we will solve the EPO problem for the beginning of the next season. I don't want to say any more." Merckx named Belgium's sportsman of the centuryEddy Merckx, considered by many to the be the greatest bike rider of all time, was named Belgium's sportsman of the century at a ceremony on Friday. Merckx — known as 'The Cannibal' for his aggressive style — won five Tours de France, five Giros, three world championships and countless classics and stages including 35 stages of the Tour. Julien fined for EPO smugglingFrench mountain bike racer Fabrice Julien of the Spanish Orbea team has been fined a total of 15,000 Francs by a French court for attempting to bring EPO into the country in August 1999. Julien was apprehended at the Swiss-French border with two boxes of EPO in his possession. He claimed he'd bought them at a pharmacy in Basle and in a newspaper interview at the time he said: "EPO is a temptation. If you don’t go over the threshold of 50% hematocrit when tested, you are not tested as positive. This is the official ruling. But in fact under such conditions, EPO is a temptation. If you’re not seen, you’re not caught. I am under contract with a Spanish team and it is difficult to remain a professional mountain-biker. I was not sure to keep my job." Vainsteins aims for classics, yellow jerseyThe Domo-Farm Frites team of World champion Romans Vainsteins has announced that its main objectives for the early season will be Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix. At a press conference in his home in Missglia, Italy, Vainsteins said: " Milan-San Remo is my first test in the spring, along with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix." Vainsteins will make his season debut in the Tour of Majorca before racing the Tirreno-Adriatico. Vainsteins will share the role of leader of Domo-Farm Frites with Johan Museeuw. The rainbow jersey will take a break for a month in May, before using the Four days of Dunkirk, the Tour of Germany and Tour of Catalonia as preparation for the Tour de France. "I want to wear the yellow jersey for one of the four stages in Belgium," he said. Dutch team for Tour of WellingtonA top Dutch team has been named as the first international participant in New Zealand’s premier tour. The BRC Kennemerland cycling team from the Netherlands is swooping into Wellington at the end of the month for the first time in an attempt to take the Fuji Xerox Tour of Wellington. “The Netherlands is known as one of the strongest European cycling nations and this team is highly rated. Between them, the team’s five riders have won five National titles in the last three years and many races in the Netherlands and other European countries” said Race Director Jorge Sandoval. Leading the charge is highly ranked 22 year old Braam De Waard, a member of the prestigious Rabobank team since1997. De Waard has taken part in two World Junior Championships and won 7 races in the past eight months with many other top ten places in races all over Europe. The other four members of the team are: Tino Haakman; criterium specialist Gerard Windhouwer; New Zealander Francis De Jager; and 1998 track champion Niels Eriks. Australian Karen O’Callaghan has been appointed the UCI Chief Commissaire for the event, the first women to be in charge of a national tour in New Zealand. USA Cycling's Voight elected to USOC executiveUSA Cycling Executive Director Lisa Voight was elected to the US Olympic Committee Board of Directors Executive Committee at their December Meeting in Washington, DC. Voight was one of five National Governing Body (NGB) representatives elected to the committee, which was voted on by her NGB peers. She is the only woman from an NGB on the committee, as well as the sole NGB executive director. She will serve a four-year term effective immediately. Voight joined the US Olympic community in 1985 as a USOC intern, and shortly after became a full-time staff member at the United States Cycling Federation (USCF). She was instrumental in the merger between the USCF and USA Cycling, and later the addition of the US Professional Racing Organization (USPRO) and the National Bicycle League (NBL). Voight became the first chief executive officer of USA Cycling when the organization was incorporated in 1995. Mercy Racing's 2001 rosterThe Mercy Cycling Team has announced its amateur elite team roster for the 2001 season. The team’s inaugural season produced two National Champions in Brice Jones (U23 National Champion) and Steve Cates(Elite Mens Road Race National Champion). According to Team Director Hector Mendoza “We were a little surprised to produce the kind of results that we did last year, however we knew that we had a strong young team and that with hard work anything was possible. With the returning team members we feel that we have a solid base established, and we are particularly excited to add some other high calibre cyclists, including Patrick McCarty and Derrick Wilkerson. With this year’s team we feel very confident that we can continue toward our short-term goal of gaining exposure at both the regional and national level. After last year’s accomplishments it may be necessary for us to raise the bar a little, as far as goal setting. We have scheduled a Winter Training Camp from December 16 through December 23 and will begin to get the team in shape for the upcoming season”. Steven Cate (2000 Elite Mens RR National Champion), Norman, OK
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