News for December 18, 2000

Beloki to Banesto?

Despite earlier reports that he had been instructed by the UCI to remain with Festina for a year, Joseba Beloki has been reported by Spanish TVE to have signed a three year contract with Banesto. If the report is true this will make Beloki very much the strong man of the 2001 Banesto line-up.

In an interview with a Spanish newspaper last week, Beloki said," When I explain the reasons why I want to leave Festina, everyone will understand, but I cannot say anything at the moment." Beloki reiterated that his main aim was to better his third-place 2000 Tour de France performance and to perform well in the Vuelta.

Hey Big Spender

Mapei is no longer the most expensive team of the world. Next season the "Hey Big Spender" Award for the deepest pockets in the pro peloton goes to the German team Telekom. Mapei ownerm Giorgio Squinzi will invest 9,500,000 Euro in his team next season; but Telekom goes from 9,000,000 to 10,900,000 Euro.

Telekom invested more because they want to start in all the three big tours, the Giro, Tour de France and Vuelta and have contracted 25 instead of 22 riders this year. Mapei has 40 riders under contract but will maintain their budget below Telekom.

The two teams have the highest budgets in cycling. By contrast, Rabobank has a budget of 4,500,000 Euro. The longest-running principal sponsor is Spanish team Kelme, which has now been going for 20 years. Lotto, ONCE and Festina are also 'older' teams.

Another long-running sponsor, Polti, has just ended its involvement with cycling after 15 years, 7 as principal sponsor. Franco Polti ended his involvement because he is disappointed in the professional cycling world, specially what he called the "mafia practices" of the organizers of the three big tours. "And I was too naïve. I believed Richard Virenque when he told me he never used forbidden stuff..."

Tour Féminin 2001

The women's Tour de France, "La Grande Boucle Féminin" will take place from August 5-19 next year, being approximately 1500 kilometres in length. An approximate route has been worked out, and it is likely that the race will start in Bilbao, Spain, and finish in Paris.

Other features of the race include a Pyreneean crossing, one or two days after the start, and at least one Alpine stage. The penultimate stage will finish in Grenoble, followed by a transfer to Paris for the last stage that will finish in the Bastille quarter.

Fassa Bortolo gathers

The number three ranked team in the world at the end of the 2000 season was Giancarlo Ferretti's Fassa Bortolo team, impressing many with its steady, consistent progress throughout the year. It was a brand new team with some good riders: Wladimir Belli, Dimitri Konyshev, Alessandro Petacchi, and Raimondas Rumsas, all of whom performed well.

Next year, the team will start as one of the strongest in the peloton, after they signed world number one Francesco Casagrande. In addition, Ivan Basso and Oscar Pozzi (Amica Chips), Filippo Casagrande (Vini Caldirola), Serguei Ivanov (Farm Frites), and Kim Kirchen (neo pro) will further enhance the team.

From December 18-20 at Pieve di Cento (near Bologna), the team will meet for the first time for UCI medical tests, and preparation and distribution of material. Next year, from January 10-19, there will be a training camp in Tuscany, at Marina di Bibbona (near Livorno) for specific preparation for the season. The team's final training camp will be from February 3-11, also at Marina di Bibbona, which will be the last group training before the start of the 2001 season.

Cantina Tollo adds

The Italian Cantina-Tollo team have returned from their six day training camp in Civitanova Marche (December 11-16) with an extra team member. Federico Colonna has confirmed his signature with the Abruzzese team, as well as neo-pro, Cesare Di Cintio. Emanuele Negrini has also extended his contract with the team.

Italian women's team signings

As anticipated in November, World Champion Zinaida Stahurskaia will leave Michela Fanini for the GAS Sport Team. The latest arrivals in the team are Silvia Parietti and Tania Belvederesi, but GAS next season will lose Fabiana Luperini (moved to Edil Savino) and Valeria Cappellotto.

Cappellotto, who was the 1999 Italian Champion, has decided to retire from competition. The same decision is being made by the 1998 "Tricolore", Lucia Pizzolotto who at the age of 40 will end her 25 year cycling career.

The "unbeatable" team of Alfa Lum has been joined during this winter by Tatiana Stjaikina (formerly Acca Due O) and as well as the Individual Time Trial World Champion, Mari Holden. However, within Giorgio Zauli's squad, there are some doubts about whether Luisa Tamanini will remain. Tamanini is considered to be one of the best Italian U22 riders, but has not yet decided on her future.

As previously reported, former Dutch champion sprinter, Jean Paul Van Poppel, will be the new coach of the Acca Due O squad. Joining him at the court of Favretto are Miriam Melchers and Sonja Aerts from the Netherlands, with other new entries Swiss Priska Doppmann, Vera Carrara (2nd in European Championships) and the sprinter Giovanna Troldi.

Edil Savino (Luperini, Boubnenkova and Polkanova) has been reinforced with Anna Farina and the Swiss champion, Nicole Brandli.

Courtesy of Alessandro Gretter

No more RAI Derny Race

A unique event on the UCI calendar will cease to exist in 2001, according to the organisers of the RAI Derny Race in the Netherlands. The race was in its 10th year in 2000, but will not go ahead due to difficulties in attracting good riders. The race is given a "1.S" (Special Class) rating by the UCI, but has not carried any UCI points for the past two years. As points are like gold to many riders, the organisers felt that they could not guarantee a high quality field and called the race off.

Corrections

Mapei denies discussion with Virenque

According to Dr Aldo Sassi of the Mapei team, there were never any discussions between the team and Richard Virenque or his agent Eric Boyer. In an email, Sassi told cyclingnews.com, "the only persons of our team authorized in managing agreements with new riders or their agents, are our main sponsor Dr Giorgio Squinzi, our Team Manager Dr Alvaro Crespi and myself. None of us spoke to Richard Virenque or his agent this year."

BLM and Forest Service

Since our item last week on the possible change of the Bureau of Land Management's policy on mountain bikes, several readers have written to point out that the BLM and US Forest Service are separate organisations and that the statement we slavishly accepted from a press release, that the BLM is effectively the Forest Services landlord, was incorrect. We apologise for any confusion this may have caused.