News for February 24, 2000

Pantani in trouble

Marco Pantani has barely made his comeback into the peloton when suspicions of doping are once again raised. The public prosecutor of the Trentino district said in his report on Wednesday that he believed that "The Pirate" had taken "forbidden" medicine before the end of the Giro in 1999.

The prosecutor's medical experts, professors Vittorio Rizzoli of Parma and Giovanni Menioli of Geneva have independently come to the conclusion that the high haematocrit level of Marco Pantani in the Giro 1999 could not be natural. The only "non-supernatural explanation" is the taking of some kind of medicine. Their analysis takes into account several hematological parameters, not just hematocrit, and is based on the system developed by Frenchman, Dr. Gerard Dine. The CONI anti-drug commission would like to ban Italian athletes from competing for their country if two out of a possible eight parameters are "abnormal".

Somewhat ironically, the public prosecutor of Corte dei Conti in Italy has opened a case against two citizens of Torino for causing the accident in which Marco Pantani was severely inured during Milan-Torino in 1995. Francesco Secchiari and Davide Dall'Olio were injured in the accident, which led to Pantani's hospitalisation and subsequent blood test.

Peace Race 2000

The route of the 53rd edition of the Peace Race held between May 5-12 has been revealed. The 10 stage, 2.4 category race will start in Hannover, Germany, and travel across the country into Poland, finishing in Prague in the Czech Republic on May 13.

The first stage in Hannover is a large three lap circuit race of 177 km, held at the same time as the "World Expo 2000". The second stage will be quite hard, containing three major climbs starting from Wolfsburg castle in Germany. After a relatively flat stage 3, stage 4 is held on the same day, comprising a 37 km individual time trial finishing in Leipzig.

The race is transferred into Reisa, Poland the following day, and will follow a fairly undulating route for the next few stages. The King stage will be on May 11 - 230 km from Trutnov to Usti nad Labern in the Czech Republic, with a total of nine climbs. The finale two days later will be once again held in Prague on May 13. The race has finished in this city since 1991.

The Stages:

Stage 1 - May 5: Hannover circuit, 177 km 
Stage 2 - May 6: Wolfsburg - Wernigerode, 166.8 km 
Stage 3 - May 7: Wernigerode-Halle, 118.2 km 
Stage 4 - May 7: Halle-Leipzig, EZF 37.2 km 
Stage 5 - May 8: Riesa-Zgorelec (Pol), 169.6 km 
Stage 6 - May 9: Luban-Kudowa Zdroj, 191.4 km 
Stage 7 - May 10: Klodzko-Kudowa Zdroj, 178.7 km 
Stage 8 - May 11: Trutnov-Usti nad Labern (Cze), 230.7 km 
Stage 9 - May 12: Most-Karlovy Vary, 168.3 km 
Stage 10 - May 13: Karlovy Vary-Prague, 169.5 km 

GP di Chiasso

On Saturday the fifth edition of Gran Premio DI Chiasso (Cat 1.4) will be held in this Swiss town at the Italian border. Among the starters are Francesco Casagrande with Donati, Conti, Zucconi, Borghi, Zanetti, White and Gianetti on the team. Other riders: Davide Rebellin (Liquigas), Giuliano Figueras (Mapei), Leonardo Giordani (Fassa Bortolo), Pascal Richard and Max Sciandri (both Linda McCartney).

Watt aims for qualification

Australian Olympic aspirant, Kathy Watt is in Perth at the moment gearing up for an attempt at the Olympic qualifying time set for the 3,000 m individual pursuit. The first time to beat is 3:38 in order to gain selection for the Olympic training squad, and she would have to go 0.2 seconds under her personal best to make this.

She told AAP that "It would be really good if I could manage it. It depends on the conditions. But training's been going really well," said Watt, who will make the attempt on Friday night at the Midvale Speed Dome. If she is selected for the team, the next hurdle to overcome will be the 3:35 mark set for the final squad. This time may be considered somewhat harsh - only one rider (Marion Clignet) has ridden under it in the past two years using a "conventional" position. Watt's coach, Carey Hall said that it would be "very difficult...in athletics terms it'd be a bit like Matt Shirvington having to run 9.8 (seconds) in the 100 metres when no Australian guy has ever broken 10 - it's pretty hard."

However, cyclingnews spoke to Graham Fredericks of Cycling Australia in order to clarify: "The 3:35 is the time set for final Olympic selection, but this is not the only criteria. If no-one rides under this time before the date set, then we will select the next best rider," he said. Full details of the selection criteria are available from their website .

Watt also has road aspirations, and will take part in the National Time Trial Championships on March 18 in Melbourne.

Hill back on board

After leaving the AIS program in 1998, Australian track sprinter, Darryn Hill has been reinstated according to AAP. Following the World Championships last October, Hill met with head coach Charlie Walsh and sprint coach Gary West to resolve their dispute.

"I'm happy with it, they're happy with it, we've sat down and had quite a few meetings ... we seem to have sorted everything out," he said. "Everybody's here for the same thing, to do well at the Olympics and nobody wants to do so many years to not go well this year."

Although he will forgo next month's Nationals for the keirin circuit in Japan, he believes that this will help him prepare as it did in 1995 when he won the World Sprint Championship. Hill is now training with Gary Neiwand, Danny Day, Jobie Dajka, Ben Kersten, Kane Selin, Michelle Ferris and Lyndelle Higginson in Adelaide at an AIS training camp, and the group will compete in the Qantas Cup on Saturday.

Nothstein returns

Courtesy of R. Eric Hall

Triple World Champion and 1996 Olympic Silver Medalist, Marty Nothstein, has come back to his New Tripoli home from a two-week training camp in Charleston, South Carolina. The camp marked the start of his Olympic preparation for the year, and the speedster reported that it was a "productive training camp with great training, good weather, and no distractions."

His coach, Gil Hatton believes he is in good shape for this time of year, as evidenced by results of strength tests at the local university. He will remain at home for three weeks before going to Barbados for some international competition.

Gotti case delayed until march

The CONI anti-drug commission has given more time to Giro 1999 winner, Ivan Gotti, to submit evidence that he did not take drugs to raise his hematocrit. Prosecutor Aiello has allowed Gotti until March 6 in which to do so, and has given the four other cyclists (Gianni Faresin, Gianluca Bortolami, Alessandro Bertolini and Giorgio Furlan) a similar deadline to submit any documents to support their case. The next audience with the cyclists is scheduled for March 8.

Festina case put off

More lawsuits - the Festina court case in Lille, France will not resume until mid-October this year, according to Gerald Vinsonneau, the prosecutor's assistant. Vinsonneau told Reuters that "We do not wish to interfere with cycle races that run until the beginning of October. Also, it should be realised that the study of the file is longer than we first envisaged," he said.

This means that Richard Virenque, who has been put under examination by the French prosecutor for "involvement in the facilitation of others use of doping substances," will be able to race this season without hindrance from the courts. The case has a total of 11 people who are under investigation, including Bruno Roussel, Willy Voët and the Italian Rodolpho Massi.

Pescara wants the World's

The Italian town of Pescara is now an official candidate for the 2005 road World Championships. Pescara is situated on the Adriatic coast, approximately opposite Rome on the other side of the Italian "boot". The town each year hosts the Trofeo Matteotti.