News for February 29, 2000Spanish Cyclist Killed
Spanish cyclist Saul Morales, a member of the Fuenlabrada team, was killed during today's seventh stage of the Tour of Argentina after being involved in a collision with a truck, according to the Telam news agency. The accident happened in the western province of San Juan. Morales was pronounced dead in hospital after suffering a double cardiac arrest. The stage was immediately halted following the accident. With the tour set to go until March 5, it is not known yet whether the organisers will go ahead with it. For the Fuenlabrada team, it is the third such tragedy, after 22 year old Manuel Sanroma died last June in the Tour of Catalonia, and Jose Antonio Espinosa died in 1996. The team management cannot believe their luck, and they have indicated that they will not start the Tour of Murcia on Wednesday. This is the 18th time that a cyclist has died whilst competing in a professional bicycle race. Saul Morales Born: June 3, 1973 - Leganes / Madrid, Spain Teams: Wins:
The veterans prevailThe wins of Johan Museeuw (34) and Andrei Tchmil (37) in the two Belgian openers on the weekend demonstrated (again) that cycling is not just a young person's sport, and you are "over the hill", so to speak when you are 25. Remember Duclos-Lassalle's Paris-Roubaix victories and Zoetemelk's world championships? With age of course comes experience, but a rider still has to be able to ride off the front at 50-55 km/h at the end of 200 km of hard racing (or more in the classics). Museeuw and Tchmil proved that clearly on the weekend, while the younger Frank Vandenbroucke blew himself and his team earlier on in the races. Undoubtedly, VDB will have his moment(s) in the sun this year, but he will be pressed to beat the older guys in the hard races of the north. For Museeuw, the victory must be particularly sweet, as he had to come back after a terrible fall in the 1998 Paris-Roubaix. To restart an athletic career after a serious injury is much harder when you are older, as your body has that annoying catabolic tendency. To stop training can be quite detrimental, but Museeuw is a very strong rider. Andrei Tchmil, who won the World Cup last year, as well as Milan-San Remo is always dangerous in the one-dayers: "You see, the age is just experience to me. Never say that a rider is old". However, as far as Tours are concerned, a rider is better off in their mid to late twenties, as recovery tends to play a bigger role. Small tactical errors are "allowable" in a major Tour, provided that they can be made up in later stages. However, in a one day race, everything has to be right on the day, and riders cannot afford to waste energy at the wrong time, even though they must be in front for the majority of the race.
Marc Biver wants the VueltaThe director of IMG Switerland and the organiser of the Tour de Suisse, Marc Biver, has expressed interest in buying the Vuelta a España, lock stock and barrel. The 49 year-old has already had negotiations with Unipublic, the owners of the Vuelta, and is keen to own his own race. Last year, Biver, who has managed 15 professional Swiss bike riders, already negotiated sponsorship for the Tour de Suisse until 2004. However, he does not own this race and has to pay the Swiss Federation approximately SFr 1 million ($US 600,000).
Swiss riders filesThe CONI medical records of Swiss riders, Tony Rominger and Beat Zberg have been sent to Berne in Switzerland, after CONI wished the various national federations to investigate all the riders that were named in the anti-doping investigation. It is expected that the Swiss federation (SRB) will announce their analysis of the files, which contain detailed results of blood tests when the riders were working with Dr Michele Ferrari. Ferrari and Professor Conconi are the two figures under intense scrutiny by CONI, and several riders that have had contact with them in the past are involved in the current investigation. Abraham Olano and Fernando Escartin had their files passed to the Spanish federation, who did not want to take things further however. The SRB technical co-ordinator, Thomas Burch commented today that "we cannot judge at present what the documents actually contain, but will determine by the board meeting on March 9."
UCI rankings, February 27, 20001. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 2,545.75 2. Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 1,835.00 3. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Cofidis 1,717.50 4. Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 1,582.00 5. Marcus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 1,554.00 6. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 1,495.00 7. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas 1,469.00 8. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola 1,427.00 9. Jann Kirsipuu (Est) Ag2R Prevoyance 1,423.00 10. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom 1,408.00 11. Roberto Heras (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 1,373.00 12. Erik Zabel (Ger) Telekom 1,263.00 13. Abraham Olano (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 1,256.75 14. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola 1,246.00 15. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,198.00 16. Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 1,115.00 17. Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1,042.00 18. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) Farm Frites 1,023.50 19. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) Team Polti 1,018.00 20. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 1,014.00 21. Mirko Celestino (Ita) Team Polti 1,013.00 22. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 972.00 23. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco Valli&Valli 964.00 24. Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 963.00 25. Johan Museeuw (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 954.50 26. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Telekom 937.00 27. José Maria Jimenez (Spa) Banesto 934.00 27. Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno 934.00 29. Mario Cipollini (Ita) Saeco Valli&Valli 931.00 30. Tom Steels (Bel) Mapei-Quick Step 925.50 31. Alex Zülle (Swi) Banesto 921.00 32. Sergio Barbero (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 904.00 33. Marc Wauters (Bel) Rabobank 896.00 34. Angel Luis Casero (Spa) Festina 870.00 35. Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 865.00 36. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr) Liquigas 848.00 37. Fernando Escartin (Spa) Kelme-Costa Blanca 841.00 37. Giuliano Figueras (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 841.00 39. Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) Rabobank 839.00 40. Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 823.00 41. David Etxebarria (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 815.00 42. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) Saeco Valli&Valli 811.00 43. George Hincapie (USA) US Postal Service 772.00 44. Marco Serpellini (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 762.00 45. Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) Fassa Bortolo 761.00 46. Jens Voigt (Ger) Crédit Agrigole 758.50 47. Beat Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 757.00 48. Ivan Gotti (Ita) Team Polti 754.00 49. Manuel Beltran (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 749.00 50. Jean-cyril Robin (Fra) Bonjour-Tupargel 748.00 51. Marco Velo (Ita) Mercatone Uno 724.00 52. Stéphane Heulot (Fra) Française des Jeux 698.00 53. Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mapei-Quick Step 688.00 54. Lars Michaelsen (Den) Française des Jeux 687.00 55. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Banesto 668.00 56. Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) Française des Jeux 646.00 57. Leon Van Bon (Ned) Rabobank 644.00 58. Tristan Hoffman (Ned) Memorycard Jack&Jones 643.00 59. Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo 641.00 60. Andrea Tafi (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 635.00 61. Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 634.00 62. Richard Virenque (Fra) Team Polti 623.00 63. Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita) Cantina Tollo 620.00 64. Alberto Elli (Ita) Telekom 617.00 65. Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 592.00 66. Massimo Donati (Ita) Vini Caldirola 589.00 67. Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 588.00 67. Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 588.00 69. Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) Lampre-Daikin 578.00 70. François Simon (Fra) Bonjour-Tupargel 575.00 71. Mario Aerts (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 568.00 72. Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 565.00 73. Robbie McEwen (Aus) Farm Frites 556.00 74. Marc Streel (Bel) Ville de Charleroi 553.00 75. Gianni Faresin (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 549.00 76. Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa) ONCE-Deutsche Bank 547.00 77. Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mercatone Uno 526.00 78. Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Farm Frites 519.00 79. Marcel Wust (Ger) Festina 510.00 80. Jo Planckaert (Bel) Cofidis 506.50 81. Michael Blaudzun (Den) Memorycard Jack&Jones 500.00 82. Nicolay Bo Larsen (Den) Memorycard Jack&Jones 499.00 83. Lauri Aus (Est) Ag2R Prevoyance 498.00 84. Geert Verheyen (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 493.00 85. Jaio Roberto Laiseka (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 487.00 86. José Alberto Martinez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 485.00 87. Christopher Boardman (Gbr) Crédit Agrigole 483.50 88. Gilles Maignan (Fra) Ag2R Prevoyance 477.50 89. Unai Osa Eizaguirre (Spa) Banesto 477.00 90. Stuart O'Grady (Aus) Crédit Agrigole 474.00 91. Niki Aebersold (Swi) Rabobank 468.00 92. Udo Bölts (Ger) Telekom 461.00 93. Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Cantina Tollo 460.00 94. Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) 456.00 95. Salvatore Commesso (Ita) Saeco Valli&Valli 453.00 96. Niklas Axelsson (Swe) Panaria-Gaerne 452.00 96. Jonathan Vaughters (USA) Crédit Agrigole 452.00 98. Melchior Mauri (Spa) Sport Lisboa Benfica 449.00 99. Steffen Wesemann (Ger) Telekom 448.00 100. Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 447.00 Dutch hour record to be attackedWilco Zuyderwijk and Patrick Kops will attack the Dutch hour record behind the derny on April 5 in the Amsterdam Velodrome. The record is 59.608 km and 68 centimeters and it is held by Robert Slippens (Sep 9, 1998). Zuijderwijk will ride behind Bruno Walraven. If he reaches the 60 km mark, Patrick Kops will try later on that day behind Willem Fack.
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