News for February 6, 2000
Who is Guido Trenti?The Italians have been quite successful in the Tour de Langkawi, managing to win 3 consecutive stages, as well as another one with Ivan Quaranta's stage 11 win yesterday. Guido Trenti's (Cantina Tollo) stage 9 victory followed Quaranta's double of stages 7 and 8. But wait, doesn't it say "USA" on his licence and after his name in the results? Correct, although the cyclist does not even live in the States, and doesn't speak a great deal of English. Who is this mysterious American? He told La Gazzetta dello Sport recently that "I have an American licence to have a greater chance of competing in the large races. I have been able to do this I have an American mother: She is called Cynthia and has a famous last name, Taylor. She came to Milan on vacation with her two sisters, met my father, and got married. It was a blow to her mother when she went to wait for her daughters Boston airport and saw only two leave the aeroplane." "I was born in Milan, I have lived in Trentino, but now reside in Bassano because I am married to Silvia. This is my first official victory," he said of his stage 9 win. "This result will give the morale to face with conviction the races in Belgium, which are a lot more adapted to my characteristics, and I hope to ride the Giro as well". Guido Trenti, a brief bio: Born: Milan, Italy, 1972 Major placings: 2000: Stage win, Tour de Langkawi 1999: 5th, Brabantse Pijl 1998: 6th, Trofeo Luis Puig, 7th, G.P. Pino Cerami
Gotti defends himselfThe Italian "Dr Ferrari" doping case, led by prosecutor Aiello will decide tomorrow, February 7, whether it will submit Ivan Gotti, Alexander Bertolini, George Furlan, Gianluca Bortolami and Gianni Faresin to the CONI disciplinary commission. On Friday, Gotti was interviewed regarding his relationship with Dr Ferrari, who has been placed under intense scrutiny by the prosecutor. "I have given explanations of my values. I have spoken about my health problems during the Tour of Switzerland, '98. Moreover, I have made use of a hypobaric chamber quite often, as well as altitude training," Gotti told the assembled press outside the courtroom, in explanation of his fluctuating hematocrit levels. On Dr Ferrari: "I have confidence in him - I think that he is a good coach. And also the seized files, they demonstrate that he shows scrupulous attention to detail," said Gotti. "I can only speak about how he has worked in relationship to me." Gotti is known for having to take iron supplements because of anemia, but he said that he is now well, and Ferrari has instructed him to limit the use of these. "Nobody has been alarmed," he said of his general health. A new appeal in the Luperini case is likely as well. The Italian star was suspended for 8 months (down from two years) for nandrolone recently. However, she defended herself by saying that there were no other metabolites of nandrolone in her urine test, and that she could not therefore have gained any benefit from it. The prosecutors were not happy with this, and are seeking a longer sentence. At the same hearing, several other Italian amateurs had their 2 year nandrolone suspensions handed out.
Perez wants to maintain toughnessThe president of the Spanish Federation of Ciclismo (RFEC), Manuel Perez, made a plea to keep the degree of difficulty in the major Tours, because the fans demand "toughness". He was speaking at a press conference in Madrid at the Banesto team presentation last Friday. "It is necessary to respect the cyclist because he is the protagonist. That means making the stages shorter, but we cannot begin to trim the Great Tours. People are enamored of cycling by its hardness," said Perez, going against the UCI's plan to reduce the difficulty of the season.
New German team - ipm SchwerinFormer Telekom professional, Christian Henn has become the director of a new German team, with a budget of 1 million DM ($US 500,000). The team is sponsored by ipm marketing GmbH, an insurance and trust company, based in Schwerin. The team will be lead by Stefan Gottschling (1992 German ITT champion) and motorpace specialist, Carsten Podlesch. It will commence racing this year in the second division. The 10 man team plan to triple their budget in the next few years. They trained approximately 2000 km in Cessenatico, Italy recently and were very happy with the way things went. The will debut on February 12 in Croatia, as well as racing in Portugal and two tours in March, with the peace race as a goal in spring. The Tours of Germany and Bavaria later on in the year are high on their list. Team roster Stephan Gottschling
Special announcementMany of you may have noticed the extra news item that we have been running for the last few days, asking race organisers and club officials to submit their race details via our race listing form. So far, we have received a great deal of interest in this and have spent some time in addressing user suggestions before we officially launch it. We feel that it is ready in its current form, however we plan to introduce an enhanced listing soon. There are nearly 40 races listed already, from Australia, to Finland to the United States. The service, which is free to both organisers and riders, is aimed at all races without UCI status i.e. club, state, or even national events. All of the major disciplines are covered - road, track, mountain bike and cyclocross racing. The races are indexed by country, and then in chronological order as a brief listing. Each of the brief titles is hyperlinked to obtain the full race details. The idea is that wherever you are, or wherever you're going, you can find a race on in your area via this online calendar. This listing service is not intended as a primary race promotion tool, and we have other options if you are interested in promoting your race on cyclingnews. Please try out the service, and tell your club secretary or friendly race organiser about it as we feel it will become an invaluable tool for cyclists around the globe.
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