News for February 8, 2000
Jalabert starts at the topFrench born, Swiss-based ONCE rider, Laurent Jalabert, will start this season well on top of the rankings, according to the latest figures released by the UCI. He has nearly a 400 point advantage over Michael Boogerd of the Rabobank team, and is keen to keep it that way. Although there are not that many changes from the December 1999 rankings, one mover is Kazakhstan's, Alexander Vinokourov (Telekom), who overtook ONCE's Abraham Olano for 17th place. Gilles Maignan (Fra, Ag2R) moved himself up into the top 100, by virtue of his win on the Tour Down Under recently. In Jalabert's case, he says that he wishes to race for another 3 years, if possible. He is only 31 and will continue for at least this season, but preferably until the end of 2002, form permitting. Will he be a National Champion though? Rankings - February 6, 2000 1 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 2,362.00 pts 2 Michael Boogerd (Ned) 1,982.00 3 Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) 1,827.50 4 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) 1,591.00 5 Davide Rebellin (Ita) 1,590.00 6 Marcus Zberg (Swi) 1,507.00 7 Lance Armstrong (USA) 1,495.00 8 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) 1,417.00 9 Jan Ullrich (Ger) 1,408.00 10 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) 1,373.00 11 Jann Kirsipuu (Est) 1,309.00 12 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) 1,171.00 13 Wladimir Belli (Ita) 1,155.00 14 Paolo Bettini (Ita) 1,153.00 15 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) 1,133.00 16 Erik Zabel (Ger) 1,130.00 17 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) 1,116.00 18 Abraham Olano Manzano (Spa) 1,103.00 19 Peter Van Petegem (Bel) 1,066.50 20 Mario Cipollini (Ita) 1,061.00 21 Igor Gonzalez Galdeano Aranzabal (Spa) 1,041.00 22 Mirko Celestino (Ita) 1,040.00 23 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) 1,026.00 24 Tom Steels (Bel) 1,014.50 25 Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) 1,008.00 26 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) 972 27 Marco Pantani (Ita) 944 28 Michele Bartoli (Ita) 942 29 José Maria Jimenez Sastre (Spa) 934 30 Alex Zuelle (Swi) 921 31 Johan Museeuw (Bel) 911.5 32 Marc Wauters (Bel) 906 33 Sergio Barbero (Ita) 904 34 Beat Zberg (Swi) 881 35 Angel Luis Casero Moreno (Spa) 870 36 Erik Dekker (Ned) 851 37 Serhiy Honchar (Ukr) 848 38 Fernando Escartin Coti (Spa) 841 39 Maarten Den Bakker (Ned) 839 40 Laurent Dufaux (Swi) 811 41 Daniele Nardello (Ita) 782 42 Giuliano Figueras (Ita) 767 43 David Etxebarria Alkorta (Spa) 764 44 Jens Voigt (Ger) 763.5 45 Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) 761 46 Ivan Gotti (Ita) 754 47 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) 749 48 Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) 748 49 Marco Serpellini (Ita) 742 50 George Hincapie (USA) 735 51 Stéphane Heulot (Fra) 713 52 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) 688 53 Marco Velo (Ita) 671 54 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) 668 55 Leon Van Bon (Ned) 655 56 Jo Planckaert (Bel) 649.5 57 Fabrizio Guidi (Ita) 646 58 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) 641 59 Andrea Tafi (Ita) 635 60 Lars Michaelsen (Den) 634 60 Christophe Moreau (Fra) 634 62 Richard Virenque (Fra) 623 63 Roberto Sgambelluri (Ita) 620 64 Robbie McEwen (Aus) 611 65 Tristan Hoffman (Ned) 602 66 Massimo Donati (Ita) 589 67 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita) 588 68 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) 578 69 Dario Frigo (Ita) 576 70 Alberto Elli (Ita) 560 70 Stuart O'Grady (Aus) 560 72 Mario Aerts (Bel) 557 73 François Simon (Fra) 556 74 Marc Streel (Bel) 553 75 Gianni Faresin (Ita) 549 76 Marcel Wust (Ger) 542 77 Mikel Zarrabeitia Uranga (Spa) 537 78 Geert Verheyen (Bel) 528 79 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) 526 80 Nicolay Bo Larsen (Den) 520 81 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) 517 82 Unai Osa Eizaguirre (Spa) 512 83 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) 503 84 Melchior Mauri Prat (Spa) 494 85 Lauri Aus (Est) 492 86 Juan Carlos Dominguez Dominguez (Spa) 490 87 Michael Blaudzun (Den) 488 88 Roberto Laiseka Jaio (Spa) 487 89 Wilfried Peeters (Bel) 485.5 90 Christopher Boardman (Gbr) 483.5 91 Gilles Maignan (Fra) 477.5 92 Niki Aebersold (Swi) 468 92 Rolf Sorensen (Den) 468 94 Udo Bölts (Ger) 461 95 Andrei Teteriouk (Kaz) 456 96 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) 455 97 Niklas Axelsson (Swe) 452 97 Benoît Salmon (Fra) 452 99 Andrea Ferrigato (Ita) 447 100 Salvatore Commesso (Ita) 435 US Road ChampionshipsCourtesy of Rich Wanninger The USCF has determined the venue for the Elite Men's Road Championships, to be held on May 21. The location will be Natchez, Mississippi, the oldest settlement on the lower Mississippi river. This will come the day after the Olympic road race trials, to be held in Jackson, Miss. - the idea being to separate the two. However, the National Championship and Olympic Trials for the individual time trial will be combined into one day (May 18) at Jackson, Miss. The individual time trial is a national championship event, where the professionals are eligible to compete. In the road race, the first amateur to cross the finish line is the national champion. The U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the road race gives the winner of an automatic spot on the 2000 U.S. Olympic cycling squad. Thursday, May 18 Saturday, May 20 Sunday, May 21 Further to this, USA cycling selected nine riders for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Training Center resident-athlete program. Brad Buccambuso (Logan, Utah), Adam Duvendeck (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Megan Elliott (Tama, Iowa), Will Frischkorn (Charlottesville, Va.), Devon Hoff-Weekes (Long Beach, Calif.), Rachel Lloyd (San Anselmo, Calif.), Michael Luther (Blasdell, N.Y.), Giddeon Massie (Avondale, Pa.), William Skinner (Monson, Mass.), Allie Warfel (Lancaster, Pa.) and Josh Weir (Indianapolis, Ind.) will live and train full-time at the U.S. Olympic Training Complex in Colorado Springs this year. The goals of the resident program include identifying, supporting and coaching top young athletes and building the best athlete training programs and structures oriented to the Olympic Games. Among some of the alumni of the USA Cycling resident-athlete program are Bobby Julich, Mari Holden, Christian Vande Velde, Erin Veenstra-Mirabella and Mariano Friedick. Earlier this month, the mountain bike resident-athletes were announced. The resident-athletes are Adam Craig (Bangor, Maine), Matt Kelly (Johnson Creek, Wis.), Skyler Reeves (Pinckney, Mich.), Ben Scherrer (Bellingham, Wash.) and Jess Swiggers (Ramona, Calif.).
NORBA SeriesCourtesy of Patrice Quintero The USA's National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) have finalised their calendar for the "Chevy Trucks NORBA Series" this year. The main changes are: the moving of the Mt Snow race to June 23-25 (from July 1-2), and the removal of the "to be announced" event scheduled for April 15-16. The series kick off will be May 19-21 at Snow Summit Resort in Big Bear, California. The decision to go to five events for the 2000 Chevy Trucks NORBA National Championship Series was driven by the lack of promoters willing to take on the operations and meet the standards of the National Championship Series, as well as scheduling difficulties. NORBA's Director of Competition Eric Moore said that one of the enhancements they are looking to make to the national series in the future is a cross-country-only event set in a major city. Although the idea did not come together for 2000, Moore said the project is still in process. Moore added that the additional money now left over in the national championship series budget will go toward an advertising and promotional campaign for the series. The 2000 NORBA Series: May 19-21: Snow Summit, Calif. June 23-25: Mount Snow, Vt. (revised) July 28-30: Deer Valley, Utah Aug. 4-6: Crystal Mountain, Wash. Sept. 8-10: Mammoth Mountain, Calif. (Finals) 2000 UCI World Cup Schedule March 25-26 XC #1 Napa, Calif. April 1-2 XC #2 Mazatlan, Mexico April 29-30 XC #3 Houffalize, Belgium May 6-7 XC #4 St. Wendel, Germany May 13-14 XC #5 Sarentino, Italy May 20-21 DH/DL #1 Les Gets, France May 27-28 DH/DL #2 Cortina, Italy June 2-3 DH/DL #3 Maribor, Slovenia July 1-2 XC#6/DH/DL #4 Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec, Canada July 8-9 XC #7 Canmore, Alberta, Canada July 15-16 DH/DL #5 Vail, Colo. July 22-23 DH/DL #6 Arai, Japan Aug. 12-13 DH/DL #7 Kaprun, Austria Aug. 26-27 DH/DL #8 Leysin, Switzerland Sept. 2-3 XC #8 Lausanne, Switzerland Gotti risks two yearsIvan Gotti, twice winner of the Giro d'Italia, has been submitted to the CONI anti-drug commission, after his hearing before prosecutor Giovanni Spinosa last Saturday. Joining him will be Alexander Bertolini, Gianluca Bortolani, Gianni Faresin and Georgio Furlan, who risk a two year suspension if found guilty of taking prohibited substances. The decision came after prosecutor Spinosa examined the medical evidence of the cyclists' hematological values.
Gary Edwards banned for lifeBritish Sprint cyclist, Gary Edwards has been the first cyclist to be banned forever by the British Cycling Federation. He tested positive for a derivative of the anabolic steroid, Stanozolol at the World Masters Track Championships last year, where he won the sprint in the 30-34 yr bracket. He will not be allowed to have any formal involvement in cycling competitions or coaching, other than being a spectator. This was the third time that Edwards had tested positive. Also on the ropes is Veteran cyclist, Phillip Axe, who came second in the British National road titles last year. He has been given a six-month suspension for doping, his second altogether.
Mallorca controlsFour teams (20 riders) were hematocrit tested in Mallorca today, before the second stage of the Mallorca Challenge. The teams were Euskaltel, Batavus, Amica Chips and Selle Italia, and all the cyclists were declared "fit". In the evening, the vampires administered more tests to members of the ONCE, Telekom, Rabobank and Mapei teams. These too, were all-clear.
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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