News for February 9, 2000

Bartoli in Mallorca

Mapei-Quick Step's Michele Bartoli has commenced his race back to the top with his participation in the Challenge Mallorca. While he certainly hasn't set the peloton on fire (152nd, 27th, and 74th in the three races respectively), he has at least finished in the bunch each day. He admits to struggling with the drastic changes of pace however, which are the hallmark of pro-cycling.

"After 8 months absent from competition, I will have to perhaps find my rhythm gradually, even if it is frustrating," he said to Italian daily, La Gazzetta dello Sport. He has been working (along with Johan Museeuw) for the in-form world champion, Oscar Freire, who won the first stage of the Challenge. He still has a fair way to travel, before he is once again a top contender for the World Cup.

" From the point of view of my sporting performances, I am ok," said Bartoli "But my legs are not going well with ease. The right still doesn't have the muscular tone and the strength that I had 8 months ago. And the left leg, my "good one" is becoming a problem also. I pushed myself very hard in the second race (27th) and it hurt very badly. I am disappointed because my expectations were greater".

Bartoli will not finish the challenge after today's third day, as he is heading home to take it easy for a few days. Also, Oscar Freire has flown to Madrid to receive a prize from the Spanish sporting press.

Ullrich ready in South Africa

Jan Ullrich is getting prepared for his first major outing of the year - the Rapport Toer in South Africa, starting on February 11. He is in considerably better shape this year, and has not suffered from a large weight gain or illness. However, he has found the bad weather in Mallorca to be a deterrent and has relished the move to South Africa, where the temperatures are consistently around 30 degrees Celsius. At this time last year, Ullrich finished nearly 18 minutes down on the third stage of the Mallorca Challenge, and things didn't improve much for a good portion of the season. He did finish with a bang, however.

Telekom director, Rudy Pevenage said that "the nine days will probably be difficult, because of the hilly terrain, but Jan has been told not to do much work." The team has been enjoying police escorted training rides in South Africa for the last few days, in order to prevent any incidents.

The stage 4 time trial (30 km) might see Jan in the top 10, but he is definitely not expecting to win. "He does not have his World Championship form, and we also don't have an extra time trial bike," said Pevenage. The team will have Alberto Elli, Udo Bölts, and Danilo Hondo as their main riders for the South African Tour.

Dierckxsens can start in the Giro

Belgian Champion, Ludo Dierckxsens be allowed to start racing again on May 11, according to the official release by the UCI. He had applied through the Belgian Federation to start on April 1, but was refused by the UCI. However, his 10 month sentence was reduced by six days after the UCI backdated it to when he was forced to stop in the Tour de France on July 11 (despite winning a post Tour criterium).

The cyclist has been out of competition for seven months, after he admitted during the Tour to using a banned substance (Synacthene, a corticoid) without medical authority. The slightly reduced suspension means that he will be able to start in the Giro d'Italia on May 17.

Memory Card-Jack & Jones news

The Danish team's first outing for the year was the Cat. 2.3 Tour Down Under, where René Jørgensen finished 9th overall and won the king of the mountains. A strong start for the new first division team. Considering Jørgensen's relative inexperience, it was an added bonus for the team who did well in Australia last year in the Sun Tour, therby cementing their place in the first division.

Their next challenges will be the Tour of the Mediterranean, in France (2.3), starting today and finishing on February 13, as well as the Ruta del Sol, from February 13-17. The two races will have different teams, with Bo Hamburger leading in the Med., and Jesper Skibby and Nicolaj Bo Larsen in the Ruta. They had a battle to start in the latter race, as 42 teams had applied to start (only 20 are allowed). In addition, they will target the Haribo Classic, Tour du Haut Var, the Trofeo Luis Puig, and Het Volk, the Belgian season opener. They will use these early races as preparation for the Paris-Nice in March.

Their main goals in 2000 are to be at the prologues of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, as well as keeping their place in the first division.

Date changes

World Masters track championships

Due to the Olympic Games and the Track World Championships taking place in Manchester from October 25-29, the UCI has decided, in agreement with the Organising Committee that the Masters Track World Championships, which have been held in Manchester for several years, will take place from September 4-9 this year.

Redding 3 Days Postponed

Due to a sharp increase in the growth of the event and an unsuccessful attempt to develop the budget proportionately, the 2000 edition of the Redding 3 Days, in the USA, has been postponed, event director Terry Tupper announced Monday. This postponement will be effective until the proposed budget has been reached. The Redding 3 Days is a three-stage professional cycling race that began in 1998 and is best known by the third stage Downtown Redding Criterium.

The 2000 edition of the race, originally slated for March 31-April 2, had been designated a part of the USCF National Racing Calendar, which gives professional cyclists the opportunity to earn points for their national ranking at the event. This has increased the event's popularity, and is the main reason behind the increase in cost of the event.

USCF Road Championships

According to USA cycling, there will be a revision to the article posted yesterday regarding the USCF National Road Championships, to be held in Natchez, Miss. on May 21. Expect an announcement in the next couple of days.

Special announcement

Many 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.