News for January 15, 2000

VDB modest

The official presentation of French team Cofidis was held today in Paris. The 30 rider team will be headed once again by Belgian stalwart, Franck Vandenbroucke. Although the team lost Julich, Gwiazdowski, and Nicholas Jalabert last year, it signed 11 new members, and expects that some of its existing talent will start to blossom this year, notably David Millar, David Moncoutié, and Cristophe Rinero.

Besides its aims on the road, the team has high hopes on the track, especially at the Olympics with Laurent Gané and Arnaud Tournant, and Vincent le Quellec.

"We have a general-purpose team, for the one day races as well as stages ", said François Migraine of the Cofidis company. "With Frank Vandenbroucke, we can rais our ambitions. As is the case for any French sponsor, the Tour de France is the top priority."

The Belgian cyclist who started training at the beginning of December will have a "traditional" spring, aiming at the Paris Nice race in March. He aims to compete in the Tour in July with the goal of placing on the podium. After that, it will either be the Olympics or the World's.

About his recent failed attempt to leave the team in December "My only error is not to have spoken with François Migraine (general manager of the group) between the end of the season and the beginning of December. There were things to be said, on my side and theirs. There was no communication. I make some "mistakes" sometimes that are not in the interests of our sport. But, when I do them, it is always considered."

"I believe that my return, my decision, were appreciated. There were words of myself and my teamamtes that were twisted. From the conversations which I had with them, I have the feeling that they understood me. I am a rider that is out of the ordinary. I am not afraid to declare my ambitions. That gives me additional motivation to work."

He was also not concerned about his delayed preparation, after breaking his scaphoid at the World's last year. "I had to have one and a half months in plaster after my fall at the World Championships, but at least I could rest. But I recovered well, I am not late. This year, my objectives are the traditional ones, with the same program as last year, as well as the Tour de France. After, I haven't decided between the Olympics and the World Championship. It will be one or the other," said VDB at the presentation.

Team Cofidis 2000:

Directeur sportif: Bernard Quilfen
Assistant: Alain Deloeuil

Raod Riders:
Steve De Wolf (Bel)
Peter Farazijn (Bel)
Nico Mattan (Bel)
Chris Peers (Bel)
Jo Planckaert (Bel)
Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel)
Laurent Desbiens (Fra)
Philippe Gaumont (Fra)
Stéphane Krafft (Fra)
Claude Lamour (Fra)
Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra)
David Lefèvre (Fra)
Laurent Lefèvre (Fra)
Thierry Loder (Fra)
David Moncoutié (Fra)
Francis Moreau (Fra)
Damien Pommereau (Fra)
Arnaud Prêtot (Fra)
Christophe Rinero (Fra)
Tom Flammang (Lux)
Massimiliano Lelli (Ita)
Angelo Lopeboselli (Ita)
Roland Meier (Swi)
David Millar (GBr)
Juris Silovs (Lat)
Janek Tombak (Est) 

Track:
Mickaël Bourgain (Fra)
Laurent Gané (Fra)
Vincent Le Quellec (Fra)
Arnaud Tournant (Fra)

Stuart O'Grady close again

It seems to be a case of "almost" with Stuart O'Grady in this past week. After narrowly missing out on winning - but at least not losing - the Melbourne to Sorrento on Wednesday, he backed up last night (Friday) in a team pursuit challenge at the Adelaide Superdrome.

The aim was to ride under the 4.10.00 qualifying time for an Australian team into the Olympics this year. The result: a 4.10.17. He was disappointed, to say the least, as road commitments may prevent him from riding under that time this year before the Olympics. His team of Brad McGee, Graeme Brown and Brent Dawson started well, but lost Brown in the final kilometer, and the team lost their rhythm.

They had the consolation of winning the event as their opposing team (Brett Aitken, Nigel Grigg, Andrew Mason and Ashley Hutchinson) rode a 4.14.92, but they will have more chances to ride the qualifying time this year.

His selection in the team has not been ruled out by national selector, Charlie Walsh however, as his strengths in the madison and the point score may be considered.

Lance watch

With the commencement of the USPS training camp in Avila Beach, California today, Lance Armstrong will start his campaign to defend his win in the Tour de France.

He is 4 kilos overweight, however this does not bother him as there are many long miles ahead. His program involves rides of between 2 and 5 hours of "base training", with some sprints and climbs thrown in. Apart from losing weight, this will also prepare him for the rigors of the coming season.

Director sportif, Johan Bruyneel says that Lance is motivated and convinced that he can win the Tour again. His team will be strengthened with the likes of Patrick Jonker and Viatcheslav Ekimov, along with several other stalwarts last year. Armstrong will remain at the camp until January 25, where he aims to plan his program out for the entire year. He will debut in Spain with the Trophy Luis Puig, the Tour of Valencia, Paris Nice, and then Milan San Remo. The Tour remains his number one goal however. After that, the team will set their sights on the Olympic Games in Sydney, where Armstrong wishes to win the time trial.

Bruyneel thinks that with Pantani and Ullrich present in this year's Tour, there will be a great battle. Armstrong knows his strengths in the mountains a lot better, and this will count for a lot.

Gaudry on track

Despite her injuries sustained as a result of a blind motorist last week, Australia's Tracey Gaudry is still keen on riding well in tomorrow's national road titles in Portarlington, Victoria.

A report by Rupert Guinness in the "Australian" newspaper today, reveals that Gaudry remains the favourite, in the absence of Liz Tadich, and in spite of Anna Wilson's expected presence.

"After seeing her train yesterday, she'll be hard to beat," said James Victor, the national women's road coach. "Tracey is still sore. She'll need more physio treatment before the race, but once she gets going, the others will have to fight for it (the title)."

For her part, Tracey said about the crash, which involved 16 other riders: "I'm lucky I have very dense bones. I felt it a lot more a couple of days after, but worse has been the shock."

Anna Wilson who flew out for a short trip to the US with her team over a week ago is expected to fly home today. She will be Gaudry's main competition, despite the two being VIS teammates. She will only have to contend with jet lag, rather than numerous injuries and it should be an exciting battle.

The 97 km women's race begins at 8.00 am tomorrow, while the 194 km men's race starts at 11.00 am.

Team Nürnburger 2000

The German profession team Nürnburger had their official presentation on Thursday, January 14 in Nürnberg. After a modeately successful season in 1999, they have bolstered their line up with experienced pro's such as Dirk Baldinger (ex-Telekom). Baldinger is looking forward to his new role within the second division team as a leader, rather than a domestique. He was one of the members of the team that helped Jan Ullrich to win the Vuelta last year (despite Ullrich's seeming lack of confidence in them). The team is partly sponsored by Telekom, and they have a "deal" to supply their best performed riders to the larger team. However, in Baldinger's and Bert Dietz's case it worked the other way.

The 28 year old rider will join several other veterans who are known in Australia for their exploits in the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic - Joern Reuss, Thomas Leise, Raphael Schweda, Thorsten Wilhelms and Jens Zemke among others. The latter, who is 33 this year, is particularly keen to have a good race in the "Rund am Henninger Turm".

Half of the team will commence racing in the 2000 season with the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia (Cat 2.4, January 26-February 6), while the remainder will start in the Mallorca Challenge (5 separate races from February 6-10, 1.4 category).

Team Nürnberger 2000

Director Sportif: Uwe Raab
Assistants: Steffen Rein, Albert Rinn,Jochen Werner

Team Manager: Udo Sprenger

Riders: 
Artour Babaitsev (Rus)
Dirk Baldinger 
Bert Dietz
Klaus Diewald
Christoph Göhring (Swi)
Alexander Kastenhuber
Thomas Liese
Roland Müller (Swi)
Jörn Reuss
Raphael Schweda
Holger Sievers 
Heinrich Trumheller 
Jürgen Werner
Thorsten Wilhelms 
Jens Zemke

German World's team

The German team for the world cyclocross championships at the end of this month has been announced. It consists of:

Elite Men: Malte Urban

Elite Women: Hanka Kupfernagel, Regina Marunde

U23: Steffen Weigold, Christian Wasmer, Hannes Genze, Björn Schröder

Luperini case

The final judgement of the doping case involving Italian multiple major tour winner, Fabiana Luperini will take place tomorrow. After traces of nandrolone were found in a test on October 2, 1999, the result of which was backed up by retesting of her "B" sample, she risks suspension of up to two years by her federation (ICF).

Her lawyer, Federico Cecconi is arguing that her sample was tampered with, much the same as another well known Italian star, and its composition did not equate with her "normal" urine. The Italian star had appealed to her federation after facing an automatic disqualification by the UCI.

Italy: investigation into the amateurs?

The powers that be in Turin held a press conference today to outline their plans of investigating drug taking in the amateur Italian peloton, similar to the ongoing one into the professionals. They wish to examine the administration of illegal drugs by well known doctors of amateur cyclists and teams. It is not expected to be led by prosecutor Guariniello however.

Fassa Bortolo start training

New Italian first division team, Fassa Bortolo gathered in Donoratico, Italy today. The new team of Giancarlo Ferretti will train here until January 21, before their official presentation on January 22. Among the 18 riders present were Baldato, Belli, Ferrigato, Konyshev, Petitio, Dario Frigo, and Giordani.