News for January 18, 2000
Plouay parcours approvedThe parcours of the World Championships 2000 in Plouay, Bretagne, has now been approved by the UCI after a meeting with the French Cycling Federation on Saturday. "The circuit of Grand Prix Ouest France in Plouay is not the world's most mountainous, but there are after all three climbs," said Jean marie Leblanc, member of the Elite Road Commission. The time trials will start at various points north of Plouay with the elite riders taking off at Rostrenen, 48 kms away from the finish just outside of Plouay. Time Trial schedule: October 10 Junior women: Saint-Caradec-Tregomel-Plouay (16 km) Espoirs: Plouay - Plouay (35 km) October 11 Junior men: Le Croisty - Plouay (25 km) Elite women: Le Croisty - Plouay (25 km) October 12 Elite men: Rostrenen - Plouay (48 km) The road race will have its start and finish on the outskirts of town. The 14 km circuit goes into town for the first little climb, goes north east out of town up to the Scorff river, the lowest point of the race. Then it progresses along the river for a couple of kms ,until a left turn which takes the riders up to the major "obstacle", about a 60 meter elevation on an 800 meters straight climb at Ty Marrec on the way back to Plouay. From the climb to the finish, it's slightly downhill until the sprint which is slightly uphill. Road race schedule: October 13 Junior women: 5 laps (70 km) Espoirs: 12 laps (168 km) October 14 Junior men: 9 laps (126 km) Elite women: 7 laps (98 km) Sunday October 15 Elite men: 19 laps (266 km)
Lampre-Daikin trainsThe Italian team of Franco Ballerini, Oscar Camenzind, Marco Serpellini and Giberto Simoni, has commenced their training camp today on the Tirrenico coast. They are out to prepare their assault on the World Cup and the Giro. Both the team manager and director, Beppe Saronni and Peter Algeri believe that they need a solid training base in January, as last year they raced in Australia, finding it was too much, too early. "Take Camenzind, after he won the World Championships, he had an intense winter. It is not successful to do that when the racing remained in the legs. But it marks the symbol that our team characterizes: Oscar has in his body a great anger, he is a proud one and wants to improve from a disappointing '99, wants to reconquer his place in the ranks of the champions," said Algeri to "La Gazzetta Dello Sport". The 22 riders of Lampre-Daikin have been split into two groups: Ballerini, Camenzind, Serpellini, Spruch and Svorada will have to be ready to race in February and are riding up to 5 hours; Simoni, Barbero, Piccoli and Codol are aiming for the Ardennes classics, and therefore will follow a less intense program. "After this winter. I am much further ahead than in previous years," said Ballerini who is debuting in the l'Etoile des Besseges in February. "I was operated on for appendicitis in August and I did not race much up to November. I am 35 years old, have been a professional for 14 seasons, but I do not see the hurry to return to run. I am well and I will not go to the first race for preparation, but to obtain a result. In the top of my thoughts there is always the North: from the Flanders to the Roubaix and the Amstel, they are constructed for a rider like me and I will return to them with the knife between my teeth ready to devour the wheels". For Oscar Camenzind, the year 2000 will bring a change of objectives: he will not race many stage races like in past seasons, but will aim for the World Cup. Perhaps he will attack again in the Tour of Lombardy, on the climb of Boccola up to Bergamo. "In our team we have riders for the big Tours like Simoni and I can completely dedicate myself to the classics: the first objective is Sanremo, but I also hope to be a protagonist in Belgium in Flanders. Compared to '99 I have had a much calmer winer, and more regular, I have even been skiing," says the former world champion. For stage races, the only captain is Gilberto Simoni, the rider from Palů di Giovo in Trentino who was third in the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de Suisse in 1999. "I do not want to take it easy: I want to ride on the same level as I did in '99, I have more knowledge of my capabilities and my responsibilities do not scare me. The Giro will be my objective, but I do not want do devote myself to this: I want to prove myself in the classics like the Fleche Wallone and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, then in autumn I will head for the Vuelta". He will make up part of the team for the Giro with Piccoli and also the new purchase Sergio Barbero: "He is a man of warmth, his home" concludes Algeri. The Lampre-Daikin team will remain in Tuscany until the end of the week.
Pantani and Ullrich to meetMarco Pantani and Jan Ullrich will meet in a race for the first time in two years in the Tour of Mallorca, to be held from March 1 - 5. The last time that the two met was in the Tour in 1998 where Pantani beat Ullrich, however a titanic battle is not expected at this stage of the season.
The "Basque Six"The Italian cyclists Martinello and Villa, who were the winners of the "Six Days of Berlin," and the pair of Baffi and Collinelli will participate in the "Six Days of Euskadi", a track cycling competition that will take place the 5 of February in the Velodrome of Anoeta in San Sebastián, Spain. The organizers of this event announced these two pairs in addition to other names like Swiss Risi/Betschart and Spaniards Llaneras and Gálvez, who will compete. The two Italian pairs have in common the fact that they are made up of one specialist in track and another one in road cycling. Martinello as Baffi have proven themselves as "sprint specialists" on the road, both winning many stages and races during their careers. Villa and Collinelli are two trackies tha make up a perfect team, with similar results on the track. Martinello won the Munich and the Berlin Six, was second in Dortmund, while Baffi/Collinelli won the Grenoble Six, and Baffi/Martinello were second in the Gent Six.
Cyclesport's top 10All of the cyclist-of-the-century-follies have rounded up by CycleSport magazine, who have presented their "top 10 teams of all time". The list reads as follows: 1. Renault-Gitane (1955 - 1985)
Linda's home octetThe Linda McCartney Pro Cycling Team and the Welsh Cycling Union have announced the line-up for their joint-venture UK squad. "I was really looking to get them as young as possible," explained the director of the operation, Linda McCartney's Keith Lambert. "By the time these fellows are 24 or 25, you're already going to have a fair idea of how good they're going to get. I wanted rough diamonds that have got a way to go, but have the potential to go all the way." The team will have eight riders, four selected by the WCU and four by Linda McCartney. The WCU will be organised by Shane Sutton, while Linda McCartney's recently retired top rider, Chris Lillywhite will have his first management role, all under Keith Lambert's leadership. It will resemble something of an "old pals act", as both Sutton and Lillywhite won the Milk Race for Team Banana when Lambert was their manager.
"We have different objectives to most of the UK set-ups," said Lillywhite. "What we're aiming for is to produce riders that can go on and become international professionals, hopefully with Linda McCartney in Europe. It's more important to us that they learn to ride in a professional way and gain an understanding of how a decent team should operate than winning a few local races." The team's best known rider will be the speedster, Huw Pritchard, the Welsh champion who enjoyed an excellent season at Men's Health in 1999. Huw is older than the team's original U-23 rule, but was selected to give some focus to the younger riders and give the team some firepower for their main targets, the Premier Calendar races. The full "home" squad is: Tom Barras
Casagrande looks for big 2000 in GiroBy Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent Francesco Casagrande, team leader of Vini Caldirola-Sidermec, has had a few ups and downs in the last two seasons, but the talented 29 year old from Florence, Italy will focus on a major performance in the Giro d'Italia as his goal for 2000. " I'll be doing the first races of the season just to get get ready for the Giro; now I know how to race for the win in my national tour after my win in the Tour Of Switzerland last season." But Casagrande won't push his preparation too fast, but he'll build a solid base for endurance over long distances. As a member of Cofidis in '98, Casagrande looked like he might be a contender in the Tour De France, but a massive crash on the foggy descent of the Galibier smashed him up, and put him out of the race unable to continue. After a strong comeback with a win in the '98 Classica San Sebastian, Casagrande then tested positive for testosterone and was subsequently suspended for 9 months and kicked off the Cofidis team. After his enforced absence from the peloton, the taciturn Tuscan came back with a bang at the '99 Tour of Switzerland and stunned the cycling world by taking the overall win. When his Caldirola teammate Sergei Gontchar was then sent home from the Tour of Switzerland with high haemotocrit, the Tour De France excluded the entire team, thus denying Casagrande yet another chance at glory in the French tour. He came back after the Tour with a repeat win in Classica San Sebastian and a 5th place in the Worlds in Verona, but Casagrande finished the '99 season wondering what might have been, had he raced the Giro & Tour. The 2000 season's preparation started in November for Casagrande. After a month off the bike, Casagrande stared his training with easy rides of 2 to 2.5 hours. Around mid-December, Casagrande did a Conconi test to see where he was at in his condition and use this as a base to develop his training program with Dr. Cecchini, his coach. From mid-December on, Casagrande put his SRM Power Meter back on his bike for training and began some specific intervals to increase strength, as well as longer, 4 hour rides. After the first of the year, Casagrande continued the same program, and in late January, he will do his first real "test" with a timed climb of Monte Serra near Florence; a tough climb of 8km with an average gradient of 6%, which is also one of Andrea Tafi's favourites. After this, Vini Caldirola-Sidermec will have a 10 day training camp in Follonica on the Tuscan coast, where Casagrande will continue to build his training base with rides of up to 7 hours with his teammates." The basic work I put in between December and the end of January are very important to start the season well," said Casagrande. "After that, the racing is very important too..." Once Francesco Casagrande makes his season racing debut at the Tour of Valencia, his typical in-season training week will look like this: Monday: 2 hours at an easy tempo on flat terrain Casagrande had always fought a battle with his weight; he loves pastry and would indulge his sweet tooth but over the winter of '97-'98, he went on a special diet and lost 8 kg. Now his off-season weight is stable at 63kg but Casgrande will eventually get down to 59kg when he is in top form. " I'll start to really come into form in April and will be ready for the Giro on May 16th. " Certainly Casagrande can be considered a major contender for the 2000 Giro d'Italia, where he will be aided by Vini Caldirola-Sidermec's new signing Roberto Conti, longtime lieutanant of Marco Pantani. But the Giro is not the Tour Of Switzerland and to win will be the greatest challenge of Francesco Casagrande's career.
Spanish-Italian affairsThe last minute Spanish-Italian team Jazztel-Costa Almería has signed neo Carles Torrent from Trujillo-Massi. Also, Manuel Beltrán, Manuel Fernández Ginés, Eduardo González and Óscar Freire will be joined at their Mapei team by Spanish mechanic, Francisco Martínez, who comes from Saeco. |