Second edition news for January 24, 2000
McEwen updateAustralian sprinter, Robbie McEwen, who made headlines in the major daily newspapers after being charged with common assault and indecent behaviour as a result of an incident on Saturday, January 22, was scheduled to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court earlier today. However, the cyclist did not appear at the 10am hearing and was represented by his lawyers. According to latest reports, the charges against McEwen have now been dropped. Police prosecutor Harry Hills told Magistrate Sue O'Connor: "We are withdrawing this matter." No further reasons were given.
Fassa Bortolo - Ferretti gets seriousFollowing close on the heels of the Mapei-Quick Step presentation, new Italian first division team "Fassa Bortolo" had their presentation yesterday in Treviso, Italy. According to Giancarlo Ferretti the team will fight hard: "Of one thing you can be sure, this team will have a spirit," said the team manager who has had 580 victories in 25 years. He is certainly passionate about building the team, which has taken a lot of time and effort: "In these past two years I have felt like a species of somnambulist: I force myself every day at 6:30 in order to switch on the TV to see if there were any of 'my' names on the television... Nevertheless I defy anyone to say that I have ordered to, or that I have bought someone a vial of EPO or some other forbidden medicinal product. I still have had to spend several million lira in lawyers fees in the current case. Now they are here with all the anger that I have within: I did not want to end that way, I did not want to exit from cycling that I have loved so much and would hate to lose," said an animated Ferretti as he related his experiences in the case. "This winter some riders began to ask to me if I could personalise
their training programs. First Giordani, then Tosatto, then also Loda,
Konyshev, Peron... I have had to say: boys, enough, I cannot follow
any more. Because if you indeed want to make a star of an athlete they
must be responsible for themselves as well. You must telephone every
day to see how they are going, as one feels." Fassa Bortolo has launched a 5-year plan, with a budget of the order
of 6 billion lira per year ($US 3 million). They have eighteen riders,
and there is no designated leader, but they do several good riders willing
to throw themselves in the fire for the team cause. The most important
contest of their calendar will be the Giro. They will have riders like
Belli and Frigo, and also Peron for that race.
"I know that the big favorites are Pantani, Gotti, Francesco Casagrande.
We will have to put them in difficulty using the team. There will be
Tour, because we do not have the capability of being able to race it
as well. We will instead do the Vuelta," said Ferretti. The rest of
their program will center on the World Cup races, and all the races
in the Italian national calendar.
"Ferron" as his riders call him with a mixture of affection and deference,
wants to make his riders perform for the public: "We will try to make
cycling that amuses people, enlivening the race. An aggressiveness,
so that they will also applaud when we lose".
Team Roster
The director of the Spanish Banesto squad, Jose Miguel Echávarri has
slightly different plans from his Fassa Bortolo counterpart. The Vuelta
will be their primary goal, as well as the Tour, although he indicated
that they would not be forgetting other races since they have a "well
rounded team".
Echávarri, who has been with the team since last Monday at their training
camp in Alhaurín el Grande (Malaga) said that "these days of training
are very important for the season," emphasizing that the climate in
Malagueña "is wonderful".
The Costa del Sol brings fond memories to him: "We were there in 1988
in Torremolinos and Pedro won the Tour de France that year," clearly
as result of his early season training. He then added that in 1993 they
repeated their camp on the Malagueñan coast, in Estepona "and Miguel
Indurain won the Tour, another reason why we have good feelings of this
area."
Spanish cyclocross champion, David Seco will lead the team in this
weekend's World cyclocross championships in St Michielsgestel, the Netherlands.
According to national selector, Paschal Eduardo, there are three elite
male riders definitely on the team: Seco, who has been preparing in
Belgium for the last few weeks, Valencian Paco Plá and the Guipuzcoano
Oier Egaña.
The quartet for the U-23's is made up of Haitz Ortiz, Juan Bello,
David Salas, and Juan Miguel González. The juniors (5) will be Aitor
Hernandez, Koldobika Agirre, Gorka Mendizabal and Julen Zubero, and
the Jose Antonio Díez. The women's trio are Rocío Gamonal, Aida Nuño,
and Lidia Fuentes.
The US Bike Companies Huffy and Royce Union are recalling a total
of 22,300 bicycles. Huffy is recalling about 18,600 men's mountain bikes,
due to a the potential of frame breakage. Huffy has received two reports
of the bicycle frames breaking resulting in serious head and back injuries.
The recall involves ALX 1000 bicycles, ALX 1500 bicycles and Aluminum
300 bicycles sold at discount stores in the US for about $160.
Royce is recalling about 3,700 men's mountain bicycles. The frames
of these bikes can also break apart - and the company has received report
of four such cases resulting in serious head and back injuries. The
recall involves ABT 2000 bikes Sears stores sold these bikes in the
US in 1998 and 1999 for about $300.
Courtesy of bikenews
The Tate Gallery in London, is due to open its new Bankside gallery
on May 12, 2000. Housed in a former power station and converted by Swiss
architects, it will be the world's largest modern art gallery. It is
thought up to 150,000 people a year will want to travel between Bankside
and the Millbank gallery, home of the Tate.
The Tate is liaising with Adshel, which runs successful Smartbike schemes
in Rennes, France, and Singapore to help manage their "free bike"
transport system between the two galleries. SmartBike is a computer
controlled scheme to protect bikes from theft and keep them roadworthy.
Cyclists are given a personalised microchip card and can then pick up
a bike from a so-called "docking station". In Rennes (and, soon to be
Cardiff, Wales) these are located around at ten stations and linked
to an on-line monitoring station. Each city has 80 bikes. Special vans
deliver bikes to bike stations, ensuring an even supply of bikes
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