Second edition news for January 27, 2000

Pantani v Jiménez

Banesto director, Eusebio Unzúe believes that his top rider, Jose Maria Jiménez will be close to Pantani on the climbs in the Giro d'Italia this year. "At the moment it is an unknown. I do not know if he [Pantani] will return to his level of before, although even if he is within 20 percent he will be up there with "El Chava" and the best ones in the mountains. He has the quality for it, but it will not be the differences that were exhibited long ago," he told European Press.

He spoke highly of the invigorating qualities of the Costa del Sol, and how it has helped the likes of Zülle and Jiménez in their pre-season preparation. However, he lamented the lack of Beltran who has departed to Mapei.

On Zülle's year last year, "It was a strange year in which luck did not go his way. But this experience will give him a stronger place in the team. We want him to persevere because our aim for him is the Tour, Tour and Tour," he said.

He talks about Jiménez, and his possible future in the classics. He feels that el Chava could do well in the Criterium International, Fleche Wallone, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

"He is not a classics rider yet, but if he gives one hundred percent he can develop perfectly. He might not stop Vandenbroucke from winning, although he will fight with him," assured Unzúe. He recognises Jiménez's failure in the last edition of the Giro: "He did not settle in and it affected him psychologically. It was not "El Chava" that we hoped for, and needed victories from," he said.

Also he admitted that there was no progression in the races against the clock in spite of the experiments conducted in the wind tunnel of the National Institute of Tecnología Aerospacial (INTA): "We are forced to try to take advantage of any opportunity that could improve him. It is certain that a great deal is made of wind tunnel testing tunnel of the wind," he indicated.

However, "El Chava" has given reasons to grant confidence in him and has very strong aspirations to the top podium position in the Vuelta a España. "He must be satisfied by the route of the Vuelta, although the winner of this is always a complete rider. But today in cycling nobody is that superior to the rest. El Chava can ascend to the very highest levels and would make many people happy if he did so," Unzúe concluded.

Fignon's uphill battle

Laurent Fignon, who bought the Paris Nice race last year, admits that it has been hard to try and make up for the loss of face that French cycling suffered in the wake of the Festina affair.

He told newsagency Reuters in a recent interview that "I bought Paris-Nice at the worst possible moment. The cataclysm of the Festina business was not forgotten yet. And with the festivities of year 2000, the municipalities did not have any more money when I arrived last summer." However, he is happy with his acquisition, in which he is the main man. The Société du Tour de France the other main bidder for the race, but they finally caved in, in June 1999.

After he retired at the end of 1993, Fignon served as a consultant with Eurosport where he learned a lot about what it takes to actually run a race. He started by organising much smaller events, the "Trophée Ile de France cyclos" where he did everything, from sweeping the courses to erecting the barricades. Then he moved to the one day races, Polymultipliée and Paris-Bourges.

However, that was not enough for Fignon, who has always been passionate about the bicycle: "In my eyes, it could be a question only of Paris-Nice," he said. There remained the obstacle of competing with the Société, but in the end former owner, Josette Leulliot chose Fignon.

He is more troubled by incompetence in the organisation of cycling rather than doping, although the latter is still a concern. "If cycling must die, it will be because of its inability to progress. We will be overtaken by the other better organized sports," he said.

The race, due to start on February 8, is one that he never won - his best place was third in 1987 behind Sean Kelly and Jeff Bernard. He hopes that the rain will stay away this year because "the public deserts and the riders become depressed."

Team Cologne presentation

The German division II team Cologne had its presentation on January 25 in Cologne (where else). Their directeur sportif, Dieter Koslar stated that their main goals were the Tour and the World Cup races, with some degree of humour.

The "youngish" 14-rider squad has six members from last year and eight new riders, including neo-Stefan Kupfernagel, ex-Rabobank rider, Bert Hiemstra. The team will be headed by Raymond Meijs from the Netherlands, and has quite a strong Dutch contingent.

22 year-old neo, Jos Lucassen may be an interesting acquisition after he finished amongst the top ten in the UCI espoirs and World Cup rankings. So too is South African Tiann Kannemeyer who was not present on Tuesday, being in Malaysia for the Tour de Langkawi. Finally there is 2nd place in the UCI rankings, 22 yr-old Stefan Kupfernagel, who is one of the big hopes for the team.

The team's motto is "One for all, all for one" (no, they are not called the American Eagles), and they intend on having a good year. The main group will start in February with the Rappoert Toer in South Africa, with a second group travelling to Lloret de Mar, in Spain.

Team roster

Bjoern Glasner
Bert Grabsch
Bert Hiemstra (Ned)
Raymond Meijs (Ned)
Martin Mueller
Soeren Pedersen (Den)
Joerg Scherf
Michael Schlickau
Dirk Schumann
Dirk van Dijk (Ned)
Michael van der Wolf (Ned)

Neo professionals:

Jos Lucassen (Ned)
Stefan Kupfernagel
Tiann Kannemeyer (SAf)

Roche under fire

The recent drug taking accusation levelled at Irish sporting icon, Stephen Roche, has provoked a storm of controversy in his homeland. The cyclist has been implicated in the ongoing "Conconi case" in Italy, along with other former members of the Carerra team in the mid-1990's.

Roche appeared recently on the TV program "The Late Late Show" along with sports journalist, David Walsh who is one of his main accusers back home. Walsh has known the cyclist for 20 years, however the recent case has changed their relationship somewhat, with Walsh wishing to maintain his "journalistic integrity".

Although Roche has strenuously denied ever taking performance enhancing drugs, his name was on the seized files of Professor Conconi as having been administered EPO. Roche defended himself on the program, by saying that his transferrin receptor levels (which are important parameters in the detection of EPO) were different in Conconi's files than for blood samples taken on the same day. Also, that his levels were high at a period of the year when it would not have benefitted him.

However, a report on the program in UK newspaper, "The Sunday Times" pointed out that Conconi did not necessarily test all his samples the same day. There were also other scientific points of Roche's arguments that did not stand up to scrutiny, according to the report.

The case has strongly affected Ireland in its potential to dethrone a national sporting demigod. The Italian investigation is unlikely to end soon, and there will assuredly be more unearthing of material that is potentially damaging to Roche, and many other former top cyclists. One approach to adopt is that of Rooks, Winnen, et al. and admit openly that they took drugs, in order to silence the rumours and educate the current peloton. Or will we remain in a seemingly endless battle off the roads between cyclists, journalists, and lawyers?