News for January 30, 2000
The grand plan of the superleagueThe UCI's new Council of Professional Cycling was officially unveiled yesterday in St Michielsgestel. The twelve member board, consisting of Hein Verbruggen, Miguel Indurain, Francesco Moser, Jean-Marie Leblanc, Carmine Castellano, Manolo Saiz, Walter Godefroot, Claude Jacquat, Felice Gimondi, Olaf Ludwig, Charly Mottet, and Jim Ochowicz outlined their 10 point plan for the future of professional cycling:
No Italian foreigners in Italy?The current meeting of the UCI heads in St Michielsgestel has thrown up a potentially serious problem amongst Italian cyclists riding for foreign teams, according to Radsport-News. There is a dispute between the UCI and the Italian National Federation over the issuing of licences which may stop Italian's from racing in their home country if their team is registered outside of Italy. There are currently approximately 50 Italians that fall into this category, including Mario Cipollini and Marco Pantani whose teams are registered in Montecarlo/San Marino. The UCI said that "the Italian federation does not adhere to a rule that came into place in 1986, which says that Italians riding in foreign teams must be issued with licences from the Italian federation. We contest this decision and request that those concerned be given licenses at the beginning of the next week", Verbruggen told the Italian federation before bringing them to the disciplinary commission. This would not affect Italians riding in "international" races in Italy, but only national ones that fall completely within the jurisdiction of the Italian federation. Sørensen on the road againDane Rolf Sørensen is recuperating faster than expected from his broken collarbone and has shown such good form at the Rabobank training camp in Donoratico that he will make his season's debut in the Tour de Mediterranée on February 9. He was expected to be in racing form around the first of March and his start in the Milan - San Remo was in danger. His father Jens reports, at Rolf's official homepage, that he showed his rear wheel to the Zberg brothers as well as Aebersold on the traditional test up the Monteserra climb. His spring program after the Tour de Mediterranée will be: 16.02 Trofeo Laigueglia
Dierckxsens starts earlyHein Verbruggen, chairman of the UCI, has said that Belgian Lampre-Daikin rider, Ludo Dierckxsens can start racing probably by the end of next week. Ludo had been suspended for 6 months after using a forbidden product without a medical certificate from his team doctor. He was thrown out of the Tour de France when he admitted this (though it didn't prevent him from racing in a post tour criterium). Ludo send a request to the UCI and that was discussed on Friday, and the jurists of the UCI will have the last word. Next week they will make the decision public.
Creed and Pate to Saeco-GaggiaCourtesy of John Alsedek The 7Up/Colorado Cyclist professional cycling team announced that top espoirs riders Michael Creed and Danny Pate have been permitted to leave the team and sign with the Italian squad Saeco-Gaggia. Although both riders had signed letters of intent with 7Up/Colorado Cyclist, the organization recognized that it was an excellent opportunity for the youngsters and gave the okay for the move. Said team manager Jeff Corbett: "We as an organization, and I personally, wish Danny and Michael nothing but the best." Pate, the reigning U.S. amateur road champion, will ride for Saeco's Division 1 lineup; while Creed, winner of a record 17 junior national titles, will compete with the Saeco espoirs squad. Filling their cleats on the 7Up/Colorado Cyclist roster will be the Guatemalan-born Pineda brothers, who last year rode for the NYC-based G.S. Mengoni squad. Oscar, 23, is already an automatic qualifier for the Sydney Olympics, and won a stage in this past year's Tour of the Dominican Republic; while Juan, 25, is an up-and-coming sprinter who, in 1999, won the Central Park Circuit Race and finished third in a stage of the Fitchburg-Longjo Classic. They will join their new teammates when training camp opens in Boulder on January 31st. Heeb goes skiingSwiss female world champion of 1996, Barbara Heeb will withdraw from cycling to pursue a career as cross country skier. "I might ride some lesser cycling races just for fun, but I'll take cycling as it comes", said the 31 year old Heeb who finished last season as no. 31 on the UCI rankings.
Blood tests OKThe medical committee of the UCI visited 20 riders on Saturday morning in St Michielsgestel for compulsory blood tests. The riders, from Belgium, Spain, Switzerland and France, were all cleared to race. East German doping in courtThe most important court case concerning the organized doping in the East German sports system will start on May 2nd in Berlin. The accused is the former president of the East German Sports Federation, Manfred Ewald and the former deputy leader of the Sports Medical Services Manfred Höppner. They are accused of assistance in causing bodily harm with male hormones on juveniles. The accused, if found guilty, face fines or prison.
Attention race organisersAs part of cyclingnews increasing service to its readers, we have recently added a means whereby race organisers (of non-UCI races) can enter the full details of their race online, which will then be available as a listings indexed by country, followed by a brief and more detailed description. This is intended to allow our readers to keep in touch with races that are on in their area. The basic listing service will be free, and we are now asking potential race organisers to submit their details via our event form, and to provide us with any feedback before we go "live" with it. We anticipate this will be by the end of the first week in February.
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