News for January 3, 2000

Agro Adler after all

By Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent

After long and hard sponsor negotiations, Agro Adler manager Dirk Meier has got enough dough to put a team on the road. This comes after a year with good results from Olaf Pollack in the Tour of Germany, but also lots of bad will due to Uwe Ampler's doping case. Pollack left the team when its future seemed to insecure as did several other riders. The new team will have a definite track flavour:

"We will be able to build a team around Andreas Kappes, third in the World Championships points race and team World Champion Christian Lademann", said Meier.

Other riders are with good track capacities are Andreas Beikirch and Ronny Lauke, from Die Continentale, and Roberto Lochowski from Team Nürnberger.

Zabel organizes crit

Rad Nacht 2000 is a new two hour late night criterium in Germany that will be held in Unna, Germany, on the 29th of July with Erik Zabel as the main attraction since he is one of the organizers.

There will also be a 40 kms tour for the public and some junior racing, and of course music, merry-go-rounds and "various beverages":

"We want to have a nice mix of sports and show," said Zabel who hopes to have a new green jersey to show off during 80 to 100 laps of a 900 meter circuit in the town center.

Australian road selection

The first date for the Australian Olympic men's road team selection is at the end of January this year. A squad of 14 riders will be chosen then, according to national road coach, Shayne Bannan. Eventually, this will be whittled down to five, with three reserves come July.

According to a report in "The Advertiser" today, Bannan believes that Australia has a realistic chance of a medal in the individual road race. With sprinters such as Stuart O'Grady, Robbie McEwen and Jay Sweet, there is every possibility should the race come down to a largish field sprint, or one of them make it to the break.

Jay Sweet is fairly confident for the team as well: "Realistically, the road race is where we will have our best chance," he told the Advertiser. "All the riders, we've gone in together and said definitely top five and we are hoping 90-95 per cent chance for a medal."

"We have some of the best one-day racers in the world now and we are going to be the underdogs."

"Even though we are the host nation the bigger European countries like Italy, Germany, Spain, even America are going to be watching each other and the little young Aussie team will go shooting down the road in small breaks."

In the individual time trial, Bannan is more circumspect, believing a top 8 is the best Australia can hope for. Australia has only one time triallist qualified in the men's race, and he will be decided on June 10 in Italy at the Coppa di Nazioni race in Tortona. The selection criteria are that they are the first Australian and their time is within two percent of the winner.

Colombian attempts to smuggle

A Colombian cyclist who was travelling home after the Vuelta a Costa Rica was challenged by San José airport authorities when he tried to take weapons on board the plane. He may have had better luck in Australia, where you appear to be allowed to take spearguns on board [but not bike tools!].

Winner of the sixth stage of the race, Hernan Dario Bonilla was obviously afraid of hijackers when he attempted to smuggle two 9mm pistols on board his flight. He was detained by authorities and will not be allowed to leave Costa Rica until his case is examined, which may take up to six months.

Indurain sportsperson of the age

Miguel Indurain has been elected Spain's sportsperson of the century according to a poll conducted by Spain's largest newspaper "Marca". The 5-time Tour de France and 3-time Giro d'Italia winner won with 62 percent of the vote, a long way in front of ex-Real Madrid footballer, Alfredo di Stefano who picked up 8.4 percent.

Tifosi honour Coppi's anniversary

A large number of Italian cycling fans gathered in the public square of Castellania for the 40th anniversary of Fausto Coppi's death. The Italian, who was one of the most successful cyclists of the century, contracted a fatal illness at age 40 while on a hunting trip in Africa, and died shortly after.

His children Faustino and Marina were at his former home, "Grande Airone", along with many past champions of the cycling community, including Defilippis, Dancelli and Massignan as well as Ettore Milan and Andrea Carrea.

Mexican Muņiz breaks record

62 year old Mexican cyclist, Carmen "La Popis" Muņiz broke an endurance cycling record when she cycled for 26 hours non-stop around the Mexico City velodrome, starting at 10 am, December 31 1999. Muņiz covered 562.5 km in her ride, bettering the two marks she set in 1997 (24 hours) and 1998 (25 hours).

The cyclist previously held the Latin American hour record in 1970.