News for July 29, 2000

GP Ouest-France

This weekend's big race is the 22nd GP Ouest-France in Plouay, the site of the World Championships this year. Many riders will be using it as a chance to assess the World's course before October 15 when the men's road race is scheduled. It is an enormously popular race, with an expected crowd of 200,000 on Sunday - quite a lot for the small town of Plouay.

Of the 198 starters, last year's winner Christophe Mengin (FdJ) will line up with a strong team containing the likes of Grzegorz Gwiazdowski, Stéphane Heulot, and Frédéric Guesdon. Jean Delatour will present with Laurent Brochard and Patrice Halgand eager to tear some legs off after missing Le Tour, while Bonjour will rely on the talents of Didier Rous and Jean-Cyril Robin.

For his part, Mengin is looking for another big win after little success this year. He said that he was not destroyed by the Tour but did not have a particularly brilliant one in terms of GC (96th). His main claim to fame was a breakaway in the stage to Lausanne and a 10th into Troyes. However, he remains positive and will do his best on Sunday.

The winner in 1998, Pascal Herve (Polti) will also be here, looking to add another win on top of his excellent Tour form. His teammate Richard Virenque will not be there to help however, but the Polti squad is strong enough with the likes of Celestino, Sacchi and Mazzoleni. Saeco will present with their Tour stage winner, Salvatore Commesso, along with Paolo Savoldelli, Dario Pieri, Biagio Conte, and young US rider Danny Pate.

Mapei will take a solid line up as well, with Michele Bartoli leading the way with Paolo Bettini, Oscar Freire, Chann McRae and Daniele Nardello the main riders.

Leon van Bon and Markus Zberg will be doing the honours for Rabobank, while Andrei Tchmil, Rik Verbrugghe, and Kurt Van de Wouwer will be there for Lotto. Cofidis will be with Laurent Desbiens, Nico Mattan, Massimiliano Lelli, Frank Vandenbroucke and Laurent Lefevre, while Festina will take Christophe Moreau and Laurent Madouas as their key riders.

Armstrong could do better

US Postal team doctor, Luis García del Moral, said today that Lance Armstrong has not reached his potential, and has silenced many people who believed he was only a classics rider. To the critics he pointed out that Armstrong has always been a strong rider, as he won the World Championships at age 21. "He has a great deal of physical strength, and excellent recovery powers...although that doesn't have anything to do with chemistry," clarified the doctor.

He also spoke about the US Postal team's key moments of the Tour, "on the Hautacam, we decided to impose a high tempo and for that reason we were the first to suffer," said del Moral, who subsequently ordered the team to take it easier. "In the end, we were the only team that finished with nine cyclists, so that method worked."

Armstrong's explosion on the Joux-Plane was simply written off as hunger flat, and he managed to contain his losses. "He knew how to regulate it, despite the fact there was only 15 kilometres to finish, he could have lost the Tour."

Finally, although Armstrong is considered to be completely recovered from cancer, he still has to go back for regular checkups and remains sterile (his son Luke was born using IVF). Aspects of the cancer could be used to aid his racing, as he lost a large amount of weight "a rider with such bulk cannot gain Grand Tours," finished del Moral.

Delatour to Spain

Named as one of the 20 final teams to participate in the Vuelta a España (August 26-September 17), French squad Jean Delatour will be hoping to make up for their disappointment at being left out of the Tour de France. After they were announced earlier in the week, the team said that they were happy to race in the event, and will ride with a similar team to what they would have used in the Tour. At first, there was some hesitation from riders who would be participating in the Olympics shortly afterward, but in the end all were keen to ride in the Vuelta, their only Grand Tour to date.

The 20 teams again are: Banesto, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Jazztel-Costa de Almería, Kelme-Costa Blanca, ONCE-Deutsche Bank, Relax-Fuenlabrada, Vitalicio Seguros, Festina, Farm Frites, Fassa Bortolo, Jean-Delatour, Lampre-Daikin, Liquigas-Pata, Mapei-Quick Step, Polti, Saeco-Valli&Valli, Cantina Tollo, Deutsche Telekom, US Postal Service, La-Pecol

Track news

In the past few weeks, several countries have been holding their national track championships. In an Olympic year, these are considered important form guides and selection races governing the composition of the Olympic team. During this week, the two major ones have been the French and the British championships. So far, there have been several top performances any many other countries with track aspirations will be watching the results with interest.

In Britain (Manchester) earlier on in the week, Paul Manning won the Men's 4000m Individual Pursuit in a time of 4.22.013 (54.96 km/h). It is a quick time in these post-superman days, and Manning broke Graeme Obree's 1995 British record by 0.6 seconds. Later on in the week, 39 year old Yvonne McGregor managed to snare the women's 3000m Individual Pursuit after a close battle with Emma Davies in the final. McGregor rode 3.40.915 (48.89 km/h), her best of the series to down Davies who had led earlier on in the piece.

Contrast that to the French results, where Phillipe Gaumont won the 4000m men's event on the Hyeres velodrome in 4.33.679 (52.61 km/h). The fastest qualifier was actually Jérôme Neuville (4.31.901), but he could not produce this in the final. The women's race was predictably dominated by last year's World Champion, Marion Clignet, who qualified in 3.38.463 (49.43 km/h) and went on to beat Jeannie Longo-Ciprelli in the final by a considerable margin. She also added the points race to her palmares and will go to Sydney as one of the big favourites.

French kilo time trial star, Arnaud Tournant cruised to a win in 1.01.906 (58.15 km/h), beating the next rider Hervé Thuet by 1.37 seconds. Tournant has been untouchable in the kilo for the past few years, but can he get it together in Sydney versus Shane Kelly on "home" turf?

In the men's sprint Florian Rousseau gained the title over the slightly more favoured Laurent Gane, with Frederic Magne taking third. The women's event is yet to be completed, but Felicia Ballanger qualified fastest in 11.317, after also winning the 500m time trial in a very fine 34.644 seconds.

In other news, Swiss trackie, Franco Marvulli (who as also spent some time in Australia) won the Swiss points championship of the SRV (Schweiz. Rennfahrer Verband) on July 18 for the third year in a row. On July 18, on the open air track in Oerlikon, he dominated the race by lapping the field twice. Second was Kurt Betschart, currently riding in the Six Days of Fiorenzuola.

To Germany, and 30 year-old Berliner, Sören Lausberg has managed to gain an Olympic berth in the kilometre time trial after an outstanding performance in the Oderlandhalle velodrome this week. After suffering from an achilles injury for a good part of the year, Lausberg missed the initial Olympic track selection and was asked to ride under 1.03.5 seconds to be given a chance. He did more than this, riding 1.01.96 on Thursday night, breaking Maic Malchow's 4 year old German record set at altitude. With this time, Lausberg could well be in the medals in Sydney.

Lausberg joins Jens Fiedler, Jan van Eijden and Stefan Nimke as the four member German sprint team. He also pushed out training partner, Erk Pokorny, who did not perform up to scratch in the German championships.

Davidson and Sabaliuskas finalise with Saeco next year

Lithuanian Marius Sabaliuskas and Australian Brad Davidson have both secured contracts with the Saeco-Valli&Valli team for next year after their trials impressed the team. Sabaliauskas, not yet 22, currently rides for the Italian Sintofarm team, and is considered a good performer on the flat and the hills. He finished the Baby Giro in 4th position overall. Brad Davidson is only 20 and currently rides for the Vezza-Brunero team. He has won two races this season and is considered a good allrounder.

Alison on Cheerios

Canada's number one female mountain biker, Alison Sydor, had done enough to qualify for the Olympic team before it was finalised last Monday. She has been further honoured with a distinction that few cyclists earn-getting her face on the Multi Grain Cheerios box, put out by General Mills (an Olympic sponsor) in Canada. Lance Armstrong managed the same feat last year when he was "published" on the Wheeties box in the USA. Have any other cyclists achieved national sporting icon status with their face on a cereal box? (Don't ask me for the Australians, because I don't eat cereal).