News for June 11, 2000

Bad fall for Cipo

Mario Cipollini's Tour de France may be in doubt after he had a bad fall during training today. He was riding in Monte Quiesa, Lucca when he attempted to zip up his wind jacket. Unfortunately at that moment he hit a huge pothole and fell heavily. Doctors examinations revealed two cracked ribs and severe cuts to the face, requiring 30 stitches.

The Lion King has been battling asthma in the past few months and has been below par. This accident may impact negatively on his Tour ambitions, although he will wait a few days to see how things heal.

Bart Leysen out

Mapei speedster, Tom Steels' main domestique for the Tour de France, Bart Leysen will not be able to support him this year. Leysen fell during a stage of the Tour of Luxembourg, sustaining a double broken pelvis (on top of his shoulder injury). He will be out for at least five weeks, missing the Tour de France,

Linda McCartney in Serbia

The development squad of the British Linda McCartney team raced in last week's Tour of Serbia, with somewhat mixed fortunes. On the first day of arrival, the team arrived minus bikes and equipment, after luggage delays at the airport. They managed to borrow some bikes to race the first stage, and promptly crashed a couple of them as Huw Pritchard and James Griffiths were involved in falls, and were nearly eliminated after the first day.

However, a meeting between team managers (who argued the case for dodgy equipment) and race officials meant that they were able to start stage 2. It looked good for Matt de Canio on this stage, as he made the crucial break. However, a puncture and a very slow wheel change meant that he had no hope of catching the leaders, and he was forced to finish with the main bunch. An overall 26th was the end result for the McCartney's young American.

There was success in the last stage, as Huw Pritchard won by outsprinting breakaway companions, Stanislav Nefedov (Ukr) and Vladimir Sidorenkov (Rus), to win the 155 kilometre stage. His big short term goal is the British National Championships on June 25th, where he will attempt to make an impression for Olympic selection.

Bromont buys velodrome

The Bromont National Training Center in Canada this week acquired the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games Velodrome from Disney Wide World of Sports. It came as a result of a decision by the Québec Minister of Sports on May 12 to award 1.9 million dollars in support for an international level velodrome and facilities in Bromont. The 250 meter track, stored in good conditions since 1996, will be moved from Orlando to Bromont during June using 15 truck loads for the 70 tons of steel and 35 tons of wood in a 3,000 km journey.

Regarding the track, Eric Van Den Eynde, head coach of the Bromont National Training Center said that "The choice of the proper technology is critical for a velodrome located in a northern climate. We did not want to go for a concrete track because of its heavy maintenance load and relative quality duration. The traditional strip wood surface is good for indoor track but there are serious maintenance and duration problems outdoor. The 1996 Centennial Olympic Games Velodrome is the best compromise between performance and flexibility for maintenance and duration in the long run."

The name will be kept as the "Centennial Olympic Games Velodrome", and will somewhat help to forget the demolition of the 1976 Montréal Olympic Games Velodrome in December 1989 replaced by a natural science museum, losing an annual average of 6 million dollars since then.

Canada hopes that the new facility will help them speed up the preparation of newcomers in track cycling on the international scene. The Bromont National Training Center is discussing with several national team representatives to use the Bromont facilities since it will provide affordable access to the track, lodging and indoor training/testing facilities plus cross-country and downhill mountain bike international level facilities.

Lampre sign Brazilian

One of the premiere Italian teams, Lampre-Daikin, have added a Brazilian rider to their ranks. Luciano Pagliarini will ride for the team next season, after showing some good results with the amateur team Team Ima-Carla Travel.

46,000 for Udinepedala

Tomorrow's edition of the Italian cyclotourist event, the Udinepedala 2000 has attracted a record number of participants this year. Although last year's crowd of 33,045 riders was large, this year there are already over 46,000 enrolled for the fun ride. Strung out in single file, allowing 2 metres per bike, this would give a 92 kilometre long peloton.