News for June 15, 2000Another Belgian carpet team?Following on the heels of Belgian team Palmans-Ideal, carpet giant 'Domo' will decide this week whether they will help to fund a new Belgian cycling team with ex-Mapei director, Patrick Lefevere. Domo will put in 200 million Belgian francs ($US 5 million) to the team for the first three years, while Lefevere's other sponsors, Latexco and Quick Step can contribute up to 55 million Belgian francs. Quick Step are a co-sponsor with Mapei at the moment, but they can leave at the end of the season. The owner of Domo, Jan De Clerck, has already spoken several times with Lefevere about this new team. De Clerck can use publicity because he wants to bring his company to the stock exchange. Potential riders? Frank Vandenbroucke and Johan Museeuw have been mentioned, as well as the other Belgians in the current Mapei team (Wilfried Peeters, Bart Leysen and Leif Hoste). Lefevere is also interested in Tom Steels, despite the fact that Steels still has a contract for 2001, and he will try to break that. He is also interested in today's Tour de Suisse stage winner, US Champion Fred Rodriguez, who lives in Lefevere's house in Varese. Additionally, because Domo is active in business in Eastern Europe, Lefevere will look for some riders from those areas as well. Lefevere, who refused an offer to be the Farm Frites manager, has an ideal team of about 20 riders. He expects the team to be managed by Marc Sergeant, with doctors Yvan Van Mol and Dirk Nachtergaele. First of all however, De Clerck has to make a decision this week. 80th Volta a CatalunyaAlthough slightly shorter than the Tour de Suisse, the Hors Categorie Volta a Catalunya (June 15-22) is the final big stage race before the Tour. It is the traditional preparation ground for the Spanish teams who have gained Tour positions, and was often Miguel Indurain's final tune up. The race is similar to the Swiss tour in that it commences with a 21.8 kilometre team time trial, from Pineda to Vilaseca. The next stage is fairly flat, but there some harder climbs on stage 3 (1 category 2 and 3 category 3). Stages 6 and 7 are the hardest mountain stages, with a total of 4 first and three second category climbs. The race finishes on Thursday June 22 with a 12.8 kilometre mountain time trial from San Julia de Loira in Andorra - Viola Rabassa. A mountain time trial to finish a stage race can lead to some interesting results, and keeps the tension up right until the end. Fernando Escartin (Kelme) and José Maria Jimenez (Banesto) will be the main Spaniards to watch in this year's event, as will last minute signing, Pavel Tonkov of Mapei. Other GC riders include Andreas Klöden, Tonkov's teammate Axel Merckx and Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano. Sprinters include Jan Svorada (Lampre), Erik Zabel (Telekom), Romans Vainsteins (Vini Caldirola), Marcel Wüst and Miguel Angel Martin Perdiguero (Vitalicio). There will be no Lance Armstrong though in the Postal Team, as he will contest the Route du Sud from June 17-20. Similarly, ONCE will be without Laurent Jalabert or Abraham Olano. The teams: Banesto, Costa Almeria, Euskaltel, Kelme, Relax-Fuenlabrada, ONCE, Vitalicio Seguros, Mapei, Lampre, Mercatone Uno, Vini Caldirola, US Postal, Telekom, Farm Fried, Festina, Memory Card-Jack&Jones
The stages: Stage 1 - June 15: Pineda-Vilaseca, TTT, 21.8 km Post Tour criteriums in hollandThe schedule for the post Tour de France criteriums in Holland is as follows: July 26: Acht Van Chaam: www.globe.nl/8vchaam
(Pro's 18h45 - 100 km) Another Trentino Adige stage raceThis weekend (June 16-18) will see another women's stage race held in Trentino Alto Adige, Italy. This time, it is not a UCI category race, however several international teams (including the Australian women) will be taking part. 100 riders are expected to sign on on Friday, with an evening 4 kilometre prologue. Stage 2 will start and finish in Foresta, a 115 kilometre ride through the hills surrounding Meran and Bolzano, with the finish at the famous Italian Brewery Forst at the end of a short but difficult climb. The last stage on Sunday is 100 km long and is out and back from Bolzano to Bolzano. The cyclists will ride from Bolzano (200 m) to Sciaves (about 800 m) and then back to the town.
Live reports from SwedenWell, it didn't quite come off although Tomas Nilsson was there on the spot. We have however been getting some live updates from the 50th Vuelta a Colombia via Haroldo Camacho who is doing an excellent job so far (pictures to follow). If you are interested, then simply click on the Colombia link on the home page when the reports start coming in. Typically, this is between 10-11 am in Colombia. US espoir championships in New YorkJune 16-18 in the US marks the running of this year's Espoir (U23) National Championships, to be held in Staten Island, New York. Commencing on Friday June 16 with a 40 kilometre (25 mile) time trial, the titles will determine one place in the US World Championships team to go to Plouay, France in October. The women's road race will be held on Saturday June 17, while the men's will be on Sunday, June 18 over 188 km (116.8 mi). Michael Creed, Josh Thornton and Derek Wilkerson will be names to look out for, as are Ryan Miller, Brad Buccambuso, Aaron Olson, and Brice Jones in the men's events.
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