News for June 22, 2000

French Championships

Cristophe Moreau
Photo: © AFP

Today marks the start of the French National Championships, to be held in Poiré-sur-Vie from June 22-25. The races commence with the time trials, the Juniors and Women covering 22.5 kilometres in the morning, and the espoirs and elites riding 31.8 and 44.5 kilometres respectively in the afternoon. Following a day's rest, the road races for the Elite 2 and women will be held on Saturday, June 24 (157 and 100 kilometres each), while the professional men will do battle on Sunday, June 25 (243 km). The time trial and road courses have no major climbs, with the highest point being 71 metres, and the lowest 34 metres.

Out and out favourite for the women's events is veteran Jeannie Longo (Paris CO). The 42 year old has won a staggering 40 French titles and 12 World Titles, not to mention an Olympic Gold medal and 3 Tours de France. She is certainly in form at the moment, riding strongly in the recently completed HPLJ Women's Challenge in Idaho, USA. There she won three stages, including the time trial and excelled whenever the road went up. Lack of team was her downfall, but she still finished 4th overall.

Hot on her heels will be Cathy Marsal (Edilsavino) and Géraldine Loewenguth (AS La Steigeoise) who finished 2nd and 3rd last year. Loewenguth is riding strongly at the moment, but is unlikely to challenge Longo at her specialist event. Other favourites include diarist Marion Clignet and Juliette Vandekerkhove. The women's road race is an important one in terms of Olympic selection for the French women's team.

The men's time trial title will see Festina's Cristophe Moreau as the favourite, going against Laurent Brochard (Jean Delatour) and last year's winner, Gilles Maignan (Ag2r). Brochard's teammate, Francisque Teyssier may also be in with a chance, however it's likely that the top three will be very similar to last year.

In the road race, last year's champion, Francois Simon (Bonjour) will be watched carefully, but it's unlikely that he'll repeat the performance given the nature of the course. His teammate, Damien Nazon has a considerably better chance given his sprinting capabilities. Stéphane Heulot, Jimmy Casper and Emmanuel Magnien will be Francaise des Jeux' big hopes, although they have a good deal of depth in their team. Richard Virenque and Pascal Herve will be there for Polti, as will the Jalabert brothers for ONCE. Jean Delatour have other riders apart from Brochard, such as Patrice Halgand and will be fighting hard no matter which way their court case goes.

Big Mat Auber 93 have the Auger brothers (Guillaume and Ludovic), as well as Stéphane Berges to put their hopes in, although they suffered a lot during May with injuries. Finally, leading French division II team, Credit Agricole will feature Frédéric Finot, Sébastien Hinault and Fabrice Gougot in their line up. In total 122 riders will contest the road race, however it will not be as important to Olympic selection as the women's race is. The men's team will be announced after the Tour.

Trek Bicycles and Nike ACG announce partnership

Two giants in the cycling and sporting industry, Trek Bicycle Corporation, and Nike ACG recently announced a large scale partnership to promote footwear and clothing. The venture, which comes with just a week and a half to go until the Tour, means that Trek will be the official licensee maker of Nike ACG's apparel. The partnership is a natural extension of the Lance Armstrong/Nike relationship, as the two have been together throughout much of Lance's career.

Armstrong's Tour win last year brought cycling to the fore in a big way in the US, even more so than Greg Lemond's pioneering efforts in the '80s. Although his battle with cancer was well publicised, it doesn't make headlines in the same way as winning the hardest bike race in the world. To do both equals big, even for a Texan.

Nike does not yet have a big slice of the cycling clothing industry, so the Trek/Nike arrangement will mean that they have an accessible means of getting Nike gear out to cycling consumers. This will involve the sale of US Postal team gear, green, yellow and polka dot jersey replicas, along with more causal attire (t-shirts, caps etc.). It is anticipated that footwear will follow in early 2001, with Armstrong the guinea pig for testing the shoes.

Both parties are happy with the arrangement: Trek because they have not yet got into the footwear and clothing market, and Nike because they've not impacted on the cycling market. They now have Trek's 7000 dealers with which to do so.

EPO test decision today

The final decision about whether the new EPO test will be ready for the Tour de France will be taken Thursday afternoon Central European Time by the International Cycling Union (UCI). Three scientists who have examined the method developed by the doping laboratory of Châtenay-Malabry near Paris for a week will submit their report on Thursday. On the same day, results of a blind test involving 220 samples will also be presented. Following this, the UCI president Hein Verbruggen, the chairman of the UCI doping commission Dr. Schattenberg and the UCI law expert Verbiest will meet to decide whether the method will be used during the Tour or not.

The method uses urine samples to detect artificial EPO and an outline was published in "Nature" on June 8.

Pantani and Di Luca pass over

Marco Pantani will not take part in the Italian Championships this weekend. According to his team sports director Giuseppe Martinelli, Tour de France preparations are more important, and besides the parcours is too flat. The colours of Mercatone Uno will be defended by Stefano Garzelli, who won a stage yesterday in the Tour de Suisse, as well is a big Italian race in May/June.

Similarly, Danilo Di Luca will give the Nationals a miss as he is still trying to recover from tendonitis. He raced in a couple of criteriums last weekend (and did quite well), but is not confident that he is in top shape yet.

Cooke trials with Manheim-Mercury

Talented Australian track and road rider, Baden Cooke, has been given a trial run with US team Manheim Auctions-Mercury for next year. This comes on the heels of the announcement that Michael Rogers will ride with the number one team, Mapei-Quick Step next year, showing the continued depth in Australian cycling (approximately 30 are riding professionally in Europe and the USA). Rogers was actually offered a contract last year, but decided to delay until next season before making the jump.

In Cooke's case, he has recorded several strong performances overseas this year, and has been asked by John Wordin's team to race in several races for them in the next two weeks. Depending on his performance, he will sign a deal in July. Fellow Australians, Henk Vogels and Jamie Drew already ride with the successful US based team.

Junior World's to Australia

The 2002 Junior World Track Championships have been awarded to Australia, and will be staged at the velodrome in Melbourne Park's new Multi Purpose Venue. The track there is scheduled for completion in July this year. The bid has the full backing of the Victorian Government, and an organising committee will be formed in the coming weeks. The UCI will confirm dates for the event later this year.

This year's Junior World's are to be held in Firenzuola, Italy from August 2-6.

Longsjo Classic next week

The Fitchburg's Longsjo Classic is a 4 day, non-UCI event in Massachusetts, USA. It runs from June 29 to July 2, and is a big event on the US National calendar. This year, teams from several countries will contest the men's and women's events, including riders from Timex, Mercury, Navigators, Saturn, Jayco VIS and more.

Director of the Timex Women's cycling team, Giana Roberge won this race in 1997, and describes it as her "favorite US-based stage race." Her team this year includes five time US National Champion Mari Holden, cancer survivor, diarist and World number 3, Tracey Gaudry, Pan Am gold medallist Erin Veenstra, dual Finnish National Champion Sanna Lehtimaki, '99 US World's competitor Kim Smith, and Canadian Odessa Gunn.

They will tough competition from riders with the powerful Saturn Team and Jayco VIS from Australia. Saturn's Team includes both the '99 Longsjo winner Lyne Bessette and the '98 winner Dede Demet-Barry (six time US National Champion) as well as 2000 Clarendon Cup winner Nicole Reinhart and Anna Wilson, 1999 Australian National Road Champion and winner of the 2000 HPLJ Women's Challenge. Anna will be competing against fellow Australians Naomi Williams, Geraldine Denham and Katie Mactier of the Jayco VIS Team.

Donna Rae, Director of the Jayco VIS Team tells a story about teamwork from last year's New Zealand Streetskills International Tour: "Jayco VIS had Anna Wilson at overall 3rd place on Day 2, when teammate Geraldine Denham attacked and stayed out the entire stage, taking over the lead by 2 minutes. On the next final stage, Geraldine punctures with 10KM to go and Anna, still in 2nd place, stops, gives her a wheel and sends her off. Anna waited for a wheel, started chasing, caught Geraldine and her other teammates and helped pull them back up to the pack at 3 km. Geraldine held the lead and won the tour the next day - Anna came in second!"

This year will mark the 41st consecutive year for the Longsjo bicycle races, which commemorates Fitchburg native Arthur Longsjo, the first athlete to be a member of both the Winter and Summer US Olympic Teams in the same year (1956). The Longsjo Classic is a featured race in the Saturn/USPRO Cycling Tour Series and the Agilent Women's Series and is an important prelude to this year's Olympics to be held in Sydney, Australia.

The race includes four stages: June 29 - Royal Plaza 13-mile Time Trial; June 30 - Aubuchon/Glidden Circuit Race (78-miles for Men's Pro/1/2); July 1 - Unitil/FG&E Road Race which finishes a grueling 11-mile lap course with a sprint to the top of Mt. Wachusett (104 miles for Men's Pro/1/2); July 2 - the exciting Downtown Criterium in the heart of Fitchburg (50 miles for Men's Pro/1/2). Separate racing categories include Men's Professional and Category 1 and 2, Women's Professional and Category 1 and 2, Men's Category 3, Women's Category 3, Men's Category 4, Women's Category 4, Master's (35+) and Junior Men. A total of more than 400 contestants are expected to register for the event, which offers more than $25,000 in total prizes.