News for June 29, 2000

The Tour draws nigh...

The favourites
Photo: © AFP

Futuroscope, Saturday, July 1 at 16:15 CET marks the start of the 87th edition of the Tour de France. This year, 180 riders will take to the longer-than-usual 16.5 kilometre stage, with their sights set on winning the Malliot Jaune. One rider will do it, and another will presumably take his place in the following stages. Who will that be? Stay tuned to cyclingnews.com to catch all the action.

This year, we've greatly enhanced our coverage of the biggest event in bike racing. Our correspondent, Tim Maloney is in France right now, and he will be following the Tour in the cyclingnews.com Fiat, providing us with daily reports and more. In addition, we'll bring you live updates of the key stages, starting with this Saturday's first stage .

To start with, why not take a look at our Tour map, which has been significantly enhanced with stage information courtesy of Steven Richards, who added some Flash features. The pop up windows contain all the essentials necessary for following the Tour, with links to the profiles and results for each stage, in a not overly large file.

Sit back and enjoy the 2000 Tour de France with cyclingnews.com!

Armstrong confident

Despite the strength of this year's Tour field, 1999 winner Lance Armstrong remains the favourite to take out his second Tour come July 23. He has set himself a goal of winning it again, and has mapped his season almost identically to last year. As recent performances in the Dauphiné Libéré and the Classique des Alpes have shown, he is in top condition. He is at his desired weight, is not over-raced and above all, is hungry for another crack at yellow.

However, he has a harder task this year against riders such as Pantani and Ullrich, as well as Zülle, Escartin, Jimenez, Julich, Vaughters, Olano, Jalabert, Bartoli, Vandenbroucke, Virenque and Dufaux. Or perhaps we'll see a new star emerge? Armstrong has the pressure of being the winner, and the knowledge of what it takes to win, definitely a two edged sword. According to him, anything less than a win would be a disappointment. "It is impossible to come back here saying 'I will finish in the top five placings'," he told Reuters newsagency.

He admits he made some mistakes on his way to winning last year in terms of organising his team. The aim is not to defend the jersey for longer than necessary, and that means not going all out in the early part of the Tour. His US Postal Team will have to be spared for when things get tough later on. They have done their homework though, and know what some of the toughest stages will be, including several outside the mountains.

Although he became a huge sports celebrity after winning last year - he reputedly earned $US 7.5 million in salary and advertising contracts, the highest sum ever earned by a professional cyclist. However, he reaffirms that he wants to remain as a symbol to those fighting against cancer. "I feel that I am more a part of that group, and not representative of cycling," he said to Reuters.

"My opinion on that subject does not carry great weight. I represent just who I am. The other riders, the journalists, and people can say what they want, they were not there: those I who touched were millions. It is my history that I want to offer to them."

Tour facts

Most number of stages won in a single Tour: 8 (Charles Pélissier (1930), Eddy Merckx (1970, 1974) and Freddy Maertens (1976))

Greatest number of stage wins in total: Eddy Merckx (34)

Greatest number of overall wins: 5 (Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain)

Most podium finishes: 8 (Raymond Poulidor (3x2nd, 5x3rd)

Most number of riders wearing yellow in a single Tour: 8 (1987)

Greatest number of days in yellow: 96 (Eddy Merckx in 7 Tours)

Biggest winning margin since 1947: 28:27 (Fausto Coppi - Stan Ockers in 1952)

Smallest winning margin: 8 second (Greg LeMond - Laurent Fignon in 1989)

Longest successful solo break: 253 km (Albert Bourlon in 1947)

Fastest prologue: 55.152 km/h over 7.2 km (Chris Boardman in 1994)

Fastest individual time trial: 54.545 km/h over 24.5 km (Greg LeMond in 1989)

Fastest road stage: 50.355 km/h over 194.5 km (Mario Cipollini in 1999: Laval-Blois)

Fastest overall Tour average: 40.273 km/h (Lance Armstrong in 1999)

Oldest winner: Firmin Lambot (36) in 1922

Youngest winner: Henri Horn (20) in 1904

Most Tours ridden: 16 by Joop Zoetemelk between 1970 and 1986 (no DNF).

Controls during the Tour

Despite the fact that the EPO urine test is highly unlikely to be used, the Tour's organisers are aiming to have the cleanest race on record, with tighter and more widespread doping controls. All 180 riders will have to undergo an initial blood and urine screen before they start, and the UCI have specified that the samples will be kept for later analysis, after new methods come to light. The usual system involving the testing of four riders from each stage will be used: the stage winner, the yellow jersey wearer, and two random selections will have to present themselves to the anti-doping control.

There may well be more than this number, after an agreement between the UCI and the French Ministry for Sport. The hematocrit controls will be applied in the mornings on randomly selected teams, and the usual 50% = Do Not Start rule will apply. Tests for Perfluorocarbon (PFC) and corticoids will also be applied, as these drugs are quite potent performance enhancers/regainers.

Everyone is hoping that the 2000 Tour de France will be the cleanest yet, and all available methods are being used to ensure this. The dissuading factor that a retrospective EPO test will be used is considered to be quite important, hence the reason for keeping and freezing samples. The air of suspicion is becoming clearer, but there are still dense patches.

Boogerd's tent experiment questioned

Even in his own Rabobank team, there have been questions raised in regard to Michael Boogerd's plans to take an oxygen tent for the first week of the Tour. The team think that it is not wise to take unnecessary risks in such an important tour.

His teammate Karsten Kroon used the tent only at home - never during a tour. Max van Heeswijk (Mapei): "When I slept in this tent after a tour stage, I woke up half dead! That was one time, but never again. And I don't understand why Boogerd is starting now and not three weeks ago."

Team manager Theo de Rooy said that "we didn't say that we'll use the tent every day. We will be careful and see how it goes day by day. If the generator makes too much noise we'll stop the machine. So easy is it."

Hanegraaf manages...

Jacques Hanegraaf has confirmed that he will be in the Tour de France with the Farm Frites team, but only as manager. The riders will be led by Hendrik Redant and Johan Capiot. However, it isn't clear who will lead the Farm Frites team in the Tour of Bohemia, in the Czech Republic. It is likely that Jelle Nijdam (team manager of the amateur team) will join these riders.

Pantani in court for the World's

The case against Marco Pantani and his alleged doping use in 1995 (a high hematocrit measured after his crash in Milan-Turin) has been postponed again until October this year. Although the trial was scheduled to take place shortly after this year's Giro, due to training commitments it did not occur. Pantani has been gearing up for the Tour, and a court case would greatly interfere with his preparations.

The court in Forli, where the case is to be heard, today announced a date of October 13 for Il Pirata's trial. If they stick to this date, it will mean that the World Championships are an unlikely prospect for Pantani, as the Men's road race is being held on October 15 in Plouay, France.

Cofidis on for two more years

By Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent

The telephone credit company Cofidis will prolong its engagement in cycling for two more years. The ambition is to be among the top ten teams in the world during this period. Cofidis has managed to lose a lot of good cyclists in recent years. First Lance Armstrong was dumped but the team during his fight with cancer, then Bobby Julich was lost to Credit Agricole. After him Frank Vandenbroucke wanted to jump out of the team bus this winter and will leave after this season, probably taking with him several Belgian riders who were more or less signed as his personal helpers. Tony Rominger, Maurizio Fondriest and Francesco Casagrande have also been on the team that also sponsors some of the best French trackies.

The team is aiming at a "stronger presence" in the Grand Tours and also will try to win the French championships as soon as possible. The team will be a mix of experience and youth with the talents David Moncoutier (25 years) and the 23 year old Scot David Millar as exponents for the latter category.

No Posties for the Post race

By Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent

US Postal will be substituted by Cofidis in the Tour of Denmark (Post Danmark Rundt) August 1-5. Sports director Johan Bruyneel has not been able to present a good enough team, the organisers say on the race website. Cofidis will have Laurent Desbiens and Christophe Rinero on the team and the Danish organiser notes that Cofidis are ranked 14th in the world while the Posties are number 19.

Mapei and Deutsche Telekom are the highest ranking teams, but none of them have named any riders, neither has Memorycard but the team is most likely to have its top squad on the road. Some other teams and riders: Rabobank (Rolf Sørensen), Farm Frites (Peter Van Petegem, Robbie McEwen, Glenn Magnusson and Servais Knaven), Liquigas (Davide Rebellin and Sergej Gonchar), Ag2R (Jaan Kirsipuu), Team Gerolsteiner (Torsten Schmidt, Uwe Peschel, Sven Teutenberg, Sven Gaute Hølestøl and Eduard Gritsoun), Linda McCartney (Pascal Richard, Max Sciandri and Tayeb Braikia), Team Fakta (Nicki Sørensen, Peter Meinert and Lennie Kristensen), Phonak Hearing Systems (Matthias Buxhofer and Lukas Zumsteg), Vlaanderen 2002 (Erwin Thijs), Mat-Ceresit (Cezary Zamana), Cycling Horsens/Axa (Michael Skelde) and the Danish National Team (Lars Michaelsen, Frank Høj).

If Michaelsen and Høj can get a good backing they might offer a good show. Rolf Sørensen would of course like to win, after no less than five second places. He will also meet the other two medallists from the Atlanta Olympics, Richard and Sciandri, both riding for Linda McCartney. Time for revenge for another second place maybe? Or will Rolf wait another six weeks until they all meet in Sydney again? What about Fakta's Sørensen, Nicki, who got the last spot on the Olympic team instead of Michael Blaudzun, a decision criticised by the Memorycard management.

Ruthven for Timex

By John Alsedek, cyclingnews.com correspondent

The Timex Women's Professional Cycling Team has signed Lara Ruthven for the remainder of the 2000 racing season. She raised eyebrows with her sterling performance in the recent HP Laserjet International Challenge by finishing ninth overall and taking the Most Aggressive Rider award. While relatively new to international caliber cycling, Ruthven is no stranger to high-level competition: she was a two-time Western Athletic Conference champion runner in the early 1990's; then, after, switching sports, she qualified for the 1993 Olympic swimming trials. Ruthven only began cycling in 1996, and broke onto the national scene last year with wins in the Hotter 'n Hell stage race and the McLane Pacific Classic criterium.