News for March 10, 2000

Gotti case delayed

Italian cyclist, Ivan Gotti who is currently under investigation by the public prosecutor in Bologna was due to receive judgement today. However, his federation say that they are not allowed to make a decision because the rider is registered in Monaco, and is outside their jurisdiction.

This follows a similar line with other national federations (Germany, Russia, Spain) who did not wish to investigate athletes such as Andreas Kappes, Pavel Tonkov, Eugeni Berzin, Abraham Olano, and Fernando Escartin. The files of Beat Zberg and Tony Rominger are still being examined by the Swiss federation.

The Italian federation have also announced that Gianni Faresin, Gianluca Bortolami, Giorgio Furlan and Alessandro Bertolini are not guilty. Prosecutor Giovanni Spinosa deliberated for over three hours before handing down his decision. They will give an explanation next week.

However, the head of the CONI anti-drug commission, Giacomo Aiello, has already announced that they will appeal the decision: "We will certainly appeal, there is no doubt. It is a decision that is strange to us, because it is in opposition to the findings of the judicial authority. We are surprised, but we will go ahead ".

Mapei donates

After the death of Saul Morales in the Tour od Argentina last week, Spanish team Relax-Fuenlabrada are still coming to terms with it. They have help though from other teams, as Mapei's Luca Paolini announced that they will donate prizemoney to help Morales' family.

"We could not go on after that incident, with the passing of Morales, the decision of our team to withdraw was supported by everyone," said Paolini. "After that misfortune, we couldn't race under the psychological the moral conditions."

The espoir team of Mapei-Quick Step, directed by Roberto Damiani said that they will donate to the Morales fund, all the prizemoney from Paolini and D’Amore's stage wins, as well as all of the various placings in the sprints and other classifications.

Memorial to Sanroma

Fuenlabrada's deceased sprinter, Manuel Sanroma, will have an event dedicated to his memory this weekend. The team will have a special dinner on Saturday where several well known professional cyclists and directors will be in attendance, including Oscar Seville and Roberto Heras (Kelme), Juan Carlos Vicario (Vitalicio), Maximino Pérez, director of Fuenlabrada, and possibly Federico Martín Bahamontes.

The event will be a cyclotourist race, scheduled for May 21 this year. There will also be another race on June 4 for Espoir and Elite riders. Both events will take place in Valencia and will be named the "Memorial Manuel Sanroma Valencia".

Mt Snow back

Although the US NORBA race at Mount Snow was originally moved to Haystack, word is that it is back in the original location now, as it has in past years. According to Mount Snow, the Forest Service, which had originally requested that the resort not host any summer events, lifted the restriction, noting that a realistic and reliable study could not be conducted without holding an actual mountain bike event.

Henn gets six months

Embattled aspiring team director, Christian Henn, formerly of Telekom has received another blow to his morale today. The German cycling federation (BDR) announced that he would be suspended for an additional six months following his positive test for testosterone on May 20 last year. He will also be fined 2,000 Swiss Francs.

Although the 36 year old could consider racing again later this year (the suspension is from February 21), this decision will not help his confidence.

Death of a champion

Hansjorg Minder, a World Masters champion in the points and pursuit races (55-59) passed away this week after an illness. According to his colleagues, his enthusiasm for cycling was immense and he will be greatly missed.