News for March 11, 2000

Killy wants to quit the Tour

The president of the Société du Tour de France, Jean-Claude Killy said today that he will finish in this role by the end of the year. He made this announcement in Paris on Friday in a brief statement, giving no further reasons why he wanted to quit.

The former Olympic skiing champion is a member of the International Olympic Committee, as well as being administrator of the Groupe Philippe Amaury, proprietor of newspapers such as L'Equipe, Velo Magazine and France Football. The Amaury Group also controls races such as the Tour de France, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Paris-Dakar rally. Apparently Killy will resign from both roles at the end of 2000.

Bartoli hopeful

Although he has already achieved one win in his comeback, Italian rider Michele Bartoli is still struggling with his knee injury that kept him off the bike for most of last year. Bartoli has undergone extensive treatment back home, but believes that he has lost too much form for his planned early season campaign in Sanremo and Belgium. He is currently struggling his way through Tirreno-Adriatico.

"I am greatly frustrated because the muscle condition is good, and I would want to be in the front group, fighting," he said to La Gazetta dello Sport. "But I cannot. I must begin to think of the second part of the season."

After yesterday's stage to Sorrento, Bartoli was depressed as he finished in the final bunch. "When they go slowly, I do not have problems, but I know already that on the Santuario dell Addolorata that it will be difficult," he said.

Fine and sunny for the World Cup

With the first round of the women's World Cup to be held tomorrow in Canberra, Australia (9:00 am start), the sky is at last clear and the temperatures warm. This comes after several days of very wet and cold conditions in the Tour de Snowy, and the riders are certainly appreciating it.

A total of 78 riders from 14 teams are on the start list and all eyes will be on defending champion, Anna Wilson (Saturn) to see if she can beat the likes of Tracey Gaudry, Mari Holden (Timex), Mirjam Melchers (Pays Bas), and Geneviève Jeanson (Canada). Many riders and selectors are looking at this race for Olympic selection, and the competition will be intense.

For a full preview, course map and start list, please go to cyclingnews.com's special World Cup site, where you will be able to follow all the action in tomorrow's race.

Boogerd unconcerned with UCI rank

In his personal column in the daily "De Telegraaf", world number two, Michael Boogerd writes that he will not concentrate on maintaining that rank this year. He made his decision in the Tour of Valencia:

"I will not look at the UCI rankings in the near future. I won't fight for every point in every race anymore to defend my second place on the UCI-list. I prefer to do a good job in the classics and the Tour de France. It gives me a free feeling in the races and that gives me that extra rest, so I can concentrate on the important races," writes Boogerd.

Boogerd has not been satisfied with his new season until now, where he figured strongly in today's break in the Tirreno-Adriatico. He'd had a good feeling until halfway through last December. "I haven't had a good day since that moment. The Tour of Mallorca started well. I was good in the climbs but in the last stage I was too tired. I had lost some kilos and made the mistake: I didn't rest enough. I had some trouble again in the Tour du Haut Var, and the GP Haribo was bad too. Afterwards, I went for a blood test, but that was okay."

"I did not want to start in the Tour of Valencia, and that was the place where I decided to stop concentrating on the UCI-rankings. Since that moment all has been good with me, maybe because I stopped the pressure. In the Tirreno-Adriatico I feel much better. Maybe I'll try to gain a stage in order to prepare me for a good final classification in the Setmana Catalana de Ciclismo," finishes Boogerd who has the Tour de France as his number one goal for this year.

Pantani for San Remo?

Marco Pantani is having difficulty restarting his season this year, due to injury and lack of form. He had to pull out of the Tour of Murcia due to back problems, and has not raced since. However, he is training again and covered 160 kilometers on his own on Wednesday, after only having three days off the bike.

"He will be on the start list for Milan-San Remo," says Mercatone-Uno Manager Felice Gimondi. "But he will only be put in the team if he shows good condition this week," he added. The next most likely race for the pirate's return is the Cecchi Gori, from March 22-26. Following this, he will approach the Giro via the Tours of the Basque Country, Trentino, and Tuscany, and the GP Indurain.

Horses in the Algarve?

The Portuguese Volta ao Algarve stage race is currently up to its third stage, with the leader in the classification Angel Edo from Maia-MSS. However, we are informed by several of our readers that the racers experienced some difficulty on stage one. A couple of horses jumped onto the road from their paddock, deciding to run with the riders for a while.

Fortunately, no-one was hurt however there were a number of top riders who stayed back in the second group for safety, losing significant amounts of time in the process.