News for March 31, 2000

De Panne news

Rain, wind and cold were the key features of this year's "Driedaagse De Panne", and there were many casualties as a result. Johan Museeuw, Tom Steels, George Hincapie, Frankie Andreu, Rolf Sřrensen, Michel Vanhaecke, Serguei Outshakov and Chris Peers were a few of the victims of crashes over the past three days - some on more than one occasion. Although US Postal won the race with Vjatceslav Ekimov storming through the final time trial at nearly 50 kilometres per hour, the team did not escape unscathed. Hincapie fell three times and Andreu once during the three days. However, both are expected to be OK when the team tackles the Flemish walls on Sunday.

One of the early exits was Belgium's Michel Vanhaecke (Tönissteiner) who fell on the first day. He hurt his knee, and had to get it examined at hospital, however he has started training again. The Tönissteiner captain intends to start on Saturday's "Ronde van Drenthe" classic in the Netherlands, and the Gent-Wevelgem next week.

Rolf Sřrensen had to retire as well after stage 2 when he was hit by a motorbike. He injured his leg and has been taking it easy the last few days. On Wednesday night after he was hit, his teammates had to carry him to his room, as he couldn't walk. He is hoping for a start on Sunday in the Ronde, as (by his own admission) he is in top form.

Cofidis rider, Nico Mattan experienced back problems during stage 2. He went that afternoon to see a chiropractor and it seemed to have worked, as he finished fifth in the final time trial, although he was not in contention for the overall.

Tom Steels, Chris Peers and Serguei Outschakov fell towards the end of stage 3. The former two riders collided with four kilometres to go - Steels sustained an elbow and knee injury, while Peers suffered the loss of some skin. Peers chose not to start in the final time trial and instead rode home to Kruishoutem. Outschakov and Johan Museeuw was other non-starters in the final time trial: the latter had crashed twice in the last few days. Museeuw was not seriously injured though, and will have a ride on Sunday.

The final time trial was reportedly chaotic - the commissaires decided that South Africa's Robert Hunter was not allowed to start, and moved 37 riders a minute up the list. That is normal, but they didn't tell the riders this. Marcus Zberg and Berry Hoedemakers were a couple of those who were not informed and they protested to the race jury. Their times were corrected after the finish of the last rider, Romans Vainsteins.

Jacky's Flandrian knowledge

In 1992, a comparatively unknown Frenchman from Castorama, Jacky Durand, gained a remarkable victory in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. He won solo after breaking away for a total of 217 kilometres of the 260 kilometre race. This bold move took all the favourites by surprise, and the long breakaway has since become his trademark. Often not quite with the same success as on that day, but he has made it work on more than one occasion.

One of only three Frenchmen to win the Tour of Flanders, 33 year old Jacky rides for a Belgian team, Lotto-Adecco. He believes that the secret to success in the Ronde is knowledge of the roads, and by know he knows them extremely well. The Paris-Roubaix, he claims, is harder to memorize because races do not often traverse its roads. The climbs of Flanders are used in many Belgian races - Het Volk, Gent-Wevelgem, and many other of the smaller races.

Durand, like many others knows that to do well in Flanders you have to be highly placed coming into each climb. This is a matter of a high degree of skill in bunch manoeuvering, combined with a little luck and strength to ride at the front. "Potentially, someone like Jalabert can win the, but when the time has come he has raced badly. That proves that a great champion, through inexperience, can fail in the Tour of Flanders," he said in an interview with AFP.

He also believes that he has a better chance to win than many of the Belgians, as he knows the roads intimately. "A good number of them have never ridden the Koppenberg in their life. For me, I had to ride up it fifteen times during training, although it does not form a part of the course anymore". Next year.

Durand often gives advice to younger riders who want to learn more about the climbs in the race. "I tell them about the Patersberg, Kluisberg - they don't know which ones are paved, or if they are on the major or minor roads. I am always ready to explain it to them. From the moment they manage to understand these races, one makes racers out of them," he said.

Despite his understanding of the race, Durand is still strictly French and does not speak any Flemish other than the standard bike racing terms: Links, rechts (left, right) as well as any number of curses when the bunch does not react in time to a pothole.

Zabel: Can he do it?

Telekom's Erik Zabel is certainly in excellent form leading into Sunday's Ronde van Vlaanderen, but is he good enough to overcome the Flemish walls against the likes of Museeuw, Tchmil and Van Petegem? The winner of Milan San Remo does not rate the Ronde as his ideal race, but team director Walter Godefroot believes that if he is up there at the Muur, then he has an excellent chance.

He is now confident with eight season victories so far, and will aim to keep his lead in the World Cup competition. He'll need a top ten finish at least to do this, but has left it open as to whether he wants to contest the World Cup. "Up to Liege-Bastogne-Liege he will race all the World Cup races, but then we will see," said soon to be Telekom PR man, Olaf Ludwig yesterday.

Jan Ullrich, whose next race is likely to be the Circuit la Sarthe in France next week, will probably not be a part of Telekom's classics team. "There is nothing in concrete," said Ludwig. "His season targets are later on this year."

Zabel will once again have the support of Gian Matteo Fagnini, Steffen Wesemann, Kai Hundertmarck amongst others on Sunday. Fagnini however is unlikely to be able to provide the leadout as he did in Milan San Remo, unless the race is very uncharacteristic. It will be interesting to see how the Bosberg compares with the Poggio on Sunday. More than likely, Zabel will be amongst the leaders although maybe not with the final small group.

Rincon kidnapped again

Colombian ex cyclist Oliverio Rincón is once again kidnapped by guerillas in Colombia. It happened when he and his family were travelling by car, on the way from a mountain cabin where they had spent some days. The other family memebers were released but Rincón remains prisoner. "Two men in another car intercepted us and they took all of us into a mountainous area where we spent the night in a house," said Rincon's wife Gilma Janet Alfonso to journalists afterward.

The last time he was kidnapped by a guerilla band was on the 20th of january in the same area around Duitama 150 kilometers north of the capital Bogotá. The Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), was behind the action at that time. It is believed that that Marxist group, FARC is behind the latest kidnapping. They were also responsible for the capture of Luis Herrera shortly after Rincon, and are one of the most powerful guerillan groups in the country.

Rincón, aged 32, was professional for several Spanish teams and managed to win stages in all three major Tours of France, Italy and Spain.

Spencer Smith cleared...again

One of Linda McCartney's new signings for the year, former triathlete Spencer Smith has been finding it diffucult to get into road racing. The reason? A court case involving him being accused of using the steroid nandrolone that has been dragging on for months.

This week however, the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) in New York announced that he was innocent of using the drug. This is the third time that he has been "cleared", as the triathlon authorities have been appealing the judgement each time. The case originally started after Smith's 5th placing in the 1998 Hawaii Ironman. His urine sample afterwards was found to have traces of nandrolone, and the British Triathlon Association looked into the matter.

The dismissed the case on the grounds that the sample was improperly sealed, also taking into consideration that nandrolone - as a potential muscle builder - would not greatly help an endurance athlete like Smith. The International Triathlon Union (ITU) were not satisfied, and took Smith to their own appeal. Again, it was rejected and they took it to the sport's highest body, the CAS. Same result.

"Three times they've been told I'm innocent, I hope that's it," said a somehwat relieved Smith. "There's no other court they can go to now: what will they do? Come round and put a brick through my window."

Smith believed that the ITU were motivated by jealousy, as he and his late father often criticised the powers of their governing body. He is looking forward now to a career as a professional road cyclist.