News for March 4, 2000
Tour de France developmentsOn May 31 the last teams for the 87th Tour de France will be announced. 17 are already qualified, another three will be invited. The organizers Friday met representatives for 26 teams, among them all the 22 first division teams, in Roissy close to Paris, to inform on technical details of the race. The qualified teams are: Mapei, Rabobank, ONCE, Polti, Telekom, Mercatone Uno, Saeco, Banesto, Farm Frites, Lotto, Vini Caldirola, AG2R, US Postal, Festina, Cofidis, Française des Jeux and Crédit Agricole. According to UCI rules teams must be invited at least 30 days before a race starts. Further details on the race: Belgian Marc van de Vyvere will be president of the jury assisted by Spaniard Carmelo Astigarraga, Michel Bergeat (Fra) and Eduardo Margiotta (Ita). Belgian Raymond Trine will be responsible for the doping controls. At the team time trial stage time will be taken on the fifth rider of the team passing the finish line. Bonifications: There will be three intermediate sprints on each of stages 2 and 9 that will give points for the green jersey as well as six, four and two second bonifcations for the three first riders to pass. On each of stages 10 and 21 (on Champs Elysées) there will be two such intermediate sprints. On all stages, except the team time trial, there will be 20, 12 and 8 second bonifications for the top three. Prize money: There are 12 million francs (around 2 million USD) at stake. The winner will get around $US 370,000 USD to divide among his team mates. Each team will get $US 20,000 to cover travelling costs and $US 12,500 for starting. Blood tests will, as last year, take place in the morning before the prologue, and haematocrit levels will be checked each race day on entire teams. "Visual and acoustic" warnings will be given at dangerous points of the parcours. The finish of each stage will be around 17.15 except for the stages 12 and 13 which will end about one hour earlier due to long transfers to the start of the following stages.
Oscar for Tirrenio-AdriaticoDespite the fact that World Champion Oscar Freire is reported to be suffering from lumbago, he is still scheduled to start in the Tirreno-Adriatico across Italy, starting Wednesday, March 8. On Monday he will be examined at the neurological policlinic in Milan by Dr Matteo Migliore. The following teams will start: Cofidis, Farm Frites, Fassa Bortolo, Festina, Française Des Jeux, Lampre-Daikin, Liquigas-Pata, Mapei-Quick Step, Mercatone Uno, ONCE, Rabobank, Saeco, Telekom, Polti, Vini Caldirola and Vitalicio Seguros. The stages: Stage 1 - March 8: Sorrento-Sorrento, 131km
Five days in Rheinland-PfalzThe 35th Rheinland-Pfalz-Rad-Rundfahrt, September 13 - 17, will for the first time span five days. The race used to be an important amateur event running for ten days but now, as a category 2.4 race it shorter according to UCI rules. Race manager Jörg Billmeier says that he has been promised that local hero Udo Bölts will head the Telekom squad. Three other division one teams will also be invited. The race will start in Koblenz the 13th of September with the first stage finishing in Bad Marienberg. The race will pass Kirn, Trier, Saarburg, Pirmasens and Landau, with the fourth stage divided in a morning road race and a 20 kilometer time trial in the afternoon.
Procter & Gamble women's teamThe US women's team "Procter & Gamble Women's Health" have presented their roster for the upcoming season. Returning to the squad after last year are founders, Kori Kelly and Kerry Hellmuth, of Boulder, Colorado. They have added Canadian Heather Cole, Cheryl Binney of San Francisco, Mina Pizzini of Philadelphia, and sprinter Ashley McCullough of Kingsfield, California. The team is one of several that have formed/stengthened to contest the US women's road circuit, and their sponsors include several major Procter & Gamble women's health brands: Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Olay Daily Facials, Iams Pet Foods, Sure, Folgers and Tampax. They will ride Schwinn bikes, and wear Hind clothing, Smith Sport sunglasses, Sidi shoes, and use JogMate recovery products, Cateye computers, Pedro's bicycle products, Clif Bar, and The Bicycle Shoppe of Shawnee, Oklahoma. The team started after 1998 when Procter & Gamble became interested in sponsoring a women's team via the efforts of Bob Lyon, a keen cyclist and also a project leader in P & G. He saw Kelly and Hellmuth competing and decided to help them out a little. So a new team was born. They raced well during the 1999 season, earning more coverage for their sponsor and had their budget increased this year. This in turn allowed them to sign more riders to their squad, with the addition of Canada's Heather Cole being the biggest. She had raced in Europe with considerable disctinction winning the Fleche Gascon Midi Pyrenees and placing consistently highly in the majority of the stages of Le Grande Boucle Feminine. Her addition, combined with the experience of Cheryl Binney, and the speed of Ashley McCullough will make the team more balanced, giving the remainder a chance to develop their talents. Team Roster Cheryl Binney (Boulder)
Riis coming home?By Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent Bjarne Riis will be warmly welcomed if he would like to work with the Danish Cycling Union, says president Peder Pedersen to the Danish daily BT. "I will immediately write him a letter, because if he would like to promote the sport in Denmark he is more than welcome to do so with us in the Union. His results have had an unlimited importance to Danish cycling and I hope that he would like to share his experience with us," said Pedersen.
Norwegian women go nationalThe Norwegian female cyclists will have strong support from their national federation and will ride internationally for their national selection, which gives the sports director Atle Kvålsvoll the oportunity to build the team without disturbances for the Olympics in September. This year Gunn Rita Dahle, doubling also on MTB, will race less on the road than last year, building up for the Olympic races on and off road. She will not debut on the road until Tour of the Netherlands in September and is right now training in St Raphael in southern France. The Norwegian team for the World Cup in San Remo, the Primavera Rosa, will be Ingunn Bollerud, Solrun Flatås, Ragnhild Kostøl, Jorunn Kvalø, Wenche Stensvold and Monica Valen. Norway has a comparatively generous Olympic sponsoring program that allows the riders to stay at home and ride for the national selection in international races. The San Remo six plus Gunn Rita Dahle have three ordinary and one reserve ticket to the Olympic road race to compete for. The team will be selected July 2. "The Italian trip is a ten day training camp in Bergamo with the World Cup race in San Remo only as a part of it. We are thinking long term and are in a build up phase right now", writes sports director Atle Kvålsvoll at Norwegian site Syklingens Verden. "Several of the girls have already spent time in the south to gain kilometers and from now on there will be lots of national squad activities to bring the team together. The season has periods of training, without races, in order to get the "engines" going for September."
Rogers missesAustralian cyclist, Michael Rogers again missed a qualifying opportinity to be included in the team pursuit for the Olympic Games. The qualifying time set is 4:10.00, and he attempted this time along with Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster and Luke Roberts at the Adelaide Superdrome yesterday. They recorded 4:13.56, which was within striking distance of the standard, which no-one has yet gone under this year. However, AIS high performance manager, Michael Flynn said that Rogers still has plenty of opportunities to make selection, despite his forthcoming commitments on the road. He flies to Italy in under two weeks, meaning that he will miss the national titles on March 22. The same situation applies to Stuart O'Grady, who came within 0.17 seconds of the qualifying time with Brad McGee, Graeme Brown, and Brent Dawson. Both he and Rogers are strong contenders for the road squad, and have already been named in the long team.
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