News for March 7, 2000

Herrera comments

Recently kidnapped and released Colombian cyclist, Luis Herrera said that he "feared for his life," after it was revealed that he had been taken by the Colombian Revolutionary Army (CRAF) from his home in Fusagasugá. He was captured for a total of 24 hours, and underwent considerable stress in that time.

"Clearly, I was afraid for my life, because it is very delicate situation when you are part of a kidnapping - suddenly you can have confrontations with the police. I can say that I have lived through difficult moments, because it was a situation that that places you in a very nervous position," said Herrera to Colombian press after he was returned.

"During my capture, the kidnappers told me of the peace process, of the farmers, but I said to them that of policy and those subjects they knew very little. Also they asked me if I had other farming properties as they believed, but I told them that that was lie, it was pure speculation by the people," he added.

Hererra also said that the kidnappers made no demands for money, and that they were always going to release him. "I didn't know where I was, the only thing that I do know is that we walked for 6 or 7 hours, but I could not see well because they had blindfolded me. I even heard the sounds of a helicopter, but they hid me and nothing further happened," said Herrera, also thanking those Colombians who had called for his freedom and the CRAF for not harming him.

Scott Sunderland on the mend

Courtesy of Sabine Sunderland

Scott Sunderland was involved in a bad crash just over a week ago in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, when riders in front of him braked at 65 km/h and he had nowhere to go. He was taken to hosptial and apart from the usual cuts and bruises, had some serious damage to his knee. His wife, Sabine reports that he is on the mend, but is very frustrated at his latest crash:

One week has passed by and besides the daily visits to the doctor and the numerous phonecalls and visits from family and friends it has been a very quiet week. The weather was "on his side" during most of last week, it rained and was bitterly cold; which meant Scott had no regrets at not being able to go out to train. Walter Planckaert, Scott's team director rang up from Spain to enquire about Scott's progress. He mentionned the 25 degrees celsius they were enjoying while riding the Tour of Murcia. As this race was on Scott's program and he had a week training camp organized over there, Scott got a bit impatient and very grumpy for a couple of days, especially as we could see no bettering in the wounds.

Then, on Friday, the healing set in. For the last couple of days, the cuts and bruises on his arms have started to look better and better. His knee is improving at a slightly slower pace. (Even though the wounds get dressed twice a day, they are still looking pretty gruesome to me.). But, Scott can feel the progress well and that's what's important for now. He is talking about getting on the home-trainer mid week and just maybe he'll be back in competition in a couple of weeks.

You can imagine this stupid accident has upset his set race schedule completely and he knows he won't be competing for top ten rankings within the first 6 weeks. But, one never knows, if Scott keeps positive and he can give us another demonstration of his incredible will power, he might just be back on track within a month.

Belgians criticised

The recent exclusion of the U23 Austrian team from the Belgian race "Le Tryptique des Monts et Chateaux" has led UCI president, Hein Verbruggen to criticise the Belgian federation in a letter sent to them recently. Verbruggen was reportedly against mixing sport and politics, as the organisers of the event had named as one of their reasons the recent appointment of right wing members into the Austrian government.

Verbruggen states in his letter that "although the organiser does not want to mix sport and politics, this is exactly the case with this exclusion." He goes on to point out that "generally, sport pays the price, while the politicians continue to maintain the political and economic relations."

Heras aims

Spanish climber, Roberto Heras of the Kelme Costablanca outfit is hoping to improve on his tour riding, after his good performance in the Vuelta a España last year (third overall). He recently outlined his season goals, which include the Tour de France and the Vuelta again. No Giro, as he will concentrate on riding well in the tour.

"When one is on the podium of a big race, it is hard to improve further, although we are going to try this year," he said to Spanish press. He also indicated that he was under no pressre to win a stage of the Vuelta, because "he never usually does it." However, he is taken by the Angliru climb and dreams of winning that stage.

Watt trims more

The trials of Kathy Watt in a bid to qualify for the Olympic team in the 3000 meter individual pursuit continue in Perth. She has now had four attempts at cracking the initial 3:38 mark, which is the designated qualifying time for the "long team" set by Cycling Australia. South Australian, Alayna Burns, has already gone under this, recording 3:37 last week. Watt chose not to start in the currently staged Tour de Snowy, as she wished to concentrate on these qualifying attempts.

David Marsh, of the "West Australian", reports that Watt clocked 3:40.05 at the Midvale Speed Dome yesterday - still not under the time, but better than her previous 3:41. She will have another attempt today, before returning home to Melbourne with partner Carey Hall.