News for May 12, 2000

Pantani for the Giro

In standard fashion, Mercatone Uno's Marco Pantani has left it till the last minute before informing his colleagues and the media of his intentions. Today, his team announced that he will in fact form part of their lineup when they set off around the Vatican on the afternoon of May 13. Pantani will attend the official Giro opening ceremony in the presence of Pope John Paul II later today, and will actually ride the race according to several sources.

He was still listed as a reserve on the start list yesterday, but had until Friday night (May 12) to register. One of Mercatone Uno's team managers, Felice Gimondi announced today (Friday) that the Pirate will indeed start. This will be his second competition since he was thrown out of last year's Giro on the penultimate day, having race only a couple of stages of the Tour of Valencia earlier this year.

Presumably he will not be competitive, although by the end of the race he still might be in the top 5, provided he finishes. This puts more emphasis on this year's Tour de France where he has previously indicated that he wasn't interested (again in typical fashion). He'll ride the Giro for form, and be in shape for the Tour, helping to make the 2000 edition of the French race a battle of the giants.

Cipo in Rome

Mario Cipollini, who had doubts yesterday about his Giro start due to breathing difficulties, has arrived in Rome today and will at least be at the presentation. The Saeco rider said that he will make his decision tomorrow whether to start, based on his breathing condition.

Leblanc annoyed

Former World Champion, Luc Leblanc was sacked last year by his Polti team, who were subsequently ordered to pay him FRF4.8 million (more than US$600,000) for improper dismissal. According to French newsagency AFP however, Leblanc has not seen a red cent of the cash, and has made it public in order to stop Polti from competing in this year's Tour.

Leblanc said in a press conference in Paris on Thursday that he has seen "zero Francs" of the large sum that he was granted in late September last year. His lawyer believes that Polti should be denied a Tour start unless the money is paid, and all means should be employed to stop them.

Leblanc also attacked UCI president, Hein Verbruggen on this matter, accusing the latter of offering him FRF400,000 in cash - no tax - to settle the dispute, as well as a job as a UCI technical director in France. Leblanc has threatened to send papers backing his claims to the French minister for sport, Marie-George Buffet. He also brought in a tape to the press conference that was purportedly a recording of his conversation with Verbruggen, however it was unable to be heard clearly in the venue.

Leblanc intends to go full throttle and will hold another press conference, again with the tape, during the mountain stages of the Giro.

VDB back today

Belgian Frank Vandenbroucke is finally going to start racing again today, scheduled to compete in the French 2.2 race, the Tour de l'Oise et de Picardie, May 12-14. The Cofidis rider has not raced since Het Volk at the end of February for a number of reasons. His anticipated spring classics campaign came to naught as he spent most of April out with injury. Now, in May he wants to resume battle again in hopes of a good placing in the Tour de France.

He believes that he can do this, saying that last year he was able to be competitive in the Vuelta after being suspended by his team over the Sainz-Lavelot affair. He'd only had a short period of competition before Spain, managing to finish 12th overall as well as win a couple of stages. He still has two months before the Tour.

In preparation, he will ride the Tour de L'Oise, the Bizikleta Vasca in Spain and the Tour of Luxembourg. He expects wins to come by the end of this period and will tackle the Tour de Suisse in June as his final preparation.

He is unsure how he'll go in the Tour, but wants the satisfaction of knowing. If he finishes out of the top 30 and a long way down on GC, then he may conclude that the Grand Tours are not for him. He has raced the Tour once, when he was just 21, but that was more of a learning experience. He did manage to finish the last week in good form, he claimed, although he did suffer in the mountains.

His main rivals will be Ullrich, Armstrong, Pantani (it seems) and possibly Jalabert. Depending on how he goes, he will make a decision about his contract for next year. ONCE is one of the teams that he was reportedly talking to last year, but that will remain to be seen.

Tour de l'Oise et de Picardie

This northern French 2.2 category race is just three days and four stages long, commencing today from Creil and finishing on Sunday in Nogent-sur-Oise with a 5.8 km individual time trial. It is traditionally a sprinter's race, as there are large bonuses allocated for the finish as well as the intermediate sprints.

This year, the 54th edition will take in the department of Picardie including roads around the Somme and Aisne. Next year, the transformation will be completed and it will be known as the Tour de Picardie. As well as professionals, the race is open to under-21 riders.

The most likely contenders for this year's event will be Ag2r's Jaan Kirsipuu, Marcel Wust (Festina), Jo Planckaert (Cofidis), Maarten den Bakker (Rabobank), Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole), and Jeremy Hunt, Jay Sweet or Carlos da Cruz (Big Mat). It also marks the return of Cofidis' Frank Vandenbroucke to competition, although he is unlikely to be competitive just yet.

Stages

Stage 1 - May 12: Creil - Le Crotoy, 170 km
Stage 2 - May 13: Crécy-en-Ponthieu - Soissons, 204 km
Stage 3 - May 14: Soissons - Verneuil, 94 km
Stage 4 - May 14: Nogent-sur-Oise ITT, 5.6 km

Ullrich still overweight

Next Saturday, Jan Ullrich is scheduled to recommence racing in the Midi Libre in France as part of his preparation for the Tour. He is however reportedly 5 kilos overweight - a fact that will make life tough when it comes to scaling the Alps and the Pyrenees. He says that he can't go without eating (fair enough), but he'll have to come up with a two month plan that'll get him in the correct shape.

This is, of course quite possible if he packs in some more racing in between now and July. Ullrich blamed his rapid weight gain on getting sick for several weeks at a time. "I can't go for three weeks without eating," he said to the German press.

Speculations have been high that Telekom's next Tour hope, Andreas Klöden, will ride in July. However, team manager Walter Godefroot said that this was unlikely but he may put him in the Vuelta España, won by Ullrich last year.

Spinelli finalised

The contract of young US rider, Justin Spinelli (formerly of Mercury) has been finalised according to an official announcement by his new team, Farm Frites. 21 year old Spinelli, of Nahsua, New Hampshire USA will debut for the team in the Giro d'Italia after the deal was finalised Thursday, May 11.

Löwik retires from Peace Race

After his crash in yesterday's stage seven of the Peace Race, Farm Frites' Gerben Löwik called it quits today in the 'Queen Stage', 231 km from Trutnov to Usti u.Laba. The nine climbs proved to be a little severe, and Löwik retired after 160 km. He flew directly home and will have some time off to recuperate.