News for May 16, 2000Giro d'Italia newsGaul backs PantaniThe legendary climber from Luxembourg, Charly Gaul, believes that Pantani will finish the Giro and subsequently win the Tour, according to an interview in La Gazzetta dello Sport, the newspaper that organises the race. Gaul was twice winner of the Giro in 1956 and 1959 and was known as the "Angel" of the mountains, compared with Pantani's "Pirate". He is 67 now, bearded and well rounded - certainly not built as the climber he once was. He was supportive of Pantani, especially as he was a similar type of rider, always attacking whenever the road turned skyward. He embraced the Pirate before the first stage, offering words of encouragement, predicting that he would go on to finish the Giro and then win the Tour. "Of that, I am sure," said Gaul to La Gazzetta. Pantani was not so sure, but he survived the stage, as well as stage 2 today in the lead group. The Tifosi have covered the roads as well with encouraging words to the Pirate, much as they did for Richard Virenque during the 1998 Tour. However, some of the doubts in Pantani's mind will have been quelled as he aims to finish the first week of the race, then to see how, and where, he goes.
Bartali rememberedYesterday's stage one from Rome to Terracina saw the peloton and gathered tifosi hold a minute's silence in tribute to recently deceased Gino Bartali. In addition, the 125 kilometre route was marked with many written (painted on the road) tributes to the former Champion, while stage winner, Ivan Quaranta dedicated his victory to him.
Baldato outAfter breaking his collarbone and fracturing his left clavicle, Fassa Bortolo's Fabio Baldato will be out of action for 5-6 weeks. The Italian fell towards the end of yesterday's stage one (which he finished), putting a stop to his Giro campaign after a total of 120 kilometres.
Cipo for dadMario Cipollini, winner of the race's second Maglia Rosa, dedicated his jersey to his father, Vivaldo, who has still not recovered from a serious illness he suffered from last year.
Meanwhile in France...The racing in other parts of the globe is still happening of course, and the biggest test starting today is the GP du Midi Libre in France. It is a 2.1 category event that will see the likes of Tour favourite, Jan Ullrich take the stage once more for his Telekom team. Ullrich has not raced since the beginning of March when he pulled out of Tirreno-Adriatico on stage 1, so this will be an important test for him, as he is still 4-5 kilos overweight. After this race, he will do the Tour de Suisse in June with a view to riding in the front group. In addition, there will be nine French teams taking part. Among the Tour qualified teams are Crédit Agricole, with Americans Bobby Julich and Jonathan Vaughters as candidates for the victory. Also there will be the non-Tour qualified teams such as Bonjour, with Jean-Cyrille Robin, and Jean Delatour, with Laurent Brochard, who will be doing their best. Danish squad Memorycard Jack&Jones will once again be at the start, seeking to keep their good form on a roll, and so too will Spanish team Kelme. However, the latter will be without their star, Fernando Escartin. Amongst those non-starters will be US Postal's captain, Lance Armstrong. The American suffered a fall a week ago whilst out training in the Pyrenees, and he is not quite able to race yet. With the Tour only 6 weeks away, Armstrong will have to fast-track his preparation a little but he had some good form before the accident. The parcours is quite varied over six stages, starting with a flat 193 km race from Palavas to Port Barcarès. Stage 3, 188 kilometres from Cuxac-Cabardes to Decazeville will be moderately hard, containing several climbs under 1000 metres. This is followed by a 26 kilometre time trial on Friday May 19 which may see Ullrich show his head. The Saturday stage should be deciding, with a mountain finish at the end of 185 kilometres to L'Esperou. The final climb ascends 1000 metres, getting steeper in the final 15 kilometres. The final stage on Sunday (Le Vigan - Sète, 157 km) is downhill, although it contains a few small hills toward the finish. The stages Stage 1 - May 16: Palavas-Port Barcarès, 193 km
Johan van den Berg to CollstropThe steady state system is at work. Just days after they signed young US rider, Justin Spinelli, Farm Frites (or more accurately, their amateur team Farm Frites-Eycken Meubelen) will see one of their own depart to Collstrop. South African born Johan van den Berg (24) will start on May 17 with the Belgian team after riding consistently for the first half of the season. Van den Berg, along with Bram Schmitz (ex-FF Eycken, but now Farm Frites professional) are two young riders from the Eycken team to make it to the pro ranks. One of the coaches of the Eycken team is Johan Capiot, who was formerly a Collstrop rider.
Win a bike and more!For those of you who have missed the logo on our front page and elsewhere (and by the response in the first few hours, not many haven't!), here is the low down. To celebrate this year's Giro, cyclingnews and a famous US bike-manufacturer have put together a great prize. Think red. Big red tubes, with a big Italian sprinter. The worst thing about our recent competitions is that we (cyclingnews people) can't enter. The best thing is that some of you do win prizes and we get to learn more about you, what you like, dislike, etc. In fact, this note should also be taken as a big thank you to all those people who entered our previous competition with Spinergy. This time around, it's even simpler to enter: just fill in your details on our competition form and submit. The competition runs throughout the Giro, until June 4. The winner will be chosen 1 week later, subject to confirmation of their details. Your patience has also been appreciated as Adrian Butterworth and his team have brought our new server to life, which should cope with the increased demand. Dino (our old server) can be still accessed using just cyclingnews.com but Dora (our new one) responds to www.cyclingnews.com, and most people have been using this URL. You will also notice in coming weeks that the odd banner ad will pop up from companies in the cycling space. Don't worry, we won't lose our edge and make the site cluttered, but I trust you realise it does cost money to produce this site and provide it for free. It is our intention to keep it free, and this will help keep it going. At the same time, we have also increased the content, such as more stories and excellent pictures. I would also like to point out the terrific people behind the scenes, none other than Jeff Jones, the hardest-working journalist I've seen and the site's unsung hero, as well as Tomas Nilsson, Theo Muller, John Alsedek, Tim Maloney and many others who regularly contribute reports from all parts of the globe. And to think that as of six months ago, there was one dedicated man, namely Bill Mitchell, who did most of this. We're still in awe of his output. Then there are our incredibly-talented diarists, some of the best cyclists in the world. We should all be grateful to these athletes for sharing their thoughts with their fellow cyclists. (BTW: If you haven't read Marion Clignet's story, then do so if you think you may be too tired or sore to get up for tomorrow's training ride.) Also working behind the scenes are Holly Rutter and John Sunde, who are adding the new touches which are really enhancing the site. You've told us what you want, and we're working hard to bring it to you. A lot of it costs serious shekels, and I can assure you we're doing our best to make it happen. Arrivederci! From Gerard and the team @ cyclingnews.com: Jeff, Adrian, Tomas, Holly, John and our team of correspondents around the globe.
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