News for October 9, 2000Paris Tours comments
After his stylish win in the Paris-Tours World Cup, Mapei's Andrea Tafi gave a few choice words regarding his exclusion from the Italian World's team: "This was the best response that I could give to Antonio Fusi after my non selection for the World Championships. Two days ago he said I was not in form for the World's. This coming Sunday I will watch the race on TV, but I already know that I will suffer, watching my teammates without being able to intervene. Plouay would have been good for me, and I hope that Bartoli or Bettini wins." Tafi will ride in the Tour of Lombardy before he finishes for the year. Antonio Fusi (Italian selector) responded, "I know Andrea well and I am sure that this victory came from his desire to redeem himself. He won with strength, with anger, possibly reacting to his exclusion from "gli Azzurri". But if this was the case, I want to say that I have contributed to this win with my choice. He was excellent and I give him my compliments." Fusi added, "I remain calm. Today he has won a World Cup, but he had not up till now demonstrated that he should be considered for the national team. The parcours of Plouay is completely different from Paris-Tours: the World Championships has many corners, hills and changes of rhythm." Andrei Tchmil managed to put himself into a potentially World Cup winning position, but he will have to win the last round (Tour of Lombardy) if he is to overtake Erik Zabel. "Mapei was stronger today and had more numbers in the finale. As for the World Cup, then that will be quite hard as I would have to win the Tour of Lombardy," said Tchmil. As for Zabel (who placed 11th today), he will need to be vigilant as well in Lombardy. If Tchmil wins, then Zabel will have to place better than 7th in order to gain enough points to stay ahead. The Italian classic is hilly and not suited to either rider, but Tchmil will have an advantage. Zabel described himself as "totally broken and empty" after the race, citing the rain, the trip from Sydney and the fact that he was the only Telekom rider in the final selection as factors. "The World Cup is not in the bad yet," he added.
Mapei's reactionIt was a bittersweet weekend for Italian team Mapei-Quick Step. They performed to their best in Paris-Tours, placing first, third, and fourth (Tafi, Nardello and Bettini). However, in the International Hessen Rundfarht, Axel Merckx, Wilfried Peeters and Max Van Heeswijk all abandoned before the final stage, effectively ruling out any chance of Chann McRae closing the 11 second gap on Tobias Steinhauser for the overall win. It is no coincidence that these three are all departing to Domo next season, and Wilfried Peeters had previously voiced his disappointment (to De Standaard newspaper) about not being selected in Paris-Tours. Mapei's manager, Aldo Sassi reacted to the interview, telling sportnet.be that it was not a deliberate decision to leave the Domo riders out of Paris-Tours. "A boycott for the riders who will leave Mapei? No question about that. All that we are doing is bringing our riders to Plouay in the best possible condition, including Wilfried Peeters. Mapei-Quick Step will have 14 or 15 riders next Sunday at the start of the World Championships, and that's an important part of the bunch. They are spread across eight countries, so they will have help from their national teammates and no opposition from their Mapei teammates. That is important for the rider who will become World Champion." Mapei want a World Champion, whether it be Freire, Bartoli, Merckx or Peeters. "They are members of the family until the last day that we pay them," said Sassi. He added that no Mapei rider could actually win the overall World Cup, although they are leading the teams competition with 16 points to Rabobank. They consider the World Championships to be a far more important race than Paris-Tours, but next Sunday might not see all 15 working together if the Hessen abandonments are real protests. "If we really had plans to boycott the 'leavers', we wouldn't have sent them to the Hessen Rundfahrt, that isn't our way of working with riders," he concluded.
World's newsUllrich out of World'sJan Ullrich has had to forgo his World Time Trial title defence after a fall in today's Paris-Tours sent him to hospital with a split lip. Doctors have told him to rest for at least three days in order to avoid infection and with the time trial scheduled for Thursday, October 12, his lead up was not ideal. Similarly, Sunday's 264 kilometre road race would have seen him without the necessary fine tuning in his legs to contest a World Championship and the team withdrew him from the race. Ullrich's fall came with just 20 kilometres to go in the classic, which was held under wet conditions. Coming round a corner, he could not avoid a group of fallen riders in front of him and he came down after hitting a traffic island. His split lip required 6 stitches Ullrich will fly to Freiburg hospital on Monday for further treatment.
Italian updateSome more news from the Italian U23 Azzurri squad. Federico Berta was withdrawn from the team because he was "not able to participate in sporting activities" after some tests were done by the Italian Olympic Committee. His replacement will be Italian Champion Nicola Gavazzi (Resine Ragnoli), son of the '80s professional sprinter Pierino. The second reserve for the Elite Men's Team is Gabriele Missaglia (Lampre). Courtesy of Alessandro Gretter
SwedenBy Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent Sweden at last gets a chance to participate in the World's with a full team (well, eight riders anyway), but the selection is a disappointment. For various reasons only five riders will start, and Michael Andersson's participation in the ITT as well as the road race is also in question. His last place in the Sydney ITT due to blood poisoning some weeks before the Olympics was of concern, but if he recovers, the parcours of the World's ITT will suit him much more than that of the Olympic race. Martin Rittsel, Memorycard, has been out of form for the latter part of the season while Michel Lafis has finished his career after eight years as a well respected domestique. Magnus Bäckstedt doesn't feel very good either. Other available riders have not been considered to be good enough to fill the remaining three spots on the team. The women's team, not qualified for the Olympics, holds some promise. Susanne Ljungskog and her Farm Frites teammate Madeleine Lindberg, as well as Lolland Falster's Jenny Algelid have had a fine season with Ljungskog. Look out for the U-23 team consisting of four team Crescent riders topped by Stefan Adamsson (2nd in Paris-Tours Espoirs today) with Mälarenergi's Kristoffer Ingeby completing the line up. Elite Men Road race: Michael Andersson (Mercatone Uno) Time Trial: Michael Andersson (Mercatone Uno) Elite Women Road Race: Jenny Algelid (Team Lolland Falster) Time Trial: Jenny Algelid (Team Lolland Falster) U23 Men Road Race: Stefan Adamsson (Team Crescent) Time Trial: Petter Renäng (Team Crescent) Junior Men Road Race: Alexander Gustavsson (Åstorps CK) Time Trial: Alexander Gustavsson (Åstorps CK) DenmarkThere will be no Danish representation in the men's ITT after Michael Sandstöd's poor performance in Sydney. Michael Blaudzun is not able to participate. Elite men Road Race: Rolf Sørensen (Rabobank) Elite Women Time Trial Lisbeth Simper (Team Lolland Falster) U23 Men Road race (Five starters): Michael Reihs Junior Men Road Race: Hans Henrik Jørgensen Junior Women Time Trial: Mette Fischer Andreasen Dutch womenDutch coach Jean-Paul van Poppel has selected Yvonne Brunen for the road race in Plouay after Elsbeth Vink cancelled her start. Elite Women Road race Chantal Beltman Time Trial Marielle van Scheppingen
Anna goes for the hourAfter the re-setting of all World records by the UCI to those obtained on a conventional bike with spoked wheels, the women's hour record is now closer to 43 kilometres than 48. Australian Anna Wilson will attempt to break it on the new velodrome in Melbourne (another Ron Webb construction) on October 18 for the media launch. Wilson will therefore not be contesting the World Championships in Plouay. Van Moorsel not given 100% supportDespite winning three golds and one silver medal in Sydney, and being the most successful women's rider (in terms of number of victories) this season, Leontien Van Moorsel has not been given rave reviews by all of her homeland. In what seems to be almost a case of sour grapes (or 'tall poppy syndrome' as we call it in Australia), Dutch paper De Limburger published an article about Leontien entitled "Big Sportswoman, bad teammate". The article gives Dutch champion, Mirjam Melchers a lot of credit for Van Moorsel's win, after she helped keep the bunch together to set it up for a sprint. Leontien herself gave Melchers a big hug and part of her prize money afterwards, and said that she couldn't have done it without Melchers' or Beltman's help. However, she is one of the many stars who will not be contesting the World Championships in Plouay on October 14 and will not be able to return the favour to Melchers. De Limburger: "Leontien's head is empty. Too empty to start in France next week. Is this the new Leontien, the Leontien after anorexia? The new Leontien is a winning Leontien. This season more than 30 victories. That's because of the commercial teams in women's cycling - this branch is booming." "In the commercial world you have to win, and the winner has to be a 'topper', a well known leader. Jan Raas prefers that Michael Boogerd wins the Amstel Gold Race instead of a teammate like Aart Vierhouten or Jan Boven. So Michael Zijlaard (team manager and husband) prefers Leontien van Moorsel as the winner instead of Anouska van der Zee or Esther van de Helm. After the gold medal(s) in Sydney, Leontien can demand higher start money and she will get a lot of attractive commercial offers." "It's a pity that such an empty head has no place for good fellowship," concludes the article. Imagine if someone published something like that about "our Cathy".
Gonzalez de Galdeano's reactionAfter he tested positive to Nandrolone in the GP Llodio, Spanish rider Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano found himself out of the Spanish World's team as well as facing a minimum 6 month ban and in danger of losing his contract with ONCE for next year. However, he maintained a positive outlook, as the concentration of Nandrolone was not high, "the word 'doping' scares me but I have the confidence to say that I am not guilty. If there is a sanction, then it means that you are guilty but the UCI at the moment must be in favour of the sportsman," he told a Basque radio station. He and his Vitalicio team are claiming that energy bars that they obtained from the US were contaminated with the steroid. "The results of the analyses showed that there were minimal amounts present. There are levels in that product and the truth is that we have slightly exceeded them," added Gonzalez. Gonzalez' Czech teammate, Jan Hruska is also fighting a similar case with the Czech Federation. Tour de Suisse until 2014The Tour de Suisse received a large boost to its future after the SRB (Swiss Federation) agreed with the main sponsors IMG Suisse over a contract for the next 14 years. Last year, IMG (a sports marketing firm) managed to negotiate a five year contract for licensing rights to the race for some CHF 4 million ($US 2.3 million). However, the SRB is known to be experiencing severe financial troubles and is reportedly CHF 3 million in debt. The long term contract with IMG will provide security for the SRB although the exact sum of the agreement is not yet known.
Team newsBonjour needs more cashLaurent Jalabert (ex-ONCE in 2001) is running out of time to make a deal with a French team, as it seems the only candidate, Bonjour, will not have enough money to pay him. Jaja's contract is reportedly worth FF 8 million ($US 1 million) - before tax - and Bonjour are not optimistic that they can afford it. Jalabert will meet with Alain Rimbaud (Bonjour's director) this coming Tuesday to try and strike a deal. The main problem for the team, according to Rimbaud, is the heavy taxation in France which has led many of the country's top footballers to transfer to foreign teams. If Jalabert (and his brother Nicolas) is to ride for a French team, then he will likely have to reduce his demands. "Because we want to move up to the first division, Laurent would be a golden transfer (he brings 1487,75 UCI-points), but it's difficult. He wants 8 million FF. Netto! When you count taxes, his brother Nicolas and so on, you need a budget double this salary," said Rimbaud. Laurent Jalabert is leaving ONCE because they didn't want to pay his nett salary. Laurent also wants to make a package deal: he will bring his brother Nicolas with him ($US 100,000). Earlier Jalabert said that he didn't want to ride any more for less money. MTB news
Dutch MTB'er Bart Brentjens has signed for two years with Giant. Brentjens today won the last MTB Top Competition race in Lichtervoorde as well as the overall Top Competition classification. His compatriot, Patrick Tolhoek (Be One, 3rd in the classification) has finished his international career.
Australian University GamesHeld in Ballarat this year, these are considered to be the Olympics for several thousand University students. While ingestion of beer largely outweighs the consumption of sports drinks, the competition is always fierce at the top. This year, NSW (and Parramatta) riders Natalie Bates and Fjelda Lee dominated the women's events (Road race, Criterium and Time Trial), with Natalie winning all three and Fjelda placing second in the criterium and the TT. In the road race she punctured however, and was left in the cold on the side of the road for half an hour waiting as the spares van had left the bunch to follow Natalie's solo break. Courtesy of Michael Meryment |
