News for September 2, 2000

55th Vuelta a Espańa news

Kelme rebounds

You can't keep the boys in green, white and blue down for long, as Kelme's Roberto Heras proved today. Heras left his 30 or so companions with 200 metres to go of today's uphill finish and easily put a few seconds into his rivals. He remains their sole rider in real contention for the overall, 6th at 1'33 to Zülle and there will certainly be some fireworks from Kelme in the forthcoming mountain stages.

However, Heras said afterwards that he would only go on the attack in the mountains if he thought he had a chance of succeeding. "Zülle is in better form on the climbs at the moment. I'll see how things go in the upcoming hills. To win the Vuelta it is necessary to attack nearly every day...I'll only do it if there's a chance and the mountain is sufficiently steep," said Heras to European Press, noting also that time trialing is not his strong point.

His compatriot, David Etxebarría (ONCE) congratulated him on the result, calling him a "worthy winner" as the ONCE train fell apart in the closing hundred metres. Etxebarria finished 9th, Zarrabeitia 7th and Santos Gonzalez and Abraham Olano 11th and 14th respectively. "We were a little out of order in the final few metres because we were responding to so many attacks. In the end Roberto Heras got away. I believe that he was deserving of the win," commented Etxebarria.

Zülle feels good

After the first week of the Vuelta, Banesto's Alex Zülle has led since day one in the golden jersey. He won the race in 1996 and 1997, and claimed that he was now back to that kind of form.

"The situation is similar, but you can't compare one year with another one. Before I was younger, now things have changed," he said, adding that he would not "bet money on himself" considering the roulette of winning a big stage race. His team are not overly tired because they have had some of their load taken by the sprinters teams, especially in the shorter stages.

"Still we should speak of possible winners like Ullrich, Olano or Heras. The time that separates us is small," he said.

Freire close again

World Champion Oscar Freire is hungry for his third stage win in the Vuelta, and admitted that he was a little disappointed with 4th today "but I am still satisfied at being with the leaders," he said. He indicated that he will try harder on tomorrow's flatter stage to Port Aventura.

Thibout hurt

The most serious crash victim in today's stage was Frenchman, Bruno Thibout (Jean Delatour), who hit the back of the Polti team car at full speed while he was trying to avoid another fallen rider. He was taken to hospital in Castellon where it was found that he had fractured his nose, broken some teeth and had severe cuts on his face. He was reported to be in a stable condition in the evening.

More Cipollini

After Saeco sprinter Mario Cipollini's sensational attack against Francisco Cerezo (Vitalicio), which led to his ejection from the Vuelta and an indefinite suspension by his team, more details have emerged as to his future.

Despite a public apology on Italian radio to Cerezo, the latter refused to wear it, as his black eye will attest. Cerezo intends on taking the matter to court in order to teach the Lion King proper behaviour. However Mario, who was clearly upset about the whole incident and his team's suspension, has been doing his own ringing around, and reportedly made contact with Bjarne Riis (the MemoryCard manager) quite recently. Could we see Mario in amongst the Danes next year?

Coming up?

Tomorrow's stage from Vinaroz to Port Aventura is a likely one for the sprinters, although there are two category two climbs to overcome. The last is with 40 kilometres to go and should see a regrouping of the field afterwards. On Sunday, the second individual time trial will be held in Tarragona (37.6 km). Given his form so far, Alex Zülle should be able to hold his golden jersey afterwards, but Olano is only 1'09 behind, and Ullrich is at 1'13. The latter will aim to make up for his comparatively lacklustre showing on stage one, where he finished 20th. Today seemed like a good indication however.

Armstrong awarded

American Lance Armstrong has been awarded one of the Príncipe de Asturias prizes for 2000, brightening up an otherwise ordinary week after he crashed in training. The Spanish prize is quite prestigious, covering seven categories in addition to sport. Armstrong was selected from a group of 36 candidates including the Cuban long jumper, Ivan Pedroso and the rowing teams from Oxford and Cambridge. Last year, German tennis star, Steffi Graf was awarded it.

In the sports category, the prize consists of 5 million pesetas ($US 30,000) in cash, as well as a sculpture by Joan Miro, and was presented by the crown prince Felipe of Asturias.

Coppa Placci: Pantani yes

Tomorrow's Coppa Placci (1.1) will see Marco Pantani on the start line, despite his late withdrawal from Thursday's Trofeo Melinda. He did not start that race due to a tooth abscess, but has since had antibiotic treatment which has cured it. His participation was confirmed by his manager, Manuela Ronchi, however it is not known whether he will start in the Giro del Romagna the following day.

Domo or Bankgiroloterij?

That's the question a number of Farm Frites riders are asking today, after the contracts were signed for the merger by Farm Frites boss, Piet de Bruyne. Some riders will be able to go across to Domo, while others can go to the second division Bankgiroloterij-Batavus team. The key riders of the new team will be Johan Museeuw, Max van Heeswijk and Axel Merckx.

The contract between the two teams is for three years, and both sponsors will have naming rights i.e. the team will be called Domo-Farm Frites.

Linda McCartney update

The Linda McCartney team will be in its third season in 2001 and are looking at the bigger races after their first outing in the Giro d'Italia this year. So far, they have re-signed the following riders: Max Sciandri (GBr), Matt Stephens (GBr), Ciaran Power (Irl), David McKenzie (Aus), Tayeb Braikia (Den), Bjornar Vestol (Nor), Maurizio de Pasquale (Ita) while they will lose Pascal Richard (retiring), and Ben Brooks.

To boost their lineup to 17-18 riders, they have already signed Mark Scanlon (Irl, neopro), Kevin Livingston (USA, US Postal), Juan Carlos Dominguez (Spa, Vitalicio Seguros), Inigo Cuesta Lopez (Spa, ONCE), Nicki Sorensen (Den, Fakta) with the following to be confirmed: Matt de Canio (USA), Huw Pritchard (GBr), and John Tanner (GBr).

Superprestige goes ahead - under protest

The organisers of the SuperPrestige cyclocross series have at last agreed with the UCI's ruling of a maximum of 8 races this coming season. The cyclocross race in Wetzikon, Switzerland will not count any more for the SP competition, despite it being part of the competition since 1988.

"We have been forced by the UCI to make this decision. We still think that the UCI wasn't fair to us. We had already reduced the races from 12 to 9, but the UCI forced us to go to 8," said Etienne Gevaert, the chairman of the Superprestige.