News for April 24, 2001Recent results and new features
Post L-B-L UCI rankings
Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo) still has an impregnable lead in the UCI rankings, the most popular official method of rating the world's best cyclists. He is over 500 points clear of Erik Zabel (Deutsche Telekom), who occupied the number one position for some time at the beginning of last year. Casagrande's fourth place in last weekend's classic, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, certainly helped, as it did Davide Rebellin (Liquigas) who moved up to fourth place, and Michael Boogerd (5th in L-B-L) who is now 9th on the UCI scale. Others to do well last week include Roberto Heras (US Postal, now up to 5th position), Raimondas Rumsas (Fassa Bortolo, 12th - 10th), L-B-L winner Oscar Camenzind (Lampre, 34th - 19th), Fleche Wallonne winner Rik Verbrugghe (Lotto, 27th - 23rd), Tour of Aragon double stage winner Mario Cipollini (Saeco, 90th - 73rd), Paris-Camembert runner-up David Millar (Cofidis, 91st - 74th), Fleche Wallonne runner-up Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo, 128th - 87th), Tour of Aragon winner, Juan Carlos Dominguez (iBanesto.com, 172nd - 103rd), Paris-Camembert 3rd place getter Scott Sunderland (Fakta, 131st - 114th), solid performer in F-W and L-B-L, Marcos Serrano Rodriguez (ONCE, 161st - 122nd), and likewise for ONCE's Jörg Jaksche (191st - 140th). In the teams classification, Rabobank still continue to dominate, followed by Lotto, Fassa Bortolo, Mapei and Domo-Farm Frites. Euskaltel-Euskadi jumped from 14th to 10th, notably over three other teams vying for Tour selection: Mercury-Viatel (12th), Saeco (13th) and CSC-World Online (14th). A separate article by Tomas Nilsson that discusses nations rankings follows. Rankings as of April 23, 2001 Individuals 1 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2,536.00 pts 2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1,956.00 3 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal Service 1,915.00 4 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 1,863.00 5 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) US Postal Service 1,852.00 6 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites 1,850.00 7 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1,676.75 8 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 1,667.00 9 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 1,529.25 10 Raimondas Rumsas (Ltu) Fassa Bortolo 1,517.00 11 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,483.35 12 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 1,376.00 13 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,255.00 14 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 1,206.00 15 Dario Frigo (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1,164.00 16 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,081.00 17 Daniele Nardello (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,036.35 18 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mercury-Viatel 1,004.00 19 Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre-Daikin 997.00 20 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 975.00 Teams Division I 1 Rabobank 3,124.00 pts 2 Lotto-Adecco 2,543.00 3 Fassa Bortolo 2,490.00 4 Mapei-Quick Step 2,080.00 5 Domo-Farm Frites 1,992.00 6 Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone 1,894.00 7 Team Deutsche Telekom 1,747.00 8 O.N.C.E. 1,567.00 9 Liquigas-Pata 1,500.00 10 Euskaltel-Euskadi 1,415.00 11 US Postal Service 1,378.00 12 Mercury-Viatel 1,326.00 13 Saeco Macchine Per Caffe' 1,240.00 14 CSC-World Online 1,186.00 15 Tacconi Sport-Vini Caldirola 1,140.00 16 iBanesto.com 1,051.00 17 Lampre-Daikin 1,034.00 18 Credit Agricole 791.00 19 Festina 768.00 20 Kelme-Costa Blanca 698.00 21 Team Coast 505.00 22 Mercatone Uno-Albacom 381.00 Division II 1 Alessio 1,204.00 pts 2 Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone 898.00 3 Jean Delatour 748.00 4 Bankgiroloterij-Batavus 529.00 5 Ag2R Prevoyance 521.00 Division III 1 05 Orbitel 385.00 pts 2 PSK Remerx 259.00 3 Stabil Steiermark 254.00 4 Agro-Adler Mark Brandenburg 248.00 5 AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 211.00 UCI nations rankings: a deeper analysisBy Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent The UCI nation rankings decide how many riders each nation may enter for the World Championships road race. The top ten nations at August 15 may start 12 riders, the nations ranked 11-15 may start eight riders, those ranked 16-20 may start four riders while nations down to rank 30 may start two riders. Compared to the World's at Plouay last October, Australia and Sweden are losing ground. Australia in 16th are 154.5 points behind Slovenia. With no more Australian UCI classed races before August it's the European based pro's that will have to secure Australia a representation with an eight men team, which is the minimum to be able to have some control of the race. For Sweden the situation is much worse. With the current ranking at 21st, only two Swedish riders would be allowed to start in the road race in Lisbon compared to eight qualified for Plouay. The margin up to Great Britain and the Czech Republic and a four man representation is however only 14 and 22 points respectively. There is also an extra chance for minor cycling nations to start riders in the World's. Any nation outside of Top 30 may enter a rider if they have a rider in top 400 on the UCI list. Right now Argentina (Martin Garrido), Croatia (Vladimir Miholjevic) and Luxembourg (Benoit Joachim) are qualified with a rider each. Kyrghyzstan's time triallist Eugen Wacker, riding for Mroz, is currently ranked 404th lacking only four points to the top 400, Japan's Junichi Shibuya is 405th another point back. Further down Irishman Ciaran Power is 438th, 14 points from qualification and last year's World's finisher Kam Po Wong of Hong Kong is 456th needing another 17 points to qualify his nation for a spot. On the same rank is Belorussian Yauheni Seniusjkin. Amar El Nady, who rode in Verona 1999, will probably have a hard time gaining another 24 points to qualify Egypt for a spot, since the Tour of Egypt has already been held with him winning the overall. Finally, since Christopher Jenner obtained a French passport for this season, New Zealand have lost more than half of its points and is only 35th in the nations rankings with veteran Graeme Miller as top individual at 500th. Nations ranking with qualification groupings Tier 1 - 12 riders
1 Italy 13,392.70 pts
2 Spain 8,826.00
3 Belgium 7,650.00
4 Germany 7,106.50
5 Netherlands 6,829.10
6 France 6,095.50
7 U.S.A. 5,495.75
8 Switzerland 5,236.75
9 Russia 3,728.00
10 Denmark 3,621.85
Tier 2 - 8 riders
11 Latvia 3,146.50
12 Kazakhstan 2,788.75
13 Poland 2,699.00
14 Lithuania 2,634.00
15 Slovenia 2,291.50
Tier 3 - 4 riders
16 Australia 2,179.00
17 Austria 1,985.00
18 Colombia 1,897.00
19 Great Britain 1,811.00
20 Czech Republic 1,740.00
Tier 4 - 2 riders
21 Sweden 1,696.20
22 Ukraine 1,552.50
23 Portugal 1,311.00
24 Estonia 1,047.00
25 Norway 924.00
26 Moldavia 793.00
27 South Africa 703.50
28 Canada 574.00
29 Hungary 530.50
30 Venezuela 411.00
Tier 5 - 1 rider
31 Argentina 358.00
32 Croatia 345.00
33 Japan 331.00
34 New Zealand 304.00
35 Luxembourg 299.85
36 Algeria 298.00
37 Ireland 283.00
38 Belarus 231.00
39 Egypt 229.00
40 Islamic Republic Iran 227.00
41 Slovakia 212.00
42 Mexico 201.00
43 Cuba 198.00
44 Hong Kong, China 176.00
45 Chile 156.00
46 Yugoslavia 152.00
47 Finland 142.00
48 Korea 121.00
49 Kirghyzstan 108.00
50 Bulgaria 104.00
Individuals
270 Martin Garrido (Arg) Relax-Fuenlabrada 190.00
260 Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) KRKA-Telekom 197.00
295 Benoît Joachim (Lux) US Postal service 175.60
400 111.00
Individuals close to top 400
404 Eugen Wacker (Kgz) Mroz-Supradyn 108.00
405 Junichi Shibuya (Jpn) 107.00
438 Ciaran Power (Irl) Saint Quentin-Oktos 98.00
456 Yauheni Seniushkin (Blr) Panaria-Gaerne 94.00
456 Kam-Po Wong (HKg) 94.00
486 Amar El Nady (Egy) 86.00
500 Graeme Miller (NZl) Netzero Cycling Team 82.00
Michael Boogerd: 5th is the 4th loser?Dutchman Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) finished 5th in Sunday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic, after going in as the pre-race favourite and targetting it for the early part of the season. He has had success in this race before, when he placed 5th in 1998 (his breakthrough year) and 2nd in 1999. In comments made to Dutch newspaper, De Volkskrant, Boogerd gave the impression that he wasn't disappointed with 5th: "No...I thought I had done what I had to, but the other four were better than me." With more prompting (Isn't 5th in 1998 and 5th in 2001 the same as standing still. Isn't standing still the same as going backwards?), he answered "No" again, but was not as convincing. However, the fact remains that although Boogerd was clearly in good shape, there were four riders who were having better days, with Oscar Camenzind in superb shape. In addition, Boogerd is not known as a rider who can dominate a classic, like Johan Museeuw can for example. Liege-Bastogne-Liege is a hard race to dominate, and Sunday's last 5 kilometre finale proved that. No one was willing to really attack on the tough climbs, a combination of having too many teams represented in the break, and the usual pro's game of cat and mouse.
On recent form, Camenzind was probably the surprise of the five man selection, but his World Championship in 1998 should not be forgotten so soon. He was instrumental in chasing down Casagrande's attacks, and still had the legs to win the sprint quite comfortably. "He went before the turn," said Camenzind of Casagrande. "I was sitting on his wheel and was lucky that he didn't stop. That's how I got torpedoed." Michael Boogerd couldn't do anything at that stage, despite being in a perfect position and not having wasted energy in chasing. He had the benefit of having Maarten den Bakker in the earlier break, and there were no excuses. Team manager Adri Van Houwelingen was not unhappy, although he had 4 riders in the top 10 but no podium: "If this was 45th place, then I would have reason to complain. But if Michael continues until the finale, then I have to be satisfied," he said. Boogerd has certainly had a better 2001 than 2000, and would no doubt be happy if his season continues as it has done.
Ullrich another casualty of Settimana LombardaGerman Tour de France favourite, Jan Ullrich (Telekom), withdrew from the Settimana Ciclista Lombarda during the second last stage on Saturday. The stage (won by Ullrich's compatriot Thomas Liese) was run in appalling weather, and Marco Pantani and Stefano Garzelli also abandoned. Ullrich was suffering from an ear infection, and he returned home on Sunday to have it examined at the University of Freiburg hospital. However, it turned out to be merely an inflammation of the outer ear, and Ullrich was able to train again today (Monday). "I had ear pain, whether it happened because of the fall or the weather, I don't know," he said. "Under these conditions (snow and 3 degrees), it was more advisable to pull out. I did not want to take any risks." Ullrich's teammate Erik Zabel did ride and finish the five day Settimana Lombarda, although he was not spotted in the bunch sprints. Zabel was using it to keep his race fitness up for the Amstel Gold Race this Saturday, where he is the defending champion. Ukrainian World Time Trial Champion, Serguei Gontchar (Liquigas) won the overall classification of the Settimana Lombarda.
French riders still lacking in classicsThe loss of Laurent Jalabert to a freak home renovation accident early in the season did nothing to lift the hopes of French fans for the spring classics. Jalabert is the best credentialled one day racer still competing, as a look at the French placings in the spring classics for the last couple of years shows: Milan-San Remo: (2001 - Phillippe Gaumont, 34th), (2000 - Laurent
Jalabert, 11th) Only Festina, Credit Agricole and Cofidis teams are in division I, meaning that they are the only French teams with automatic invites to the World Cups. Cofidis have a good classics team, although Belgians Nico Mattan, Jo Planckaert and Chris Peers have been outperforming their French counterparts. Phillippe Gaumont has managed to crash at important moments in nearly every spring classic, otherwise he might have made the top 10 on a few occasions. Credit Agricole and in particular Festina are not renowned for their French classics riders anyway, but this is not an isolated problem amongst French teams who gain their best exposure from one race in July. Although we saw them during the Paris-Roubaix World Cup, the division II teams of Jean Delatour, Ag2r, Francaise des Jeux, Big Mat, Bonjour, and St Quentin put most of their effort into getting into an early break, rather than making the finale. But this was the case for 80 percent of the other teams as well... Even in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, there were only 16 French riders to start, less than 10 percent of the peloton. Cedric Vasseur's 27th was by no means a bad performance in a tough race, but there were 26 Swiss, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Lithuanian, Belgian, Austrian, German, Russian, and Danish riders in front of him. Perhaps this is a reflection of the polyglot nature of cycling, but for a country like France with over 100,000 (144 pro) licensed cyclists and a huge cycling tradition, it doesn't look great. In an interview with AFP, L-B-L race director Jean-Marie Leblanc admitted that the lack of Laurent Jalabert played a big role in his country's lack of results this season, but Jalabert will be 33 this year. "We do not see the same number of up and comers in French cycling as in other countries. That fact deserves a good deal of reflection and debate," he said. Are the effects of 1998 now taking their toll on the French peloton? There are very few French riders now who are getting good results at the age of 28, the age that many cyclists reach their peak. Leblanc believes that this may be the case, as well as the fact that French riders are overly pampered when they do show promise. "As soon we point to a good rider, someone mothers him, puts him in financial and material comfort probably excessive for such a demanding trade," added Leblanc, making an example of Cofidis' Laurent Lefevre. "A rider who I like, from the same area as me, who has class, but has been spoiled. And everyone knows that in life, one does not do great things with children too spoiled in their youth." Leblanc also wishes to put a broader emphasis on recruiting young riders to the ranks of French cycling for the future. "A basic club is enough for a rider until they are 18 years old, but today the sport progresses in all areas. One needs a more sophisticated way to perfect a rider." Leblanc feels that this may take some time to accomplish, but is confident that it will happen. He is concerned with the "lack of authority" of some directeur sportifs compared with their harder predecessors, citing Cyrille Guimard as a shining example: "A directeur sportif must be a commando chief with his riders." The Tour de France director did not see the lack of top performances by French cyclists as damaging to the Tour, which "carries itself, regardless of its heroes or winners." After all, Wimbledon is still the World's most prestigious tennis tournament.
JaJa in Le Tour?
The re-entry of Laurent Jalabert to racing could not have come at a better time for his Danish CSC-WorldOnline team, who are hoping for one of the four wild card spots that are left. After seeing him ride in La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Leblanc commented that "I do not exclude the fact that Laurent Jalabert, if he is at the start, can ride a good Tour de France." "It is not a question that he will win the Tour, but Jalabert, who is highly developed in a very different context, perhaps will make a good exit in the Tour de France. He is not excluded." According to Danish daily, Berlingske Tidende, it is all but assured that the CSC-WorldOnline team will be in. "Riis' team to be selected for Tour de France" read the headline today, "Now all speculations can stop." The article states that a "high ranked and well informed source in the Sociètè du Tour de France" told the newspaper that "CSC-WorldOnline is among the four teams who are to be pulled out of the hat on May 2." The other three according to BT are Saeco Macchine per Caffe, Euskaltel-Euskadi and Lotto-Adecco. This is certainly not a bad guess, especially after David Etxebarria (Euskaltel) won the Ardennes Trophy as best performed rider in Fleche Wallonne and L-B-L, both run by the Sociètè. Rik Verbrugghe (Lotto) won La Fleche Wallonne, and tried a similar attack in L-B-L. This combined with his Criterium International win counts for big points in Tour selection, although politics count for a lot as well. Then there is Mario Cipollini's recent return to form for Saeco, who have also enjoyed a good start to the year. Cipollini is one of the Tour's biggest drawcards in the bunch sprints of the first week, despite the fact that he has not yet finished the three week race. That leaves Mercury-Viatel, Team Coast, and Mercatone Uno from division I, and Francaise des Jeux, BigMat, and Alessio from division II as teams with the best prospects. Being French counts for a lot, despite the fact there are six French teams already invited, including three from the second division. However, neither of the two French squads have had impressive early season results, which surely will count against them. Another team that hasn't kept fans on the edge of their seats is the German Team Coast, whose biggest Tour attractions are Alex Zülle and Fernando Escartin. Of course, one can't expect that these two riders will be in such good form at the beginning of the season, but Alex Zülle's attack (albeit brief) during Liege-Bastogne-Liege did not go unnoticed. Mercatone Uno have already protested that they have not been assured a spot, despite 1998 winner Marco Pantani's emphasis on the Giro d'Italia this year. By the time the Giro starts on May 19, the Tour selections will have already been made, and Pantani might have to content himself with a quiet Maglia Rosa or two. Mercury-Viatel have expanded into the top echelon of Euro racing this year, after a few years dominating the US scene. They have not had a dream run in the early part of the season, with injuries to several of their top riders, although Peter van Petegem has managed some good, consistent results. Unfortunately, Paris-Nice, where he finished 3rd after leading for most of the race, is not a Sociètè du Tour de France-run event. The final team with any sort of a chance for Tour selection is the Italian Alessio squadra, which has been winning races all over Europe this season. But being from division II and being Italian will not help their cause, no matter how many times they top the podium. The four teams haven't officially been named yet, but at the moment, Lotto, Saeco, Euskaltel, and CSC are the front runners, with Mercury, Coast and Mercatone Uno close behind.
Brad Wiggins on BBC GrandstandBritish Olympic and World Championship medallist, Bradley Wiggins, will have his own 20 minute slot on BBC's Grandstand this coming Sunday, April 29. With a working title of "A day in the life of Bradley Wiggins", the feature will be shown at approximately 4.30pm. It will showcase a young rider who is widely regarded as one of the best prospects in British cycling. Bradley was the BBC's first choice cyclist for the series, which features Olympic medallists from Sydney and Gold medal hopes for Athens 2004. As well as winning Olympic and World Team Pursuit medals in 2000, Bradley was Junior World Champion (Individual Pursuit) in 1998 and recently won the Cinturon Ciclista Internacional a Mallorca. He has also appeared in a number of programmes, including spells as guest commentator on both the BBC and Eurosport. "I am flattered they asked me and very happy the BBC are giving British cycling some great exposure," said Wiggins, who will miss the program as he will be competing in the Circuit de Mines in France.
A 300,000 loss posted by KNWUThe Koningklijke Nederlandse Wielrennen Unie (KNWU) has posted a NLG 344,414 loss ($US 140,000) for the last financial year. The financial shortfall is mostly due to higher expenses at the the KNWU office and lower income from investments. Also the KNWU received less subsidies from the state than in previous years. Because of the bad results, the value of the KNWU declined by NLG 449,414 to NLG 2,007,137 ($US 800,000). "This is not very pretty, but also certainly not alarming," said director Peter Nieuwenhuis from the KNWU. "Of course, we are not treating this lightly. We have to watch our expenses very closely. We have to realise that income from investments can be disappointing. You have to watch to watch this over a longer period of time, and not on a yearly basis."
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