News for February 27, 2001Recent results and new features 59th Tour of ValenciaOver the next five days, the 59th edition of the Vuelta Ciclista Comunidad Valenciana (Tour of Valencia) will take place. It is five stages (672 km) long, ending with a 26.8 kilometre time trial in Valencia. Last year's winner, Abraham Olano will wear the number one for ONCE, and he will be counted as a favourite despite the lack of early season form (25th in the Volta ao Algarve, 55th in Trofeo Luis Puig). The race will see the debut of Marco Pantani (Mercatone Uno), who rode two stages last year before retiring from competition until the Giro. Pantani's old teammate, Stefano Garzelli will be on the start grid for his new team Mapei, who have also brought along the in-form Paolo Bettini. For Telekom, Andreas Klöden will lead the team in the absence of Jan Ullrich, and he will be supported a good team including Erik Zabel, Udo Bölts, Alexandre Vinokourov, Jens Heppner, Gian Matteo Fagnini, Alberto Elli and Giovanni Lombardi. US Postal are without Lance Armstrong or Roberto Heras who will start the season with the Vuelta a Murcia, but they have brought a strong line up including Vjatceslav Ekimov, George Hincapie, and Jose Luis Rubiera. Alex Zülle is present as the main rider for Team Coast, but no Fernando Escartin. The iBanesto.com squad has the Poles Baranowski and Brozyna, along with potential star Francesco Mancebo and Italian climber Leonardo Piepoli. Stage 1 (Feb. 27) starts and finishes in Port. Sagunto, a 170 kilometre journey including a category 1 climb at 31 kilometres from the end. Stage 2 (Feb. 28) is from Sagunto to Denia (179.5 km) and is relatively flat. Stage three from Denia to Benidorm (Mar. 1) is short at 150 kilometres, but contains a long category 1 climb with its summit at kilometre 110, before descending to the finish. Stage 4 from Benidorm et Vallada is considered the "Queen Stage" as it contains several first and second category climbs, finishing with the 16% rise of the Alto del Campello after 147 kilometres. The final time trial stage is 26.8 kilometres, and completely flat. Stages Stage 1 - February 27: Port. Sagunto - Port. Sagunto, 169.5 km UCI rankingsThere were only a few minor shufflings to the top riders after the latest set of rankings were released by the UCI today. The season is certainly under way, but many of the better riders have either not started racing, or are simply aiming for a later part of the season to peak. Mapei's Paolo Bettini moved from 10th to 9th, courtesy of some wins in Langkawi, but his teammate Paolo Lanfranchi jumped from 113th to 75th after he won the race overall. Erik Dekker's Ruta del Sol victory moved him up from 18th to 12th, while Davide Rebellin overtook Jan Ullrich courtesy of a win in the Tour of the Med. There were some big changes in the teams rankings, as these were started from zero at the beginning of the year. Mapei-Quick Step are now clearly in the lead, and if you consider their performances over the last two weeks it becomes obvious why they are the world's number one team. Their domination in Langkawi was the main reason, but wins from Zanini and Bodrogi in the Giro Riviera Ligure Ponente, Nardello in the Tour du Haut-Var and Cancellara in the Tour of Rhodes certainly helped - especially as they were over a five day period. Lotto has also moved up in division I, courtesy of Tchmil's good showing in the Ruta del Sol and De Clercq's win in the Classic Haribo. Rabobank are in third place, after enjoying some early season success, and they lead Telekom who have been pulled along by Erik Zabel (4 wins) and Kai Hundertmarck (1 win). In division II, Italian Alessio are well into the lead, with several wins to their credit already. Rankings as of February 25, 2001 Individuals 1 Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2,467.00 pts 2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 2,261.00 3 Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Domo-Farm Frites 2,089.00 4 Lance Armstrong (USA) U.S. Postal Service 1,895.00 5 Roberto Heras Hernandez (Spa) U.S. Postal Service 1,767.00 6 Davide Rebellin (Ita) Liquigas-Pata 1,692.00 7 Jan Ullrich (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1,671.75 8 Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto-Adecco 1,517.00 9 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,482.00 10 Laurent Jalabert (Fra) CSC-World Online 1,360.00 11 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Lampre-Daikin 1,266.00 12 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 1,218.00 13 Wladimir Belli (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1,206.00 14 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Mapei-Quick Step 1,199.00 15 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,192.00 16 Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei-Quick Step 1,184.35 17 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Deutsche Telekom 1,128.00 18 Abraham Olano Manzano (Spa) O.N.C.E 1,086.00 19 Pavel Tonkov (Rus) Mercury-Viatel 977.00 20 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Festina 940.00 Teams Division I 1 Mapei-Quick Step 710.00 pts 2 Lotto-Adecco 437.00 3 Rabobank 420.00 4 Team Deutsche Telekom 413.00 5 Credit Agricole 332.00 6 CSC-World Online 307.00 7 Saeco Macchine Per Caffe 292.00 8 Festina 264.00 9 Domo-Farm Frites 250.00 10 Liquigas-Pata 219.00 Division II 1 Alessio 339.00 pts 2 Jean Delatour 190.00 3 Ag2R Prevoyance 160.00 4 Bonjour 119.00 5 Bigmat.Auber 93 114.00 Division III 1 Stabil Steiermark 252.00 pts 2 AXA-VVZ Professional Cycling Team 236.00 3 Barbot-Torrie 129.00 4 Team HSBC 115.00 5 Paredes Rota Dos Moveis - Tintas Vip 107.00 Nations 1 Italy 13,074.75 pts 2 Spain 9,418.00 3 Germany 8,088.75 4 Belgium 7,545.00 5 France 6,790.50 Tchmil, Marichal and now Gilmore have problemsLotto's man for all classics, Andrei Tchmil, has still not commenced training after contracting an illness during the Ruta del Sol last week (although he did ride in the Tour du Haut Var on Saturday). He will "perhaps" train on Wednesday in preparation for this weekend's Omloop Het Volk. However, Thierry Marichal is going to reconnoitre the parcours on Wednesday with a plaster cast on his wrist. He is not sure whether he will start on Saturday, and will give up his position to Stive Vermaut if this is the case. Finally, Matthew Gilmore's knee problem is still not fixed. The Vlaanderen T Interim rider will at the earliest be able to race on March 10, in the Guldensporentweedaagse.
Ochoa still seriousThe latest medical update on injured Spanish cyclist, Javier Ochoa, reveals that he is still in a very serious condition in the Carlos Haya hospital. He has not shown any changes in his neurological state, and remains on sedative medicine. His intracraneal pressure is still within normal limits, and his haemodynamic situation is stable, but requires other drugs to keep himself there. He is still exhibiting severe post traumatic respiratory insufficiency. Ochoa suffered these injuries after an accident 10 days ago when he and his brother Ricardo were hit by a car near Malaga. Tour of Rhodes: not all beer and skittlesThe 7th Tour of Rhodes finished on Sunday with Mapei's Fabian Cancellara taking the overall GC after winning the prologue. Other stage winners included Big Mat's Jay Sweet (2), Fakta's Marcus Ljungqvist (1) and Ville De Charleroi's Andy Desmet (1). Things didn't quite go according to plan, weather wise, as the following report from the British team reveals. "Throughout the event, the weather was very changeable and there were several uncomfortable moments for riders and team cars alike as the poorly surfaced roads struggled to handle torrential rain. Adding to the support staff's problems, all teams were issued with minute Renault Twingos as team cars. Onlookers particularly enjoyed watching the mighty Mapei team squeezing their operation into such a small car. The GB team also found the Twingos a tight squeeze, a fact underlined on the last day when mechanic Alex Jaffrey jumped out of the car to change a rider's wheel only for the Renault's door to come off in his hand!" Great Britain's Brad Wiggins did well to finish in third overall, again after a good result in the prologue.
FFC gets support from TDFThe Fédération Française de Cyclisme (FFC) is to receive financial support from the Tour de France, after a deal was signed between the two bodies on Monday. The agreement means that Le Tour will help finance the national technical direction (DTN), create a training and education centre in Chambery and support an elite level program based in Wasquehal. The anticipated budget is some 4 million francs ($US560,000) over the next four years. The main aim is to help the future of cycling in France, through supporting a stream of younger talent via the training centres. "It is also in our interests as organisers," said Jean-Marie Leblanc, director of the Tour de France. Another training centre is being planned for Bordeaux next year, and this will also have the support of the TdF.
Canadian conference on Doping in Sports Among YouthsOver the past weekend, more than 300 sports professionals from Canada and the rest of the world have converged on Montreal for a conference entitled "Doping in Sports Among Youths in Canada." Despite the name, the conference definitely had a global perspective and was considered the first of its type in the world according to the organisers. Amongst those present included IOC vice-president and chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Dick Pound; head of the IOC antidoping lab in Montreal, Christine Ayotte; and the president of the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport, Andrew Pipe. Unfortunately, there were few athletes or coaches in attendance, although these were the people whom the conference was aimed at. Ms Ayotte said that this was due to their "fear of speaking out", as all sports are still shadowed by the omerta (oath of silence). The usual topics were discussed, such as the need for education of young sports people about the potential health risks of doping. In addition, there was a strong need to cooperate with the pharmaceutical industry so that athletes are better informed about so called "nutritional supplements". Dr Pipe said that supplements which are so widely used by athletes, "can be extremely dangerous for them."
Another Finnish skier in troubleBy Tomas Nilsson and Gabriella Ekström, cyclingnews.com correspondents Cross country skiing now has its own Festina affair after another Finish cross country skier, Janne Immonen, has been found to have used a blood thinning agent (hydroxethyl starch) of the same kind as his teammate, Jari Isomätsä, was caught with some days ago. Immonen skied in the team that won the world relay championship last week. Finland now loses its title to Norway and the 32 year old Immonen will be suspended for two years. Three national team trainers have been suspended and the team's two doctors resigned last Saturday when they learnt about the positive A sample. A doctor's kit bag containing five different doping products prescribed by one of the Finish national team doctors has been found at a gas station and turned over to the police by a customer. In the bag the police also found used syringes and pieces of cotton with blood stains. Paavo M. Petäjä, chairman of the Finnish ski federation, was extremely surprised when he heard of the bag, and expressed this with a familiar quotation: "What the f***?" Swedish physician, doping expert, and ex-cyclist Pekka Kanerva, said in a chat session at www.aftonbladet.se that it wasn't possible that anyone could have natural haemoglobin levels exceeding the level set by the international skiing federation. "Illness or dehydration could be causes, but then they would not have raced anyhow". "I'm worried but not really surprised. As I have said for fifteen years now, this will be the death of sports. Sponsors will withdraw and we will get some kind of gladiator games instead. You might say I'm a bit disillusioned."
Volunteers wanted for Commonwealth GamesSport England are looking for experienced sports volunteers to help with the running of next year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester. If you have experience of providing voluntary help at sporting events, including acting as an official, and fancy getting involved with the biggest sporting event the region has ever hosted, you need to register your interest before the end of March. Call the VIP (Volunteers Investment Programme) hotline on 0800 363 373 and you will be sent VIP registration and a Commonwealth Games Volunteer info pack.
Cadieux Bicycle ClubThe Cadieux Bicycle Club of Detroit is putting together an elite team of Cat 1/2 riders that will represent the Motor city in regional races this year. The team is sponsored by Antoon's Bike, Tri-county Chiropratic and Suburban Home Manufactured Home Sales. The team's product sponsors are Giro Helemets, Rudy Project and Lemond Bicycles. The Elite team will concentrate on Michigan Cup Points Series races and regional favorites like the Adelphia Tour of Southeast Ohio, Tour of Michigan, Snake Alley/Burlington weekend and Univest G.P. The team is also actively recruiting Juniors and Espoirs for its development program. Team Roster Sponsors Antoon's Bike
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