News for January 15, 2001Recent results and new features JCTDU CoverageWith the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under set to commence tomorrow evening in warm, sunny Adelaide, many cyclingnews.com readers and Australian cycling fans have been wondering what sort of coverage the event will receive in the national media. A glance at a few of the recent letters that have been published recently reveals that people are, shall we say, not very gruntled with the scheduled Channel 7 TV coverage. Channel 7 South Australia will be providing 3 minute wrapups of each stage at 8:27 pm each night to all South Australian regional stations, with the exception of stage 1 (not covered). There will be a one hour highlights package screened nationally on February 2 at 2:00 pm on Channel 7, and free Community service adverts for Muscular Dystrophy, the race's official charity for 2001. In addition, radio station 5AA will provide 20 minute race updates during the course of each race stage from 16 - 21 January. The race will also screen on Europe's biggest sporting network Eurosport, with a potential viewing audience of over 100 million and through the Seven Networks South East Asia Broadcast Television Service to some 2 million viewers. Last year in Australia, the event was covered in greater depth by well known cycling channel SBS, with an average audience of 168,700 people per day (January 2000 viewing figures = 4.3% share). For the same period however, Channel 7's average audience was 1,037,000 (26.6% share). Therefore, a tradeoff is in order. The reasoning is that it is better for the event that more people are exposed to it, even though it will only be for a short period of time i.e. greater reach. Race media spokeswoman, Jenny Daly adds that "It is important to remember that the focus needs to be not only on the event as a cycle race but also as a tourism and State promotion - and Channel 7 provided us with the best means to facilitate this. It can even be argued that having less television hours could well increase spectator visitation to the event - especially on a national level - and that is certainly a result that would sit well with us." The bottom line remains. Daly credited SBS for their excellent coverage last year "but were unable to provide the audience reach, the advertising package, the regional coverage or the Asian coverage that Ch 7 could provide - and Ch 7 provided all of the above at a considerably less cost," she said. "Given that this is a broadcast that we pay for (as opposed to them paying us broadcast rights as per some sporting events) we need to ensure that we get the best value for money." What can you do? Follow it with cyclingnews.com! If you are unable to take a week off work/school to take the trip down to Adelaide and the surrounding Barossa Valley...there is an answer. Cyclingnews.com will be there, providing our distinctive blow-by-blow coverage of the tour, from the start in Glenelg on Tuesday right through to the finish in Adelaide's City Centre next Sunday. Look for live links on the cyclingnews.com homepage, or the results section of the JCTDU site. Of course, we will also be providing plenty of photographic action, interviews, complete results and reports from the race. Cyclingnews.com's live stage coverage can also be viewed on the official race website, www.tourdownunder.com.au, as part of an official media partnership with the race organisation in 2001. Wherever you are, you won't miss a beat of the action! Major sponsors uneasy about TourAfter Credit Lyonnais' threat to discontinue its involvement with the Tour de France if the race and cycling in general doesn't clean up its act with regard to drug use, comes news that both car sponsor Fiat and major sponsor Coca-Cola are considering discontinuing or reducing their involvement. French newspaper Journal du Dimanche quoted Fiat spokesman Jean Rol-Tanguy as saying "Everything that is said about doping and the lack of genuine solutions from the Societe du Tour de France is beginning to discourage us. We will give ourselves another year then reassess the situation." Meanwhile Coca-Cola intends to remain involved, but wants to reduce its financial commitment from 30 million francs to six million. A worst possible case of this reduction and the loss of Fiat and Credit Lyonais would see the Tour looking for other sponsors to raise 63 per cent of its budget. Oceania no-show for New ZealandCycling Australia to stage extra event for visitors Competition at the weekend's Oceania cross-country mountain bike race in Sydney was flattened somewhat by the non-appearance of the New Zealand team. Because of a misunderstanding about dates, the New Zealanders had booked flights to Sydney for Monday January 15, expecting to race later in the week. A rapidly-convened conference between the New Zealand team manager and Cycling Australia officials faced a hard decision: contact the New Zealand riders and tell them not to bother, or find a way of staging an extra event the following weekend. After checking that the Olympic venue at Fairfield City Farm was available, the decision was made: there will be an additional international-class cross country MTB race at Fairfield on Saturday January 20. Details of the race's exact status and UCI points allocation are yet to be fully confirmed, but there will definitely be three races, in the U19, Elite Women and Elite Men's categories. For more details contact Cycling Australia on 02 9764 2555. Vandenbroucke hungry for "the scent of competition"Troubled Belgian ace aims for mid-season comeback Eager to forget his disastrous 2000 season, Frank Vandenbroucke says he is "impatient to find the scent of competition" but he's not making any rash claims. After seven months away from racing, VDB acknowledges that "nobody can make a sure claim that he'll return to the foreground." Vandenbroucke is currently training in Tuscany with his new Lampre-Daikin team, and wants to put his physical and personal problems behind him. Lampre-Daikin directeur sportif Pietro Algeri believes he can, saying, "Frank has matured. He has completely overcome his problems, both personal and sporting. He is now ready to target objectives that suit him." VDB says he is looking forward to feeling strong again. "I want to know the day before the race that I'm going for the win. January and February will be crucial, leading up to Het Volk, the first outing where I'll have to put myself in the red." By the beginning of March, then, VDB and his team will know what to expect from him this season. In any case, Lampre-Daikin will take in the Spring classics, before targeting the Tour. However, Lampre's manager Guiseppe Saronni says he does not think Vandenbroucke will be ready to win the Grand Boucle, "but he will count among the best." Since Lampre-Daikin has announced that a grand tour victory is a target for this year, it looks as if the Vuelta rather than the Tour will be the target, and that will be Vandenbroucke's next major outing. However, VDB isn't the team's only ace. Algeri believes that Gilberto Simoni is capable of a Giro victory after his third place in 2000, and the team is well-placed for a victory in the Toor of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix or Milan-San Remo. The full Lampre-Daikin line-up for 2001 is: Riders Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Management General manager: Giuseppe Saronni Belgian cross world's team announcedAfter the national's at the weekend, the Belgian Cycling Federation has announced the following riders for its world's team: Elite Women Espoirs (U23) Juniors Recent results and new features on cyclingnews |