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By Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent
Fassa Bortolo's Francesco Casagrande will be aiming to help his team recover its composure after the Giro debacle where Fassa Bortolo lost three of its top riders. Casagrande was the first to go when he fractured his left wrist after a fall on the first stage.
Casagrande said that his new focus is definitely the Tour de France. "I'm going to race in the Tour De France to do well; I don't want to lose too much time in the first week and then look to keep gaining time on GC every day...I like the course and think I can do well," he told Cyclingnews.
After his crash-out in the early stages of the Giro d'Italia, Casagrande is looking to have a good ride in the Tour De France, where he was 6th in '97 riding for Saeco and was a favorite in '98 when he crashed out on the descent of the Tourmalet while in Cofidis. In '99, Casagrande was excluded from Le Tour after his Vini Caldirola team was 86'ed from their TDF selection after his surprising win in the Tour De Suisse.
"If all goes well, I can finish the Tour in the top 5," said Casagrande from his Tuscany home after a tough training week in the mountains of Trentino. "Perhaps the Tour is a race that is even better for me than the Giro; the climbs are not as steep but they are longer and that is what I like. Plus I like the heat; I'd be glad if I could race all year when it's 30 degrees."
Casagrande noted that the first week of the Tour is not completely flat and that this will help him refine his form after making his return to competition in the Route du Sud next week. His Fassa Bortolo teammate Raimondas Rumsas must be disappointed as he was supposed to be the FB leader at Le Tour, but with Casagrande looking for scalps in France, Rumsas will have to take a back seat.
"I am really motivated for the Tour...Armstrong and Ullrich are the favorites. I'm not as good as either of them in the time trial, but there is the uphill time trial and I can gain time (on Armstrong and Ullrich) on the climbs."
With Pantani not selected for Le Tour 2001, Casagrande will be a dark horse with a strong team; if the unpredictable Tuscan can avoid crashing out, he may end up on the podium in Paris.
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After his win in the final stage of the Dauphiné Libére, Credit Agricole's Jens Voigt declared himself ready for this year's Tour de France. Last year, he and Erik Dekker livened up the race with their aggressive riding style, with Dekker having more luck than the German.
"Now, I can consider to have done my work before the Tour. This victory was significant for Credit Agricole, who sponsored the race."
"Everyone did their work. But the team still suffered from the blow of the abandonment of Vaughters. Roger Legeay had asked us to accept responsibility for the race. The single tactic was to make the race at the front. The rain helped me. When the sun shines, everyone rides."
By John Stevenson (updated thanks to reader feedback)
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For the 11 years since mountain biking held its first UCI-sanctioned world championships there's been a gentle osmosis of riders between the worlds of road and dirt. Road racers have crossed over to fat tyres with varying degrees of success and mountain bikers have joined the peloton mostly to broaden their experience and attain the depth of condition that comes from day-in/day-out racing.
This osmosis has been particularly noticeable in the women's ranks. A look at the GC of the HP Women's Challenge brings up several names better known for their activities on dirt: Alison Sydor, Alison Dunlap, and Caroline Alexander for example.
Nevertheless there's always been a division. The two disciplines are sufficiently different that it's been necessary to specialise to be successful, and riders who have mixed the two in the past, like John Tomac and more recently Filip Meirhaeghe, have only done well in one branch of the sport. That's no surprise; there's a very big difference between the condition needed to sit at the top of your aerobic range for two and a half hour in a mountain bike race and the stamina and recovery demanded by a multi-day stage race.
But that, as they say, was then. Australia's Cadel Evans has always looked like the Rider Most Likely to most successfully cross over from dirt to road, or even to mix the two at the highest level. As readers have pointed out, Jorgen Bo Pederson is a former mountain bike racer and Tour of Luxembourg winner, and former world MTB champion Michael Rassmussen is also a useful road racer. But Evans' win in the Bank Austria Tour is a landmark for the still-young sport of mountain biking and the riders who have come to cycling through the dirt route: he's the first rider we're aware of to win both the MTB World Cup series and a significant road tour.
What Evans demonstrated most strongly, with his win of stage three of the Austrian tour, is that mountain biking teaches you to endure, especially on climbs. What's always set apart the best mountain bikers is their ability to maintain a maximal effort as their rivals fade at the end of the typical MTB race's 150 minute lactic acid bath. That's an ability that will serve Evans well as he develops as a road racer.
It'll be interesting to see which way this likable 24-year-old Australian decides to go. He has already said that the Athens Olympic mountain bike race is a goal, to make up for his disappointment in front of his home crowd at Sydney, and a repeat of his 1998 MTB World Cup win remains a target. But after a win like this he must surely be considering his long-term options, and at the very least planning a more mixed program for the rest of this year and for 2002.
After German champion Rolf Alag's 8th place overall in the Tour of Luxembourg, the veteran has ridden himself into contention for Telekom's Tour de France team. Aldag will now ride the Tour de Suisse which starts on Tuesday as a final preparation before the Tour squad is picked.
The other Telekom riders at Luxembourg were Erik Zabel, Roberto Sgambelluri, Gian-Matteo Fagnini, Andreas Klier, Jan Schaffrath, Jens Heppner (who all finished) and Alberto Elli (who didn't). Despite not winning any stages in the Tour of Luxembourg, directeur sportif Walter Godefroot said that he was "extremely satisfied with the performance of my team."
He also commented to ZDF TV on the situation involving Jan Ullrich, who is amongst those under investigation after the Italian police raids. "There are people paid to throw up unbelievable muck, although they have never submitted an ounce of proof, that annoys me excessively."
Former Belgian soigneur Willy Voet had earlier claimed that there was no-one in the past 30 years who had won the Tour cleanly, prompting an angry reaction from Godefroot. "Jan fought for his 1997 Tour victory honestly. Whoever reads his books knows about some of the dirty methods that were used there, it is insolence to imply that the same methods were used by everyone. We did not do any of that."
According to a posting in her section of Lance Armstrong's website, his wife Kristin is expecting not one but two additions to the Armstrong clan. After successful IVF treatment in the Spring, Kristen recently discovered that she is carrying twins,when a sonogram revealed two heartbeats. Kristin says she is well, though feeling tired as a result of chasing Number One son Luke around, while Lance's reaction was "Yeah, but we’re not done after this, are we?" Planning to manage Team Armstrong after he retires, perhaps. Bad jokes aside, Cyclingnews wishes Kristin a hassle-free and healthy next six months.
German Cycling Federation (BDR) president Sylvia Schenk has said that her federation will be carrying out more drug controls in the future, at the same time calling for some rational thinking about the doping problem.
Speaking on German TV on Saturday evening, she said that "We have a doping problem and there is a lot more to do than we've done so far. We have increased and will continue to do so, the number of out of competition tests in the last few years. We must also work on the punishments. Our control system is good, but it is not enough."
"We will intensify it, even though we risk worsening the doping statistics of cycling compared with other kinds of sport," added Schenk.
She pointed out that it wasn't a unique problem to cycling. "We have this problem in our achievement oriented society, which appears in many kinds of sport as well as in other areas of life. There is a stronger craze mentality, does not stop at sport."
17 teams have been named by the organisers of the Tour de la Région Wallonne (UCI 2.3, August 3-8) which starts in Mouscron and finishes in Aubel.
Division I
Domo-Farm Frites, Mapei-Quick Step, Lotto-Adecco, Cofidis, Mercury, Crédit Agricole, La Française des Jeux, Lampre-Daikin
Division II
Collstrop, Vlaanderen-T Interim, Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, Ville de Charleroi, Fakta, Phonak
Elite
Fortis-Eddy Merckx Boys, Domo-Retie, R.P.C. Liege
100 riders from 10 national teams will start today in the 51st Vuelta a Colombia, a 1,971 kilometre tour around the South American country. The race starts with a 8.8 km prologue in Popayan and runs for another 15 stages, finishing in Bogota on July 2. The longest stage is 203.5 km (stage 10) on June 27.
Despite its importance on the Latin American calendar, and the US$30,000 in prizemoney on offer, there will be no international presence in this year's race, and most of the teams will be from Colombia, with two from Venezuela. The race was under threat due to financial difficulties and a lack of a sponsor, but it was decided to go ahead with it anyway.
Teams: Aguardiente Cristal, Orgullo Paisa, Aguardiente Nectar, Selle Italia, Cicloases, Lotería de Boyacá, 05 Orbitel, Equipo Nacional 05, Triple Gordo (Trujillo) and Lotería del Táchira.
The death of a young cyclist, Samuel Antonio Chitiva, has forced the organisers to cancel the Colombian youth championships. Chitiva (17) was run over by a car during the individual time trial on Friday, being conducted on the Ruta San Antonio de Pereira-La Ceja in the eastern part of Antioquia. He was immediately taken to hospital but died minutes later. The driver of the car was taken for questioning by the authorities.
Accidents are common in this part of Colombia, and many cyclists have died including several champions.
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Lance Armstrong is giving the clothes off his back to help raise money for Juice Guys Care, Nantucket Nectars' philanthropic arm. The US Postal Service Team 2000 jersey signed by cycling legend Lance Armstrong is up for bid until June 26 on the auction site www.MissionFish.com (or through www.juiceguys.com).
Major Races and Events
September 7-29, 2002: Vuelta
a España (GT) - Preview, stage list
May 11-June 2, 2002: Giro
d'Italia (GT) - Preview, stage list, photos
July 6-28, 2002: Tour
de France (GT) - Full preview & official route details
December 8: Superprestige
Rd 5 (Cat. 1) - Erwin Vervecken
November 29-December 4: Six
Days of Noumea (6D) - Sassone/Neuville victorious
November 26-December 1: Six
Days of Zurich (6D) - Day
6 - McGrory/Gilmore/Schnider win
December 1: Melbourne
Cup on Wheels (IM) - Scott Moller, Keirin,
Sprint, Support
races
December 2: Cyclo-cross
World Cup #2 (CDM) - Sven Nijs again
November 24-December 3: Juegos
Deportivos Centroamericanos (JR) - Final results
December 8-9: Frankfurter
Rad-Cross (Cat. 2) - Alex Mudroch, UK
National Trophy Series #4 (Cat. 3) - Roger Hammond, Grote
Prijs Industrie Bosduin - Kalmthout (Cat. 1) - Bart Wellens, Int.
Radquer Obergösgen (Cat. 2) - Björn Rondelez, Trofeo
Mamma e Papa Guerciotti (Cat. 3) - Enrico Franzoi, Premio
Egondo (Cat 3) - David Seco, Irish
cyclo-cross championships - Robin Seymour
Results: local racing
Australia - CycleWest
Promotions Omnium Series #2, Eastern
Suburbs Summer Criterium Series, Carnegie
Caulfield Tuesday criterium, Southern
Cross Junior Track Open & Madison Cup, Manly
Warringah CC, George
Town Track Carnival, Carnegie
Caulfield CC, Randwick
Botany CC, Gold
Coast CATS CC, Caesar's
Illawarra CC, Caesar's
Illawarra (track)
Denmark - Danish
cyclo-cross Post Cup #3
Italy - Gran
Premio Città di Bassano
Luxembourg - GP
De Kopstal
New Zealand - Cyco
Criterium series
Spain - Elorrio
cyclo-cross
USA - Georgia
Cross Series Championship, Chimborazo
Grand Prix cyclo-cross, Boulder
Cross Rd 6, New
Mexico State Cyclo-x Champs, Sorrento
Cyclo-x & California State Champ's, Boulder
Cross Rd 5, Verge
New England series, Northampton
CC Cyclo-cross Championships, Chris
Cross International CycloCross
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