|
|
|
This race, together with the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (June 21-28) are the last two remaining Hors Categorie stage races before the Tour de France starts on July 7. Most of the top Tour contenders do either one of these races, and they are also used to select which riders will be on the Tour teams.
The Tour de Suisse has a rich tradition, and can probably lay claim to being the fourth most prestigious stage race in the world behind the three Grand Tours. Although another 23 day stage race in June would certainly not fit into the calendar at the moment, people have been discussing about elevating the Tour de Suisse to Grand Tour status.
The field this year is interesting, with riders such as Raimondas Rumsas (Fassa Bortolo), Stefano Garzelli and Michele Bartoli (Mapei-Quick Step), Oscar Camenzind and Gilberto Simoni (Lampre-Daikin), Lance Armstrong (US Postal), Alexander Vinokourov and Erik Zabel (Telekom), Laurent Dufaux and Paolo Savoldelli (Saeco), David Rebellin (Liquigas), Laurent Jalabert (CSC), and Alex Zülle (Coast) doing more than just making up the numbers.
The first stage is a 7.9 kilometre time trial starting in Europa-Park in Rust, Germany. Stage 2 will take riders from Rust to Basle (179 km), then from Reinach to Baar (163 km), Baar to Wildhaus (144 km) with the longest stage on June 23 from Widnau to the Col du Gothard (220.6 km).
A key stage will be the mountain time trial (stage 8, June 26) from Sion - Crans/Montana, 25.5 kilometres. Starting at an altitude of 509m, the stage is flat for 10 kilometres before climbing 1000m to Cras Montana in the final 15 kilometres. Several riders, notably Lance Armstrong, have targetted this stage for its similarity to the Grenoble-Chamrousse time trial in the Tour de France, and it should provide a good form guide.
The Tour de Suisse finishes on June 28 in Lausanne, home of the UCI and the IOC.
Last night, when he was awarded by the Municipality of Trento for his Giro victory, Gilberto "Gil" Simoni admitted that he won't participate at the forthcoming Tour de France. He'll start in the Tour de Suisse tomorrow to help Oscar Camenzind, and then ride the Italian Road Championships. The Vuelta in September is his other big target for 2001.
Courtesy of Alessandro Gretter
The Saeco Macchine Per Caffe team will start the Tour of Switzerland with Paolo Savoldelli and Laurent Dufaux as its leaders in an attempt to make up for a disappointing Giro d'Italia.
For the Tour of Switzerland, directeur sportif Antonio Salutini has also selected Mirko Celestino, who is getting fitter after the problems he suffered in the early part of the season. Salutini will also have Francesco Secchiari who won the ninth stage in last year's Tour of Switzerland with a long break.
The rest of the Saeco team will be: Pavel Padrnos, Fabio Sacchi, Massimiliano Mori and Swiss rider Armin Meier.
1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich has reacted angrily to comments made by former Festina soigneur Willy Voet that "all the winners of the Tour in the past 30 years were doped". Voet made these statements on a German ZDF TV show on Saturday, and Ullrich responded on Sunday evening on regional channel SWR.
"It is for all of us, and in particular for me, a serious attack on our reputations," said the Olympic champion. I must examine it. If it is possible to attack these remarks in front of the judiciary, then I will do it."
"I don't know him personally," said Ullrich. "He has never spoken with me. Therefore I don't understand who a person can sit in the TV studio and say that."
He added that the subject of doping had been "getting on my nerves lately. It annoys me that it is taken so much out of context. I did not deserve that. On my part, only products were found that appeared in my medical booklet."
He criticised that raid, saying that "They had to find something and make it public, otherwise it wouldn't have been worthwhile." His manager Wolfgang Strohband is considering taking legal action against the Italian authorities for slander.
Ullrich says that for the upcoming Tour, the big favourite is Armstrong. "I am only a challenger," he said, noting that there are several other candidates for victory.
Ullrich raced a criterium on Sunday evening in Bad Saulgau (which he won of course) in front of 20,000 spectators. He will not be riding in the upcoming Tour de Suisse (or the Volta a Catalunya). "I regret that, because the first stage goes through my home in Merdingen."
Instead, Ullrich will be preparing in the Alps and the Pyrenees. In spite of performing relatively poorly on GC, the Giro was an important part of his preparation. "I came with good form out of Giro," he finished.
 |
For the first time since being ejected from the Giro d'Italia and the Fassa Bortolo team, Dario Frigo has expressed his anger at the way he was fired. In tomorrow's edition of Italian newspaper "Il Biellese", Frigo lets fly.
"What makes me really angry? The way in which I was fired. My name has come under scrutiny; there are different laws for newspapers."
"I do not say I am being made a scapegoat, but they tried to make news out of the Giro...they did not name others."
"The thing that annoyed me was the declaration of directeur sportif Ferretti on the radio, when he said he didn't understand how I was going so strongly. That did not appeal to me. When we next meet, I want to have a clarification."
"Him, with his experience, does not have to resort to that in front of journalists. It was better that he had it out with me. I have done everything in the open, and if he did not believe that of my personage, he is mistaken. Except for him, the others have understood everything."
"He also involved my wife. On Thursday morning, after the night of the search, I was at the riders meeting, and that meeting went on until the afternoon and I did not have the opportunity to speak with Ferretti. Also, why were there 200 journalists? Someone had given the report to him. I don't know why he wanted them there."
"Then in the hotel on Thursday evening, I told him that I had some problems and that he could take any decision. He knew everything. 'If it is my fate to finish the Giro, thanks,' I told him. 'Otherwise, if they thought that was not the case, I would have gone home'."
"I hid nothing and Ferretti knew it. When the news got out they had to make an official announcement and what happened you know."
Frigo is accusing his team of being just as guilty as him, but having tried to cover up the news. The full version of the interview will be published IL Biellese, June 19.
The reports of large percentages of cyclists with asthma, one of which appeared on Cyclingnews recently, have raised doubts amongst medical experts about their validity. In the German press, it has been stated that "up to 80%" of cyclists are asthmatics, compared with the mere 45% quoted by Cyclingnews.
It is inevitable that these figures have been scrutinised, especially with an athlete as high profile as Jan Ullrich having to answer questions about the drugs he carries around for his asthma use. Klaus Müller, head of the doping laboratory in Kreischa believes that the number of asthmatics in the professional peloton shouldn't be that high.
"So many riders can't be asthmatics, therefore an independent doctor must be used for asthma diagnosis in the future," said Müller to Berlin newspaper, Tagesspiegel.
He also pointed out the importance of out of competition testing. "Controls taken during training are just as important as those taken during racing. And there is one control per year in Germany, which is simply too little, although the control system here is actually quite good."
Müller said that the expense of carrying out controls should not prevent them being made. In the Giro, "the fact that these finds were made show that the controls are effective. That is the justification for the money put into controls. If we doubled the number of tests, we would find more black sheep."
However, in Germany it is not possible to have a large scale search like that in San Remo. "Crowds of policemen in hotel rooms can only happen if there is a suspicion first. But we discussed whether trafficking and possession of doping substances in future is punishable."
There is still a problem with the fact that there is no international standard for testing for EPO and growth hormones. "There are so far three laboratories that can practice this method. After the recent state of affairs, it will probably not be used in the Tour de France," said Müller. This decision must be taken by the UCI.
"But I hope that we can use this method by the end of the year in Germany, whether it is recognised around the world or not."
28 year old Russian, Guennadi Mikhailov (Lotto-Adecco) has attracted the attention of the Spanish iBanesto team, after his fourth place in Saturday's toughest stage of the Dauphine Libere, where he finished just 1'23 behind Moreau, Tonkov and Mayo in Briançon.
He was approached by iBanesto PR man, Francis Lafargue for a little chat after the stage which may perhaps lead to more. Lotto team director Jef Braeckevelt described him as a "good boy". However, "he only speaks Russian," meaning that all the communication between Mikhailov and the team has to be conducted via Andrei Tchmil.
"Mont Ventoux was his first mountain for 2001. He was not up there on the day. He is a man for all terrains and can give Van de Wouwer a lot of help," added Braeckevelt.
After today's rest day and transfer south, the Giro d'Italia Elite starts again from Ciociaria with one of the most anticipated stages, the Anagni to Veroli Prato di Campoli. At 154 km, the seventh stage will be decisive: there are seven climbs with the last up to the finish at Prato di Campoli at 1140m, expected to offer some great racing.
There has been some great racing in the six stages so far. The overall classification is still wide open with several riders still in with a chance of winning the final pink jersey. Indeed there are five riders within a minute of the leader Frattini and 15 are less than three minutes behind.
At the half way point in the race, national coach Antonio Fusi commented on the race: "It's a spectacular Giro," he said. "It's proving to be the most prestigious race for Italian amateurs. The Sintofarm team is performing the best so far but the race is still very open and anything could happen before the final classification becomes clear. Any one of the top GC riders could win, including time trial winner Bondarenko, who was a bit behind the overall before his good ride on Sunday."
"Tomorrow the classification could change but it's difficult to predict what will happen. There aren't many occasions when riders go head to head after a week's racing. Everybody is tired now and even the weather (rain is predicted), could make a difference. In the last few days the heat in the south could change things yet again."
The Calzatura Civitanova team have announced that they will not be continuing in the Giro. In an official statement they cited various injuries and illness as the reason for not continuing in the Giro.
Anteprima Azzurra a Castelfranco Veneto: Casprini Pitti Shoes
Stage 1 - Castelfranco V.-Castelfranco V.: Patrizio Gambazza (Ita) G.S. Podenzano
Italfine
Stage 2 - Este-Este: Andris Reiss (Lat) Velo Club Sintofarm Feralpi
Stage 3 - Breganze (Stab. Sirmec)-Breganze: Davide Frattini (Ita) Velo Club
Sintofarm Feralpi
Stage 4 - Calvisano-Crema: Marco Endrizzi (Ita) U.C. Trevigiani Mapei Cassamarca
Stage 5 - Salsomaggiore-Sassuolo Montegibbio: Giacomo Cariulo (Ita) Cycling
Team Casprini
Stage 6 - Castellarano-Prignano S. ITT: Denis Bondarenko (Rus) - G.S. Resine
Ragnoli
Tour de Suisse, June 19-28
Michele Bartoli, Triki Beltran, Paolo Bettini, Stefano Garzelli, Pedro Horrillo, Scott McGrory, Rinaldo Nocentini, and Andrea Noè.
Omloop Van De Westkust, June 20
Laszlo Bodrogi, Dario Cioni, Crescenzo D'Amore, Bart Leysen, Luca Paolini, Filippo Pozzato, Tom Steels, and Pavel Zerzan.
The town of Saint-Amand-Montrond, which will host the finish of the third last stage of the Tour de France, has named a street in honour of the race, the "Avenue du Tour de France". It will be inaugurated on June 22 by five-time Tour winner Bernard Hinault, and will be used on July 27 for the finish of the stage 18 time trial that starts in Montluçon.
This is not the first time that a road has been named in honour of a bike race. The Ronde van Vlaanderenstraat near Kluisbergen in Belgium is another Classic example.
Former president of the Norwegian Cycling Federation, Bjĝrn Hamre (49) managed to break the record from Lĉrdal to Oslo by more than two hours, setting the mark at 9.06.23. This was more than half an hour better than his own schedule for the 330 kilometre ride.
The ride started in a slight headwind, nevertheless Hamre was more than eleven minutes ahead of schedule after 42 kms in Borlaug, at the foot of the most feared climb over Fillefjell at 1000 metres above sea level. On top of the mountain, he was 17 minutes ahead of schedule and felt fine heading down the Valdres valley towards the Norwegian capital. After a final effort he managed to arrive at Oslo more than two hours faster than the old record set by Wilhelm Trygg in 1953, despite the tough climbs in the Hönefoss area.
This coming Friday, Hamre's club mate in Sp Kl Rye, Fred Magne Hval, will make an attempt for another classic Norwegian distance record: Tondheim - Oslo, 540 kms.
Courtesy of Syklingens Verlden
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
Recently on Cyclingnews
Latest Photos - Olympic
Armstrong, Boulder & California 'cross, More Pan-Am, Canberra, Boston & REI
'cross (December 13)
Cyclingnews survey -
Reader Poll 2001 - Vote for your favourite riders
Letters
- VDB, Lance, Boring Tour, Coastal Post, Respect (December 13)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Ryan Bayley - the KFC-fuelled world champ (December 13)
Cyclingnews Interview
- David McKenzie - Macca's back (December 12)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Laurent Jalabert - Jalabert looks ahead (December 11)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Charly Wegelius - A coffee stop with Charly (December 8)
Cyclingnews
Interview - Sven Montgomery - Moving up in the world (December 6)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Rochelle Gilmore - Road scholar (December 6)
Tales from the Peloton
- 12 Hours of Oleta - MTB endurance race in Miami (December 6)
Tales from the Peloton
- Tony Cruz - back to his roots (December 7)
Marco Polo
Diary - Tour du Faso - Part II - Nathan Dahlberg's report (December 3)
Tech
maintenance - Wheels - how to keep them true and tight
Tech letters
- Headsets, Pegoretti, Carbon cage, gloves & tubes (December 10)
Tech news - Navigators
power-tap, Headsets, Carbon cages (December 7)
Tech- Recycling
- How to protect your chainstay for free
Tech Reviews:
Egg Beater pedals; Park
Tool belt; Shimano shoes;
Speedplay
Breaking
the Chain - Dope planning and testing - From Willy Voet's book
| Home Search Survey Contact us |