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The publication of Bruno Roussel's book, "Tour de Vices" where he states that Jan Ullrich sold a stage of the 1997 Tour de France to Richard Virenque, has failed to elicit a response from either of the protagonists. Excerpts of the book were published in yesterday's edition of Parisian newspaper, Le Monde, where the figure of FF100,000 (US$13,000) was named by Roussel as the sum Virenque paid Ullrich so he could win. At the time, Roussel was the director of Virenque's Festina team and Ullrich won the 1997 Tour.
Virenque said he was "saddened" by Roussel's accusation, and "did not wish to enter into a new polemic. The fact that he accused me, again and always, is anything but being like a salesman to try and freely promote his book."
Virenque is currently serving a suspension after admitting to doping at the Festina trial last October. He may return to racing on August 11, provided he finds a team. The last time his name was mentioned in negotiations was with Alexia Alluminio, a few hours before Virenque's friend and Alexia rider Pascal Hervé was put out of the Giro for returning a positive B test for EPO.
Jan Ullrich expressed a similar opinion. "What do I have to say? There is no support for these charges?All these people just want to earn money," he told German newsagency SID. "I am concentrating on being at the top of my form by the start of the Tour on July 7."
His team director Rudy Pevenage thought the charge was crazy. "I cannot think of such a thing. 100,000 francs to give up a stage win is simply ridiculous. All the prizes go to the team. In the end, there is a lot more money."
Ullrich's entourage did not wish to pursue Roussel in court, saying that "We do not wish to lower ourselves to his level."
Telekom communications director, Jürgen Kindervater, affirmed that there would be no pursuit of Roussel in court. "If we answered each claim in court, it would do nothing but draw attention. It's incredible that a criminal can say something like this without presenting proof."
The Volta a Catalunya is the traditional preparation ground for Spanish teams to competing in the Tour de France. It is of course a solid race in its own right - classed "HC" by the UCI and in its 81st edition this year, a whole generation older than the Vuelta España. The race starts on June 21 with a 24.4 km team time trial in Sabadell, and finishes with a 13.9 km mountain time trial on June 28.
The favourites this year include Spaniards Roberto Heras (US Postal), Joseba Beloki (ONCE), José-Maria Jimenez (iBanesto.com), and German Andreas Klöden (Telekom).
ONCE (Beloki, Jaksche), iBanesto.com (Jimenez), Kelme (Sevilla), Euskaltel (Laiseka), Jazztel (Roscioli), Relax (Garrido), Telekom (Kloden), US Postal (Heras), Mercatone Uno, Lampre-Daikin (Ludo Dierckxsens), Festina (Plaza), Domo-Farm Frites, Mercury-Viatel, Crédit Agricole, Cantina Tollo, Team Coast (Fernando Escartin).
Domo Farm-Frites' Axel Merckx will not be starting in Tomorrow's Volta a Catalunya. The Belgian national champion finished 9th last year, but he is suffering from bronchitis at the moment. However, he believes that his title defence in Halle on July 1 is not endanger.
"Annoying, but not alarming," said Domo team leader Marc Sergeant to De Standaard today. Marco Pantani also forfeited. He is not yet completely recovered from the sickness that forced him to abandon the Giro d'Italia.
Dordogne club president, Alain Brunel, has been found by the correctional court in Perigueux to have slandered Jeannie Longo, and will be given a deferred fine of FF5000 as well as having to pay FF30,000 in damages.
He was demonstrated to have defamed Longo in a letter sent to FFC president Daniel Baal in June 2000. In it, he criticised Longo for defending the use of creatine, a forbidden product in France, on the internet.
Longo asked for FF200,000 in damages when she was heard on May 17.
The Lotto-Adecco team directors, Jef Braeckevelt, Claude Criquielion and Walter Planckaert, have had a round table discussion with manager Christophe Sercu, a bi-monthly occurrence. The four were most concerned with who they will be taking on board as stagiaires on August 1. "That can be important for getting a good professional contract for next season," said Braeckevelt to Het Belang van Limburg. "We have deliberated a lot about a number of names. We can not give those out yet."
"The stories about internal problems can be taken with a grain of salt. The sport of cycling is a small world. In football you compete against each other twice per year, in racing you do it weekly. That gives rise to unavoidable gossip. I have read that Planckaert will have another role next year. I have no comment about that. That is a task for the directors of the National Lottery."
According to Walter Planckaert, he doesn't necessarily want to be top man. "I came to Lotto-Addeco in order to take less hay on my fork. To guide the younger riders, to have less stress on myself: this was the combination I wanted. If I wanted a higher position, I had enough offers from another team last year to do so. It was a good enough offer."
The organisation of the Ronde van Vlaanderen will meet this September to determine whether St. Niklaas will be the starting place in 2003. The St. Niklaas city council have requested that the change be made from Brugge, which currently hosts the start from its Grote Markt.
Between 1977 and 1997, the Ronde started in St. Niklaas' Grote Markt, and it was the town's biggest event of the year, before Brugge gained the contract for five years until 2002.
"Our most important argument is from a technical point of view for the race," said mayor Freddy Willockx to Het Belang van Limburg. "A start from St. Niklaas guarantees an unstressful start to the race over the flat roads, and without the tension of a tail or headwind. From Brugge to the coast is different. The tense situation in the start phase led this year to a fall after 25 kilometres. There, a lot of favourites went down."
If the Ronde comes back to St Niklaas, there will be a number of festivities planned around the race (of course!). The city wants to have a "light" TV show about the Ronde on Canvas TV. Mayor Willockx said that "We have good contacts with Marc Uytterhoeven," who is one of Belgium's best known TV and media gurus.
After a two hour meeting today between the Conseil de Prévention et de Lutte contre le Dopage (CPLD) and several other representatives of the medical community, a consensus was reached as to the authorisation of the transport of drugs during the Tour de France this year.
CPLD president Michel Boyon specified that "Authorization was given to the French doctors to carry a certain amount of drugs in a reserve, which in any case will not contain prohibited products, and an emergency case which can contain infinitesimal doses of banned susbstances."
Ag2r doctor, Eric Bouvat, was present at the meeting, along with representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Employment and Solidarity, French Cycling Federation, Professional cycling league, national Olympic Committee, Société du Tour de France, and the Order of Pharmacists and Doctors
Normally, only pharmacists are allowed to transport large amounts of medical products for dispensation to athletes, but in this case an exception was made and may continue in the future. The list of drugs in the reserve and emergency cases will be determined in advance, and these will only be usable by the practicioner.
Non-French teams will have these regulations forwarded to them.
French minister for Youth and Sports, Marie-George Buffet, has expressed her satisfaction with the outcome, stating that this would "make it possible to protect the health of the athlete, to improve the effectiveness of the fight against doping within the framework of the Public Health Code, and to take into account the specifics of the practice of medicine in sporting competitions that are carried out by stages."
The First New York City Professional Cycling Championship has been rescheduled from August, 2001, to August, 2002. Race promoters Threshold Sports cited "time constraints" as the reason behind the postponement, but maintained that relationships with "Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, WABC-TV, MarComm Partners and Rubenstein Associates remain firmly in place with all parties fully committed to making the 2002 event even better than originally anticipated."
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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