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In the wake of Bruno Roussel's claims that Richard Virenque bought his 1997 Courchevel victory from Jan Ullrich, a new book by 1996 Olympic champion Pascal Richard alleges that the buying and selling of victories in the peloton is routine.
Richard's autobiography "Pascal Richard, Géant de la route, forçat de la vie, Le vrai visage d'un cycliste" ("Pascal Richard: Giant of the road, convict of the life, the true face of a cyclist"), written with the assistance of Swiss journalist Patrick Oberli, devotes an entire chapter to the practice. In the chapter "Buying and selling races: a code of honour" Richard rails against his former directeur sportif Paul Koechli for refusing to pay the Panasonic team to help Richard win the 1991 Tour of Switzerland. Instead, Richard alleges Panasonic's services were made available to his yellow jersey rival Luc Roosen.
"Such arrangements are not only made at team level," Richard claims. "Riders regularly buy and sell victories according to the circumstances of the race. Personally I always went straight to the point and asked by rival 'How much do you want?'"
Richard cites "the voice of one of the greats of cycling who always said 'you can buy but you must never sell.' The rider who sells is quickly relegated to the status of a loser. There are no secrets in the peloton."
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Lampre-Daikin team management has attempted to cool rumours that Frank Vandenbroucke has been sacked. Team manager Beppe Saronni said on Thursday that "there is no Vandenbroucke case" explaining that the troubled Belgian simply was not racing at the moment and that the team simply wanted him to come to Milan to be examined by the team's doctor. "This is a logical step after he hurt his hand," said Saronni.
Nevertheless, Lampre's directeur sportif Pietro Algeri is reported to be losing patience with the wayward Belgian, who has not answered phone calls or emails from him.
The Italian Cycling Federation's new ethics committee met for the first time on Wednesday, in the aftermath of the June 18-23 suspension of racing. During the two hour meeting, the committee's president Alfredo Martini and its ten members discussed the creation of a code of conduct to facilitate the fight against doping. The new code of ethics will be presented to the Federation's national council on Saturday. At the end of the meeting Martini said that "the proposals for a this code must help cycling make a new start."
More details have emerged of the guidelines for team doctors in the Tour de France issued on Wednesday governing the drugs they are allowed to use during the race. They will be permitted a large amount of authorized drugs and an emergency supply containing small amounts of banned or restricted substances.
The guidelines were issued by the French government's anti-drug agency whose head, Michel Boyon said "Medicine in the kit may contain banned substances in infinitesimal doses. The doses must be adapted to first-aid treatment and doctors must inform riders of the consequences they face, in other words a positive test result if they take the medication."
Doctors must issue a prescription for any drug that is not available without one, and could be prosecuted if banned drugs are found in their main supply, said Boyon.
Marco Magnani, team doctor of Mercatone-Uno, has made serious allegations about the pressure to dope in cycling. Talking to an Italian weekly magazine, he said "there is pressure from some people within the sport to use drugs for non-medical reasons. To me, this is unacceptable."
Cyclingnews will provide live coverage of the next two stages of the Tour de Suisse. Coverage of Stage 4 (June 22: Baar Wildhaus) and Stage 5 (June 23: Widnau/Heerbrugg - Col du Gothard) will start at approximately 15.30 Central European Time and will be linked from our front page.
In addition we'll be covering live Tuesday June 26's individual time trial from Sion to Crans/Montana.
Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) will not start in Sunday's Route du Sud because of problems with one of his Achilles tendons. Rabobank team doctor Geert Leinders said that Boogerd's start in the Tour de France is not in danger.
By Grant "I've got to sort through how many entries!?" Camphuisen
We have drawn the winners of the Cannondale CAAD5 frame, signed Mario Cipollini Saeco jersey and signed Cadel Evans Volvo jersey featured recently in our competition during the month's Giro d'Italia.
Before we can announce the winners we are waiting for them to contact our office and confirm their identity. Pssst - everybody please check your email.
Thank you to everybody who entered the competition, though, we've done the maths and we're impressed with the number of you who claim to share Mario's birthday — or your a) aunt b) second cousin or c) dog does.
Finally, if you didn't win this time around, don't forget to buy your very own CAAD5 frame and tell the good folks at Cannondale that Cyclingnews sent you...
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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Reader Poll 2001 - Vote for your favourite riders
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- Rochelle Gilmore - Road scholar (December 6)
Tales from the Peloton
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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
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