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A German scientist says there is evidence of a link between nandrolone, a banned anabolic steroid, and dietary supplements used by sportspeople, according to Reuters and AP reports in the International Herald Tribune.
There has been a rash of positive tests for nandrolone in the last few years, and in many cases the athletes involved have vigorously protested their innocence, claiming the nandrolone derived from food supplements. Wilhelm Schaenzer, of the Institute of Biochemistry at Cologne's Sports University tested volunteers taking supposedly 'clean' supplements and found they showed up positive for the drug.
"We are basically warning athletes that these substances could lead to a positive test," said Schaenzer on Friday.
This discovery doesn't let off the hook athletes who have tested positive, however. The rules of most sports federations put the onus on athletes to be careful about what they put in their bodies and the presence of a banned substance in the urine is grounds for suspension, however it got there.
This coming Wednesday, after the second last stage of the Tour de Suisse, Domo-Farm Frites manager Patrick Lefevere will make his final selection for the Tour de France. At the moment, there is a strong likelihood that the Lion of Flanders, Johan Museeuw, will make an appearance, but as usual, Lefevre is keeping his cards close to his chest until Wednesday.
Lampre-Daikin directeur sportif Pietro Algeri will have a chat tomorrow withFrank Vandenbroucke, to discuss his future in the team. Algeri will ask VDB why he didn't show up to Milan last week, and determine what the problem iswith his injured hand.
According to Algeri, VDB is definitely out of the Tour de France team, but he wants him to try for the second half of the season. "I hope that Vandenbroucke can come back to his highest level," said Algeri.
A little more than a year after he was the victim of an accident while training, the career of Yoann Le Boulanger (Cofidis) has been interrupted again by a new accident, this time involving the a scooter driven by his coach. Le Boulanger sustained a deep cut to the left thigh, and may not be able to ride the championships of France.
Courtesy www.velomania.net
Police in South Australia are appealing for information after a cyclist died on Friday in a horrific hit-and-run. Andrew Watkins, 38, of Munno Para West was dragged 6km after being hit 500m from his home. Police described the incident as the worst they have seen, and said the trail of the car shows the driver swerved several times with Mr Watkins still trapped underneath, before turning up a minor dirt road, dislodging him and driving away.
A resident found the critically injured rider, but paramedics were unable to save him. Police recovered flecks of metallic blue paint from the crime scene.
MrWatkins brother described him as a dedicated family man woth worked six days a week to support his family and rode the 35km to work every day. "He was a responsible rider and had two lights on the rear and reflectors on his clothing, as well as his back pack.
"Someone knows something about what happened. We are hopeful someone will grow a conscience and contact police. There is obviously damage to the car that hit Andrew, so someone is going to notice."
Police have appealed for anyone who saw Mr Watkins in the area of Stebonheath Rd, Munno Para West around 9pm on Friday night, or saw a car in the area to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
By Sergey Kurdukov, Russian Eurosport Commentator
Russian pros will get together in Krylatskoye in Moscow at the end of June for their national championships, just like most of their European colleagues in their respective countries. The organizers do not expect there will be many top names in the ITT, save, perhaps, Eugeni Petrov, the king of the under-23 Worlds in France last year. If he comes, he's almost sure to successfully defend his home title as he is top man against the clock in the country (arguably after Ekimov, but Slava has got quite a lot to think about, with the Tour high on his agenda).
On June 29 the participants will cover 33 kilometres, in three 11km laps over rather variable terrain. The route includes some 6km of almost completely flat road plus 5km along the final section of the Olympic road circuit which is very hilly. It's noteworthy that this part will be done in the direction opposite to the traditional one, thus long descents will turn into drags – not a bad thing in a TT -- but steep climbs, accordingly, will convert into breathtaking drops. At the end of the sharpest of them, where you easily reach over 80km/h, you find yourself at the most dangerous point as you have to burn the break pads, take a hairpin to the right and at the same time try hard not to ram into some of your opponents who are just entering this part of the course uphill. Russian roulette, of a kind.
On July 1 the complete Olympic circuit will host the 204km road race. The line-up is expected to be very impressive, with all division 1 Russians likely to be at the start line, Pavel Tonkov (Mercury-Viatell), Viathceslav Ekimov (USPS), Dimitry Konychev (Fassa Bortolo), Guennadi Mikhailov (Lotto) are just a few names to mention and you can't discount the all-rounder Andrei Zintchenko of La Pecol as well as other Division 2 die-hards such as Smetanin, Davidenko, Sivakov and Kokorine. Sergey Ivanov, completely back from injury in his first year with Feretti's squad, is up against a gruelling task of making the poker, being undoubtedly the most successful Russian pro on the national arena. Young hopefuls from ITERA are sure to start too.
The 13.4km lap is considered a classic route in Russia. It includes hundreds of turns, some of them on downhill sections with almost velodrome cambers. And what goes down must come up a number of steep (up to almost 20 per cent) climbs. Only the kilometre-long finish area is flat and wide.
It's almost 10 years since this circuit was used for highest-ranking competition. Fans older than 25 remember quite well the XXII Olympics and "Sukho"'s triumph, the 1995 Peace Race and surprisingly dominant Polish riders, and the World Junior Championships in 1989 in which Lance Armstrong made his top-level debut. The very first Russian pro champs in Moscow in the early 90s were also held in Krylatskoye, but the start and the finish were set up in the Red Square along the famous century-old cobblestones. The tour of the heart of Russian capital was a great idea, but today it is much harder to stage as Moscow traffic is many times more dense than a decade ago. Besides, it's more than 10 kilometres between Krylatskoye and the centre of the cityand that could seriously change scenario of the race.
By Tommy Campbell, Irish Independent/Evening Herald/Sunday Independent
Last week Irish cycling got welcome news in the divvy courtesy of the Department of Tourism Sport and Recreations Sports Capital Grants programme that is funded by the National Lottery. According to Paddy Doran, the Coaching Director of the Irish Cycling Federation, "it is particularly welcome that a figure of £57,000 was granted to the federation for the purpose of establishing a national cycling school.
"It is intended to set up the school at the Eamonn Ceannt Stadium on Sundrive Road in Dublin. There is so much we can do but the main emphasis for the moment will be refurbishment of premises at the track. These will be used for in the main coaching presentations. The track will need some work and it is also hoped that we can purchase some equipment.
"The project is a result of the co-operation between the Irish Cycling Federation, the local KWCD Community Partnership and Dublin Corporation. Naturally this is the first step to having a vibrant track scene in Ireland. When it is up and running it will be a tremendous asset to encouraging young people to participate in a safe environment," said Paddy.
It is certainly the right way to go in the general area of attracting people into the sport, providing a facility on a closed circuit away from the roads which are now a nightmare for any cyclist. Admittedly it has to be said that a lot of the roads are fairly cut up at the moment particularly in the city with the amount of works that are being carried out. Also it would be totally wrong to ignore the cycle paths, which have been installed in a number of areas in recent years.
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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