News for March 9, 2001

Legal wrangling blocks USPS blood tests

The head of the French judicial investigation into alleged doping by the US Postal team is being frustrated by legal wrangling, according to a report from Reuters.

Judge Sophie-Helene Chateau has not yet sent a formal request to the Swiss authorities for release of the US Postal blood samples stored at the UCI's Lausanne, Switzerland headquarters. The problem is the phrase 'use of doping products' does not exist under Swiss law, so such a request would be unlikely to succeed.

The US Postal team has already given its approval for the samples to be released, but it's hard to see how the investigation can proceed is there is no formal mechanism for transferring them from the Swiss to the French legal systems.

Braikia recovering after surgery

After his crash in Wednesday's stage of the Tour of Murcia Danish Lotto rider Tayeb Braikia was recovering well in hospital yesterday.

Braikia underwent shoulder surgery at a hospital in Lorca on Wednesday and was later moved to a hospotal in Murcia for tests on his injured face and jaw. News service Reuters quoted a spokeswoman for the hospital as saying "We're waiting for a team doctor to come to the hospital before deciding where he should be taken. He's recovering well."

The crash involved around 20 riders. Braikia slid into the roadside barriers near the finish and bounced back into the bunch.

LeMond returns to France

Wordin and Lemond
Photo: © JF Quenet

As a racer, Greg LeMond was always able to charm the French press and public, and he has lost none of his appeal. LeMond was back in Paris on Thursday as spokesman for the Mercury-Viatel team and talked about his role in the team's development.

"I wanted to build a team around Peter van Petegem, but in September it was too late to create a new organisation. And I didn’t want to have a team in second division. So I advised Viatel to merge with Mercury, because John Wordin already had very good riders. Now John Wordin, Johan Lammerts, Alain Gallopin and I work in a total empathy."

LeMond is hoping the team will gain a wild-card to this years Tour: "John Wordin has put together very good riders and we’ll demonstrate in the next few weeks that we have a strong team. If we do well during the next two months, then I hope that Jean-Marie Leblanc will be very nice to us."

LeMond has kept busy since his retirement in 1994. He sold his chain of restarants two two years and now concentrates on his bike company, part of the Trek group. "We are second in the US in road bikes," LeMond said. He's still active in sports too, taking part in a 55km foot race last week, skiing and riding his bike two or three times a week when the weather improves in April.

Inevitably, as the greatest US rider of his day, Lemond was asked about the current top American. “I have a good relationship with Armstrong," LeMond said. "But I don’t often see him. He’s a special guy, he has his own mentality. He didn’t know about cycling when I was a rider. I think that’s why he has never liked to be compared to me. Now in the States he takes advantage that cycling is known by the TV and all the journalists thanks to me. We have something in common: no one would have known me in the US without my hunting accident. Americans like come-backs."

LeMond will be in France for a few days, but won't stay for Paris-Nice, the classic organised by the rider LeMond beat so memorably in the 1989 Tour de France, Laurent Fignon. Was he snubbing his old victim? "No, definitely not," LeMond said, laughing. "I like Laurent. The last time that we saw each other, we even played golf."

No Dutch national team in World Cup

This weekend's round of the women's World Cup in Canberra, Australia, will start without the Dutch national team. Dutch Federation coach Herman Snoeijk says the race is too early in the year: "We start our season later." However, Mirjam Melchers will start in Canberra with her Italian team Acca Due O.

Snoeijk spent last week in Mallorca overseeing a training session with Marielle van Scheppingen, Mirella van Melis, Angela Hillenga, Ghita Beltman and Chantal Beltman. Their first race will be Sunday in Stralen, Germany and the team's first World Cup will be Milan-San Remo at the end of the month.

BCF cancels Welsh March races

Other UK cancellations and venue changes

Because of the UK's ongoing situation with foot and mouth disease, the BCF has cancelled all road racing in Wales during March. This includes this weekend's Mersey Roads Spring Two Day and Legstretchers Memorial at Wick. Other cancellations include:

Sunday March 11 - Spring Road Races at Great Gidding, Cambs, SE Midlands; Philip Russell Memorial Pursuit 2 at Newby, Cleveland; Stags Head Road Race at South Molton, Devon
Sunday March 18 - Isle of Purbeck Junior RR at Wareham, Wessex; Circuit of the Mendips RR, Western
Saturday March 24-Sunday March 25 - National Points Series Cross-Country MTB Round 1, Thetford, East Anglia
Sunday March 25 - John Cull Memorial RR, Halsall, Merseyside
Spring Chicken to Hillingdon. This Saturday's Spring Chicken Road Races (March 10) have been moved to Hillingdon and there are also changes to the race times, with the 3/4/J race now starting at 12-00 and the E/1/2 race at 15-00.
Sunday's Jock Wadley Road Race (March 11) is definitely on. Organiser Tony Asplin has followed BCF advice to seek approval from his local MAFF office to run the race. Tony said, "I have just received faxed confirmation from the Chelmsford Office of MAFF. This is subject to no adverse conditions presenting themselves."

The BCF says all riders should keep in touch with the organiser of any race they have entered. A BCF spokesman said, "Currently we are asking all race organisers to get clearance for their events from their local Ministry of Agriculture (MAFF) office. The Jock Wardley example seems to suggest that this process is working and that a good number ofraces should be able to go ahead as normal."

"As soon as we have any indication of a return to normality or an update on MAFFís advice we will post information on our website. There are no review dates or deadlines - we are simply monitoring the situation constantly."

MPs want C4 Tour de France

A number of british MPs have joined the widespread condemnation of the UK's Channel 4 TV station for its decision not to cover the Tour de France this year. A recent Early Day Motion says:

378 CHANNEL 4 AND THE TOUR DE FRANCE 27:2:01

Lynne Jones Mr Bill Michie Frank Cook
Mr Peter Bottomley Mr Eric Clarke Mr Dafydd Wigley
Mr Dennis Skinner Mr Elfyn Llwyd Mr Russell Brown
Dr Norman A. Godman Mr Alan Simpson Mr Robin Corbett
Derek Wyatt Mr Harry Barnes Mr Win Griffiths

That this House deplores the decision of Channel 4 to discontinue its coverage of the Tour de France after 15 years, during which the audience for this great sporting event grew to over a million; considers this decision is particularly regrettable in the light of the enormous success of the British cyclists at the Sydney Olympics, the associated increase in participation and interest in cycling in the UK and the fact that Channel 4 have already purchased the rights to broadcast this event for the next three years; and calls on Channel 4 to either reverse the decision or to license the rights to another terrestrial channel.

Australasian rider wanted for Tour of Chile

New Zealand-based race promoter and team manager Jorge Sandoval is looking for a rider for a team to take part in next month's Tour of Chile. Jorge told Cyclingnews, "I'm looking for a good Australian rider to complete the team. The route for this year's Tour of Chile is quite flat, so the tour will suit a sprinter or a rider who is good on the flat and able to get into a break. The only hill in the race is two days from the finish, a 15 km top of the hill finish stage but nothing too steep."

The Tour of Chile runs April 19 29. The team will leave for Chile on the April 14, returning May 3. Jorge can be contacted at jorge@ihug.co.nz or phone 0064 4 563 8904.