News for March 22, 2001

Recent results and new features

Milan-San Remo TV coverage poor

The cycling world's biggest one day race of the season so far will be largely ignored by the major European broadcasters this Saturday. The 92nd Milan - San Remo, which is also the opening round of the men's World Cup, will only be broadcast on RAI (Italy), VRT and RTBF (Belgium) and NOS (Netherlands), as even the mighty Eurosport has pushed it aside.

The same situation will occur with the Tour of Lombardy, the 10th and final round of the World Cup, also organised by RCS Sport. However, the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) has bought the rights to the remaining eight rounds of the World Cup until 2004, and these will be seen on the major channels in all popular cycling countries.

The EBU made an offer to RAI TV to buy the rights to the Giro d'Italia, Milan-San Remo and the Giro di Lombardia, but it was rejected as too cheap.

Of course, cyclingnews.com will be providing text based updates as the race progresses, starting from 0930 European time (1930 Aust EST/0350 USA EST)

Latest Milan-San Remo start list

Spruch unlikely

Zbigniew Spruch (Lampre-Daikin) is a big question mark to start in MSR on Saturday. The Polish sprinter who was third in 1999, crashed in Sunday's warm up session for the time trial stage of the Tirreno Adriatico. He is suffering from burns and bruises over the complete right side of his body and will be forced to take a rest for a few painful days. It is likely that 25 year old Raivis Belohvosciks (Latvia), will replace him.

Milan - San Remo facts

  • The race has been held 91 times since 1907, interrupted in 1916, 1944, and 1945 by war
  • Belgian great Eddy Merckx has won the race seven times (1966-67, 1969, 1971-72, 1975-76), the most of any rider
  • Not surprisingly, Italians have won the race 46 of the 91 times, with Belgium next at 20 wins
  • The last time that Italians took 1-2-3 on the podium was in 1994 when Giorgio Furlan, Mario Cipollini, and Adriano Baffi did so. Cipollini's greatest dream is to win this race.
  • Due to the snow in 1910, only 4 of the 71 starters finished and were classified. The winner, Eugene Christophe, went to hospital for a month following the race
  • The Poggio climb was brought into the race in 1960 to try and stop bunch sprints, while the bigger climb of the Cipressa was added in 1982 for the same reason.
  • In recent years, the average speed up the 3.75 km Poggio has been between 35 and 40 km/h(!)
  • This year's Giro d'Italia will hold its 17th stage (a circuit race) in San Remo

The 2001 Men's World Cup

Consisting of 10 races throughout the season, the UCI World Cup has become the definitive season-long points series for professionals. It was introduced by the UCI in 1989, and was first won by Irishman Sean Kelly. Johan Museeuw, Maurizio Fondriest, and Michele Bartoli have all won it twice, with Museeuw holding the record for the most World Cup race wins (9).

The current rules state that a rider must race in at least 6 of the 10 rounds of the World Cup to be eligible for the overall points score. A win in a race is worth 100 points, while the remaining places are awarded points as follows: 70, 50, 40, 36, 32, 28, 24, 20, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1. There is also a teams competition,

Races for 2001

March 24: Milan-San Remo (Ita)
April 8: Ronde van Vlaanderen (Bel)
April 15: Paris-Roubaix (Fra)
April 22: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Bel)
April 28: Amstel Gold Race (Ned)
August 11: Clasica San Sebastian (Spa)
August 19: HEW-Cyclassics Hamburg (Ger)
August 26: Championship of Zurich (Swi)
October 7: Paris-Tours (Fra)
October 20: Giro di Lombarida (Ita)

World Cup winners

1989 Sean Kelly (Irl)
1990 Gianni Bugno (Ita)
1991 Maurizio Fondriest (Ita)
1992 Olaf Ludwig (Ger)
1993 Maurizio Fondriest (Ita)
1994 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita)
1995 Johan Museeuw (Bel)
1996 Johan Museeuw (Bel)
1997 Michele Bartoli (Ita)
1998 Michele Bartoli (Ita)
1999 Andrei Tchmil (Bel)
2000 Erik Zabel (Ger)

Winning teams

1989 PDM
1990 PDM
1991 Panasonic
1992 Panasonic
1993 GB-MG
1994 GB-MG
1995 Mapei-GB
1996 Mapei-GB
1997 La Française des Jeux
1998 Mapei-Bricobi
1999 Rabobank
2000 Mapei

Casagrande to testify

World number one, Francesco Casagrande has been asked to testify as part of the investigation into three Italian Olympic cyclists. Public prosecutor in Ferrara, Pierguido Soprani, has already questioned Marco Pantani and Paolo Bettini to try and determine whether they were unfit for competition at the time of the Sydney Games last year. After today's final stage of Tirreno-Adriatico, the carabinieri told Casagrande that he would have to present himself to the judge in Ferrara.

The topic of concern is the three riders' hematocrit levels in September last year.

France and Norway reach anti-doping agreement

An agreement has been signed in France today between French sports and youth minister, Marie-George Buffet, and her Norwegian counterpart Ellen Horn in relation to combating doping within sport, as well as the promotion of women's and disabled sports.

In an official statement, the two ministers said that "they would work together for the protection of young sportspeople, and desired that UNESCO play a greater role in this."

The French and Norwegian national laboratories will collaborate more closely in future in their anti-doping research, while the French will take on board some of the Norwegian programs for disabled sports. Both authorities also wish to promote more women to positions of responsibility within the ministries.

A 'new' EPO?

Dr. Leon Schattenberg, head of the UCI medical committee told Dutch daily "Trouw" that the pharmaceutical industry is busy manufacturing a new EPO-like product. "It is based on another molecule and works faster. Instead of using it daily, you only have to inject it once a week. It should be on the market in 2002," he said, without choosing to name the products or companies that are involved.

"The battle with doping is an eternal fight. A sportsperson always will look for something that you can't find. The UCI anticipated this culture by introducing health controls in 1996."

Foot and mouth cancellations update

  • March 25: Denis Donovan Memorial Reliability Trial (Postponed) Surrey
  • April 1: Birmingham Cycling Club 4up TT (Cancelled)
  • April 8: Ham Hill & Pittards Road Races (Postponed) Western; Royal Sutton CC Early Season Yoxall Races (Postponed)
  • April 16: The Easter One Day Road Race (Cancelled) Lakes & Lancs Royal Sutton Cycling Club
  • April 15-16: NPS XC2 (Postponed)

Finally, the two next two Surrey League events have been transferred to the Eastway circuit in London. March 23 (2/3/4/W/J - 9.30 AM -Woolwich CC) and April 1 (3/4/W/J - 9.30 AM - De Laune CC).

Marty Nothstein Gold Medal Golf Challenge

Those who have been reading the "What constitutes a sport?" debate on the letters page may find the following story particularly relevant.

The Lehigh Valley Velodrome and Marty Nothstein have announced the inaugural Marty Nothstein Gold Medal Golf Challenge. This will be an annual golf tournament held at the Center Valley Club in Center Valley, PA. This year's event will be held on May 31 starting at 8:00 a.m.

"I love to golf and this is a great way for me to combine my passion for cycling and golf, while raising money for the community programs that gave me my start in cycling," said Nothstein.

The proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Lehigh Valley Velodrome Community Cycling programs. The Velodrome Fund is a non-profit corporation and operates the Lehigh County owned cycling facility.

The tournament will be a scramble format with an 8:00 a.m. shot gun start, preceded by a continental breakfast with the Olympian. Immediately following will be an awards banquet luncheon where players can compare their score to the Gold Medalist's. Other prizes will be awarded to player who can drive further and straighter than the Olympic cyclist. Corporate partners and individual players are encouraged to participate. For more information or to reserve your space, please call the Lehigh Valley Velodrome at 610-967-7587.

In addition to golf, Nothstein will also be cycling at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome this year. His first appointment since Sydney will be on June 1, 2001 at the Morgan Stanley Dean Witter "Olympic Reunion", featuring Nothstein and other Olympians. Nothstein will race at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in two other appearances this summer.

"It is tremendous that he has committed to racing here this summer, when he has had numerous opportunities to race abroad," said Pat McDonough, Lehigh Valley Velodrome's executive director.

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