News for May 29, 2001Recent results and new features 84th Giro d'Italia newsAnother quiet day in the saddle for the peloton during stage 9 of the Giro, that almost ended in a bunch sprint into Rovigo. A fall on the final corner turned it into a three man finish, with Mario Cipollini proving to be too good for Danilo Hondo. Cipollini surpasses Learco Guerra
In winning his second stage of the 84th Giro, 'Supermario' Cipollini surpassed the number of Giro stage victories held by the 'Human locomotive' Learco Guerra. Cipollini now has 32 Giro wins, but is still 9 short of the legendary Alfredo Binda's record of 41. Somewhat coincidentally, Guerra's last win was in Rovigo in 1935. As the story goes, one time the Giro organiser gave Binda the prize winnings in advance so long as he didn't start, because he was simply too dominant. Although there are few doubts that Cipollini is the quickest man in this Giro, today's win was lessened by a fall to Endrio Leoni (Alessio) on the final corner, effectively reducing the sprint to a two man duel between Cipollini and Hondo. Cipollini easily got the better of the German, who has been the most consistent finisher so far and wears the magenta points jersey. But, Cipollini was as modest as ever afterwards. "There can be no question of comparing me with Guerra or with the other grand champions," he said. "They won on all terrains, even in the great mountain stages. Me, I am good in the last 200 metres." Of today's performance, he commented: "The rivals eliminated themselves. I did not see the fall which occurred behind me. It was only further down the straight when I turned around and I realised there was no-one there. The only difficulty was to get around Hondo in the last 150 metres [there was a little squeeze on the barriers]. He obstructed me a little, but he apologised immediately after the finish. I am not upset with him, he is a rider who has a future." "Telekom did a lot of work in the finale, they set a very good pace." ...And discusses his departure from SaecoNext season, Mario Cipollini will not be riding for Saeco, bringing an end to a six year period with the team. His contract finishes at the end of 2001, and "apparently, my team does not want to keep me," said the 34 year old Tuscan sprinter. "To finish my career with Saeco would have been an honour. They want to lead from the front but I have the impression that I do not form part of their plans." He wants to sign a two year contract with them, and there is an outside chance that he will. If not, five other teams have approached him for his signature. "I hope that it will be decided in the next fifteen days. I would like to go on holidays in calm spirits."
Ferretti says Frigo is leaderCurrently, that is obviously the case in Fassa Bortolo's Casagrande-less team. But once the race hits the mountains a few more times, how will Frigo fare compared with Wladimir Belli? Most commentators believe that Frigo's days in pink are numbered (he himself commented on this when he first wore it). In yesterday's stage, Belli did no work in the finale, despite Jose Azevedo being a threat to take the jersey, and Frigo doing the chasing himself. But according to Giancarlo Ferretti (Fassa Bortolo DS), things should have been different. "If I were to choose again, I would not have defended the jersey." However, "Belli was mistaken, he should have done two or three turns at least." He added the in order to decide who is the leader, they must ride the Passo Pordoi stage, and then it should become clear. "At the moment it is Frigo. He is the one who has the jersey and is going quite well." Dario Frigo (Fassa Bortolo, 1st GC)
And what did the current Giro leader say about today? "A quiet stage," was all. However, he had some more comments to make about yesterday's stage, where he had to work on his own to try and limit the gap to Azevedo in order to conserve the jersey. "It is not worthwhile to seek stories after the stage of Reggio Emilia as some would like to do. Belli did not have to work for me. He is at 19 seconds on the general classification, and it is normal that he is protected. I wear the Maglia Rosa and it was up to me to take my responsibilities." "The team worked well. Perhaps we worked too much at the beginning, and underestimated the difficulty of the Reggio Emilia stage."
Olano: next stop the HourWhat does a Spaniard do to fill in time after the Giro? Go for the World Hour record, according to reports from the Olano camp. If he arrives in Milan on June 10 in good enough condition, Abraham Olano will attack Chris Boardman's hour mark (49.441 km) a few days later, probably on the Bordeaux velodrome. "He will return home, do some tests on the track in Spain, and the final decision will be taken then," said ONCE team director Manolo Saiz today. Olano is a noted time trialist, and won the world championship in 1998 against the clock. He is currently third overall in the Giro classification, and could well take the lead depending on his performance during this Friday's critical mountain Stage 13 to Passo Pordoi, which cyclingnews will be covering live.
Blood controls OKThe 159 remaining riders in the Giro underwent compulsory UCI blood tests before the start of this morning's ninth stage. No riders were declared unfit to start, although the first week of the Giro has clearly taken its toll, with 21 abandons. The UCI also carried out a blood check on the entire field before the start in Pescara on May 19, and the current controls are a significant step up from the usual random checks throughout the race.
Stage 10 into SloveniaFor only the third time in the history of the Giro d'Italia, the race will travel into neighbouring Slovenia. After visiting Ljubljana in 1971, Kranj in 1994, the 10th stage of the Giro will once again finish in Ljubljana after 212 kilometres of racing, and will probably provide another sprint finish. Race director Carmine Castellano explained that the visit was for "sporting and political reasons...It is about a single message for Europe, since Slovenia is required to enter the European Union," he said. "The sport of cycling is progressing well in Slovenia." There are six Slovenians in the race: Zoran Klemencic and Andrej Hautpmann (Tacconi Sport), Tadej Valjavec (Fassa Bortolo), Martin Hvastja (Alessio), Gorazd Stangelj (Liquigas) and Uros Murn (Mobilvetta). The Slovenian Olympic Committee expressed their support for the stage finish to happen in their country, and it will. Castellano commented that it was more difficult for the Giro to cross into other countries, due to the lack of bordering nations (except in the north), and the hassles of transfers. "It is obviously impossible to forget the south of Italy, and the transfers are quite long." "But next year, for the beginning of the single currency, the Giro will travel to six different European countries that were signatories to the Treaty of Rome at the beginning of the construction of Europe." The Giro will start in the Netherlands, and travel through Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and possibly through France, Austria and Croatia.
Tour of GermanyThe third edition of the Tour of Germany/Deutschland-Tour begins in Hamburg on Tuesday with a 161 kilometre stage to Hanover. The 7 day race is still only classed as 2.3 - something that the organisers wish to change in future in order to give it greater status, and attract higher profile riders. Ever since Jan Ullrich won the Tour de France, German fans have gone Telekom mad. Despite the presence of several other German teams (including Coast, a division I squad), purple, black and white are the colours of choice for many casual cyclists and would be racers. Unfortunately for the fans, if they want Ullrich to win another Tour de France they will have to miss out on seeing him in their own national tour. He is currently competing in the Giro d'Italia in order to prepare for the Tour, and so far he's been enjoying it and occasionally testing his strength. However, Telekom's sprinting star Erik Zabel will be riding in his national tour, and should provide some entertainment after his impressive four consecutive stage wins in the Tour of Bavaria last week. He is currently building up to go for a record 6th green jersey in the Tour de France, and the Tour of Germany falls into his plans. For the overall classification, last year's event saw Festina's David Plaza upstage local favourite Andreas Klöden (Telekom) to take the final GC. Klöden doesn't seem to be in the same form yet, but his teammate Alexandre Vinkourov may fill the role of GC rider. Other riders to watch for include Tom Steels (Mapei), Robbie McEwen (Domo-Farm Frites), Romans Vainsteins (Domo-Farm Frites), Sven Teutenberg (Festina), Alex Zulle (Coast), Michele Bartoli (Mapei), and Andre Tchmil (Lotto). The toughest stage of the 1241 kilometre race is likely to be Stage 7 on June 3 from Offenbourg to Freudenstadt via the Black Forest, containing two first category and one second category climb. Teams: CSC World Online, Domo-Farm Frites, Festina, Lotto-Adecco, Mapei-Quick Step, Saeco, Team Coast, Deutsche Telekom, Rabobank, Alessio, Bankgiroloterij-Batavus, Phonak Hearing Systems, Post Swiss, Cologne, Fakta, Gerolsteiner, Nurnberger, Vlaanderen-T interim. Stages
TVM trial starts in RheimsToday saw the commencement of the TVM trial in Rheims, France, that started in 1998 after a TVM team car was stopped at the border with 104 ampoules of EPO. Cees Priem (former director of the TVM team), together with soigneur Jan Moors and Dr Andrei Mikhailov are being accused of "the illegal use of toxic substances" violating French customs laws. According to Andrei Mikhailov's lawyer, Philippe Gombert, the EPO was bought freely in Spain and was "intended for a children's hospital in Russia." Gombert pointed out that no cyclist from the team was found in possession of EPO. However, no cyclists are on trial in this case. This afternoon, the court heard evidence from Dr. Francoise Bressole (University of Montpellier) who described the possible adverse side affects of EPO. All three of the accused have already spent time in prison or custody. Mikhailov was detained for four months in 1998, while Priem and Moors were both imprisoned for 17 days. If found guilty under the current charges, the three face up to three years imprisonment. So far, they have denied any charges of systematic doping within the TVM team. The trial will resume tomorrow (Tuesday).
Belgian Pot lawsuit in PoitiersThe case involving the largest amateur doping network ever to be uncovered in France also began this morning, in the Poitiers correctional court. In total, 41 people aged between 30 and 70 are to be questioned. Most of them are being accused of "acquisition, possession, transport, offering or unauthorized transfer of narcotics and illicit use." The penalties for this range between 2 and 10 years in jail, and the hearing will go on for the rest of the week. The case is being called the "Belgian pot affair", named after the cocktail of drugs (amphetamines, cocaine, heroin and cortisone) that has been abused by many cyclists and their associates. It is considered dangerous for the health. The affair became known in June 1998, just a few weeks prior to the Festina affair, that completely destroyed any innocence in professional cycling. Two young riders had confided to their doctor that they were suffering from tachycardia and liver pains after taking the mix. Day 1 - May 28 32 of the 41 people charged in the Belgian Pot affair were able to present themselves in the correctional court in Poitiers today to answer charges of "acquisition, posession, transport, offering or unauthorized transfer of narcotics and illicit use." The remaining 9 were either in hospital or refused to come. Six Poles are also accused, as a portion of the drugs came from there. The accused formed a kind of pyramid scheme, where they bought 8 mililitre flasks of Belgian pot for FF1000 (US$140). If they did not consume them all, then they would sell them to others. It's estimated that the traffic was worth FF1.6 million (US$210,000). "Initially it was for racing, because you felt much better," said one of the accused. "But when you got home, you felt tired, not well in your head. And then you wanted to start it again..." Medical experts put this dependence down to the heroin and cocaine that were present in small quantities in the pot, also pointing out the extreme risk of a heart failure to young riders. The investigation has not yet established the source of the doping substances.
Guido Fulst finedGerman track cyclist Guido Fulst has been given a 2250 euro fine after he tested positive for caffeine during the Six Days of Stuttgart in January this year. The 30 year old, who was a member of Germany's world record beating team pursuit squad in Sydney last year, was riding with Spaniard Juan Llaneras in Stuttgart, and the pair finished 6th overall. However, he was subsequently disqualified from the race after his positive test became known. "Mr Fulst said, in a credible fashion, that he had drunk too much Coke and coffee on the last day," said Peter Barth, the president of the tribunal, to Netzeitung, a German newspaper. Caffeine is considered a light drug by the UCI, carrying a maximum suspension of three months. Ronan Onghena diesFormer professional cyclist Ronan Onghena (43) died in an accident in Sint-Niklaas (Bel) on Monday afternoon. While driving a forklift truck he was crushed under a pallet weighing 1600 kilos. In the 1980's, he was known as a domestique for Sean Kelly.
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