|
|
|
American cyclist Floyd Landis has put a disappointing 2001 season behind him and will soon be riding alongside Lance Armstrong and other members of the US Postal Service team in the 2002 season. "I feel like I have gone from one extreme to the next," Landis told Cyclingnews, when describing his move from the Mercury team.
"Next year on the other hand is the most exciting opportunity of my career. After all, what young basketball player wouldn't be honored to play beside Michael Jordan. Likewise I am thrilled to be able to learn from Lance. All this on top of the best organised and managed team in the world. I can't tell you how excited I am," he said.
Landis began his career as a mountain bike rider and only began road racing in 1999 with the Mercury team. At this stage Landis wasn't sure what races he would be riding next season but expected to ride the Spring Classics and hoped to push for a Tour berth.
US Postal begin its preparations for 2002 with a training camp in Austin, Texas, on December 4.
Click here for a more detailed interview with Floyd
Well known Italian sports doctor Michele Ferrari has been convened to appear in front of the Anti-Doping Commission of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) on November 21, 2001. Dr Ferrari is accused of supplying doping products to a large number of sportsmen, including high profile cyclists such as Tony Rominger, Axel Merckx, Ivan Gotti, Beat Zberg, Fernando Escartin, Mario Cipollini, Pavel Tonkov and Abraham Olano. Many more cyclists have consulted him, including three time Tour winner Lance Armstrong.
He has been asked by CONI to explain the contents of various documents connected to two anti-doping investigations in Ferrara and Bologna, both of which he is involved in. The drugs in question are DHEA, Adrenalin, IGF1, Growth Hormone, EPO, Androstene and Corticosteroids, amongst others.
Due to the latest Swedish doping cases, the Swedish Cycling Federation had an extra board meeting on Monday and decided to upgrade the struggle against doping. A five point program was decided:
1. Life time ban from the National Team for cyclists caught for severe doping.
2. Heavily increased testing on non racing days. The budget will be rearranged
and more money will spent on tests acquired from the National Sports Federation.
3. Sharpening the penalties which means 2 years ban for severe doping.
4. An anti doping committee has been assigned to deal with further details regarding
the anti doping program.
5. A more consistent work with information about doping and its negative effects,
medically as well as socially for the ones caught, will be done with clubs,
leaders, parents and riders.
"We want to show even more that we are actively fighting doping in all its forms. Everyone, including the active riders, must feel certain that victories are won correctly, without cheating of any kind. More measures will also be taken when the campaign gets on the road," said Ulf Näslund president of the cycling Federation and its disciplinary board.
Reigning Danish National Road Champion, Jakob Piil, will head the CSCTiscali team to race in the 2002 Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under, taking place between January 15-20. Piil will be joined by Latvian Arvis Piziks, Dutchman Tristan Hoffman, Frenchman Raphael Jeune, Dane Bjarke Nielsen and new signings Geert Van Bondt and Paul Van Hyfte (Belgium), and sprinter Julian Dean (New Zealand).
More information: www.tourdownunder.com.au
Belgian cyclist Heidi Van De Vijver (Vlaanderen T-Interim) underwent a heart operation on Monday in Leuven. According to professor Heidbuegel van Gasthuisberg, the operation was a success. After suffering from heart problems for a few months, Van De Vijver had an examination which revealed that it was a natural abnormality, but an operation was necessary if she wished to continue her cycling career. She decided after the World's in Lisbon that she would have the operation.
Italian cyclist Denis Lunghi has renewed his contract with the Colpack-Astro team for two more seasons. Lunghi was one of the team's best performed riders this season, with a win in the Giro del Friuli and subsequent selection in the Italian World's squad. The 24 year old rates these as his best achievements of the year, and is looking forward to bettering his results in 2002.
"I am happy to remain with Colpack-Astro, where I am comfortable," he said. "Also I'm in a familiar atmosphere in which I can find the best stimuli in order to carry out my activity as a professional. I have had offers from other teams but decided to remain here."
Frenchman Christophe Rinero, best known for his win in the King of the Mountains competition in the 1998 Tour de France, has signed a contract with Saint-Quentin Oktos for 2002. Rinero reached the end of his contract with Cofidis this year and it was not renewed.
There he will join Irish rider Ciaran Power who did get his contract renewed with Saint-Quentin, after signing in the early part of 2001.
 |
New Zealand road champion Gordon McCauley will switch from Landbouwkrediet-Colnago to another Belgian team, Flanders-Prefetex in 2002. McCauley has had an up and down first season as a pro, riding well on the Belgian kermesse circuit but looking for results in the bigger races. His victory in New Zealand came after some time off due to tendonitis in the knee. He followed it up with a win in the Sprint Classification of the Tour of Southland.
Several Spanish riders will become neo-professionals in 2002 after signing contracts over the weekend with Portuguese teams. Julian Fernández Jumela (Super Froiz) and Oscar Romero Moya (Alcosto) will both ride for Pepolim Irmão-Ovarense next season. Jose Guillén Montaño (Sodehxo) has signed for Igualada-BCN, and Rafael Milá Palmero (Coprusa) has signed for ASC Construções-Vila di Conde.
All these riders have got one year contracts, with Palmero being given the option to extend for another year.
Ukrainian U23 World Road Champion Yaroslav Popovych now has his own fan club, launched today in Brianza, Italy. It is situated in Circolo Arci di Schignano, in the Pratese hills, and has Mario Mengoni (Vellutex boss) as one of its members. The president is Moreno Micheloni and currently the club has 12 members, although this is expected to grow. The official inauguration will be on January 13, 2002.
UK based off-road site, www.madformountainbiking.com, is up for sale after it ran out of operational cash. The £4million venture was part of madforsport.com, a collection of websites for the outdoor enthusiast. But Madformountainbiking.com "never generated the expected level of advertising spend," according to a report in Bikebiz.co.uk.
The site has been fully operational since September last year, although the launch was treated with some skepticism - it was part of another sports portal and it had serious competition from other established sites with much lower budgets.
The site contained news, features, racing, gear, fitness, rides, photo gallery, an online shop and other areas, all of which were designed to attract keen off-road riders. They did, but not to a great extent, with the site averaging around 1000 unique visitors per day, according to Bikebiz.co.uk. This was nothing like enough to attract sufficient advertising funds to offset the cost of running the site.
The editor of the site, Malcolm Fawcett, was made redundant last week and posted his final message on the site: "Madformountainbiking.com will not be updated from this point on although its pages will still be free for you to browse for the time being. I would like to thank all those people who have contributed to making the website what it was, the list is long, so I will trust that you know who you are and leave it at that."
Madforsport.com is still operational; it just wanted to stop losing money on its off-road biking adventure, and the pulled the plug. "We had high quality editorial from an exceptional team," said Madforsport.com managing director Jane Duggan. "We were very proud of what we achieved. People in the industry told us it was fantastic but they'll still spend their money on print ads."
Duggan also said that the site was for sale, but "serious offers only."
 |
Klein Bicycle Corporation has created two programs to help in the ongoing relief efforts in New York City. Klein will donate two custom Stars and Stripes painted bicycles to eBay's Auction for America. In addition, Klein will donate ten percent of the proceeds from all USA custom painted bicycle frames to the Twin Towers fund through December 31, 2001.
The Auction for America, hosted by eBay, will feature a Stars and Stripes painted Klein Q-Pro Carbon road bike and a Klein Adept Pro mountain bike in early December. The top-of-the-line bicycles are valued at over $4000 each. All of the proceeds from the auction will go to the September 11th Fund and the New York Fire 9-11 Fund.
Klein has also teamed up with its network of 3000 independent bicycle dealers to raise money for the Twin Towers Fund. Ten percent of the proceeds from all Stars and Stripes custom painted frames will go directly to the fund set up by New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
"These charity organizations have done immeasurable amount of good during this crisis," said founder Gary Klein. "This is just one way for Klein and its family of dealers to show its appreciation and support of a worthy cause."
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
Recently on Cyclingnews
Latest Photos - Olympic
Armstrong, Boulder & California 'cross, More Pan-Am, Canberra, Boston & REI
'cross (December 13)
Cyclingnews survey -
Reader Poll 2001 - Vote for your favourite riders
Letters
- VDB, Lance, Boring Tour, Coastal Post, Respect (December 13)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Ryan Bayley - the KFC-fuelled world champ (December 13)
Cyclingnews Interview
- David McKenzie - Macca's back (December 12)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Laurent Jalabert - Jalabert looks ahead (December 11)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Charly Wegelius - A coffee stop with Charly (December 8)
Cyclingnews
Interview - Sven Montgomery - Moving up in the world (December 6)
Cyclingnews Interview
- Rochelle Gilmore - Road scholar (December 6)
Tales from the Peloton
- 12 Hours of Oleta - MTB endurance race in Miami (December 6)
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
| Home Search Survey Contact us |