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By Jeff Jones
After nine stages of fierce racing, the cyclists in the Vuelta took a day off today as they transferred from Zaragoza to Sabadell. The battle will be even more intense over the next three stages, culminating with the 17.1 km mountain time trial on Thursday (Stage 12) from Ordino to Arcalis. Prior to this, there are two tough days in the Pyrenees, with a total of two category 3, two category 2, five category 1 and one special category climb.
With just 2'47 separating the top eight on the general classification, anything can happen and probably will. It's now up to Oscar Sevilla (Kelme) to attack Joseba Beloki (ONCE) for the lead of the race, as he did in stage 5. Beloki returned the favour in stage 7 and took nearly a minute out of the Kelme leader. Kelme also has Santi Botero in 4th on GC, but he hasn't been brilliant in the mountains so far.
Beloki will have to watch Festina's Angel Casero and David Plaza, who are in third and seventh on GC, and cannot be allowed to get out of sight. However, Beloki can out climb this pair and should be able to keep them in check.
US Postal's combination of Levi Leipheimer and Roberto Heras will also have to play their cards well to reach the top spot on GC. So far, Leipheimer has been the strongest but this might change as the Vuelta goes on and Heras rides into some form. But the defending champion hasn't shown any signs that he can climb quite as well as he did last year, although he is close.
Euskaltel's Iban Mayo is 9th on GC at 3'14, and looks to be slightly out of his depth in terms of challenging for a podium spot. However, for a young pro he's doing well and hopefully will improve for the future.
Beloki's helper Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano is in 10th position on GC, but this is of no great import, as Igor said that he will dedicate his efforts from now on to helping Beloki win. At least he now has a stage win under his belt, which means that he can gain some personal satisfaction from this race.
Cyclingnews will be providing live coverage of the next three stages of the Vuelta.
Stage 10 - Profile
Stage 11 - Profile
Stage 12 - Profile
Stage 9 - Results
and report
"The stage after tomorrow in Andorra will obviously be the key stage, together with the uphill time trial," said US Postal director Johan Bruyneel during the rest day today. "But in terms of overall fitness, the last week may be the most difficult because the Tour of Spain has been difficult from stage five. It has not been like other three-week stage races where the mountain days are spread out. The last week in this race has two mountain top finishes. That is very different compared to say, a normal Tour de France."
"The Pyrenees will be the breaking point," continued Bruyneel. "Whoever breaks down here, there are no other options and whoever does not can try something in the last week."
Levi Leipheimer enjoyed today's rest day and looks forward to the upcoming challenge. "My legs are awesome, I feel like I am getting better and better," he said. "(On the climb of Alto Cruz de la Demanda on Saturday), that was the best legs I have had the whole race and that was day eight. That's very encouraging for me. I am very motivated and surprisingly not too nervous. I'm trying to focus on other things to take my mind off it."
Leipheimer also added that he is ready to work for team leader Heras "at all costs" in the mountain stages. Bruyneel is confident Leipheimer can stay with the leaders over the next few days.
"I think Levi can (stay in the overall top five) because of his time trial ability and he can follow and try not to lose time in the mountains," Bruyneel said. "As for Roberto, he now has to attack. From tomorrow on, we have to attack with Chechu (Jose Luis Rubiera, 16th overall at 5:07) and Roberto."
On Heras' condition, Bruyneel added, "He is very good. He has a lot of confidence and he knows, for himself and the Spanish public, he has to attack. Mentally and physically, he is ready to go. He normally gets better each day in a three week stage race, so he is ready."
Paolo Bettini and Daniele Nardello took a lot at the circuit for the World Championships that will be taking place on October 14. They also saw the route of the time trial that is scheduled for October 12. The Mapei riders were accompanied by Serge Parsani the team's Sporting Director. Both of them were quite surprised with the technical characteristics of both of these trials.
"The time trial is certainly more difficult than the one last year at Plouay," said Nardello. "It is almost like the circuit of Lugano in 1996. The time trial is a circuit that is repeated twice for a total of 38.7 kilometres. It is even more difficult that the road race. This is due to the sudden changes of rhythm and very tight corners. The choice of materials/equipment to use during for the race could be vital for the final result".
Paolo Bettini agreed with him. Paolo concentrated on the road circuit. "I was amazed at the difficulty of the route; today's trial has been very important, getting to know a circuit that will not allow any room for error. This race will certainly be extremely selective as there will be no time for mistakes."
Lotto's Rik Verbrugghe is unlikely to finish off his fine season as part of the Belgian World Championships squad in Lisbon. He has tendonitis in his left knee, forcing him to take a week off the bike after the GP Eddy Merckx on Sunday, September 9. With just four weeks to go until the World's, it's touch and go for Verbrugghe, who was named as part of the 24 man preselection, to be reduced to 12 later this month.
"I have not been able to train for the whole week. ON the ultrasound it is clear that the inflammation is visible on the rear of the tendon. In the meantime I have tried to contact the national coach, but I have had no luck because he was at the World MTB Championships in Vail. It seems that my season is finished."
The Belgian press is reporting that the Lion of Flanders, Johan Museeuw, is considering a move back to Mapei-Quick Step next season, the team where he gained so much success before his split to Patrick Lefevere's Domo-Farm Frites squad this year. Mapei boss Giorgio Squinzi would love to see Museeuw finish his career with them, but the price will have to be right.
Museeuw said that he "doesn't know" where will go, and "choosing is not yet in order" but both teams certainly want him. He reminded people that "Round this time last year I started my rehabilitation from the motorcycle accident. I have been catching up since then. I find it normal that I would experience a lesser period [in racing]. Without a doubt I am not at my previous level."
Museeuw showed some of his class in Saturday's Paris-Brussels, where he rode at the front of the Domo train for the all-important finale, and no-one escaped. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out for their sprinter Vainsteins, and the team finished with a third spot.
After Squinzi made it clear that he wanted Museeuw back in the Mapei team, the Belgian commented about his time in Mapei, where "I spent seven fantastic years there. I got a lot, and I gave a lot."
Nothing is signed yet, and he also commented about his time in Domo this year. "I followed my heart. Without regrets. The first season of a team is always difficult. I played an honest card. When I recovered from my astonishment. I put my family foremost. Then Wilfried Peeters. Last Tuesday Patrick Lefevere. And now the media also wants some space."
It will now come down to the price that each team is willing to pay for Museeuw, and it's likely to be high. In the twilight of his career, the Lion of Flanders is still in the boxed seat.
The sponsorship renewal of French division II team La Francaise des Jeux is hanging by a thread, but it has not been broken yet. The team is looking for a co-sponsor for next season, otherwise it will finish. A final decision is expected within two days.
Thierry Marichal and Kevin Van Impe have signed contracts for next year with Lotto-Adecco. Marichal lengthened his existing contract, while Van Impe will ride as a neo-pro next season. At the moment, he is a stagiaire with Lotto-Adecco.
Belgian team Vlaanderen T-Interim is looking for (and may already have) three Dutch female riders for next season. Team leader Christel Herremans said that "I will not reveal the names of any riders who have signed contracts" but more is expected by the end of the week.
Debby Mansveld has already extended her contract with the team, and some of the new riders could come from the current Dutch U23 team, which will lose Chantal and Ghita Beltman, Marrielle van Scheppingen, Mirella van Melis and Angela Hillenga (all too old); or Acca Due O, where the future of Mirjam Melchers and Arenda Grimberg is not finalised yet.
By Bert Saarloos, Dagblad de Limburger
The Ster Elektrotoer will step further up the UCI ladder next year. This year the Dutch race was promoted from 2.5 to 2.4, in 2002 it will be classed as 2.3. The organisation got a financial boost when this year a new sponsor, Elektrotechniek Jan van Schijndel, signed a ten year(!) contract. As a result, the name of the race, formerly also known as the Teleflextoer, was changed from Ster der Beloften (Etoile des Espoirs, an originally French race) into Ster Elektrotoer.
The race will also expand next year. It will have a stage in Germany, through mountainous Eifel. Thus in 2002 the Ster will pass three countries: the Netherlands (start and finish will continue to be in Schijndel), Belgium and Germany.
In September next year the Holland Ladies Tour will be held a week earlier. This year's edition, won by German Petra Rossner (Saturn), ended on a Friday and a lot of riders abandoned the race Thursday and Friday in order to better prepared for the GP Suisse World Cup Race on Sunday. To avoid the same situation, the organisers of the Holland Ladies Tour have claimed a date on the race calendar a week earlier.
All things permitting, the USA's top cyclists will line up this Sunday, September 23, for the Mercury Cycling Classic of Irvine, an Irvine Chamber event, sponsored by Mercury. That team will be gunning for a big home win, to add to its 80 plus victories this year. Heading Mercury's list is cancer survivor Ernie Lechuga, who was diagnosed in 1998 with testicular cancer, but is now well and truly on the recovery path. Of course, to follow in fellow cancer survivor Lance Armstrong's footsteps is Mexican born Lechuga's big goal, but there may be a few more years to go before he wins the Tour de France.
"My dad got me into cycling when I was 12," Lechuga recalled. "He woke me up every day at 4 and we left home at 5 to take my mom to work and we came back on our bikes, 50 km (30 miles) every morning."
On a track bike with no bottle cage, Lechuga depended on his dad for water. But his dad would accelerate to force Lechuga to catch the bottle.
"I hated cycling at the time," he said. "I realized how much he wanted me in cycling when he traded a car for a Benotto racing bike."
He won the national championships for 13-14 year olds and routinely won junior races against 18-year-olds. When he hit the senior ranks, Lechuga continued to improve with a fourth place finish in the Tour of Guatemala. At the age of 21 he won the Mexican national time trial championships and placed second in his country's road nationals. The following season he earned a spot on the U.S. national team, as well as a berth in the Mercury Cycling Team.
At the end of that first season came the cancer diagnosis of choriocarcinoma. Dr. Derek Raghavan of the Norris Cancer Hospital in Los Angeles treated him. Dr. Raghavan is also a board member of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Other doctors, including Dr. Craig Nichols, were brought in by Mercury's Team Doctor, Prentice Steffan.
After removing one cancerous testicle, the doctors put Lechuga through six months of intensive chemotherapy. As Team Mercury ramped up for an assault on the European cycling scene, Lechuga struggled to recuperate. He took great heart the next year when Armstrong shocked all with his first Tour de France victory. Armstrong had personally given Lechuga guidance and encouragement during his treatment.
"I was helping initially getting people coordinated to help him," noted Armstrong. And thanks to Lance, Lechuga received a visit from Michael Ward, the lead guitarist for The Wallflowers who happens to be a decent bike racer on the side.
The comeback to pro cycling, however, would not be left to doctors, coaches or Lance. That job fell to Lechuga. He struggled in 2000, but started to find form as a domestique for Team Mercury, admitting it was pretty hard.
"When John Wordin told me I would have a spot on the team when I'd come back, I took my time, and when I came back, it's been more fun than before. I feel stronger mentally, after the cancer, but I'm not as strong as before."
At the start of this season, Lechuga signed with Mexico's Tecos squad initially. When that team could not get international status, Lechuga was without a squad. He rode the season opening Redlands Classic as a member of Mexico's Corona team. While lining up for stage five of the race, he took to the announcers stand and proposed to Carrie Ross, a support staff member for Team Navigators.
With his family, his love life, and his cancer all behind him, Lechuga started off on the road to a fantastic recovery. He signed with DeFeet/LeMond, a second-tier U.S. pro squad. Racing in front of 500,000 spectators in the grueling 156-mile First Union U.S. Pro Championships in Philadelphia, Lechuga made the painful selection into the lead group. Racing alongside the best of both European and American one-day racers, Lechuga rode brilliantly to place a solid 19th. Later that month, he returned to California to race the Nevada City Classic, a tough criterium that has been won by a number of young riders en route to European stardom, including Greg LeMond. Lechuga powered into a six-rider breakaway and then took the sprint to score his first major victory since his cancer diagnosis.
That victory, coupled with a mid-season opening on the Mercury team, saw Lechuga return to Mercury in July. "It was one of my goals this year to impress John so he would put me back on board. It's kind of the team I died with when I quit cycling, the team that has made me come back and become re-born in cycling."
Team Mercury allowed Lechuga to score his other goal of racing in France's Tour de l'Avenir (Tour of the Future), a 10-stage contest for riders under age 25, which ends Sept. 15. While Lechuga's own results, 70th place overall going into the final stage, were not dramatic, he did help position his teammate Baden Cooke of Australia to win the points competition.
After all that racing, Lechuga comes home this week to cap off his season with a hometown criterium. Given this comeback story, Lechuga will definitely want to put on a show for his friends and family. "I think I'll have more friends there than anyone. I'm looking forward to it after racing at l'Avenir with European pros, I've done so many sacrifices. I hope it will pay off back at Irvine," said Lechuga. "The race will be held one week before my wedding."
The Mercury Cycling Classic of Irvine, an Irvine Chamber of Commerce event, managed by GaleForce Sports Marketing and sponsored by Mercury, comes to the Irvine Spectrum Center on Sunday, Sept. 23. The event is free with amateur racing starting at 7 a.m. Kids ages 6 to 13 can then suit up at 10:40 a.m. for the Shimano Youth Series, while the Corporate Team Challenge begins at 1:10 p.m. Afterwards, there will be a hand-cycle race at 12:25 p.m. The day concludes with the fastest women and men in the nation as 1:50 p.m. signals the start the elite women's field, while 3 p.m. marks the blast-off of 90 minutes of elite men's racing.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced today that cyclist David Klaassen Van Oorschot, of Riverside, Calif., tested positive at the Chevy Trucks National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) National Championship Series Finals, in Mount Snow, Vt., on Aug. 19, 2001, for pseudoephedrine, a prohibited substance under the Union Cycliste International (UCI) rules.
Pseudoephedrine is in a special category of prohibited substances in that it is commonly found in over-the-counter cold and allergy medicines.
Klaassen Van Oorschot, 18, accepted the sanction in accordance with the UCI rules for a first offense involving a prohibited use of pseudoephedrine. Klaassen Van Oorschot has been issued a public warning and will be disqualified from the NORBA NCS Finals, where he finished 32nd in the professional men's downhill competition.
"This was the first time I was drug tested. It never occurred to me and my family that something a doctor prescribed for my allergies could contain a prohibited substance. That was a stupid mistake on our part, which could have been devastating to my career. I hope that other athletes, especially juniors, will learn from our mistake," said Klaassen Van Oorschot.
The Kiron Group has announced the 2001 schedule for the SuperCup Cyclocross Series. The series, now in its fourth year under Kiron Group ownership and management, has quickly become the one of the hottest winter cycling events in the USA.
Race 1 - October 13: Boston, Mass. (Gloucester)
Race 2 - November 17: Chicago, Ill.
Race 3 - December 14-15: Baltimore, Md.
Race 4 - December 16: Baltimore, Md.
"There is a possibility that a fifth event will be added to this schedule," said happy race promoter Lyle Fulkerson. "There are so many people eager to plan their 'cross season I felt I needed to get the word out that there is 2001 SuperCup Series."
Two of the all-time favorite SuperCup courses will once again be in action. The Gloucester venue received rave reviews for its spectacular views and difficult course layout. The Chicago venue is famous for its fast-paced and exciting action. Finally, Baltimore promises to rival other great SuperCup events. The Mid-Atlantic Cyclocross scene has grown tremendously. Baltimore is a vibrant city and centrally located on the East Coast making it a wonderful location for the Series Finale.
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With success in these two recent races, a diary update from Team Fakta's man from Inverell and Zottegem has been eagerly awaited. There's the "How the KOM jersey was won" story along with the Agro-Adler downhill stuntman spectacular in Hessen, followed by the play-by-play of the finale of GP Fourmies.
But wait, there's more. In a new Q & A section, Scott gives his opinion on exotic frame materials - do they offer real benefits to a rider or are they just gimmicks? He also explains why he has signed with Team Fakta for another two years, despite several strong offers from other teams. Finally, he reveals the Belgian pro's secret to successful training: strong brewed coffee.
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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'cross (December 13)
Cyclingnews survey -
Reader Poll 2001 - Vote for your favourite riders
Letters
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Cyclingnews Interview
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Cyclingnews Interview
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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
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