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By Jeff Jones
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148 of the 189 starters in this year's Vuelta are left as the race enters its final week. Despite the comparatively short stages, there is no question that the Vuelta is as hard as any three week tour. The three time trials, six mountain top finishes, and six flat(ish) stages have all been ridden at a punishingly fast pace so far, and a stage where there are no attacks in the first 30 kilometres has not been seen.
After all this, just 25 seconds separates the two leading riders, Oscar Sevilla (Kelme) and Angel Casero (Festina). The general classification of the Vuelta will most likely be decided on the final day with the 38 kilometre time trial in Madrid, where Casero is the favourite but Sevilla could surprise.
There could have been three riders in close contention had not ONCE's Joseba Beloki run out of legs on stage 11 while wearing the leader's jersey. Beloki is normally a very consistent rider, and he was understandably shattered when he couldn't follow the wheels of his teammates any more. He has now withdrawn from the race along with ONCE co-leader Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, both suffering from a virus that has affected the team.
Two riders with good chances of finishing on the podium are Juan Miguel Mercado (iBanesto.com), currently third at 2'02, and defending champion Roberto Heras (US Postal Service) who is fourth at 2'20. Neither rider is a particularly good time trialist, and will have to try and take some time out of the riders behind them (Plaza and Leipheimer are the closest) on Saturday's final mountain top finish if they are to avoid being caught on Sunday.
The other classifications see Jose María Jimenez (iBanesto.com) leading both the points and mountains competitions, after winning three mountain stages. In the points competition, Jimenez only has one more stage to shine, while Erik Zabel, who is 9 points behind, has the next four stages to try and overtake "El Chaba." In the mountains competition, Jimenez leads Klaus Möller by 47 points, and it's unlikely that he'll be caught.
The metas volantes (intermediate sprints) competition sees Cesar Garcia Calvo (Relax-Fuenlabrada) on 39 points, followed by South African Robert Hunter (Lampre-Daikin) on 18. This is a big difference for Hunter to close, as only 4 points are awarded for winning a meta volante.
Finally, iBanesto.com hold a seemingly impregnable 16'53 lead over US Postal in the team's competition, and should emerge the winners in this area.
The Vuelta has once again been a hard fought race, with fortunes changing almost every day. There seem to have two candidates now for the overall victory, although anything can happen on the way to Madrid. The next three stages will be covered live on Cyclingnews.
Stage 15 - Full results & report
Relations between Mapei-Quick Step and Michele Bartoli have deteriorated to the point that "Bartoli will be able to ride with his future team from now!" Those were the words of Mapei president Giorgio Squinzi after a meeting today with the press in Milan together with administrator Aldo Sassi and manager Alvaro Crespi.
"The situation between the rider and the society is at this time compromised both under the confidential profile and the technical one," said the official statement from Mapei. Bartoli has signed with Fassa Bortolo, where he will be reunited with his former team manager Giancarlo Ferretti.
Bartoli recently won the semi-classic Gran Premio Camaiore, but he wasn't selected for the Giro del Lazio, an important race around Rome and an important selection race for the World Championships in Portugal. Bartoli showed his disappointment and fury, and that was when the management fired him.
Bartoli has had a disappointing season. He started by winning the Omloop Het Volk, but then it was over. Only in the last few weeks it got better. He is one of the former winners of the World Cup (1998) and a former number one in the world.
Italian national technical director Franco Ballerini having some problems. Most of the selected riders want to see Bartoli at the start in Portugal because he was third in Valkenburg (1998) and in Plouay (2000).
"What can I do with a rider who is not selected by his own team. So now he won't start in races, and that is not a good preparation for the World Championships."
As for Bartoli, he is confident that he can race again soon, and therefore gain selection in the Italian World's team. He wrote in his diary on www.michelebartoli.com that "This morning, the Mapei team summoned a press conference and declared they are disposed to rescind my contract all at once: this solution would cost me very much money, but would give me the chance of partaking in a race already within very few days and with another team.
At the same moment, the Italian National Team, Franco Ballerini, and the Federal Supervisor, Alfredo Martini, assure me I will be in the National Team for the World Championships if I ride two races at least. Well, Lisbona doesn't seem so far any longer, even if the procedure and the stages I would follow are definitely not clear. My lawyers are considering each aspect of the situation.
Today, a lot of things have been told, some of them were not precise. I know very well how is the story, and I'm proud because I can look at myself in a mirror honestly. For the moment, I'm looking forward to pedaling: in 5 minutes time I will start my indoor training to put up with this stress.
I want to thank you for your support once again,
Miki
The International Cycling Union (UCI) decided on Monday to appeal the Danish Sports Federation's dismissal of the doping accusations of Bo Hamburger to the international sports tribunal, CAS. The case might disturb Hamburger's newly signed contract with Alexia Alluminio.
UCI's press spokesman Enrico Carpani is, according to Danish news agency Ritzau, not willing to reveal whether there is some new information in the case to use against Hamburger.
He says to Ritzau that UCI is "100 percent, dead sure" about Hamburger's guilt, and that the organization doesn't have to explain why, only that it will appeal.
The Danish Sports federation's doping committee chairman Niels Nygaard says that it is unlikely to change its judgement. Monday was the last day for an appeal.
It was an error in the procedure at the doping lab in Lausanne that made it possible for the Danes to dismiss the charges after Hamburger had given a positive EPO test in April. It was when the B sample was analysed that two values were given. One over and one under the limit set by the UCI.
The process in the CAS will take three to four weeks. The Swiss rider Roland Meier, who also gave a positive test in April, has already received an eight moths ban.
"I am shocked. I don't understand it. It's completely unreal", are some of Hamburger's own statements to Ritzau. "My future had started to look brighter, I've just had a new contract and started to look forward. Now there will be a new period of waiting."
Results of the analyses of the 166 urine samples taken from riders during the 2001 Tour de France have been described as "very disappointing" by Michel Boyon, president of the Center for Prevention and Anti-Doping (CPLD). "The peloton of the Tour de France has not changed its medical practices."
66 of the samples (39.7%) contained restricted substances, with the most common (50 positives) being corticosteroids, which are legal under certain conditions. Last year, 43 of 96 samples (44.7%) returned positive values for restricted substances. With the new lighter regulations for Salbutamol (allowed up to 100 ng/mL, although 130 ng/mL is the absolute upper bound), the results for 2001 are therefore very close to the 2000 results.
"This year, twelve [Salbutamol] samples lie between 101 and 130, and these would have been shown in the results in 2000," said Boyon to French newspaper Libération. "There exist prohibited products which considerably increase the respiratory and anabolic effect caused by salbutamol."
Boyon reported that there were "72 urine tests for the detection of EPO carried out during the 2001 tour. Only the Spanish rider Del Olmo tested positive. He asked at once for a counter-evaluation which confirmed the results. To date, the Spanish federation has not made a decision to sanction the rider. This single case is not very significant in my view."
"But it should not be forgotten that EPO is detectable for only two or three days in urine. I fear that riders were tempted to pass through the net. Moreover, a treatment of EPO stopped two days before the prologue would allow a doping effect, undetectable at least until the Alpine stages."
Boyon added that each case will be examined over the next four months, and the therapeutic justifications would be looked at in detail. A decision to sanction any of the riders tested would be made by January 2002 at the latest.
He commented on the loophole that allows corticosteroids to be injected intra-articularly, but not intramuscularly. The lab tests do not determine how the corticosteroids enter the body, and this obviously causes problems when interpreting results like the above. "It would be preferable to simply prohibit the use of corticoids, without exception which would be authorised by doctors outside the sporting world. The case of the wasp sting of Marc Vaughters [sic], who could not have had an intramuscular injection of corticoids and was forced to leave the Tour while he was able to pedal, is aberrant and ridicules the anti-doping fight."
"I will therefore propose in the next few weeks to the major French sporting federations to have the athletes who need salbutamol and corticoids examined by doctors independent of the sporting world. There does not need to be legislation for that purpose. That will clear up any misunderstandings."
With the World Track Championships to start on Wednesday in Antwerp, two French champions Arnaud Tournant and Florian Rousseau are suffering from colds. 1000 metre time trial specialist Tournant is recovering and did not train today, although the 23 year old is hoping to win a fourth world title in the kilo.
Rousseau started to feel a cold coming on on Sunday, but trained on Monday morning as planned. Both Tournant and Rousseau are part of the Olympic Sprint team, which will be raced on Thursday.
The 18 man French team for the World Championships in Lisbon was announced today by the French Cycling Federation. 12 of these riders will ride on October 14, and there have already been some mutterings as to who has been included and who has been left out.
Laurent Jalabert (CSC-Tiscali) will lead the team, and he may ride with his brother and teammate Nicolas, who has also been pre-selected. Four Bonjour riders have made it in, but not Tour de France yellow jersey wearer Francois Simon. Florent Brard is the sole Festina representative, as his teammate Moreau has decided to finish his season. Brard will also ride the time trial, along with Eddy Seigneur (Jean Delatour).
Jean Delatour's Patrice Halgand and Laurent Brochard will almost certainly be in the final team for Lisbon, as the course will suit their styles. Richard Virenque (Domo) has also made it in, and he should perform well if he keeps his current form.
There are no riders from La Francaise des Jeux or Cofidis in the squad. Paris-Brussels winner Emmanuel Magnien (FdJ) has been overlooked, perhaps because of his positive test to corticoids in the 2000 Tour which he was recently cleared from; or perhaps because the largely flat Paris-Brussels was his only success in 2001, and is probably not a good predictor for Lisbon.
Road Race
Laurent Jalabert (CSC-Tiscali)
Nicolas Jalabert (CSC-Tiscali)
Jean-Cyril Robin (Bonjour)
Sylvain Chavanel (Bonjour)
Franck Bouyer (Bonjour)
Franck Renier (Bonjour)
Florent Brard (Festina)
Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour)
Laurent Brochard (Jean Delatour)
Gilles Bouvard (Jean Delatour)
Stéphane Goubert (Jean Delatour)
Stéphane Heulot (BigMat)
Xavier Jan (BigMat)
Ludovic Turpin (AG2r-Prevoyance)
Richard Virenque (Domo Farm Frites)
Frédéric Bessy (Crédit Agricole)
Ludovic Martin (Crédit Agricole)
Benoît Poilvet (Crédit Agricole)
Time Trial
Florent Brard (Festina)
Eddy Seigneur (Jean Delatour)
There are some selection problems for Dutch national coach Gerrie Knetemann. First Koos Moerenhout and Max van Heeswijk announced that they are not to be available for the World Championships in Lisbon. On Monday Servais Knaven and Tristan Hoffman called Knetemann with disappointing messages. Servais Knaven has an inflammation and is busy with an antibiotic cure.
"I have already had problems for two weeks and I don't want to take a risk. I want to become completely healthy. My season is over now," said Knaven.
Tristan Hoffman broke three ribs in the Delta Profronde on September 8. Because CSC-Tiscali has a lot of sick riders at the moment he has to start this coming weekend in a race in France. If Knetemann can't select 12 riders he can ask Hoffman. "But only if he can't find somebody else. Because I probably can do not more than 80 kilometres," said Hoffman.
There is also doubt about the start of Leon van Bon. He has influenza and will decide after the Circuit Franco-Belge-race (September 27-30). "If I feel I am getting stronger, I will start. Because it's a selective parcours in Portugal you have to be really good to have a chance."
Fabiana Luperini (Edil Savino)
Simona Parente (Edil Savino)
Alessandra Cappellotto (GAS Sport)
Roberta Bonanomi (GAS Sport)
Silvia Parietti (GAS Sport)
Katia Longhin (Acca Due O - Lorena Camicie)
Marianna Lorenzoni (Team Aliverti - Immobiliare Luca)
Naomi Cantele
Lotto cyclist Rik Verbrugghe and tennis player Justine Henin were the winners of the Belgium's French-speaking community's awards for Sporting Merit at a ceremony in Namur today. Grand Slam finallist Justine Henin was chosen over Florence Crowet (triathlon) in the women's section, while Verbrugghe, the first Walloon to win the Flèche wallonne for many years, was picked ahead of Mohammed Mourhit (athletics) and Jean-Michel Saive (table tennis).
The Otxoa brothers, Ricardo and Javier, have been honoured in Cartama (Malaga) today by the unveiling of a monument dedicated to them. Both former Kelme riders were hit by a car whilst training earlier this year, which left Ricardo dead and Javier in a coma for several weeks. Javier is gradually recovering but it is unlikely that he will ever regain his full capacities.
The Ciudad Puerta Blanca of Malaga organised the ninth cyclotourist event 'Málaga Contra la Droga' in tribute to the Otxoa brothers, and 150 cyclists rode the 108 kilometre route.
With the departure of Mario Cipollini to Acqua e Sapone and the arrival of Danilo Di Luca and Igor Astarloa next season, Saeco is undergoing a changing of the guard. In addition to Di Luca and Astarloa, team manager Claudio Corti has also signed Di Luca's current teammates Alessandro Spezialetti, Andrea Tonti and Christian Pepoli for 2002.
French mountain bike star Miguel Martinez has signed with Mapei-Quick Step for three years, the team confirmed today at the same time they dismissed Bartoli. 25 year old Martinez has won everything off-road, including World Cups, World MTB and Cyclocross Championships and an Olympic Gold Medal.
It was almost impossible for Martinez to better his 2000 season, and this year has been good but not outstanding for the 164 cm/50 kg pocket powerhouse. 'Little Mig' has found some happiness off the bike, recently becoming engaged to an air hostess that he met on the way home from the Sydney Games last year.
Miguel's father Mariano was a professional road cyclist and won the mountains jersey in the 1978 Tour de France as well as a bronze in the World Championships of 1974.
Bo Hamburger has signed a two year contract with Italian second division squad Alexia Alluminio. Kelme, iBanesto and Mercatone Uno are other teams that, according to Danish website cyclingworld.dk, have been in the picture for the Dane. The basic salary is reported as "not so huge" but it will rise according to Hamburger's results.
Rolf Sørensen will do his last season next year according to news agency Ritzau if he gets a contract. CSC-Tiscali has offered him a deal only for the spring classics in April with a monthly salary of 60,000 Danish kroner (US$6,000). Sørensen, who hopes to finish his career with the World's in 2002, interprets the offer as a discharge and says that he won't speak to CSC Tiscali anymore.
On the other hand, the team's managing director Bjarne Riis says that they will have to talk to one another in the next few days about when Sørensen will race, and he hasn't given up hope for some cooperation.
27 year old Michael Rasmussen, the 1999 MTB World Champion that rides on the road for an Austrian amateur team, will ride for CSC-Tiscali in GP Prato and Giro dell' Emilia. He showed good form in last week's MTB World Championships and team manager Bjarne Riis now wants to benefit from that form. Rasmussen is also on the Danish long team for the World Championships in October and now gets a chance to take a seat in the Danish eight man squad.
"If he is doing well it is quite possible that we will offer him a contract for next year", Riis says.
Swiss cyclist Peter Graf (Scott-Elvia) will ride for Simplon-Velo Weidman-Nokian Tires next season. Graf won the Swiss Mike Masters championships in 1998 and 1999 and had several successful years with Scott-Elvia.
His new team is sponsored by Austrian bike manufacturer Simplon, as well as Velo-Weidman, Nokian, PowerBar, Giro and Northwave.
Allan Davis, Paolo Fornaciari, Stefano Garzelli, Graziano Gasparre, Paolo Lanfranchi, Luca Scinto, David Tani, Andrea Tafi. DS: Fabrizio Fabbri
By Roger Hughes, cyclingnews.com correspondent
This week is to see two attempts on the (British) Road Record Association's "blue riband" record, the "End to End" - Land's End to John O'Groats. On Wednesday, Lynne Taylor of the Mersey Roads CC is to set out to attack the women's record, currently held by Pauline Strong in 2 days, 6.49.45, while a day later Gethin Butler (Preston Wheelers), one of the very select handful of riders to have beaten 500 miles in a 24 hour time trial, is to attack Andy Wilkinson's men's record of one day, 21.02.18.
Both of them have, as is the custom, also put in schedules for the 1000 mile records, which adds another 160 miles in the wilds of Caithness, but most end-to-enders find the 840 mile south-north route enough; Taylor is also hoping to pick up the RRA's "straight-out" 12 and 24 hour records (which are kept separately from the RTTC's competition records set in time trial events) on the way, and Butler too has to be in with a chance at the 24 hour record (which stands at 494.25 miles to John Woodburn).
The route follows the A30 east as far as Exeter, then north on the A 38 via Bristol, Gloucester and Worcester, the A449 around Birmingham to Stafford, then via the A34 through the Potteries, the A 50 to Wigan, the A49 and A6 to Preston, and then on the A6 via Lancaster, Kendal and Shap Fell to the Scottish border near Carlisle. Once into Scotland the riders will follow the A74 and then across the Lowlands hills via Moffatt and Penicuik to the outskirts of Edinburgh. Once across the Forth Road Bridge a complex route should take them via Cowdenbeath and Kinross to Perth, where the course follows the A9 to Inverness and up the coast to Wick and the A99 to the end of the road. Butler's ambitious schedule is for one day, 19 hours and 33 minutes 90 minutes better than the existing record, while Taylor is scheduling to take four hours off the women's time with two days, 2.15.00. Both attempts are dependent on a favourable southerly wind; so far the forecasts are favourable.
Info provided by Ralph Dadswell
Also see: www.merseyroads.demon.co.uk/wilkolyn.htm and www.msf-online.co.uk/gethin.htm
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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