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By Jeff Jones
With 200,000 people expected to line the 14.14 kilometre circuit Jean-Yves Perron tomorrow in Plouay, the GP Ouest France is once again predicted to be a popular success. The 198 kilometre race gives spectators a chance to see the racers on each of the 14 laps, and this is one of the reasons why it is well patronised by the public. The other reason is that it's the end of the holidays in Brittany, and many folks finish working in the fields and go to Plouay to watch the bike race. Its popularity was such that the small town was given the honour to host last year's World Championships, and that too was a big success.
Of course, a good race also needs good competitors, and tomorrow's field is top quality. It's a combination of seasoned riders and stagiaires, young riders who are competing on the professional circuit for the first time. The big drawcards include last year's winner Michele Bartoli (Mapei-Quick Step) who will be riding with Italian champion Daniele Nardello and a young Mapei squad.
Speaking at a pre-race press conference today, Bartoli described himself as "motivated but very tired. As the defending champion, I couldn't miss this race. I knew people were waiting for me here." For me there are two races in the world where the public deserves more respect than anywhere else, and that's the Tour of Flanders and Plouay."
The race will also feature French champion Didier Rous (Bonjour), the ever popular Laurent Jalabert (CSC-Tiscali) and teammate Jakob Piil, Festina's Christophe Moreau, Lotto's Mario Aerts, Serge Baguet and Andrei Tchmil, Jean Delatour's Laurent Brochard, and Patrice Halgand, Saeco's Mirko Celestino, Cofidis' Nico Mattan and David Moncoutie, Francaise des Jeux' Jacky Durand, Ag2r's Christophe Agnolutto and Benoît Salmon, Liquigas' Serguei Gontchar, Rabobank's Marcus Zberg, BigMat's Stéphane Heulot and Patrick Jonker.
The action starts at 12:00 CEST and the race will last approximately 4 hours 45 minutes. Cyclingnews will be providing live lap-by-lap updates of the race from start to finish.
Next year's GP Plouay is planned to be bigger than ever, with a three day event featuring a cyclotourists ride on Friday, an amateurs race on Saturday morning, the seventh round of the women's World Cup on Saturday afternoon and the GP Ouest France on Sunday.
Mapei's Michele Bartoli has given himself another 15-20 days before deciding whether to ride with Giancarlo Ferretti's Fassa Bortolo squad for next season. He rode for Ferretti between 1995-1996 when the team was sponsored by GB-MG. "I want to find a team where I have the serenity to finish my career," he said today in Plouay.
Ukrainian Serguei Gontchar will join Fassa Bortolo, leaving Liquigas which will be defunct next season.
The Saeco Macchine per Caffe' team is aiming to continue its successful season in the upcoming races. Tomorrow's GP Ouest France in Plouay will see Tre Valli Varesine winner Mirko Celestino lead the team. He will be backed up by Conte, Gavazzi, Mori, Sacchi, Sabaliauskas and Scirea. On the same day the three German Saeco riders Ludewig, Nitsche and Wegmann, will ride the "Rund um die Nürnberger Alstadt" race.
Next week the team will also ride the two Italian races. On Monday there is the Giro del Fruili. Bontempi will have Salvatore Commesso as team leader - he recently won two stages at the Tour of Portugal plus Dufaux, Conte, Galletti, Padrnos, Pieri, Rohtmer and Spinelli.
On Wednesday September 5 there is the Trofeo Melinda, Bontempi will build a team around Celestino with Dufaux, Mori, Sabaliauskas, Sacchi, Secchiari and Wegmann.
Euskaltel-Euskadi director Rubén Gorospe has selected the following riders for the Tour de l'Avenir in France, September 6-15: Gorka Arrizabalaga, Rubén Díaz de Cerio, Gorka González, Iñaki Isasi, Samuel Sánchez and Josu Silloniz.
The official transfer period in cycling has started (September 1) and there has been plenty of action prior to this date, some of it as early as two months ago. Many of the contracts have simply been renewals. The following is a guide to the principal movements and it is by no means exhaustive. In addition, some of these are not 100% confirmed.
Ag2r-Prevoyance
Arriving: Inigo Chaurreau (Euskaltel), Christophe Oriol and Olivier Trastour
(Jean Delatour)
Leaving: Benoît Salmon (Phonak)
Alessio
Arriving: Nicklas Axelsson (Mercury)
Bankgiroloterij-Batavus
Leaving: Stefan van Dijk (Lotto)
Bonjour
Arriving: Emmanuel Magnien (FdJ)
Leaving: Francois Simon, Jean-Cyril Robin
Cantina Tollo
Arriving: Mario Cipollini (Saeco), Mario Scirea (Saeco), Giovanni Lombardi
(Telekom)
Leaving: Danilo di Luca (Saeco)
CSC-Tiscali
Leaving: René Jørgensen, Nicolai Bo Larsen, Bjarke Nielsen, Michael Steen Nielsen, Jacob Moe Rasmussen
Crédit Agricole
Arriving: Christophe Moreau and Florent Brard
Leaving: Bobby Julich
Euskaltel-Euskadi
Leaving: Inigo Chaurreau (Ag2r), Txema Del Olmo, Angel Castresana, Ramon Gonzalez Arrieta
Team Fakta
Leaving: Jimmy Hansen, Mikael Holst Kyneb, Jacob Gram Nielsen
Fassa Bortolo
Arriving: Michele Bartoli (? - Mapei), Serguei Gontchar, Denis Zanette (Liquigas),
Marco Velo (Mercatone)
Leaving: Francesco Casagrande (Tacconi), Raimondas Rumsas
Gerolsteiner
Arriving: Davide Rebellin, Gianni Faresin, Daniele Contrini and Ellis Rastelli (Liquigas)
Lampre-Daikin
Arriving: Pavel Tonkov (Mercury)
Leaving: Oscar Camenzind (Phonak), Robert Hunter (Mapei), Frank Vandenbroucke
Lotto-Adecco
Arriving: Stefan Van Dijk (BankGiroLoterij)
Leaving: Fabien de Waele, Paul van Hyfte (CSC)
iBanesto.com
Leaving: Juan Carlos Dominguez (Phonak), José Luis Arrieta, Candido Barbosa, Marzio Bruseghin, José V. Garcia Acosta, Jon Odriozola Mugarza, Cesar Solaun
Jean Delatour
Arriving: Laurent Lefèvre (Cofidis), Frédéric Finot (Credit Agricole), Stéphane Augé (Festina), Joona Laukka (amateur), Christophe Laurent (neo) and Youri Krivtsov (neo)
Mercury
Leaving: Nicklas Axelsson (Alessio), Pavel Tonkov (Lampre), Peter van Petegem, Geert van Bondt, Wim Van Sevenant, Leon van Bon, Jans Koerts, Fabrizio Guidi, Chann McRae
Phonak
Arriving: Oscar Camenzind (Lampre), Benoît Salmon and Gilles Maignan (Ag2r), Jacky Durand (FdJ), Andy Flickinger (Festina), Gerrit Glomser (Post Swiss), Juan Carlos Dominguez (iBanesto)
Saeco
Arriving: Danilo Di Luca (Cantina Tollo) Leaving: Mario Cipollini and Mario Scirea (Cantina Tollo), Laurent Dufaux
Tacconi Sport
Arriving: Francesco Casagrande (Fassa Bortolo)
Leaving: Gianluca Bortolami
Team Coast
Arriving: Steffen Radochla and Andre Korff (Festina)
Telekom
Leaving: Alberto Elli, Gian Matteo Fagnini, Giovanni Lombardi (Cantina Tollo), Roberto Sgambelluri, Gerhard Trampusch
US Postal Service
Leaving: Tyler Hamilton (CSC-Tiscali), Cédric Vasseur, Jamie Burrow
Thanks to cycling4all for some of this information
Stagiaires are Elite or Under 23 riders employed by Trade Teams from September 1, giving them a chance to ride in some professional races and show off their talents. Sometimes they get contracts with the teams they ride for, or other teams notice them and sign them up. However, being a stagiaire is no guarantee of a pro contract.
The following are the stagiaires listed by the UCI as of September 1.
Credit Agricole
Cédric Herve (Fra)
Eric Leblacher (Fra)
Cofidis, Le Credit Par Telephone
Nicolas Andre (Fra)
Cédric Vanoverschelde (Fra)
Domo-Farm Frites
Dmitri Muravyev (Kaz)
Gert Steegmans (Bel)
Fassa Bortolo
Michael Albasini (Swi)
Andrea Moletta (Ita)
Daniele Pietropolli (Ita)
Festina
Frank Schleck (Lux)
Lotto-Adecco
Frédéric Amorisen (Bel)
Kevin Van Impe (Bel)
Wim Van Huffel (Bel)
Mapei-Quick Step
Allan Davis (Aus)
Stijn Devolder (Bel)
Frederik Willems (Bel)
Mercury
Ernesto Lechuga (Mex)
Svein Tuft (Can)
Matthew Wilson (Aus)
O.N.C.E.-Eroski
Gorka Beloqui Doronsoro
Saeco Macchine Per Caffe'
Luca Barla (Ita)
Balazs Rohtmer (Hun)
Ag2R Prevoyance
Stéphane Couge (Fra)
Julien Laidoun (Fra)
Nicolas Portal (Fra)
Alexia Alluminio
Damiano Giannini (Ita)
Alfonso Falzarano (Ita)
Amore & Vita-Beretta
Giacomo Cariulo (Ita)
Alessandro Frau (Ita)
Luigi Giambelli (Ita)
Bigmat.Auber 93
Yannick Talabardon (Fra)
Nicolas Liboreau (Fra)
Niels Brouzes (Fra)
Bonjour
Maryan Hary (Fra)
Anthony Geslin (Fra)
Christophe Kern (Fra)
Collstrop-Palmans
Frederik Penne (Bel)
Team Colpack-Astro
Oscar Borlini (Ita)
Matteo Gigli (Ita)
Rafael Nuritdinov (Uzb)
Cantina Tollo Acqua & Sapone
Valery Kobzarenko (Ukr)
Ruben Lobato Elvira (Spa)
Andrea Masciarelli (Ita)
Jean Delatour
Sylvain Calzeti (Fra)
Florian Germain (Fra)
Christophe Laurent (Fra)
Team Fakta
Lars Ytting Bak (Den)
Kristoffer Ingeby (Swe)
Trent Wilson (Aus)
La Francaise Des Jeux
Jamie Alberts (GBr)
Samuel Bonnet (Fra)
Samuel Dumoulin (Fra)
Flanders-Prefetex
Youri Deliens (Bel)
Cédric Flasse (Bel)
David Plas (Bel)
KRKA-Telekom Slovenije
Darko Mrvar (Slo)
Tomasz Nose (Slo)
Jure Zrimsek (Slo)
Landbouwkrediet-Colnago
Glen Chadwick (Aus)
Brian Fagan (USA)
Mark Roland (Aus)
LA Pecol
Jon Bru Pascal (Spa)
Luis Medina Munoz (Spa)
Mobilvetta Design-Formaggi Trentini
Samuele Vecchi (Ita)
De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa
Tom Anderson (GBr)
Andrea Ballan (Ita)
Jan Kruzic (Svk)
Phonak Hearing Systems
Vincent Bader (Swi)
Florian Ludi (Swi)
Roman Peter (Swi)
Post Swiss Team
David Ruckstuhl (Swi)
St Quentin-Oktos
Sergey Krushevskiy (Uzb)
John Nilsson (Swe)
Andris Reiss (Lat)
Vlaanderen-T Interim
Kipcho Volckaerts (Bel)
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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