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David Millar (Cofidis, 1st)
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David Millar made up for a completely disastrous Tour de France by winning today's first stage time trial in Salamanca by 1 second. On a fast, but deceptively tough course, Millar beat a strong Santiago Botero (Kelme) with a consistent ride throughout the test.
"This victory pleases me as much as my victory in the prologue of the Tour 2000. I thought of my fall this year, and I rode without taking risks, then, starting from halfway, I gave everything."
"I will now try and defend the Maillot de Oro (gold jersey) as long as possible but my main objective for the race continues to be the three flat time-trials in this year's Vuelta."
Santiago Botero (Kelme, 2nd)
"I did not start off as one of the favourites, but that suits me well, I like to give surprises. Now I am in good form, I have trained enough for the time trial with the team, and that was noticed in the stage."
"Once Abraham Olano passed through the intermediate time I thought I would win, but Millar finished well and he won. It is a pity, it would have been important to give this win to Colombia."
"It would be beautiful to gain the podium, but it might not happen, the Vuelta is very long and it is necessary to wait for the mountains. There is still of racing left to get to the podium."
Joseba Beloki (ONCE, 5th)
"I have done my best possible, all the team was up there, but Marcos has to bear the pain. I am feeling good, I had good sensations in training, and Igor and I are well. I am satisfied because relative to time trialists like Abraham and Igor there was only a little difference."
Roberto Heras (US Postal, 33rd)
"20 seconds more than Beloki is good, but Botero flew and Olano was also good. The start was very dangerous, Marcos Serrano fell and he broke his collarbone, I did not go so hard in the corners. The knees feel good and the head also."
Stage 1 - Full
results and report
Stage 1 -
Live report
ONCE's Marcos Serrano became the first casualty in the Vuelta España, crashing in the opening kilometres of the first stage in Salamanca. The 29 year old was taken to hospital in Salamanca, where they diagnosed a collarbone break. With the usual healing time, it means that his season is finished.
The spread of nationalities in this year's Vuelta is quite broad, with 29 countries being represented in the 189 starters. Spain (73) and Italy (41) have the greatest number of riders, followed by Germany (12), Switzerland (8), Belgium (7), Netherlands (6), Portugal (5), USA (4), then Australia, Colombia, Denmark, Ukraine with three riders, Czech Republic, France, Kazakhstan, Moldavia and Sweden with two riders, and Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Estonia, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Republic of South Africa, Russia and Slovenia all with one rider.
Interestingly, there are two French teams in the peloton (Cofidis and Festina), with only one French rider in Cofidis, none in Festina, and one (Virenque) in the Belgian Domo-Farm Frites team.
The field this year contains a total of four past winners of the Vuelta: Defending champion Roberto Heras (2000), Abraham Olano (1998), Alex Zülle (1996, 1997) and Melchor Mauri (1991). In addition, the runners up in 1994 (Mikel Zarrabeitia), 1997-1998 (Fernando Escartin), 1999 (Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano), 2000 (Angel Casero) and third place in 1998 (José Maria Jimenez) are also present.
The Kelme team unveiled its new co-sponsor prior to the start of the Vuelta in Salamanca: Barclaycard banking services will feature on the team jerseys during the race. Kelme started brilliantly, failing by one second to capture the Maillot de Oro as Santiago Botero was pipped at the post by David Millar. However, they did come away with the best team time on the day, and this bodes well for them later in the race.
La Vuelta 2003 will start in Valencia, in Gijon, it was announced today by the organisers Unipublic. No further details were details of either next year's edition or the year after, other than that the opening stages will be time trials.
By Tim Maloney, cyclingnews.com correspondent
Sunday's inaugural San Francisco Grand Prix, presented by BMC Software, will return world road class cycling to California for the first time since the Coors Classic in 1987. Heading the field will be three time TdF champ Lance Armstrong and a solid USPS team. Armstrong will be racing in a UCI road event in the USA for the first time since 1998's First Union USPRO Championships.
The tough urban circuit offer s a distance of 129.5 miles/209 km, with ten large laps of 10.2 m/16.5 km and five finishing circuits of 5.5 m/8.9 km. Each large circuit includes two short but very steep climbs; Fillmore St. up from Union St. and Taylor St. from Columbus Ave., as well as lots of ups and downs, bumpy city streets and tight turns.
The circuit starts and finishes on the Embarcadero at the foot of Market Street in front of SF's Ferry Building at 9:00am, and winds through the Marina and North Beach neighbourhoods of the City by the bay. Challenging Lance and his USPS team will be tough, but with such a long and tough event in September, a few dark horses may make trouble for USPS in the final.
Vassili Davidenko of Navigators is also in form and may have the strength to put himself in contention after 120 miles of tough racing. Ditto for PCT leader Trent Klasna of Saturn, who has had a few knee problems of late, but the Saturn boys have a very strong team and if Klasna has his legs, the rangy San Diegan will be a real contender.
USPRO Champ Freddy Rodriguez of Domo Farm Frites has done little this season since his win in Philly, and will not have any team support as he is riding as part of a mixed team with De Nardi-Pasta Montegrappa of Italy, but the tough Emeryville Resident will have plenty of home town support. De Nardi has some fit riders; two time Jr. World Champ Giuseppe Palumbo and speedy Jan Bratkowski have been riding well in Italy of late.
Saeco has a good young team, with former Autotrader.com director Mike Neel on board as sport director. Strong Swiss rider Armin Meier and speedy Nicola Gavazzi have a shot, with Saeco's American rider Justin Spinelli showing good form.
With huge crowds expected in SF, no matter who wins, the first San Francisco Grand Prix will be a welcome addition to the American race calendar.
If you can't make it to the race and want to know what's going down in San Fran, log onto Cyclingnews for regular live updates of the action, from the start to finish. Coverage starts at approximately 8:45am local time (17:45 Central European Time/01:45 Australian East Coast Time).
Ever since he left TVM at the end of 1999, Dutch sprinter Jeroen Blijlevens has been wandering around like a lost soul. The man with 73 career wins, including four stages in the Tour de France, simply stopped winning when he went to Polti in 2000, then Lotto-Adecco in 2001. He will most likely have to find a new team for next season, after Lotto manager Christophe Sercu said that it would be "Extremely difficult for Jeroen to extend his contract with us. It is regrettable, but I don't think that he can attract. He has just a few chances to prove otherwise."
Today he was 8th in the Delta Profronde in Midden-Zeeland - again not good enough for the likes of Lotto, who already have 17 riders under contract for next season. "In the coming weeks, three or four more will come. They could be current or totally new riders."
Former Colombian professional cyclist Gustavo Wilches (winner of the Vuelta Colombia in 1990) has been sentenced to 52 months in prison for drug trafficking. Wilches was caught in June of last year at Bogota airport with 54 capsules of heroin in his stomach. He chose to be imprisoned immediately although the verdict of his trial was not announced until recently. Hence, he was given an accordingly reduced sentence.
Wilches also has to pay a fine of US$8000, equivalent to five and a half years of the minimum monthly wage in Colombia.
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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