Tour News for July 3

ONCE: Beloki is leader

The ONCE team made some last minute changes to the squad announced yesterday, with Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano and Mikel Pradera substituting for Rafael Diaz Justo and Colombian Ivan Parra Pinto. The team is one of the strongest of this year's Tour, with primary leader Joseba Beloki being more than ably supported by Santos Gonzalez, Alvaro and Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, Spanish road champion Iván Gutiérrez, Mikel Pradera, Carlos Sastre, Jörg Jaksche and Marcos Serrano.

This line-up has an excellent chance to carry off a repeat of the ONCE team time trial win in last year's Tour, although Telekom, US Postal and Fassa Bortolo can not be discounted. With Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano as a "reserve" GC rider, the team also has good stage win chances with Santos Gonzalez, Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano, and Iván Gutiérrez.

Euskaltel-Euskadi get a good send off

Julián Gorospe and Miguel Madariaga's orange clad Euskaltel-Euskadi squad may turn out to be one of the surprise packets of the Tour this year. Only gaining division I this year, the team was granted one of the four (five) remaining wild card spots when Jean-Marie Leblanc announced them in Paris on May 2. An interesting choice, but one that may pay off in terms of both exposing future talent, and adding interest to the race. Kelme has set a tough precedent!

The team was farewelled today from Derio (Vizcaya) by various local luminaries: Juan Jose Ibarretxe, Josu Bergara (general deputy of Bizkaia), team manager Miguel Madariaga, Euskaltel president, Jose Antonio Ardanza, and the parish priest of the Basilica of Begoña, Jesus Garitaonaindia, who blessed the caravan.

"Who would have thought five and six years ago that we were going to have a team of Basque riders competing in the Tour," said Ibarretxe in his send off speech. "Nevertheless, that dream has become a reality, behind which a lot of work has been placed."

The Euskaltel team is composed of Haimar Zubeldia, David Etxebarria, Iñigo Chaurreau, Roberto Laiseka, Iker Flores, Alberto López de Munain, Unai Etxebarria, Txema del Olmo, and Angel Castresana, with Julián Gorospe as director.

Verbrugghe and Van de Wouwer fit

Lotto's Rik Verbrugghe and Kurt Van de Wouwer missed out on Sunday's Belgian national championship, but according to latest reports they are fit and ready for the Tour de France. Today Verbrugghe said that "I trained for two hours this morning," after he was hit by a car on Saturday and taken to hospital for examination. "I hope that on Tuesday and Wednesday I can train solidly. In that case, I will be ready for the prologue."

On Sunday, while his teammates were battling it out in Halle, Van de Wouwer trained in the Ardennes. "I was suffering last week from a light bronchitis. I did not want to undertake the Belgian championships. I am feeling much better."

No ambitions from Dekker

Don't expect too much from Erik Dekker, he has no aspirations to surprise the Dutch cycling audience this year in the Tour de France. He has only one target this year: the World Cup. So after the Tour no criteriums, no Ronde van Nederland and no Dutch time trial championship for him.

"It will cost me a lot of money, but I have to win the World Cup. For riders who can't win the World Cup, it isn't important. But if you win the cup, it counts."

Tour doping controls: 8 per day

Eight cyclists per day will be tested as part of the Tour de France's anti-doping controls, announced patron Patrice Clerc today. "The traditional doping substances will be detected in the Laboratory of Châtenay-Malabry, as well as corticoids and EPO," he said.

The latter two drugs have not been tested for in the Tour's history, despite an attempt last year to rush the EPO test through. Corticoids and EPO are believed to be the most widely abused substances in long stage races, although the governing body thinks that the battle against EPO is now won.

So far this year, six riders have tested positive to EPO (with some B samples awaiting confirmation) after the new UCI tests were introduced. Although it uses a combination of blood and urine tests, the effectiveness of the EPO test is limited to 3 days, while the drug takes 3-4 weeks to be effective.

However, in a three week Tour there is a possibility that EPO might be used as a "top up" for the final week. "Knowing that it is not possible to detect EPO in all controls, and that traces remain for several days, the research will be carried out cyclically," added Clerc.

There is the possibility of unexpected controls during the Tour, but they will be carried out by either the UCI or the French Ministry of Sport and Youth. The UCI will take blood samples to analyse for hematocrit, haemoglobin and reticulocytes. Also, the third phase of the UCI's annual medical checkup involves more examinations, which are expected to dissuade any potential dopers.

All riders will undergo a complete medical checkup on Thursday morning, July 5, and the samples will be transferred immediately to a laboratory in Morges, Switzerland, for analysis.

A UCI appointed doctor will be present during the Tour to oversee the use of "restricted drugs", for example corticoids used for "therapeutic purposes".

Finally, those in charge of anti-doping believe that although there remain some undetectable drugs (e.g. growth hormone), the detection of artificial blood substitutes should be relatively straightforward. For example, RSR-13, which was named during the Giro raids, is produced by Allos Therapeutics who have stated they already have a test to detect their blood substitute.

More Wim van Est

He may only have ever won one stage during the Tour de France, but he was the first Dutchman to wear the yellow jersey. Wim van Est's fall off the Col d'Aubisque during the Tour de France 50 years ago will be commemorated later this month with a plaque in his honour, and you can read more about his ill-fated Tour in our feature page. We have also unearthed another photo of Wim being pulled up the mountain side, from the book "Het Ijzeren Uurwerk".

Raymond Poulidor joins Crédit Lyonnais team

Although he never had a chance to wear the yellow jersey in Paris, French great Raymond Poulidor will be able wear that colour during this year's Tour. 65 year old "Poupou" will be part of the Crédit Lyonnais team, one of the major Tour de France sponsors, meaning that he will be clad in yellow.

Poulidor rode the Tour 14 times during the 1960's and 70's, and finished eight times on the podium without ever winning the Tour. He did have the "misfortune" to be racing during Anquetil's peak, and then Merckx's.

Tour team changes

The following names have been changed since yesterday in the Tour start list.

Lampre-Daikin: Matteo Frutti (Ita) is in; Zbigniew Spruch (Pol) is out
ONCE: Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano (Spa) and Mikel Pradera Rodriguez (Spa) are in; Rafael Diaz Justo (Spa) and Ivan Parra Pinto (Col) are out
Fassa Bortolo: Oscar Pozzi (Ita) is in; Dmitri Konyshev (Rus) is out

The Tour team list won't be final until the day before the race (July 6), but it is as accurate as possible at the moment. We know how important those Megabike (NB: A Belgian fantasy TdF competition) teams are!

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