Sprinter CHRISTOPHE CAPELLE has signed a two-year contract with Cofidis and is thus the first rider to be officially retained by the new French team's directeur sportif Cyrille Guimard. The French rider was a member of the abortive ForceSud team and rode for Aubervilliers 93-Peugeot in the Tour de France.
LANCE ARMSTRONG has also been associated with the Cofidis team and firm news was expected on this today (August 20). Armstrong said: "I have in my hand a proposition from Guimard that is by far the most interesting of all those I've received so far." Armstrong's delay in accepting the offer was a result of his waiting to see if Jim Ochowicz would be able to find a new sponsor for the Motorola team. "I had wanted everything to be settled on the evening of the Leeds Classic [August 18]," said Armstrong, "but I must also play the game with Jim Ochowicz. I won't hide the fact that I'm very happy working with him, but if Jim doesn't find anything, then it will be Guimard." It is widely expected that if Armstrong does join Cofidis he will bring some Motorola riders with him. So far Frankie Andreu and Laurent Madouas have been mentioned.
PETER LUTTENBERGER is to leave Carrera, having signed a two-year contract with Dutch team Rabobank.
TVM rider JELLE NIJDAM, now aged 33, has decided to retire reckoning that he is no longer capable of winning a major race. The Dutch rider's palmares include (this is only a random selection of immediately available ones): 1st Amstel Gold 1988, 1st Paris--Tours 1989, , 1st A Travers La Belgique 1995, 1st Binche--Tournai--Binche 1995, 1st Teleport Derny 1995, 1st overall and stage 5, Tour of Holland 1995.
FRENCH TEAM GAN has announced its roster for the September 7-29 Vuelta a Espana. Led by Stephane Heulot, the other riders will be Pascal Derame, Emmanuel Hubert, Francis Moreau, Stuart O"Grady, Ronan Pensec, Arnaud Pretot, Gerard Rue, Eddy Seigneur and Yvon Ledanois.
Last year, the route was finished by July 27; this year however, there are still some problems locking in start and finish cities. Hopefully, the Tour will return with the famous Monkey Hill prologue in Delaware. Some return cities should include Fredricksburg and Richmond VA, and it just wouldn't be a race without the finish to Beech Mountain, NC.
Keeping with the southern trend, the Tour should include Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina cities. Who know, maybe a return trip to Georgia. Much to my delight, I discovered that the tour might be returning to my home-state of MARYLAND! It has been 3 years since the tour came to Maryland with the stage from Port Deposit to Hagerstown during the 1994 Tour. I also discovered that the people at Medalist Sports have made a second attempt at finishing in Annapolis Maryland. Yes, finishing in our states capitol city would be something for the world to see. Having traveled over the Bay Bridge several times on trips to Ocean City MD, and even walking over it during their annual Bay Bridge Walk, I can honestly say that it would be a wonderful highlight to a spectacular stage. And hey, now that the toll plaza is only on the Eastbound side, the cyclists would have no problem riding across.
As cool as a Delaware to Annapolis stage might be, it will probably never come to be. After many phone calls, I have learned that despite 2 months of negotiating by Medalist Sports, and even with the green light from Gov. Paris Glendenning, the Bridge (to be exact: The William Preston Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge; A.K.A. the "Bay Bridge") is still the major holdup. Too bad, they will miss out on this one. Hey, did you know that you can plan a bicycle tour including a taxi trip across the bridge for only $10.00? Just call (410) 643-1500 and make arrangements. Hummmmmm lets see .... 120 cyclists @ $10 each .... that's only $1200.00. Hey, maybe that's the answer?
Another option is the ever popular Baltimore finish. Yes, problems here also. Although Baltimore is interested, they are having fiscal allocation problems. Maybe next year.
So what is it going to take to bring the Tour back to Maryland? Well, if you want to take part in hosting an international cycling event, seen by millions world wide on the Internet (if the country has internet access, a cycling fan has accessed my site), paper press (do they still use paper?), radio (thanks again to the FRESCA cycling network for last year), and television - (I just love the Duce A.K.A. ESPN2 - and its a trip watching foreign news covering the Tour ~ .... how can so much joy come from an insulated wire? ), all you need is MONEY!
Yes the green. So, if you want to host a Baltimore finish it will only cost you 50K, (chump change for any major corporation), and 25K to finish in the suburbs. HEY, can you imagine a finish at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus? (pronounced UMMMMMMMM - BUCK!) Or better yet, the College Park Campus! If you thought VPI Blacksburg rocked, try the University of Maryland at College Park. If they had a stage there, I could feed live audio over the Internet. Later, Lance and I could party at the Voo.
Well I hope Lance finds an AMERICAN team ( hummmm... UPS? VISA? ), the Tour comes back to Maryland, and Medalist has a smooth transition towards new sponsorship.