Early season injury listFrank Vandenbroucke didn't start in Six Days of Milano on Feb 7. During a stage with Mapei-GB in Toscane/Italy he was injured with sprain in the left thigh. Last Monday he went to Munich; there they will look after him till Saturday.The Italian road rider Gianluca Bortolami will miss at least a month after hurting his left shoulder. He hurt his left shoulder while out training for the new road season with his team, Festina who were training near the French town of Gruissan. Bortolami came into contact with a pedestrian crossing the road. The 28-year old rider, who this year came from Mapei, shall miss the first of the spring classics. TVM splits team for beginning of seasonCees Priem has split his team for the beginning of this season. Eight riders will prepare for the classics in the south of France; the other 21 will be going to Spain.Johan Capiot, Tristan Hoffman, Steven de Jongh, Servais Knaven, Lars Michaelsen, Stephane Petilleau, Hendrik Redant and Laurent Roux will start in La Marseillaise (4 February), L'Etoile de Besseges (5-9 February), the Tour of the Meditteranean (12-16 February), the Trophy Laigueglia (18 February), the Tour of Haut-Var (22 February) and the Haribo Classic (23 February). Michael Andersson, Davy Dubbeldam, Maarten den Bakker, Jeroen Blijlevens, Hendrik van Dyck, Bo Hamburger, Sergei Ivanov, Steffen Kjaergaard, Louis de Koning, Peter van Petegem, Jesper Skibby, Niels van der Steen and Bart Voskamp will start in the Tour of Mallorca (9-13 February). Eight of this group will start in de Ruta del Sol (16-20 February), the Trophy Luis Puig (23 February) and the Tour of Valencia (25 February-1 March). Principal Transfers for 1997(Name, country, world ranking, former team): Banesto Arrival: Abraham Olano (Spa, No.6) from Mapei Armand de las Cuevas (Fra, 705): from Casino Departure: Miguel Indurain retired Cofidis (first season) Arrivals: Tony Rominger (Swi, 8) from Mapei Lance Armstrong (USA, 9) from Motorola Maurizio Fondriest (Ita, 50) from Roslotto Francaise des Jeux (first season) Arrivals: Davide Rebellin (Ita, 12) from MG-Technogym Mauro Gianetti (Swi, 18) from Polti Andrea Peron (Ita, 39) from Motorola Maximilian Sciandri (Gbr, 62) from Motorola Stephane Heulot (Fra, 45) from GAN Mapei Arrivals: Pavel Tonkov (Rus, 24) from Panaria Gianni Faresin (Ita, 28) from Panaria Stefano Zanini (Ita, 30) from Gewiss (subject to governing body UCI's decison) Gianni Bugno (Ita, 59) from MG-Technogym Departures: Abraham Olano (Spa, No.6) to Banesto Tony Rominger (Swi, 8) to Cofidis Gianluca Bortolami (Ita, 128) to Festina Mercatone Uno Arrivals: Beat Zberg (Swi, 42) from Carrera Marco Pantani (Ita, unranked) from Carrera Ivan Gotti (Ita, 131) from Gewiss Casino Arrivals: Pascal Richard (Swi, 33) from MG-Technogym Alberto Elli (Ita, 34) from MG-Technogym Asics Arrivals: Enrico Zaina (Ita, 54) from Carrera Claudio Chiappucci (Ita, 72) from Carrera US Postal (first season) Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus, 26) from Rabobank Telekom Arrival: Giovanni Lombardi (Ita, 32) from Polti Polti Arrival: Axel Merckx (Bel, 58) from Motorola Departure: Giovanni Lombardi (Ita, 32) to Telekom Rabobank Arrival: Peter Luttenberger (Aut, 61) from Carrera Patrick Jonker (Aus, 73) from ONCE Departure: Viacheslav Ekimov (Rus, 26) to US Postal Festina Arrival: Gianluca Bortolami (Ita, 128) from Mapei Neil Stephens (Aus, 84) from ONCE Major Races in 1997March 22: Milan-San Remo (World Cup) April 6: Tour of Flanders (World Cup) 13: Paris-Roubaix (World Cup) 20: Liege-Bastogne-Liege (World Cup) 26: Amstel Gold Race (World Cup) May 17: Tour of Italy (ends June 8) June 29: National championships July 5: Tour de France (ends July 27) August 9: San Sebastian Classic (World Cup) 17: Leeds International Classic (World Cup) 24: Swiss Grand Prix (World Cup) September 6: Tour of Spain (ends Sept 28) October 5: Paris-Tours (World Cup) 9: World championship time-trial (San Sebastian) 12: World championship road-race (San Sebastian) 18: Tour of Lombardy (World Cup) |