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2002 Road World Championships - CM
Hasselt-Zolder, Belgium, October 8-13, 2002
World Championships news for October 15, 2002
Edited by Jeff Jones
Cipollini happy for his dad
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Mario Cipollini achieved the ultimate dream of a sprinter in Zolder yesterday, winning the Professional World Road Championship in the fastest World's race of all time. Cipollini, regarded as the best sprinter of his generation, was clearly too strong for the opposition who spent their energies battling for his wheel in the last 2 km. It was undeniably a victory for him and the Italian azzurri, who had ridden all day with one goal in mind - to win the rainbow jersey for Italy for the first time in 10 years.
In his post race comments, Cipollini paid tribute to his father: "My sick father Vivaldo will be so happy. To see his son in this jersey was his ultimate wish, more his than mine even. I am glad I have been able to make it come true for him."
As the race progressed, Cipollini could see the rainbow jersey getting closer and closer, with that pot of gold at the end. "I didn't have any fear, doubts I did have though," he said. "I asked myself several times what would happen if my legs would be empty with 200 metres to go. I was in a luxurious situation but at the same time the weight of the Italian nation was on my shoulders...100 metres before the line I had a very strange feeling. I didn't know if I was going to put my hands up in the air. The public was going mad, yelled out my name. It was reality after all I told myself."
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He thanked the entire team along with Italian selector Franco Ballerini. "He welded this unity. Franco selected people he knew would be loyal. After La Primavera a lot of riders looked at me differently," said Cipollini.
Cipollini has had an amazing year it's true, with victories in Milan-San Remo, Gent-Wevelgem, six stages of the Giro d'Italia and three in the Vuelta. But there was a time where he had doubts about continuing, announcing to the world in July that he would retire immediately, due to dissatisfaction at not being invited to the Tour de France, as well as other issues with his Acqua & Sapone team.
At the time, Italian selector Franco Ballerini said to La Gazzetta dello Sport that "Only Mario can explain his motives. But I want to put a big 'if' in front of this decision. I don't believe that his character as that soft in his best season, when he needs just one win in the Giro to equal the record of Binda, and there is a World Championship to race. Without him, the national team has no point of reference for the sprint."
Those words were prophetic, and Cipollini reconsidered. "Don't talk to me about the Tour de France period," he said yesterday. "I don't regret saying what I did because I was so very disappointed. There were a lot of things that needed change; but I caught myself looking at my bike first when I entered the garage, and only then had eyes for my Ferrari. I have told my wife Sabrina on the phone just then that I will die the day I leave this sport. This is my life, I didn't even tell my poor dad at that time that I had stopped."
He never stopped training though, and came back as strong as ever in the Vuelta, where he won three stages in impressive style, beating Zabel, Freire, Petacchi with seeming ease. His training program is simple he says. "This is the real secret behind Cipollini. Three days of training, one day of rest. Always the same scenario: first one hour behind the car, then two hours in the Tuscan hills then another hour behind the car, and to close things off another hour behind the motorbike. Every time I did ten sprints during which I would come up from behind the motorbike."
Clearly an effective and elegant method, helped by the fact that he has incredible power at his disposal in his long, tree-like legs. The result: He could come off the blue lead out train in Zolder at 65 km/h and hold the best sprinters in the world at bay for the final 200 metres of the World Championships.
"This World Title means everything to me. I have a billiard table room at home, where all my jerseys hang on the wall. Every time I played a game I was brooding on the fact that only one jersey was missing: the most beautiful one. That one is mine now. I hope that with this title I will be able to lift the sport of cycling out of the mire in my own country. Teams are disappearing, riders are without jobs, like the phenomenal Scinto."
Cipo finished by saying that he would continue as a racer "...for a few more years. I have put new goals in front of me. I want to win Milan-San Remo while wearing this jersey and I aim to break Alfredo Binda's record. I am only one stage win away from doing so (he has 40 wins). Only then I will be part of the very select group of campionissimi, the great champions. At this moment I don't regard myself one of them."
Ballerini comments
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The architect of the Italian victory, Franco Ballerini, spoke to RAI Radio on Monday morning about the success of the team which launched Mario Cipollini to his first World Championship. "We had the most important riders from the beginning, riders who rode the sprint for Mario and he won it. The races in the minor categories showed us that it was difficult to get away in a break. We stayed calm when there were two riders in front for 100 km. At the finish, we had a rider in the most important position and two exultant ones behind him."
Asked about the relationship between Cipollini and the rest of the team, Ballerini replied "They wanted a sprinter and there was no alternative. They were great and understood what I asked, that they ride in his service. 10 years of abstinence for a team that is so strong in the World Cup is a long time."
"I repeat what I've always said. There were many men who chose to be united, they put into action the right plan and they completed a masterpiece."
When asked about Bartoli's comments about being left out of the team, Ballerini responded, "I have always been clear with the selections. I tried to make a film of the race and I don't say it happened, but...I understood that we had a team of great workers, and it was demonstrated that the selection was correct."
"I believe that Sunday goes beyond a sporting message. I hope that everyone can see that it's good for cycling, that yesterday a page was turned and now it is entering a happier period."
Belgians unsatisfied
Unsurprisingly the Belgian camp was dissatisfied with the outcome of the World Championships, with no rider being able to finish in the top 10 of any of the races. A far cry from a medal and not the result expected from the nation that is ranked fourth in the world in the UCI rankings.
Belgian federation chairman Laurent De Backer commented to Radio 1 about the possible reasons for the lack of results. "Bad selections, riders who weren't in form?" he queried. Next week, the federation will sit down and analyse where they went wrong.
National coach José De Cauwer reacted to De Backer's criticism, telling TV1 that "He didn't intend it that way. I am totally convinced that the chairman had complete faith in the national coaches. Of course we will evaluate this World Championship, but there is no reason to panic. We must realise that our country has no sprinters besides Tom Steels."
"It may sound strange, but the future has never looked so good. With young guys like Meersman and Roelandts we should not give up hope," added De Cauwer.
The riders themselves were more resigned, as best Belgian finisher Peter Van Petegem (18th) commented "It's like I haven't even raced. It went very fast but it wasn't hard at all."
"As a team we have tried everything but it was impossible to get away from the peloton. I felt very good and tried to shake the tree once but without results. We had agreed that I would try it again in the last laps but the tempo was way too high for that."
"I still think that the parcours was a nice one. It was perfect for the sprinters and that's ok for once too you know. But for the Belgian squad it definitely would have been better if there were a few cobblestones and hills in it."
"Cipollini is a great World Champion. The Italians found this parcours one they could control the race on. It is their merit that they did just that."
His words were echoed by Johan Museeuw, who was caught up in the crash three kilometres before the finish. "I've hurt my knee. And the bike that landed in my lower back didn't do much good either. But I can't say that this was a frustrating race, no. Cipollini was the top favourite for this race and he filled in the expectations. There is nothing to be said which could degrade his performance."
"I started feeling really good. I jumped a few times when a break went, but it wasn't meant to be. Even not when I attacked with Bettini in my wheel. It was very clear it would be very hard. I think we just had to give in to the Italian supremacy."
Boogerd comments
In his column in De Telegraaf, Dutchman Michael Boogerd commented about his World's. "The celebration in the Italian team after the finish was beautiful to see," he wrote. "Because I was in the massive fall, I rode easily to the finish. Four Italians from other teams than Acqua e Sapone rode by me with their ear radios. The explosion was enormous when they heard that Cipollini had won. I didn't know that. That is a wholly different mentality. A wholly different sporting experience. I didn't even see that happiness among my teammates when I won my stage on La Plagne."
"For me, the parcours was a bit too light. I had hoped that maybe it would be bad weather so it would be harder. A couple of times I attacked, but I didn't get any room. But I am fine with Cipollini's World Title. He is without doubt a worthy champion."
Organisers happy with numbers
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The organisers of the World Championships were happy with the attendance at this year's event, which saw 84,000 fans line the roads on the final day. Enough of those were paying ticket holders, ensuring that the break even point was reached by the organisers. In total, 172,000 spectators attended the World's for its entire six day duration, exceeding pre-race expectations of 150,000.
Circuit Zolder's next goal is to host a stage of the Tour de France, as well as the Belgian Road Championships and the World Cyclo-Cross Championships again. In 2003 the Grote Landenprijs motocross will be held around the Zolder circuit.
