Tour de France News for June 1, 2004
Edited by Chris Henry
The Giro wants Lance
Perhaps finding encouragement in the fact that defending Tour de France
champion Lance
Armstrong took a trip to Italy to test himself on the dreaded Mortirolo
climb, incoming Giro d'Italia organiser Angelo Zomegnan issued an open
call for the American to race the Giro next season.
"I think a champion like him can't consider retiring without having raced
the Giro d'Italia," said Zomegnan, who has been tipped to take over the
direction of the race when current Giro boss Carmine Castellano retires.
"Next year there will also be a sentimental reason to have Armstrong
at the Giro," he added. "We'll be commemorating the 10th anniversary of
the death of Fabio Casartelli. The Giro is waiting for Armstrong."
The return of Der Kaiser?
Getting serious
Photo ©: AFP
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After a confidence-boosting fifth place in this weekend's TEAG Rund um
die Hainleite, Jan Ullrich marked another return to form with a second
place in the opening time trial of the Tour
of Germany on Monday. Ullrich has spent the past five weeks training
out of competition, evidently to good effect. Dogged by his usual weight
problems this spring, the T-Mobile star believes his body is responding
well.
"My form is getting better," he said after the stage. "The bad weight
is gone, the good weight has stayed."
Ullrich also promised that he will be looking for stage wins on other
occasions besides the time trial, and is eager to test himself in the
climbs to come. Answering his critics who focused on his seemingly poor
form in the early season, Ullrich said simply that he doesn't need to
win the Tour of Mallorca if he wants to win the Tour de France.
"This went better than I expected," he said of the opening day of racing.
"I'm on the right track."
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(All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2004)
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