The 1997 winner said: "I am very depressed but I just cannot race the Tour." The German abandoned during the first stage of the Tour de Suisse. The doctors in Freiburg have diagnosed a cartilege injuring and some tendon problems. In the absence of its GC rider, Telekom will now have to be content to take stage finishes via sprinter Erik Zabel. Telekom has been taking some knocks lately. Ullrich injured. Bjarne Riis, Rolf Aldag and Jens Heppner all injured and out of the Tour. And the German press baying at their door with substantial drug allegations.
The Doctor from the University of Heidelberg said: "I have seen the documents. The entries are coded but it is easy to decipher them. There are details concerning the doses and the names of the riders."
1996: Jose-Antonio Espinosa (Spa) after falling in the team time trial in the Criterium Fuenlabrada (also involved the current manager of the team Fuenlabrada).
1997: Armin Hegglin (Swi), 17 years, died after falling against a tree during a stage in Tour of the Jura.
1998: Bjorn Stevensen (Nor) fell in a race in Trondheim. Vad Volar (Rus) died after crashing into a truck during training in Belgium.
1999: Luis Costillo (CRi) died after a crash with a car during training for the World Cup MTB round in the Napa Valley, USA. Manuel Sanroma died after a fall in the final km of stage 2 of Tour of Catalonia.
1. Geoffrey Stevenson (Shepparton) off 23 mins 3.22.26 2. Stephen Henery (Echuca-Moama) off 23 mins 3. Edward Harman (Geelong West) off 23 mins 4. Philip Tehan (Footscray) off 23 mins 5. Darren Campbell (Footscray) off 23 mins 6. Karen Barrow (Footscray) off 23 mins 7. Anthony Murrell (Footscray) off 27 mins 8. Robert Brazell (Ballarat-Sebastapol) off 27 mins 9. Katie Mactier (Carnegie-Caulfield) off 27 mins 10. Luke Stratford (Coburg) off 23 mins Fastest Time: Matthew Tuck Scr (Carnegie-Caulfield) 3.05.22
Manchester Velodrome was buzzing with excitement last Saturday during the National Bike Week track meet after the able-bodied world hand-cranked bike hour record was demolished by disabled athlete Kevin Doran. Fans also witnessed two British tandem sprint records being smashed by the National Tandem Sprint Champions, GB Juniors riding the fastest time ever for this age group in the UK and Scotland winning the Team Challenge.
As GB rider David Heaven put it, "this was the best track race meeting I've ever been to. Better even than ones I've ridden around Europe. The atmosphere was fantastic and that's why we managed to record the best 4km team trial ever for GB Juniors and qualified for the world Championships in Athens".
After the supporting races of the afternoon, Kevin Doran, the British hand-cranked bike record holder incredibly put 2 km on the world record despite falling off on the first bend. "My first thought was that I'd blown it" Kevin told our reporter. "Andrea, my coach was telling me I could start again but I wanted to keep going - I was livid". The crowd roared Kevin on. He eventually achieved 33.105 km in the hour - a 2km beating of the old world record.
Then was into the main race meeting. The crowd felt something special was in the offing - and they were not to be disappointed. The first race ran off at break-neck speed. The next was little different. Manchester's Dave Heald came out on top in the sprint race. Nicole Cooke, the GB junior rider made her mark on the women's racing by attacking and attacking then winning.
Then it was the turn of the big, powerful tandem sprinters, Andy Slater and Mark Whittaker. And did they turn it on! The one kilometre record was beaten by 2 secs. And not content with this, they smashed the 500m record too taking a full 3 secs off the old time - 34.33 secs. This was an incredible spectacle seeing the tandem screaming round the last lap at 45mph !
The Team Challenge went right up to the last event where 3 teams [GB Juniors, Nottingham and Scotland] were on the same points. This last event was the Madison - a spectacular form of relay race. "It was the fastest I've ever ridden" said GB rider David Heaven. But Scotland came out on top at the end. The finale to this fantastic evening of speed was over. It will be a night to remember.
Halifax man is fastest in the world
The World hand-cranked bike hour Record was shattered by disabled rider Kevin Doran at the National Bike Week Track Meet at the Manchester Velodrome on June 19th.
In front of a huge and enthusiastic crowd, Kevin survived a first lap spill to fly round at well over 20mph. At times Kevin even topped 21mph in his need to make up for lost time. The record was eventually broken by just a tad under 2km and now stands at 33.10561 km. This makes Kevin the fastest rider -abled or disabled- on a hand-cranked bike over the hour, anywhere in the world.
"I felt so strong, I knew I was going to break by a lot" Kevin told our reporter. "The fall made me mad and I flew round to make up time."
Riding a special bike designed and built by Jonathan Woolrich, Kevin had planned to ride to a schedule set out by his trainer Andrea Ingram.
"Unfortunately, the crash threw the schedule off course somewhat," Andrea said "I kept having to review what schedule Kevin was riding to. And then I thought I'd made a mistake with the schedule when Kevin kept signalling to me he was finding it easy - yet he was flying round much faster than was planned. Anyway, it was an incredible ride. Kevin is such a star, easy to work with and a great role model to cyclists everywhere - able-bodied and disabled."
Two British Tandem sprint Records set at National Bike week track meet
National Tandem Sprint Champions Andy Slater and Mark Whittaker dazzled a huge crowd at the Manchester Velodrome with two fantastic British record breaking rides. First record to fall to the incredibly powerful pair was the standing start 1km. Leaping out of the start, the tandem straining under the pressure exerted on the pedals, Andy and Mark screamed round the super-fast boards of the Velodrome to the roar of the fans in the stands to record a time of 1m 7.33 secs - a 2 second beating of the old record.
Next under the gun was the 500m standing start record. "we wanted this one dearly," Andy told our reporter. "It was going to require something special since it was already very fast". They recorded 34.33secs. This astonishing display of power and pure speed made this a three second beating of the record.
"It's a real adrenaline rush flying round on the back of a tandem at that speed, but Andy has great control of the tandem so I can just concentrate on getting the power down" said Mark who rode on the back.
World Hour record hand-cranked bike: Kevin Doran - 33.10561 kms British Tandem Sprint Records Andy Slater and Mark Whittaker 1 km 1.07.33 secs. 500m 34.33 secs. 30 lap scratch 1. James Taylor (Sco) 2. Phil West (Eng) 3. Mark Kelly (GB Juniors) Women's points 1. Nicole Cooke (GB Juniors) 2. Alison Ede (Eng) 3. Wendy Everson (Wal) 30 lap scratch 1. Peter Jacques (Sco) 2. Guy Cooke (Eng) 3. Derek Smith (Sco) Aussie pursuit Heat 1: 1. Francis Newstead (Eng) Heat 2: 1. Caroline Cooke (Sco) Heat 3: 1. Denise Hampson (Eng) Unknown Distance 1. A Critchlow (Eng) 2. Ben Elliott (Eng) 1 lap dash A 1. Nicole Cooke (GB Juniors) 2. Denise Hampson (Eng) 1 lap dash B 1. Wendy Everson (Wal) 2. Caroline Cooke (Sco) Keirin A 1. Rob Darley (Eng) 2. Martin Smith (Eng) 3. Ivor Reid (Sco) Keirin B 1. Richard Kennedy (Eng) 2. Patrick Chilton (Eng) 3. 3. Keith Williams - Wales 3 in 1 out 1. Phil West (Eng) 2. Tom Wood (GB Juniors) 3. Craig Sellen (GB Juniors) Men's Sprint losers 1 lap dash 1. Richard Kennedy (Eng) 2. Rob Darley (Eng) 3. Martin Smith (Eng) Men's Sprint Final 1. David Heald (GB Juniors) 2. Patrick Chilton (Eng) 3. Marvin Wilman (Eng) Women's Devil Final 1. Wendy Everson (Wal) 2. Denise Hampson (Eng) 3. Nicole Cooke (GB Juniors) Men's Devil Final 1. James Taylor (Sco) 2. Phil West (Eng) 3. David Heaven (GB Juniors) 30 min Madison 1. Scotland 2. Pricketts Partnership 3. GB Juniors Overall Manchester Velodrome Team Challenge 1. Scotland
Newton, who has been spearheading the McCartney effort in Europe, clocked 1 hour 24 minutes 26 seconds to trounce David Millar (Cofidis) by 3 minutes 45 seconds. Third place went to Charly Wegelius (Great Britain) in 1-29-25. Conditions were anything but ideal with a fierce cross wind making it bike control extremely difficult on the exposed mountain climb and descent.
Newton, starting one minute behind, caught Millar just seven miles into the tough circuit, and although the Cofidis man hung on for the next 16 miles, he had to give best on the climb of the mountain.
All three riders are battling for places in the Great Britain team for the world ITT championship in Italy.
The event carried world ranking points for the first time. None of the foreign entries featured in the result, Germany, Holland and France all having sent teams of four.
The separate open event for club riders was won by the Isle of Man's former professional Andrew Roche (Ellan Vannin Pepsi Okells) who beat another island resident and former professional Rob Holden (Manx RC).
Roche, four times a runner-up in the event before this year's change to a two tier format, clocked 1-30-41 to beat Holden by nearly four minutes and in doing so matched the feat of his father, Brian, 30 years ago to the day.
Result: (UCI event): 1, Chris Newton (Linda McCartney) 1.24.26; 2, David Millar (Cofidis) 1.28.11; 3, Charly Weglius (GB) 1.29.25.
Open: 1, Andrew Roche (Ellan Vannin Pepsi Okells) 1.30.41; 2, Rob Holden (Manx RC) 1.34.31; 3, L. Wright (Sigma Sport) 1.34.45.
Hill climb, Douglas (600 yards): 1, Gary Admanson (Amore & Vite) 50.9 secs; 2, Gary Kristensen (Army CU) 52.6; 3, Mike Moss (Cottingham Courers) 53.4.