Latest News for June 10, 2004

Edited by Jeff Jones

Rasmussen satisfied

Danish rider Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) described himself as very satisfied after the first few stages of the Dauphiné Libéré, where he is now lying in 11th overall after Stage 3. On the final climb of Stage 2, Rasmussen was in a good position to bridge up to eventual winner Jose Enrique Gutierrez (Phonak).

"We were five riders in the attack, but two of them did not want to work," he said on his website, www.feltet.dk/michaelrasmussen. "There was a Euskaltel rider who was defending Mayo's yellow jersey and Pereiro who had Gutierrez ahead, so the attack was caught again. But it was okay, there was only about 25 riders back in the first group and I was feeling really good."

Rasmussen is coping with the heat, which has affected some of his competitors such as Tyler Hamilton, who suffered in Stage 2. But Rasmussen didn't want to read too much into that. "You have to take it with a pinch of salt, because it is not everybody who has big ambitions regarding the general classification," he said. "For example Basso suddenly almost stopped riding. People have different theories regarding what is the best preparation for the Tour."

Rasmussen's teammate Erik Dekker is now in the mountains jersey, having taken it in stage 2. "We were sitting late the day before yesterday and joking about he was in second position in the mountains classification, and that he had to do something about it, and he said 'Tomorrow I will take the mountains jersey'. So when he attacked after only four kilometres I was having the laugh of my life. He was out there the whole day, just to get the 'damn' 15 points. But now he has the mountains jersey and that is of course very nice."

Ullrich sets sights on Tour de Suisse

Fresh off his 7th place overall in the Tour of Germany, Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) is looking at the upcoming Tour de Suisse (June 12-20) to put the finishing touches on his Tour de France preparation. Ullrich's three-step plan is simple: "To be good in the Tour of Germany, better in the Tour de Suisse and in top form in the Tour de France."

The 30 year old finished second in the time trial stage of the Tour of Germany, but lost some time in both of the important mountain stages when the attacks started happening. Thus in the upcoming Tour de Suisse, Ullrich is looking at improving in these areas. "In the final time trial over 25.6 kilometres in Lugano, he wants to go for the victory, if all is well," said Ullrich's mentor Rudy Pevenage to DPA.

Ullrich's other concern will be the high mountains, where he will play a role for his teammate Alexandre Vinokourov. "Above all, Jan can play a valuable role for me in the mountains," said Vinokourov, who is the defending champion in the Tour de Suisse.

T-Mobile's Tour de France squad will be announced on June 25, just before the German Championships. At the moment it consists of 12 riders: Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov, Erik Zabel, Andreas Klöden, Cadel Evans, Rolf Aldag and Matthias Kessler are certainties, while Santiago Botero, Giuseppe Guerini, Daniele Nardello and Tobias Steinhauser are strong chances for Tour spots.

Phonak's Tour team takes shape

With just over three weeks before the Tour de France kicks off in Liege, the makeup of the various Tour teams are starting to solidify. This year marks Swiss team Phonak Hearing Systems' first start in the Tour, and a strong team is being built around Tyler Hamilton, who finished fourth in last year's race.

Although the final lineup will only be announced at the last minute, team manager Urs Freuler is looking forward to having Hamilton in the squad. "Tyler Hamilton, last year's sensational fourth place finisher in the Tour, blows everyone away with his very positive attitude," said Freuler. "He's right on track. His personal and our own planning is correct. That gives everyone a lot of satisfaction, which is important."

This year Hamilton won the Tour de Romandie for the second successive time, and certainly has ambitions to win the Tour. But Freuler remains realistic. "Just a repeat of the overall fourth place finish of last year would be a strong performance. Anything else is super or even phenomenal. Hamilton is a natural fighter par excellence. He will inspire his teammates. That's an additional chance for us."

The rest of the Phonak team will probably consist of Oscar Sevilla, José Enrique Gutierrez, Santos Gonzalez, Oscar Pereiro, Santiago Perez, Cyril Dessel, Nicolas Jalabert and Martin Elmiger. "Elmiger and Perez are new figureheads in terms of the dominant riders in cycling. The rest are well tried competitors," said Freuler.

Phonak will also be taking two directeurs sportifs to the Tour, Alvaro Pino and Jacques Michaud, along with four mechanics, five massage therapists, a cook and one or two doctors.

Olympic opening for Dekker the younger?

After winning the Dutch elite men's time trial championship yesterday, 19 year old sensation Thomas Dekker may have given himself a shot at a spot in the Olympic team. The Rabobank TTIII rider beat his teammate Joost Posthuma by 1'14 and Bart Voskamp (Chocolade Jacques) by 1'35, with Dutch-Aussie rider Russell Van Hout (Colombia-Selle Italia) finishing fourth. Dekker had caught Van Hout by the halfway point, who then re-passed him before Dekker wound it up and overtook Van Hout for good.

"I just took a drink of water and waited for the moment that we came out of the forest," Dekker told ANP. "When we had to fight against the wind, I put it up two gears and shot past him. Ach, it went quite well. When I was riding behind Van Hout, I had to think what I could do in the Giro d'Italia [TT]. If he was eighth..."

National coach Gerrie Knetemann was impressed by Dekker's ride, noting that he had made a strong impression for an Olympic spot. But Dekker hasn't heard anything about Athens yet, and has a different plan ahead of him. "If I can indeed go to Athens, then I should know quickly," he said. "Because now it's not at all in my program. That is namely aimed at the World Championships later this year. For I could become World Champion, that I know."

Petacchi to test Athens course

Italian super sprinter Alessandro Petacchi will travel to Athens in nine days time to ride the Olympic road course together with national team selector Franco Ballerini. The reconnaissance will take place on June 19-20, and Ballerini was quoted by ANSA as saying, "Riding with PEtacchi on the circuit doesn't mean that he is in the team. It's extremely objective in order to give me some important indications."

Ballerini did not want to say too much about Mario Cipollini's chances of being selected for the Olympics. "I hope that he rediscovers his condition in the Tour, then we will see."

Alessio-Bianchi for Tour de Suisse

The Alessio-Bianchi team for the upcoming Tour de Suisse will consist of eight riders, with the experienced Fabio Baldato being joined by Pietro Caucchioli, Raffaele Ferrara, Martin Hvastija, René Jørgensen, Claus Michael Møller, Scott Sunderland and Ruslan Ivanov.

Little racing for Vandenbroucke

Frank Vandenbroucke (Fassa Bortolo) has once again gone into hibernation after the spring season. Not selected for the Volta a Catalunya, VDB will probably only race one day in June. "Frank will only rider the national championships," said Fassa's team manager Giancarlo Ferretti. "When he has the will to ride, I'll select him. I'm still waiting for a positive sign."

The full Fassa Bortolo squad for the Volta a Catalunya is: Mauro Facci, Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni, Aitor Gonzalez Jimenez, Roberto Petito, Filippo Pozzato, Fabio Sacchi, Julian Sanchez Pimienta.

Illes Balears-Banesto for Volta a Catalunya

The Illes Balears-Banesto squad has been announced for the Volta a Catalunya, which runs between June 14-20: José Luis Arrieta, Isaac Gálvez, Vladimir Karpets, Aitor Osa, Steffen Radochla, Vicente Reynés, Toni Tauler and Pablo Lastras.

ACT-UPMC to Korea

America's Cycling Team-UPMC will take part in the Tour of Korea (UCI 2.5), to be contested June 12-18 in South Korea. The team will arrive in Seoul on June 10 with the following riders: Alejandro Acton (Argentina), Gerardo Castro (Uruguay), Eneas Freyre (USA), Ryan Mele (USA), Joe Papp (USA) and Alvaro Tardaguila (Uruguay).

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