First Edition Cycling News for February 15, 2005

Edited by Hedwig Kröner and John Stevenson

Armstrong heads strong lineup for Paris-Nice 2005

2004 winner Jörg Jaksche
Photo ©: AFP

The 63rd edition of Paris-Nice will be held from March 6-13, kicking off the ProTour series, the UCI's new top-level racing calendar. The "race towards the sun" is an indicator of early-season form for many riders who have been testing themselves at various races in February already. This year, race organiser ASO has assembled 1232 kms of roadside from the Parisian suburb Issy-les-Moulineaux, home of ASO and French sports newspaper l'Equipe, to the final destination Nice on the Mediterranean coast, which were presented to the public in Nanterre, France on Monday.

Lance Armstrong, still enigmatic about his season's true goals, has been confirmed to make his first appearance in the European peloton this year at Paris-Nice, while two-time winner Alexandre Vinokourov will be leading the T-Mobile team on its way down south. Last year's winner Jörg Jaksche will defend the title in the colours of Liberty Seguros, while Alejandro Valverde, who won two stages at the Majorca Challenge last week, also counts as a favourite. Davide Rebellin will be team captain at Gerolsteiner, and Jens Voigt and Carlos Sastre will lead an impressively strong CSC squad at the race.

Also competing at Paris-Nice will be: Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues), Axel Merckx, Cadel Evans (Davitamon-Lotto), José Azevedo, Manuel Beltran, Vjatcheslav Ekimov, George Hincapie, Yaroslav Popovych, José Luis Rubiera, Paolo Savoldelli (Discovery), Inigo Cuesta (Saunier Duval-Prodir), Jaan Kirsipuu (Crédit Agricole), Jean-Patrick Nazon, Mark Scanlon (Ag2R), Juan Antonio Flecha, Dario Frigo, Fabian Cancellara (Fassa Bortolo), Erik Dekker, Thomas Dekker (Rabobank), Nicolas Jalabert, Victor Hugo Peña, Robert Hunter, Floyd Landis (Phonak).

The course involves a 6.6 km prologue in Issy-les-Moulineaux, followed by a flat parcours from Etampes to Chabris, where Tom Boonen (Quick.Step) could show his sprinter qualities again after winning two stages in Qatar. Stages two and three be more difficult as they take place in hilly regions, and the last three stages will be decisive for general classification, with the ascent to Mont Faron looking particularly interesting. German Jens Voigt secured his lead at the Tour Méditerranéen on this climb last week.

With the race being officially named as part of the ProTour - the first ever of its kind within the new UCI professional road cycling circuit - all 20 ProTeams will take part, and ASO has further invited the French Continental Pro team Ag2R. However, like the other races organised by ASO, Paris-Nice is not quite a full ProTour race, as the agreement between the UCI and ASO seems to be a very diplomatic one. ASO committed to inviting all 20 ProTeams to its races, but the financial and commercial aspects of the arrangement have not yet been settled.

Stages

Prologue - March 6: Issy les Moulineaux, 6.6 km ITT
Stage 1 - March 7: Etampes-Chabris, 186.5 km
Stage 2 - March 8: La Châtre-Thiers, 191 km
Stage 3 - March 9: Thiers-Le Chambon sur Lignon, 171.5 km 
Stage 4 - March 10: Le Chambon sur Lignon-Montélimar, 174 km
Stage 5 - March 11: Rognes-Toulon/Mont Faron, 176.5 km
Stage 6 - March 12: La Crau-Cannes, 184.5 km
Stage 7 - March 13: Nice-Nice, 136 km

Van Dijk ill with salmonellosis

After having to quit the Tour of Langkawi in Malysia due to illness, Dutch rider Stefan Van Dijk (MrBookmaker.com-SportsTech) underwent a series of tests which have now detected the cause. Diagnosed with the infection salmonellosis, Van Dijk is not sure how long his treatment and recuperation will take, as he is scheduled to take part in the Classic races of Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix, to which his Continental Pro team has been invited.

Boonen's near-miss

Tom Boonen has revealed that he almost rode himself out of the Ruta del Sol before it even started when he crashed into a team-mate during a training ride.

"It was a silly incident, but then that's almost always the way," Boonen told sportwereld.be. "As we stopped for a traffic light I looked over my shoulder and tapped Nick Nuyens' rear wheel."

Boonen landed heavily on his right shoulder and after the fall, "it didn't look right. I had to bang it to get everything back into place. A small dislocation, yes. At first I thought my arm was broken, but fortunately it doesn't seem to be that bad. According to the doctors there is no fracture or tear, but the pain in my muscles indicates a bad sprain. If that's all and I can finish [the Ruta del Sol] I have nothing to grumble about."

Velodrome planned for London

The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone is scheduled to unveil plans today for an Olympic-standard velodrome in London, according to a report from the Financial Times. The new facility will be built whether or not London's bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games is successful.

Representatives of the International Olympic Committee will visit London this week to assess the city's bid. The plans for a velodrome ae intended to demonstrate London's desire to host other large sporting events.

Case opens against alleged Pantani dealers

On the first anniversary of the death of Marco Pantani, the district attorney in Rimini yesterday officially accused three alleged drug dealers of supplying Pantani with the cocaine that led to his fatal overdose in February last year.

The three - Fabio Miradossa (29), Ciro Veneruso (31), and Fabio Carlino (27) - were originally named by the office of district attorney Paolo Gengarelli, making this official accusation somewhat of a formality, with court proceedings expected to begin some time mid-year.

Charges of handling drugs - but not of dealing - were also laid against Jelena Korowina, believed to have been Pantani's girlfriend at the time of his death, and Ramirez Cueva.

Al to Giant MTB

Dutch mountain biker Thijs Al will ride for the German-based Giant Racing Team in 2005, with an option to continue into 2006. Al joins compatriot Sir Bart Brentjens on the team, alongside Belgian world number one Roel Paulissen.

Ster Elektrotoer plans warm-up for ProTour team TT

Ster Elektrotoer organizer Stichting Wielerbelang Schijndel has announced the route of this year's edition which runs June 15-18. With the ProTour dominating this year's racing, organizers intend the Ster Elektrotoer to provide a warm-up for the ProTour team time trial in the Netherlands on June 19. This year's race therefore features shorter stages, but preserves the race's identity.

The 2005 Ster Elektrotoer will start in Schijndel with a short stage to Nuth, followed by an 11km individual time trial that evening. The following two days take the race though south Limburg and the Belgian Ardennes and should provide the crux of the competition, before the race rolls into Eindhoven on its final day.

Six ProTeams have already signed up for the 2005 Ster Elektrotoer, including top Dutch outfit Rabobank.

The stages

Stage 1 - June 15: Schijndel-Nuth, 121 km
Stage 2 - June 15: Nuth-Nuth ITT, 11 km 
Stage 3 - June 16: Sittard/Geelen-Valkenburg, 180 km
Stage 4 - June 17: Verviers-La Gileppe, 180 km
Stage 5 - June 18: Buchten-Eindhoven, 150 km

More team lineups for Laigueglia

The Italian team Fassa Bortolo has announced its roster for the Trofeo Laigueglia on February 15: Claudio Corioni, Mauro Facci, Juan Antonio Flecha, Dario Frigo, Kim Kirchen, Vincenzo Nibali, Fabio Sacchi and Marco Velo.

Swiss Continental team LPR will send the following riders to Laigueglia: Alessandro Maserati, Giuseppe Muraglia, Michele Maccanti, Mauro Santambrogio, Elio Aggiano, Dmitri Konyshev, Pavel Tonkov and Ivan Fanelli. The Russian rider Tonkov is reported by to be "at maximum 50-60 percent of his top form. The flu created some problems, weakening several athletes," said the team in a press release.

Also, German team Gerolsteiner will only be able to send six men only to the start in Laigueglia, Volker Ordowski and Sven Krauss not taking part due to illnesses. Therefore, Gerolsteiner will be represented by: Robert Förster, Danilo Hondo, Matthias Russ, Marco Serpellini, Frank Hoj and Sven Montgomery.

More European teams for New Zealand World Cup

Top European women's professional teams Nobili Rubinetterie-Minikeni Cogeas and Van Bemmelen - AA Drink have confirmed their participation in the Trust House Women's Tour (March 2 - 4) and the second round of the women's World Cup, Wellington, Sunday March 6.

Leading the charge in Nobili Rubinetterie are Russian sprinter Olga Slyusareva and Lithuanian Modesta Vzesnihuskaite, both national road champions in their respective countries. Italian riders Sigrid Corneo, Daniela Fusar Poci and Silvia Valsecchi are also part of an Italian team.

Nobili Rubinetterie also has a Kiwi connection in New Zealand number one Joanne Kiesanowski, who is looking forward to the rare chance to ride a top-level race in New Zealand. "I'm really excited about it, it's great to be able to ride an international event at home." she said.

Based in the Netherlands, Van Bemmelen - AA Drink will bring a multi-naitonal team of two Germans, three Australians and a rider from the Netherlands to the New Zealand races. Reigning Olympic champion, Australian Sara Carrigan will lead the team. Carrigan is twice Australian road time trial champion (2002 and 2003) and in 2003 won the opening round of the Women's World Cup in Geelong.

Carrigan will be supported by the Bates sisters Kate and Natalie. Kate Bates mixes road and track racing and recently won three gold medals at the Manchester track World Cup, and is excited about racing with her sister.

"It will be awesome to race with Nat," said Kate bates. "She is so good to have around in more ways than one. She is my best friend, my training partner and my psychiatrist. She really flogs me in training. She really has a lot of talent and I think being in a pro team will be perfect for her."

Suzanne De Goede from the Netherlands, Angela Brodika and Theresa Senff from Germany round out the team.

Jittery Joe's heads to South Africa

The Jittery Joe’s-Kalahari Pro Cycling Team will travel to Cape Town, South Africa for the UCI 2.2 Giro del Capo on March 8-13. The Bean Team’s first race will be a difficult five day race with six stages touring the wine country of South Africa.

"With our new co-sponsor Kalahari, this race was a perfect match for our team and a great start to the year," said Micah Rice, general manager of the team. "This race will give us some early season fitness and a great run-in to the Redlands Classic and the Dodge Tour de Georgia."

The Jittery Joe’s-Kalahari Team will have their training camp from February 23-March 4 in Athens, Georgia and will leave for South Africa on March 5. The team for the Giro del Capo will be Tim Johnson, Jonny Sundt, Evan Elken, Thad Dulin and Bruno Langlois.

IMBA rallies against California trail threat

US mountain bike access organization IMBA is urging mountain bikers to lobby their senators to delay action on a bill that would ban mountain biking from 170 miles of singletrack trails in Northern California.

Senate Bill 128 (S. 128), the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, sponsored by U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), would designate more than 300,000 acres as federal Wilderness, closing it to mountain bike riders because US law interprets a long-standing ban on "mechanized" vehicles in wilderness to include bicycles.

IMBA believes there are other ways of preserving the natural values of the area and that these should be used to in a quarter of the area covered by this bill to accommodate existing bicycle use.

For more information see www.imba.com.

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