Latest Cycling News for March 24, 2005

Edited by Hedwig Kröner

Armstrong back in Brabantse Pijl

Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel)
Photo ©: AFP

Lance Armstrong has been confirmed to start in the 45th Brabantse Pijl this Sunday, March 27. After having to abandon Paris-Nice due to illness earlier this month, Armstrong was doubtful over his next competition, Discovery Channel's team management first rescheduling him for Paris-Camembert next Tuesday, March 29.

"He called me this afternoon and said he feels great in training and is hungry to race," said directeur sportif Bruyneel. "He wants to race. That's definitely a good sign. The sensations he's had during training have been pretty good and I think he's back to where he's in similar condition at this point of the season as in past years."

The six-time Tour de France winner will use both competitions to prepare for Tour of Flanders (April 3) and Tour de Georgia (April 19-24). "The Brabantse Pijl is an ideal opportunity to further increase his level of fitness," added Bruyneel.

Hincapie recovering

Discovery Channel's George Hincapie, who wasn't able to take the start of Milano-Sanremo last weekend because of a virus, is recovering from his illness at his home in Spain. Hincapie has taken up soft training again, but said that he's still not feeling a 100 percent.

"I have a little more power today, but nowhere where I need to be," he said. "Hopefully I'll continue to recover and would like to race on Saturday (Belgium's GP E3 Harelbeke). That would be the ideal situation - race Saturday, do (Three Days of) de Panne next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and be ready for Flanders (Saturday, April 3). I need to get better. Today I'm not in any condition to race, but things can change quickly."

Last weekend, things did change quickly for the team's Classics leader, as he felt his illness coming along on the bus to Milan."I started to feel a bit strange," Hincapie said. "I woke up Friday night around midnight and went to see our doctor. I didn't have a temperature but still felt bad. I took some aspirin and went back to bed and we decided to see how I felt in the morning. I felt about the same but didn't have any energy. And a race like Milan - San Remo, you simply can't compete in that kind of condition."

Basso testing legs on Dolomiti climbs

By Tim Maloney, European Editor

With six weeks to go before the Giro d'Italia, Ivan Basso of Team CSC has been doing recon on some of the key Giro climbs this week. Basso is taking a page from Lance Armstrong's playbook, as he's already checked out the Firenze time trial course during CSC's Tuscany training camp in January and the steep ascent of Sammomme' near Pistoia after Tirreno-Adriatico. Although there is still considerable snow in the mountains of Alto Adige, Basso hit the road earlier this week to look at the climbs of the Giro stages 11 and 13.

With Bjarne Riis in the CSC team car behind, the young Italian put in a couple of long days in the mountains, telling La Gazzetta dello Sport's Gigi Perna afterwards, "We started in Canazei and climbed the Passo Sella and Passo delle Erbe, which has some steep sections in the middle and is quite hard. When we descended back down in the valley, the next climbs were impassable, so I managed to do another 70 km on my time trial bike." On the course check of stage 11, Basso will ride the last 70 km of the stage, including two ascents of the steep 10 km ascent of Passo Duran. Basso continued his thoughts, saying "this trip will help me see the critical points of the key mountain stages."

Next week, Basso's Giro homework continues in western Italy, where he will check out the Giro's final time trial on stage 18 from Chieri to Torino over the Superga climb and the next day's stage 19 to Sestrieres, that includes the potentially Giro deciding climb of Colle delle Finestre (18.5km, average gradient 9.2 percent with last 7.2 km on gravel).

McEwen down with chronic sinusitis

After undergoing blood testing, Davitamon-Lotto's Robbie McEwen has been told that the illness he is suffering from is chronic sinusitis, not a viral infection. The treatment of his condition involves a ten-day cure with antibiotics and a possible irrigation of the sinuses. The Australian sprinter could be back to competition by April 13 for the Scheldeprijs Vlaanderen in Belgium.

ProTour TTT wildcards

The wildcards for the ProTour team time trial competition in Eindhoven, on June 19, 2005, have been given to Shimano, Team Wiesenhof and Mr.Bookmaker.com, Belgian newspaper De Telegraaf reports. The remaining two wildcards will most probably go Chocolade Jacques en Landbouwkrediet-Colnago.

Upcoming Belgian races for Phonak

Phonak Hearing Systems has announced its rider rosters for the next Belgian spring races. At the Three days of de Panne on March 29, Aurélien Clerc, Martin Elmiger, Bert Grabsch, Fabrizio Guidi, Robert Hunter, Uros Murn, Gregory Rast and Sascha Urweider will represent the Swiss team directed by John Lelangue. At the following Classic Ronde van Vlaanderen on April 3, as well as at Gent-Wevelgem on April 6, the team will be composed of the same riders save for Urweider, who will be replaced by Ignacio Gutierrez.

Wallonia in bid for Giro start 2006

The Belgian region of Wallonia, the French-speaking community in the country's South, has applied as a candidate to host the start of the 2006 Giro d'Italia. "After the start of the Tour de France last year in Liège, Wallonia has decided to bring forward its candidacy for the start of the Giro in May 2006," the prime minister of the region, Jean-Claude Van Cauwenberghe said on Wednesday. If the Belgian bid is successful, the Giro d'Italia would pass through the cities of Seraing, Mons, Charleroi, Perwez, Namur and Wanze from May 5-9, before entering Germany.

The project, which has gathered a budget of 1.25 million Euros, is rivaling with a bid from Switzerland. The Dutch city of Amsterdam has already proposed to Giro organisers to host the start of the Italian stage race in 2007.

New Bean Team in town

Italy's Universal Caffe' is born

By Tim Maloney, European Editor

For years, Italian race promoter Antonio Iacovazzi had been thinking about creating a pro cycling team. He had observed many teams at his race, the Criterium d'Abruzzo and when the opportunity arose early this year, Iacovazzi seized it and put together the new Continental Pro team Universal Caffe', a Pescara, Italy based coffee producer.

"I'm happy to finally be able to put this team together; so now, we want to do something different with the Universal Caffe' team", Iacovazzi told Cyclingnews from his office in Spoltore, Italy, the hometown of top pro Danilo Di Luca. Currently 12 riders strong with Sicilian Giuseppe Di Grande as leader and Giuseppe Lanzoni as direttore sportivo, Universal Caffe' has host of other good riders like Belohvosciks, Pugaci, Duma and Swedish comebacker Niklaas Axelsson. The modest Universal Caffe' formation may also add former Tour of Langkawi winner Gabriele Missaglia to the roster. Iacovazzi's new squad will ride Bianchi bicycles and debuts next month at the Giro d'Oro and Giro del Trentino in Italy.

Julich at PRO showing

Julich smiling
Photo ©: CN

The organisers of the 13th annual Tour de Nez have announced the one-time showing of PRO, a feature cycling documentary, and reception for 2005 Paris-Nice Champion and local resident, Bobby Julich, at the Reno Hilton Keystone Theater on April 28 at 6 pm. Shot at the 2004 US Professional Road Cycling Championships in Philadelphia, PRO features Julich, among other pro cyclists, and offers a bird's eye view of the racing world. At the reception, fans will have the opportunity to meet Olympic Bronze medalist Julich and hear a brief presentation on his recent win at Paris-Nice.

For more information on PRO or the Tour de Nez, visit www.tourdenez.com

Teams for Redlands Classic

The 2005 PoolGel© Redlands Bicycle Classic has announced the teams participating in the 21st annual race, scheduled form March 31 to April 3, 2005. All teams registered as of March 20 are:

Men's Teams:
Advantage Benefits Endeavour Cycling Team, Aerospace Engineering Pro Equipe, California Giant-Village Peddlar, Canadian National Team, Colavita Olive Oil/Sutter Home Pro Cycling Team, Health Net presented by Maxxis, Healthy Choice/Globle Knee Clinic, Jittery Joe’s-Kalahari, Kahala-La Grange, Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada, Louis Garneau/Sakonnet/Mercy Fitness, McGuire/Langdale, Monex, PaulTracy.com, Subway Pro Cycling Team, Symmetrics Cycling, Team Redlands JellyBelly PoolGel, Team SeaSilver, Team Six, Team Spine, Team TIAA_CREF, Texas Roadhouse Cycling, U.S. National Team, VitaminCottage.com, and Webcor Builders.

Women's Teams:
Colavita/Cooking Light, CRCA/Team Lipton, Exte Ondo, Ford-Basis Cycling, Ford Cycling, Monex, Paramount Racing, Quark Cycling Team, Subway Cycling, TDS-Schwalbe, Team Diet Cheerwine, The Bicycle Store, T-Mobile Prof. Cycling Team, Touchstone Cycling, Velo Bella, Velo Girls Prof. Cycling Team, Victory Brewing, Vitamin Cottage Cycling Team and Webcor Builders.

For more information on the 2005 PoolGel© Redlands Bicycle Classic, please visit www.redlandsclassic.com

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