Latest Cycling News for May 3, 2005

Edited by Anthony Tan & Jeff Jones

Botero's best success

Santiago Botero (Phonak)
Photo ©: AFP

Three stages and the mountains jersey at the Tour de France, five stages of the Vuelta a España, victory in the Classique Des Alpes and world time trial champion, to name just a few. And now the final stage and overall victory at the Tour de Romandie. So which win rates as his best? Anthony Tan discovers that time is now.

"Now, I think I am the happiest man in the world - this is the best success in my life," said Botero to Cyclingnews somewhat surprisingly soon after the race had finished. "Even in comparison to any race [I've done well in] - the Tour, Olympics, world championships... this is the most important success."

Wow.

Compared to Botero's other achievements, which followed a natural progression of success, his victory on Sunday in Lausanne broke a two-year and six-month dry spell, his last being the 2002 world road time trial championship in Zolder, Belgium.

The rainbow jersey, coupled with three Grand Tour stage wins that year, led to a number of lucrative offers, and after six years with Kelme, the team he started out his professional career with back in 1997, Botero opted for T-Mobile. The idea was that the man from Medellin, situated 430 kilometres northwest of Bogota, Colombia, along with Andréas Klöden and Alexandre Vinokourov, were to spearhead a three-pronged attack in an attempt to derail Lance Armstrong's perennial success at the Tour de France.

That didn't happen. Vinokourov did very well, winning a stage and finishing third overall, but Klöden dropped out during the ninth stage, and Botero did the same one week later, a result of ill health and poor form.

The following year, with Ullrich back in the team in 2004, and Klöden riding exceptionally well, Botero's role was more clearly defined to that of lieutenant, but he struggled to be there when he was needed, leading to a parting of ways with T-Mobile and what would be hopefully a new lease of life at Phonak.

As he had done the previous five seasons, he returned to his home in Colombia, 2,700 metres above sea level, and began training again. But this time, it felt different.

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Il Falco pronto for Giro

Finishing eighth overall at the Tour de Romandie last weekend, Discovery Channel's assistant sports manager Laurenzo Lapage is satisfied with Manuel 'Triki' Beltran's performance, and also believes Paolo Savoldelli is "just about ready" for the upcoming Giro d'Italia.

"For someone who is not a specialist against the clock, I would say before the race if we said Triki would finish in the top 10, we would be happy with that finish," said Lapage in a team statement. "Overall, he did his best and we are satisfied with his eighth overall finish. He said he was happy as well, as most of the guys there were preparing for the Giro and are near their peak fitness and in better shape."

Lapage added that because television coverage was interrupted during the final TT in Lausanne, he was unable to provide proper time splits to the Spanish rider to gauge where he was in the race, and didn't know where Beltran finished until they reached the airport and someone was able to get on the Internet.

As for Paolo Savoldelli, the 31 year-old Italian, nicknamed 'Il Falco' for his descending skills, began the race by finishing second in the prologue and was third overall heading into the third stage, but lost nearly five minutes that day and over one minute the following stage to fall to 30th on GC. However, Savoldelli still managed a top 10 stage finish in Lausanne to show he's on track for a solid Giro, a race he won back in 2002 and was the 1999 runner-up in.

"Paolo is just about ready for the Giro," said Lapage. "He had a really good time trial and I think he's ready. He thinks and believes a top five finish is possible." Two other riders from Romandie, Ryder Hesjedal and Volodymyr Bileka, will also form part of Discovery's team for the race.

Fassa Bortolo: All for Petacchi

Fassa Bortolo has announced its selection for the Giro d'Italia, and not surprisingly, the whole team is being built around Alessandro Petacchi, who won nine stages in 2004. Team manager Giancarlo Ferretti hasn't even selected a GC rider (Fassa had Cioni last year, now with Liquigas-Bianchi), so it's quite clear where the priorities are. The make-up of the team means that if a rider crashes or misses out on being part of the train, another can take his place.

Petacchi will have at his side Fabio Baldato, Marzio Bruseghin, Massimo Codol, Volodimir Gustov, Alberto Ongarato, Fabio Sacchi, Matteo Tosatto and Marco Velo, with Alberto Volpi and Alessandro Giannelli as sports directors.

Gerolsteiner without Rebellin and Wegmann

The Gerolsteiner squad to take part in this year's Giro will not include Davide Rebellin or last year's KOM winner Fabian Wegmann, after the nine-man team was announced today. Sprinter Robert Förster will be present, along with experienced all-rounder Frank Hoj, climber Sven Montgomery, Marcel Strauss, Volker Ordowski, and Andrea Moletta. Youngsters Markus Fothen, Sven Krauss and Thomas Ziegler complete the line-up, which will be directed by Christian Henn.

VDB in Dunkirk

After his 2005 season debut in the Rund um den Henninger Turm on Sunday, Frank Vandenbroucke will take part in the Four Days of Dunkirk this week. However, according to Het Nieuwsblad, Vandenbroucke is expected to ride only two stages. "I would like it if Frank finishes the first two stages," said team manager Hilaire Van der Schueren. "I don't expect more." VDB added: "The second stage to Lens tops the 200 km mark. It's already a while ago that I did that distance in training. I'm also have no illusions about it."

Phonak for Clásica Alcobendas

Swiss-registered ProTour team Phonak Hearing Systems will send the following seven riders to this weekend's Clásica Alcobendas, held from May 7-8, 2005: Niki Aebersold, Santos Gonzalez, Enrique Gutierrez, Nicolas Jalabert, Alexandre Moos, Miguel A. Perdiguero, Viktor Rapinski. Managing the team will be Juan Fernandez.

A little more on Middelkamp

Theo Middelkamp, who passed away in his sleep last Monday, aged 91, was born February 23, 1914. It was said he found fame and fortune more important than the races itself, especially after his first Tour de France stage win on July 14, 1936, where he participated in more than his fair share of lucrative kermis races as a consequence of his newfound celebrity status.

Before that stage from Aix-les-Bains to Grenoble, the then 22 year-old bragged to the press he would win a mountain stage of the Tour, and sure enough, on a day that crossed the Col du Telegraphe, Galibier and the Lautaret, Middelkamp actions spoke as loud as his words, with his second TdF victory coming two years later. After the Second World War, Middelkamp's ambitions still burned bright, scoring 25 wins in 1945 before being crowned world road champion two years later in Reims. Middelkamp is survived by two sons and a daughter.

R.A.G.T ready for a big win

Fuelled by Yoann Le Boulanger's second place at the Trophée des Grimpeurs, French Pro Continental Team R.A.G.T Semences now has reason to back themselves, with directeur sportif Jean-Luc Jonrond believing a big victory isn't too far away.

"Over the last few weeks, I have been very optimistic, although the results themselves did not give me any real reason to be so," said Jonrond. "I could just tell that things were starting to look up. From now on, I can see that we are going to end up winning a big race, which is what it's all about at the end of the day!"

Although a little disappointed at finishing second behind winner Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), Le Boulanger is satisfied with his physical condition in comparison to the other riders: "I gain the satisfaction of feeling good physically at the finish and am quite pleased to see that I did not come off that badly compared to the better riders," he said.

"I came to within a hair's breadth of winning and it's a real shame I didn't make it. It was also great to have been in the fight all the way and having always felt up to it. I reckon I'm 100 percent fighting fit, and I say once again that I'm out to try and win a big race. Every now and again, I do curse last year's setback at a time when I really was feeling strong."

Serge Barle, the team's general manager said his team is more or less on the same level as they were at the same time last year, only stronger: "One thing is sure, the team is stronger than it was last year, and so it is normal that we can expect to achieve better results," he said.

"The whole team is motivated," added Le Boulanger. "We not lacking much. Those who might have had doubts previously are perhaps waking up to the fact that we do have a reason to be here. All in all, we have nothing to be ashamed of compared with the results of the other French teams. For the Coupe de France, it is better for us to have this sort of result than to sit back and be content with just being there. Consistency doesn't always pay. It is how you go about getting your place or winning which counts and nothing else!"

Obree is back

Previous world hour record holder Graeme Obree found himself back in business over the weekend, albeit at a local level.

The man, nicknamed 'The Flying Scotsman' after he smashed Francesco Moser's previous long-standing hour record on July 17, 1993, convincingly won the Glasgow Couriers-Bennett Developments 10 mile time trial last Saturday, April 30. His time of 19 minutes and 55 seconds was almost one minute faster than that of the next two placegetters, Arthur Doyle (Ivy CC) and Hugh Jamieson (Inverclyde Velo).

The victory was a welcome return for Obree, who had endured a long period of manic depression and an attempt to end his life on December 17, 2001, where he was found unconscious, hanging from the rafters of a barn near his home in rural Scotland. He has spent the last few years recovering at home, in the company of his wife and two children.

Norwegian pro team for FBD Rás

With the race start just over two weeks away, Norwegian team Sparebanken Vest have become the latest professional squad confirmed for the 2005 FBD Insurance Rás. It joins teams from the Czech Republic, Estonia, USA, France, Germany, Britain, Scotland and Wales for the eight day, 2.2 ranked event, which this year will feature the biggest number of riders in its 53 year history.

The squad will be lead by thirty year-old Are Andresen, who finished a close second in last year's Tour of Bulgaria, took third overall in the Norwegian Cup and who is a member of his country's time trial championship team. The other four riders, Morten Christiansen, Morten Hegreberg, Gabriel Rasch and Stian Remme, are also strong enough to play a big part in the race.

Christiansen has taken two wins and a second place in the last three editions of the Norwegian Cup, won three stages of the Tour of Hungary and was best climber in the international Ringerike Grand Prix. He notched up eight other victories last year. Hegreberg has been in fine form this season, winning the UCI-ranked GP Ottergem and the GP Aalst Criterium. He has finished in the first four in the last three Norwegian road championships.

Team manager Per-Ivar Bøe, is expecting a top-notch performance from the squad: "My team are all very experienced multi-stage race riders and we are confident we can make our first-ever visit to Ireland a winning one," he said.

Sparebanken Vest will travel from mainland Europe courtesy of FBD Insurance Rás race backer Stena Ferry Line, which is bringing many of the overseas teams to this year's race. They will arrive on Saturday 21st May and get their campaign underway the following morning. This year's FBD Insurance Rás features stage finishes in Emyvale, Tubbercurry, Lisdoonvarna, Templemore, Abbeyleix, Rathdrum, Wicklow Town and Dublin's Phoenix Park.

SA Commonwealth Games track squad announced

After a successful national championships in Bellville last weekend, South African track selectors Hein Kroff and Elrich Kulsen, along with team manager Tony Harding, have decided on a squad of 10 riders to make up the 2006 Commonwealth Games track squad.

These riders will be provided with equipment and will concentrate on forming a strong 4000m pursuit team. The riders that don't make the final pursuit team will be used in the other endurance track events (individual pursuit, points, scratch). "Rupert Rheeder proved to be the pursuit sensation of the championships and with some hard work and proper planning, we could see him contesting the individual pursuit in the not to distant future," said Harding.

South African team for 2006 Commonwealth Games:

Gary Rabie
Malcolm Lange
James Perry
Daryl Impey
Robert Hunter
Nolan Hoffman
Chris Willemse
Wesley Cole
Rupert Rheeder
Jacques Fullard

A "B Squad" was also announced with an eye on the future:

Raynold Smith
Derwin Benjamin
Ivano Siebritz
Juan Van Heerden
Bertram Siebritz
Greg Thompson
Jason Berry

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