First Edition Cycling News for May 31, 2005

Edited by John Stevenson

Savoldelli: "I was more alone in other Giros"

Paolo Savoldelli celebrates his Giro victory
Photo ©: Roberto Bettini

The picture from the Giro d'Italia over the last week has been the stuff of cycling legend: 'Il Falco', Paolo Savoldelli, battling stronger climbers in the mountains of Northern Italy with no support from a Discovery Channel team composed mostly of flatland specialists after his designated lieutenant Tom Danielson dropped out with a knee problem.

But Savoldelli says it wasn't quite like that.

"I was more alone in other Giros," he told Spain's As. "When I came second in 1999 with Saeco, seven were riding for Cipollini. When I won in 2002, seven waited for Quaranta. This year it felt odd to have team-mates supporting me on the flat stages. Only in the mountains was the support lacking, because Danielson was injured."

Savoldelli seems content to have won the Giro and to take a supporting role for Lance Armstrong as Armstrong attempts to win a seventh Tour de France in July.

"When [Discovery Channel] hired me, Bruyneel said, 'Try to get on the podium at the Giro and don't think about anything after that. Then we will take you to the Tour to help Armstrong.'"

But he doesn't see himself as Discovery Channel's Tour contender after Armstrong retires. "They hired me because they have seen me win a Giro without a team and they needed someone who could give a good showing for Discovery [in Italy]," he said.

"But they have designated Popovych as Armstrong's successor. They see in him the talent to win the Tour. As for me, I like [the Tour] a lot, but I am Italian and love the Giro."

Petacchi confirms Tour absence

Alessandro Petacchi has confirmed that he will not ride this year's Tour de France. Petacchi said yesterday that he still plans to take a break in July to prepare for the world championships in Madrid in September, despite winning four stages of the Giro d'Italia over the last three weeks.

"In winter I did very intense work to prepare for Milan-San Remo," said Petacchi. "After that I rested, then rode the Vuelta a Aragon and Tour de Romandie before the Giro, so this year has been very hard with long phases [of racing]. I have tired legs."

Petacchi concedes that you can't just turn up at the Tour and expect to ride well. The Tour is "a race that you must prepare for thoroughly and I do not want to go home after a week."

Italian national team manager Franco Ballerini is planning an assault on the world championships along the same lines as Italy's successful campaign at Zolder in 2002, said Petacchi. Back then, a united Italian team worked to deliver Mario Cipollini a rainbow jersey victory.

Petacchi's absence from the Tour will create possibilities for other sprint specialist who are hoping for stage wins in July, including Spanish three-time world champion Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Belgium's Tom Boonen (Quick.Step), Australians Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), Baden Cooke (Francaise des Jeux) and Stuart O'Grady (Cofidis), and Germany's Erik Zabel (T-Mobile).

Yates battles mishaps to hand out final stage bubbly

Fans may see the final day of a Grand Tour such as the Giro d'Italia as little more than a pro-quality club run as riders roll toward the finish line with the racing over aside from the sprinters' final dash for glory. But for the directeur sportif of the leaders' team, it's a bit more stressed than that.

For starters, there's the constant worry that a last-minute disaster could wipe out three weeks' work. "We knew it wasn't over until we finished up today and hit the line with one lap to go, as that was where the official time was taken," said Discovery Channel directeur sportif Sean Yates in a team statement. "And with one to go, we had Michael Barry at the head with Paolo on his wheel, as we knew one crash or something like that could potentially lose it all. After that, everyone sat up and that was it."

But first, Yates had to get to Milan, and on the way fulfil an important role of the leader's directeur sportif: handing out champagne to every team on the race. "We had two bottles for every team and with two cars in the race, we had 50 bottles in our car," he said. "Then we hit a curb and got a flat tire."

Yates fixed the flat, then followed local police to get back to the race. But a wrong turn put him in front of the peloton, and he had to pull over and wait for the race to pass. "Good to have that happen on the last stage and not in the mountains," he said.

Di Rocco salutes Giro riders and organisers

President of the Italian cycling federation, Renato Di Rocco has congratulated the riders and organisers of the Giro d'Italia on a job well done. "From Petacchi to Simoni and Bettini, Di Luca and Basso to the final victory of Savoldelli," he said, "it was a race that raised the spirits of everyone who is passionate about cycling because several great champions challenged with utmost professionalism to wear the maglia rosa and with courage and athleticism they contributed to the success of the race."

"From its start with the evening prologue this Giro had something special," Di Rocco said.

Hondo vows to fight on

German Sprinter Danilo Hondo will face a hearing of the Swiss Olympic Committee on Thursday after his positive test for the stimulant carphedon at the Vuelta a Murcia in March.

Hondo - who holds a Swiss licence, hence the venue - told radsportnews.com that he will fight "to the end" to prove his innocence of the charge. Hondo faces a two-year ban plus a further two years' exclusion from ProTour teams under the ProTour ethical charter, which would effectively end his career. With such a serious sanction hanging over him, Hondo plans to take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport if the Swiss decision goes against him. "I cannot imagine never racing again," he said.

Hondo maintains he has never doped, and has delivered a sworn affidavit to that effect. "I hoped an analysis of my regeneration methods and food supplements would find an explanation. But today, I still cannot explain how this stuff got into my body. I ask myself this question every day," said Hondo.

Hondo will face the hearing accompanied by his lawyer Dr. Lehner and said he has named an expert from the Cologne laboratory as a witness. "The arbitration panel has also delegated an expert witness," said Hondo. "I take that as a good sign as it means from the judge's point of view the case is not so clear."

Although he said he hopes for an acquittal, Hondo declined to detail the grounds for his defence. However, in a press release issued by his manager, the Hondo camp has pointed out that the quantity of carphedon detected was very small, suggesting it might have been a contaminant in, for example, a food supplement. Hondo's management also pointed out that he had tested negative the previous day after winning stage 2 of the Vuelta a Murcia. That indicates that the test did not pick up a trace of carphedon left over from training, and Hondo's management points out that for Hondo to then take anything, knowing that as race leader he would definitely be tested the following day, would be rather stupid.

Hondo is optimistic that, "everything we have found out casts doubt [on the positive] rather than guilt, I think. But an athlete must practically prove his innocence and that is not so easy."

AG2R-Prévoyance for Luxembourg and Dauphine

The AG2R-Prévoyance team has announced its rosters for the Tour du Luxembourg (June 2 to June 5) and the Criterium du Dauphine Libere (June 5 to June 12).

For Luxembourg, the team will field Philip Deignan, Andy Flickinger, Simon Gerrans, Yuriy Krivtsov, Lloyd Mondory, Jean-Patrick Nazon, Mark Scanlon, and Tomas Vaitkus.

At the Dauphine, the team will be represented by Mikel Astarloza, Sylvain Calzati, Iñigo Chaurreau, Cyril Dessel, Samuel Dumoulin, Stéphane Goubert, Nicolas Portal, Ludovic Turpin. Andy Flickinger and Philip Deignan will be reserves.

Chris Thater Memorial loves NY

New York State's I LOVE NEW YORK campaign will be a presenting sponsor of this year's Chris Thater Memorial Races in Binghamton, NY, August 27-28, 2005, organisers have announced.

The Chris Thater memorial commemorates Chris Thater, a keen cyclist, who was killed by a drunk driver, and has as its mission to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving, while promoting healthy, positive activities including its bike races and 5km run.

This year's Chris Thater will offer over $60,000 in cash and prizes and will comprise the final event in the American Criterium Championship Series, with prize purses of $22,000 for Pro I/II Men and $6,000 for Pro I/II Women.

Charles A. Gargano, Chairman of Empire State Development, which administers the I LOVE NEW YORK program, said, "We are proud to sponsor an event of this calibre, which has grown over the years from a local race to a premier cycling and running competition that attracts athletes from around the world to Binghamton."

Portuguese federation secures rider payments

The Portuguese cycling federation has paid the bank guarantee of the Team Beppi-Ovarense to two of the team's riders - Jordi Berenguer and Oscar Romero - who were owed five and six months' salary, according to the riders' management company.

In a statement, the riders' management company Team Sport Managers expressed its satisfaction at the outcome, but said it was concerned that the bank guarantees required by national federations for Continental teams (previously Division III) were not sufficient to cover all the payments a team must make in a year.

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