Tour de France News for June 20, 2003 Edited by John Stevenson Botero hopes to be ready for Tour Santiago Botero (Telekom) is still not in his best condition, with just over two weeks to go until the Tour de France. Botero is currently riding in the Volta a Catalunya, where he is 58th on GC at 38'45 down, having been active in several long breakaways without success. "I hope be ready, that is the aim," he told AS. "But I don't yet have the sensations. I hope to find them and that's why I've come to Catalunya." Botero added that he has been suffering from a virus that has impeded his preparation. Botero believes that Roberto Heras is strong enough to be on the podium in the Tour de France. "I have no doubt about that, he looks very good," said the Colombian, who also commented on the performances of Jose Antonio Pecharroman, the climbing revelation of the season. "He is impressive. He has already taken a great leap forward among the best riders in the peloton. I hope that it can be maintained for a number of years. It would be a great thing for cycling." Aerts looking better Mario Aerts (Telekom) is looking like a good candidate for Telekom's Tour de France team, after his performances in the Volta a Catalunya so far. Aerts is currently lying in 23rd position at 7'59, and finished in the leading group in yesterday's tough mountain stage. Team director Frans Van Looy commented in Het Laatste Nieuws that "[Aerts] convinced me in yesterday's stage. I'm only giving advice, Godefroot is the boss, but for me he's going to the Tour." More doping controls in Tour This year's Tour de France will see more doping controls than ever, with an expected 148 tests to be carried out during the course of the race, in addition to surprise controls, which are usually done on the rest days. In up to 90 of the controls, EPO will be tested for. At the pre race medical checkup on July 3, riders will undergo a full blood screen, including the usual haemoglobin and hematocrit tests. Haemoglobin and hematocrit will also be controlled for in any pre-stage health checks. Between eight and nine UCI doctors will be present on the race, in addition to a delegation from the World Anti-Doping Agency. The latter will have to be permitted by French law, which doesn't allow for a third party to receive the results of the controls. Gerolsteiner announces Tour team The Gerolsteiner team, competing in its first Tour de France, has named its nine riders. Veteran Udo Bölts will be there of course, along with Italian Davide Rebellin, Austrian climber Georg Totschnig and sprinter René Haselbacher, Swiss Markus Zberg, and Germans Olaf Pollack, Torsten Schmidt, Uwe Peschel and Michael Rich. Quick.Step Tour team getting close According to Belgian sources, seven of the nine riders in the Quick.Step-Davitamon team have been selected for the Tour: Paolo Bettini, Laszlo Bodrogi, David Cañada, Kurt Van De Wouwer, Richard Virenque, Piotr Wadecki and Michael Rogers will all take part, with two more to be decided after the Tour de Suisse. Seven certain for ONCE The ONCE team for the Tour has seven of its nine riders in place as follows: Joseba Beloki, Angel Vicioso, Mikel Zarrabeitia, Jose Azevedo, Jan Hruska, Jörg Jaksche and Rene Andrle. The remaining two will be picked from Marcos Serrano, Mikel Pradera, Isidro Nozal, Angel Castresana and Rafael Diaz Justo. Kelme have eight The Kelme-Costa Blanca team has eight certainties at the moment for the Tour, with Javier Pascual Llorente, Toni Tauler, Ignacio Gutierrez, Jesus Manzano, Isaac Galvez, David Muñoz, David Latasa and Ivan Parra. Durand out of Tour Jacky Durand has confirmed that he will not start this year's Tour de France as a result of the injuries he sustained in a fall at the Dauphine. Durand has a fractured hip and will be off the bike for 45 days. He will also miss the French National Championships. Saeco scopes out the Alps Team Saeco has spent the last couple of days reconnoitering the three Alpine stages of this year's Tour de france as part of Gilberto Simoni's effort to put the hurt on Lance Armstrong in this year's race. Not surprisingly, Gibi has pronounced the legendary climb of l'Alpe d'Huez as the hardest. "The stage to Morzine is hard but is only a warm-up for the following day to L'Alpe d'Huez. That's the most difficult stage of all and it's where I think there will be big time gaps. The stage over the Izoard is not as tough but with heavy legs it could still hurt," said Simoni in a team statement. Simoni and team-mates Di Luca, Sacchi and Pugaci rode the last 120km of stage seven to Morzine on Wednesday, paying particular attention to the final climb, the Col de la Ramaz. Directeur sportif Giuseppe Martinelli said, "[It's] a really tough climb, which I didn't know and so was vital to see." Simoni and Sacchi then did an extra 40km to round out the day's training. Thursday was spent driving the approach roads to the climbs of stage eight, then riding the final 110km, including the climbs of the Telegraphe, the Galibier and l'Alpe d'Huez. Before heading back to Italy Simoni and Martinelli also studied the final part of the Col de Lautaret which is part of the ninth stage to Gap. They also rode the Izoard before a quick trip to see the last two short climbs. Pronouncing the sunny two-day whistle-stop tour of the Alps "excellent", Simoni said, "I felt good and was pedalling well. We did the climbs and descents without worrying about the speed, the most important thing was to study the key points of the stages and memorise them." Previous News    Next News (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2003)

Recently on Cyclingnews.com Mont Ventoux Photo ©: Sirotti

Cyclingnews' live coverage of the 90th Tour de France is powered by