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superman2007

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  1. Posted on 13 July 2007 - 08:53 http://images.supersport.co.za/VinokourovAlexandre070712InactionAIbg.jpgTour de France contenders Alexandre Vinokourov and Andr?as Kl?den needed hospital treatment to stay in the race after crashing in Thursday's frenzied fifth stage. Kl?den had a hairline fracture to his tailbone, and Astana teammate Vinokourov left hospital at around midnight local time with stitches in his right knee andelbow. Tour director Christian Prudhomme predicted stage five from Chablis to Autun would be spectacular and shape the race. He was right. "Some of the favorites suffered," Prudhomme said. "It was like a trap stage. A sumptuous finale full of emotion and suspense." Oh, and there was an exciting sprint finish won by Italy's Filippo Pozzato, while Fabian Cancellara of Team CSC retained the yellow jersey. Although Astana team officials said Vinokourov and Kl?den were expected to line up for Friday's sixth stage, that depended on how they recovered overnight from their injuries. What is certain is that they will be hampered if they make it to the Alps this weekend. Climbing the Alps is hard enough without having chronic back pains or pedaling with only one fully functional leg. "It would be a pity to lose the Tour like that, but life goes on," Astana manager Marc Biver said. DECEPTIVE STAGE FIVE The toughness of stage five was its deceptiveness: Not so much because of the intensity of the eight hills that wound through Burgundy's wine region - none of them was tougher than category two - but because they just kept on coming. "Today you had to be really vigilant with dangerous descents taken at full speed and throttling climbs," veteran French rider Christophe Moreau said. Having spent days of coasting in the pack during traditional early sprint stages, riders were caught off guard. Vinokourov, third in 2003, and Kl?den, the 2004 runner-up and third last year, fell within about an hour and 50 kilometres of each other. His chain came off, he told his team. Kl?den ended up in a ditch, while Vinokourov landed on hot tarmac that tore skin off his knees and right buttock. Both rode on, Kl?den more successfully because the German didn't lose any time. But Vinokourov needed his teammates to frantically work for him as other teams sought to profit from his spill along the 182-kilometre trek. The Kazakh finished one minute, 20 seconds behind the winner and fell from 12th place to 81st, trailing leader Cancellara by 2:10 - although it's the gaps with the other main contenders that are significant. Vinokourov is more than a minute behind Vladimir Karpets, Cadel Evans, and Oscar Pereiro. This is not considered a big deficit so early on - unless you're chasing fit rivals with a busted knee. There were five other crashes including Benjamin Noval of the Discovery Channel team, who slammed into the windscreen of a Bouygues Telecom car and lacerated his right arm while protecting his face. Prudhomme wants "to see this type of stage continue in the Tours to come" because his aim is to "break the litany of sprints during the first week" and give spectators an earlier dose of panache. Moreau was next to Vinokourov when he crashed inside the last 25 kilometres "You can't win the Tour in the first week, but you can lose it," Moreau told French television. Astana manager Biver must be thinking he's cursed by now. Before the Tour, Astana suspended Matthias Kessler for elevated testosterone levels and Eddy Mazzoleni because he was among a group of four riders questioned by Italian prosecutors in the 'Oil For Drugs' case. Pre-Tour press conferences consisted of endless questions about Vinokourov's relationship with Italian doctor Michele Ferrari - cleared by an Italian appeals court last year of distributing health-threatening doping products to athletes. "Friday the 13th is tomorrow," Biver said. "If these kind of accidents prevent us from contending for overall victory, then we'll put it down to fate. There's not much we can do about that." The peleton sets off on Friday for a 199.5-kilometre trek from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse.
  2. Posted on 12 July 2007 - 20:22 http://images.supersport.co.za/KloedenAndreas060123WithUlrichAIbg.jpgGerman Andreas Kloeden sustained a suspected coccyx fracture after crashing during the fifth stage of the Tour de France, Astana manager Marc Biver said in Autun, France, on Thursday. The 32-year-old, who is second in the overall standings, is a major doubt for Friday's sixth stage. Asked if he was concerned about team leader Alexander Vinokourov who also crashed on the stage, Biver said: "He is a warrior, I'm not too worried. I'm more worried about Kloedi, who has a suspected coccyx fracture." The medical staff of the Tour de France said the former T-Mobile rider had been taken to hospital for a scan on his pelvis. Kloeden crashed after 107 km of the stage, a 182.5-km ride from Chablis to Autun, but finished in the main pack. Astana team leader Alexander Vinokourov, who crashed 25 km from the finish line, was also taken to hospital for further checks on a deep wound on his right knee.
  3. Posted on 12 July 2007 - 22:59 http://images.supersport.co.za/RasmussenMichael070708CyclingRbg.jpgDanish climber Michael Rasmussen was glad to see the back of the tricky Tour de France fifth stage here Thursday, which left two of the race favourites with a worrying trip to the hospital. Rasmussen has won the King of the Mountains title for the past two years, and despite playing a support role for Rabobank's top contender, Denis Menchov, the fans will be expecting to see the skinny Dane claim some glory for himself. The 33-year-old from Saelland, a slightly hilly part of Denmark, is prone to going on long solo attacks - he won the 16th stage last year during Floyd Landis's spectacular collapse, and the ninth stage in 2005. That kind of aggressive racing often puts Rasmussen in contention for the polka dot jersey, but he may put aside both ambitions until later when some difficult climbing awaits the peloton over stages 14-16 in the Pyrenees. Until then, he will be praying there are no more stages like Thursday's. With eight categorised climbs - but none which compared to anything in the Alps or the Pyrenees - Rasmussen coasted over the 182.5km ride from Chablis to here. However the stage took its toll on a few top riders, with Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloden joining Spaniard Iban Mayo in hitting the deck. Rasmussen believes the organisers should be doing everything to make sure the peloton avoids the kind of tight, winding roads which virtually guarantee some early drama on the race. "It wasn't my type of riding. It was a very nervous stage, and a lot of fighting going on," the Dane told AFP. "The course was hard, so it wasn't so difficult for me to stay at the front, but the second last descent, where Vinokourov and Kloden came down, was very, very fast. "I don't think these roads are suited to the Tour de France peloton, especially in the first week of the race. There's too much at stake." Rasmussen feels that with all the demands made on top cyclists - signing anti-doping charters, undergoing dozens of random doping tests and wearing helmets - the least the organisers could do was guarantee their safety. "I mean they (cycling authorities) ask us to have health checks, and to sign charters and wear helmets, they think they can do what they want with us," he added. "But what about the roads? I think it's a bit hypocritical." Thursday's stage led to a long pursuit of a four-man breakaway which had topped nearly 15 minutes. In the end Italian Filippo Pozzato dominated a bunch sprint on a long uphill home straight, and Rasmussen admitted the teams had been pursuing with the thought of Oscar Pereiro's 35-minute breakaway last year still fresh in their memories. "Everybody has got a bit wiser after last year," he said. "When it got to 15 minutes I was starting to have flashbacks of last year. I suppose there was a common interest to bring the break back." Despite three days in the Alps beginning Saturday, Rasmussen said he is in no hurry to go on a long solo attack. "I'll go into the Alps and just see what happens. I don't have any ambitious plans for the moment."
  4. http://www.supercycling.co.za/images/headline_international_L.gifhttp://www.supercycling.co.za/images/headlinemiddle.jpghttp://www.supercycling.co.za/images/headlinelab_news_r.gif Posted on 11 July 2007 - 10:09 http://images.supersport.co.za/HunterRobert070116InactionGbg.jpg'Patience' -- that is what South Africa's Robbie Hunter asks of his fans for the duration of the Tour de France cycle race. Hunter, captain of team Barloworld, has been inundated with questions from fans who want to know why Barloworld have not already been in a breakaway and why he does not have his team around him to lead him out at the finish. On his website on Wednesday, Hunter had the following answers. "Well, as for me at the finishes, I like to do my own thing and follow other riders, much like Robbie McEwen. If by chance I should have a teammate there in the last kilometre, I will follow him, but he has to be there. "Some people say I have to have more support around me, but then again you cannot expect climbers to get invloved in a bunch sprint. "Quick step have so many riders in the front because more than half the team are made up around Tom Boonen. They only have one pure climber and that is Garate. In our team we have got more climbers and, trust me, they will be there when the time is right. "As far as breakaways are concerned, be patient. There is no point in sending riders into the breaks just to waste their legs. We will try and get into breaks when the chances are better of getting a break to the finish. "And about me and sprinting, some people forget this is my sixth tour and not my first. And as for my teammates, Cardenas has won a stage in the Tour before. Just because we are riding for Barloworld and they are South African, does not mean we are not in the same league as the other teams. "We deserve to be here because we are among the best in the world and we will get results, just be patient, it is a three-week tour. "Lastly I know im not the fastest guy in the world, but on a good day when my condition is good, like now, I think I am good enough to beat anyone. I have been winning races since my first year as a professional and in some of the biggest races I finished ahead of guys like McEwen and Boonen," Hunter wrote.
  5. Posted on 12 July 2007 - 04:51 http://images.supersport.co.za/CancellaraFabian070710LeadingGbg.jpgThe riders in the Tour de France will have a foretaste of the mountains on Thursday's 182.5 km fifth stage from Chablis to Autun, which is scattered with eight climbs. Even though no first category climbs are on the menu, there is no flat road and the main contenders should ride up front. "Things are getting tougher now," said Tour competition director Jean-Francois Pescheux. "It looks a bit like the road of one of Belgium's Ardennes classics, there is no respite," he added. However, the stage is tailor-made for the escape artists, who are very likely to be in the spotlight in the Morvan region. There is little chance of the stage ending in a bunch sprint. "We will have to be very cautious if we want to retain the yellow jersey," overall leader Fabian Cancellara of the CSC team said on Thursday.
  6. Points Classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 98 pts 2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 86 3 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 84 4 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 81 5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cr?dit Agricole 79 6 S?bastien Chavanel (Fra) Fran?aise des Jeux 70 7 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 66 8 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank 62 9 Robert F?rster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 59 10 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 57
  7. http://images.supersport.co.za/BicyclingCoverJuly2007_150.jpgNorway's Thor Hushovd claimed his first victory of the year when he clinched the fourth stage of the Tour de France, a 193-km trek from Villers-Cotterets to Joigny on Wednesday. The Credit Agricole rider, who won the green jersey in 2005, launched the bunch sprint 350 metres from the finish line to edge Barloworld's South African rider Robert Hunter for the win. Spaniard Oscar Freire, who has yet to win a stage this year, was third for the Rabobank team. Hushovd's fifth victory on the Tour means the Norwegian leapfrogs German Andreas Kloeden for second place overall thanks to time bonuses, with Briton David Millar now out of the top three. Swiss Fabian Cancellara, who finished safe in the main pack, retained the leader's yellow jersey. Belgian Tom Boonen was a disappointing eighth in the stage but retained the green jersey. Hushovd, who won last year's opening prologue and the closing sprint on the Champs-Elysees, paid tribute to Australian team mate Julian Dean, who piloted him through the pack in the last km. "He is the best in the world to launch the sprints," said Hushovd. Frenchman Matthieu Sprick launched a breakaway after 30 km and was followed by compatriot Sylvain Chavanel, Spaniards Juan Antonio Flecha and Gorka Verdugo, and Germany's Christian Knees. The fugitives built a four-minute gap but were inexorably swallowed by the peloton with seven km remaining. The Caisse d'Epargne team were reduced to eight men after Spaniard Xavier Zandio retired with a fractured collarbone following a crash early in the stage. "He fractured his right collarbone, he really cannot go on," said manager Jose-Luis Jaimerena. "It is a huge loss for the team because he is a rider who can work on any type of course. It's a pity." Another rider, Remy di Gregorio of the Francaise des Jeux team, was involved in the crash and sustained an elbow injury. Di Gregorio, however, managed to reach the finish line almost eight minutes after Hushovd. Thursday's fifth stage takes the peloton over 182.5 km from Chablis to Autun.
  8. Posted on 10 July 2007 - 17:29 http://images.supersport.co.za/UllrichJan070331ConferenceRbg.jpgJan Ullrich criticized former teammates Rolf Aldag and Erik Zabel for "acting like saints" once they had admitting their doping past. Ullrich, who won the Tour de France in 1997, was one of several riders kicked out on the eve of last year's race after being implicated in a Spanish doping investigation called Operation Puerto. A sample of Ullrich's DNA was later matched to one of the blood bags in the doping affair. Several former riders of Team Telekom - including Zabel and Aldag -recently admitted they used EPO during the 1990s while riding with Ullrich, who has retired and denies any wrongdoing. "To carry on working they need to confess their error," Ullrich said in an interview with sports daily L'Equipe. "It makes me laugh, because I know they spoke about my case while acting like saints." Ullrich was particularly angry with Aldag. "When I heard Aldag talking nonstop about me on radio or on television, I was really outraged by his attitude," Ullrich said. "He made a lot of money because of me. If he found it so dirty, why did he never give it back?" Ullrich said he also threatened to publish his thoughts about Aldag in a book. "I could not take it anymore." he said. "Ullrich was the only word on Aldag's lips. So, I sent him a text message saying that if I wrote a book, he would be the main protagonist. "That must have got to him, because since he has never spoken badly about me." Ullrich also poked fun at the world of cycling. "I don't ride my bike anymore. Why? Because it's a sport full of doping," he was quoted as saying. "No, I'm joking." The former Olympic champion says he just wants to be left alone. "I've nothing to say, my career is over. I'm just Jan Ullrich, a normal citizen," he said.
  9. Posted on 09 July 2007 - 15:18 http://images.supersport.co.za/CavendishMark070708SignsGbg.jpgBritish hope Mark Cavendish has refused to let a poor start to the Tour de France dent his confidence. The 20-year-old T-Mobile rider, seen as one of the most promising sprinters in the bunch, was forced to change bike twice in Sunday's first stage between London and Canterbury. He also hit a spectator with some 20 kms to go and was then unable to get back in the peloton to take part in the final bunch sprint. "I was really furious," Cavendish told reporters ahead of Monday's 168.5-km second stage from Dunkirk to Ghent. "But I now am all the more motivated to win a stage, which I think I can do."
  10. Posted on 08 July 2007 - 11:32 http://images.supersport.co.za/Hanco%20Kachelhoffer180.jpgHanco Kachelhoffer has racked up yet another national selection by making the All Africa Games Team, competing in Algeria on the 14th of July. He will be accompanied by Tiaan Kannemeyer (Konica Minolta), Nolan Hoffman (Exel), Darryl Impey (MTN/Microsoft) and two development riders. The Road Race is circuit style, totalling 150km for the day. There is no Time Trial event in the games and the Ladies race is on the same loop, a day later. The team flies on the 6th of July with the rest of the All African Games Squad and will be returning on the 16th of July where the team will be together for the rest of the year?s upcoming classics. Michael Sowerby will be racing at the Knysna Oyster Festival Road Race on Sunday the 8th of July for the team and Durwan Benjamin has just recently returned from the Cape from racing the UCI B World Championships. Both Rupert Rheeder and Juan van Heerden are in recovery after both sustaining knee injuries that have forced them off the bike for a period of time.
  11. Posted on 09 July 2007 - 12:38 http://images.supersport.co.za/McEwenRobbie070707InactionAIbg.jpgAustralia's Robbie McEwen started the second stage of the Tour de France in Dunkirk on Monday despite sustaining a nasty wrist injury in a crash before winning Sunday's first stage at Canterbury. McEwen produced a trademark burst of power to finish a bike length ahead of Norwegian Thor Hushovd at the end of Sunday's 203km of racing from London. However the crash on a tight road with 23km still to race, left the 34-year-old Predictor-Lotto star nursing a sore wrist - and with major doubts for the coming days. Monday's racing takes the peloton from Dunkirk over into Belgiam and the city of Ghent.
  12. Posted on 08 July 2007 - 18:19 http://images.supersport.co.za/MillarDavid070708InactionGbg.jpgBritain's David Millar set his home crowd buzzing with an early breakaway on the first stage of the Tour de France on Sunday which earned him the polka-dot jersey for the race's top climber. Time-trial specialist Millar and France's Stephane Auge both have five points after the three category-four climbs on the 203-km route from London to Canterbury but the Briton wears the jersey by virtue of his third place in the overall standings. Millar attacked seven km into the stage and was soon joined by five other riders including Auge. The breakaway built up a maximum gap of six minutes before the riders were slowly swallowed back into the peloton. However, by then Saunier-Duval rider Millar had given the watching crowds, estimated at two million people, something to cheer about. "I just want to say thank you to the British public for the support they've given us," said the 30-year-old, who has won three Tour stages in his career. "I just rode out of my skin today and that was a thank you to everybody for coming out, that was amazing." Millar, who returned from a two-year doping ban shortly before last year's Tour, was a disappointing 13th in Saturday's prologue in London but has promised there is more to come. "I'm going to win a stage here. I can guarantee I'm going to win a stage," he said after the prologue.
  13. Posted on 08 July 2007 - 16:45 http://images.supersport.co.za/McEwenRobbie070708CelebratesAIbg.jpgAustralian Robbie McEwen recovered from a crash to clinch the first stage of the Tour de France, a 203-km ride from London to Canterbury on Sunday. The Predictor-Lotto rider, who already has three green jerseys to his name, outsprinted Norway's Thor Hushovd and Belgian Tom Boonen for his 12th Tour stage victory. McEwen crashed 21 km from the finish line but was soon back on his bike with a bruised knee and a sore wrist. The 35-year-old Australian entered the last straight safe in the bunch and claimed an impressive win with a late burst of speed. "I can't believe I've won, the moment I crashed I thought that's that, and even my Tour could have been over," McEwen told reporters. "But I pushed through and I've really got to thank my team mates for the work they did to bring me through." YELLOW JERSEY Swiss Fabian Cancellara of the CSC team retained the overall leader's yellow jersey after finishing comfortably in the peloton. Briton David Millar, who finished 13th in Saturday's prologue round the streets of London, took the polka dot jersey for the best climber after a 165-km breakaway and is third overall. "I just want to say thank you to the British public for the support they've given us," said Millar. "I just rode out of my skin today and that was a thank you to everybody for coming out, that was amazing." The stage started from Greenwich and went through the county of Kent in south east England, watched by an estimated two million people. Millar broke away some seven km after the start and was soon joined by Frenchmen Stephane Auge and Freddy Bichot, Ukraine's Andriy Grivko and Belarus's Aleksandr Kuschynski. The escapees built a six-minute gap with Millar and Grivko being dropped 35 km from the finish line. Cofidis rider Auge then went solo only to be swallowed by the peloton with 18 km remaining. British hope Mark Cavendish lost any hope of clinching victory after mechanical problems forced him to change bike twice in the last 20 km. Spaniard Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez of the Agritubel team was the first casualty of the Tour. He was forced to retire with a shoulder injury after smashing the windscreen of a Caisse d'Epargne car.
  14. Posted on 05 July 2007 - 19:46 http://images.supersport.co.za/BoonenTom070705PotraitRbg.jpgSprinter Tom Boonen has eased up on his Tour de France preparations after putting his indifferent form in last year's race down to too much work. Boonen was one of the favourites for the special sprinters' green jersey a year ago but, although he briefly led the overall standings, the 2005 world champion failed to win a stage and abandoned the race with stomach problems. "I was in good shape before the Tour, I worked too hard that was the only problem," the Belgian told a news conference on Thursday. "I did too much work in the mountains and because I did so much work, the sprints went a little bit down. It cost me one, two, three percent in the sprints and that's the difference between winning or losing," said the 26-year-old Quickstep rider. "I think I was more sure of myself last year but it didn't work out so good. This year my legs are not 100 percent but it's always in these kind of situations I get my best victories," added Boonen, who has not had a major win this season. The Belgian has won four stages on the Tour but said he had a love-hate relationship with the world's most famous cycling race. "I like the Tour and I dislike it a little bit because it's so hard. It's very much a way of getting to know yourself." Boonen is again one of the contenders for the green jersey and will not have to face Italian Alessandro Petacchi, who is out of the Tour after his non-negative doping test at this year's Giro d'Italia. "It won't make the sprints harder or less hard, it just means one sprinter less to compete with," Boonen said of his rival's absence.
  15. Posted on 06 July 2007 - 01:00 http://images.supersport.co.za/GusevVladimir070622CelebratingRbg.jpgThe famous Discovery Channel 'blue train' will not be making an appearance at this year's Tour de France because the team have gone green - in more ways than one. The team's riders will be wearing green uniforms instead of their usual blue during the Tour, which starts in London on Saturday, and have announced that they plan to become 'carbon neutral'. While cycling is an environmentally friendly way of travelling, Discovery Channel intend to offset the carbon emissions from the cars they use during races by planting trees in the Mendocino Forest near team leader Levi Leipheimer's home in California. "I'm definitely 100 percent behind it. I really believe in it," American Leipheimer told reporters at a news conference on Thursday. "I'm out on my bike every day so I'm out there in nature and I really see the importance of trying to preserve it and I'm really proud of the fact that the team has started this environmental awareness campaign." The team will also pledge to plant 30 trees each time a Discovery Channel rider wins a stage or wears a classification jersey during the race. Seven-times champion Lance Armstrong used to send his Discovery Channel team mates to the front of the peloton at the end of stages, and it became known as the 'blue train'.
  16. Posted on 05 July 2007 - 23:35 http://images.supersport.co.za/HunterRobert070311TrophyGLbg.jpgSouth African cycling history will be made in London on Saturday when Team Barloworld's riders launch their challenge in the Tour de France. Robert Hunter will become the first South African to captain a team in the world's most famous cycling event. It is also the first time that a South African company sponsors a Tour de France team. Many experts feel Hunter is capable of winning a stage this year. He is in top form and has already won the Picardie and the Volta ao Santarem tours this year. No South African has won a stage on the Tour de France. However, Barloworld team director Claudio Corti makes no secret of their goals. "We will ride aggressively," he says. "It is important for our riders to be where the action is throughout the three weeks. "If they think intelligently and take risks at the right time there is no reason why the team should not win a stage." Much is also expected of Barloworld's Geraint Thomas, a British rider who should do well during the first two weeks. He may even win the 8km prologue on Saturday. SPRINTING IS HIS STRONG POINT The 21-year-old Thomas was a member of the British team that won the gold medal in the team pursuit at the world track championships earlier this year. Sprinting is his strong point. Another Barloworld rider who has a chance of winning a stage before the teams reach the Alps is Enrico Degano, an Italian who won the 197.6km GP Internacional CTT Correios race in Portugal recently. When the riders reach the mountains, Felix Cardenas will be the man Barloworld will rely on. He has won a stage in the Vuelta Rspana and one in the Tour de France. The names of the team's nine riders were announced last Sunday. John-Lee Augustyn was not selected, probably because the talented rider is considered too young. The Barloworld team: Robert Hunter (SA) Felix Cardenas (Colombia), Gianpaolo Cheula (Italy), Enrico Degano (Italy), Alexander Efimkim (Russia), Paolo Longo Borghini (Italy), Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belgium), Mauricio Soler (Colombia) and Geraint Thomas (UK).
  17. Posted on 05 July 2007 - 16:36 http://images.supersport.co.za/TourdeFranceGeneric070702Rbg.jpgAll riders have been declared fit to start the Tour de France following blood tests, the International Cycling Union said on Thursday. "We wish to inform you that we have carried out 189 blood tests today," UCI said in a statement. "There are no unfit cases." The Tour de France starts with a 7.9-km prologue in London on Saturday.
  18. Posted on 05 July 2007 - 17:09 http://images.supersport.co.za/PetacchiAlessandro070702ExhaustedRbg.jpgItalian Alessandro Petacchi will not race the Tour de France after his non-negative doping test at this year's Giro d'Italia, his Milram team said on Thursday. "He will not race the Tour," said spokesman Andrea Agostini. Petacchi, who did not take Thursday's pre-race blood test, will be replaced in the Milram team by Andriy Grivko. The rider told a two-hour doping hearing on Monday that he had a medical certificate to use a set amount of salbutamol in his asthma inhaler and any overuse was simply an oversight. But the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor, Ettore Torri, decided he was still culpable and has asked cycling authorities to give the 33-year-old Milram rider a one-year ban. A two-year suspension is the maximum sentence.
  19. Doctor speaks out against dopingPosted on 04 July 2007 - 20:09 http://images.supersport.co.za/BassoIvan060528CyclingRbg.jpgThe doctor at the centre of Spain's largest ever drugs investigation spoke out against doping on Wednesday. Eufemiano Fuentes was one of two doctors arrested during 'Operation Puerto' after police seized large amounts of steroids, hormones and EPO from a Madrid clinic in May 2006. One hundred bags of frozen blood, related equipment and documents naming cyclists and other athletes were also found. Yet Fuentes was invited to speak at a conference on sport and doping at King Juan Carlos University. "Doping works against the health of athletes," he said. "It's illegal in Spain and I wouldn't prescribe it to you or to any athlete." Fuentes and seven other people were charged with having provided doping services. But the case was thrown out in March after a judge ruled that Spain's new doping laws could not be applied retroactively. The decision is under appeal. The law at the time penalised doping only if it harmed a person's health. However, Fuentes wouldn't talk about his involvement in Operation Puerto on Wednesday. "I won't answer any questions about doping, only about sport," Fuentes said. Fuentes implied that doctors are often victims in doping, pressured to offer treatments by teams and athletes motivated by success and its monetary rewards. "The amount of pressure put on by athletes and sports teams to achieve the desired results means the doctor is seen as obligated to prescribe treatments that (a cyclist) might not necessarily want," he said. Fifty-eight cyclists have been implicated in the blood-doping scandal, while 2006 Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso was recently banned for two years by the Italian Olympic committee. The scandal involved extracting blood from riders, treating it to boost the content of oxygen-carrying red blood cells, and then injecting it back into the athletes before a race to boost their endurance.
  20. Posted on 05 July 2007 - 10:33 http://images.supersport.co.za/SavoldelliPaolo070501PodiumRbg.jpgFive of the 21 teams participating in the Tour de France, which begins in London on Saturday, have yet to sign a landmark anti-doping charter which guarantees their entry to the July 7-29 race. So far 16 teams have signed the declaration. However, the entire teams of CSC, Quick Step and Rabobank have yet to sign. Russian Vladimir Gusev, of Discovery Channel, and Italian Paolo Savoldelli, of Astana, have also not signed. In a bid for a clean Tour, and to simultaneously weed out anyone linked to the ongoing 'Operation Puerto' doping affair in Spain, the International Cycling Union (UCI) has asked all Tour riders to sign an anti-doping charter and provide a DNA sample. The charter also stipulates that riders must also lodge a year's salary, which will be forfeited if they are convicted of any doping charges. Tour de France organisers have also promised to deny entry to any rider who fails to sign the
  21. Posted on 04 July 2007 - 18:45 http://images.supersport.co.za/PetacchiAlessandro070523CelebratingAIbg.jpgCyclist Alessandro Petacchi faces a one-year ban after a dope test showed excessive levels of salbutamol during May's Giro d'Italia, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said in a statement on Wednesday. Petacchi, who looks set to miss the Tour de France starting on Saturday, told a two-hour doping hearing on Monday he had a medical certificate to use a set amount of salbutamol in his asthma inhaler and that any overuse was simply an oversight. But the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor, Ettore Torri, decided he was still culpable and has asked cycling authorities to give the 33-year-old Milram rider a one-year ban. A two-year suspension is the maximum sentence. The ban has to be rubber-stamped by the Italian Cycling Federation, which could take some time, but his hopes of beginning the Tour in London in three days time now look shattered. "I tried to explain my case scientifically and the good faith in which it happened," the Italian sprinter told reporters after Monday's hearing. "The Tour? It depends on the prosecutor." Giro winner Danilo Di Luca is scheduled to appear before Torri a week on Saturday as part of a separate inquiry connected to a 2004 police investigation into possible doping. Di Luca has said he has nothing to hide. Ivan Basso, the 2006 Giro winner, was given a two-year backdated ban last month for telling Torri he was involved in Spain's Operacion Puerto doping scandal. Basso said he had only intended to dope but had never actually done so.
  22. Posted on 03 July 2007 - 14:22 http://images.supersport.co.za/DiLucaDanilo070603JubilantRbg.jpgGiro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca's anti-doping hearing has been postponed until July 14, the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) said on its Web site (www.coni.it) on Tuesday. Di Luca was due to appear in front of CONI'S anti-doping committee on Thursday to answer questions relating to a four-year police probe into Italian doctor Carlo Santuccione, who is alleged to have supplied athletes with doping products. His lawyer had asked for more time to prepare for the meeting. A second rider called in for questioning in the probe, third-place Giro finisher Eddy Mazzoleni, had his hearing postponed from Wednesday to July 13.
  23. Basso ban increased to two yearsPosted on 15 June 2007 - 19:17 http://images.supersport.co.za/BassoIvan070507ConferenceAIbg.jpgBasso's ban for attempted doping has been increased to two years from 21 months, the Italian Cycling Federation said on Friday, although he can race again from October 2008 as the suspension is back-dated. The Italian Olympic Committee, the country's anti-doping body, requested last month that the 2006 Giro d'Italia winner be suspended for 21 months after Basso admitted he had intended to commit a doping offence but had never actually done so. The three-month discount was because Basso collaborated with the authorities but the cycling federation, responsible for the final decision, decided to punish him with the full two years laid down under International Cycling Union (UCI) rules. Basso, widely regarded as a possible Tour de France winner, met with the federation's disciplinary commission in Rome earlier on Friday before his punishment was announced. "I made a mistake but I have never asked for discounts or pity," the former Discovery Channel rider told reporters. "Now I will face the consequences but I want to underline that I have said all that I know and for an athlete at my level that is not easy. I have lost everything -- the races, the contracts. I want to return to racing as soon as possible." The 29-year-old was implicated in the Operation Puerto blood doping scandal in Spain, which broke last year after police raids in Madrid and Zaragoza found large quantities of anabolic steroids, blood-transfusion equipment and more than 200 bags of blood. Basso was withdrawn from last year's Tour de France as one of more than 50 professional riders implicated in the investigation. Cycling authorities have decided this period of inactivity, which was not an official ban, and a precautionary suspension already placed on Basso will count towards the two years. He can therefore compete again from October 2008 but will miss next year's Giro and Tour. Media have quoted officials as saying his collaboration did not go far enough to allow him a lesser sentence. Authorities were hoping for names of other riders and individuals involved in the Spanish scandal. Basso's doping case is one of several which have severely damaged cycling's credibility. Last month, Denmark's 1996 Tour de France champion Bjarne Riis became the first rider to admit having used performance-enhancing drugs while winning an event.
  24. David IS THE KING GO GO GO GO KING DAVID
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