BiciRace.com :: News :: October 2005

News :: October 2005

4 October 2005

No Need To Continue for Basso

In Milano-Torino, photo: BiciRace.com

Ivan Basso's season was finished after 200K of the Züri Metzgete. The Italian from Varese put the breaks on a fruitful season. He will still continue to go out and ride, but just not race. "I will continue to go out on my bike until the Giro di Lombardia," said Basso (27) "I will go out riding in the forest on my cyclocross bike ... It is an old passion of mine that I will never get tired of. After, I will take a month of vacation, and then start training for 2006."

The Team CSC rider is the man many are picking to be the next Tour de France winner. If Basso is to have a chance to fulfill that possibility he has to start focusing on the season ahead. "The first course of the year was Milano-Torino, the 5th of March, and the last was the Championship of Zurich, the first of October, seven months without much of a break," said Basso after a long 2005 campaign. "We did not want to go to Zurich to demonstrate that I was not brilliant ... I had just spent a week of training beforehand. Sunday I went hard for 200K, then I was in the second chase group ... It was better to stop."

CSC team manager, Bjarne Riis, agreed with his star rider, "Ivan has raced a lot, and he has raced enough. Not that he is very tired, but he is tired nonetheless. The season was long and very full, with the Giro and the Tour. And now if we don't race at the front then it does not serve to continue. It is better that we take a good rest and prepare for a new season."

Read: End of Season for Ivan Basso

End of a Great Season for Voigt

Team CSC's strong-man, Jens Voigt, put a stop to a long 2005 campaign. It was a season that included wearing the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, an overall win in the Tour Méditerranéen, among other great wins and placings. Now the 34 year-old can get some rest before focusing on the new season ahead.

"He has been full steam ahead right from the beginning of the year and he's starting to get tired now," said Bjarne Riis via CSC. "The idea was for him to finish the season after Paris-Tours this week, but now we've come to the conclusion, that he's done all he can for this year ... There's no reason to wear him down completely. Just as Ivan [Basso] he's been one of the main profiles on the team, and he definitely deserves a break."

Voigt also managed a fine 2nd place in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège after a duel with Alexander Vinokourov. Then he went to the Tour to help Basso, and he was able to wear the Maillot Jaune before abandoning the race. "After my illness during the Tour I haven't felt completely on top, even though I did manage to ride quite fast in August," said Voigt. "I can feel that I'm spent, and luckily I can look back on a great season for the team and for me also. As a rider I'm probably the 'All or Nothing Type', and when my body is telling me it's got no more to give, then it's got a point."

Read:
Voigt-Julich Repeat Victory, 30 July
Team CSC ... A Team Of Yellow Strength, 11 July
Voigt Wins TT, 29 May
Voigt: Very Tough, 25 April
Power Win By Voigt, 9 April

Paris-Tours, Lombardia and 2006 for The Killer

Di Luca Looks Ahead, photo: Capture-The -Peloton.com

Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas-Bianchi) may have the ProTour wrapped up but he will continue racing. "I can't do without Lombardia," said the newly crowned ProTour champion. "I've already won this race in 2001 and it continues to fascinate me. Moreover the ProTour's victory is an advantage for me ... Now I can race the 'Classica delle foglie morte' ('Race Of The Falling Leaves') concentrating on the only victory. Of course the Paris-Tours doesn't suit me like Lombardia does, but I believe the ProTour leader can't go without racing such a prestigious race in front of such a passionate public like the French."

The first year of the ProTour has been controversial. The Killer does have a suggestion for change, "I would increase points to stage winners: three points for a stage win in a grand tour, or only one point for a win in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco is really too little..."

Next year Di Luca will shift his focus away from the Ardennes and over to the Giro and Worlds. "I've fought with all my strength for conquering this edition of the ProTour, the first one. Now I have other goals for 2006, however, if I have an opportunity for a second white jersey, I will try not to let it slip by. But this it isn't one of my main goals, in 2006 I will aim for the Giro d'Italia and World Championships." Bravo, we at BiciRace.com hope that Di Luca will be able to change his white ProTour jersey for a rainbow one!

Read:
Il Re del ProTour: Danilo Di Luca, 3 October
ProTour Man: Pais Vasco, Classics and The Giro, 5 July Interview

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Transfer Mania

There are a lot of transfers and team structure changes going on. The big news lately has been the departure of Fassa Bortolo as Gianluca Ferretti's sponsor. Ferretti has a new sponsor lined up (possibly IKEA or SonyEricsson) and big names signed, but still has to wait for acceptance into the ProTour. A special UCI commission will meet on 21 November to decide which team will receive the old ProTour spot of Fassa Bortolo. The teams that would like to have the 20th spot are: Ag2R Prévoyance, Comunidad Valenciana and Ferretti's new squadra.

Ag2R has a a strong chance, with the signing of Francisco Mancebo and Christophe Moreau. Ferretti hopes that he will have the advantage: a new sponsor that will invest 35 million over three years and that the ProTour license that is up for grabs was his in 2005. Also, the Iron Sergeant has signed a slew of talent: Gilberto Simoni, Salvatore Commesso, Carlos García Quesada, Sergiy Matveyev, Cristian Moreni, Andrea Tonti, Stuart O'Grady, Matthew White, Paolo Valoti, and possibly the Aussie, Bradley McGee.

Other Teams:
Liquigas-Bianchi brings in Stefano Zanini, Luca Paolini, Manuel Quinziato and Alessandro Spezialetti. Leaving are Luciano Pagliarini (to Saunier Duval-Prodir), Marcus Ljungqvist, Oscar Mason, Gianluca Sironi and Marco Zanotti.

Milram, the new squadra of Alessandro Petacchi and Erik Zabel, will be taking the place of Domina Vacanze. Joining the sprinters on this Italian-German team will be Alberto Ongarato, Fabio Sacchi, Marco Velo, Jan Schaffrath (from T-Mobile), Daniel Musiol, Enrico Poitschke and Sebastian Siedler (all three from Team Wiesenhof).

Lampre takes on board Marzio Bruseghin, Claudio Corioni, Danilo Napolitano, Tadej Valjavec, Paolo Tiralongo. Giuliano Figueras is leaving to the soapy squadra of Acqua & Sapone.

Quick-Step is bringing in José Rujano, Leonardo Scarselli, Francesco Chicchi, Matteo Tosatto, Davide Viganò, Steven De Jongh, Kevin Van Impe and Juan Manuel Gárate. Two big heavy-hitters leaving the squadra for T-Mobile are Patrik Sinkewitz and Michael Rogers. Others leaving are Jurgen Van Goolen (to Disco) and Rik Verbrugghe (to Cofidis).

Cofidis is bringing in Bradley Wiggins (from Crédit Agricole). Davitamon-Lotto is scooping Chris Horner, while Axel Merckx is leaving for Phonak. And the Belgian Squadra, UniBet (formerly MrBookmaker-Sports Tech), is taking on Gianluca Bortolami and Baden Cooke.

Read past transfer news:
Chicchi Signs With Boonen at Quick-Step, 30 September
Petacchi Rides For Milram in 2006, 24 September
Rinero and Pagliarini to Saunier Duval-Prodir, 24 September
Simoni Will Race With Ferretti, 21 September
T-Lo on the Disco Floor, 31 August
Tadej Valjavec to Lampre-Caffita, 31 August
Marcus Ljungqvist Joins CSC, 26 August
Kirchen, Mazzoleni and Honchar to T-Mobile, 24 August
Paolini Signs for Two Years, 21 August
T-Mobile Add Honchar and Mazzoleni, 20 August
Gil, Valjavec and Astarloa to Lampre-Caffita, 20 August
Quinziato, Paolini and Young-Guns to Liquigas-Bianchi, 20 August
Rujano to Quick-Step in mid-2006, 17 August
Sacchi Follows Petacchi, 12 August
Mancebo Fortifies Ag2R Prévoyance, 7 August
Ludewig To T-Mobile, 5 August

3 October News ...