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18 August 2006

19 August News ...

Landis' Father-in-Law Commits Suicide

The father-in-law of Floyd Landis, David Witt (57), was found dead Tuesday afternoon in a San Diego car parking lot. After finding Witt's body in his car, police investigators ruled the gunshot wound to the head was self inflicted and thus suicide.

Witt, an avid cyclist, and Landis met in 1998 and they even shared an apartment together at one point. Landis was introduced to his wife, Amber (30), via Witt. Floyd and Amber married in 2000 and shortly after David Witt married Amber's mom, Rose; the two served as best man at each other's weddings.

BiciRace.com sends our condolences out to friends and family of David Witt. We sympathize with Floyd Landis who, already going through the stress of a doping investigation, is faced with a tragic loss of a loved one.

Read:
Landis' B is Illin', 5 August
Tour Positive is Landis, 27 July
Tour de France Positive, 27 July

A Damning Fuentes Fax

There are no more code names, like Birillo or Hijo Rudicio, but clear naming of riders linked to Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Yesterday, Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German paper printed in Monaco, published a fax that was obtained by Spanish investigators during Operación Puerto. The fax, titled Neues Dokument Belastet Ullrich (or, New Document Accues Ullrich), clearly shows a connection of the cyclist to Fuentes.

The fax was sent from Fuentes to Nelson Giraldo Flores (in Colombia) in the days leading up to the "festival Mayo" (or Giro d'Italia). Fuentes wrote, "As per our agreement, I am sending a list of collaborators and participants in the festival that takes place in May;" going on to ask Colombian Flores for "help and collaboration."

Listed in the fax, before being signed by 50 year-old Fuentes, were seven "collaborators and participants":
1. Alessandro Kalc
2. Alberto Leon
3. Ivan Basso
4. Marco Serrano
5. Michele Scarponi
6. José Enrique Gutierrez
7. Jan Ullrich (Spelled with one "l" in the fax.)

Kalc, a former mountain bike DS from Trieste, is suspected by police to be a courier of blood sacks from Spain to Italy. Spaniard Leon, former mountain biker, like Kalc, is also identified as a runner of blood. Basso, Serrano, Scarponi and Ullrich are cyclists, all of whom competed in the Giro; Basso, of course, being the overall winner.

Since 6 May, this same fax has been in the hands of CONI (Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano), who is in charge of determining Basso's fate as a cyclist. The significance of this fax is that there is a clear spelling of Basso's name, instead of the past reports of code names, such as "Birillo" (allegedly the name of Basso's dog). The 28 year-old Giro winner, suspended 30 June from Team CSC according to the ethical codes of the UCI ProTour, will be summoned to the Olympic Stadium in Roma 29 August.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung article also revealed the amount in which Ullrich and Basso allegedly paid to Fuentes for their services. The German, 1997 Tour winner, supposedly paid 50,000€ a year, while the Italian paid 25,000€.

Read:
Operación Puerto: National Federations Receive Names, 26 July
Operación Puerto: The Dismissed Tour Riders, 30 June
Bam! Tour Shaken and Basso Gone, 30 June
Basso, Ullrich and Others Asked to Leave Tour, 30 June

Napolitano Bis in Bernocchi

Danilo Napolitano (Lampre-Fondital) pulled a Garzelli-styled bis by winning the 88th Coppa Bernocchi, one year after his last win in the same race. Napolitano, with his seventh win of the year, finished ahead of Giosuè Bonomi (Barloworld) and Luca Paolini (Liquigas).

"The last kilometer there were Lampre-Fondital and Liquigas," explained La Freccia del Sud (southern arrow, Napolitano is from Sicilia). "From the last kilometer to 500 meters pulled Commesso. From 500 to 200 Corioni. At 200 I went; I did not know by how much I won but they said it was by a bike's length."

Since winning the race last year with non-ProTour team LPR, It has been a remarkable run for La Freccia del Sud. Racing with Lampre-Fondital since January, Bernocchi marked the seventh win of the year for Napolitano, who is on the verge of starting in his first Grand Tour.

"I was not able to ride the Giro or the Tour, which is understandable given the depth of our squadra," explained Napolitano. "The Vuelta will be my first race of three-weeks. A good experience. I want to demonstrate myself to be in top form."

Cunego Will Race On

BiciRace.com reported yesterday that the 2006 season of Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Fondital) was finished; we were wrong. Il Veronese will soldier on in the 78th Giro del Veneto, a near-200K affair from Padova to Thiene, with four categorized mountains.

The race would typically suit Cunego's small climbing body but we expect he will be racing just to please the organizers. BiciRace.com believes that the Giro del Veneto will in fact be the last race of 2006 for Il Piccolo Principe... Stay tuned.

Read:
Season Over for Cunego, 17 August

Ballerini: Paolini on the Azzurra Track

After the three-day Trittico Lombardo, and the previous two weeks of Italian racing, Franco Ballerini can return to his study and continue the construction of the Squadra Azzurra in greater detail.

From 3 August (GP Camaiore) to yesterday's Coppa Bernocchi, the Italian national DS was on site to observe the Italians who could possibly form the nine-man World Championship team for 24 September. One of the riders who impressed Ballerini with his teamwork and winning abilities was Luca Paolini of Liquigas.

Ballerini said of the 29 year-old Milanese: "He won in Camaiore, at the Giro del Lazio he closed a gap of 40 seconds in a key moment, at the Tre Valli Varesine he did some huge work for Garzelli and at Bernocchi he arrived third. Overall, he demonstrated consistency. He needs to race to remain concentrated; he will do the Vuelta, it is better this way."

Read:
Paolini Satisfies Ballerini, 4 August

93rd Tour de France - presented by , 1 - 23 July

17 August News ...