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21 August 2006

22 August News ...

Nibali and Hincapie Shine in Eneco

Redemption at last for George Hincapie (Discovery Channel). After failing to win any of the time trials at this year's Tour de France, Hincapie beat out the young Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) to win Eneco Tour of Benelux stage 4. Race leader Tom Boonen (Quick-Step) battled to keep his red jersey, but with only seventeen seconds separating Hincapie and Boonen, it would be tight. After 16.1K of racing, it was Hincapie who bested the World Champion and took over the red jersey of race leadership.

Finishing 0.36 seconds behind the American (at 19'58") was 21 year-old Siciliano, Nibali. Nibali, who now sits third in the overall classification, has his mind on taking the overall win from Hincapie. Early this year he came close to winning the Coppi e Bartali overall, falling two seconds shy behind another great, Damiano Cunego.

"I was already starting to celebrate [the win]. Hincapie was five seconds behind at the intermediate time check. Then you could see that straightaway for the line he was pushing big gears. To bad," explained Nibali, who bases himself in Mastromarco (Toscana). "Now I am third in the classification, I will think of taking the overall race win."

Hincapie had some compassion for his younger rival, saying, "I feel for him, but I am happy for myself. It has often been the other way for me this season. As well as in the prologue of the Tour, I also came less than one second short of victory in the Eneco prologue. Today ended with the advantage in my favor."

"At the time check, Bruyneel told me that I was five seconds behind but I did not know who was leading," Hincapie continued, regarding his first success since the Tour of California in February. "From that point on I gave it everything that I had."

Today, stage 5, the riders will face 183K of racing in Belgium, from Hasselt to Balen.

Di Rocco Continues to Support Basso

With the Operación Puerto paperwork now in the hands of the FCI (Federazione Ciclistica Italiana) for inspection, Renato Di Rocco, President of the FCI, continues to back Ivan Basso while attacking the credibility of Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. Di Rocco, who in July, before the papers were handed over to the FCI, had commented, "We are standing by Basso. If there is evidence of wrongdoing then we will be the first to penalize but I don't think this will happen."

Basso (28) was in a state of disillusion when his name was linked to the Operación Puerto Spanish investigation just prior to the start of the Tour de France. His squadra, CSC, after a rushed meeting with all the ProTour team representatives, excluded il Varesino (30 June) from starting the Tour according to the ProTour's ethical codes.

"From the documents I have seen, there are not sufficient elements to accuse [Basso]," said Di Rocco regarding the paperwork the FCI received from the UCI on 3 August. "... A grave incident. Basso is stopped and interrupted in working by his team manager when no one supports this. ... The cyclists have their back to the wall and they have to accept this [the ethical codes]."

Di Rocco went on to question the validity of the paperwork he has seen from the Spanish investigators. The FCI president thinks that Fuentes could be fabricating the relationship with Ivan Basso.

"I believe that Fuentes is boasting the relationship with Basso," Di Rocco continued. "This serves to make himself more important in certain circles."

The fax? "This fax we knew of before and according to me it serves to show that Basso can't be 'Birillo', the number '2' and the other times be 'Ivan Basso.' Who uses codes would always use codes."

Ivan Basso will be summoned to the Olympic Stadium in Roma by CONI (Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano) 29 August.

Read:
A Damning Fuentes Fax, 18 August
Vuelta Unlikely as Basso's Case Moves Forward, 5 August
Basso Case Arrives in Italy, 4 August
Di Rocco on Basso, 27 July
Operación Puerto: National Federations Receive Names, 26 July
Basso Comments on Spanish Case, 3 July

Klöden and Petacchi Finish Regio

Yesterday, Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile), third in the Tour de France, won the Regio Tour in Germany, while Alessandro Petacchi (Milram) competed in his first sprint finish after his crash in the Giro d'Italia.

"Today [yesterday] was the best day of the tour for me," said Petacchi who finished fifth, third in the sprint. "I really felt that I am on the way to my top form. The race was really hard and I did not expect to be able to finish it. ... During the last stage everything went fine for me and so I decided to take part in the sprint. But I did not risk too much. This fifth place was really good for me mentally. ... I will head to the Vuelta with high morale."

Plaza Gives Comunidad Valenciana Parting Gift

Rubén Plaza, 26 year-old Spaniard of Comunidad Valenciana, controlled the finale of the 29th Clasica a los Puertos to give his team a win in their last race. Comunidad Valenciana, linked to the Operación Puerto investigation in Spain, was banned from starting the 2006 Tour de France and since then the owners have decided not to carry on with the squadra.

Plaza took the sprint ahead of Jon Bru (Kaiku), teammate Eladio Jiménez and Pablo Lastras (Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears). Oscar Pereiro, the likely winner of the 2006 Tour de France, finished in the gruppo at 4'05" back. The Spaniard will start in the Vuelta a España this Saturday in Málaga, ending three weeks later in Madrid.

Read:
Comunidad Valenciana Suffers Another Blow, 28 July

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

19 August News ...