Tour of Austria extended by one day

The 2007 Hervis Tour of Austria will be extended by one day. The race is now scheduled from Sunday, July 8 to Sunday, July 15.

"After the very succesful 2006 Austrian Double Hervis and the Worlds in Salzburg McQuaid put our request to have the event extended by one day on his personal agenda. Now we have the definite consent for that", said Austrian Cycling Federation president Otto Flum. He added: "We’re on a very good path. We received nothing but praise from the UCI, the teams and everyone involved for the 2006 Hervis Tour. In times when the UCI in general advocates the shortening of stage-race – the Grand Tours Giro d'Italia and Vuelta in particular – it comes as a surprise to have been granted that extra day. Of course, we appreciate this decision!"

Tour director Ursula Riha was also pleased with the news: "The reasons are very plain: Staging a kick-off on a Sunday is easier. Also, with that extra day, we can reach other regions in Austria without big transfers. And for the ProTour teams the additional day is no problem either, since in previous year the teams travelled to Austria already on Friday or Saturday. Now the top teams can use the Tour of Austria, which as usual takes place during the first Tour week, even more effectively in order to ease themselves into the latter half of the season!”

Gardeyn and Zanotti stay with Unibet.com

Gorik Gardeyn and Marco Zanotti have extended  their contracts with Unibet.com yesterday. Both riders had back luck this year, but signed an agreement for one additional season with the new ProTour team.

“Gardeyn didn’t make a good season this year, but I have faith in the young Belgian. I believe he can do very well in the spring classics”, said Sports Manager Jacques Hanegraaf. Gardeyn missed a lot of races due to his knee injury but managed to finish strongly fifth in Paris-Brussels.

Marco Zanotti crashed severely in Dwars door Vlaanderen at the beginning of the season and broke his collarbone. The Italian sprinter won the opening stage of the Tour of Algarve and finished second in the sixth stage of the Eneco Tour. According to Hanegraaf, Zanotti should be able to win a stage in one of the big tours.

Roger Legeay demands DNA samples of Puerto suspects

Roger Legeay, one of the team manager who represent the Pro-Tour teams in the Pro-Tour council demande that riders who are allegedly linked to the Fuentes scandal should be forced to give a DNA sample in order to compare the DNA material with the bloodbags that Spanish police confiscated during raids in Madrid on May 23. Legeay said that the new rules which the Pro-Tour teams decided during the world championships in Salzburg last month should be inforced earleir. The Pro-Tour teams decided during their meeting in Salzburg that from january one, 2007 riders will have to give DNA samples which the UCI can use to compare it in doping cases. Legeay's demands seems to be conflicting with European law which say that you cannot change the rules afterwards.  

Basso not at Giro di Lombardia, still suspended by CSC

Yesterday Italian anti-doping authorities dropped charges against Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso. Today it was announced that Basso won't start at the Giro di Lombardia and that the Italian rider and his CSC team might seperate at the end of the season. Basso told Italian daily sports "Gazzetta dello Sport" yesterday: "My goal now is to get back to winning bike races. I want to win the Giro or the Tour, and remove all doubt. The fans will not be satisfied with the case being closed, they want to see me win again like I did in May."

Basso continued by saying: “I have not done anything that I need to feel bad about, and I do not need to defend myself or prove anything. My victory in the Giro d’Italia was not a big surprise, it was the result of four years were I was among the best at the Tour de France.”

Basso made it clear he didn't agree team CSC's decision not to let start Basso at the Giro di Lombardia: “No, I will not be participating. I have been acquitted, but Riis has decided that for the time being it would be best for me not to race the Lombardia. I am very dissappointed about this. Bjarne told me that it is not because of the ethical code, but a purely technical decision. I have consistently trained to be ready to race as soon as my suspension ends, but maybe it is a bit too early, with only two days until Lombardy.”

Basso ended the interview by saying that he would meet with Bjarne Riis on Monday again and that they didn't speak with eachother for four months.

Team CSC's press spokesman, Brian Nygaard told Danish tv station TV2 yesterday: "First and foremost, we are happy that there has been taken a decision in the case, which we can now digest, and determine what our decision will be." About the meeting between Ivan Basso and team manager Bjarne Riis, Nygaard stated: "There has been a meeting between Ivan and Bjarne Riis. The result of that is that they have now started to discuss Ivan’s future on the team, and they will soon make a decision about that."

Bjarne Riis who demanded in several interviews that Basso had to proof his innocence and that the Italian riders also has to proof he didn't had contact with Spanish doctor Fuentes obviously still isn't convinced: "Yes, that requirement is still on the table. It is also the main issue, from our point of view. We hope to get the UCI out of the bushes, so that we can get as good an overview over the case as possible, and then take a decision based on that. So for the moment he remains suspended, and then we will decide whether he figures in the team or not.”

Nygaard made it clear that it's uncertain  wheter Ivan Basso will stay with CSC or not: “Basso will not start at the Giro di Lombardia, and that is because it is not yet decided whether he has a future on the team, and until we have a final decision on that, there is no point in having him ride.”

Several media speculated today that Ivan Basso will leave CSC at the end of the season to join Discovery Channel. Although Discovery manager Johan Bruyneel denied that the US based team will sign Ivan Basso a few weeks ago, the rumour just won't dissapear. On Sunday, after Paris-Tours, FD Jeux manager Marc Madiot told reporters of French daily sports "l'Equipe" that he was very angry about talks between Discovery Channel and Ivan Basso since Pro-Tour teams are not allowed to negotiate with riders who are allegedly linked with doping cases according to the much critized "code de conduit".