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02.11.2006/ Quickstep: Rujano leaves - Vasseur renewed,
Cross: Rabobank dominates at Koppenberg, Troels, Golas and Scheuneman to Unibet.com, Cunego extends with Lampre, Red
Bull road rage cancelled, Lotz wants comeback, Hondo: "Why should one not be interested in Ullrich",
LuK challenge loses sponsor, Henninger Turm under pressure, Belgian cycling federation protests against UCI, Ralf Grabsch meets
Ciolek at Cross-Duathlon in Cologne
New: Picture gallery Tour of Lombardy 2006
New: Doping in Cycling - One Fans Point of View
New: Hasslacher: "first rate pre-judgement"
Quickstep: Rujano leaves - Vasseur renewed
The Quickstep-Innergetic Cycling Team and Josè Rujano have mutually agreed that his contract with the
team will finish immediately.
"I want to say thanks to the riders and the staff of the Quickstep-Innergetic team -
explains Rujano - for these months of job together. Unfortunately I haven’t succeeded in reaching the objectives that
I was me preset with the team because of some personal problems that have conditioned my season. I wish the team all the best
for the next season."
The team announced that Cedric Vasseur, that has shown his professionalism during the
last season, has been confirmed in the roster of the team for 2007, that will be the last season for the French rider.
Cross: Rabobank dominates at Koppenberg
The Cross riders say it's the hardest race and call it the cross Tour of Flanders. Sven Nys won yesterdays
Koppenberg cross race, it was his 150th victory for the Rabo squad and the third time in a row at the Koppenberg. Sven
Nys told reporters after the race: "The Koppenber cross is always won by the strongest and i think i was the strongest today."
Dutch Rabobank routinier Richard Groenendaal came in second.
Troels, Golas and Scheuneman to Unibet.com
The Danish Troels Vinther is riding with the new
ProTour team Unibet.com the next two years. The 19 year-old Vinther is one of the most talented Danish youth riders and is
making his professional debut with the Unibet.com cycling team next season. Troels became Danish Champion U23 last year.
The
Dutchman Niels Scheuneman and the Pole Michal Golas followed Vinther’s example and also signed with the new Swedish
ProTour team. Scheuneman rode the last two seasons with Rabobank but choose to compete with Unibet.com the next year. Michal
Golas is making his professional debut with the online sports betting company. The 22 year-old Golas won the Polish Championship
U23 this season and signed a contract for two years with Unibet.com.
Cunego extends with Lampre
The 2004 winner of the Giro d'Italia, Damiano Cunego extended his contract with Lampre untill 2010. The
25 year old rider won the white jersey in this years Tour de France and joined the Lampre squad in 2005.
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| Damiano Cunego during this years Giro d'Italia (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
Lotz wants comeback
Dutch rider Marc Lotz wants to come back in the peloton again. Lotz is suspended untill June
007 after he admitted the use of Epo. According to Dutch website wielernieuws.nl the Dutch Skil-Shimano squad seems to be
interested in signing Lotz.
Red Bull road rage cancelled
The second edition of the Red Bull road rage is cancelled due to fire
safety precautions. After close evaluation with the Malibu city fire chief, the decision was made to cancel the event. While
dissapointed, everyone at Red Bull is in full support of whatever action is necessary for the safety of the local community.
At this stage there are no plans for the future.
Hondo: "Why should one not be interested in Ullrich"
German media report that the Italian/Russian Tinkoff squad is interested
in signing Jan Ullrich. Team manager Omar Piscina told German newsagency DPA yesterday: "but the team is only interested
when Ullrich's situation is cleared up and Jan can ride races."
Danilo Honded stated in German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau: "Why should one not
be interested in Ullrich ?" Hondo continued by saying ofcourse Tinkow had: "talks and also informed himself in Spain," about
the Ullrich case. Hondo signed a contract for the 2007 season with the Tinkoff squad.
According to DPA Piscina spoke with Ullrich's mentor Rudy Pevenage
last week and German tabloid Kölner Express reported that there were negotiations between Tinkoff and Strohband,
but Ullrich manager, Wolfgang Strohband told reporters: "That's just speculation, I don't want to say any more about it."
In the same tabloid Ullrich's press officer Michael Lang said: "Tinkoff is one of many rumours, Jan drinks Fanta at the moment
and keeps himself fit by regular training." Lang continued with: "If anything is signed or ripe for decision, we will
release a statement but at the moment we won't comment."
Tinkoff is owned by Russian selfmade millionair Oleg Tinkow and the pro continental team has signed
riders like Danilo Hondo and is also interested in signing Tyler Hamilton (Cyclingheroes reported). The 39 year old Tinkow
was a passionate amateur rider himself and comes from Leninsk-Kusnezk in Siberia.
Riders that have already signed with Tinkoff for 2007: Elia Aggiano (Ita); Pavel Brutt (Rus); Ilya Chernetsky (Rus); Salvatore Commesso (Ita); Daniele Contrini (Ita); Danilo
Hondo (Ger); Sergey Klimov (Rus); Mikhail Ignatyev (Rus); Ruggero Marzoli (Ita); Anton Mindlin (Rus); Ivan Rovny (Rus); Alexander
Serov (Rus); Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez (Spa); Nikolay Trusov (Rus); Steffen Weigold (Ger); Evgeny Petrov (Rus)
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| New team for Ullrich? (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
LuK challenge loses sponsor, Henninger Turm under pressure
Two major German races are under pressure after the Puerto scandal. The German paired time trial in Bühl lost
his main sponsor, LuK a supplier for car clutch systems, and the company made it very clear that it ended it's sponship because
of the doping scandals this year. LuK stated that it costed the sport it's credibility. Race organizer Eugen Rösinger is searching
for another sponsor at the moment and already has some contacts. Rösinger told Radsport-Aktiv: "But it will be hard."
Organizer Eugen Rösinger is now searching for another sponsor told German based website Radsport-Aktiv.de: "It
will be hard, but we are in talks with some sponsors" said Rösinger, who needs 500,000 Euros to continue running the event,
last year LuK paid half of the amoun.
An other traditional German race, the Henninger Turm is looking for a new sponsor as well. Brewery Henninger will still
sponsor the race in 2007, but according to German daily newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt, main sponsor Henninger suggested race
organizer Moos-Achenbach to seek a new sponsor for the 2008 edition. Henninger will keep sponsoring the race but with less
money.
Belgian cycling federation protests against UCI
According to Italian website tuttobiciweb, the Belgian cycling federation wrote a letter to UCI Pro-Tour manager
Alain Rumpf in which the federation protests against the decision of the UCI Pro-Tour license commission to grant Manolo Saiz
a license for the 2007 season.
Ralf Grabsch meets Ciolek at Cross-Duathlon in Cologne
Next Saturday, Ralf Grabsch will be starting at a Cross-Duathlon in Cologne. The Milram rider
will build a team with his brother Bert Grabsch. The competition consists of 6 kilometers of running, 20 kilometers on
the bike, and once again three kilometers of running.
At the Ronny Wöstmann Cross-Duathlon, Ralf Grabsch will meet
colleagues like Gerald Ciolek and Sven Teutenberg. The competition is open to beginners, duathlon specialists and professional
athletes.
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| U 23 world champion Gerald Ciolek (picture: Cyclingheroes) |
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