Cyclingheroes flash-news Wednesday 22.11.2006

22.11.2006/Quickstep to Marina di Bibbona, Route 2007 Tour de Georgia announced, Paolo Bettini reflects on season, Lance Armstrong: zero tolerance and another marathon

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Quickstep to Marina di Bibbona

The QUICK STEP-Innergetic team departs to Marina di Bibbona (LI), in the land that has watched the rising star and successes of the world champion Paolo Bettini.

The athletes and the complete staff of the team will be staying at the Hotel Marinetta in Marina di Bibbona from the 8th until the 14th of December 2006. The team has chosen once again the Tuscan region as a result of the interest and on invitation of the Municipal Administration of Bibbona in collaboration with the hotel Marinetta within the scope of promoting the territory as well as cycling-tourism.

The program will be very intense: the first tests of functional evaluation, training, the official photo shootings of the team and the preparation of the promotional material will fill the days of the athletes.

The 14th of December the team will fly to Belgium for the official team presentation scheduled for the 15th of December in the Kortrijk Expo in Kortrijk.

Route 2007 Tour de Georgia announced

2007 marks the fifth edition for the Tour de Georgia, which has been lengthened from six to seven days this spring, April 16 -22. The human drama unfolds on Monday, April 16 as world-class cycling teams will cover over 600 miles of racing from Georgia's historic heartland to Civil War battlefields, crossing rivers and mountains, bringing thousands of spectators to city centers and parks. Sunday, April 22 the Grand Finale will feature a circuit race that will return a world spotlight to a landmark made famous from the Centennial Olympic Games.

The week-long event will maintain its traditional "Tour de France tune-up" slot on the UCI international cycling calendar as a 2. HC (Hors Categorie) professional event, attracting the best teams from North America and across the globe.

More information about the 2007 route of the Tour de Georgia at: www.tourdegeorgia.com

Paolo Bettini reflects on season

Current road world champion spoke about his 2006 season with Italian daily sports Gazzetta dello Sport. Bettini said: "I discovered a beautiful world. We tried to create the ProTour, but actually it lives here in races on the track," Bettini said.

Bettini critized the UCI Pro-Tour: "We went down a dangerous road, to continue all costs for modernization but the spectators do not understand anything. It does not make sense to have two races at the same time, such as the Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice."

About the Fuentes affaire Bettini commented: "How is it possible that Ivan Basso is not allowed to race while Manolo Saiz can own a ProTour team? It is an interesting game but we, cyclists, always have to pay. Ivan has every right to compete."

One week after "Il Grillo" became world champion is Salzburg his brother died in a car crash: "I dream of my brother almost every night. He is not here physically but he is always with me. I miss him a lot."

Paolo Bettini during this years Giro di Lombardia (picture: Cyclingheroes)

Lance Armstrong: zero tolerance and another marathon

In an interview with newsagency Reuters Lance Armstong spoke about the 2007 New York marathon, Armstrong said: "I'm going back next year; I've decided I'm going back." Armstrong has run this years New York marathon in 2 hours 59 mintues and 36 seconds. The seven times Tour de France winner raised more than $ 600.000 for cancer research during the New York marathon and said: "I was surprised by the amount of coverage." Armstrong who had cancer before his Tour de France victories conquered the disease and acknowledged he has "celebrity capital". Armstrong said: "I try not to think about that. I guess there is some of that," he said. "You take the sport side of things, and I've not been a recluse since. I've been out and about. Then the work with the disease and trying to engage in the political process there and getting our leaders to pay attention and increase funding and increase exposure for it. It's such a big disease and touches so many lives that you have a built-in audience that wants that and needs that and wants to support that and wants to be part of an army. That is probably the biggest constituency I have. It's certainly the one I care the most about aside from my kids."

About the WADA proposal to rely solely on one urine sample and abolish the current B sample in the anti-doping fight in the future, Armstrong said: "The need for drug testing is great. If the athletes are not protected and respected, and their rights are not protected and respected, then the process will never work. If the athletes don't believe in it, they don't believe they are being treated fairly, then it's all a sham. For an athlete to be banned for life for a positive A sample, that's essentially giving them the death penalty. If there is no way for them to clear themselves, through some sort of forensic evidence or DNA then...we would have a lot of innocent people on death row."

The retired cyclist is co-owner of the Discovery Channel team and made clear that his team is against doping: "We have a zero tolerance policy. If someone either admits doping or is caught doping or prosecuted for doping then they're out."

Lance Armstrong during the 2005 Tour de France (Picture: Cyclingheroes)

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