A.J. Smith in yellow?
US rider A.J. Smith, who won his first US national sprint title at the age of 15, returns to cycling.
At the age of 18 Smith was part of the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials for sprint cycling. A few months later Smith quit because
of the sport's rampant drug use.
Smith came back this year (at the age of 25) and won the "Race to Replace" but told sun-sentinel.com
he won't race for Discovery Channel because the US team signed Ivan Basso. Instead Smith will race for the Herbal Life/Bike
America Racing Team in 2007. He hopes to race in South and Central America and the United States.
Smith told sun-sentinel.com: "This sport is the dirtiest sport in the world." Smith continued by saying: "There
is no other sport that even comes close to the amount of drug use that is going on. It is happening overseas and over here
in the U.S. It is happening much more than anyone wants to talk about. It's ridiculous."
According to Smith there are more talented riders who walked away from the sport: "I am not the only junior
national champion who quit the sport ... there is plenty of talent out there sitting on a couch or behind a desk job because
of the doping problem."
Smith continued by saying: "When I was 15, it wasn't when I was going to or if I was going to dope, it was
what age would I start ... that was the whole mentality," Smith said. "It was a constant assault on my mind that if you want
to race in Europe you are going to have to dope. I am not saying this just because of hearsay or hearing that someone did
this, I know it's going on straight from other riders' mouths."
During his stay in Australia, where he was training for the Olympics at the age of 18, Smith had his awakening:
"I left the U.S. as a kid who never drank or had ever seen a drug," Smith said. "Within a month of being over there I tried
and had done almost everything. I did a lot of things I am ashamed of, but I got myself back on track again."
Smith will start a three month training cam in San Diego neext Monday and says he is not affraid for retaliation from
other riders or teams: "I guarantee you I will be hated by at least half of the European field before I even get over to Europe,"
Smith said. "I am going to do it clean with a strong mind and heart. I could care less what they think."
One of his mentors and longtime friend Carlos Laborde thinks A.J. Smith could be another Lance Armstrong:
"You know A.J. was something special at an early age ... the potential was unbelievable," said Carlos
Laborde. Laborde continued by saying: "I told him even though he was winning he would never be a world-class sprinter, but
he would be a world-class all-around rider. I told him he could be another Lance Armstrong. It is a lot of pressure, but knowing
A.J., he can do it. He has his second wind."
And Smith is convinced he can win the yellow jersey: "Right now it doesn't really matter what I am saying
because in the overall grand scheme of things in the sport of cycling I am a nobody," Smith said. "But next year I am going
to be a somebody ... and the year after that I am going to be THE somebody. Smit continued by saying: "It's not even a question
of whether it's going to happen ... it's just a question of how long is it going to take. There is no doubt in my mind, it's
already happened. I see myself wearing that yellow jersey."
Presentation Unibet.com Continental Team at Velofollies
The new Unibet.com Continental Team will be presented
at the fair Velofollies in the Belgian Courtrai next Saturday December 16th. The following cyclists make part of the Continental
Team next year: Dennis Kreder, Dieter Cappelle, Florian Guillou, Jan Van Eepoel, Jean-Marc Bideau, Jeroen Verniers, Jonathan
Bertrand, Kenny Van der Schueren, Lucas Persson, Stijn Ennekens, Viktor Folkesson and Maciej Ulanowski.
Jan Van Eepoel
crashed severely on Wednesday November 29th and won’t be able to attend the team presentation. The young Belgian is
recovering from a broken skull and jawbone at home. Unibet.com cycling team wishes him the best and hopes he recovers well.
