News

30th April 2007

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Basso's request to leave Discovery Channel gets granted

Italian 2006 Giro winner Ivan Basso has been released by the American Discovery Channel team after requesting a meeting with General Manager Bill Stapleton and Sports Director Johan Bruyneel, a meeting where he requested to be released with immediate effect.

According to a press release Basso stated, "This was a very difficult decision, for me and my family, but I think it is the right thing to do. Johan, Bill and my teammates have always believed in me and shown me great respect. This decision is my way of showing them that same respect. The Team is trying to find a new sponsor and win bike races, and my situation is a distraction to both of those goals. It is important that everyone knows this was 100% my decision. Nobody asked me to leave. I am grateful to all of the staff and riders and wish them the best of luck."

Basso's decision and comes in the wake of the re-opening of an investigation into him by CONI who he is due to appear before this coming Wednesday, the 2nd of May.

Basso was one of the riders linked to the Spanish 'Operacion Puerto' doping investigation, but, as was the case with all riders implicated, Basso was cleared at the end of 2006 allowing him to resume competition. Only last week the Italian Olympic Committee announced that they were to re-open his case after which the Discovery Channel team asked him not to compete until further information became available.

Johan Bruyneel commented in the release, "Ivan’s request was unexpected and he was very emotional, but adamant, about his decision to be released. We spoke with him at length before granting his request. Although he was only on our Team for a short time he was a great leader and a very well respected and selfless teammate. I, along with the entire Team, wish him the best."

"Ivan was a great addition to our Team and I am very sad to see him go. He was one of our leaders and we expected big things from him this season, however, this Team has 15 wins in 2007 and we have great depth and talent on our roster. We will continue to win and be competitive in all of our races, including the Tour De France,” commented General Manager Bill Stapleton. “When we signed Ivan, all the necessary governing authorities had cleared him. He deserved a Team and we had always wanted to sign him. We did our due diligence and we have no regrets."

Basso's release will be a great loss for the Discovery Channel team who are looking for a new sponsor for the 2008 season. Without him leadership of the Discovery Channel team at the Tour de France will fall solely on the shoulders of American Levi Leipheimer, winner of the Tour of California already this season.

ProCycleNews.com would like to take this opportunity to wish Ivan and the Discovery Channel team all the best for the future. Will this be the end of Basso's career?

Di Luca wins the Liège-Bastogne-Liège

Showing excellent form, Liquigas rider Danilo Di Luca claimed an impressive victory at the end of yesterday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Going clear inside the final 4 kilometers in the company of CSC rider Fränk Schleck, the Killer kicked into overdrive as the duo went under the final kilometer flag, dropping Schleck and continuing to the line alone.

Behind Schleck was passed by Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) who surged towards the line to take second place with the CSC rider from Luxembourg placing third.

The win was Di Luca's first in the LBL, a race that he had dreamt of winning for a number of years.

The race rolled out of Liège with a total of 262 kilometers in front of the riders including 12 côtes on route to sort out the real challengers from the mere pretenders.

Soon after the start a group of four riders went clear of the peloton. The four riders were Vasil Kiryienka (Tinkoff Credit Systems), Jan Kuyckx (Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner), Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Rémy Di Gregorio (Française Des Jeux).

Together they worked together building their rapidly increasing lead to just under 17 minutes when they crossed the Côte de Ny after 57.5 kilometers.

The breakaway's advantage over the peloton continued to grow over the following kilometers eventually stabilizing around 18 minutes.

It wasn't to the race hit the Côte de Stockeu when the gap started to drop as the riders up front started to tire.

Behind the peloton was starting to thin out under the pressure of the chase being led by the Quick Step-Innergetic, Gerolsteiner and Lampre-Fondital teams for their relative leaders.

Over the leg-breaking climb of La Redoute the chase continued as the break suffered ahead. American Christian Vande Velde led forced the pace for his CSC team.

It wasn't much longer before the break was finished as the riders fought towards the finish.

As the finish line drew ever clearer rider after rider launched off the front fancying their chances of a monumental win. Into the final kilometers Rabobank's Boogerd was as active as ever, fighting and launching himself at the front of the race, his last Liège-Bastogne-Liège before he retires at the end of the season.

With all the pre-race favorites active at the front Schleck decided it was time to make his move for the finish. Di Luca was under serious pressure fighting back up to the wheel of the rider from Luxembourg.

Schleck continued forcing the pace in the company of Di Luca ahead of all the other contenders. But then it all changed as the riders passed under the kite signaling the final kilometer.

Behind Valverde jumped clear of the chasing group closing fast towards Schleck who had just been distanced by Di Luca.

Alone Di Luca powered towards the line, distancing Schleck with every turn of his pedals and crossing the line alone for a memorable win.

Click here for the full results from the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic now...

Cunego looks on track for the Giro d'Italia after his win at the Giro del Trentino

Italy's Damiano Cunego looks almost certain to be a challenger throughout the upcoming Giro d'Italia when you look at his current form. Last week he dominated the Giro del Trentino in Italy, winning two stages and the overall competition, and then finishing a fine 7th at yesterday's Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic, 0'09" behind winner Di Luca.

Cunego has never tried to hide the fact that the Giro is his main goal for the season, hoping to win the race for his second time following his triumph in 2004.

Cunego took his second win at the Giro del Trentino last week. He had already claimed the overall victory there in 2004 before going on to claim the Giro. Could this be an omen? We won't have to wait too long to see!

Result - Stage 4 - Toscolano Maderno - Arco, 164.6km (Top 10):

1 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 3.40.40 (44.755 km/h)

2 Luca Paolini (Ita) Liquigas

3 Krzysztof Szczawinski (Pol) Miche

4 Mikhaylo Khalilov (Ukr) Ceramica Flaminia

5 Alessandro Bertolini (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia

6 Borut Bozic (Slo) Team L.P.R.

7 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita) Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo

8 Rino Zampilli (Ita) Aurum Hotels

9 Daniele Pietropolli (Ita) Tenax Salmilano

10 Emiliano Donadello (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Selle Italia

Giro del Trentino final overall classification:

1 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 16.22.20 (39.386 km/h)

2 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Acqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 0.18

3 Luca Mazzanti (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 0.40

4 Thomas Rohregger (Aut) Elk Haus-Simplon 0.42

5 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 0.45

6 Fortunato Baliani (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 0.54

7 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Liquigas 1.12

8 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas

9 Yauhen Sobal (Blr) Cinelli-Endeka-OPD 1.17

10 Massimo Giunti (Ita) Miche 1.28

Images from the final stage of the Giro del Trentino will be on our site tomorrow...

Petacchi wins the Lotto-Tour

Milram's Italian sprint God Alessandro Petacchi has won the Lotto-Tour for the second time following on from his success last year.

Petacchi claimed three stage wins on his way to the overall title. Speaking after the final stage Petacchi said, "Big thanks to my team for the great work. Today we had to work more than we thought.”

The win is the latest in a list of victories for the Italian rider who was out for most of 2006 because of injury and illness. Next stop, the Giro d'Italia on route to the Tour de France, both races where Petacchi will be looking for stage wins and the lead in the points competitions of the Grand Tours.

Results 5th stage from Osterode to Göttingen over 181.8 kilometers:
1 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4.15.41

2 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) T-Mobile

3 Aaron Kemps (Aus) Astana

4 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank

5 Daniel Musiol (Ger) Wiesenhof-Felt

6 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram

7 Paride Grillo (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare

8 Benjamin Brooks (Aus) Navigators Insurance

9 Martin Hebik (Cze) Heinz von Heiden Focus

10 Dennis Pohl (Ger) Heinz von Heiden Focus
General classification after 890 kilometers and five stages:
1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Milram 20.23.22

2 Graeme Brown (Aus) Rabobank 0.14

3 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) T-Mobile

4 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 0.16

5 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram 0.18

6 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana 0.21

7 Richard Faltus (Cze) Team Sparkasse

8 Stephan Parinussa (Ger) Team Sparkasse 0.22

9 Clement Lhotellerie (Fra) Skil-Shimano 0.25

10 Tiziano Dall'Antonia (Ita) Ceramica Panaria-Navigare 0.26

Barloworld head to Spain with Felix Cardenas as leader

The British registered Barloworld Pro-Continental team are heading to Spain where they will ride the Subida al Naranco tomorrow, May the 1st and the Vuelta Ciclista Asturias from the 3rd to the 7th of May.

On both occasions the team will be led by experienced Columbian rider Felix Cardenas who will be supported by: Pedro Arreitunandia, John Lee Augustyn, Gianpaolo Cheula, Ryan Cox, James Perry and Hugo Sabido.

Sporting director Valerio Tebaldi said, "We will have a motivated team here, and each of these riders have already shown well in their races so far this season."

Teams announce for the Tour de Romandie

Cadel Evans will return to the Tour de Romandie to defend the title he won last year in the Swiss race. The Australian rider will be joined by a powerful Predictor-Lotto team where they will once again aim at the overall victory.

Evans will be supported by Bart Dockx (Bel), Nick Gates (Aus), Chris Horner (USA), Jufré Pou Josep (Spa), Robbie McEwen (Aus), Jurgen Vandenbroeck (Bel) and Wim Vanhuffel (Bel).

Other teams who have confirmed their riders for the race which kicks off tomorrow, Tuesday the 1st of May, are Astana, Liquigas, Lampre-Fondital, Cofidis, CSC and Crédit Agricole.

The Swiss registered Astana team will look for results from: Igor Abakoumov (Bel), Antonio Colom (Spa), Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz), Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita), Andrey Mizurov (Kaz), Steve Morabito (Swi), Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) and Serguey Yakovlev (Kaz).

Astana's sporting directors at the event will be Adriano Baffi and Giovanni Fidanza. Savoldelli himself is a previous winner in Romandie in 2000 as well as two stages in 2001 and the prologue time trial at last years race in Geneva.

Liquigas will field: Michael Albasini (Swi), Manuel Beltran (Spa), Patrick Calcagni (Swi), Eros Capecchi (Ita), Enrico Gasparotto (Ita), Roman Kreuziger (Cze), Vladimir Miholjevic (Cro) and Charles Wegelius (GBr). The squads sporting directors for the event will be Dario Mariuzzo and Mario Scirea.

Fellow Italian squadra Lampre-Fondital will be represented by: Matteo Bono (Ita), Jaime Alberto Castaneda (Col), David Loosli (Ita), Marco Marzano (Ita), Danilo Napolitano (Ita), Gorazd Stangelj (Slo), Sylwester Szmyd (Pol) and Tadej Valjavec (Slo). The team will be guided throughout the race by sporting directors Giuseppe Martinelli and Bruno Vicino.

Lining up for French team Cofidis will be: Frédéric Bessy (Fra), Leonardo Duque (Col), Nicolas Hartmann (Fra), Marvan Hary (Fra), David Moncoutie (Fra), Ivan Parra (Col), Steve Zampieri (Swi) and Cristian Moreni (Ita).

The CSC team will field: Michael Blaudzun (Den), Bobby Julich (USA), Carlos Sastre (Spa), Chris Anker Sørensen (Den), Volodymir Gustov (Ukr), Karsten Kroon (Ned), Andy Schleck (Lux) and David Zabriskie (USA).

Fränk Schleck who finished 3rd at yesterday's Liège-Bastogne-Liège but instead his place was taken by Denmark's Anker Sørensen. Schleck decided not to participate in the event because he is still suffering from an injury sustained in the Amstel Gold when he crashed.

Representing French team Crédit Agricole will be: Benoit Poilvet (Fra), Christophe Le Mevel (Fra), Christophe Kern (Fra), Patrice Halgand (Fra), Julian Dean (NZl), Anthony Charteau (Fra), Pietro Caucchioli (Ita) and Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun) The squads sporting directors for the event will be Serge Beucherie and Jean-Jacques Henry.

Crédit Agricole confirm their selection for the Giro d'Italia

French ProTour team Crédit Agricole have confirmed their selection for the Giro d'Italia, the first Grand Tour of the season from the 12th of May to the 3rd of June.

As reported last week here on ProCycleNews, Ireland's own Nicolas Roche will compete in the event, 20 years after his father Stephen won the race overall, the same year he went on to win the triple of the Giro, the Tour de France and the World Championships all in the one year.

Roche will be joined by: Laszlo Bodrogi (Hun), Francesco Bellotti (Ita), Christophe Kern (Fra), Thor Hushovd (Nor), Patrice Halgand (Fra), Angelo Furlan (Ita), Julian Dean (NZl) and Pietro Caucchioli (Ita).

The squads sporting directors for the event will be Denis Roux and Jean-Baptiste Souquet.