SEVEN
NEW RIDERS HIGHLIGHT 2002 U.S. POSTAL SERVICE PRO CYCLING ROSTER
Armstrong
to shoot for fourth straight Tour de France title; Hincapie aims
at first World Cup victory
Coming off perhaps its finest season, highlighted by team leader
Lance Armstrong's third consecutive Tour de France victory, the
United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team announced it has added
seven new riders to its roster for the upcoming 2002 season.
The team, set to begin its seventh season with the USPS as its title
sponsor, will possess a 21-rider roster in 2002 and will continue
to be one of the most diverse teams in the sport with riders representing
10 different nations.
The new additions to the USPS team are Canada's Michael Barry,
Belgium's Tom Boonen, Americans David Clinger, Floyd
Landis and Chann McRae, Gianpaolo Mondini of Italy
and Czech Pavel Padrnos.
The returning riders from the 2001 season are Armstrong and fellow
Americans Hincapie, Dylan Casey, Antonio Cruz, Kenny
Labbe, Christian Vande Velde, Robbie Ventura and
Dave Zabriskie, Spain's Heras and Jose Luis Rubiera,
Benoit Joachim of Luxembourg, Norway's Steffen Kjaergaard,
Colombia's Victor Hugo Pena and Matthew White of Australia.
The team is currently negotiating with team member Stephane Barthe
of France.
"We are excited this will be the seventh year of our program," said
Mark Gorski, CEO of Tailwind Sports, the sports marketing company
and owns and manages the team. "And has we have said at the
start of each year, we again feel we have fielded our best team ever.
Combining a highly motivated Lance, a healthy Roberto and a more seasoned
George along with the team we have assembled, I am confident we will
be better than ever before. Plus, our new group of American
riders gives the team some great potential going forward."
Johan Bruyneel, the team's Director Sportif, echoed Gorski's sentiments.
"I think we have put together a very well balanced group of new riders
to the team, which wasn't an easy task after losing riders such as
Viatcheslav Ekimov, Tyler Hamilton and Levi Leipheimer," he said.
"I am confident that we have compensated for those who left the team
with riders like Mondini, Padrnos, Clinger and Boonen for the Classics
and with Landis and McRae for the Tour. Also, Michael Barry
will be a good addition for both the U.S. races and the smaller European
stage races."
The USPS team will once again focus its efforts on Armstrong's defense
of the yellow jersey at the Tour de France. Over the last three
Tours de France, Armstrong has won 11 stages en route to his three
victories and has 13 career Tour stage wins. The team will also
attempt to win its first World Cup event after several near misses
over the last few years by Hincapie, the team's leading one-day rider.
Hincapie has finished in the top six at one of the world's most difficult
events, Paris-Roubaix, the last three years and this year won his
first Classic event in Gent-Wevelgem as well as America's newest premier
event, the San Francisco Grand Prix. Additionally, the team
will support Heras, another top stage racer and one of the world's
top pure climbers, at the Tour of Spain, a race he won in 2000.
This year, Heras placed fourth at the Tour of Spain, one of three
USPS riders in the overall top seven.
Domestically, the USPS team will focus on top American events such
as the U.S. Professional Championship and the San Francisco Grand
Prix, among others.
Of the new riders, Bruyneel was particularly enthused about the American
contingent. "I'm very happy that we have added three important
American riders to the team. Landis and Clinger are young and
very talented with possess great potential that we will try to develop
further, while McRae is an experienced rider with solid all around
skills. All three of them are extremely motivated with their
new challenge.
"I have a real good feeling about the team for next year because I
have the feeling that we have a group similar in strength to this
year's team," added Bruyneel. "When the level is high, as it
has been with this team, its difficult to improve. I'm confident
that we will be able to play a decisive role in the important races,
mainly in the Tour de France and the Tour of Spain, and in the World
Cup Classics."
The team will hold its first winter training camp next month in Austin,
TX, and then in January will hold formal training camps in both the
U.S. and Europe.
2002
U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team Roster
Lance ARMSTRONG (USA)
Michael BARRY (CAN)
Tom BOONEN (BEL)
Dylan CASEY (USA)
David CLINGER (USA)
Antonio CRUZ (USA)
Roberto HERAS (ESP)
George HINCAPIE (USA)
Benoit JOACHIM (LUX)
Steffen KJAERGAARD (NOR)
Kenny LABBE (USA)
Floyd LANDIS (USA)
Chann McRAE (USA)
Gianpaolo MONDINI (ITA)
Pevel PADRNOS (CZE)
Victor Hugo PENA (COL)
Jose Luis RUBIERA (ESP)
Christian VANDE VELDE (USA)
Robbie VENTURA (USA)
Matthew WHITE (AUS)
Dave ZABRISKIE (USA)
Lance
Armstrong (US Postal) vince il cronoprologo del Giro di Svizzera.
Il
capitano della Us Postal, lo statunitense
Lance Armstrong, si è aggiudicato il cronoprologo di
7,9 km, disputato a Rust, in Germania. Subito dietro a 5'' è
giunto l'asso francese Laurent Jalabert (CSC
World Online) a soli 5”, al terzo posto, il compagno di
squadra del vincitore, Tyler Hamilton con soli 13 centesimi
di ritardo da Jalabert.
Lance
Armstrong è giunto in Svizzera con lo scopo di fare le
prove generali alla vigilia del Tour de France che vedrà il
via da Dunkerque il prossimo 7 luglio. Con la prestazione di oggi
il fuoriclasse di Austin piazza il proprio sigillo in previsione del
prologo della corsa francese, strizzando l'occhiolino al suo avversario
principale, il tedesco Ullrich che deve ancora trovare la migliore
condizione e smaltire gli ultimi chili in eccesso portati al Giro
d'Italia. Corsa rosa terminata a Milano in netta crescita di condizione,
ma al di sotto di quella mostrata ad oggi dallo statunitense, maglia
gialla nelle ultime due edizioni. Comunque vada questo duello, Armstrong
non si adagierà certo sugli allori di un Giro di Svizzera corso
da protagonista, sapendo bene che sulle salite pirenaiche si presenteranno
a riscuotere il conto ben altri protagonisti, da Beloki, a
un ritrovato Jalabert, Zulle, Olano ed ancora
altri nomi, fra i quali ci auguriamo figuri anche quello di Francesco
Casagrande.
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AMSTEL
GOLD RACE
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ARMSTRONG
SECOND AT AMSTEL GOLD RACE
Maastrich
(Olanda) 28 aprile 2001 - The
United States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team's Lance
Armstrong finished second behind Rabobank's
Erik Dekker at today's Amstel Gold Race in Holland,
the fifth round of the World Cup.
Armstrong initiated the winning break by attacking with
approximately 40 kilometers remaining in the 254.5 km event. Armstrong
was followed by Eddy Mazzoleni of Tacconi
Sport-Vini Caldirola and the pair worked together to gain
an advantage. However, Dekker successfully bridged to the
two leaders. Armstrong and Dekker then dropped
Mazzoleni with under 30 kms remaining and worked together
towards the finish line.
With just under a minute advantage over the chase group in the
final kilometers, Armstrong and Dekker set up for
the final sprint with the Dutch rider winning.
At the 1999 Amstel Gold Race,
Armstrong finished second in a photo-finish with
Rabobank's Michael Boogerd.
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HERAS
CLIMBS TO SECOND OVERALL AT TOUR OF ARAGON;
HINCAPIE REFLECTS ON PARIS-ROUBAIX
Displaying
early season form that surprised even himself, the United
States Postal Service Pro Cycling Team's Roberto Heras
finished second today in the third and most difficult stage of the
Tour of Aragon stage race in Spain. Heras, the
winner of last year's Tour of Spain and
the biggest off-season addition to the USPS team, lost by just inches
to iBanesto.com's Juan Carlos Dominguez
at the conclusion of the 174 kilometer stage. The stage from Alcorisa
featured several climbs including the first category finishing climb
of 10 kms to Estacion de Valdelinares.
The
effort moved Heras into second place overall, five seconds behind
Dominguez. The USPS' Lance Armstrong also had a strong
day, finishing the stage in 13th place, leaving him in 11th place overall.
"At
the bottom of the climb there was a group of 60 riders together but
with five or six kilometers to go, the group blew up and only 14 riders
were left," said Dirk Demol, the USPS team's
assistant Director Sportif. "Roberto
and Lance spoke before the last climb and determined Roberto
was feeling the best today, so they made the decision to have Lance
work for Roberto for as long as possible."
Heras
and four others moved ahead and came to the line together, followed
by a group of seven and then a group of two, including Armstrong.
"Roberto
looked very comfortable today," Demol added.
"He feels very good. And with today's
mountain top finish - at nearly
2,000 meters - he surprised himself he was so good".
"Regarding
Lance, he is right on schedule and very focused."
Heras
and Armstrong entered today's stage in 18th and 25th place overall,
respectively. The Tour of Aragon continues
tomorrow with a 171 km stage from Alcala de
la Selva to Tereuel and concludes Sunday with a 137 km race
from Calamocha to Saragozza.
The
day before Wednesday's start of the Tour of Aragon, the USPS competed
in the Paris-Camembert semi-Classic
in France. After placing second last year, Armstrong came through with
another strong ride, finishing in 13th place among the lead group of
12 riders that finished nine seconds behind winner Laurent Brochard
of Jean Delatour. Also in Armstrong's
group was teammate Cedric Vasseur, who placed 10th.
The
cycling world is still buzzing about Sunday's 99th edition of
Paris-Roubaix where the USPS' George Hincapie placed
fourth for the second time in his career. Held in horrid conditions
from the rain storms that hit the area the days before the event, Hincapie
proved to be one of the strongest riders in the race, following his
victory at Gent-Wevelgem. However,
the final six-man break included four Domo riders which was simply too
much to overcome.
"I
felt like I was the strongest guy in the race," Hincapie
said. "I was flying over some of the pave
- to me it felt like concrete. But what could I do against Domo? There
were four of them riding a perfect race. Each time I made an effort,
I had one of them on my back. I gave everything I could."
Hincapie
finished in a group of five riders some 51 seconds behind winner
Servais Knaven of Domo and second
seconds behing runner-up Johan Museeuw, also of Domo.
The
World Cup season continues Sunday with the 87th edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege
in Belgium.
STAGE
THREE, TOUR OF ARAGON
1. Juan Carlos Dominguez, iBanesto.com;
174 kms in 5:12:22
2. Roberto Heras, U.S. Postal Service;
s.t.
3. Alexander Shefer, Alessio; s.t.
4. Leonardo Piepoli, iBanesto.com; at :04
5. Bingen Fernandez, Euskaltel; at :13
***
13. Lance Armstrong, U.S. Postal Service; at 1:00
63. Viatcheslav Ekimov, U.S. Postal Service; at 10:24
64. Victor Hugo Pena, U.S. Posal Service; s.t.
73. Benoit Joachim, U.S. Postal Serivice; at 14:52
106. Dylan Casey, U.S. Postal Service; at 19:04
110. Stephane Barthe, U.S. Postal Service; at 23:34
GC
AFTER THREE STAGES, TOUR OF ARAGON
1. Dominguez; 13:09:42
2. Heras; at :05
3. Shefer; at :07
4. Piepoli; at :15
5. Fernandez; at :20
