Monday’s EuroFile: CVV ready to roll; Ullrich hammers out schedule; Valverde can go for it

By Andrew Hood

Things are looking up for Christian Vande Velde and his chances to race in the Giro d’Italia next month. The 28-year-old American re-injured his back early in the season, but returned to racing over the weekend with eyes toward helping Team CSC captain Ivan Basso in the season’s first grand tour.

“My main goal is still the Giro, even though Bjarne (Riis) is trying to keep the pressure off me, which I totally appreciate,” Vande Velde said. “I know that as long as I’m healthy, I’ll be a great asset to the team, but I don’t want to go there if I’m not a 100 percent for Ivan, because I know he’s going for the win.”

Vande Velde raced in Brabantse Pijl on Sunday, his first race since tweaking his back after his season debut at the GP Etruschi in February. Vande Velde has been working with Team CSC’s therapist Ole Kaare Føli to recover from the nagging injury that’s plagued him for the past few years.

“My seat slipped quite a bit, it was down a few centimeters, so I got really tired and my back problems usually happen when I get very tired,” Vande Velde said. “It’s an old injury, it happened in 2003. Actually after the Vuelta in 2002 I had a bad crash in Paris-Tours and when I started the 2003 season my back really gave me some problems.”

Vande Velde is on the short list of Team CSC riders to race the Giro, now just over one month away. After missing out on Setmana Catalana last week in Spain because the team wasn’t invited, Vande Velde is anxious to put in some racing miles. He’s set to race later this week in a pair of one-day races.

Another Team CSC rider on the mend is Andrea Peron, who suffered fractures to his wrist and hip after crashing in Milan-San Remo. After consulting a specialist Dr. Claudio Costa, Peron is expected to return to training soon.

”I was lucky to get an appointment with Dr. Costa and it was a nice surprise for me to learn that I’m able to start training within a few days,” Peron said. “The fracture on my hip will not get worse by sitting on my bike; actually it could benefit the healing process. I’ve had a kind of plastic support thing made for my wrist, so I won’t accidentally move it in awkward positions. Now it’s probably just a matter of time before I will start racing again and I’ll definitely be ready for the Giro.”

Ullrich’s schedule settled
T-Mobile’s Jan Ullrich seems to have shaken off early-season health problems and the1997 Tour de France champion recently completed an intense training period in Tuscany along with teammates Giuseppe Guerini and Tobias Steinhauser under the watchful eye of Rudy Pevenage.

Ullrich was zapped with the flu earlier this year, forcing him to delay his scheduled season debut at the Tour of Murcia in early March.

Now it appears Ullrich will begin his season at the Circuit de la Sarthe in France from April 5-8. Next, he’ll race in the Tour of Aragon in Spain from April 13-17 and then compete in the ProTour event at Vuelta a Cataluyna on March 16-22.

He still hasn’t decided if he’ll defend his title at the Tour de Suisse or race in the Dauphiné Libéré, which would allow him to compete in the team time trial competition set for June 19 in Holland.

Valverde has free ride in Tour
Illes Balears officials say they won’t hold back Alejandro Valverde in his Tour de France debut, but cautioned that the Spanish sensation is there to learn, not to win. “You have to have both feet on the ground when you talk about Valverde and the Tour,” said sport director José Luis Jaimerena. “Valverde has qualities and he’s demonstrated that, but the Tour is a race you have to get to know first, but no one will put the brakes on Valverde.”

Valverde’s short-term goal is to shine in the upcoming Ardennes classics. After a frustrating ride at Milan-San Remo, where an attempt to escape over the Poggio was squelched, Valverde admitted the Italian classic is not to his liking.

After a short break, Valverde will begin earnest preparations for the Tour with the main goal of helping team captain Francisco Mancebo. Third in the 2003 Vuelta a España, Valverde will be the team’s wild card behind Mancebo and Vladimir Karpets. “Alejandro has already demonstrated he can ride well in a three-week race, but the Tour must be raced in a different manner and he has to learn how to do that,” Jaimerena said. “Alejandro has started strong at the beginning of the season, but there’s still room for improvement. This year has started off well and we hope to stay on this course.”

Bortolami, Pieri lead Lampre-Caffita
Gianluca Bortolami and Dario Pieri will lead Lampre-Caffita in the upcoming battle on the cobbles. The veteran Bortolami won Tour of Flanders in 2001 while Pieri, who has struggled to maintain his ideal racing weight, was second at Paris-Roubaix in 2003.

The team kicks off its classic season with Tuesday’s Three Days of De Panne ahead of Sunday’s Tour of Flanders.

Lampre-Caffita for Three Days of De Panne
Alessandro Ballan
Daniele Bennati
Giosuè Bonomi
GianLuca Bortolami
Salvatore Commesso
Paolo Fornaciari
Enrico Franzoi
Dario Pieri
Ferrigato to retire
Andrea Ferrigato has announced he’ll retire from competitive racing, according to news from his Acqua&Sapone team. The 35-year-old is in his 15th season in the pro ranks and boasts a palmares that includes 17 wins, including World Cup victories at Leeds and GP Zurich in 1996. Ferrigato, who raced on eight teams during his career, said he’d like to continue in cycling either as a sport director or working with public relations.

FILED UNDER: Road

Andrew Hood

Hood cut his journalistic teeth at Colorado dailies before the web boom opened the door to European cycling in the mid-1990s. Hood's covered every Tour since 1996 and has been VeloNews' European correspondent since 2002. He lives in Leon, Spain, when he's not chasing bike races.

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