Sunday’s EuroFile: Ullrich to do Swiss Tour
- By Andrew Hood
- Published Apr. 24, 2005
Jan Ullrich will be back to defend his title at the Tour de Suisse (June 11-19), meaning his first chance in a showdown with Lance Armstrong won’t come until the Tour de France.
The 1997 Tour winner was debating between racing the Swiss tour or the Dauphiné Libéré (June 5-12), but finally opted to return to the friendly mountains of Switzerland, which he now calls home.
Ullrich recently raced in the Vuelta a Aragon, where team officials said he looks buff, motivated and confident, the best since 1997. Up next he’ll return to Spain to race in the Volta a Cataluyna (May 16-22).
Alexandre Vinokourov, meanwhile, will race the Dauphiné while Andreas Kloeden, second overall in last year’s Tour, still has yet to decide his final preparation race ahead of the ’05 Tour.
Tough Cataluyna tour awaits
The 2005 Volta a Cataluyna (May 16-22) finds itself among the ProTour elite and a new place on the racing schedule.
The demanding race in the mountains of Spain’s Cataluyna region was typically held in late June and provided a trampoline for many of the top Spanish riders heading to the Tour de France.
This year, the race has been moved to May in a conflict with the Giro d’Italia, but the ProTour status guarantees the presence of the 20 ProTour teams in cycling’s new super-league.
The race starts May 16 in the coastal city of Salou, south of Barcelona, with a 20.1 team time trial followed by the 186km second stage to Cambrils. The 157km third stage from Salou to La Granada de Penedés is an appetizer ahead of the “queen’s stage” the following day.
The 237.7km fourth stage pushes from Perafort into Andorra, ends at the ski station at Vallnord and hits some serious climbing along the way. If there’s not a clear leader, the race will likely be decided in the 17.1km climbing time trial to Arcalís.
The race concludes with two relatively easy stages, with the 198km march from Llivia to Pallejá, a suburb of Barcelona. The 113km finale winds through Barcelona with a circuit course.
Team for Volta a Cataluyna
ProTour teams
Bouygues Telecom
Cofidis
Credit Agricole
CSC
Davitamon-Lotto
Discovery Channel
Domina Vacanze
Fassa Bortolo
Francaise des Jeux
Gerolsteiner
Lampre-Caffita
Liquigas-Bianchi
Phonak Hearing Systems
Quickstep
Rabobank
T-Mobile
Illes Balears
Liberty Seguros-Wurz
Saunier Duval
Euskaltel EuskadiWildcards
Comunidad Valenciana
Relax Fuenlabrada and Kaiku
Val d’Aran wants Tour stage
Tourism officials from Val d’Aran deep in the heart of the Spanish Pyrenees say they will contact Tour de France officials about trying to lure a stage-finish to the region in 2006.
Officials are proposing a stage finish at the Pla de Beret ski area (a stage in the 2003 Vuelta a España finished there) and have the next day start in the Vielha before returning to France.
The secluded mountain valley will see the 2005 Tour nip just across the border and slice through a corner of Spain on the approach to the Portilhon climb on July 17. Val d’Aran will also see a stage of the Route de Sud in late June.
Cofidis for Giro
With the spat between the ProTour teams and the Giro d’Italia cleared up last week, teams are putting together their starting line-ups for the season’s first grand tour.
The French team Cofidis will bring sprint specialist Stuart O’Grady and Italian stage-hunter Leonardo Bertagnolli as their two captains.
Cofidis for Giro d’Italia
Daniel Atienza
Dimitri Fofonov
Nicolas Inaudi
Thierry Marichal
Guido Trentin
Cedric Vasseur
Matthew White
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.