Team Talk 13 - Updated

Ivan Basso signs with Liquigas, No Zabel for Bastogne Liege, Bastogne riders, Petacchi - "decision of the court is on my mind", and Chis Newton returns to racing.

Liquigas Sport and Ivan Basso have signed a two-year contract that will see the Italian rejoin the peloton for 2009.

President of Liquigas Sport spa, Paolo Dal Lago, emphasised that "this was a challenging yet conscious decision. Ivan Basso is observing with great dignity the suspension that was handed down on 15th June 2007 by Federciclismo’s Disciplinary Commission. The sports judiciary system handled his case more severely than most and, despite the fact that he has been harshly punished, Ivan has still maintained a responsible and calm attitude, he has applied some healthy self-criticism and taken this seriously throughout. This has earned him the public’s respect, as well as the respect of those who work in the industry.”

"Basso is Italy’s most talented cyclist,” continued Mr Dal Lago. “We will help him to regain his form as we firmly believe that we can help him to achieve the standards of excellence of which he is capable. We love a good challenge and we know that Ivan and ourselves share the spirit: we are delighted to welcome him to our group.”

Roberto Amadio said, "The arrival of Ivan Basso will not lead to any changes in the team set-up. Liquigas already has a well-defined technical profile which is completely compatible with this recently announced addition. With Basso’s input, we will aim for absolute leadership amongst the top teams on the professional circuit in 2009 and in 2010.”

AFP report: Italian cyclist Ivan Basso, who was suspended for two years for his implication in the Operation Puerto scandal, said Friday he hopes to return to the top with new team Liquigas.

The 30-year-old Basso, who is allowed to ride competitively again from October 24 2008, has agreed a two-year deal with Liquingas.

Basso told La Gazzetta dello Sport that his aim for 2009 was "to quickly become the winning Basso again".
"It's been so long since I've raced and all my rivals have progressed a lot," said the 2006 Giro winner and runner-up in the 2005 Tour de France. "After three months racing I will know if I can hope to win the Giro again," he said. "But in my heart I'm convinced of it."

Basso said his character had been changed by "the ordeal" he'd been through. "For me Operation Puerto is the past even if it will always remain like a stain on my character. I had two choices (after his suspension) - to finish in a clinic for depression, or worse, break up my family, or roll up my sleeves."

Basso said he was under no illusions about his return to the peloton. "Some will take it well, others less so and some not at all. It's justified. But there are so many riders who have been suspended and who have returned to ride normally. I have the right to as well.

"What is important is to have the right attitude. I'm putting the past behind me and starting from zero. My place after two years has changed. I'm no longer among the frontrunners. I have to show that I can come back."

Team Quit AIGCP
Liquigas stated this week "that on account of the difference of opinions that has come out during the last weeks, and in the firm belief that it is necessary a careful consideration about the role of the sporting groups to guarantee the harmonic development of professional cycling, today Liquigas Sport has decided to abandon AIGCP (Association Internationale des Groupes Cyclistes Professionnels).

As a matter of fact, we believe that the association doesn’t represent all the sporting groups anymore and the programme we agreed doesn’t satisfy the current needs."

Liquigas decision was sparked by criticism of their signing of Basso, seemingly breaking the groups code, Ex-president and Credit Agricole Director Roger Leagay said, "He should not be hired by Liquigas. It is an ethical problem that will not do any good to the reputation of cycling,"

Justin Davis reports: Luxembourg's Kim Kirchen may be a marked man after claiming victory in the Fleche-Wallonne classic which precedes the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Sunday's finale to cycling's spring classics series.

21% it says on the road as Lampre test out the 2008 route - Pic fotoreporter sirotti

But the Duchy's latest winner of a respected one-day classic, following in the trail of former Amstel Gold winner Franck Schleck, will be one among many.

As the oldest existing one-day classic and the fourth of cycling's five one-day 'monuments', victory in Liege-Bastogne-Liege is one of the most coveted in the sport.

With 12 short but steep climbs, totalling 25.7km and with a total average gradient of 7.6 percent, the race is particularly well suited to climbers, such as on-form Australian Cadel Evans and Italian Damiano Cunego.

However the peloton's 'punchers' - racers who can climb almost as well as the specialists and add equally strong sprint skills and a dose of tactical nous when needed - are just at home in the 'Doyenne'.

Tour de France runner-up Evans showed his Liege ambitions when he finished a promising second in Wednesday's Fleche-Wallonne, the traditional warm-up to Liege and the second of the 'Ardennes classics' after the Amstel Gold race. It was only in the final metres of the steep ramps leading to the Mur de Huy finish line that the Aussie, and the rest of a small bunch, were stunned by Kirchen's late acceleration.

Kirchen is now a favourite for Liege - although given the profile, and added distance of the race compared to Fleche's 199.5km - the Luxembourg puncher is under no illusions. "It's 50 kilometres longer and first I need to recover by Sunday but everything is possible," Kirchen said after Wednesday's rain-soaked race.

Evans finished just over a minute behind Italy's reigning Liege champion Danilo Di Luca in the 2007 edition, but this year the Silence-Lotto rider looks in better form as he hones his training for his big aim of winning the Tour de France. His performance at the Fleche, when only Kirchen could match then better a late attack by the Aussie, suggests things are coming along nicely.

Evans' best finish in Liege was a fifth place finish in 2005 - when Alexandre Vinokourov and Jens Voigt went on a long two-man attack - but despite form which suggests he is the big favourite he insists the bigger picture is more important. "My job is to win the Tour (de France). Everything else is a bonus," he said Wednesday.

Another climber with real victory pretensions is former Giro d'Italia winner Cunego, who underlined his Liege credentials with a superb victory, on his race debut, at Amstel ahead of Luxembourger Franck Schleck of CSC.

With the Cote de Saint-Nicolas - a 1km climb with a punishing average gradient of 11.1 percent - coming just before the steady rise towards the finish line, past editions have been decided by a combination of late, but also much earlier attacks.
"It's difficult to guage where the race is going to be decided," added Evans. "In 2005 it was a long way out. And last year it was just after the final climb, just before the finish line. Each edition is different, but that's what makes the race interesting."

Italian Paolo Bettini, the winner in 2000 and 2002, is set to go over the final part of the course, which has been slightly modified, on Saturday.

Organisers ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation) have added the Cote de la Roche aux Faucons, with a 10 percent gradient, and that could be decisive. It remains to be seen whether Quick Step's reigning Olympic and world champion copes with returning to the peloton after missing the Amstel Gold with a broken rib from a crash at the Tour of the Basque country.

Other contenders include Spanish puncher Alejandro Valverde, the runner-up last year, up and coming Dutchman Robert Gesink.

Entry
LIQUIGAS (LIQ) - Sporting Manager : MARIUZZO Dario
001 PELLIZOTTI Franco
002 AGNOLI Valerio
003 BERTAGNOLLI Leonardo
004 CARLSTRÖM Kjell
005 CATALDO Dario
006 MIHOLJEVIC Vladimir
007 MUGERLI Matej
008 NIBALI Vincenzo
* 009 KREUZIGER Roman
* 010 NOE’ Andrea

CAISSE D’EPARGNE (GCE) - Sporting Manager : LEDANOIS Yvon
011 VALVERDE Alejandro
012 GARCIA ACOSTA Vicente
013 LOPEZ GARCIA David
014 LOSADA ALGUACIL Alberto
015 PEREIRO SIO Oscar
016 RODRIGUEZ Joaquim
017 ROJAS Jose Joaquin
018 SANCHEZ Luis-Leon
* 019 ARROYO David
* 020 KARPETS Vladimir

TEAM CSC (CSC) - Sporting Manager : ANDERSEN Kim
021 SCHLECK Frank
022 KOLOBNEV Alexandr
023 KROON Karsten
024 LARSSON-ERIK Gustav
025 SASTRE Carlos
026 SCHLECK Andy
027 SORENSEN Chris
028 SORENSEN Nicki
* 029 VAN GOOLEN Jurgen
* 030 VOIGT Jens

QUICK STEP (QST) - Sporting Manager : DEMOL Dirk
031 BETTINI Paolo
032 BARREDO Carlos
033 FACCI Mauro
034 SCARSELLI Leonardo
035 TONTI Andrea
036 VAN DE WALLE Jurgen
037 VISCONTI Giovanni
038 WYNANTS Maarten
* 039 EFIMKIN Alexander
* 040 ENGELS Addy

GEROLSTEINER (GST) - Sporting Manager : HENN Christian
041 REBELLIN Davide
042 FOTHEN Markus
043 FROHLINGER Johannes
044 MOLETTA Andrea
045 SCHOLZ Ronny
046 SCHUMACHER Stefan
047 WEGMANN Fabian
048 ZAUGG Oliver
* 049 DE BONIS Francesco
* 050 HAUSSLER Heinrich

RABOBANK (RAB) - Sporting Manager : BREUKINK Erik
051 GESINK Robert
052 ARDILA CANO Mauricio
053 DEKKER Thomas
054 ELTINK Theo
055 FREIRE Oscar
056 MENCHOV Denis
057 TANKINK Bram
058 TEN DAM Laurens
* 059 DE GROOT Bram
* 060 KOZONTCHUK Dmitriy

LAMPRE (LAM) - Sporting Manager : BONTEMPI Guido
061 CUNEGO Damiano
062 BONO Matteo
063 BOSSONI Paolo
064 GAVAZZI Francesco
065 MARZANO Marco
066 RIGHI Daniele
067 SPILAK Simon
068 VILA ERRANDONEA Patxi
* 069 SANTAMBROGIO Mauro
* 070 TIRALONGO Paolo

SAUNIER DUVAL - SCOTT (SDV) - Sporting Manager : FERNANDEZ Joxean
071 RICCO Riccardo
072 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose
073 DE LA FUENTE David
074 DEL NERO Jesus
075 GOMEZ MARCHANTE Jose Angel
076 JUFRE POU Josep
077 MORI Manuele
078 PIEPOLI Leonardo
* 079 FERNANDEZ DE LA PUEBLA RAMOS Alberto
* 080 LOBATO ELVIRA Ruben

HIGH ROAD (THR) - Sporting Manager : PIVA Valerio
081 KIRCHEN Kim
082 BARRY Michaël
083 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
084 CIOLEK Gerald
085 DAVIS Scott
086 HANSEN Adam
087 RABON Frantisek
088 REYNES Vicente
* 089 PINOTTI Marco
* 090 SIEBERG Marcel

BOUYGUES TELECOM (BTL) - Sporting Manager : RODRIGUEZ Jean-François
091 PINEAU Jérôme
092 FLORENCIO Xavier
093 JEROME Vincent
094 LEFEVRE Laurent
095 SPRICK Matthieu
096 TROFIMOV Yury
097 TSCHOPP Johann
098 VOECKLER Thomas
* 099 CLERC Aurélien
* 100 GAUDIN Damien

EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (EUS) - Sporting Manager : GERRIKAGOITIA Gorka
101 ASTARLOZA Mikel
102 ARAMENDIA Javier
103 AZANZA Jorge
104 GALDOS ALONSO Aitor
105 ISASI Inaki
106 MARTINEZ Egoi
107 OROZ Juan José
108 PEREZ Ruben
* 109 TXURRUKA Amets

AGRITUBEL (AGR) - Sporting Manager : HUBERT Emmanuel
111 MOREAU Christophe
112 BICHOT Freddy
113 BOUET Maxime
114 CAETHOVEN Steven
115 ISTA Kevin
116 RINERO Christophe
117 SALMON Benoit
118 VOGONDY Nicolas

AG2R-LA MONDIALE (ALM) - Sporting Manager : JURDIE Julien
121 NOCENTINI Rinaldo
122 ARRIETA Jose Luis
123 DUPONT Hubert
124 EFIMKIN Vladimir
125 GADRET John
126 LOUBET Julien
127 MANDRI René
128 VALJAVEC Tadej
* 129 DION Renaud
* 130 KRIVTSOV Yuriy

FRANCAISE DES JEUX (FDJ) - Sporting Manager : MADIOT Marc
131 GILBERT Philippe
132 CHEREL Mickael
133 LE BOULANGER Yoann
134 LEVARLET Guillaume
135 ROY Jérémy
136 STUBBE Tom
137 VANENDERT Jelle
138 VAUGRENARD Benoît

CREDIT AGRICOLE (C.A) - Sporting Manager : BEUCHERIE Serge
141 GERRANS Simon
142 CAUCCHIOLI Pietro
143 HIVERT Jonathan
144 LE MEVEL Christophe
145 MEDEREL Maxime
146 PAURIOL Rémi
147 ROCHE Nicholas
148 ROLLAND Pierre
* 149 KERN Christophe
* 150 MARINO Jean Marc

TOPSPORT VLAANDEREN (TSV) - Sporting Manager : HEYNDERRICKX Jean-Pierre
151 BARBE Koen
152 COENEN Johan
153 GHYLLEBERT Pieter
154 NEYENS Maarten
155 PAUWELS Serge
156 RENDERS Sven
157 VAN HECKE Preben
158 VEUCHELEN Frederik
* 159 VANDEWALLE Kristof
* 160 VERBIST Evert

SILENCE - LOTTO (SIL) - Sporting Manager : DAMIANI Roberto
161 EVANS Cadel
162 AERTS Mario
163 BRANDT Christophe
164 CIONI Dario
165 JACOBS Pieter
166 LLOYD Matthew
167 POPOVYCH Yaroslav
168 VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen
* 169 DEVENYNS Dries
* 170 VAN HUFFEL Wim

COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE (COF) - Sporting Manager : VAN LONDERSELE Francis
171 MONFORT Maxime
172 AUGE Stéphane
173 BRARD Florent
174 BUFFAZ Mickaël
175 DUQUE Leonardo
176 HUGUET Yann
177 MOINARD Amaël
178 MONCOUTIE David
* 179 ZAMPIERI Steve

BARLOWORLD (BAR) - Sporting Manager : CORTI Claudio
181 SOLER HERNANDEZ Juan Mauricio
182 AUGUSTYN John-Lee
183 CHEULA Gianpaolo
184 CUMMINGS Stephen
185 DUENAS NEVADO Moises
186 FROOME Christopher
187 PFANNBERGER Christian
188 SABIDO Hugo
* 189 CORTI Marco
* 190 SCOGNAMIGLIO Carlo

TINKOFF CREDIT SYSTEMS (TCS) - Sporting Manager : MAINI Orlando
191 IGNATIEV Mikhail
192 BRUTT Pavel
193 ESKOV Nikita
194 GOTTFRIED Alexander
195 KIRYIENKA Vasil
196 MAZZANTI Luca
197 PETROV Evgeni
198 SEROV Alexander
* 199 KLIMOV Sergei

LANDBOUWKREDIET - TÖNISSTEINER (LAN) - Sporting Manager : SALIGARI Marco
201 CAPPELLE Andy
202 DE WAELE Bert
203 DELFOSSE Sebastien
204 GOURGUE Benjamin
205 KLEYNEN Steven
206 KUYCKX Jan
207 SCHEIRLINCKX Bert
208 SIJMENS Nico
* 209 CLANCY Eddy
* 210 NEYRINCK Kevin

CYCLE COLLSTROP (COS) - Sporting Manager : VAN DER SCHUEREN Hilaire
211 WESEMANN Steffen
212 CRIEL Tom
213 GOLAS Michal
214 KOPP David
215 LAGUTIN Sergey
216 MARCATO Marco
217 SELVAGGI Mirko
218 VAN DER SCHUEREN Kenny
* 219 PERSSON Lucas
* 220 SURAY Gil

SLIPSTREAM CHIPOTLE (TSL) - Sporting Manager : WHITE Matthew
221 MILLAR David
222 DONALD Jason
223 DUYN Huub
224 HESJEDAL Ryder
225 LAURENT Christophe
226 MARTIN Daniel
227 MC CARTY Jonathan Patrick
228 PATOUR Kilian
* 229 MAASKANT Martijn

TEAM MILRAM (MRM) - Sporting Manager : HAHN Jochen
231 ASTARLOA Igor
232 GAJEK Artur
233 GRIVKO Andriy
234 JURCO Matej
235 KNEES Christian
236 ROELS Dominik
237 SCHWAGER Sebastian
238 VELITS Peter
* 239 GHISALBERTI Sergio
* 240 VELITS Martin

SKIL-SHIMANO (SKS) - Sporting Manager : KEMNA Rudi
241 BEPPU Fumiyuki
242 CHENG Ji
243 DEN BAKKER Maarten
244 DOI Yukihiro
245 GOESINNEN Floris
246 HUPOND Thierry
247 ROOIJAKKERS Piet
248 TIMMER Albert
* 249 SIEDLER Sebastian
* 250 VEELERS Tom

Team Milram will have to do without Erik Zabel in the 93d Liege-Bastogne-Liege. Zabel is suffering from painful bruises to his right knee and left elbow, and can only do light training. In addition to Zabel, Milram will also not be able to use the injured riders Martin Velits and Ralf Grabsch. The team will be strengthened in the last of the Ardennes Trilogy by youngsters Artur Gajek and Dominik Roels.

"The loss of Erik, Martin and Ralf on Sunday is really too bad,“ said Christian Knees. "Hopefully they will all be back racing again soon. The big season highlights are slowly but surely approaching.“ Despite the injury problems, Knees is looking forward to the Classic on Sunday: "It is my first Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and of course I am very motivated.“

Erik Zabel was involved in a mass crash on Wednesday, April 23, in the Fleche-Wallonne, along with teammate Martin Velits. Zabel injured in right knee and left elbow, but no bones were broken. The 23 year-old Velits landed on his right hand, which he had previously injured in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. Ralf Grabsch is continuing to take a break from racing. The 35 year-old suffered an infection of the left kneecap in a training accident and is not expected to start training again until next week.

In addition, Italian sprinter Alessandro Petacchi has had a setback in his preparations for the Giro d'Italia. The 34 year-old is suffering from the flu and has to make his third pause since Milano-Sanremo. "Alessandro was already suffering in the Classicissima, it didn't get better in Mergelland and things just got worse in the Tour of Turkey,“ said a worried team manager Gerry van Gerwen. "He has to take antibiotics again and take a break. That is of course very unfortunate in light of the Giro.“

BLB line up is: Andrey Grivko (UKR/ Simferopol), Artur Gajek (GER / Bergisch Gladbach), Christian Knees (GER / Euskirchen), Dominik Roels (GER / Köln), Igor Astarloa (ESP / Monte Carlo), Peter Velits (SVK / Puchov), Matej Jurco (SVK / Liptovsky Hradok), Sebastian Schwager (GER / Neusäß) Directeur Sportif: Jochen Hahn (GER / Berlin)

AFP report: Alessandro Petacchi admitted on Tuesday that the wait to find out if a doping appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will go against him or not is frustrating. Petacchi continues to ride while the case is in court and won two stages at the Tour of Turkey recently.

But he admitted the doping case is getting to him. Petacchi returned a non negative test for elevated levels of salbutamol last season. It's a drug used by asthma sufferers and Petacchi has clearance to take it.

The Italian Cycling Federation cleared him of wrong-doing, putting the non-negative result down to human error, but the Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) took the case to CAS and asked that he be banned for two years.

"I'm trying to think only about the Giro d'Italia but the wait for the decision of the court is on my mind," he said. "Anything could happen, I could even lose the desire to compete in the Giro or in the Tour de France, which I haven't been to since 2004," he admitted.

"I'm trying not to imagine that everything will turn out well because the disappointment would be huge if I got an unfavourable decision."

Petacchi is one of the greatest sprinters of all time having won 24 Giro stages, including an incredible nine in 2004 alone.
He has also enjoyed more than 150 wins during his illustrious career.

Chris Newton

The Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk squad are onto race three of their French adventure, and they welcome back Chris Newton after injury for the Tour de Bretagne on May 25. Rabobanks's 2008 World Cyclo Cross Champion and 2007 race winner Lars Boom heads the entry.

Stage one will see Chris Newton back in action for the first time since his crash. Team Manager Joihn Herity says; "As expected, he is very nervous and not just about crashing again, but also his fitness, it's over 8 weeks since he has had to use the bigger gears in road races as he was in his track phase of training when he crashed (and broke his collarbone). His target will only be to get as far as he can in the race, he knows he is going to suffer!"

The team is Chris Newton, Tom Diggle, Rob Partridge, Ryan Bonser and Kristian House - http://www.tourdebretagne.fr/

A busy team also start the Midlands Classic on Sunday, April 27 where Dean Downing will lead the team over the rough roads of this UCI race. Ben Greenwood has failed to recover from a leg injury will not compete - http://www.cicleclassic.co.uk

Victory in Amstel Gold race and third place in Fleche-Wallonne makes Damiano Cunego very much a favourite for at Liege-Bastogne-Liege. ProTourNews readers certailny think so in our 'Poll'.

Cunego loves the race, placing third place in 2006. In order to hit the target, Cunego will have the support of Bossoni, Gavazzi, Righi, Santambrogio, Spilak, Tiralongo and Marzano, who is recovering after the crash in Fleche-Wallonne. “Damiano will be captain, the other blue-fucsia riders will help him with grit and quality showed in previous races”: Guido Bontempi explained.

“I’m calm and I feel good – Cunego explained – Opponents will be the same of the other Ardenne classics, so the battle will be tough: I will be there”.

The team have made a reconnaissance on the route of the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race. The riders will be covering almost 100 kilometres of the race route from the village of Trois Ponts (160km into the race) to Ans.

Paolo Bettini and Mauro Facci will not be present at the reconnaissance of the race route. These two, after finishing the Giro del Trentino race, will be flying to Belgium on Friday.

On Saturday morning World Champion and Facci will be doing a reconnaissance of the final part of the Doyenne.

“I know they have changed the final part of the race route this year – Bettini said – some people say that the race could be even more selective this year. It is really important for me to see the part that they have changed. I’m curious. I don’t want to leave anything down to chance”.

Riders: Carlos Barredo, Paolo Bettini, Mauro Facci, Leonardo Scarselli, Andrea Tonti, Jurgen Van De Walle, Giovanni Visconti and Maarten Wynants. D.s.: Dirk Demol, Luca Guercilena.

AFP report: German rider Jorg Jaksche, whose one-year doping suspension finishes on June 30, said he would give himself till July to find a new team, he told Eurosport Germany on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old, who has previously ridden for Telekom (1998-2000), Once (2001-03), CSC (2004) and Liberty Seguros (2005-06), owned up on his own initiative to have been involved in the blood-doping network of Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes though he has never failed a test.

Jaksche said: "If I have not found anything by July, I will have to be honest with myself. I can't and have no desire to wait for ever.

"The UCI and race organisers have said they are not against my return but nobody wants someone who has spit in the soup."
However the 2004 Paris-Nice winner added: "None of the riders I have met have been hostile to me and my relationships with them have been completely normal."

Londoner Leda Cox who is currently racing for Team America's Diaryland-Trek in the states has continued to amaze the North American cycling scene by winning the Colorado Springs Front Range Cycling Classic stage race which comprised of a 12 mile time trial, a Criterium and then a long road stage on the same mountainous course that was used for the 1986 worlds road race.

With the UCI Mount Hood stage race just a week away Cox had said beforehand that she wanted to really test herself and gain confidence to be a contender for the overall at Mount Hood. Not only did she do this but on the way she won all three stages of the race which had initially looked like it would be a team battle between her team and that of the strong Chipotle team. Having won the opening time trial on a time trail bike that she had received only the day before, Cox set about winning the criterium stage by counter attacking at the first prime point and soloed away to another win.

With the whole field watching her on the final road stage, she admitted beforehand that the last thing the they would expect her to do was to use the same tactic twice. So that's exactly what she did: attacking after the first KOM point and time trialling away to win the stage and the race overall. The winter saw Cox working intensively on her time trialling with the aim of contesting the big end of season UCI time trials in Europe and the work seems to have paid off with all her US wins coming as solo breakaways. Next up for the Lononder is the UCI stage races 'Mount Hood' and the 'Tour of Gila'.

Ledas website www.ledacox.co.uk

Plowman Craven closed their visit to the USA with a win when Evan Oliphant led Plowman Craven to a 1 – 2 in Sea Otter Classic road race in California, while Gibb comes close in the Isla Vista Classic circuit race - more