News 2006/03

20. December, Training in Spain

Until Christmas I will do as many kilometers as I can along the Costa Blanca in Spain.The first 2 week trainingcamp is for long distance basic training. My legs feel better every day. The warm weather with about 15 degrees celsius here between Valencia and Alicante is perfect. I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

27. November, New Contract

I completed my time as a soldier for this year, and negotiations about my future as a cyclist have ended as well. Today I signed a new contract in Mendrisio with the team of Davide Boifava. The two teams LPR and Androni will be joined together. The size of the new team will be about the same as LPR during the season 2006. At the moment there are still negotiations with several top riders. Big names in the new team are until now Daniele Nardello and the Guttierez brothers.

6. November, Armycamp in Herisau

Today I am sending you news from Herisau. Here I am doing my first 3 week armycamp. Working as a fitness instructor I still have enough time to do some training for myself. I am still waiting for some concrete news about my new team. But it shouldn't take more then a couple of weeks to find out. Please be patient....

30. September, The end of my season

The season has already ended for me. The team has decided that there will be only italian riders racing for the remaining races this year. I felt that my condition was getting better in the past few weeks and would have liked to take part in a few more races. But I have to accept the decision of my employer. Therefore the second half of my season was too short to really get into a good shape again. At the moment I am busy trying to find a solution for next year, because there will be no more team LPR in the new season.

26. August, Giro del Veneto

My aim today was to get into a breakaway to be seen at the front. The last part of the race was way too hard for me to compete with the best. I attacked several times, then I got in to a break of 11 riders. We didn't work together very well and never had more then 1 minute advantage. After 120 km, before the second climb, we got caught. I managed to get over the mountain with the leaders, but when the next one came I had nothing left anymore. At least I did some advertising today. I am more or less happy with my form and the last few races. But I don't know when and where my next race will be. From now on there will be only one team competing for the rest of the season....

24. August, GP Industria & Artigianato - Carnaghese

The race today wasn't as hilly as yesterday, but technicly rather difficult. Just the course I like. In the first of 11 laps I had really bad legs. But then the pace became a bit slower and I felt better as the race went on. About halfway I was in a break of 3 riders for a short while. I paid for the effort and had some problems when we got caught. But I managed to remain with the peloton. We worked well as a team. In almost all of the breaks we had a rider. I recoverd a bit and kept battling and finished the race in the second group in about place 30. It's a shame nobody from our team got a top result, we rode well today.

23. August, GP Nobili Rubinetterie

Todays course was a circuit on which we had to do 11 laps at 17 km, 8 km uphill then 9 km downhill. The bunch got smaller every lap. With 4 laps to go there were only about 40 riders left in the leading peleton. Unfortunately I couldn't keep up with them anymore. The form seems to be getting better, but it still wasn't good enough to get a good result today.

17. August, Coppa Bernocchi

Todays race was just like yesterdays. First I felt good and I rode very active, then my batteries went flat. The course was not too hard, but my legs where not good anymore.

16. August, Coppa Agostoni

On the flat sections of the race I felt very good. I attacked several times but never got away from the bunch. The circuit of 5 laps with a steep climb was very tough and I had to use up a lot of energy. I got dropped by the bunch which had gotten very small, in lap 4. I am not in top shape yet, but the form is getting better.

6. August, Tour of Denmark, Stage 6

I finished the last stage in the peloton. At least I had a good training session and completed the tour.

5. August, Tour of Denmark, Stages 4 + 5

Despite of hurting badly I was able to complete the 2 stages today. I just tried to survive. If I feel better tomorrow I might attack and try to get into a breakaway.

4. August, Tour of Denmark, Stage 3

No, not again! Another crash! After 3 month without an accident I went down again. We went full speed into roadworks where they had removed the toplayer of bitumen, about 3 m long and right across the road. It was filled with loose sand and gravel. There was no warning at all, and even the guys who rode up front just didn't shout and warn us. Of course there had to be a big crash, and I was right in the middle of it. My right knee was bleeding like hell. The gravel had ripped off big chunks of skin. I had a lot of pain, but managed to finish the stage...

3. August, Tour of Denmark, Stage 2

I had orders to look out for breakaways and try to go with one of them if possible. Early in the stage a group of six got away and I decided to go after them. With the help of two other riders we got up to the leaders. This time Gerolsteiner wasn't happy with the situation and they chased us down! Towards the end I didn't have enough power to ride the finale. Ah, by the way, I had another puncture today. But it wasn't as bad as yesterday, because we rode fairly slow when it happend.

2. August, Tour of Denmark, Stage 1

This was my first race after a break of over a month with beautiful weather. It seemed that all the water which evaporated during that time in europe fell today as rain over Denmark. I attacked several times and got away in a break of 8 riders. We stayed in front for about 30 km. Then the polish team chased hard until we got caught. With about 50 km to go I had to change my frontwheel because of a puncture. Exactly at that time there was a big crash in the peloton and all the teamcars got blocked. I had to wait for a new wheel for a very long time and I never saw the bunch again....