Basso Out Again?

Ivan Basso's chances of competing in the Tour de France could be destroyed by his implication in the Spanish doping affair. Both Basso and Ullrich were some of the first to be caught in the 2006 Tour De France’s doping scandal.


The UCI's bid to get to the bottom of the affair was boosted recently when a DNA test matched blood found in Fuentes' Madrid laboratory with Ullrich, who has claimed he is innocent and since retired from the sport. “It proved a turning point for newly-installed Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme, who is determined to avoid the kind of controversy which deflated 2006's edition before it had even started.”


After being cleared by the Italian sports authorities of any wrongdoing, Basso - last year's Tour of Italy champion - was released by his team, CSC. He later joined the former team of Lance Armstrong, Discovery Channel, and normally the Italian would be saddling up as a hot favorite for this year's Tour de France, which begins July 7 in France. One question I have is why Basso was let go by team CSC if he was cleared of all charges, did CSC know the truth?
Prudhomme is having a meeting with managers of pro-cycling teams including Discovery Channel's Johan Bruyneel, April 25. He hopes the team managers will "do what is right for the good of the sport."


"We will only get to the end of this if we all work in unison," stated the Frenchman, wanting to work closely with UCI and the World Anti Doping Agency. "Before that happens, we will know how to deal with it," he said. "The Tour was sullied last year, and that won't happen again."


This is an example of public relations because strong willed people are standing up to doping and want all the fans to be informed on what is happening. By informing the cycling fans about who who is doping and what is being done with the one's caught, Christian Prudhomme has made it on Cycling Andrews’s “Honest” Cycling List.”



http://www.bicycling.com/article/1,6610,s1-3-9-15898-1,00.html

DSB Bank Women's Pro Team Presentation

An appearance of the Dutch Women’s Professional Cycling Team, DSB Bank, presented the team at a soccer stadium this week. The boss of DSB Bank Dirk Scheringa is owner of Team DSB Bank, the DSB speed skating team and AZ Alkmaar, soccer team. The sponsorship with the team of manager Henk Heetebrij and sport-director Thijs Rondhuis has a contract for the next three years.


This team has great women cyclist including the Dutch and World Champoin Marianne Vos. This dynamic team will be fun to watch as the riders become more disciplined in the sport. During the presentation the management of the team announced the entire new cyclists that have joined them this year. This motivated team as already begun the winning attitude by the results in a few of the criterium wins, the win in Köln-Schuld-Frechen, a bronze medal of Adrie Visser at the Track World Championships on the scratch and the third place of Marianne Vos in the Tour of Flanders for Woman won by Nicole Cooke ahead of Zoulfia Zabirova.


This is an example of public relations because the DSB Bank Women’s Pro Team is informing fans about their team as well as informing fans that cycling is not just a man’s sport. By informing the cycling fans about who is on the team this year the woman’s team has made it on Cycling Andrews’s “Honest” Cycling List.”

http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=10745

Ullrich: 'I'm blameless'

Jan Ullrich is stepping back from the public eye. The former 1997 Tour de France champion stated that the blood bags seized in the Spanish doping scandal was not his even though the DNA test prove that the blood was his. The Blood was seized from the Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes las year. Ullrich announced to his fans, “These latest finding changed strictly nothing of the fact that I’m blameless.”


Ullrich retired from cycling in February, 10 months after his name surfaced in Operación Puerto, leading to the German being excluded from last year's Tour de France race and sacked by T-Mobile.


"I've never lied to anyone throughout my career nor used anyone so I can't admit to an error that I have not made. I fear no procedure, no prosecutor, or federation… For me as well there are still a lot of questions which remain unanswered and until everything is cleared up I'm no longer going to comment publicly on this case."


This is an example of public relations because Ullrich is informing fans about his decisions. By informing the cycling fans about him waiting to state “the right story” instead of now the champion has made it on Cycling Andrews’s “Crime Cycling List.” If he is “Blameless” we, the fans, need to know how.


http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/12011.0.html

U.S. OPEN CYCLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

The organizers of the United States Open Cycling Champonships announced the inaugural race will be held on Saturday, April 7, 2007. There will be a national broadcast on NBC Sports at 2:30-5:00 p.m. Course maps are posted on the US Open Cycling website. Visit www.usopencycling.com for more information.


The 112-mile professional men’s race starts in historic Williamsburg at 8:10 a.m. on Francis Street in front of the colonial powder magazine. The women’s circuit race starts at 9:00 a.m. in Richmond in front of The Library of Virginia, and will finish at about 10:15 a.m. The women will race nine laps on a challenging 3-mile circuit that shares the western section of the men’s course.


According to Frankie Andreu, a veteran pro cyclist who has started and finished twelve Tour de Frances, “The climb up Libby Hill is brutal. This race is a true test and on this course, only a real champion can win.”


This is an example of public relations because this is a press release on an up coming event in the sport of cycling. By informing the cycling fans the organizers have made it on Cycling Andrews’s “Honest Cycling List.”



http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=10680