Newsgroup: it.sport.ciclismo
Titolo: Rachel Heal Pursues New Goals

Rachel Heal,
Nice profile...
http://tinyurl.com/beqh3
http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/web/site/BC/gbr/CommonwealthGames2006/20060207_Rachel_Heal_Interview.asp
--------------------------------
Edita's website has a new facelift, and her 2006 racing calender is up.
http://www.editapucinskaite.com/
-------------------------------
How is this for a website? Confused?
http://www.juditharndt.de/
------------------------------
This actually scares me greatly!!! You have to let it load completely!
http://www.ljungskog.com/
Bruce

 Rachel Heal,
[cut]
And Nicole Cooke is relaunching her website...
Bronzini's father told me some not so nice things about Nicole...well, 
sometimes, when she loses she is not such a kind person...
-- 
http://modesta.biciticino.ch
Il sito dedicato alla giovane ciclista lituana Modesta Vzesniauskaite

 sometimes, when she loses she is not such a kind person...
This is absolutely true. I have the 2005 Worlds, and as soon as the German
anthem was played for Regina, Nicole stormed off the stage, as where Oenone
and Regina stayed together for a very long time on the stage allowing
photographers and fans to take photos and exchange fanfare. She lost fair
and square. She had said she got boxed in, but she sprinted way out to the
right with tons of time and room. She just didn't have the sprint to beat
Regina, who we know is incredible sprinter winning 4 stage sprints in a row
in the Giro years ago.
Also in the Giro of 2004, Cooke won that year, and I had heard from someone
that was there that she had snubbed some of the girls. A lot of Italian
girls won't hang around if you are unfriendly, and I don't blame them, it is
after all a Brit beating someone who has won it more times then anyone,
Luperini by less then 2 minutes. I saw all the photos that year for the
stages and the podium for 2004, and if you noticed, no one is very happy to
have Nicole up there on the stage. I think this really rubbed the Italians
the wrong way, and what was that fight about with the Italian federation and
Nicole team last year? I could only speculate there is some bad blood here,
but I don't think I would blame the Italians.
In 2004 Nicole won beating Faby on the last stage saying it was easy, that
she just sprinted away from Faby on the last stage, but that probably rubbed
a lot of people the wrong way. Nicole had a really strong team that year and
basically carried her every step of the way  to victory. She was still fresh
if you read the race reports, as where Faby had to work harder every step of
the way. Rightfully Faby won the Giro that year, but really it was Nicole's
team who won it, not Nicole, and I don't really like monopoly teams like
Nurenburger.
 Some say that when big money came to women's cycling so did drugs, but I
don't know for sure about all that. One thing I can say, is I don't like it
when one team is so strong that when the Giro is over, the rider who won is
still completely fresh. It should be a test between the riders, and not some
kind of steamrolling by a team of superwomen. That's just not fair, but what
can you say? That's seems to be the way of the future. :-(
Bruce

 sometimes, when she loses she is not such a kind person...
I would also like to add...
If drugs doesn't ruin cycling, then more then likely big heavily invested
super teams will like USPS, Discovery or Nurnberger. I think the German war
machine is tales from crypt, things to come. Add drugs to that and it all
becomes very unfair. Quoting a friend of mine, Gaul said that what good is
it for a team to carry you to the top of the mountain and then you sprint
the last 100 meters? That's not a climber. What good is it, when a team
carries you through a stage race and you win easily, while others fight hard
without a good team, like Longo or Watt? Anymore to me, I don't measure how
good a rider is when their palamares are laced with team wins.
 What does get my attention is when someone like Luperini goes solo from the
gun, stays out in front the whole race to finish way ahead of the field in
an unbelievable gutsy display of raw courage, sheer will, stamina and
endurance, and to do it without a team or drugs. Now that gets my
attention!! The best riders don't alway win anymore unless they go solo, as
its often the best teams who propel their investments to victory. I long for
the old days when riders could race and win on their own merits.
 How about Gaul 7 victories on Mount Ventoux, or how about Bartali rare
courage in the 48 Tour De France. How about Longo breakaway at Hamilton
Worlds only to have it snatched away by a handful of riders who didn't want
to work together and didn't deserve to win. I can't take away what Lance did
and I don't know for sure if he used EPO, but one thing for sure in both men
and women's racing, is that drugs and big corporate power is here to stay,
and it may wreck the sport. Well, at least I got all the videos from the
good old days, and at least Luperini had her best days racing before drugs
and big money came into the sport!
Bruce

 sometimes, when she loses she is not such a kind person...
I will share one more story with you. When Paretti won the Nationals, Faby
went over and gave her a hug, which not only was a humble gesture on
Luperini's part, but more then likely made Paretti a better winner that day.
After all, winning isn't much fun if you don't receive the acknowledgement
of your fellow riders on occasion. When Faby won the stage at Vaujany in
Tour De Feminin, Grande Boucle for the 6th time, Brandli went over and gave
Faby a kiss. Brandli as a fellow climber knew just how important the stage
win was to Luperini even though they were on rival teams. This is what I
call (class), two great champions embrace, maybe the way Bartali stopped by
to congratulate Coppi after he won the tour, and Bartali went on to talk
about what a great rider Coppi was. Well, Bartali had stole the moment by
honoring Coppi, he added more statue to his own. In the same way, Brandli by
embracing Luperini shows what a great person she is. By far, Brandli is the
most classy, well respected, and probably the most well liked overall around
the world.
This is what great champions are made of, admiration and integrity radiates
from Nicole Brandli, now this is the look of a great champion on the right!
One Nicole looking with great admiration at the other! Stoic, self-assured,
that's the face of respect coming and going! Brandli has achieved happiness
by submission to her destiny!
http://www.luperini.150m.com/Brandli.jpg
Bruce