Tour de France News for June 18, 2003 Edited by John Stevenson & Jeff Jones Vinokourov looking towards the Tour Photo: © AFP Tour de Suisse stage 1 winner and overall leader Alexandre Vinokourov says that he is not interested in the overall victory in this race, despite having a very realistic chance at it. "I've already achieved what I came for: a stage victory will do, I don't care a lot about the leader's jersey," he was quoted in Het Laatste Nieuws. "I'm not going to make the same mistake as last year. I won the third stage but the next day I crashed on the descent of the Sustenpass and the Tour was gone. My own fault, I had taken too many risks. I can't afford that now." "For the first time I'm going to ride the Tour as a classement rider. To be on the podium would be great, together with Armstrong and Ullrich, I suppose. Jan is the only one who can disturb Armstrong - for me he is one of the big favourites for the Tour win. Give him another week in Switzerland and he will be ready for the duel." Vinokourov set his tactics yesterday as the peloton hit the finishing circuit. "After the first time across the finish line I already knew it wouldn't be won among the sprinters, and my explosive power on the climb would give me a chance." Ullrich happy so far After the first road stage of the Tour de Suisse, Jan Ullrich (Team Bianchi) was satisfied with his result, which saw him finish 15th and move up from 13th to 8th on the general classification. The Bianchi captain described it as a "very tough stage" due to the 30 plus degree heat. "But it wasn't really a problem," he added. "In one of the mountain stages or in the time trial I want to show myself in front." Ullrich didn't have the most auspicious of starts to the Tour de Suisse, cutting his thumb with a knife when trying to put another hole in his helmet strap. The injury required three stitches, however Ullrich was still able to finish the prologue in 13th place. Crucial stage for Aerts Today's mountain stage in the Volta a Catalunya will be crucial for determining Mario Aerts' participation in the Tour de France. Telekom has four riders certain for the Tour at the moment: Santiago Botero, Paolo Savoldelli, Alexandre Vinokourov and Erik Zabel. The remaining five will likely be chosen from Daniele Nardello, Rolf Aldag, Giuseppe Guerini, Matthias Kessler, Bobby Julich, Andreas Kl�den, Gian Matteo Fagnini and Mario Aerts. "My condition now is the same as 12 months ago," Aerts told Het Laatste Nieuws. "Also last year I improved in Catalonia after a weak Bicicleta Vasca, and I reached my traditional peak in the last week of the Tour de France. The only difference was that with Lotto I knew already before the start of the season I would ride the Tour. I don't even know with whom I'm lying in the balance with. So far I haven't even got a small signal. I suppose they want to keep everybody 'warm'. Walter Godefroot said: 'Do the best you can, try to get stronger every day and then everything will be alright.' So I know what to do." "The fate is not in my own hands anymore. The pressure is getting higher and higher, and there are nicer circumstances to race under," added Aerts. "But I accept the challenge. The list of pretenders motivates me: all strong riders. I was one of the best climbers in last year's Tour but I 'm afraid they have forgotten that. If I am selected, I won't have stolen my selection." Cipo's team threatens legal action Mario Cipollini's Domina Vacanze team has appealed to the UCI over its exclusion from the Tour de France, and is threatening to take legal action against Tour organizer ASO if the appeal is unsuccessful. According to a statement from the team, Domina Vacanze believes that ASO has not followed UCI rules in choosing the teams for this year's Tour. Team spokesman Gilberto Petrucci was quoted by the reuters news agency as saying, "We have decided to appeal to the UCI because the organisers of the Tour de France did not follow rule 2.6.003 regarding the 'sporting logic' for the selection of the teams for the Tour de France because they invited several teams which were lower than the Domina Vacanze team in the UCI rankings." "They also did not respect the UCI principal of equality amongst UCI members by selecting a French team ahead of an Italian team. "We hope the UCI will accept that we are right and give us a place in the Tour de France, otherwise we will consider taking legal action against the race organisers in France." However, it's not the first time ASO has been threatened with legal action by an excluded team. Last year Saeco threatened to take ASO to court when ASO withdrew Saeco's Tour invitation in the wake of Gilberto Simoni's positive tests for cocaine (later explained as the results of eating contaminated Colombian candies). Previous News    Next News (All rights reserved/Copyright Knapp Communications Pty Limited 2003)

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