The UCI have rejected a request from the organizers of the 2006 Salzburg World Championship road race to shorten the event distance from 265 to 220km.   The organizers felt the reduction would make for a more exciting race.

In a letter to the race management, the UCI said that the World Championships are "one of the biggest events on the international calendar. Like Milano-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Li?ge-Bastogne-Li?ge, Paris-Tours and the Giro di Lombardia, the World's live on the myth which is created by a distance of 250 to 280 kilometers . We don't want to change that."

"[The Madrid World's] were exciting from the very beginning until the end, raced fast with average speeds of 42 km/h .?  It went on to add that, ?an important aspect is the reduction of team sizes from 12 riders for the greatest nations to nine since last year. The race is more open because of it, as the greatest nations are finding it harder to implement their tactics."

LANDIS

Following his win in the recent Paris-Nice stage race, Floyd Landis has been labeled, by his team mate Axel Merckx, as a possible future winner of the Tour de France.

"Floyd can win the Tour," he told Belgian newspaper HLN. "He's surprising everyone. Never thought that he already would be this good this early,"

"Floyd is really blooming now he's reached thirty. He's got all the qualities [to win the Tour}: he's a strong time-triallist, a decent climber and he's not afraid. You can build your house on him. But let him start with Paris-Nice," Merckx added.

Following his extended trip to South Africa , Jan Ullrich has returned to
Europe.  He?s now (firmly) based in
Tuscany as he continues his preparations for the 2006 season.   "After my successful training camp in
South Africa in February, I am now working on my form in a very concentrated and intense way," he said on the T-Mobile website.   He?s accompanied by Directeur Sportif, Rudy Pevenage and his physiotherapist, Birgit Krohme.

Pevenage reflected that, "the snow chaos is
Southern Europe made our arrival a bit more difficult."   He added that "it is dry here and with temperatures around 15?, we can carry out our planned program."

Readers?why not discuss the Ullrich news in our reader forums ?

According to the Associated Press , Lance Armstrong?s Lawyer, Enrico Nan, has asked an Italian court to drop the litigation case brought about by Filippo Simeoni following comments made by the American in the Le Monde newspaper.   Armstrong called Simeoni a liar following his testimony in the investigation surrounding Italian sports doctor, Michele Ferrari, in 2003.

On March 7 ^th, Nan argued the case should be dropped "because a foreigner should not be held responsible in
Italy for comments made to a French newspaper 'even if the Internet can be read anywhere,'" according to AP.

New
Liberty Seguros ? W?rth leader, Alexandre Vinokourov, last week spoke to french daily, L?Equipe of his steady start to the 2006