Phonak Hearing Systems / Season 2000

This article describes the 2000 season of the Swiss cycling team Phonak Hearing Systems .

team

The sporting directors of the team, which was led by owner and General Team Manager Jean-Jacques Loup , were Loup himself and the French Jacques Michaud , who, like Loup, had switched from the Post Swiss team to Phonak. The secretariat, based in Montmagny, consisted of Elisabeth Jeckelmann and Evelyne de Muccio. Team doctor was Patrick Vienne. Claude Chenal, Nadège Lamour, Sabine Perrenoud and Laurent Perriard were employed as masseurs, while Hermann Pacal and Marco Zingg worked as mechanics.

The driver squad consisted of 13 predominantly young drivers, none of whom had achieved significant successes on an international level. The best placed rider in the UCI world rankings of 1999, Pierre Bourquenoud , was in 307th position. Seven of the team members also contested their first professional season. Seven professionals came from Switzerland , two each from Austria and France and one each from Canada and Belarus . In addition to the male riders, Nathalie Griggio also had a contract with a female cyclist. There was no permanent team captain, instead all drivers were supposed to work for each other in turn so that everyone could take their chance of a good placement during the course of the year.

Squad

Surname	birthday	nationality	Team 1999
Matthias Buxhofer	September 30, 1973	Austria	Neoprofi
Lukas Zumsteg	June 21, 1972	Switzerland	Ericsson-Villiger
Cédric Fragnière	February 16, 1976	Switzerland	Post Swiss team
René Stadelmann	January 29, 1974	Switzerland	Ericsson-Villiger
Dominique Perras	February 11, 1974	Canada	NutraFig
Jérôme Delbove	November 11, 1974	France	Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
Christian Charrière	3rd July 1975	Switzerland	Post Swiss team
Nathalie Griggio	April 20, 1971	Switzerland	Neoprofi
Uwe Straumann	October 26, 1977	Switzerland	Neoprofi
Stefan Richner	June 15, 1974	Switzerland	Neoprofi
Jochen Summer	May 28, 1977	Austria	Neoprofi
Pierre Bourquenoud	November 21, 1969	Switzerland	Post Swiss team
David Derepas	March 9, 1978	France	Neoprofi
Alexandre Usov	August 27, 1977	Belarus	Neoprofi
Trainees		nationality	Team 1999
Jean Nuttli (from September)		Switzerland	-

Season course

After hearing aid manufacturer Phonak signed up to sponsor a Swiss cycling team under the direction of General Team Manager Jean-Jacques Loup between 1999 and 2002 and signed 13 riders, the newly founded team presented itself on January 12, 2000 at the Phonak Headquarters in Stäfa before the public. The team's budget was 2.5 million Swiss francs . It was planned to take part in 18 stage races and 40 one-day races in Switzerland , but also abroad.

The first race for Phonak was the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia at the beginning of February 2000. The best result for the team was Matthias Buxhofer's fourth place on the 12th stage, while the Belarusian Alexandre Usov in two mass sprints for another top ten Placements could provide. Shortly afterwards there were further good placements at the Grand Prix Umag , the Giro del Lago Maggiore , the Grand Prix Portugal or the reservoir tour .

At the Giro della Svizzeria Meridoniale in March, Stefan Richner was successful with his first victory for Phonak at national level in the mountain time trial as well as an 8th stage position and fourth place in the overall classification. The first success in a UCI race followed on May 14 , when Lukas Zumsteg won the Tour of Bern . Before that, Usov, Uwe Straumann and Cédric Fragnière had been able to achieve further podium positions in various races in April.

The first major international race for Phonak should be the Tour de Romandie in early May. The Canadian Dominique Perras made a 142-kilometer solo escape on the first stage, but was restored despite a temporary eight-minute lead. Matthias Buxhofer in the prologue time trial and Usov on two parts of the day ensured respectable placements, while Lukas Zumsteg secured third place in the sprint classification. Shortly afterwards the "Phonakiens" also showed good form at the Uniqa Classic in Austria , which was shown in three placements in the stage top ten by Buxhofer, whose third place in the points and ninth place in the overall standings. After that, the Swiss racing team was also at the start of the Germany Tour , where Buxhofer successfully represented the team with two top ten ranks and, above all, Usov, who was twice sixth, once fifth and once third and third in the points classification.

The third win of the season, which Lukas Zumsteg narrowly missed in second at the Schynberg Tour in early June, was then clinched by Pierre Bourquenoud at the Grand Prix Winterthur . In the same month, Phonak's most important race of the season took place, namely the Tour de Suisse home tour . Matthias Buxhofer achieved a great success for the team by winning the sprint ranking. The Austrian also placed in the top ten at two stages of the day.

Buxhofer also showed himself to be a top performer in July and achieved the next two victories at the Grand Prix Vorarlberg and the Wartenberg-Rundfahrt , in which Bourquenoud, Charrière and Fragnière also finished in the top ten.

In August, the Frenchman David Derepas , who had already shown his rising form with fourth place at the Critérium de Dijon , made for a few top placings, for example in the Tour of Denmark with tenth place in the young driver classification or eighth place in the same ranking at the Tour du Poitou-Charentes in France. On the same tour, the Austrian Jochen Summer was also the tenth best young rider and fourth in the 3rd stage, who a little later reached sixth place in the pair time trial Josef Voegeli Memorial together with Zumsteg. Even without a win, the month was successful for Phonak, especially since Buxhofer was also fifth in France and the Belarusian Usov was able to achieve top positions in mass sprints in Denmark and France.

At the beginning of September, the team and Usov took part in the Tour de l'Avenir , the "Tour de France for young riders". Here, too, the Belarusian was able to show good form and sprinted three times under the top ten of the stage. While David Derepas finished fourth, Usov even won the last part of the day and took Phonak's seventh win of the season. In addition, the team was still at the start of a few one-day races in their Swiss homeland in September. The Grand Prix de Lausanne was particularly successful , with Phonak placing five drivers in the top ten and celebrating a triple victory in which René Stadelmann crossed the finish line ahead of Lukas Zumsteg and Dominique Perras. But Phonakiens were also able to place themselves at the front at the Grand Prix de la Ville de Meyrin and the Grand Prix of the Maggia Valley or the Tour du Canton de Genève . In Meyrin, five Phonak professionals even made it into the top ten, while Zumsteg narrowly missed victory in second. In 2000, however, Zumsteg won the GP Maggia Valley for the second time.

The 2000 racing season then ended for the Phonak team with the Hessen Tour and the Chrono des Herbiers time trial competition . In Hesse, René Stadelmann was able to place sixth in the overall standings, while Stagiaire Jean Nuttli showed his time trial qualities with third place on the fourth stage (b). A stage win was narrowly missed with two second places by Stadelmann and Zumsteg. But at the end there was another victory in Herbiers on October 22nd, the tenth overall in 2000. It was Nuttli who won the individual time trial and was therefore able to recommend himself for a contract for 2001.

At the end of the 2000 season, the Phonak Hearing Systems team was 45th in the UCI world rankings .

doping

In autumn of that year, the Austrian Jochen Summer tested positive for phentermine while racing in Switzerland . According to Summers, these were contained in a dietary supplement that he took and that he had not reported to team doctor Patrick Vienne. Summer then confessed to an "unconscious abuse" of the drug and was banned for three months. In addition, the Phonak racing team released him from his current contract.

successes

Victories in international races

date	run	Racing category	driver
May 14th	Bern tour	1.3	Lukas Zumsteg
June 12	Grand Prix Winterthur	1.5	Pierre Bourquenoud
June 13-22	Tour de Suisse	2.HC	Matthias Buxhofer (sprint classification)
15th of July	Grand Prix Vorarlberg	1.5	Matthias Buxhofer
30th July	Wartenberg tour	1.4	Matthias Buxhofer
the 9th of September	10th stage Tour de l'Avenir	2.5	Alexandre Usov
October 22nd	Chrono of the Herbier	1.4	Jean Nuttli

Wins in national races

date	run	driver
March 13th	Mountain time trial Giro della Svizzeria Meridoniale	Stefan Richner
September 10	Grand Prix de Lausanne	René Stadelmann
September 24th	Grand Prix of the Maggia Valley	Lukas Zumsteg

literature

Andrea Kobler-Kobelt, Georges Lüchinger: Phonak green and yellow passion on two wheels . 1st edition. AS-Verlag, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-909111-36-7 .

Web links

• Phonak Cycling Team / Season 2000 in the database of Radsportseiten.net