THE WEEK IN BRIEF

SATURDAY JANUARY 12 TO FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2008

Scotland's Braveheart Cycling Fund has launched a memorial fund to help the family of Jason MacIntyre, the time trial champion who was tragically killed on Tuesday after a collision with a vehicle whilst out training.

MacIntyre was the full-time carer for one of his twin daughters, who suffers from a medical condition that meant she required constant attention. The fund aims to raise £20,000 to help the MacIntyre family care for their daughter for two years. If you want to find out more or make a donation go to www.braveheartfund.com.

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Mario Cipollini has decided to come out of retirement and will race again in 2008. The 2002 world champion and playboy sprinter will ride for the controversial US Rock Racing team, sponsored by the trendy clothing company Rock & Republic. According to a report in the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper, Cipollini will ride for the team in 2008 and also manage part of the team with a European base in Monaco. The team's budget is reported to be close to six million pounds, with the objective of becoming the best team in the peloton within five years.

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Britain's Dan Lloyd has signed a contract with Sean Kelly's continental team for 2008, allowing him to get his career back on track after the collapse of the Pedaltech-Cyclingnews team.

Lloyd will begin his season at the GP La Marseillaise on February 3 and also ride the Etoile de Besseges races immediately afterwards. The team has also been invited to the Volta ao Algarve stage race which starts on February 20. Key objectives during the season will be the FBD Insurance Rás, the Tour of Ireland and the Tour of Britain. The team will be managed by Belgian Kurt Bogaerts, and includes Irish riders Páidi O'Brien, Isaac Speirs, Stephen Gallagher and Mark Cassidy.

?I'm really happy to have got a place in Sean Kelly's team because it's been a terrible winter for finding places and I've managed to find something even after the demise of Pedaltech,? Lloyd told Cycling Weekly.

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QuickStep Innergetic officially launched its 2008 squad today (Friday). Tom Boonen (far right) is aiming for the yellow jersey in the first week of the Tour de France and to win Milan-San Remo. Photo by Luc Claessen. Full story>>

After a highly successful showing in London in October, the Rouleur Photographic Exhibition is heading to the Midlands at the end of the month.

The exhibition, presented by Rapha performance roadwear, will be at the Coventry Transport Museum from the end of January, and takes the form of a gallery of 250 cycling images from six photographers: Ben Ingham, Olaf Unverzart, Camille J McMillan, Gerard Brown, Timm Kolln and Geoff Waugh.

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Britain?s women?s track team is as strong as ever and determined to win more medals than ever before at the track world championships in Manchester in late March.

Double world cycling champion Shanaze Reade has one eye on the women's 500m time trial world title and will also be targeting the defence of her BMX crown in China a month later.

British world-class individual pursuiters Wendy Houvenaghel and Rebecca Romero are favourites for two of the three in the new team pursuit places as Britain try to strike gold in the new event.

"There are more events to go for in the World Championships than there are in the Olympics. One of the new events is the women's team pursuit and that's really exciting. The British team are not only getting strength in depth but also strength in breadth across more disciplines than we have before.? BC?s Dave Brailsford said.

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Double Tour of Spain winner Denis Menchov has told Spanish sports daily MARCA that he has no connections whatsoever with the Austrian laboratory ?Humanplasma?. The Rabobank leader was named by German tv channel ARD as a possible client for the lab. ARD initially claimed that blood transfusion operations were carried out cyclists, un-named German skiiers and biathletes but have since backtracked on their original story.

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Floyd Landis? final appeal to have his two-year ban for using synthetic testosterone quashed will get underway on March 19th, it was announced. Landis was stripped of his Tour 2006 title and banned from racing for two years last autumn.

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The organisers of Ghent-Wevelgem have announced that the route of the mid-week Classic will be changed this year. Following the numerous accidents of 2007 on the descent of the Mont Kemmel, the climb will be tackled the other way round.

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The CTC, the national cyclists' organisation, has jumped to the defence of cyclists after Baroness Sharples hand-bagged a rider for going through a red light and was told she ?did the right thing? by other so-called ?noble Lords? debating matters of the road safety for the hoi polloi in the House of Lords.

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2007 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde are at the top of the list of riders the Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri wants to question as he investigates the implications of Operacion Puerto in Italy.

Torri confirmed that if riders and doctors refuse to be questioned either in Italy or Spain, then the Italian Olympic Committee has the right to eventually ban them from competing in Italy. That could cause havoc during 2008 because the Tour de France visits Italy for the second rest day and the world championships will be held in Varese, north of Milan in September.

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Seeing is believing and on Saturday, after months of delay, London riders were at long last able to see the Hog Hill cycle circuit taking shape. They had the pleasure of walking the carved out route of the new Indy circuit, which is the first part of a much larger circuit being built by the London Development Agency to relocate Eastway Cycle Circuit, demolished to make way for the Olympic Park. And their verdict? ?They gave the thumbs up,? says Michael Humphrey, chair of Eastway Users Group.

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