There’s no pressure being put by the IOC

“There’s no pressure being put by the IOC.”Nevertheless, the Austrians, second in the medals table behind Germany, have launched a concerted campaign to make good any damage to their image.The Austrian Chancellor, Wolfgang Sch?l, who met the IOC president, Jacques Rogge, shortly after the doping raid, is maintaining that the affair will not hurt Salzburg’s bid for the 2014 Winter Games. “There are perfectly good relations between ourselves and the Austrian National Olympic Committee,” an IOC spokeswoman said. There was equipment found that was clearly not allowed, including equipment for blood transfusions. People are thinking about punishing us, even about banning us We want to avoid that.

The damage of a ban would be impossible to make good again.”
The IOC, however, rejected claims that ties with the Austrians were strained. “There’s a storm brewing at the IOC,” the Austrian Olympic Committee secretary general, Heinz Jungwirth, said. “Whether the doping tests are positive or negative doesn’t matter. An Austrian official yesterday voiced fears that the team could be banned from future Games by the International Olympic Committee following last Saturday’s doping raid on their cross country and biathlon skiers here.

Could bring bike giants Yamaha their first WSB titleWSB datesTomorrow: Losail, QatarMar 5: Phillip Island, AusApril 23: ValenciaMay 7: Monza, ItalyMay 28: SilverstoneJune 25: Misano, ItalyJuly 23: Brno, Cz RepAug 6: Brands HatchSept 3: Assen, NethSept 10: Lausitzring, GerOct 1: Imola, ItalyOct 8: Magny-Cours, FrOct 22: TBA, South Africa. Ducati seem remotivated after their drubbing by Suzuki last yearNoriyuki Haga JAPAN, AGE 30, YAMAHA ITALYFearless and fast crowd favourite, who has twice finished second in the WSB. Maybe such a performance would open doors to greater things with Honda, who field no less than six bikes on the MotoGP grid.The Big Three in this year’s WSBTroy Corser AUSTRALIA, AGE 34, ALSTARE SUZUKI226 WSB races, 31 wins, 97 podiums, 34 pole positions, two world titles – no current rider can match this Aussie’s pedigreeTroy Bayliss AUSTRALIA, AGE 36, DUCATI XEROXHungry for success after a three-year victory drought in MotoGP. Bayliss has been impressive in testing for Ducati, for whom the Australian won the superbike title in 2001, and the Spanish rider Barros, 35, a veteran of 251 grands prix, will handle a Honda for Switzerland’s Klaffi team.But the biggest danger remains the reigning champion, the Australian Troy Corser, who again competes on the Suzuki GSX-R1000 of Belgium’s Alstare Corona squad.Nottingham’s Chris Walker could also compete for podium positions on a Kawasaki, and his 21-year-old fellow Briton Craig Jones, makes his World Superbike debut with Carl Fogarty’s Foggy-Petronas team.This is the biggest season of Toseland’s career and if he can get into the top three by the season’s end he will have proved he deserves a chance with the big boys in MotoGP.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing: we can still do the times.”Competition in this year’s championship will be fiercer than for many years, bolstered by the arrival of the MotoGP refugees Troy Bayliss and Alex Barros. The electronics controlled little slides and moments, and it was a lot less to think about.”Now it’s all back to the right wrist and controlling the bike through your body and your own feel for the grip. Traction control has not yet filtered down to the privately run Ten Kate operation, however.”I got very dependent on it,” Toseland admits “It was predictable and safe. Their Fireblade finished second last year in the hands of Australian Chris Vermeulen, who has now won promotion to Suzuki’s MotoGP team.In pre-season testing, Toseland had to adjust to a four-cylinder bike after riding twin-cylinder machines for the past six years, the last five of them on a Ducati.The biggest difference in riding the two bikes is that the factory Ducati has a traction control system: the rider can open the throttle fiercely, but sophisticated electronics prevent the rear wheel from spinning out of control. “I want to get that trophy back in the UK,” he says.”It’s bugged me losing my No 1 plate But it hasn’t done me any harm, because I want it back. I get more determined every year, and I feel really up for the 2006 season.”Toseland has signed to ride a 1,000cc Honda Fireblade for the Dutch Ten Kate team, a group of inventive engineers who build the world’s fastest superbikes. I don’t understand the mentality of that kind of person and I never will.”It’s sacrifice and dedication that you need in this sport.

We put our life on the line every weekend to fulfil our dreams. “Clearly top sports personalities – even if they are in an income bracket that prompts them to move to an offshore tax haven – are as sensitive as the rest of us.But this roller-coaster of experiences, rather than cowing Toseland, appears to have toughened him. “It’s our own people, the British people, saying this about a British competitor. They’re sat at home, they’ve turned the computer on and they’ve typed a letter about someone they’ve never met, and criticised them like it’s one of their worst enemies.