News for April 16, 1998

Paris-Roubaix 1999

Jan-Marie Leblanc has announced that the parcours of Paris-Roubaix will be changed next year. After the falls in the Forest of Wallers/Arenberg he wants to ride this part of the parcours in the opposite direction. Last Sunday the peloton had 20 kilometers before the forest track without cobblestone tracks and as such they arrived as a big group. Next season the peloton will ride over some cobblestones just 5 km beefore the Forest of Wallers/Arenberg. That will help to ensure that the peloton is stretched out into one big line which, in turn, will help to reduce the chance of serious falls.

Veenendaal-Veenendaal

Veenendaal-Veenendaal will have 8 Italian teams at the start. Some riders: Luc Leblanc, Balducci, Traversoni, Gabriele Colombo and Olano.

Johan Museeuw

Johan Museeuw has inflammation in his knee (which is in plaster at the moment) and cannot undertake an operation. This means Museeuw will be out of competition for at least 10 weeks. If there are complications it can have consequences for the autumn classics and World Championships.

Funeral of Rudy Dhaenens - more detail

Among the 2,000 mourners at the funeral of 1990 world road champion Rudy Dhaenens at Nevele, Belgium, on Easter Monday morning (April 13) were a number of distinguished ex-pros with palmares stretching over more than half a century. Seven of them were World Road Champions, all Belgians. The most senior was 78-year-old Briek Schotte (World Champion 1948 and 1950). The others were Rik Van Steenbergen (1949, 1956, 1957), Rik Van Looy (1960, 1961), Benoni Beheyt (1963), Eddy Merckx (1967, 1971, 1974), Freddy Maertens (1976, 1981) and Claude Criquielion (1984).

Bjarne Riis returns at Aragon

Accordigng to the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, Bjarne Riis will be starting at the Vuelta a Aragon today.

Riis will certainly not ride to win the race, this being his first performance since he crashed and broke his hand in a training accident earlier this season.

UCI Rankings as at April 14

  1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra)            	2402 points
  2. Michele Bartoli (Ita)             	1668
  3. Andrei Tchmil (Bel)              	1578
  4. Jan Ullrich (Ger)                 	1557
  5. Alex Zulle (Swi)                  	1446
  6. Pavel Tonkov (Rus)                	1403
  7. Andrea Tafi (Ita)                 	1213
  8. Erik Zabel (Ger)                  	1197
  9. Franck Vandenbroucke (Bel)        	1180
 10. Johan Museeuw (Bel)               	1119
 11. Davide Rebellin (Ita)             	1073
 12. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita)          	1007
 13. Fernando Escartin (Spa)           	1005
 14. Abraham Olano (Spa)                 989
 15. Alberto Elli (Ita)                  961
 16. Richard Virenque (Fra)              949
 17. Beat Zberg (Swi)                    943
 18. Francesco Casagrande (Ita)          908
 19. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)            900
 20. Laurent Dufaux (Swi)                856
 21. Michael Boogerd (Ned)               834
 22. Rolf Sorensen (Den)                 820
 23. Leon Van Bon (Ned)                  772
 24. Bjarne Riis (Den)                   754
 25. Ivan Gotti (Ita)                    753
 26. Bo Hamburger (Den)                  729
 27. Mario Cipollini (Ita)               729
 28. Udo Bolts (Ger)                     723
 29. Rodolfo Massi (Ita)                 700
 30. Chris Boardman (Gbr)                698

North Queensland Games

Stuart Dutton from Cycling Australia office passed these releases to me:

Toowoomba cyclist Nathan O'Neill overcame a puncture and an unrelenting head-wind, to clinch the lucrative Cycle Classic in Mackay. as part of the North Queensland games,

In idylic weather conditions for cycling, O'Neill, 23, was always in control of the 180 kilometre trek to Eungelia and back, completing the journey in just over five hours and finishing more than 4 and a half minutes ahead of his nearest rival Riki Lanyon of the Cold Coast.

A puncture -on the climb up the range threw a spanner in the works, allowing the other leading riders to catch 0"Neill, a five time National Time Trial champion,

"It was a bit of a setback, but it could've been worse, I could've been with them when I punctured" he said.

O'Neill. who rides for the Australian Institute of Sport team, led a group of four riders on the journey down Eungeita Range. They included Riki Lwiyon (Gold Coast), AIS team-mate Deane Rogers and Murray Coxon (Inverell), the winner of Friday's City criterium.

The Cycle classic carried prizemoney of more than 7-thousand dollars and was given category one status. which makes it part of the national Road Series.

The cyclists had to battle an annoying headwind on the way back to the city and Murray Coxon was the first casuaty. The remaining three continued to play a "cat and Mouse" game, before O'Neill again stamped his authority, breaking away from the others with 20 kilometres to go - a move which almost proved costly.

O'Neill said an official had told him there was just 10 kilometres remaining when he pulled away from the leading bunch, however he quickly realised it was much further than that. "fair dinkum I could've killed the guy when I realised how far out I was" he said.

"It was hot and very tough out on your own in that headwind"

O'Neill specialises in Time Trials and Saturday's event was only his third serious road race this season. He said the "gruelling" course was the perfect build up to next month's prestigious Canberra Milk Road Rage and the upcoming tour of Japan and Italy with the AIS cycle team.

"I'm looking to race profesisonally in Europe and there is no substitute for actual race practice" he said.

Riki Lanyon,29, was the veteran of the field of 50 cyclists and was elated with his second placing considering he was the back up rider to Malcolm Crumpler of the Gold Coast based "CATS" Road race team.

"I haven't been training that much, so 1 was really surprised"- he said.

Crumpler finished overall sixth, but was awarded the "Sprint Jersey", after winning three of the five "Dash for Cash" sprints during the event.

21 year old Glen Chadwick of Rockhampton was the best placed North Queensland rider, finishing in ninth position.

lnverell's Murray Coxon, has won the first gold medal to be decided at the 1998 North Queensland Games in Mackay.

Coxon, 23, was challenged by a group of four riders, which included Nathan O'Neill of Toowoomba and Toby Hood of Boondall, in this afternoon's Criterium race around the Mackay Council Chambers.

Coxon, who won a Worid Junior championship in l993, went into today's race carrying an injury-, which he sustained whilst on a practice ride early this morning.

'I went over a train line this morning and fell off he said.

Nursing a bruised pride and grazed knee, Coxon showed no signs of the injury, as he sprinted to the finish line, to win gold and take home $300 dollars for his efforts.

"Once I got going I didn't feel the pain. but it's been a-while since I had a win, so it certainly is nice to get one' he said.

Coxon will be one of 50 cyclists who will line up for tomorrow's (Saturday) gruelling Category One National Road race to Eungelia Range and back.

The 170 kilometre trek will take in some of the region's most. spectacular views, but for the likes of Coxon, Nathan O'Neill and Deane Rogers, the race is a vital part of their build-up to gain selection in the Australian team for the Comrnonwealth Games later this year,

The Games officially start tonight (Friday, April ) with a spectacular Opening Ceremony, which includes a street march of participating Athletes and the lighting of the 'Boral" games flame.