News for December 1, 1998

Brinta Beach Classic to Dekker

On Sunday, Erik Dekker won the (postponed) Brinta Beach Classic in Scheveningen for mountain bikes. He had 2 minutes over Edwin Raats and last year's winner Jan Wevers.

Kathy Watt says she is broke

1992 Barcelona Road Race gold medallist Kathy Watt, who is Australia's highest ranked international women rider is claiming that she is unable to meet the financial costs of preparing for the Sydney Olympics. She is facing two problems: the first is due to the fact that sponsors now see her as being too controversial to support, and the second is that the Australian Institute of Sport will not help her in financial terms even though the cycling receives $3.2 million in the next year from the Australian Sport's Commission.

She received a miserable $5000 from the Foster's Sports Foundation which is designed to help medal prospects with financial problems. No other Olympic medallist was forced to go to this last resort fund for support. They are all supported through their respective sport's base grant. Kathy Watt is also the reigning Australian road champion. It is shameful that she does not receive complete support for her endeavours for as long as she is competitive.

French Festina riders meet the judge today

The French Festina riders Richard Virenque, Pascal Hervé and Laurent Brochard will meet Judge Patrick Keil in Lille today. Keil is investigating the doping scandal which arose after Willy Voet was arrested carrying large quantities of EPO and other substances in July.

The hearing will discuss the results of the analyses of tests which were performed on the riders after they were expelled from the Tour de France. L'Equipe has revealed last week that the results appear to quash rumours that Virenque was tested positive. But they do not conclusively suggest that he was clean.

Uster, Switzerland, International Cyclo Cross, Cat A, November 29

 1. Peter Dlask (Cze) 					       57.58
 2. Beat Wabel (Swi) GS K2-Proflex 				0.17
 3. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Team Ritchey 			0.56
 4. Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 					1.59
 5. Jiri Pospisil (Cze) 					2.33
 6. Roland Schätti (Swi) GS Romers Hausbäckerei-Mephisto 	2.57
 7. Dany De Bie (Bel) 						3.12
 8. Peter Novy (Cze) 						3.57
 9. Beat Blum (Swi) GS Saeco-Gerber-Pneuhaus Frank 		4.11
10. Stefan Bünter (Swi) GS-Diamondbach-Racing 			4.53
11. Stefan Kupfernagel (Ger) 					5.08
12. Thomas Steiger (Swi) GS Flatera-RV Uster 			5.08
13. Jan Ramsauer (Swi) GS Saeco-Wetzikon 			5.16
14. Thomas Kalberer (Swi) 					5.26
15. Vaclav Metlicka (Cze) 					5.39
16. Patrick Blum (Swi) GS Saeco-Wheeler-Pneuhaus Frank 		5.44
17. Beat Morf (Swi) GS MTB-Cycletech-SAP-VC Hittnau 		6.26
18. Pascal Van Riet (Bel) 					6.26
19. Dietmar Stari (Aut) 					6.43
20. David Süssemilch (Cze) 					7.08
21. Steffen Weigold (Ger) 					7.26
22. Lukas Zumsteg (Swi) GS Ericsson-Villiger 			8.07
23. Pascal Triebel (Lux) 				    at 1 lap
24. Marco Zingg (Swi) GS Zingg Zweiradsport 		    at 1 lap
25. Matthias Kern (Swi) GS Fumo-Velo-Weidmann 		    at 1 lap
26. David Chassot (Swi) GS Tesag-Cilo 			    at 1 lap

Started: 45
Classified: 26

Thanks to Stefan Girschweiler at http://www.radquer.ch/