News for December 21, 1998

Contracts and Transfers

Lampre, who is now apparently no longer interested in Finish rider Joona Laukka, is in advanced discussions with Gianluca Pianegonda, who was formerly with the Mapei team but was unable to secure a new contract to remain.

Thailand, Asian Games

Men's Road Race:

 1. Wong Kam Po (Hong Kong) 			      4.39.27 (photo-finish)
 2. Makoto Iijima (Japan)
 3. Victor Espiritu (Philippines)			 s.t.
 4. Thongchai Wangardjaigram (Thailand) 		 1.39
 5. Park Min-soo (South Korea) 				 1.44
 6. Warren Davadilla (Philippines) 			 1.53
 7. Sergey Derevianov (Kyrgyzstan) 			 1.53
 8. Rosli Nor Effandy (Malaysia) 			 1.54
 9. Ahad Kazemi Sari (Iran) 				 1.54
10. Kazuyuki Manabe (Japan) 				 1.55
11. J. Ulzit Orshikh (Mongolia) 			 1.59
12. Tomokazu Fujino (Japan) 				 2.58
13. Sergey Krushevsky (Uzbekistan) 			 2.58
14. D. Tumur Ochir (Mongolia)				 2.58
15. Kim Bong-min (South Korea) 				 2.59
16. Tang Xuezhong (China) 				 2.59
17. Majid Nasseri Khorram (Iran) 			 4.50
18. Mehran Esmaeli (Iran) 				 4.50
19. Sergey Beloussov (Uzbekistan) 			 4.50
20. Ali Saeed (United Arab Emirates) 			 9.22
21. Dmitriy Fofonov (Kazakhstan) 			12.01
22. Alexandr Nadobenko (Kazakhstan) 			19.54
23. Li Fuyu (China) 					20.05
24. Sergey Arkov (Uzbekistan) 				20.05
25. Somboon Saetiew (Thailand) 				20.05

1998 US Cyclocross Championships, Fort Devens, MA, Day 2, December 19

Elite men:

 1. Frank McCormack (Saturn)  			     1.03.48
 2. Steve Larsen (Schwinn-Toyota)  			0.19
 3. Jonathon Page (Head Shok-Cannondale)  		0.20
 4. Mark McCormack (Saturn)  				0.21
 5. Bart Bowen (Saturn)  				0.22
 6. Jonathan Sundt (Redline-JogMate)  			0.42
 7. Marc Gullickson (Team GT)  				1.07
 8. Dale Knap (Control Tech-Kona)  			1.35
 9. Peter Webber (Gary Fisher)  			1.43
10. Jed Fox (LeMond-Reynolds)  				2.12

Elite women:

 1. Alison Dunlap (Team GT)  			       40.55
 2. Ann Grande (Redline)				0.14
 3. Carmen Richardson (Head Shok-Cannondale)  		0.31
 4. Mary Hearn (Polo Sport)   				0.44
 5. Katie Blincoe (Redline-JogMate)  			1.14
 6. Audrey Augustin (AEGIS)  				1.35
 7. Kathi Riggert (dependent Fabrication)  		1.48
 8. Jo Ann Groesbeck 					2.17
 9. Jen Dial (dependent Fabrication)  			2.41
10. Emily Thorne (Essex County Velo)  			3.03

Masters men 45+:

 1. Dan Norton (Redline-JogMate)  		       44.40
 2. Mark Hagan (CCB)  					0.32
 3. David Rath (GMBC-Jolt-Tubbs) 			1.43
 4. Eddie Quinn (Portland Velo Club)  			1.45
 5. Darrell Vreugdenhil (Mainline Cycling Club)  	1.51

Masters women:

 1. Blincoe					       42.09
 2. Riggert  						0.34
 3. Groesbeck 						1.03
 4. Susan Fredrickson (Essex County Velo)  		5.36
 5. Karen Nash (Essex County Velo)  			6.37

Collegiate women:

 1. Liz Begosh (Rhode Island School of Design)         45.08
 2. Katherine Greenia (UMass-Amherst)  			0.36
 3. Heather Peck					1.36
 4. Lisa Matlcok (Western Michigan)  			4.04
 5. Mary Kathryn Thompson (Fort Lewis) 		    at 1 lap

Espoir women:

 1. Begosh					       45.08
 2. Cori Book (Celestial Seasonings)   			0.54
 3. Nicole Reinhart (Shaklee)  				2.23

Junior women:

 1. Sarah Uhl (NECSA)  				       47.33
 2. Alicia Genest (NECSA-Richard Sachs)  		0.46
 3. Allie Warfel (Red Rose Rockets)  			1.45
 4. Carol Dunn  					3.30

Thanks to Paul Boudreau

Delgado - a pure climber?

Pablo Torío, from Spain offers a view about our discussion as to whether Pantani was the first "pure climber" since Lucien Van Impe to win the Tour de France. What is a pure climber becomes the issue. Another view was that Pedro Delgado was between Van Impe and Pantani. Here is what Pablo thinks. Concerning Delgado (or Perico, as he is known in Spain), he was a climber, but I wouldn't say he was a pure climber in the way Pantani is. Perico was more a climber in the mould of Virenque (at least the Virenque until 1997 Tour), only that Delgado learnt to time trial after a few years. So I would say Delgado was a rider somewhere between the pure climber like Pantani or Bahamontes and the 'rolleur' like Ullrich or Indurain.

Gold Coast Criterium Report

Robbie McEwen riding on his home course overcame very hot Queensland weather to win the first Gold Coast Criterium. He narrowly beat another local, Jason Phillips. Next came Stuart O'Grady followed by Henk Vogels from Western Australia. The race was run on the new 1.5 kms track at Nerang and on every lap the riders had to contend with a 300 metre sharp hill. The international riders, not used to the heat and humidity, were quickly off the pace. Riders like Christian Wegmann and Magnus Backstedt were unable to cut it in these conditions.

Coming back from an eye operation the previous week, Robbie told the press that: "This is my home club, home circuit, home town and I really wanted to get up here today. Going up that hill, which is about 300 metres long, and with this heat and being in December when we've just started training it makes it really tough. So I think you would have seen the European guys really suffering today, even us Queenslanders were."

The men's race was over 90 minutes. In the women's race, over 45 minutes, it was a closely contested finish between 25-year old Brisbane rider Bridget Evans and Australia's top ranked women's rider Kathy Watt. Evans won narrowly. She said: "I wasn't really prepared for this race today as far as the intensity goes because I was still in the middle of high training so I'm really happy with the win it was fantastic. It's good for the morale and good for confidence."

Queenslander Juanita Feldhahn took third place.

Tour of Langkawi 1999

The Tour of Langkawi 1999 will take place from February 3-14 and will end in Kuala Lumpur after 1773.5 kms. There are 25 teams expected to be contesting the race. Among those already listed by the organisers are: Acceptcard, Mapei, Navigare, Saturn and Mroz, National teams from Malaysia, Philippines, Kazakhstan, Australia, New Zealand, GBR, Denamrk, Canada, Japan, South Korea and China. Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine are also interested.