News for December 27, 1998

Belgium, Rijkevorsel, Cyclocross, December 26

World Champion Mario De Clercq is coming into form at the right time of the cross season. He won the Boxing Day race in Rijkevorsel which also serves at the Cyclocross Trophy of Antwerp. It is his 3rd win in 4 days. At half a minute was the Belgian National Champion Marc Janssens. Erwin Vervecken had to be content with third place.

 1. Mario De Clercq (Bel) Palmans
 2. Marc Janssens (Bel)
 3. Erwin Vervecke (Bel)
 4. Arne Daelmans (Bel)
 5. David Willemssens (Bel)

Valkenburg bids for Tour start and finish in 2001

The Dutch town of Valkenburg has once again bid for a start in the Tour de France in 2001. It has to compete against Bjarne Riis's town of Herning (Denmark), Dunkirk (France) and Freiburg (Germany). During the World Championships in October which were held principally in Valkenburg (although the towns of Maastricht and Margraten played a part), there was a meeting between town officials and the Société Tour de France. The town council in Valkenburg is aggressively seeking to promote the town with large events. The French delegation was able to witness first hand how the town could cope with a "cycling circus".

Town mayor Constant Nuytens has said that the town is bidding for a start and finish place and hopes that the Tour caravan will spend two days in the most southern province of the Netherlands, Limburg. The Tour will start in Antwerp (Belgium) in 2001.

Valkenburg hosted a stage finish in 1992 (at the same place as the Worlds finished this year) and also hosted the start of the next stage on the Sunday which took the Tour to Koblenz, Germany. According to police, in 1992, more than a million people lined the roads for the last 50 kms to the finish line in Valkenburg. The stage was won by Frenchman Gilles Delion, after a breakaway which was animated by Stephen Roche.

The Tour last visited the Netherlands in 1996 when it started in the Brabant town of 's Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch). The prologue was held there and stage 1 started and finished in Den Bosch. In that edition of the race, the Dane Bjarne Riis ended the dominance of Spaniard Miguel Indurain. The two stages were marked by bad weather (raining) and extensive traffic problems on the narrow roads in Brabant. There were several falls and the organisers were not impressed.

Dutch classic to continue

The cycling classic held in the southern Netherlands province of Limburg, the Hel van het Merggeland will be taken over by the Valkenburg Event Organisation for the first time. Jo Römling from the Valkenburg Organisation says that the race has not been developed to its potential. "A race with so much attraction must not be lost. For us, an organisation which promotes events in Valkenburg, it is no problem that the start and finish of the Hel van het Mergelland remains in Eijsden. Our aim is to make sure it gets as much help as it can." (Bill notes: Eijsden is the last Dutch town before you cross into Belgium. It is some 20 kms from Valkenburg, which is to the north-east).

The race which goes through the South Limburg hills and into the Ardennen was looking like it would fall out of the calendar after the usual organisers, the brothers Tonnie and Ruud Maas and Jan Charpentier, said a week ago that they were not planning to continue.