Wilfried Nelissen

Once the results are determined, probably by Friday, Nelissen will know if he will have to undergo further surgery. For the time, until something is known, the Palmans manager, Walter Planckaert is not talking. Without another operation, he must rest anyway. It seems obvious that with so many problems, he will immediately go under the knife. But for Wilfried he is hoping for other solutins.

Zulle starts with Festina

The new language quest has naturally arisen because of Zülle's new employment. During the last Tour de France he changed contracts and left ONCE for Festina. That was the result of some fast negotiations. The 29-year old Swiss, who had had his preparation for the tour ruined by a nasty fall, spoke with his two most important sponsors about his future.

"The Swiss watchmaker Omega was the first who talked. I had a very good contract with them, but Omega wanted to begin investing in Golf. Then I discussed with Manolo Saiz about his plans with me and ONCE. I wished to be valued more. My salary had not been renewed for two years, and meanwhile I had won the World Time Trial Championships. Also Saiz wished to keep me, but he found no commitment from the ONCE directors. They valued me less than I had hoped."

Zülle thus continued to looked around. "I spoke with Rabobank and with Festina. And with Roussel things clicked straightaway. We discussed quickly the season plans and financial mattter. I came back to my room mate and I contemplated by market value. The sponsor Rodriguez was so happy that he could not keep it secret and so the big news broke during the Tour. That was not very good for Virenque."

There was also a lot of exaggeration about the terms that Zulle had agreed to.

"10 Million Swiss Francs for 3 years. That is what the Swiss newspapers were writing. How much is that in Belgian franks? ... [Bill notes: Zulle was talking in Belgium here]... Around 25? A quarter of a million Franks? Well it isn't that much. But it is more than half that. Yes, naturally I did it for the money. I am not there for life. But with my palmares I find that my publicity and riding are very rewarding."

The question for the 30-year old professional who rides for money, "I have not that much time remaining to get value for the future."

"Festina is not thinking short-term though. Roussel plans unlike Manolo Saiz well in advance. That suits me fine. Now I know the plans: I will do the Giro, Virenque and I will ride the Tour, Dufaux and Virenque the Vuelta. And in the Classics I will ride for Brochard and Bortolami. I can finally ride as the favoured rider in the Giro. What happens in the Tour, well, we will see. But in principal Virenque is our top man."

"I will make not statements about the Tour. I am there as the second rider and I hope I can win a stage. The Giro and the Tour are too close together to have top aspirations in both. There is room to recover though. But if I am not in form, then I will help Virenque to win. I have no problems with being in the service of a better team-mate. My sponsor comes first always.

And what of the relations between Virenque and Zülle.

"We are nearly colleagues. There is a distance though. We don't talk much. Nothing more than a good day and the usual gossip in the 'rider's stalls' I can speak no French and he no German. But that shall change I think. The first step is that I have come to the team. I am a new man. But there was no problem when I went to ONCE. I had to learn Spanish quickly and for a German-speaking Swiss that was not easy. So I think I can quickly learn French which I currently do not know a word. But in the summer I will have to come up to scratch."

New Contract for Wim de Vos

Next week Van Kasteren will also meet with Belgian Sven Nijs and sit around the table and talk terms with him. The Belgian who won the Espoirs World Title for the second time in a row would be a great acquisition to VKS.

Lance Again

Lance Armstrong is such a heroic-sounding name that you'd think some comic book writer made it up. But Austin's superstar bicyclist backs up his given handle by returning to competitive cycling February 15, about 16 months after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. Armstrong will pedal in the five stage Ruta del Sol in souther Spain, with his American return to racing slated for May 22 at the Sprint Criterium in downtown Austin. Easily the biggest cycling event to hit Texas, the criterium lineup boasts to five-time Tour de France champion Miguel Indurain and Eddy Merckx, in addition to Armstrong and other top cyclists. The course will consist of 56 laps over a route that loops from Interstate 35 access road up Sixth Street to Brazos and back down Seventh. The next day will be the second annual "Ride for the Roses" charity event, followed by a concert, possibly featuring the bike-crazy Wallflowers, at the Austin Music Hall. The "Roses" ride has become especially dear to Armstrong (whose cancer is in remission) because he met his fiancee Kristin Richard at the event last year. The pair are set to be married in the bride's hometown of Santa Barbara, California, on May 8.

Confirmation of the race comes from the United States Cycling Federation district representative of Texas, Gary Stephenson's web page:

May 22 Austin - The Sprint Criterium, Contact: John Korioth 800-496-4402

Greg Hall writes that Lance showed up at the local bakery ride yesterday (Sunday) in his US Postal colors. About 30 riders (including Greg) headed out to the hills south of Austin with Lance on a sunny and pleasant (70 degree f.). When Lance put the hammer down about 25 miles into the ride only Kristian House (18yrs, Violet Crown Sports Association, 1st place Region III 1998 Lance Armstrong Junior Olympic Race Series) and Sam Childs (33yrs, Peleton Racing Organization) were able to bridge up and stay with Lance for the rest of the ride back into Austin (50+ miles total). Lance leaves for Europe today (Monday).

[Bill notes: I think I will be able to publish Lance's Diary during the European season compiled by Kristin Richard this year.]

The 6-Day Season to Date

Medellin, Columbia:

 1. Martinello-Villa
 2. Curuchet-Curuchet
 3. Llaneras-Alzamora

Bordeaux, France:

 1. Martinello-Villa
 2. Risi-Betschart
 3. De Wilde-Gilmore

Herning, Denmark:

 1. Veggerby-Madsen
 2. Risi-Betschart
 3. Riis-Martinello

Dortmund, Germany:

 1. Risi-Betschart
 2. Aldag-Martinello
 3. Veggerby-Madsen

Grenoble, France:

 1. Piil-Braikia
 2. Baffi-Lombardi
 3. Collinelli-Lapage

Monaco, Germany:

 1. Risi-Betschart
 2. Riis-Martinello
 3. Madsen-Veggerby

Gent, Belgium:

 1. De Wilde-Gilmore
 2. Veggerby-Madsen
 3. Martinello-Villa

Zurich, Switzerland:

 1. Martinello-Villa
 2. Risi-Betschart
 3. Baffi-Llaneras

Leipzig, Germany:

 1. Risi-Betschart
 2. Martinello-Villa
 3. Veggerby-Madsen

Cologne, Germany:

 1. Kappes-Baffi
 2. Martinello-Villa
 3. Veggerby-Madsen

Bremen, Germany:

 1. Veggerby-Madsen
 2. Kappes-Baffi
 3. Martinello-Villa

Stuttgart, Germany:

 1. Risi-Betschart
 2. Kappes-Baffi
 3. Martinello-Villa

Berlin, Germany:

 1. Martinello-Villa
 2. Baffi-Kappes
 3. Wolf-Doerich

Copenhagen, Denmark:

 1. Martinello-Villa
 2. Veggerby-Madsen
 3. Risi-Betschart

Queensland Cup - Final Race

The Open Men's race was held in very hot conditions at the Murrarie Recreational Reserve on Sunday.

Before the race started there were two likely winners for the overall in the series, Anthony Callens who had a narrow points lead over Braydon Jones. These two had cleared out on the rest in the series of criteriums, decided on points gained and run over summer by theFfast Club. A look down the overall points revealed names such as O'Grady, Vogels, McEwen and Stephens. The first time Queensland had had such names in it's results.

The race started slowly with the 70 odd riders realising they had 35 laps of the 1.6k circuit to do. There were a number of failed attempts at getting away but Callens' Astra Team kept the race under tight control not wanting any unexpected breakaways ruining his lead. This was the pattern of the race throughout until 2 laps to go when a crash in the middle of the field brought down nearly 20 riders and split the field. This left a group of 30 in the front with both Callens and Jones safe. In the sprint to the line Rickie Lanyon (renowned for his breakaway with Stevo at the B'bane International) coming out the winner from Josh Watts and Braydon Jones 3rd. Anthony Callens came in 7th and won the Queensland Cup by a mere 1 point.

 1. R. Lanyon
 2. J. Watts
 3. B. Jones
 4. T. Stanley
 5. J. Harris
 6. A. Johnson
 7. A. Callens
 8. W. Evans
 9. M. Erwin
10. J. Palmer

Masters/C Grade

The Masters had there event earlier with Terry Peters going into the event as leader of the series and virtually unbeatable. The race was full of action with plenty of riders willing to try their hand at getting away. Peters was intent on keeping the race together and using his formidable sprint to finish the series on a winning note. This he did but not before a fair bit of biff and hit from some riders trying to improve their position in the last lap. Peters went to the line ahead of Marcus Elder (winner at the Brisbane International) and Gary Wilson.

 1. Terry Peters
 2. Marcus Elder
 3. Gary Wilson
 4. Milan Seeman
 5. Terry Dann
 6. Paul Howard
 7. John Schabb
 8. Lawrie Cranley