News for February 23, 1998

The other side of the Ullrich story

Recently, I published a story based on a Spanish Journalist's view of the behaviour and demeanour of Jan Ullrich during the Tour of Mallorca. Here is the other side to the story with editorial work from Bill!

Torben from Denmark writes:

The journalistic view of Ullrich's lack of coorporation should also be seen from his own perspective. He is only young and I think very few of us would be able to cope with the immense pressure from fans and the press, Ullrich have had to deal with for the last 8 months. Journalists insist on asking the same banal questions and (worse) insinuating conflicts which don't exist. Any World Champion can verify that the attention and obligations of the media is the Number One (and only) explanation for the alleged curse of the rainbow jersey. If you want to race and relax and train and have a life you can't spend two hours a day answering stupid questions from a stupid press.

The press never understand that, and I guess they never will. They have to harass as its their bread and butter. But when they try to get me to condemn some public person who is only insisting on a minimun of privacy, my sympathy is almost always on the public person, in this case, Jan Ullrich.

And Arun from Germany offered this view.

The information about Ullrich and the press is not correct. I don't know why the guy who wrote this is so pissed off with Ullrich. First, Ullrich never lived in South Africa or spent any length of time there. This is simply wrong. Next, he does not really speak English very well. This is because he went to an East Germany school where English was not taught. He has promised to learn French, however, because he felt a little ashamed that he could not communicate with Virenque during the Tour.

Further, Ullrich gave a lot of interviews during his training time in Mallorca. Nearly every German newspaper or magazine got an interview with him. And finally, he is from the north-east of Germany - we don't like to talk too much.

Nice one Arun.

Talen wins the Ronde van Lloret in Spain

John Talen won the minor tour - the Tour of Lloret de Mar. He won the second, third and fourth stage and finished the final stage safely in the peloton (at 27 seconds). The last stage was won by Paul van Schalen from Anthony Theus.

UCI Cross Rankings as at February 15, 1998

 1. Richard Groenendaal (Ned)   	2265 points
 2. Adri van der Poel (Ned)   		1674
 3. Mario de Clercq (Bel)            	1172
 4. Daniele Pontoni (Ita)        	1104
 5. Dieter Runkel (Zwi)          	 869
 6. Erwin Vervecken (Bel)		 802
 7. Marc Janssens (Bel)			 793
 8. Radomir Simunek (Cze) 	         772
 9. Beat Wabel (Swi)           	 	 749
10. Sven Nijs (Bel)                  	 645

Navigators Cycling Team signs Elliot Hubbard

The Navigators Cycling Team has announced the addition of Elliot Hubbard to their 1998 lineup today. Hubbard, 24, from Paget East, Bermuda is entering his second season of professional road cycling after riding for the AKI team in Italy last year. This 1996 Olympian has also competed in such major international events as the 1992 and 1995 Pan-American Games, the 1994 Commonwealth Games and the 1995 World Championship. Hubbard, a member of the Bermuda National Team, has extensive experience and results in many European and North American races.

"This young, well-rounded athlete brings the team some added depth in road and stage race situations" stated Ed Beamon the Team's Directeur Sportif. "We are excited to have Elliot in our organization, as he is a rider with both potential and proven experience," Beamon added. The Navigators team is well positioned to take advantage of any racing situation and expects to add to the record 32 victories earned in 1997.

The New York based Navigators Insurance Group is an international insurance holding company and one of the largest marine insurers in the world. Navigators specializes in marine, aviation and energy insurance. The Team is co-sponsored by Somerset Insurance, Ltd. of Bermuda, a reinsurance affiliate of Navigators. Navigators and the Somerset Companies have operations in five major cities in the United States as well as in London, Singapore, Sydney and Bermuda. Navigators Common Stock is traded over-the-counter (The Nasdaq National Market) under the symbol NAVG.

Contact Raymond Cipollini at rayc@velocitysports.com for more information.

Steffen Kjaergaard wins for Team Chicky World

Norwegian rider Steffen Kjaergaard from the new Danish Team Chicky World on Saturday won the Grand Prix Biarritz in Southern France. The former TVM-rider was one minute ahead of a breakawaygroup, where another Chicky World rider, Mark Tune Madsen from Denmark won the sprint.

This was only the 3rd start of the team, which Sports Director is the former TdF Yellow Jersey holder, Kim Andersen.