Bjarne Riis InterviewFinn Jorrald, who keeps us up to date with Danish news has sent me this Bjarne Riis interview.Both Rolf Sorensen and Bjarne Riis will go for victories and WC points in the ten classics this season. "I will ride hard from Milan-San Remo until May 1, where I will take one week off cycling and then gradually build up the form to the Tour. There will be no races in Denmark in that period" says Bjarne. The focus on the early classics will put Riis into direct competition with fellow Dane Rolf Sorensen who finished second in this year's WC even if a broken hand kept him away from the last two races. "After the Tour is the Danmark Rundt and the rest of the classics and not least the World Championship, where the route suits me. It was on that route that I won the Amstel Gold Race. I have many goals for 1998, but at the outset I am aiming at the four classics and the Tour. We will have to wait and see how well I feel after the Tour before making any final decision about the autumn." "It is fascinating to ride the classics. They are all great races." Riis does not feel that he needs more results to add to his name but he would like to win the World Championship. "But I still have ambitions. And I would rather win another Tour than ten World Championships. If I win another Tour I don’t even need to win another one day race in Herning Cykelklub," says Riis that will continue to ride the Tour as long as he wishes. "I cannot put a year on my retirement because I don’t know. If I don’t have the ambitions then my physical condition and morale will also disappear. But Joop Zoetemelk won the Tour when he was much older than I am now. And Raymond Polidor kept on in the forties - I don’t really count on riding for that long though. Realistically, I have between two and four years left. Right now I can’t see why I should stop but maybe one day I will find a hole in the racing calendar. And that will be the end of it. I hope I will be able to stop before it gets boring. You see that a lot. Eddy Merckx rode a year too long. And Miguel Indurain - did he ride a year too much?? I don’t think so because he still rode very fast. So you can say that he finished at the top even if he didn’t win the last year. It says in my birth certificate that I am 33 years and thats the only place. And in my heart I am about 25." Bjarne has a contract with Telekom for another year and an option for the following year. And he does not calculate on changing team. "I wouldn’t mind staying with Telekom even if it will be as number two after Jan Ullrich. It is also about money and I will not take half the salary and then ride for another team. Together with Telekom there is probably 4 other teams I could be interested in riding for. They would have to comply with my demands on being able to stand up at the Tour. They should have control over things. And on this aspect I cannot find a better Team than Telekom. And we are good companions so there is a good morale. It also means a lot to me that I was part of building up Telekom's success. And I have to accept that even if I rode for Banesto or ONCE I would still have to win over Ullrich. Why not ride with him and make the double money." Telekom has also made it clear that they would prefer that he stays. Both the team and the people around still considers him the captain. "Jan is also saying that. I feel that they have great respect for me and trust in me. They are thankful that I am there. The only difference I feel in my status at the team is that the German press would like to make Jan Ullrich number one. It is okay. I don’t care." The German team has just concluded a contract until 2002 with Ullrich at an estimated yearly salary of 2 milion DM. Riis does not want to talk about his own salary. But he look happy when he states: "I will put it like this - I don’t complain." Riis will ride the classics as a result of any internal team pressure. "Godefroot would like me to concentrate on the Tour. For them only another victory to Telekom counts. But that is not the case for me. I think that the best for me is both." Woerden, Dutch Cyclo Cross Championships, January 11, 1997Elite: 1. Richard Groenendaal 2. Adri van der Poel 1.15 3. Wim de Vos 1.44 4. Bart Brentjens 2.52 Neo-amateurs: 1. Maarten Nijland 2. Bram Schmitz 3. Raymond Lubberman Women: 1. Daphny van den Brand 2. Reza Ravenstijn 3. Inge Velthuis Geraardsbergen, Belgian Cyclo Cross Championships, January 11, 1997Marc Janssens won his third Belgian National Cyclo Cross title in the elite race held at Geraardsbergen in Southern Belgium on Sunday.After two laps, Mario De Clercq led the race from Vervecken and his teammate Janssens. Vervecken could not close the gap but meanwhile Janssens attacked De Clercq and took over the lead. At the end of the championship, Janssens was the strongest rider with Vervecken hanging on for second place.
1. Marc Janssens 2. Erwin Vervecken 3. Mario de Clercq Espoirs: 1. Bart Wellens 2. Sven Nijs 0.30 (had mechanical troubles on first lap) French Cyclo Cross Championships, January 11, 19971. Christophe Mengin 2. Dominique Arnould 3. Emmanuel Magnien Czech Republic Cyclo Cross Championships, January 11, 19971. Radomir Simunek 2. Jiri Pospisil 3. Kamil Ausbuher Belgian World Championships TeamAfter the Belgian championships in Geraardsbergen the BWB has concluded its selection for the team which will contest the World Cyclo Cross Championships from January 31 to February 1 in the Danish town of Middelfart.Elite: Danny De Bie, Mario De Clercq, Marc Janssens, Peter Van Santvliet and Erwin Vervecken Espoirs: Gianni David, Sven Nijs, Tom Va Noppen, Bjorn Rondelez, Kipcho Volckaerts and Bart Wellens Obree still thinking about the Hour RecordThe Scot Graeme Obree will try to break the World Hour Record. He will make this the main aim for 1998. The World Hour Record has stood since 1996 when English rider Chris Boardman set the mark at 56.375 kilometersHe is reported as saying: "It is not going to be easy. When Chris set his record his riding position was close to aerodynamically perfect. Now the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) have 'moved the goalposts', so it is no longer possible to be that aerodynamic." Obree held the best time twice in 1993 and 1994. He rode a special bike then with an eccentric position. The UCI banned the position to eliminate increasing records being set due to technology. Unfortunately, for Obree, Boardman was able to use the position at Manchester Velodrome to set the Hour Mark, before the UCI regulations became enforced. Obree will make his attempt on the record between May-June and is not against going to the heights of Colombia. He is also aiming to ride well at the Track World Championships (at Bordeaux) and in the September Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. He will be aiming for gold in the 4,000 metres pursuit at the Games having won the medal twice in the past. Some Questions from the Spanish Team's ListingSeveral people have raised issue with the detail about the Spanish team's listing I published on Monday, January 12. My response is that I do not know the answers. If anyone does, categorically, then we will all be enlightened.Some issues raised:
The changes in the UCI Race Classifications for 1998Tuur Verdonck from the Netherlands has been tinkering with the 1998 Calendar, in particular, focusing on the changes to the UCI rankings for each race. Here are the results. We do not know if this is exhaustive or not.Note that within a category 2.1 carries higher points than a 2.2, whereas a 2.x race carries higher points than a 1.x race. The interpretation of the changes are as follows. For example, 1.4 + 1.3 means that in 1997 the race was classified as 1.4 while is has been given a higher ranking (1.3) in 1998. The + signs indicate an upgrading and the negative signs indicate a downgrading in the status of the race.
Feb 22: Classic Haribo (Fra) 1.4 + 1.3 Feb 28: Trofeo Pantalica (Ita) 1.4 + 1.3 Mar 1: Giro del Etna (Ita) 1.4 + 1.3 Mar 8-15: Paris - Nice (Fra) 2.1 + HC Mar 11-18: Tirreno-Adriatico (Ita) 2.1 + HC Mar 25-29: Settimana Ciclistica Internazionale (Ita) 2.3 - 2.4 Apr 6-10: Vuelta al Pais Vasco (Spa) 2.1 + HC Apr 15-19: Vuelta Ciclista a Aragon (Spa) 2.3 + 2.2 May 1: Rund um den Henninger Turm (Gery) 1.1 - 1.2 May 5-10: Tour de Romandie (Swi) 2.1 + HC May 30-Jun 6: Österreich Rundfahrt (Aut) 2.5 + 2.4 Jun 7-14: Critérium du Dauphiné Libére (Fra) 2.1 + HC Jun 10-14: Postgirot Open (Swe) 2.5 + 2.4 Jun 16-25: Tour de Suisse (Swi) 2.1 + HC Jun 18-25: Volta a Catalunya (Spa) 2.1 + HC Jun 28-Jul 2: Rheinland Pfalz Rundfahrt (Ger) 2.5 + 2.4 Aug 1-5: Tour des Régions Wallonnes (Bel) 2.5 + 2.4 Aug 5-9: Regio Tour (Ger) 2.4 + 2.3 Aug 16: HEW-Cyclassics Cup Hamburg (Ger) 1.5 + WB Aug 17-21: Vuelta a Burgos (Spa) 2.2 + 2.1 Aug 18-21: Tour du Limousin (Fra) 2.4 + 2.3 Aug 30: GP Eddy Merckx (TT) (Bel) 1.2 + 1.1 Sep 1: Schaal Sels (Bel) 1.5 + 1.4 Sep 6-13: Tour of Poland (Pol) 2.5 + 2.4 Sep 19: Grand Prix des Nations (TT) (Fra) 1.2 + 1.1 Sep 24: Coppa Sabatini (Ita) 1.3 + 1.2 Oct 4-10: Boland Bank Tour (SAf) 2.5 + 2.4 |