Former Dutch professional deadFormer Dutch professionalRob Mulders (30) died on Wednesday night as a result of a car accident near Nijmegen in the Netherlands. His car lost control on a misty, wet road and he crashed into a tree. Mulders ended his career on December 31, 1997. His professional years included a 6 year period with with Jan Raas. He rode last year as an amateur. He rode the Tour de France twice (1993 and 1994). His last professional team was with Collstrop. He had 8 victories, the best one being Veenendaal-Veenendaal in 1993.UCI team divisionsThe UCI announced its Division I teams (the highest division) with 22 teams being now able to ride all the World Cup events in 1998.The teams are: Rabobank, TVM (Ned), Mapei, Saeco, Mercatone Uno, Riso Scotti-MG, Polti, Asics, Cantina, Ballan (Ita) Festina, La Française des Jeux, GAN, Casino, Codifis (Fra), ONCE, Banesto, Kelme, Vitalicio Seguros (Spa), Telekom (Ger), US Postal (USA) and Lotto (Bel). Obree at ManchesterIn today's "Cycling Weekly", Graeme Obree is reported to be aiming for a public test at Manchester Velodrome in late February or March, with the aim of doing at least 55 km/h for 20 minutes as part of his build-up for an attempt on the hour record.Obree will probably go for the record in May or June, but the venue has yet to be decided. He is thought to favour a fast indoor velodrome over a high-altitude track. Cyclo Cross Worlds at Sint Michielsgestel in 2000Sint Michielsgestel will organise the World Cyclo Cross Championships in the year 2000. On Thursday, after lengthy deliberations, the UCI has awarded the Championshipts to the Brabant town in the Netherlands.Sint Michielsgestel, the home town of Richard Groenendaal, was competing with Heerlen, Netherlands for the rights to organise the World Championships. Both candidates made presentations to the Committee of Directors of the UCI. The choice was based on the fact that the committee thought that Sint Michielgestel was better placed financially and had a stronger marketing plan. "We have won the race by a tyre's width." said Theo Groenendaal, the president of the local organising committee, that also stages a race on the SuperPrestige calendar. The Brabanders also bidded for the rights to stage the 1991 Worlds but the tournament was given to Gieten. Richard Groenendaal reacted with delight to the news. "I am very happy. As I am nearly 25 years old which is young for cyclo cross. For myself it means something special as I will be able to race the Worlds in my home town." Heerlen, will host the National title next year. The mayor Pleuneekers said: "We had high hopes that we would be staging the Worlds in 2 years time. It was a neck and neck race for the rights. But for every winner there must be a loser. We have not given up however on the plan to stage a World Championship in the future." In 1999, the Worlds will be raced in Poprad in Slovakia. |