News for June 16, 1998

Daniel Schamps reports from Paris-Roubaix - yep you read it right!

Daniel Schamps (a French cycling photographer) writes:

It is not a joke and be sure that I have not been a sleep for the last two months. Today I was at Paris-Roubaix! There are 4 Paris-Roubaix during the French road season. The first one, the Great One, on the 1st or 2nd Sunday of April from Compiègne to Roubaix where Ballerini won for the second time in his career - otherwise known as the Hell of the North.

The second one takes place at the same date (the whole week-end this time) as the first one. It is Paris-Roubaix VTT from Raismes (eight kilometres north of Valenciennes) to the outdoor track at Roubaix. The race is mainly run across the country, woods, fields, and from time to time along a cobbled road used by the the Great (first) Paris-Roubaix. It ends just one hour and a half before the first race. This year Rune Hoydahl won this five "speciale" event.

The third Paris-Roubaix was formerly the Amateur's event. For the last 3 years it has been called Paris-Roubaix Under 23. It was last week and won by Hushovd from Norway. It starts in St. Quentin sixty kilometres north of Compiègne (so it is a shorter race than the Great Paris-Roubaix) and the route does not pass through all the cobbled sections of Paris-Roubaix for professionals (for example, the race doesn’t pass on the Wallers-Arenberg path).

And there is the last one and it was today (Sunday, June 14): The Paris-Roubaix for cyclo-sportifs. On the very same route as the Paris-Roubaix of Roger De Vlaeminck or Franco Ballerini. It starts in Compiègne between 4 and 7 a.m. (a smaller race is organised from Valenciennes to Roubaix with starts between 7 and 9 pm. and then everybody is together those from Compiègne and those from Valenciennes (960 riders this year) all day long the eldest (81) as the youngest (16) from 11 countries of Europe and from the USA. A friend of mine, from the Paris Cycliste Olympique, wanted to ride this event on the famous and mythical cobbles and he was trying to find somebody to take his car from Compiègne to Roubaix. He did not want to make the return trip on his bike (twice in a day it’s too much). He is a close friend and I decided on saturday morning to help him for this long day. A long day but a lovely day for me with a bit of time to look at these cobbles we always pass so quickly inside our cars or we never see trying to find short cuts to overtake once more the head of race after having taken photos on the side of the road. In addition it has been raining since Saturday afternoon and it only stopped on the way back home this evening. And the wind was blowing a gale. No massive crowd on both sides of the road. One man riding a horse, a farmer trying to save his ducks from the wheels of these damned cyclists, a rabbit and a rat running for a while on the road with us, and cobbles, cobbles, cobbles, always cobbles, wet and slippery cobbles and even 50 meters of the road under water (it reached the knees of the cyclists and for a while I thought I was in a boat). And my friend who arrived on the track at Roubaix and made two laps more just to remain in the race for another two minutes. No punctures, no mechanical problems. A dream for him and in addition a gift from the organisation (VC Roubaix Cyclo): A cobble ! And the season carries on, my friend, Bruno Santelli, will be riding tomorrow evening at Montrouge 5 km south of Paris. A short 4 km circuit and this time without a single cobble.

World Track Cup, Berlin, Round 3

Men's 4000m Pursuit

 1. Robert Bartko (Ger) 4:24.180 beat Sergei Matvejev (Ukr) 4:27.221
 3. Antonio Taul (Spa) 4:26.635 beat Eduard Gritsun (Rus)

Men's 4000m Team Pursuit

 1. Germany 	4:05.66
    (Robert Bartko, Guido Fulst, Christian Lademann and Daniel Becke)

 2. Ukraine 	4:08.227

 3. Russia
 4. Italy

Men's Kilo

 1. Arnand Tournand (Fra) 	1:02,991
 2. Sören Lausberg (Ger) 	1:03,343
 3. Grzegorz Krenjener (Pol)	1:04.082

Men's Sprint


Qualifying 200 m:

 1. Florian Rousseau (Fra)	10.252 (new track record, 70.230 km/h)

Final:

 1. Florian Rousseau (Fra)
 2. Frederic Magné.

Men's 30 km Madison:

 1. Silvio Martinello-Andrea Collinelli (Ita)	32 points
 2. Etienne de Wilde-Matthew Gilmore (Bel/Aus)	21 points
 3. Stefan Steinweg-Guido Fulst (Ger) 		18 points
 4. Kurt Betschart-Bruno Risi (Swi) 		10 points

Men's Keirin:

 1. Jens Fiedler (Ger)
 2. Darryn Hill (Aus)
 3. John Jaime Gonzalez (Col)

Women's Sprint:

 1. Felicia Ballanger (Fra)
 2.  Michelle Ferris (Aus)

Women's 500m Time Trial:

 1. Felicia Ballanger (Fra)	35.081 (new track record)
 2.  Kathrin Freitag (Ger) 	35.943
 3. Cuihua Jiang (Chi)		36.171

Women's 3000m Pursuit:

 1. Lucy Tyler Sharman (Aus) 3:35.069 2. Natalia Karimova 3:41.522
 3. Judith Arndt (Ger) 3:36.002 4. Antonella Bellutti (Ita) 3:30.374

note Lucy won by 6 seconds! She also set a qualifying time of 3:31.670.
This was 5 seconds faster than any other rider.

Final Country Standings atr Berlin:

 1. Germany 			120 points
 2. France 			 91
 3. Australia 			 67
 4. Russia 			 46
 5. Great Britain 		 33

Final World Cup Standings after Berlin:

 1. Germany 			285 points
 2. France 			242
 3. USA 			193
 4. Australia 			190
 5. Russia 			152
 6. Spain 			113

Santi Blanco Squabble is now over

Vitalicio Seguros and Banesto formalized an agreement yesterday, at the Supreme Council of Sports (CSD), which will end the negotiations for the transfer of cyclist Santiago Blanco. Those present at the signing were the Secretary of Sports, Pedro Antonio Martín Marín, the General Manager of Vitalicio Seguros, Fernando Quintanas, Banesto's sub-director, Vicente Sanchez Cano and Santi Blanco's legal representative, Hilario Hernández Marqués. In the agreement, Vitalicio Seguros agrees to financially compensate Banesto and they will be protected from any further legal action.

Dutch Weekend Roundup

Groot-Ammers, Omloop van de Alblasserwaard, Club Competition:

1. Hofstee (Boskoop) 154 km in 3.28.01, 2. Van Reek (Lisse) 0.30, 3.
Fryters (Wageningen), 4. Van der Does (Wilnis), 5. Venema (Maartensdijk).

Drogeham, Omloop van de Kerspelen, Club Competition:

1. Dat (Lierop) 161 km in 3.32.17, 2. Veen (Westerlee), 3. Tissingh
(Groningen), 4. Kievit (Nietap), 5. Slenema (Roden).

Margraten, Omloop van de Margraten, Club Competition:
1. Van Pelt (Tilburg) 155 km in 3.30.10, 2. Boelen (Stein), 3. Van Hest
(Tilburg), 4. Strijbosch (Breda), 5. Gijsbers (Eindhoven).

Sprang-Capelle:

1. Heeren (Sprundel) 100 km in 2.18.13, 2. Siemons (Wouw),
3. Van Wageningen (Arkel). Vrouwen: 1. Vink (Wijk en Aalburg) 70 km in
1.41.13, 2. Kramp (Klaaswaal), 3. Grimberg (Almelo).

Wijk bij Duurstede, Criterium:

Men:

1. Van Wageningen (Arkel) 100 km in 2.18.37, 2. Schrader
(Spankeren), 3. Van Leyen (Ewijk).

Women:

1. Van der Zee (Den Haag) 70 km in 1.42.03, 2. Grimberg (Almelo),
3. Mos (Groningen).

Rhenen, National MTB Competition:

Men:

1. Dekker (Doetinchem) 16 km in 45.53, 2. Weevers (Hengelo) 1.45,
3. De Roo (Tiel) 2.03, 4. Hofstede (Nijverdal) 2.07, 5. Peters (Heel) 2.37.

Women:

1. Van Loon (Apeldoorn) 1.14.17, 2. Sollaart (Deventer) 0.30, 3.
Winters (Wijk bij Duurstede) 1.41.

Mario Aerts will stay with Lotto

Despite being lured to join Mapei next season, Mario Aerts will stay with Lotto. He said of his decision: "It's a honour to see the interest by Lefevere and Mapei; but I'm young and still have much time to grow."

No National Championship for Richard Groenendaal

Groenendaal will not start in the Dutch National MTB Championships next Saturday. The 1997 National Champion will instead be starts in the Tour of Switzerland as a road rider as preparation for his Cyclocross season in 1998-99.

Victorian Veterans State Championship, June 13

Brian Farrel reports that the Victorian Veteran cycling Council held the State road championships at Birregurra. They were hosted by the Geelong Veteran Cycling Club.

The races were over a tough course around Deans Marsh and Bambra State Forrest with entries exceeding 100. 

Division 1 35-39

 1. A Giramondo Northern
 2. Craig Dowling Geelong
 3. R Isett Colac

Division 2 40-44

 1. K Mayberry southern
 2. C Kane Colac
 3. D Saunders Colac

Division 3 45-49

1 B Fitzgerald Southern
2 R Rathgeber Southern
3 L Hunt Southern

Division 4 50-54
 1. R Bailey Central Vic
 2. L D'arcy Geelong
 3. P McIntyre

Division 5  55-59

1 M Peters Southern
2 T Robinson Colac
3 H Swidlewski Geelong

Division 6  60-64

 1. A Zwaan Southern
 2. G Taube Colac
 3. R Smith Southern

Division 7 65-69

1. G Henderson Geelong
2. G Wright Geelong
3. C Smythe eastern

Division 8 Over 70

 1. N Sykes Eastern
 2. R Brett Eastern
 3. K Anderson Geelong

Women:

Division 1 30-39

1. Kim Howard Geelong
2. Karmel Bartolich Geelong
3. Gillian Govan Ballarat

Division 2 40-49

1. Gayle Pung northern

Division 3 over 50

1. Jenny Morony  southern
2. Denise Connor Colac

Nevada City Classic, Time Trial, 6 kms:

Mike Engleman (Navigators) again topped the field at the TDK Nevada City Classic, winning Saturday’s 6 kms Staples Willow Valley Time Trial.

Engleman covered the course in 13 minutes, 33 seconds, eight seconds faster than teammate Scott Moninger. David Clinger (Mercury) was third with a time of 14:07.

The win keeps Engleman in first place in the three-event, omnium-style overall at Nevada City. Sunday’s Classic criterium, one of the oldest bicycle races in the country, will be the final stage. The men will cover 39 miles while the women will cover 22 miles in a one day, National Racing Calendar event.

Both Engleman and Moninger have previously won the Classic. 

1. Mike Engleman (Navigators), Hesperus, Colo., 13 mins, 33 secs; 2. Scott
Moninger (Navigators), Boulder, Colo., 13:41; 3. David Clinger (Mercury),
Woodland Hills, Calif., 14:07; 4. Scott Price (SRC-Domenic’s), n.a., 14:10; 5.
Dylan Casey (Shaklee), Mountain View, Calif., 14:15.