News for June 27, 1998

UCI Rankings as at June 26

  1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) 			2798 points
  2. Alex Zuelle (Swi) 				2201
  3. Michele Bartoli (Ita)			2097
  4. Laurent Dufaux (Swi) 			1605
  5. Jan Ullrich (Ger) 				1453
  6. Marco Pantani (Ita) 			1436
  7. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) 		1424
  8. Andrei Tchmil (Bel) 			1403
  9. Davide Rebellin (Ita) 			1308
 10. Erik Zabel (Ger) 				1132
 11. Richard Virenque (Fra) 			1130
 12. Pavel Tonkov (Rus) 			1087
 13. Beat Zberg (Swi) 				1071
 14. Andrea Tafi (Ita) 				1054
 15. Gianluca Bortolami (Ita) 			 986
 16. Michael Boogerd (Ned) 			 964
 17. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) 			 963
 18. Fernando Escartin (Spa)			 945
 19. Alberto Elli (Ita)				 930
 20. Bo Hamburger (Dan)				 912
 21. Rodolfo Massi (Ita)			 870
 22. Oscar Camenzind (Swi)			 851
 23. Rolf Sorensen (Dan)			 820
 24. Abraham Olano (Spa)			 807
 25. Johan Museeuw (Bel)			 771
 26. Mario Cipollini (Ita)			 769
 27. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa)			 740
 28. Aitor Garmendia (Spa)			 735
 29. Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)			 730
 29. Rolf Jaermann (Swi)			 730

Tour Teams start coming in

The Team Deutsche Telekom squad for the 1998 Tour de France was announced in Bonn yesterday. The team is: Jan Ullrich (24), Bjarne Riis (34), Rolf Aldag (29), Udo Bolts (31), Christian Henn (34), Jens Heppner (33), Erik Zabel (28), Giovanni Lombardi (29), Georg Totschnig (27).

The Vitalicio Seguros team with Director Javier Mínguez is: Hernán Buenahora (Col), Oliverio Rincón (Col), Tobias Steinhauser (Ger), Andrea Ferrigato (Ita), Santiago Blanco (Spa), Angel Casero (Spa), Francisco Benítez (Spa), David García Marquina (Spa), Prudencio Indurain (Spa).

1999 Top Competition Schedule for the Netherlands

The Omloop der Kempen is now in the 1999 Top Competition schedule. The KNWU (Dutch Cycling Federation) has released the entire list of races for 1999.

March 13 Ronde van Zuid-Holland
March 20 Dokkum Woudenomloop
April 4 Ronde van Noord-Holland
April 24 Arjaan de Schipper Trofee
May 1 Ronde van Overijssel
May 9 Omloop der Kempen
June 6 Ronde van Limburg
June 12-13 Zeeuws-Vlaams Wielerweekeinde
June 19 Ronde van Drenthe
Sep 11 Tour Beneden Maas
October 3 Grote Prijs Wieler Revue

Pantani

Marco Pantani has expressed happiness at the win by his teammate Garzelli at the Tour de Suisse and points towards a very rosy future: "After a couple of years he will be able to be a leader for the major stage races". On Thursday, Marco had a long session in the morning and in the afternoon he called his team manager Giuseppe Martinelli to compliment Garzelli.

"An experience like this one will help him a lot. His biggest asset? He rides very strongly... I'm very happy for Stefano, he is a kid with a lot of talent, that he can refine and improve. He has been the team leader, he has worn the leader's jersey and all that responsibility will be useful. One like Stefano can aim for a stage race higher than the Tour de Suisse, potentially the Giro, the great stage races. He will not ride the Tour and I regret that he won't be there with me. At a personal level I would have been pleased to see him riding the Giro d'Italia, Tour de Suisse and Tour de France, all in a row, but that is a bit too much for a 24 year old rider".

Olano tells us not to worry

Abraham Olano provides some reassuring messages:

"Nothing has happened. My performance at the Tour of Catalonia has nothing to do with what I can give of myself at the Tour de France", he repeated yesterday in Andorra, even before the last stage. "I insist that I'm not at peak and don't have the necessary form. There are three weeks left before the start and I expect to reach this after the Spanish National Championship. The Olano from this Volta will not be the one at the Tour. I have come here to test myself; when I get there I will fine, for sure".

So the message is that we should not worry and that Olano still believes that he has the potential to win in Paris even with all thefavorites: "Pantani, Riis, Ullrich, Zülle, Virenque, Escartín... there are many that aspire to win and it won't be easy for anybody".

RTTC UK National Men's 50 Mile Time Trial Championship

Ian Gilkes (Team Ambrosia) and Richard Prebble (Team Clean) tied for 1st with 1.47.37. Sean Yates (Team Clean) came 3rd with 1.48.36.

Swedish Results

Mora, Söllerö-loppet, June 19:

Elite men, 240 kms:

 1. Vegard Överås Lied (Nor) CK Björgvin   		5.44.45
 2. Björn Stenersen (Nor)
 3. Henrik Sparr (Swe) Team Wirsbo
 4. Marcus Persson (Swe) Bianchi
 5. Filip Svensson (Swe) Värnamo

Elite women, 80 kms:

 1. Caroline Håkansson (Swe) Lolland-Falster     	2.20 47
 2. Marina Emanuelsson (Swe) Värnamo
 3. Emelie Öhrstig (Swe) GT Sweden Bure
 4. Jenny Algelid (Swe) Åstorp

Sollerön, June 20:

Elite men, 20 laps by 2.5 kms:

 1. Stefan Andersson (Swe) Motala                  	1.01.46
 2. Niklas Rönnerling (Swe) Crescent Tranemo
 3. Niclas Ekström (Swe) Nicolobiondo

Elite women, 10 laps by 2.5 kms:

 1. Lotta Green (Swe) CK Revenche    			  35.14
 2. Camilla Andersson (Swe) Borås
 3. Lisbeth Simper (Den) Lolland-Falster
Results from Gabriella Ekström, Sweden