News for November 17, 1998

Contracts and Transfers

* Rodolfo Massi and Evgueni Berzin will both be riding for the Italian team, Amica Chips. Frenchman Armand de las Cuevas, who has been forced to leave Banesto, will probably also sign a contract for this team.

* Amateur cyclist Huub Bres (20) from Banholt (a small village near to Margraten just up the hill from Maastricht, which has a great bread shop!) has signed a 2-year contract with the new Dutch professional team the Axa Cycling Team. According the the manager Ton Welling there is an agreement with only some details left to finalise. Axa will have 13 professional riders in 1999. Following the UCI rules they will be able to ride in the Division II professional races and the amateur classics. Welling has so far signed 7 riders: René Post, Danny Stam, Robert Slippens, Marcel Luppens, Angelo van Melis, Edwin Dunning and Huub Bres. With the exception of Luppes, who has a one year contract with an option for another season, the other riders have signed agreements for 2 years.

* Cees Jeurissen has signed a professional contract with Batavus. He was previously riding for the Limburg club - Midden-Limburg.

Longo fails again

40-year old French cyclist Jeannie Longo has given up her latest attempt at breaking her own women's hour record after failing twice at the Manchester Velodrome over the weekend. In the previous week she had failed 4 times at the Olympic Track in Mexico City due to persistent mechanical problems.

She has previously set the hour record at Mexico City in 1996 with a distance of 48.159 kms. She told the press that she was now not planning to mount a new campaign. She said: set on the Mexico track two years ago. "This is probably my last hour record attempt. I don't know yet about the future. I will think about that during the winter. When I got on the track I did not have a good feeling about my legs, so it was bad in my mind. Maybe I should have tried on Friday because I was in better shape then even after all the travelling."

On Saturday night she dropped 5 seconds behind her record schedule by 24 laps and stopped. After resting she resumed and this time lasted 39 laps before abandoning the attempt.

Switzerland, Hittnau, Cat 1 Cyclocross, 9 laps by 2.6 kms:

 1. Beat Wabel (Swi) GS K2-Proflex 			       58.37
 2. Dieter Runkel (Swi) GS Saeco-Wheeler 			0.20
 3. Roland Schätti (Swi) GS Romers Hausbäckerei-Mephisto 	0.46
 4. Peter Dlask (Cze) 						1.13
 5. Kamil Ausbuher (Cze) 					1.53
 6. Thomas Frischknecht (Swi) Team Ritchey GS 			2.10
 7. Patrick Blum (Swi) GS Saeco-Wheeler-Pneuhaus Frank 		2.20
 8. Beat Blum (Swi) GS Saeco-Gerber-Pneuhaus Frank 		2.20
 9. Ales Murdoch (Cze) 						2.42
10. Luca Bramati (Ita)						2.56
11. Jan Ramsauer (Swi) GS Saeco-Wetzikon 			3.06
12. Alex Moonen (Ned) 						3.35
13. Stefan Bünter (Swi) GS-Diamondbach-Racing-VC Bauma 		3.44
14. Tobias Nestle (Ger) 					4.31
15. Thomas Kalberer (Swi) 					4.40
16. Thomas Steiger (Swi) GS Flatera-RV Uster 			4.40
17. Gretinius Gommers (Ned) 					5.10
18. Beat Morf (Swi) GS MTB-Cycletech-SAP-VC Hittnau 		5.28
19. Dietmar Stari (Aut) 					5.32
20. Steffen Weigold (Ger) 					5.34
21. Roger Zweifel (Swi) GS Schumacher-Wetzikon 			5.47
22. Wilfred Veldkamp (Ned) 					6.03
23. ChristianTrafelet (Swi) GS Cilo-Bassano/RV Wetzikon		6.28
24. Thomas Cabla (Cze) 						6.52
25. Radek Tichy (Cze) 						6.52
26. Thomas Clark (USA) 						7.37
27. Samuel Steffen (Swi) GS Velolade Scheider-VC Bützberg     at 1 lap
28. Richard Chassot (Swi) Swiss-Post-Team                     at 1 lap

Started: 45
Classified: 28

Report

Beat Wabel is in form. He demonstrated it at the International Cyclo Cross race at Hittnau, where he took his third win for the season success to Steinmaur and reading valley. When Dieter Runkel attacked on lap 5 (of 9), he sat his wheel and then attacked himself. Roland Shatti who was in the breakaway trio was dropped at that stage. On lap 7, Wabel gave everything on the climb and kept going to beat Runkel by 20 seconds. The big crowd gave him a huge amount of support over the last laps.

Thanks to Stefan Girschweiler at www.radquer.ch

Weekend Results:

Zonnebeke, Belgium, Cyclocross:

 1. Mario Declercq (Bel)                      59.55
 2. Sven Nijs (Bel)                            1.48
 3. Peter Willemsens (Bel)                     2.13

11. Gretinus Gommers (Ned)                     3.40

Etten-Leur, Netherlands, Cyclocross

 1. Leyten (Udenhout)
 2. Van Bussel (Ommel)
 3. Van den Berg (Rucphen)

Amsterdam, Velodrome, Elite and Neo-amateurs:

 1. Slippens (Opmeer)
 2. Stam (Koog aan de Zaan)
 3. De Koning (Zwartewaal)

Amsterdam, Velodrome, Women:

 1. Embsink (Neede)
 2. De Vries (Amsterdam)
 3. Van Tol (Schijndel)

Veterans in South Australia desert the establishment

At its AGM on Sunday, November 15th, South Australia's oldest veterans' cycling club, the Veterans and Ladies Cycling Club, voted to secede from the South Australian Cycling Federation. With effect from January 1st, 1999, the club will be an affiliate of the Australian Veterans' Cycling Council.

Reasons cited included the Federation's general lack of support for veterans' cycling and its failure to obtain government funding for the recently completed Australian Veterans, National Championships.

South Australia's other veterans' club, the Southern Veterans' Cycling Club seceded on January 1st, 1998.

More evidence that the establishment are not listening to nor serving the riders.