News for August 18, 1999

Contracts and Transfers

- Torsten Schmidt (Chicky World) is currently discussing a contract with Team Gerolsteiner for next season.

- Nicklas Axelsson, sixth in this year's Giro, is on his way to Banesto for next season if Banesto and Axelssons current team Navigare can reach an agreement, according to Axelsson's home town news paper Mora Tidning. The Swedish climber Axelsson is reported as saying: "This is a dream come true. I'm at terms with Banesto, now it's up to my team director Bruno Reverbi." A Banesto contract would mean that Axelsson will be able to ride the great races like the Tour and the World Cup and give him an opportunity to rise above his current 105th on the UCI ranking. A trebled salary, above 100 000 US dollars is an another good argument for going to Banesto. With Jimenez and Zülle on the team Banesto has a fair share of climbers but Axelsson, 190 cms tall, could be a good support for them in the mountains, and why not the star in the Giro? (sent by a Swede no less - Tomas Nilssen, our Scandinavian reporter).

- Ralf Grabsch (Team Cologne) will ride with Telekom next year. Team manager Walter Godefroot asked Cologne manager Dieter Koslar to allow Grabsch to start in the Vuelta in early September. At first Koslar agreed but then he changed his mind when he realised that the Team Cologne squad was registered for the Rheinland-Pfalz-Tour. He said: "I can't explain this to our sponsors. The Rheinland-Pfalz Tour is very important for them. And what would I have said to Toyota when Grabsch rides in a Telekom shirt while we are paying him."

- German team Continentale-Olympia which was under threat next season due to the lack of a major sponsor may not have to stop after all. The Team manager Claussmeyer has been in negotiations with a brewery about next season and is hopeful.

- Telekom and Festina are interested in Raphael Schweda (Team Nürnberger) after his second place in the HEW-cyclassic. Meanwhile, Schweda will lead the Bosch Team in the upcoming Bank Classic in Australia (October), which will consists of current of former riders of the Telekom-Junior Team.

- Jans Koerts (in HEW 1th) will leave Team Cologne and he will ride for Farm Frites-TVM.

Christian Henn explains

he used a fruitfulness extract..... recommanded by his (italian) father in law The German Cycling Federation (BDR) has conducted an enquiry into the possible drug use by Telekom rider Christian Henn. The rider had returned a very high testosterone reading during the Tour of Bavaria earlier in the year. The rider told the panel that he had taken a "fruit extract" because his wife and he wanted to have a second child. It was recommended to him by his Italian father in law as an effective remedy. In 1997, the Henn's first child was born after trying in vain for 6 years. Henn said: "I did not know the remedy was on the list of banned substances." Until the enquiry decision is made Henn is banned from racing.

The 35-year old Henn began his professional career in 1998 after he was third in the Olympic Games in Seoul.

Netherlands, Ronde van Nieuw-Lekkerland, Women, 60 kms:

 1. Anouska van der Zee	(Ned)
 2. Mariella van Scheppingen (Ned)             0.20
 3. Andrea Bosman (Ned)                        0.20

Netherlands, Noordwijk, Women, Derny Race

 1. Leontien Van Moorsel (bike - Zijlaard)
 2. Heidi Van de Vijver (bike - Walrave)
 3. Van Melis (bike - Dibbel).

Australia, Brisbane, 6th Darren Smith Memorial Race, 120 kms:

Cameron Jennings from Rockhampton in Northern Queensland won the 6th Annual Darren Smith Memorial race last weekend. The race is held to remember the Barcelona Olympian who was killed while training in 1992.

Jennings attacked from the peloton of 75 at km 36 accompanied by local rider Brett Lentz. They opened a maximum gap of 2.40 before there was some late reaction from Ben Hitchins. Jennings won the two-up sprint.

 1. Cameron Jennings (Qld)
 2. Brett Lentz (Qld)
 3. Ben Hitchins (Qld)               1.20
 4. Peloton                          1.50

Brunei, 20th SE Asia Games Road Race, 165 kms:

 1. Shahrulneeza Razali (Malaysia)          4.11.01
 2. Cong Hieu Mai (Vietnam)                    1.07
 3. Quoc Thang Truong (Vietnam)               18.07

Thanks to Melvin Choo, Malaysia

Australia, Northern Territory, Crocodile Road Race

Stage 1 of the Crocodile Trophy MTB race in the Northern Territory was won by Dutch rider Jaap Viergever when he outsprinted Slovenian rider Jurij Robic and fellow Dutchman Marcel Esser. They were part of a 7-rider breakaway that went away with 20 kms to go. At that point the raced moved from tarmac to dirt and the selection proved decisive.

The Crocodile Trophy race is held over 14 days and 2000 kms in the Northern Australian desert. 11 nations are represented.

 1. Jaap Viergever (Ned) 104 kms in 3.35.20
 2. Jurij Robic (Slo)
 3. Marcel Esser (Ned)
 ..
16. Jack Oldfield (Aus)

USA, Winter Park King of the Rockies, August 15:

 1. Jimi Killen (USA) Pro Men   		1.44.31.9
 2. Lance Armstrong (USA) Pro Men   		1.44.42.3
 3. Marc Gullickson (USA) Pro Men   		1.45.10.4
 4. Carl Swenson (USA) Pro Men   		1.45.56.8
 5. Peter Swenson (USA) Pro Men   		1.46.51.3
 6. Jeremy Horgan-Kobels (USA) Pro Men   	1.47.20.8
 7. Mike Skellion (USA) Pro Men   		1.47.51.0
 8. Mike West (USA) Semi-Pro Men   		1.49.14.6
 9. Frank Mapel (USA) Semi-Pro Men   		1.49.40.9
10. Nathan Schultz (USA) Pro Men   		1.50.18.6
11. Jay Henry (USA) Pro Men   			1.51.25.8
12. Brandon Dwight (USA) Semi-Pro Men   	1.51.38.5
13. Odain Pereira (USA) Pro Men   		1.53.19.4
14. Ross Schnell (USA) Expert Senior Men 19-29 	1.53.25.3
15. Josh Fix (USA) Semi-Pro Men   		1.54.35.5
16. Brian Laiho (USA) Expert Senior Men 19-29   1.55.51.7
17. Laurence Mote (NZ) Pro Men   		1.56.12.0
18. Bucky Farley (USA) Semi-Pro Men   		1.56.22.4
19. Joe Marshall (USA) Expert Senior Men 19-29	1.56.49.1
20. Danny Poulson (USA) Expert Senior Men 19-29	1.56.54.8

Thanks to http://www.skiwinterpark.com/ride/

USA, 36th Kansas City Tour

In the 36 year history of the KC Tour no rider has ever won three straight tours. But over the weekend, Scott Moninger from the Mercury Cycling Team achieved that feat. The previous best was from Wayne Stetina who won two times back in the late 1970s. Moninger originally hails from Kansas. The Mercury team has already won 71 races this season up on 70 for the whole of 1998.

Portugal, Lisbon, European Under-23 Road Championships

Women, 105 kms:

AVS: 35.003 km/h

 1. Tatiana Styazhkina (Ukr) 	     3.01.11
 2. Oksana Saprykina (Ukr)  		0.19
 3. Nicole Brandli (Swi)  		0.19
 4. Ceris Gilfillian (GB)  		0.22
 5. Alessandra D'Etorre (Ita) 		1.37
 6. Jacqueline Brabenetz (Ger) 		1.37
 7. Sabrina Arhab (Fra)	 		1.37
 8. Ljudmila Corneo (Ita) 		4.53
 9. Mandy Hempel (Ger)  		4.55
10. Gitana Gruodyte (Lit)  		4.55

Men, 166.1 kms:

AVS: 38.725 km/h

 1. Michele Gobbi (Ita)     	     4.17.14
 2. Luca Paolini (Ita) 			0.34
 3. Fabio Bulgarelli (Ita)		0.34
 4. Gerhard Trampusch (Aut)  		0.42
 5. Ondrej Fadrny (Cze) 		0.57
 6. Rusian Pidgorny (Ukr)		0.57
 7. Dmitri Gainitdinov (Rus) 		0.57
 8. Leonardo Gordani (Ita) 		0.57
 9. Jochen Summer (Aut)	 		0.57
10. Björn Leukemans (Bel)		0.57

Ludo Dierckxsens

Belgian champion Ludo Dierckxsens has been suspended for 6 months and fined 50,000 BF for using a banned substance in June. 34-year old Dierckxsens said he used the substance to help him overcome a problem of tendinitis.

He will begin his suspension from August 17. He will however be allowed to keep his stage victory in the Tour of France recently. He was due to ride the Tour of Spain in early September.

USA, Trexlertown, National Track Championships, Day 5

Gil Hatton became just the fourth cyclist ever to win national titles on three different levels Saturday, when he teamed with Sam Baker to win the tandem match sprint at final day of the National Track Cycling Championships at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Trexlertown, Pa.

Hatton joins the company of Jack Simes and Mark Whitehead as the only riders to win junior, senior and master level national titles. In addition, Rebecca Twigg also won national championship titles at three levels (junior, collegiate and senior). Hatton, who plans to retire at the end of the 1999 campaign, now has 11 career national titles, while it was the first national title for Baker.

The Pan American Games gold medal-winning Olympic Sprint squad of Marty Nothstein (Trexlertown, Pa.), Johnny Barios (Redlands, Calif.) and Marcelo Arrue (Woodland Hills, Calif.) posted a winning time of 1:02.158 to easily win the national title. It marked the first national title for Barios, while Nothstein completed the 'hat trick' (match sprint, Keirin and Olympic Sprint) to increase his career national title count to 19.

Tanya Lindenmuth (Trexlertown, Pa.) continued to dominate the women's sprint events, when she captured the 500-meter time trial in a time of 36.567 to edged out Jennie Reed, who finished fifth at the Pan Am Games last month. Earlier in the week, Lindenmuth also won the women's match sprint national title, her initial national crown.

"This weekend has been very special to win my first two elite national championships in front of my mom, friends and fans at T-Town," said Lindenmuth, who is a resident-athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. "I learned from everyone I train with like Jennie Reed and Tammy Thomas, and I don't think they even know how much they helped me."

The duo of Jame Carney (Durango, Colo.) and John Walrod (Macgunie, Pa.) captured the men's Madison title, which was shortened to 40 kilometers due to rain. For Carney, it marked his third successive national Madison title, and ninth career national championship. Meanwhile, in front of his hometown fans, Walrod won his first national championship. They posted 40 points and won five sprints, while Adam Laurent (Shell Beach, Calif.) and Mike Tillman (Santa Monica, Calif.) from TEVA/Net Zero finished second with 29 points and three sprint wins.

Madison, 40 kms (shortened due to rain):

 1. Jame Carney-John Walrod (USA) Shaklee 		40 points
 2. Adam Laurent-Mike Tillman (USA) TEVA-Net Zero 	29
 3. Colby Pearce-Jonas Carney Charlotte (USA) Shaklee 	29
 4. Tommy Mulkey-Brian Whitcomb (USA) IKON-Lexus 	21
 5. Kit Kyle-Clark Sheehan (USA) Team 7-Up 		 6
 6. Dave Bailey-Basil Milsal (USA) Stanford 		 6
 7. Kent Bostick-Dan Larson (USA) Chain Reaction	 0
 8. Ryan Miller-Brice Jones (USA) BMC Walmart 		 1 (-1)

Women, 500 metre time trial:

 1. Tanya Lindenmuth (USA) Tri-State Velo 		  36.567
 2. Jennie Reed (USA) U.S. National Team 		  36.721
 3. Tammy Thomas (USA) Yazoo City  			  37.109
 4. Becky Quinn (USA) Shaklee 				  37.353
 5. Lucy Tyler (Aus) 					  37.455
 6. Missy Thompson (USA) Cox Atlanta Velo 		  37.596
 7. Shan Rayray (USA) PDQ Cleveland 			  37.634
 8. Nicole Reinhart (USA) Saturn 			  37.641
 9. Elizabeth Reap (USA) Fuji Racing 			  37.841
10. Shannon Hutchinson (USA) Cox Atlanta Velo 		  38.649

Men, Olympic Sprint:

 1. Johnny Barios, Marty Nothstein, Marcelo Arrue  	1.02.158
 2. Aaron Hubbell, Jeffrey LaBauve, Nathan Rogut 	1.05.116
 3. Jason Garner, Bill Clay, Garth Blackburn 		1.05.580
 4. A.J. Smith, Kirk Whiteman, Giddeon Massie  		1.05.617
 5. Jonathan Frederick, Josh Weir, Todd Yezefski
 6. Eric Swainder, Mark Guerin, Stephen Prokopiw
 7. Paul Swift, Sky Christopherson, Basil Milsal
 8. Neil Fronheiser, Charles Moore, Jason Beauregard

Men, Tandem Match Sprint:

 1. Gil Hatton and Sam Baker (USA) Autoconnect.com 	   18.06
 2. Mike Beers and Mike Grabowski (USA) LBC Shaklee 	   18.565
 3. Jim Alvord and Brandon Haines (USA) Unattached  	   18.896
 4. Kirk Whiteman and Vince Oliver (USA) AXIS-TGV 	   18.907
 5. Jason Beauregard and Chaim Letwin (USA) Tri-State Velo 19.392
 6. Jeremy Miller and Chris Wagaman (USA) East Coast Velo  19.570
 7. Paul Thompson and Chris Vogel (USA) Ashmead College    19.571
 8. Garth Blackburn and Matt King (USA) Cox Atlanta Velo   19.758