News for August 9, 1999

Athens, World Junior Track Championships

Australia was the leading nation after the completion of the Junior Worlds in Athens, Greece at the weekend. Australia had 13 medals overall (5 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze) followed by France (2, 0, 1). The full results table is below. But it was Australia which dominated the championships.

Junior Men, Sprint:

 1. Jobie Dajka (Aus)
 2. Marco Jager (Ger)
 3. Ben Kersten (Aus)

Men, Points Race:

 1. Viktar Rapinsio (Blr)    	 4 points
 2. Devid Garbelli (Ita)    	27 (-1)
 3. Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)    	10 (-1)

Junior Women, Sprint:

 1. Céline Nivert (Fra)
 2. Tamila Abasova (Rus)
 3. Scafetta Anna-Maria (Ita)

Final Medals Table:

		Gold     Silver   Bronze

 1. Australia     5        4        4
 2. France        2        0        1
 3. Germany       1        2        2
 4. Russia        1        1        0
 5. Bélarus       1        0        0
 6. Italy         0        3        2
 7. Lithuania     0        0        1

Canada, Bromont, MTB World Cup Round 7

French riders Nicolas Vouilloz and Anne-Caroline Chausson won the downhill and confirmed the French dominance in that discipline. The pair already had gained first place at Maribor (Slovenia), Nevegal (Italy) and at the Squaw Valley (USA) rounds. The French secured 4 of the top 5 places in the men's downhill. Nicolas Vouilloz is now certain of taking the first place overall in the World Cup downhill. Steve Peat, winner of a race at Mont-Sainte-Anne (Québec), has the smallest chance to take the crown of him. Mickael Pascal came second at Bromont yesterday and it now 3rd overall in the World Cup. In the women's division, Chausson is unable to be beaten having won 6 from 7 rounds this season.

Men:

 1. Nicolas Vouilloz (Fra)     4:30.42
 2. Mickael Pascal (Fra)       4:35.29
 3. Eric Carter (USA)          4:37.50
 4. Cédric Garcia (Fra)        4:38.11
 5. Guillaume Koch (Fra)       4:42.29

Rankings after Round 7:

 1. Nicolas Vouilloz (Fra)        1465 points
 2. Steve Peat (GBR)              1217
 3. Mickael Pascal (Fra)           930
 4. Gerwin Peters (Ned)            850
 5. Cédric Garcia (Fra)            678

Women:

 1. Anne-Caroline Chausson (Fra)  5:25.19
 2. Katja Repo (Fin)              5:43.90
 3. Marla Streb (USA)             5:45.44
 4. Missy Giove (USA)             5:46.08
 5. Sarah Stieger (Swi)           5:55.03

Rankings after Round 7:

 1. Anne-Caroline Chausson (Fra)  1700 pts
 2. Missy Giove (USA)             1170
 3. Katja Repo (Fin)               990
 4. Leigh Donovan (USA)            882
 5. Mercedes Gonzalez (Spa))        839

France, Avoriaz, World Championships MTB-Trials

1999 French Trials champion Marc Caisso won the 5th edition of the VTT-Trial Worlds at Avoriaz-Morzine, in the Haute-Savoie region of France. The world junior champion in 1997, Marc Caisso was too strong in the Senior (Elite) division for fellow French rider Bruno Arnold, who was defending his title won in Spain last year. To confirm the French dominance, 1999 French runner up Marc Vinco was third, and Gilles Borrel 5th. The German Marco Hosel (who won the World Championship in the Velo Trial on Friday) was 4th.

Caisso was dominant though. He made a minimum number of errors on a very difficult parcours - falling only once on the 8 zones which had to be navigated twice. The fall prompted some treatment from the French physiotherapist.

In the junior event, Poland's Kumorowski beat Belgian Buteneers with Calvin (Fra) in third place.

Men's Results:

 1. Marc Caisso (Fra)      8 points
 2. Bruno Arnold (Fra)    20
 3. Marc Vinco (Fra)      24
 4. Marco Hosel (Ger)     24
 5. Gilles Borrel (Fra)   31

In trial's points are given for mistakes. Lowest number wins.

Netherlands, Pijnacker Criterium, August 7

Men:

 1. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) TVM-Farm Frites
 2. Jan Svorada (Est) Lampre-Daikin
 3. Aart Vierhouten (Ned) Rabobank

Women:

 1. Leontien van Moorsel (Ned)
 2. Debby Mansveld (Ned)

Netherlands, Ronde van Zevenbergen, 60 kms:

 1. Leontien van Moorsel (Ned)
 2. Anouska van der Zee (Ned)
 3. Debby Mansveld (Ned)

Uwe Ampler contrite

Uwe Ampler, who has tested positive during the Sachsen Tour for steroids has admitted his errors and said that he had made a made a terrible mistake. The 34-year old told the press: " I was not intending to use the drugs for performance enhancement. I had a flu during the Vredskoers and a fall in the Tour of France. I took some antibiotics and some other products to aid my recovery."

The former world amateur champion said he did not know what the other products contained. According to the director of the testing institute that analysed the sample the testosterone values recorded were very high and beyond the imaginable.

Germany, Bochum, 128 kms:

 1. Erik ZabelDirk Müller (Ger) Telekom
 2. Dirk Müller (Ger) Mapei-Quick Step
 3. Fabian De Waele (Bel) Lotto-Mobistar
 4. Max Van Heeswijk (Ned) Mapei-Quick Step

Peace Tour 2000

The 53th International Tour of Peace (Friedensfahrt) will start on May 7, 2000 in Hannover (Germany). The Tour races through Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic and will finish in front of the Hannover town hall. The Tour will end on May 13.

Coach shot dead!

Former Colombian national cycling coach Elkin Dario Rendon was shot dead in Colombia over the weekend. He was very successful and coached riders like Alvaro Mejia (4th TDF 1993). He was out running with a colleague when he was shot. His companian was seriously wounded. There was no apparent motive. He was still active in cycling and has in recent year helped promote cycling in Costa Rica.