News for November 4, 1999
Just a Danish duoBy Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent
No Danish team will take part in the teams pursuit in the Sydney Olympics next year. Their eleventh place at the World's made the Danish Cycling Union give up the Olympic plans. A top eight place was required by the the Danish Sports Federation and the DCU will not apply for an exception: "Once in a while you must be a realist. We were four seconds from eighth place and that's too much. We want to keep our credibility," said DCU spokesman Henrik Elmgreen to news agency Ritzau. Jimmi Madsen and Jakob Piil, silver medallists in Madison at the Berlin World's will be the only Danish riders on the track. One of them will also compete in the points race.
Bjarne Riis: I'm not firedAccording to Telekom's home page Bjarne Riis is one of the three riders set to leave the team after this season. "It's all in order. They don't know whether I will be able to be able to ride again," said Riis to Danish news agency Ritzaus Bureau. Riis broke his elbow and hand on the way to the start of a stage of the Tour of Switzerland and hasn't been able to ride since. He is not able to straighten his arm fully which affects his riding since he is pulling the bars askew. "I haven't heard anything officially from the team," said Riis who holds that the matter will be decided late November. Riis' statement has been confirmed by Telekom spokesman Martin Schumann: "The information on our website is wrong, there's been a fault made by one of our webeditors," he says. Ce n'est pas possible!
Heppner coming backA fall during a training ride this summer could have meant end of career for Jens Heppner, Jan Ullrich's super domestique. But now he is prepared for a comeback next season after two weeks of training in Mallorca. In the accident he sustained a head injury, causing black outs and disturbance in balance that seemed to be a chronic condition. But after examination at the University of Freiburg he was diagnosed with a type of epilepsy that can be controlled with pills. "I had resigned myself at the beginning of September to accept the fact that my career as a professional sportsman was over," Heppner stated on the Telekom website (note the Riis article though!). But the medicine, and now the training rides in Mallorca has tempted him to make a try for the next season: "I am very content with my training rides. If these blackouts do not return, I will prepare as usual for the next season," Heppner said after returning home from Mallorca. Heppner made his debut with Olaf Ludwig in 1991 with Panasonic, both went 1992 to the then new team Telekom. Heppner played an important in the Tour victories of Bjarne Riis in 1996 and Jan Ullrich in 1997. In 1994 "Heppe" won the German championships, and in 1998 a stage in the Tour de France. This season, at 34, he won the German classic Rund um Köln and the Tour of Germany overall. "I think I can go on another two years at the top before I retire", he said. Pirate questionedMarco Pantani was questioned by police for three hours in Ferrara on Wednesday as a witness into the investigation of Dr Michele Ferrari (sometimes known as "Dottore EPO"). In March several riders, among them Bjarne Riis and Abraham Olano were also heard.
UCI rankings as of October 31The following are the UCI's individual and team rankings for men as of October 31. No major changes, it can be compared to the situation after last year's season. Into the top ten are: Andrei Tchmil, Markus Zberg, Lance Armstrong, Francesco Casagrande, Jan Ullrich and Roberto Heras. Out of the top ten: Bartoli, Abraham Olano, Marco Pantani, Alex Zuelle, Oscar Camenzind and Italian Andrea Tafi (who dropped to 57th). On the teams list Festina and Cofidis claimed the two last spots with automatic qualification for next years first division. Lampre and Kelme lost by only 51 and 57 points respectively, but they will probably make it to the top division anyway taking two of the five places marked for the teams with the highest score on the first ranking of the new year. Equally interesting is the fact that two French teams took the two last spots on top 16. That also means that they will be qualified for the Tour de France, and two of the five wild cards for the race will not be "wasted" on French teams thus opening for more foreign teams. Second division leaders Jack & Jones from Denmark have announced a certain interest (to put it mildly) for the Tour. Their chances will increase. On the other hand there are two brand new French teams this season, Jean Delatour, with Laurent Brochard in the ranks, and Bonjour with Jean-Cyril Robin and François Simon. Individual rankings 1. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE 2362 pts 2. Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 1967 3. Frank Vandenbroucke (Bel) Cofidis 1818 4. Andrei Tchmil (Bel) Lotto 1623 5. Davide Rebellin (Ita) Polti 1590 6. Markus Zberg (Swi) Rabobank 1507 7. Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal 1495 8. Francesco Casagrande (Ita) Vini Caldirola 1417 9. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom 1408 10. Roberto Heras (Spa) Kelme 1373 11. Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) Casino 1216 12. Romans Vainsteins (Lat) Vini Caldirola 1163 13. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Mapei 1133 13. Oscar Camenzind (Swi) Lampre 1133 15. Eric Zabel (Ger) Telekom 1130 16. Wladimir Belli (Ita) Festina 1112 17. Abraham Olano (Spa) ONCE 1103 18. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Casino 1087 19. Mario Cipollini (Ita) Saeco 1081 20. Peter Van Petegem (Bel) TVM 1066 21. Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned) Rabobank 1048 22. Mirko Celestino (Ita) Polti 1040 23. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Spa) Vitalicio Seguros 1039 24. Tom Steels (Bel) Mapei 1030 25. Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Saeco 1015 26. Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Ballan 972 27. Marco Pantani (Ita) Mercatone Uno 944 28. Michele Bartoli (Ita) Mapei 934 28. Jose Maria Jimenez (Spa) Banesto 934 30. Alex Zuelle (Swi) Banesto 921Division I team rankings 1. Mapei (Ita) 8972 points 2. Rabobank (Ned) 8750 3. ONCE (Spa) 5805 4. Polti (Ita) 5697 5. Telekom (Ger) 5421 6. Mercatone Uno (Ita) 5289 7. Saeco (Ita) 5076 8. Banesto (Spa) 4956 9. TVM (Ned) 4849 10. Lotto (Bel) 4774 11. Vini Caldirola (Ita) 4732 12. Casino (Fra) 4502 13. US Postal (USA) 4465 14. Vitalicio (Spa) 4225 15. Festina (Fra) 3871 16. Cofidis (Fra) 3850 17. Lampre (Ita) 3799 18. Kelme (Spa) 3793 19. La Française des Jeux (Fra) 3322 20. Crédit Agricole (Fra) 3144 21. Cantina Tollo (Ita) 2912 22. Riso Scotti (Ita) 1232Division II rankings as of October 31 The current rankings, updated after the Sun Tour and Bank Classic show that Team Home Jack & Jones have managed to claw their way to the top of the 2nd division for 1999. Although there are still a few UCI ranked races left in the year, the Danes are OK with respect to the teams classification, as 1.5 and 2.5 races do not count in these rankings. 1.Team Home - Jack & Jones 2,756 pts 2.Ballan - Alessio 2,724 3.Euskaltel - Euskadi 1,969 4.Mobilvetta - Northwave 1,683 5.Liquigas - Pata 1,363 6.Amica Chips - Costa Almeria 1,320 7.Navigare - Gaerne 1,258 8.Mroz 1,178 9.Team Chicky World 929 10.Bigmat Auber 93 808 11.Acceptcard Pro Cycling 791 12.Team Gerolsteiner 701 13.Post Swiss Team 673 14.Palmans - Ideal 669 15.Home Market - Charleroi 622 16.Team Cologne 551 17.Sport Lisboa e Benfica 539 18.Saturn Cycling Team 536 19.Wüstenrot - Zvvz 529 20.Tonissteiner - Colnago 472 21.Mercury Cycling Team 425 22.Fuenlabrada 367 23.Vlaanderen 2002 - Eddy Merckx 349 24.Team Nürnberger 333 25.Die Continentale / Olympia 332 26.Selle Italia - W 52 289 27.Amore & Vita Giubileo 239 28.Collstrop - De Federale 195 29.Agro - Adler - Brandenburg 190 30.Spar - Rdm 171 31.Porta Da Ravessa-Milaneza 170 32.La - Pecol 164 33.Krka - Telekom Slovenije 147 34.Linda Mccartney Racing Team 113 35.Navigators Cycling Team 109 36.Maia / Cin 88 37.Team Ericsson - Villiger 83 38.Recer - Boavista 79 39.Batavus Bankgiroloterij 74 40.Ipso - Euroclean 71 41.Team EC / Bayer 8 |