News for November 8, 1999
Chiappucci calls it a dayThe 15-year professional Italian cyclist, Claudio Chiappucci, rode his last race in Valencia, Spain on Sunday November 7th. Although he has been a little quiet in the last few years, "El Diablo" still managed to find the strength to finish 2nd in the 10th International Criterium of the Valencian Community behind Abraham Olano. Olano described himself as "very satisfied with the win," adding "When I retire from cycling, I hope to be given the same tribute as Chiappucci." Chiappucci hit the big time as a professional when he almost pulled off a daring victory over Greg Lemond in the 1990 Tour de France by virtue of a long breakaway in the first stage. He had 3 more podium placings in the Tour, along with several mountain's jerseys in the following years. His successes were similar in the Giro di Italia, but he was never able to win one of the major tours. A certain Miguel Indurain played a large role in these 2nd placings, as well as Chiappucci's "comparatively" weak time trialling skills. Though he had many important wins and placings throughout his career, his best known and most popular win was in the 1992 Tour de France, when he won the stage to Sestrieres after a huge 200+ km breakaway. He was never afraid to attack anywhere and anytime during a race, much to the annoyance of the peloton, but certainly made things interesting for the spectators. His final years were clouded after a failed hematocrit test put him out of the Tour of Romandie in 1997, forcing him under suspicion of drug use. He chose to keep riding with Asics (1997), Ros-Mary (1998) and finally Amica Chips (1999) before calling it quits. Palmares: Born: 28/02/1963 Uboldo Italy Turned professional: 1985 (Carrera) Career victories: 61 More nations analysisWell, this was bound to happen, following our "rankings per capita" analysis. If we separate the Basque country from Spain, as many would like to, we can produce the following statistic which will undoubtedly please a few Basques: Population: ~ 2.5 million UCI riders from top 100: Abraham Olano 1103 pts Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano 1039 David Etxebarria 763 Zarrabeitia 552 Unai Osa 507 Roberto Laiseka 487 Others: Joseba Beloki 401 Aitor Osa 304 Alvaro Gonzalez de Galdeano 299 Txema Olmo 299 Jon Odriozola 240 etc.Yielding a grand total of (at least) 1515 points per 1 million people, placing it as number one on the list calculated by Skye Legon on Friday. Now they've just got to convince the Spanish...
New Swiss TeamJean-Jacques Loup, the former manager of the Swiss Post Team, has launched a new team that includes many of his colleagues from his previous team. The team will compete in the 2nd division. It's name will be unveiled later this month, but the roster is as follows: Manager: Jean-Jacques Loup Directeur sportif: Jacques Michaud Riders: Pierre Bourquenoud (30 yrs) Christian Charrière (26 yrs) Cédric Fragnière (23 yrs) Uwe Straumann (neo-pro, 22 yrs) Stéphane Richner (neo-pro, 25 yrs) Matthias Buxhofer (neo-pro, Autriche, 26 yrs) Jochen Summer (neo-pro, Autriche, 22 yrs) Dominique Perras (neo-pro, Canada, 25 yrs) Alexandre Usov (neo-pro, Biélorussie, 22 yrs) Three more riders to be signed. Budget: Approximately 2 million Francs. Sydney to the 'Gong 99By Jeff Jones Many Aussies spent Sunday morning recovering from the Wallabies' World Cup win and the fact that we'll have to wait another few years before the Republic question comes up again. However, some 10,000 die-hard riders set out to ride 92 km from Sydney to Wollongong in the annual event, organised to benefit for the Multiple Sclerosis society. The event is hugely popular, with options of the time trial (limit 1000 riders or so) or the main ride with the rest of the field. A beautiful clear day greeted the riders with only a slight headwind for most of the way, as opposed to last year when the wind blew many people back home before they'd completed half the distance. The cyclingnews team of one (1) was there, consisting of Jones, J. (Aus), webeditor at large. Training for the event had started on the previous Tuesday after a bit of a slack period, but it combined with an instant chocolate pudding for breakfast were enough to get the team to Wollongong (and back as it turned out). An early start ensured that the team beat the rush to get into the 'Gong first, winning the fabulous prize of blue, orange, and yellow Powerade until they got sick of doling it out. To make the journey home somewhat more bearable, large amounts of icecream were consumed, which as we all know is the key to proper sports nutrition. Team cyclingnews' unofficial time was a tad under 2:35 - no prizes for this though, as the event is run strictly for fun and charity. As to why this piece is written in the third person, Julius Caesar style, ask Gerard who requested me to post it. |