News for October 18, 1999

Rittsel and Jack & Jones on terms

By Tomas Nilsson, cyclingnews.com correspondent

Swedish Martin Rittsel has reached an agreement with Jack & Jones about his contract for next year. The only obstacle is Rittsel's new contract with Ballan, J&J's contender for the victory in second division. Ballan has some sponsor troubles and has allowed Rittsel to look for another employer while problems are settled.

Rittsel has 430 points to his name which gives the odd situation that if Ballan wins second division, then it's all right for Rittsel to ride for the Danes. His 430 points would compensate the Danes for loss of Belgian Marc Streel (blood tested), and the points might be enough to put the Danes in the top division next year. However, this does not mean J&J can slacken off in the Sun Tour, for reasons outlined below.

The fifteen highest ranked first division teams and the winner of second division in the ranking for 1999 are automatically qualified for next year's first division. The next six places in division one (and subsequently in the World Cup) go to the six teams with the highest ranking at the beginning of 2000 after all new contracts are signed. This means that if J&J beats Ballan in the 1999 division II rankings, the Italians are going to need all the points they can get and probably keep the Swede and his 430 points. If Ballan wins the second division, then they are qualified for first division and can let the Swede go to J&J, who will badly need his points to come among the six additional teams in first division. Rittsel's skills as a cyclist might also be an asset for any of the teams, he is ranked around 100 and is a good and stable all round rider.

Sciandri and Axelsson out

British-Italian rider Maximillian Sciandri (La Française des Jeux) and Swedish Nicklas Axelsson (Navigare), both suffered minor "cranial trauma" in the Giro di Lombardia. Both of them were taken to hospital but will be dismissed after a short period.

Rhythm problems in German track four

The German 4000m pursuit team's first rider Guido Fulst will probably not ride in that position in the qualifying round in the World Championships in his home town in Berlin. Fulst crashed and hurt his hand while training a couple of weeks ago and is not riding at full strength, according to German site Radsport.

"In the Open Des Nations in Paris I had Olaf Pollack as first man with Guido as fourth and it went well enough to be tried at the World's," said team manager Robert Lange. "Depending on results I might also throw in the individual racers Lademann and Lehmann."

Fulst himself has expressed a different point of view so the question is if the German engine will work on all four cylinders.

Ferrigato to Fassa Bertolo

It's "practically certain", according to la Gazetta dello Sport, that Andrea Ferrigato of Ballan-Alessio will ride for Giancarlo Ferretti's new team Fassa Bortolo next year alongside Dimitri Konyshev of Mercatone Uno and U23 World Champion Leonardo Giordani.