News for October 2, 1999Rider updatesA 'third ball' costs de Jongh Steven de Jongh apparently had to abandon in the third stage of the Giro del Lucca because of a 'third ball', an inflammation in a somewhat sensitive region. The painful but ultimately frustrating condition may mean the Dutch rider (TVM-Farm Frites) will be unable to take his place in the squad for the road race of the World championships. Michael Rosborg quits The Paris - Bourges semi-classic last Thursday was the final professional race for 28-year old Team Home Jack & Jones rider Michael Rosborg. "I want something new to happen. My results haven't been good enough in the late season, that's all there is to it. I've applied for 8-10 jobs and I've already booked three interviews," Rosborg told Danish news agency Ritzaus Bureau. Mayo to Euskatel Euskadi The 22-year old Iban Mayo of the Spanish amateur team Coffee Baqué has signed for Euskatel Euskadi for the coming two seasons. Maya has won 12 races this year including the Vuelta Alicante and Vuelta Zamora, Semana Aragonesa and the ITT of Cuntis. Mayo is the fourth neo pro signed by Julian Gorospe's team for next year, the others are Gorka Arrizabalaga and Samuel Sánchez both from Olarra and Josu Silloniz, of Banaka. Hølestøl to Gerolsteiner Svein Gaute Hølestøl, a 28 year-old Norwegian riding for the dying Danish swan (sorry, chicken) Team Chicky World, has signed for German Team Gerolsteiner. Salary unknown but he strengthened his position the other day by winning stage 3 of the ongoing Hessen Rundfahrt on new home ground. Kirsipuu and Vainsteins share stage victory After studying pictures from the finish of the third stage of the Giro della Provincia di Lucca the commissaires of the race decided to declare Casino's Jaan Kirsipuu as well as Romans Vainsteins of Vini Caldirola as winners. Kirsipuu was first declared winner. French Cup to Kirsipuu The season-long French Cup finished on Sept. 30 with the cat 1.3 Paris - Bourges. The competition is open for riders in French teams over a number of French races throughout the year. This year saw a foreigner - Estonia's Jaan Kirsipuu - win the overall title by a big margin over his Casino teammate, Pascal Chanteur. Patrice Hagland (Fra, Festina) finished in third spot. Australia's Stuart O'Grady (Cr Ag) was also placed highly in the classification by virtue of his early season results. Kirsipuu didn't even ride the Paris - Bourges, but was contesting the Giro di Lucca and actually won the 3rd stage of that race on the same day. He'll surely be happy with yet another trophy/bunch of flowers/large fish to stick in his cabinet at home. The teams competition was taken out by La Française des Jeux, from Crédit Agricole and Casino in third. Italians excavate French stone for Coppi A group of Italians from Turino have excavated a one tonne block of stone from the famous Puy-de-Dôme in France to construct a monument to the Italian cycling legend Fausto Coppi. The monument will be one of several to be constructed from stone removed from climbs the Italian scaled in in his tour victories. The group of Italians plan to have the monuments erected on the climbs in time for the 40th anniversary of his death in 2000. In 1952 the Puy-de-Dôme was the scene of an epic stage of the tour de France where Coppi asserted his dominance over the tour. Present at the excavation was none other than rival from the '50s, Raphaël Geminiani, who finished fourth on the stage in 1952. Coppi was born in 1919 and died on January 2, 1960, after having contracted malaria. Results - Lichtervelde, 162 km, Belgium 1. De Wilde (Bel) 3.47.00
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