35th Amstel Gold Race - CDM

Netherlands, April 22, 2000

1999 Results Preview Start List Past Winners & History

Preview

The fifth and final spring World Cup race is the Amstel Gold Race in the Netherlands. One of the shortest of all the World Cup races at 256 kilometres, the Amstel is nevertheless quite challenging. The course is peppered with 27 climbs, ranging from 400-1800 metres long and 7-23 percent gradient, providing plenty of interest for the 200 or so riders competing in the race. The narrow roads and the twisting circuit add to the difficulty and a rider must have a high degree of bunch riding skill to maintain their position at the front in order not to miss the moves.

Despite their number, the climbs do not generally mean that the winner is a mountain goat, although last year's top two (Michael Boogerd and Lance Armstrong) are no slouches in the Alps. The course is suited to a sprinter who is powerful as well - Telekom's Erik Zabel may fall into that category this year, seeing how he has been going in recent weeks. This race could give him a perfect opportunity to extend his 79 point World Cup lead over Lotto's Andrei Tchmil and Mapei's Johan Museeuw. These two should also find this race to their liking, depending on how their form is holding up after a tough few weeks of classics.

Last year's winner, Michael Boogerd will ride of course, as will Lance Armstrong. Boogerd was a popular winner in the Netherlands last year, but not elsewhere after escape with Armstrong was primarily powered by the American. However, those were team tactics and a Dutch classic win for the number one rider of the number one Dutch team was considered important.

The Rabobank team have not been as dominant this year as last year, but they will be keyed up for this race. In addition to Boogerd, they have Leon van Bon, Maarten den Bakker and Markus Zberg all perfectly capable of taking the win. Number one team, Mapei-Quick Step will be out to stop them after winning the last two World Cup races. Johan Museeuw should like this course, as will Oscar Freire who could easily snag a win. Last week's LBL winner, Paolo Bettini will be along for the ride as will Max van Heeswijk, Wilfried Peeters, Andrea Tafi, Luca Scinto and Giuliano Figueras.

Farm Frites will put in a strong challenge as well, with Peter van Petegem, Geert van Bondt, and Sergei Ivanov their top riders. Danish squad, Memorycard Jack&Jones have been riding consistently this year, and have former TVM rider, Tristan Hoffman as their number one man.

Another former TVM rider, Jeroen Blijlevens will start with Polti this year - he has not been in outstanding form though, and must be considered an outsider if the race comes down to a bunch sprint. Look out for Matthew White in Vini Caldirola colours as well. This Australian rider has had a very impressive run of classics and has done a lot of damage for his team leader, Francesco Casagrande.

Complete Official starting List

Rabobank                       Mapei-Quick Step

1 Michael Boogerd (Ned)        11 Wilfried Peeters (Bel)
2 Jan Boven (Ned)              12 Paolo Bettini (Ita)
3 Maarten den Bakker (Ned)     13 Johan Museeuw (Bel)
4 Marc Lotz (Ned)              14 Giuliano Figueras (Ita)
5 Rolf Sørensen (Den)          15 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa)
6 Leon van Bon (Ned)           16 Andrea Tafi (Ita)
7 Marc Wauters (Bel)           17 Max van Heeswijk (Ned)
8 Markus Zberg (Swi)           18 Luca Scinto (Ita)

AG2R Prévoyance                ONCE - Deutsche Bank

21                             31 David Cañada Garcia (Spa)
22 Lauri Aus (Est)             32 Rafael Díaz Justo (Spa)
23 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus)   33 David Etxebarria Alkorta (Spa
24 David Delrieu (Fra)         34 Laurent Jalabert (Fra)
25 Jann Kirsipuu (Est)         35 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra)
26 Benoît Salmon (Fra)         36
27 Ludovic Turpin (Fra)        37 Marcos Serrano Rodriguez (Spa)
28 Laurent Estadieu (Fra)      38 Mikel Zarrabeitia (Spa)

Telekom-ARD                    Cofidis

41 Rolf Aldag (Ger)            51 Steve De Wolf (Bel)
42 Udo Bölts (Ger)             52 Peter Farazijn (Bel)
43 Alberto Elli (Ita)          53 Stéphane Krafft (Fra)
44 Gian-Matteo Fagnini (Ita)   54 Laufrent Lefèvre (Fra)
45 Jens Heppner (Ger)          55 Massimiliano Lelli (Ita)
46 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz)  56 Roland Meier (Swi)
47 Steffen Wesemann (Ger)      57 Jo Planckaert (Bel)
48 Erik Zabel (Ger)            58 Arnaud Prétot (Fra)

Kelme-Costa Blanca             Vitalicio Seguros

61 Fernando Escartín (Spa)     71 Elio Aggiano (Ita)
62 José Luis Rubiera (Spa)     72 Alvaro González Galdeano (Spa)
63 José Angel Vidal (Spa)      73
64 Jesus Maria Manzano (Spa)   74 Pedro Horrillo Munoz (Spa)
65 José J. Castelblanco (Spa)  75 Igor González Galdeano (Spa)
66 Félix Cardenas Ravalo (Col) 76 Juan Miguel Mercado Martin (Spa)
67 Angel Vicioso Arcos (Spa)   77 Jan Hruska (Cze)
68 Aitor Gonzales (Spa)        78 Luis Pérez Rodríguez (Spa)

Farm Frites                    Française des Jeux

81 Peter van Petegem (Bel)     91 Stéphane Heulot (Fra)
82 Andreas Klier (Ger)         92 Yvon Ledanois (Fra)
83 Sergei Ivanov (Rus)         93 Emmanuel Magnien (Fra)
84 Servais Knaven (Ned)        94 Christophe Mengin (Fra)
85 Geert van Bondt (Bel)       95 Sven Montgomery (Swi)
86 Miquel van Kessel (Ned)     96 Frank Høj (Den)
87 Michel Lafis (Swe)          97 Daniel Schnider (Swi)
88 Koos Moerenhout (Ned)       98 Jean-Michel Tessier (Fra)

Fasso Bortolo                  Lotto-Adecco

101 Fabio Baldato (Ita)        111 Mario Aerts (Bel)
102                            112 Koen Beeckman (Bel)
103 Dmitri Konychev (Rus)      113 Thierry Marichal (Bel)
104 Nicola Loda (Ita)          114 Andreij Tchmil (Bel)
105 Luca Mazzanti (Ita)        115 Christophe Detilloux (Bel)
106 Andrea Peron (Ita)         116 Kurt Van de Wouwer (Bel)
107 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita)  117 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel)
108 Matteo Tosatto (Ita)       118 Geert Verheyen (Bel)

Memorycard-Jack & Jones        Vini Caldirola-Sidermec

121 Tristan Hoffman (Ned)      131 Francesco Casagrande (Ita)
122 Jesper Skibby (Den)        132 Romans Vainsteins (Lat)
123 Bo Hamburger (Den)         133 Mauro Gianetti (Swi)
124 Arvis Piziks (Lat)         134 Marco Milesi (Ita)
125 Martin Rittsel (Swe)       135 Gianluca Bortolami (Ita)
126 Michael Blaudzun (Den)     136 Filippo Casagrande (Ita)
127 Jakob Storm Piil (Den)     137 Mauro Radaelli (Ita)
128 Mikael Holst Kyneb (Den)   138 Massimo Appolonio (Ita)

Liquigas-Pata                  Festina

141 Davide Rebellin (Ita)      151
142 Stefano Cattai (Ita)       152 David Clinger (USA)
143 Cristiano Frattini (Ita)   153 Sascha Henrix (Ger)
144 Fabio Marchesin (Ita)      154 Fabian Jeker (Swi)
145 Cristian Moreni (Ita)      155 Michel Klinger (Swi)
146 Giancarlo Raimondi (Ita)   156 Christophe Moreau (Fra)
147 Denis Zanette (Ita)        157 Ivan Sastre (Spa)
148                            158 Marcel Wüst (Ger)

Saeco-Valli&Valli              Lampre-Daikin

161 Salvatore Commesso (Ita)   171 Marco Pinotti (Ita)
162 Biagio Conte (Ita)         172 Franco Ballerini (Ita)
163 Laurent Dufaux (Swi)       173 Sergio Barbero (Ita)
164 Alessio Galletti (Ita)     174 Gabriele Missaglia (Ita)
165 Armin Meier (Swi)          175 Marco Della Vedova (Ita)
166 Massimiliano Mori (Ita)    176 Marco Serpellini (Ita)
167 Dario Pieri (Ita)          177 Zbigniew Spruch (Pol)
168 Igor Pugaci (Mda)          178 Robert Hunter (RSA)

Mercatone Uno                  US Postal Service

181 Marco Velo (Ita)           191 Lance Armstrong (USA)
182                            192 Dylan Casey (USA)
183 Fabio Fontanelli (Ita)     193 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus)
184 Marco Artunghi (Ita)       194 Tyler Hamilton (USA)
185 Massimo Cigana (Ita)       195 George Hincapie (USA)
186 Maurizio Caravaggio (Ita)  196 Benoit Joachim (Lux)
187                            197 Patrick Jonker (Ned)
188 Igor Astarloa (Spa)        198 Christian Vandevelde (USA)

Team Polti                     Amica Chips-Tacconi

201 Pascal Herve (Fra)         211 Ivan Basso (Ita)
202 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita)       212 Pietro Caucchioli (Ita)
203 Rossano Brasi (Ita)        213 Diego Ferrari (Ita)
204 Fabio Sacchi (Ita)         214 Mauro Gerosa (Ita)
205 Enrico Cassani (Ita)       215 Giuseppe Palumbo (Ita)
206 Jeroen Blijlevens (Ned)    216 Alain Turiccia (Ita)
207 Bart Voskamp (Ned)         217 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor)
208 Richard Virenque (Fra)     218 Oscar Pozzi (Ita)

Palmans-Ideal                  Bankgiroloterij-Batavus

221 Dave Bruylandts (Bel)      231 Kees Jeurissen (Ned)
222 Scott Sunderland (Aus)     232 Rudi Kemna (Ned)
223 Jurgen Vandewalle (Bel)    233 Wim van de Meulenhof (Ned)
224 Hans De Clercq (Bel)       234 Wim Omloop (Bel)
225 Hendrik van Dijck (Bel)    235 Rik Reinerink (Ned)
226 Karl Pauwels (Bel)         236 Paul van Schalen (Ned)
227 Wim Feys (Bel)             237 Jan van Velzen (Ned)
228 Raimondas Vilcinskas (Ltu) 238 Renger Ypenburg (Ned)

Team Cologne

241 Raymond Meijs (Ned)
242 Michael Schlickau (Ger)
243 Bert Hiemstra (Ned)
244 Bert Grabsch (Ger)
245 Sören Bo Petersen (Den)
246 Martin Müller (Ger)
247 Jos Lucassen (Ned)
248 Tiann Kannemeyer (Ned)

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