News for May 29, 2000

83rd Giro d'Italia

Stage Comments

Today's stage 14 of the Giro was make or break time for many, as the pack had to tackle the mighty Gavia pass along with two other tough climbs. Coming on top of yesterday, this stage would determine who had to ability to recover, and who did not. At the finish, Francesco Casagrande held onto his leader's jersey, whilst putting time into his closest challenger, Stefano Garzelli. Stage winner, Gilberto Simoni moved up into third, but he is still nearly a minute down on 'Cecco'. There are two more very challenging mountain stages to come towards the end of the week, as well as a mountain time trial. The Giro is not over yet, but that pink jersey is starting to fit Casagrande rather well.

Gilberto Simoni, stage winner, said afterwards that "Casagrande is too strong," although he also admitted that he didn't stretch himself too much today. "On Saturday, I was sure I would win in Selva. Today, I was therefore skeptical that I had a chance to win against Mazzoleni in a sprint. I let my team work so that Casagrande would be under pressure. My directeur sportif said that I should wait, but I felt strong enough and took the responsibility to attack."

He attacked quite early on the Gavia, and was surprised to see Casagrande come back. He described himself as being in "super form" this year, but maybe not good enough to match Casagrande. "The more I go on, the better I feel," he said. "The Giro has not finished, and we shall see what happens on the mountain finish on Thursday in Pratonevoso."

His team director, Pietro Algeri said that Simoni was on home ground, and he is riding on his own will. "It is amazing how well he can recover. He also has quite a degree of self control and calmness."

Casagrande said that he was suffering from a slight cold "but nothing to worry about. I proved that today by attacking my rivals to take some time. My main rivals now are Simoni, Garzelli and Belli, but I think I have a strong enough team to support me for the win."

The Columbian Aguardiente Nectar-Selle Italia team did not come off so well today, with multiple crashes for Buenahora and Chepe Gonzalez. However, by the finish, Gonzalez had the green jersey for the best climber and that was his main goal for the race.

Ullrich not back yet

The decisive stage 3 of the Tour of Germany today, saw a victory taken from Michele Bartoli in his comeback race by Telekom's Udo Bölts, who was doing his job protecting the leader's jersey of Jens Heppner. After breaking away for over 100 kilometres in the wet, Bölts called it a "beautiful victory" but Bartoli has not so sure. He couldn't believe it when Bölts sprinted past him after not taking a turn and strongly criticised the German afterwards.

Telekom now hold the top two spots, with Heppner and Bölts, and Andreas Klöden is well placed, 17 seconds behind. The time trial on Thursday will be interesting, but a certain Jan Ullrich has still a way to go before he is competitive.

Today, Jan cracked on the steep slopes of the Kandel, unable to follow when his teammate, Bölts accelerated off the front with Bartoli. Ullrich finished 15 minutes down and has now a little over four weeks to erase that deficit.

He has been told wisely not to risk anything, especially with the appalling weather conditions again this year. He doesn't want to fall or catch a cold, and as such, took today's descents very cautiously contributing to his large time deficit.

Last stage of Olympia's Tour cancelled

Because of the bad weather (wind 100-120 km/h) the last stage of the Olympia's Tour had to be cancelled. The last stage (Almere-Amersfoort-Amsterdam) was stopped by the road police because dangerous circumstances in the storm. Jan van Velzen (Bankgiroloterij) was declared the winner of this tour, and the ceremony was held Amsterdam later in the day.

Many open-air festivals and sport events, such as the hockey Champions Trophy in Amstelveen, were cancelled as well.

Watt struggling

Australian individual pursuit hopeful, Kathy Watt, is struggling to keep her health in check while she is racing overseas in the Track World Cup. In the first round last weekend in Moscow, Watt could only finish 6th in the pursuit, won by Dutch former world champion, Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel. She was reportedly still sick in Cali, Colombia for the second round, held over the past three days.

According to AAP and coach/partner Carey Hall she apparently had food poisoning before Moscow and would not have started except for the fact that there was little else to do. After the latest World Cup, Watt will travel to Colorado Sprints in the USA before going to Mexico City for the third round. The other members of the AIS will also race these rounds.

Death in vets race

Strong winds and cold weather marked the Sunday's Veterans' 64 kilometre open handicap race in Colac, Victoria. Gale Cashin (Ballarat) won the race, however there was some very sad news for the riders afterwards. When the 6 minute and 4 and a half minute bunches joined together, 40 year old Greg Smith from the Grampians Veterans Club fell into the path of a cattle truck and was killed instantly.

Greg recently won the Ballarat open and will be deeply missed by his family and colleagues. An investigation is being carried out by the police into the crash.

Thanks to Brian Farrell for this information.