News for August 30


Boardman: The Bigger Record

Chris Boardman has already one new world record under his belt -- he broke the 4,000m pursuit record in Manchester yesterday (August 28) in a time of 4.13. But he has also set a date and time for an attempt to recapture the world hour record from Tony Rominger. It's to be September 6 between 1800 and 2000 on the Manchester velodrome in northwest England.

"I carried out some private tests here [Manchester] last week." he told L'Equipe. "I don't much like the position [the Obree/Collinelli/Bellutti superman/superwoman position] and I don't think that it should have been authorized, but, since it is valid, I am going to use this type of handlebar." He continued: "At the beginning I thought of using normal triathlete-type bars. I think it's still possible to break the record with triathlon bars but, with the other type I think I've got a little more chance. I'm hopeful...."

Boardman refused to give precise details of his objective, but other press reports indicate that he wants to do more than break Rominger's record by a few metres and would not have gone this far if he felt he was not capable of so doing. With Rominger's 5 November 1994 record standing at 55.291 (Boardman's in 1993 was 52.270, it's reckoned Boardman is aiming to break 56km.

After completing the worlds pursuit today, Boardman will ride the GP Eddy Merckx time trial in Brussels on September 1 and then return home to make his final preparations for the hour attempt. Other entrants announced for the 52km GP Eddy Merckx (two laps of 26km) include Bjarne Riis, Jan Ullrich, Abraham Olano, Lance Armstrong, Viatcheslav Ekimov and Sean Yates. As L'Equipe poignanatly puts it, "Eddy Seigneur will be the only Frenchman at the start".

Some news from Team Telekom:

Erik Zabel has signed a new two year contract with the German "Team Telekom". Walter Godefroot, team-manager of Telekom, confirmed this to the german news agency "Sport-Informations-Dienst" (sid). Godefroot and Zabel agreed on a new contract on Tuesday, 27th of October, during the Tour of Holland.

"Erik was pleased to sign the contract, because we've found a good solution for all", Godefroot said. - "Money hasn't been a theme in our negotiations in the past few weeks", Zabel was quoted. Rather than that, he was anxious of the team consistence. Godefroot now convinced Zabel of the good casting of the team. Zabel feared that with Riis, Ullrich and the new rider Georg Totschnig (Austria) there would be three good riders for the stage races, but - after the end of the career of Olaf Ludwig - not enough support for him as a sprinter.

In the next days, Godefroot will negotiate with Bjarne Riis. The main subject will be the duration of his contract. Godefroot: "Everybody has his price in life" - a hint that Team Telekom won't accept every demand of Riis.

For 1997, 11 riders have signed a contract with Team Telekom so far. "With Erik Zabel and Jan Ullrich, we have two top riders among them" Godefroot said. So far, there's only one rider leaving - Olaf Ludwig who ends his career.