News for January 20

Six Day Summary

Here are the 1995-1996 season winners to date:

     Herning:   Madsen-Veggerby (Dan);
     Grenoble:  Martinello-Villa (Ita);
     Dortmund:  Clark-Aldag (Aus-Ger);
     Monaco:    Zabel-De Wilde (Ger-Bel);
     Bordeaux:  Magn=E8-De Wilde (Fra-Bel);
     Gand:      Kappes-De Wilde (Ger-Bel);
     Zurigo:    Risi-Betschart (Svi);
     Colonia:   Kappes-De Wilde (Ger-Bel);
     Brema:     Villa-Martinello (Ita).

And coming up:

     19-24/1  Stoccarda,
     26-31    Kobenhavn,
     6-11/2   Milano.

Paris--Nice Breaks With Tradition

Yesterdays presentation of the 73rd edition of Paris-Nice (10-17 March) revealed some innovations -- notably the dropping of the traditional final afternoon stage from Nice up the Col dEze. Race organizer Josette Leulliot of the Monde Six company announced, however, that the race would still finish with a time trial in Nice on the final afternoon, but on a flat course on the sea front covering 17.8km.

The traditional visit to Saint-Etienne is also absent from this years race which starts in Chateauroux 267km south of Paris. As last year, the race penetrates the Massif Central, visiting Chalvignac, which was denied a stage finish last year because of snow storms. The major test in the Massif Central will be an ascent of the Causse Noir above the town of Millau; the town of Millau will host the finish of the next day's stage after a circuit in the neighbouring countryside.

The Stages

Stage 1 (10 March  -- 175km) Chateauroux--Saint-Amand-Montrond
Stage 2 (11 March  -- 175km) Dun-sur-Auron--Aubusson
Stage 3 (12 March  --165km) Vassiviere-en-Limousin--Chalvignac
Stage 4 (13 March  -- 163km) Maurs--Millau  (Causse Noir)
Stage 5 (14 March  -- 158km) Millau--Millau
Stage 6 (15 March  -- 197km) Vitrolles--Saint-Tropez
Stage 7 (16 March -- 191km) Saint-Tropez--Antibes
Stage 8 Part 1 (17 March am -- 96km) Antibes--Nice
Stage 8 Part 2 *17 March pm -- 17.8km) Time trial in Nice

The Teams

ONCE (L. Jalabert), 
Mapei-GB (Olano, Ballerini, Vandenbroucke)
GAN (Boardman, Seigneur)
Mutuelle de Seine-et-Marne (N. Jalabert)
Aubervilliers-93-Peugeot (Saugrain)
Festina (Virenque)
Telekom (Riis)
MG (Bugno, Richard)
Polti (Leblanc, Gianetti)
Seco (Cipollini)
Gewiss (Bobrik)
Lotto (Tchmil, Nelissen)
Collstrop (Capiot)
Motorola (Armstrong)
Kelme (Buenahora)
plus one other French team, probably Agrigel-La Creuse

Desperately Seeking De Las Cuevas

Armand De Las Cuevas has still not offered any response to Willy Teirlinks offer of a place in the Collstrop team. The original hope was that De Las Cuevass 338 UCI points would have boosted Collstrop into the top-22 Premier Division of teams.

Teirlink reckons they stand at 23 or 24 at the moment. Its too late for this now  15 January was the cut-off point for standings and these will shortly be announced by the UCI. Teirlink is still interested though, Armand, if you are out there reading this -- he hopes your presence might get Collstrop a wild card in the Tour de France.

Big Mig, Little Mig

Javier Indurain, the recently born son of Miguel and Marisa Indurain, will not be known as Javier for much longer. On reflection the parents have decided to resubmit the registration to the mayors office of Olatz. Its a tradition in the Indurain family that the first-born son should be called Miguel and this tradition is after all to be upheld. Little Migs full name: Miguel Maria Indurain Lopez de Goicoechea.

Jalabert To Be Deplastered -- to translate literally the French

Laurent Jalabert was due to go to a clinic in Toulouse today (19 January) to have the plaster removed from his injured left wrist. It is projected that he will have to continue to ride using tri-bars until about 20 February, when he will once more be free to pull on orthodox handlebars.

Lavenu Still Hiring

Former Chazal directeur-sportif Vincent Lavenu, whose proposed new pro team is still to be registered with the French federation, is sufficiently confident of a successful launch to have hired a thirteenth rider, Philippe Bordenave. Bordenave, an amateur with GSC Blagnac, is a talented climber, finishing 15th in the amateur world championships road race in Colombia in October.

Franconians May Pass On Agrigel

The proposed addition of three German riders to the currently 13-strong Agrigel-La Creuse team is probably not going to happen. Agrigel directeur-sportif Marc Durant pronounced himself pessimistic. The deal was that the Creuse departements twin, the German region of Middle Franconia, would fund the team to the tune of 1 million French francs (approx US$200,000) in return for which three German riders would join the team.

Elite Calendar Changes

The Tour d'Armorique (Tour of Armorica) scheduled in the Elite Calendar for 2-5 April will be now be run as a one-day race on a circuit around Vitre (e acute) on 5 April and will be part of the Coupe de France series of races. (It will be followed two days later by another Coupe de France race in the same area, the GP de la Ville de Rennes.)

An addition to the calendar is a race organised by Josette Leulliot's Monde Six company -- which organizes Paris--Nice -- in the Ile de France area near Paris on 8 September. The exact location and form of the race are yet to be determined.